News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1891-01-29

/
wind. Some night he retires early. A
fever is on him. Delirium, like reck-
less charioteer, seizes the reins of his
intellect. 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 eloquence are
being extinguished. The garlands are
snatched from the brow. The vision is
gone Death at the banquet.
We saw the same. thing, on a larger
scale, illustrated at the last war in this
country. Our whole nation had been
sitting at a national 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 it must sing in our
halls What eloquence but it must
speak in our senates.
| Ho! to the national banquet, reach
ing from mountain to mountain, and
from sea to sea! To prepare that ban
quet the sheepfolds and the aviaries of
the country sent their best treasures.
The orchards piled up 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 lumbermen Of
Maine, and the CaroIinian from the
rice fields, and the western emigrant
from the pines of Oregon, and we were
all brothers-brothers at a banquet.
Suddenly the feast ended.
What meant those mounds thrown
up at Chickamauga, Shiloh, Atlanta,
Gettysburg, South Mountain? What
meant those golden grain fields, turned
into a pasturing ground for cavalry
horses? What meant the corn fields
quilted with the wheels of the heavy
supply train? Why those rivers of
tears, those lakes Of blood2 God was
angry! Justice must come. A hand
writing on the WALL The nation had
been weighed and found wanting
Darkness! Darkness! Woe to the
north! Woe to the south! Woe to the
east! Woe to the west! Death at the
banquet!
THE DEATH OF THE WICKED.
l have also to learn from the subject
that the destruction of the vicious and
of those who despise God will be very
sudden The wave Of mirth had dashed
to the highest point when that Assyrian
army broke through. 1t was unexpect-
ed. Suddenly, almost always, comes
the doom of those who despise God and
defy the laws of men. How was it at
through long northeast storm SO that
people for days before were sure it was
coming? No; / suppose the morning
was bright; that calmness brooded Cd
the waters; that beauty sat enthroned
on the hills, when suddenly the heav
ems burst, and the mountains sank like
anchors into the sea that dashed clear
over the Andes and the Himalayas.
The Red sea was divided. The Egyp
tians tried to cross it. There could be
no danger The Israelites had just
gone through. Where they had gone
why not the Egyptians2 Oh, it was
such q beautiful walking place! 4
pavement of tinged shells and pearls,
and on either side two great walls of
water-solid. There can be no danger.
Forward, great host of the Egyptians
Clap the cymbals and blow the trump
cts of victory! After theml We will
catch them yet, and they shall be de-
stroyed. But the walls begin to trem-
bic. They rock They fall The rush
ing watersl The shrek of drowning
menl The swimming of the war horses
in vain for the shore! The strewing of
the great host on the bottom of the
sea, or pitched by the angry wave on
the beach-a battered, bruised and
loathsome wreck! Suddenly destruc-
ton came. One half hour before they
could not have believed it, Destroyed,
and without remedy.
am just setting forth fact which
you have noticed as well as l. Ananias
comes to the apostle The apostle says,
did you sell the land for so much?"
He says, Yes" 1t was a lie. Dead
as quick as that Sapphire, his wife,
comes in. did you sell the land for
so much?' Yes" 1t was a lie; and |
quick as that she was dead Gods |
judgments are upon those who despise |
and defy him They come suddenly.
The destroying rCngel went through |
Egypt Do You suppose that any of
the people knew that he was coming? |
Did they hear the flap of higgreat wing2
mol no! Suddenly, Unexpectedly. he
came
Skilled sportsncn do not like to shoot
bird standing on IL sprig near by. If
they are skilled they pride themselves
on taking it on the wing and they wait
till it starts Death is an old sports
man, and he loves to take men flying
under the very sun. He loves to take
them on the wing.
HEED WHAT FOLLowsl
Are there any here who are UMPIRE
pared for the eternal world2 Are there
any here who have been living without |
God and without hope2 Let Inc 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 go |
no more TO the Office, or to the store,
or to the shop, Nothing will be left |
but Death and Judgment and Eterni- |
ty. OH fee to God this hour! If |
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 a 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 salvation.
Goodnight, my young friends May
you have rosy sleep, guarded by him
who never slumbersl May you awake
in the morning strong and well But
oh! art thou a despiser Of God? Is this
thy last night on earth? Should'st
though be awakened in the night by
something, thou knowest not what,
and there be shadows floating in the
room, and a handwriting on the wall,
and you feel that your last hour is
come, and there be fainting at the
heart, and a tremor in the limb, and
catching of the breath-then thy doom