The Forrest City times., 1891-01-30

slvc ID nis slRht, '1e c generation or vlpe@. ys whited sepulchres! How can ye escape the damnaton of hell.' Paul the apostle preached before man who was not ready to hear him preach. What subject did he take? Did he say: "Oh! you are very good man, very fine man. very noble man?' No; he preached of righteousness to man who was unrishteous; of temper ance to man who was the victim of bad appetites; 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 us. Daniel must read it as it is.
 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 ban quet in the first few hours, you would have wished you had been invited there and could sit at the feast ''Oh! the grandeur of Belshazzar's fcast" you would have said; but look in at the close of the banquet, and your blood curdles with horror The King of Tcrrors has thepe a ghastlier banquet; human blood is the wine and dying groans are the susie. Sin has made itself king in the earth. It has crowned itself. It has spread a banquet. Itinvites all ths world to come to it It has hung
 
 doms, and the banners of all nations. It has gathered from all music. It has strewn, from it's wealth, the tables and the floors, and the arches. And yet how often is that banquet broken up; and how horr- ble is it's end. Ever and anon there is a handwriting on tho wall. A king falls. A great culprit is arrested The knees of wickeduess knock together. Gods 3,,J ilr,a hr. t,, upon the banquet; and that night is Belshazzar. the king of the ChSldeans, slain.
 learn further from this subject that Death sometimes breaks ia upon banquet. Why did he not go down to the prisons in Babylon? There were few persons thore that would like to have died. I suppose there were mon 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 tiptop pitch. Death breaks in at 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 Il national banquet-north. south. east and west. What grain was there. but
 
 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 reaching from mountain 60 noun tlt,, .t banquet the sheepfolds and the aviaries of tho country sent their best treasures. The orchards piled up on the table their sweet est fruits. The presses burst cut with new wines. To sit Ut that table came the yeomanry of New Hampshire, and the lum- bermen of Maine. aud the Carolinian 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 ChicSamauga, Shiloh, A. lanta, Gettysburg. South Mountain? Wha; meant those golden grain fields, turned into pasturing ground for cavalry horses9 What meant the corn fields gulled with the wheels Of the heavy supply train? Why those rivers of tears-those lakes of blood? God was angry. Justice must come. 4 pu ttlt wan. ut EIlIUu uhi been weighed and found wanting. Dark ness. Darkness! Woe to the north, Woe to the south. Woe to the east! Woo to the west! Death at the banquet.
 Are there any here who are unprepared for the eternal world? Are thcro any here who have beer living without God, and without hope? Let me say to you that you had better accept of tho Lord 3..., be gone. The lungs will cease to breathe; the heart will stop. The time will come when yo shall go no more to the office, or to the store, or to the shop. Nothing W i'll be left but Death, and Judgment. and Eter- nity. Oh. flee to God this hourl If there be ono in this presence who has wandered far away from Christ, though he may not have heard the call of the Gospel for many year, invite him now to come and be saved. Flee from thy sin. Flee to the stronghold of the Gospel. Now is the ac- cepted time; now is the day of salvation.
 Good night my young friends. May you have rosy sleep, guarded by him who never slumbers. May you awake in the morning strong and well! But, oh art thou a despiser of God? Is this thy last night on earth? Shouldest thou be awak- cned in the night by something. thou knowest not what, and there be shadows floating in the room. and a handwriting on .i.e Wal, anu you ieei that your last hour is come. aud there be fainting at the heart, and tremor in the limb, and catcting of the broitb--then thy doom would DO but an echo of the words of the text: ''ln that night was Belshazxar, the king of the Chaldeans, slain"
 Hear the invitation Of fhr Encr>.,lt r'ha,o may 6e some one in this house to whom shall never speak again, and therefore let it be in the words of the Gospel and not in my own. with which close: ''Ho, every one that thirsteth, Come ye to the waters. And let him that hath no money come buy wine and milk without money and without price" ''Come unto Me, all ye who are weary and heavy laden, and will give you rest" Oh! that my Lord Jesus would now make himself so attractive 10 your souls thut you can not resist him; and that, if you have never prayed before. or have not prayed since those days when you knclt down nt your mothers knee. then that tonight you might pray saying:
 Just as l am. without one plea
 Hut that thy blood was shed for mo,
 And that thou bid'st me come te thea
 c Lamb of God. I come,
 But If you can not think of so long prayer as that, l will give you shorter prayer that you can say: God be merciful to me, a snner.' Or. if you cannot think of so long prayer as that, will give you still shorter one that you may utter: Lord save me. or perishw Or if that bc too long a prayer, you need not utter one word. Just look and live,
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