The free press., 1895-11-28

| Of Belshazzar's feastn' you would have
| said. but you look in at the close of the
banquet and your blood curdles with hor-
| ror. The king of terrors has there ghast-
lier banquet. Human blood is the wine and
dying groans are the music. Sin has made
itself king in the earth. II has crowned
ITSELF 1t has spread banquet. 1t invites
all the world to come to it, 1t has hung in
its banqueting hall the spoils of all king
doms and the banners OF all Nations. 1t has
gathered from all music. Ii has strewn
from its wealth the tables and floors and
arches And yet how often is that banquet
broken up and how horrible is its end! Ever
and anon there is handwriting on the wall.
king fails great culprit is arrested.
The knees of wickedness knock together.
God'siudgment, like an armed host. breaks
in upon the banquet, and that night is Bel
shazzar. the king of the Chaldeans, slain.
Here is d young man who says: IL cannot
see why they make such fuss about the In
toxicating cup Why, it is exhilarating! 1t
makes me feel well. can talk better, think
better feel better. cannot see why people
have such prejudice against ii. Few
years pass on, and he wakes up and flnds
himself in the clutches of an evil habit whlcn
he tries to break. but cannot. and he cries
out, so Lord God, help me!' 1t seems as
though God would not hear his prayer, and
in an agony of body and soul he cries out
"It biteth like serpent. and stingeth ike
an adder" How bright 1t was at the start
How black it was at the last
Here is a man who begins to read loose
novels. "They are so charming" he says:
,"I will go out and see for myself whether all
these things are So" He opens the gate OF
a sinful life He goes in. sinful sprite
meets him with her wand. She waves her
wand, and it Is all enchantment. Why, 1t
seems as il the angels of God had poured out
vials of perfume in the atmosphere. AS
he walks on he finds the hills becoming
more radiant with foliage and the
ravines more resonant with the falling
water Oh what a 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. Allthe leaves ofthe bower are forked
tongues of kissing serpents. The flowing
fountains fall back in dead pool stenchful
with corruption. The Turing songs become
curses and screams of demoniac laughter
Lost spirits gather about him and feel for his
heart and beckon him on with "Hail brother!
Hail, blasted spirit. hail.' He tries to ges
out. He comes to the front door where h
entered and tries to push it back, but the
door turns against him. and in the jar OF
that shutting door he hears these words.
'This night is Beshazzar, the king OF the
Chaldeans, slain" Sin may open bright as
the morning. 1t ends dark as :he night
ealn further from this subject that death
sometimes breaks in upon banquet. Why
did he not go down to the prisons in Baby
lon? There were people there that would
like to have died. I 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 tiptop 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
bound to heights toward which many men
have been struggling for years. A proteS-
sion opens before him. He is established in
the law. His friends cheer him. Eminent
men encourage him. After awhile you may
see him standing in the American Senate or
moving a popular assemblage by his elo-
quence. as trees are moved in a awhirlwind.
Some night he retires early. fever is on
him. Delirium, like reckless charioteer.
seizes the rens of his intellect. Father and
mother stand by aud see the tides OF his life
going out to the great ocean. The banquet
is coming to an end. The lights OF thought
and mirth and eloquence arc being eXtln-
gushed The garlands are snatched from
the brow. The vision is gone. Death at the
banquet,
We saw the same thing on q larger scale
illustrated in our Civil War. Our whole Ma
ton had been sitting ut a National banquet
North, South, East and West. What grain
was there but we grew it on our hills5 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 Arctic2 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 Ma
tional 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 sweet fruits. The presses
burst out with new wines. To sit at that
table came the yeomanry of New Hamp-
shire. and the lumbermen Of Maine, and
the Caroinian from the rice plantation,
and the Western emigrant from the
pines of Oregon, and we were all
Observation-Disclosures at banquet. Sud
denly the feast ended What meant those
mounds thrown up at Chickamauga.
Shiloh, Atlanta, Gettysburg, South
Mountain? What meant those golden grain
fields turned into II pasturing ground Tor
cavalry horses? What meant the cornfields
quilted with the wheels of the heavy supply
train? Why those rivers of tears-those lakes
of blood? God was angryl Justice must
come. A handwriting on the wall! The Ma
ton had been weighed and found wanting.
Darkness! Darkness. Woe to the North!
Woe to the South Woe to the East! Woe
to the West! 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 the invading army broke
through. 1t was unexpected. Suddenly,
almost always, comes the doom of those who
despise God aud defy'the laws of men. How
was it at the deluge! Do you suppose 1t
came through long northeast storm, 50
that people for days before were sure it was
coming? No. suppose the morning was
bright; that calmness brooded on the waters:
that beauty sat enthroned on the hills, when
suddenly the heavens burst and the noun
tains sank lke anchors into the sea that
dashed clear over the Andes and the Himala-
yas.
The Red Sea was divided. The Egyptians
tried to cross it. There could be no danger
The Israelites had just gone through. Where
they had gone, why not the Egyptians2 Oh,
it was such beautiful walking place! A
| pavement OF tinSei shells an | pearls. an l.
on either side two great walls of water-