The Bossier banner., 1891-04-02


wall, upon crowns and shields brought
from subdued empires. Idols of Won
derful work, standing on pedestals of
precious stones. Embroideries STOPPING
about the windows, and wrapping pill
lars of cedar, and drifting on floor in
laid with ivory and agate. Music, min
Cling with the thrum of harps, and the
clash of cymbals, and the blast of
trumpets in one wave of transport that
went ripping along the wall, and
breathing among the garlands, and
pouring down the corridors, and thrill
ing the souls of thousand banqueters.
The signal is given, and the lords and
ladies, the mighty men and women of
the land, come around the table. Pour
out the wine. Let foam and bubble
kiss the rim! Hoist every one his cup,
and drink to the sentiment: so King
Belshazzar, live forever!" Bestarred
head-band and carcanet of royal beauty
gleam to the uplifted chalices, as again,
and again, and again they are emptied.
Away with care from the palacel Tear
royal dignity to tatters! Pour out more
wine! Give us more light, wilder music,
sweeter perfume! Lord shouts to Lord,
Captain ogles to Captain. Goblets clash;
decanters 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: "Huz-
"a! huzza! for great Belshazzar!''
What is that on the plastering of the
wall? Is it a spirit? Is it a phantom?
Is it God? Out of the black sleeve of
the darkness a finger of fiery terror
trembles through the air and comes to
the wall, circling about as though it
would write, and then, with sharp tip
of fame, engraves on the plastering the
doom of the King. The music stops.
The goblet falls from the nerveless
grasp. There is a thrill There is a
start. There is 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. I hear the feet of the
conquerors on the palace stairs. Mas
sacre ruShes in with a thousand gleam-
ing knices. Death bursts upon the
scene; ard l shut the door of that ban
quoting all, for 1 do not want to look.
There is nothing there but torn ban
ners, and LToken wreaths, and the slush
of upset tapkards, and the blood of
murdered women, and the kicked and
tumbled carcass of a dead King. For
''in that night was Belshazzar, the King
of the Chaldeans, slain.''
/ go on to learn that when God writes
any thing on the wall, a man had better
read it as it is. Daniel did not misin-
terpret or modify the handwriting on
the wall. 1t is all foolishness to expect
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 I tell
you of the dignity of human nature?
Shall l tell you of the wonders that our
race has accomplished? sob! no." you
say; ''tel me the message that came
from God" will. If there is any hand
writing on the wall, it is this lesson:
accept of Christ and be savedr' I
might talk of a great many other things.
but that is the message, and so declare
it. Jesus never fattered those to whom
He preached. He said to those who did
wrong, and who were offensive in
His sight: "Ye generation of vipers!
ye whited sepulchers, how can
ye escaps the damnation of
hell!" Paul the apostle preached
before man who was not
ready to hear him preach. What sub
ject did he take? Did he say: ''Oh! you
are a good man, very fine, very no
BILE man?' No; he preached of right
eousness to a man who was unright-
eous; of temperance to man who was
unfit for it. So we must always de-
clare the message that happens to come
to US. Daniel must have read it as it is.
A minister preached before James I. of
England, who was James VI. of Scot
land. What subject did he take? The
King was noted all over the world for
being unsettled and wavering in his
ideas. What did the minister preach
about to this man who was James 1. of
England of James VI. of Scotland? He
took for his text (James 16.): sHe
that wavereth is like a wave of the
sea, driven w ith the wind and tossed
Hugh Latimer offended the King
by sermon he preached, and the King
said: ''Hugh Latimer, come and apol-
ogize." 81 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 country, for Hugh Latimer was
to apologize. He began his sermon by
saying: 'Hugh Latimer, bethink thee!
Thou art in the presence of thy earthly
King, who can destroy your body. But
bethink thee, Hugh Latimer, that thou
art in the presence of tho King of
Heaven and earth, who can destroy
both body and soul in hell-fre." +" Then
he preached with appalling directness
at the Kings crimes.
Another lesson that comes to us: there
is great difference between the open
ing of the banquet of sin and its close.
l.