The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1891-01-31

Jcu "a Ihc ulbHlty Oh nuInan nature
Shall l tell you of the wonder that our
race has Accomplishment 20, no." you
say, "Cel me the message that came
from God" l will. If there Is any
handwriting Oh the wall, it is this les.
son: Accept of Christ and be saved
l might talk of u great many other
things, but that is the message and SO
l declare it. Jesus never flattered those
to whom he preached. He said to those
who did wrong and who were often.
sive in his sight: I'VE generation OF
vipers! we whited sepulchres! how
can We escape the damnation of helli'
Paul, the apostle, preached before
n man who was not ready to hear him
preach. What subject did he take? Did
he say: 20! you are IA good man, a very
fine man, a very noble MANI" No; he
preached of righteousness TO "a man who
was unrighteous; of temperance to n
man who was the victim to bad appe.
tites; of the judgment to come to u mar
who was unfit for it. So we must al
ways declare the message hat happens
to comes to us. Daniel must read it as
1t is.
Another lesson that comes to us:
There is II 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
beer invited there and could sit ut the
feast. "Oh! the grandeur of Balshaz-
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 u ghastlier
banquet; human blood is the wine and
dying groans are the music. Sin has
made itself Il king in the earth. 1t has
crowned itself. 1t has spread a BAN
quet. II invites all the world to come
to 1t.
1t has hung In It's b%anqueting hall the
spoils of all Kingdoms and the banners
of all nations. 1t has gathered from
wealth the tables, and the floors and
the arches. And yet how often Is that
banquet broken up and how horrible is
its end! Ever and anon there is a hand
writing on the wall. A King 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.
Here Is a young man who says: 81
can not see why they make such a fuss
about the Intoxicating cup. Why. it is
eXhilarating! 1t makes me feel well.
l can talk better, think better, feel bet
ter. l can not 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, but can
not; and he cries ont: "Oh, Lord God!
help mel" It seems as though God
would not hear his prayer; and in an
agony of body and soul he cries out:
at biteth like a serpent and 1t stingeth
like an adder" How bright 1t was at
the start! How black it vas at the last
Here is a man who begins to read cor
rupt novels. "They are so charming"
says he. n will go out and see for my
self whether all these things are So"
He opens the gate TO a sinful life. lie
goes in. A sinful sprite meets him with
her wand. She waves her wand and it
is all enchantment Why, it seems as
If the angels of God had poured out
phials Of perfume in the atmosphere.
AS he walks on he finds the hills be-
coming more radiant with foliage and
the ravines more resonant with the fall
ing water. o, what u charming land
scape he seesi
But that sinful sprite, with her wand,
meets him again: but now she reverses
the wand and all the enchantment is
gone. The Turing songs become curses
and scream of demoniac laughter.
Lost spirits gather about him and feel
for his heart, inc beckon him on with
Hail, brotherl Hail, blasted spirit,
hail!" He tries to get out. He zones
to the front door where he entered, and
tries to push 1t back, but the door turns
against him, and in the jar of that
shutting door he hears these words:
This night is Belshazzar, the King of
the Chaldeans, slain" Sin may open
bright as the morning; 1t ends dark as
the night!
l learn further from this subject that
death sometimes breaks in upon a ban
quet. Why did he not go down to the
~sprisons in Babylon? There were people
there that would like to have died. 1
suppose there were men and women in
torture in that city who would have
welcomed death. But he M to tho
palace, and just at the time when the
mirth Il dsshing to the tiptop pitch
death breaks In at the banquet We
have often seen the same thing illus
trnted Here u Q young man just come
frpm collage. Hei Is kind. He Is low
ing. He u enthusiasts. He is eloquent.
BY one spring he may bound to
heights toward which many men have
been struggling for years. A profess
sion opens before him. He is estab-
lished in the law. His friends cheer
him. Eminent men encourage him. Al
ter awhile you may see him standing
in the United States Senate, or moving
q popular assemblage by his eloquence
as trees are moved In q whirlwind.
Some night he retires early. A fever il
ON him. Delirium, like a reckless char
ioteer, seizes the reins Of his intellect.
Father and mother stand by and see the
tides Of his life going out to the great
Q 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 In the last war of this
country. Our whole Nation had been
sitting at q National banquet-North,
South, East and West. What grain was
there, but we grew it OF our hills.
What invention was there, but u
must turn the new wheel, and
the strange shuttle. What warm
furs, but our traders must bring them
from the Artic. What fish, but our nets
must sweep them for the markets.
What music, but it must sing in our
halls. What ~eloquence, but 1t must
speak in our Senates. Hoi to the
National banquet, reaching from noun
tain to mountain, and from sea to sea.
To prepare that banquet, 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 with new wines.
To sit at the table came the yeomanry
of New Hampshire. and the lumbermen
of Maine, and the Carolinan from the
rice fields, and the Western emigrant
from the pines of Oregon. and we were
all brothers-brothers at q banquet.
Suddenly the feast ended. What meant
those mounds thrown up at Chicka-
manga, Shiloh, Atlanta, Gettysburg,
South Mountain? What meant those
golden grain fields turned into q pastur-
ing ground for cavalry horsesP What