The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1895-11-22

A ~
escape the damnation Of hellT' Paul
the apostle, preached before a man
who was not ready to hear him
preach. What subject did he takef
Did he say: ''ohI you are a good
man, very fine man, very noble
manT' No, he preached Of righteous
ness to man who was unrighteous;
of temperance to a man who was a
victim Of bad appetites; of the judg-
tneht TO come TO man who was unfit
for II. So we must always declare the
message that happens TO comes to US.
Daniel must read as 1t is. A minister
preached before James 7. of England,
who was James vi OF Scotland. 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 l. of England and James VI OF
Scotland? lie took for his text James
first and sixth; "Ha that wavereth is
like a wave OF the sea driven with the
wind and tossed" Hugh Latimer of
Tended the king by a sermon he
preachedl and the king snidI ''ffngh
tatineh COME and apologize al
will" said Hugh hatimer So the
day was appointed; and the kings
chapel was foil OF lords, and
dukes, and the mighty men and
women of the country, for Hugh Lati-
mer was to apologize. He began his
sermon by saying: Hugh Latimer,
bethink theel Thou art in the pres
ence of thine earthly king,who can de-
stroy thy body. But bethink thee,
Hugh Latimer, that thou art in the
presence of the King of Heaven and
earth, who can destroy both body and
soul in hell fire." Then he preached
with appalling difeetness at the kings
crimes.
Another lesson that comes to us to-
night: There is n great difference be-
tween the opening of the banquet of
sin and it's close. Young man, if 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. ''Oh! the
grandeur of Belshazzar's feastr'
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 a
ghastlier banquet; human blood Is the
wine, and dying groans arc the music
Sin has made itself a king in the earth
1t has crowned itself. It 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. 1t has gathered from all ma
tions music 1t has strewn. from it's
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 a
handwriting on the wall. A king
falls. A great culprit is arrested.
The knees of wicl1edness knock to-
gether. Gods judgment, like an
armed host, breaks in upon the ban
quet; and that night is Belshazzar, the
king of the Chaldeans, slain.
Here is young man who says: Il
can not see why they make such fuss
about the Intoxicating cup Why, it
is exhilarating! 1t makes me feel we'll
l can talk better, think better, feel
better. l can not see why people have
such a 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 can
not; and he cries out: "Ob, Lord God!
help mew 1t seems as though God would
not hear his prayer. and in an agony
of body and soul he cries out: at
biteth like serpent, and it stingeth
like an adder" How bright it was at
the start. How black it was at the
lastl
Here is man who begins to read
loose novels. "They are so charming"
he says, II will go out and see for N.Y.
self whether all these things are SO. {"
He opens the gate of a sinful life. He
goes in. A sinful sprite meets him
with her wand. She waves her wand,
and it is all enchantment Why, it
seems as if the angels of God had
poured out pitfalls 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. All the leaves of
the bowers are forked tongues of
Kissing serpents. The flowing foun-
tains fall back in a dead pool stencil
full 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 brotherl
Hail, blasted spirit, haill' 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 these words: This night is
Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldeans,
slain" Sin may open bright as the
morning. 1t ends dark as the night
1 learn further from this subject
that death sometimes breaks in upon a
banquet. Why did he not go down to
the prisons in Babylon? 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
tiptop pitch, death breaks in at the
banquet. We have often seen the
same thing illustrated. Here is a
young man just come from coll
lege- He is kind He is loving. He
is enthusiastic. He is eloquent. BY
one spring he may bound to height to-
ward which many men have been