Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1891-01-30

wall. 1t is all foOliShness TO expect min
lister OF the Gospel 10 preach always OF
things that the people like, or the people
choose. Young men, what shah pre- lch
to you tonight? Shall tell you of the
dignity Of human nature? Shall tell YOU
of the wonders that our race hiss ACCOM-
plished? ''Oh! no." you sly, tell me
the message that came from God" / will.
If there is any handwrit ng on the wall it
is this lesson: Accept of Christ and DO
saved" | might talk of a great many
other things; but that is tho message, and
so / declare it. Jesus never hattered
those TO whom he preached. He said TO
those who did wrong. and who were Often
sive in his sight, "Ye generation Of vipersl
We whitel stpulchres! How can We escape
the damnation OF help Paul the apostle
preached before a man who was not ready
! 10 hear him preach What subject did he
take? DID he say: "Oh! you are a very
good man, very fine man. very noble
man?' No; he preached OF righteousness
to man who was unria hteous; of temper
ance to man who was the victim of bad
appettes: of the Judgement to come to a
man who was unfit for it, SO we must al
ways declare the MESSAGE that happens TO
come to u.s. Daniel must reod il as it is.
Another lesson that comes TO US; there is
a great difference between the opening Of
the banquet OF S n and its close. Young
man, if you had looked in upon tho BAN
quot in the first few hours, you would
have wished you had been invited there,
and could st at the feast. "Oh. the
grandeur Of Belshazzar's feast!' you would
have sid: hut look in at the close of the
! banquet and your blood cur les with horror
| The King OF Terrors has there "a ghastlier
| banquet; human blood is the wine, and
| dying groans are the music. Sin his made
itself u king in the earth. 1t has crowned
itself. II has spr al IA banquet. 1t invites
| all the world TO come TO it, 1t has hung
! in its banquctng-hall the spoils of all king
doms. and the banners of all nations. II
has gathered from all music. IL has
strewn, from its wealth, the tablec and tho
floors. and the arches. And yet ht " often
is that banquet broken up; and how horri-
BILE is its end! Ever and anon there is q
handwr ting on the wall. a X ne falls
| A great culprit is arrested. The knees Of
wickedness knock together. Gods
judgment, like an armed host breaks in
upon the banquet; and that night is
Belshazzar, the king Of the Chaldeans
slain.
learn further from this subject that
Death sometimes breaks in upon banquet.
Why did he not go down to the prisons IN
Babylon? There were a few persons there
that would like to have died. i suppose
there were men and women in torture in
that city who would have welcomed death.
But he comes to the palace; and just at
the time when the mirth is dashing to the
tptop pitch, Death breaks in ut the
banquet
We saw the same thing, on larger
scale illustrated at the last war in this
country, Our whole nation had been sit
ting at national banquet-north, south,
east and west What grain was there, but
we grew it on our hills. What invention
was there, but our rivers must turn the
new wheel and rattle the strange shuttle.
What warm furs, but our traders must
bring them from the Arctic. What fish,
but our nets must sweep them for the
markets. What music, but il must sing in
our halls. What eloquence, but it must
speak in our senates. Ho! to the national
banquet, reaching from mountain 20 noun
tain aud from sea TO seal To prepare that
banquet the sheepfolds and the aviaries of
the country sent their best treasures. The
orchards piled up on the table their sweet
est fruits. The presses burst out with
new wines. To sit at that table came the
yeomanry of New Hampshire. and the lum-
bermen of Maine, and the Carolinian from
the rice fields, and the western emgrant
from the pines of Oregon, AMI we were all
Observation-Disclosures at "a banquet Suddenly
the feast ended. What meant those mounds
thrown up at Chickamauga, shiloh, At
lanta, Gettysburg, South Mountain? What
meant those golden grain fields, turned
into pasturng ground for cavalry horses?
What meant the corn fields quilted with
the wheels OF the heavy supply train? Why
those riv, rs Of teSrs-thos lakes OF blood
God was angry! Just &C must come! a
handwrit ng on the wall! The nation had
been weighed and found wanting. Dark
ness Darkness! Woe 10 the north, Woe
to the south! Woe to the eastl Woe to
the westl Delth at tho banquet!
Arc there any here who are unprcpared
for the eternal world? Are there any
here who h I'VE been living without God,
ard without hope? Let me say 10 YOU
that you had better accept OF the Lord
Jesus Christ, lest suddenly your last chance
be gone. The lungs will cclse 10 breathe;
the heart will stop. The time VII come
when " shall go no more 10 ;he office. or u
the store, or to ths sh )p. Nothing will be
let but Death. and Judgment. and Eter
nifty. On. lee 10 God TINS hour! III there
be one in this pre- sence who has wandered
far away from Christ, though he may not
have helrd tho call of the Gospel for many
year, / invite him now 10 come and be
saved. Flee from thy sn! Flee to the
stronghold of the Gosp,l Now is the ac-
cepted time; now is the day of salvation
Good-n ght. my young fri nds! May
you have rosy sleep. guarded by m whC
never slumbersl My you awake in the
morning strong aud well! But, oh! urt
thou desp scr Of Gol2 Is THIS thy las
niG hit on earth? Shouldest thou be awnk
ened in tho ni.ht by somcth ng. thot
knowest not what, and there be shadow:
flouting in the room. and handwriting or
the wall, and you feel that your LIST hour
is come. aud there bs faint ne
Mt the heart, and 'emor in the limb ant
IA catching of the bro 9TH then thy Don
would oe but an echo of the words of the
text: ''In that nj yht was Beishazzur, The
king of the Oh ildeans. slain"
Hear the invitation Of the Gospel! There
may &c some one in this h ,use TO whom
shall never speak aga n. and tn refore LEI
IL be in the words of the Gosp |, ana not
In my own. with which | close: "Ho. G rcry
one that thirsteth! Cone We to the waters.
| A. IL hot l,,.