Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1891-01-29

hailv He tries 10 get out. He comes to
the front door " here he entered, and tries
TO push it back but tue door turns against
him, and in the jaI or that shutting door
he hears these words, This night is Bel
shazzar the king of the Chaldeans, slain. !"
Sin may open bright as the morning. II
ends dark us the night!
learn further from this subject that
Death sometimes breaks in upon banquet.
Why did he not go down to the prisons in
BabylonS There were people there that
would like to have died. | suppose there
were men 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 tip
top pitch Death breaks in at the banquet.
We have often seen the same thing illus
trated. Here is young man just come
from college He is kind. He is loving.
He is enthusiastic He is eloquent By
one spring he may bound TO heights
toward which many men have been strug
Cling for years. A profession opens before
him. lie is established in the law. His
friends cheer him. Eminent men encour-
age him.
After while you may see him standing
in the United States senate. or moving
popular assemblage by his eloquence, as
trees are moved in n whirlwind. Some
night he retires early. A fsser is on him.
Delirium, like reckless charioteer, seizes
the reins Of his intellect Father and
mother stand by and see the tides Of his
life going ont 10 the great ocean The ban
quet is coming to an end. The lights OF
thought and mlrth and eloquence are
being extinguished. The garlands are
snatched from the brow. The vision Is
gone. Death at the banquet
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 Mt II
national banquet-north south. east and
west What grain WAS there but we grew
il 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 Arctc Was.s fish but our nets
must sweep them for he inarkets. What
music bat it must Sin. ia our halls What
eloquence bit il ni1st speak in our sen
ates. llo TO the national banquet, reach
ing from mountain 10 mountain, and from
sea 10 seal 10 prepare that banquet the
NHtNliotAN Altt iNlitilic ~ tilt country
sent their best treasures The orchards
piled up on the table their sweetest fruits
The presses burst out with new wines 10
sit at that table came the yeomanry OF
New Hampshire and The lnmber1nan of
Maine, and 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 mp at
Chickamauga, Shiloh, Atlanta, Gettys-
burg, South Mountainf What meant those
golden grain fields turned into pasturing
ground for cavalry horsess What meant
the corn fields quilted with the wheels of
the heavy supply train, Why those rivers
of tears-those lakes Of bloodt God was
angry Justice must come. A handwrit
ing on the wall! The nation had been
weighed and found wanting. Darkness!
Darkness! Woe to the northl Woe to the
south Woe TO the east. Woe to the westl
Death at the banquet
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 unexpected. Suddenly, |
almost always, comes the doom of those |
who despise God and defy the laws OF |
men. How was it at the deluge2 DO you |
suppose It came through long northeast |
storm. so that people for days before were |
sure il was comingy No: | suppose the |
wns bright, that calmness brood
ed on the waters; that beauty sat en-
throned on the hills, when suddenly the |
heavens burst, and the mountains sank /
like anchors into the sea that dashed clear
over the Andes and the Himalayas.
OVERWHELMED ~ THE WATERS.
The Red sea was divided. The Egyptians
tried 60 cross it. There could be no danger
The Israelites had just gone through.
Where they had gone, why not the Egyp-
iansg OH it was such beautiful walking
PLACED A pavement of tinged shells and
pearls, and on either side two great walls
If water-solid. There can be no danger.
Forward. great hosts of the Egyptians!
Clap the cymbals. and blow the trumpets
If victoryl After theml We will catch
hem yet. and they shall be destroyed. But
he walls begin TO tremble. They rockl
They fall The rushing watersl The shrek
# drowning men! The swimming of the
var horses in vain for the shorel The
tfeWlng OF Jne great most on tue DOtJom OF
he sea, or pitched by the angry wave on
he beach-a battered, bruised and loath-
lome wreck Suddenly destruction came.
)ne-half hour before they could not have
believed it. Destroyed, and without
emedy.
am just setting forth a fact, which you
rave noticed as we'll as |. Ananias comes
% the apostle. The apostle says, Did you
ell the land for so muchy" He says,
Yes" II was lie. Deadl as quick as that
;apphira, his wife, comes in. did you
ell the land for so muchg' "Yes." 1t was
lie; and quick as that she was dead.
iod's judgments are upon those who de
pise him and defy him. They come sud
enly.
The destroying angel went through
Egypt. Do you suppose that any Of the
eople knew thar he was comingf Did
hey hear the flap of his great wings MOI
10. suddenly, unexpectedly, lac came.
Skilled sportsmen do not like to shoot a
ird standing on a sprig near by. II they
re skilled they pride themselves on tax
~ it on the wing, and they wait till it
tarts Death is an old sportsman, and he
yves TO take men flying under the very