Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1891-01-30
;one. The cup is full of poison. The

Al! anc leaves OF tho bower arc 1Orkcd
tongues of Kissing scrpents. The flow
ing fountains fall back in Il dead pool,
stenchful with corruption. The Turing
songs become curses and screams of de-
moniac laughter. Lost spirits gather
about him and feel for his heart, and
bcclSon him on with ssIIail. brother! Hail,
blasted SPIRIT hail!' He tries to get out.
lie comes to the front door where he en-
tered, and tries to push it back, but the
door turns against him, and in the jar of
that shutting door he hears these words,
This night is BelslazZar, the king of
ChaldeanS, slain. Sin may open bright
as the morning. Tt ends dark as the
| night!
learn further from this subject that
Death sometimes breaks in upon BAN
quot Why did he not go down to the
prisons in Babylon? There were people
there that would like to have died. l
suppose there were men and women in
torture in that city who would have well
coined Death. But he comes to the pal
ace; and just at the time when the mirth
is dashing to the tip-top pitch Death
breaks in at the banquet. We have Of
ten seen the same thing illustrated. Here
Is young man just come from college.
He is kind. He is loving. He is en-
thusiastic. He is eloquent by ono
spring he may bound to heights toward
which many men have been struggling
Tor years. profession opens before
him. He is established in the law. His
friends cheer him. Eminent men en-
courage him.
Alter while You may sec him stand
ing in the United States Senate, or NOV
| ing Il. popular aSsrmblagc by his elo-
qucncc. as trees arc moved in whirl-
wind. Some night he rctircs early. A
fever is OH him. Dclrium. like a rccll-
less charlotecr, SciZes the rcins of his in
tellcct Father and mother stand by and
see the tides of his life going out to the
great ocean. The banquet is coming to
an end. The lights of Thought and mirth
and eloqncnce arc being extinguishcd.
The garlands are snatched from the
brow. The vision is gone. Death at
the banquet!
We saw the same thing on larger
scale illustrated at the last war in this
country. Our whole nation had been
sitting at national banquct-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
hsh but our nets must sweep them for
the markets. What music but it must
sing in our halls. What cloqucncc but
1t must speak in our scnates. IIo! to the
national banquet, reaching from noun
tain to mountain, and from sea to sea!
TO prepare that banquet the sheepfodS
and the aviarics of the country sent their
best treasures. The orchards piled IN
on the table their sweetest fruits. The
presses burst out with new Wines To
sit at that table came the yeomanry of
New Hampshire. and the lumberman Of
Maine, and the Carolinian from the rico
fields, and the Western cmigrant from
the pines of Oregon, and we were all
brothers-brotherS, at IL banquet. Sud
denly the feast ended.
What meant those mounds thrown up
at Chickamauga, Shiloh, Atlanta, Get
tysbnrg, Soutl, Mountain? What meant
those golden grain fields turned into Z
pastnrins ground for cavalry horses?
What meant thu corn fields quilted with
the wheels of the heavy supply train:
Why those rivers of tcars-thosc lakes
of bloodo God was angry. Justice
must come. n handwriting on the wall!
The nation had been weighed and found
wanting. Darkness. Darkness! Woo
to the North! Woe to the South. Woe
to the East! Woe to the West! Death
at the banquet:
l have also to learn from the subject
that the destruction of the vicious. and
OF those who despisc God. will be very
sudden. The wave Of mirth had dashed
to the highest point when that AS
syrian army broke through. 1t was I'M
expected. Suddenly, almost ALWAYS,
comes the doom of those who despise
God and defy the laws of men. How was
it at the deugc? DO you suppose it
came through long northeast storm, so
that people FOR days before were sure it
was coming? No: suppose the morning
was bright. that calmncss broodcd over
the waters: that beauty sat cnthroncd
on the hills when suddenly the heavens
burst. and the mountains sank like an
chors into the sea that dashed clear over
the Andes and the Hmalayas.
Are there any here who are unprc-
pared for the eternal world? Are there
any here who have been living without
God and without hope? Let me say to
you that you had better accept of the
Lord Jesus Christ, lest suddenly your
last chance be gone. The lungs will
cease to breathe, the heart will stop.
The time will come when you shall 60 no
more to the Office, or to the store, or to
the shop. Nothing will be left but
Death and Judgment and Eternity. Oh.
| flee to God this hour! Ii there be one in
this presence who has wandered far
away from Christ, though he may not
have heard the call of the gospel for
many Il year. invite him now to come
and be saved. Flee from thy sin. Flee
to the stronghold of the gospel! Now is
| the accepted time, now is the day of sal
| walton.
/ Goodnight, my young friends. May
you have rosy sleep, guarded bv Him
who never slumbcrs. May you awake in
the morning strong and we'll! But oh.
art thou Il despiser of God? Is this thy
last night on earth? Shouldst thou be
awikenennd in the night by something.
thou knowest not what, and there b..
! shadows floating in the room, and :.
4 handwriting on the wall, and you feel
| that your last hour is come, and there
be fainting ut the heart. and I; trcmor
i'm the limb, and a catching of the
breath--than thy doom would BIZ but IN
echo of the words of the text, In that
| night wos BclshaZzar, the King of tile
Chaldcans. slain.
Hear the invitation of the Gospel