Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1891-02-06


ness to n man who was unrighteous; OF tom.
parance TO a mau who was the victim OF bad
appettes; Of the Judgment 20 come TO a man
who was unfit for II. So we must always
declare the message that happens to come TO
us Daniel must read il as IL is A minister
preached before James l. OF England, who
was James VI Of Scotland. What subject
did he takes The king was note all over the
world for his being unsettled and wavering
In his ideas What did the minister preach
about TO this man who was James /. OF Eng
land and James VI OF Scotlandy He took
for his text James l., 4: He that wavereth
is like wave OF the sea, driven with tbs
wind and tossed"
Hugh Latimer offenei the king by a ser
mon he preached, and the king said, Hugh
Latimer, come and apologize II will"
said Hugh Iatimer. 10 the day was APP
pointed, 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 thine earthly
king, who can destroy thy body. But be.
think thee, Hugh Latimer, that thou art in
presence of the King Of heaven and earth,
who can destroy both body and soul in hell
fire" Then he preached with appalling
directness at the kings crimes.
Another lesson that comes TO us There Is
a great difference between the opening Of the
banquet Of sin and its close. Young man, II
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 "Ohl the grandeur of Belshazzar'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 ghastler banquet; human blood
is the wine, and dying groans are the music.
Sin has made itself a king in the earth. IL
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
kingdoms and the banners Of all nations IL
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 endl
Ever and anon there is a handwriting on the
wall. A king falls A great culprit is ar
rested The knees Of wickednesS knocked to-
gether. Cots Judgment, like an armed host
breaks in upon the banquet and that night
is Beshazzar, the king Of the Chaldeans,
slain.
Here is a young man who says: II cannot
sec why they make such fuss about the in
toxicating cup. Why, it is exhilaratingi II
makes me feel well. can talk better, think
better, feel better cannot see why people
have such 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 cannot; and he
cries out "Uh, Lord God. help mem 1t
seems as though Col would not hear his
prayer, and in an agony Of body and soul he
cries out 1t biteth like a serpent. and it
gtingeth like an adder How bright it was
at the startl How black it was al the last
Here is a man who begins to read corrupt
novels They are SO charming says he,
al will go out aud see for myself whether all
| these things are So" He opens the gate OF
sinful life He goes in. A sinful sprite
| meets him with her wand. She waves her
wand. and 1t is all enchantment Why, it
seems as il the angels Of God had poured out
phals of perfume in the atmosphere. AS he
walks on he finds the hills becoming moro
radiant with foliage and the ravines more
| resonant with the falling water Oh! what
| charming landscape he sees. But that
| sinful sprite with her wand meets him again;
but now she reverses the wand and all the
enchantment is gone The cup is full Of
poison. The fruit turns to ashes.
| All the leaves of the bower are forked
tongues Of Kissing serpents. The flowing
fountains fall back in a dead pool stenchful
with corruption. The Turing songs become
laughter. Lost spirits gather about him and
| feel for his heart, and beckon him on with
Kali, brother Hail, blasted spirit, hailT He
tries to get out. He comes to the front door
| where he entered, and tries to push It back
but the door turns against HIM, and In the
jar OF that shutting door he hears the words,
This night Is Belshazzar, the king OF Chal-
| deans, slain" Sin may open bright as the
morning. 1t ends dark as the night!
learn further from this subject that Death
sometimes breaks in upon a banquet. Why
| did he not go down 10 the prisons in Babylon?
There were people there that would like to
have died. 7 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 tlp-top pitch Death breaks
in at the banquet. We have often seen the
same thing illustrated 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 bounl to heights
| toward which many men have been strug-
Cling for years. A profession opens before
him He is established in the law. His
friends cheer him Eminent men encourage
him.
After while Won may see him standing
in the United States senate, or moving
popular assemblage by his eloquence, as
trees are moved in a whrlwind. Soine night
he retires early. A fever is on hun. Delirium.
like a reckless Charioteer seiGes the reins Of
his intellect. Father and mother stand by
and See the tides Of his life going out to thu
great ocean. The banquet is coming to an
end. The.lightS OF thought au1 mirth and
eloquance are being extingushed. The gar
lands are snatched from the brow Ths
vision is gone. Death at the bauqust!
We saw the same thing on larger scale
illustrated at the last war in this country
Our whole nation had been sitting at ma.
tional banquet-north, south, east and west
What grain was there but We grew 1t 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 Arc.
tic. What fish but our nets must sweep
them for the markets What music but II
must sing in our halls. What eloquence but
IT must speak in our senates Ho! to the ma
tional banquet, reaching from mountain to
mountain, and from sea to sea, To prepare
that banquet the sheepfods and the aviaries
| OF the country sent their best treasures The
orchards piled up on the table their sweetest
! fruits. The presses burst out with new wines
To sit at that table came the yeomanry of
New Hampshire and tn lumberman Of
Maine, and the Carolinian from the rice
haldS and the western emlgrant from the
pines OF Oregon, AID We were all brothers.
brothers at banquet. Suddenly the feast
ended.
What meant those mounds thrown up at
Chickamauga, Shiloh Atlanta. Gettysburg,
South Mountain What meant those golden
grain fields turned into pasturing ground
for cavalry horses? What meant the corn
fields quilted with the wheels of tho heavy
supply trainf Why those rivers of tears
those lakes of bloodS God was angryi Jus
tlce must come. A handwriting on the wall
The nation had been weighed and found
wanting. Darlncss Darknessi Woe to
the north Woe to the south! Woe to the
east Woe to the west! Death at the ban.
quetl
| 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
| nOint whom that arnnv brolxa