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

/
to tatters! Pour out more wine! Give
us more light, wilder music, sweeter
| perfumel Lord shouts to lord, captain
ogles to captain. Goblets clash, de-
canterS rattle. There come in the vile
song, and the drunken hiccough, and
the slavering lip, and the guffaw of
idiotic laughter bursting from the lips
of princes, flushed, reeling, bloodshot;
while mingling with it all | hear,
'Huzzal huzza for the great Belshaz-
| Earl"
| LOoKl Look LOOK!
What is that on the plastering of the
wall? Is it spirit? Is it q phantom?
the darkness a finger CT fiery terror
trembles through the air and comes to
the wall, circling about as though it
would write, and then, with q sharp tip
of flame, engraves on the plastering the
doom of the king The music stops,
| Goblet falls from the nerveless grasp.
| There is a thrill There is n start
There is a thousand voiced shrek of
| horror. Let Daniel be brought in to
read that writing. He comes in. He
reads it, Weighed in the balance and
found wanting"
| Meanwhile the Assyrians, who for
two years had been laying siege to that
city, took advantage of that carousal
and came in. | hear the feet of the
conquerors on the palace stairs Massa-
ere rushes in with a thousand cleaning
knives. Death bursts upon the scene,
and | shut the door Of that banqueting
hall, for do not want to look There
is nothing there but torn banners, and
| broken wreaths, and the slush of upset
| tankards, and the blood of murdered
women, and the kicked and tumbled
carcass of a dead king. For lin that
night was Belshazzar, the king of the
| Chaldeans, slain.
l so on to learn that when God writes
anything on the wall, man had better
read it as it is. Daniel did not misin
| terpret or modify the handwriting on
| the wall 1t is ali foolishness to expect
a minister of the Gospel to preach al
ways things that the people like or the
people choose. Young men, what shall
| preach to you tonight. Shall | tell
you of the dignity of human nature?
Shall tell you of the wonders that our
race has accomplished? "Ohl no."
you say; ''tell me the message that
came from God" I will II there is
any handwriting on the wall it is this
lesson, accept of Christ and be
saved" l might talk OF a great many
other things, but that is the message,
and so declare it.
Jesus never flattered those to whom
he preached. He said to those who
did wrong, and who were offensive in
his sight, Eye generation of vipersl We
whited sepulchers! how can We escape
the damnation of hell" Paul the
apostle preached before a man who
was not ready to hear him preach.
What subject did he take? Did he say,
''Oh, you are a good man, very fine
man, a very noble man?" No; he
preached of righteousness to a man
who was unrighteous; of temperance
to a man who was the victim of bad
appetites; of the Judgment TO come to
a man who was unfit for it. So we
must always declare the message that
happens to come to US. Daniel must
read it as it is.
A minister preached before James
I of England, who was James VI
of Scotland. What subject did he
take? The king was noted all over
the world for being unsettled and wa
vering in his ideas. What did the min
lister preach about to this man who
was James of England and James VI
of Scotland? He took for his text
James i, 6: ''He that wavereth is
like a wave of the sea, driven with the
wind and tossed" Hugh Latimer of
Tended the king by a sermon he
preached, and the king said, Hugh
Latimer, come and apologize. " 4
will, " said Hugh Latimer. So the day
was appointed. and the kings chapel
was full of lords and dukes, and the
mighty men and women of the coun-
try, for Hugh Latimer was to apollo
gize. He began his sermon by saying:
Hugh Latimer, bethink thee! Thou
art in the presence of thine earthly
king, who can destroy thy body. But
bethink thee, Hugh Latimer, that thou
art in the presence of the King of heav-
en- and earth, who can destroy both
body and soul in hell fire " Then he
preached with appalling directness at
the kings crimes
THE HORROR OF THE ENDING.
Another lesson that comes to us.
There is a great difference between the
opening of the banquet of sin and it's
close. Young man, if you had looked
in upon the banquet in the first few
hours you would have wished you had
been invited there, and could sit at the
feast. "Ohi the grandeur of Belshaz-
zar's feast" you would have said, but
you look in at the close of the banquet,
and your blood curdles with horror.
The king of terrors has there ghast-
lier banquet, human blood is the wine
and dying groans are the music.
Sin has made itself a king in the
earth. 1t has crowned itself 1t has
spread a banquet. 1t invites all the
world to come to it. 1t has hung in its
banqueting hall the spoils of all king
doms and the banners of all nations
1t has gathered from all music. 1t has
strewn from its wealth the tables and
the floors and arches. And yet how
often is that banquet broken up, and
how horrible is its end Ever and anon
there is q handwriting on the wall A
king falls. A great culprit is arrested
The knees of wickedness knock to-
gether. Gods judgment, like an armed
host, breaks in upon the banquet, and
that night is Belshazzar, the king of the
Chaldeans, slain.
Here is q young man who says: II
cannot see why they make such fuss
about the Intoxicating cup. Why, it is
exhilarating! 1t makes me feel we'll
J. can talk better, think better, feel
better. | cannot see why people have
such a prejudice against it." A few
years pass on, and he wakes up and
finds himself in the clutches of an evil
habit which he tries to break, bur can
not, and he cries out, ooh, Lord God,
help mew 1t seems as though God
would not hear his prayer, and in an
agony of body and soul he cries out.
ct biteth like q serpent, and it stingeth
like an adder" How bright it was at
the start How black it was at the
lasti
Here is a man who begins to read
corrupt novels. ''They are so charm
ing" says he, II will go out and see