The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1895-11-15

spring he may bound to heights toward
which many men have been struggling
for years. A profession opens before
him. He is established in the law. His
friends cheer him. Eminent men ell =
courage 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 whlrl-
wind Some night he retires early A
fever is on him. Delirium, like reck-
less charioteer, selzes the reins of his
intellect Father and mother stand by
and 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 are being extin-
guished. The garlands are snatched from
the brow. The vision is gone. Death at
the banquet!
We saw the same thing on larger
scale illustrated in our civil war. Our
whole nation had been sitting at ma
tional banquet-north, south, east and
west. What grain was there but we
grew it ON our hills? What invention
was there but our rivers must turn the
new wheel and rattle the strange shut
tie? What warm furs but our traders
must bring them from the arcticf 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
national 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 Carolinian from the rice plantation,
and the western emigrant from the
pines of Oregon, and we were all broth
ers-brothers at banquet. Suddenly
the feast ended. What meant those
mounds thrown up at Chickamauga,
Shiloh, Atlanta, Gettysburg, South
Mountain? What meant those golden
grainfields turned into a pasturing
ground for cavalry horses? What meant
the cornfelds quilted with the wheels of
the heavy supply train? Why those
rivers of atears--those lakes of blood?
God was angry! Justice must come. A
handwriting ON the WALL The nation
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.
Sure and Sudden.
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 and defy
the laws Of men. How was 1t at the
deluge? Do you suppose 1t came through
a long northeast storm, so that people
for days before were sure twas 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 mountains sank like anchors into
the sea that dashed clear over the Andes
and the Himalayas.
The Red sea was divided. The Egyp-
tians tried to cross it. There could be
no danger. The Israelites had just gone
through. Where they had gone, why not
the Egyptians? Oh, it was such beau
tiful walking place. A pavement of
tinged shells and pearls, and on either
side two great walls of water-solid.
There can be no danger. Forward, great
host of the Egyptians Clap the cymbals
and blow the trumpets of victory After
them We will catch them yet, and they
shall be destroyed. But the walls begin
to tremblel They rock They fall The
rushing waters The shrek of drowning
men The swimming Of the war horses
in vain for the shorel The strewing of
the great host on the bottom of the sea,
or pitched by the angry wave on the
beach-a battered, bruised and loath-
some wreck Suddenly destruction came.
One half hour before they could not have
believed it. Destroyed, and without |
remedy.
am Just setting forth fact, which
you have noticed as we'll as l. Ananias
comes to the apostle. The apostle says,
"Did you sell the land for SO much?"
He says, Eyes" 1t was lie. Dead, as
quick as that Sapphire, his wife, comes
in. Ibid you sell the land for so much?"
Eyes" 1t was a lie, and quick as that
she was dead Gods judgments are
upon those who despise him and defy
him. They come suddenly.
Words of Warning.
The destroying angel went through |
Egypt. Do you suppose that any of the
people knew that he was coming? Did
they hear the flap of his great wing? |
Mol Mol Suddenly, unexpectedly, he
came.
Skilled sportsmen do not like to shoot
bird standing on sprig near by. Ii
they are skilled, they pride themselves
on taking it ON the wing, and they wait
till it starts. Death is an old sportsman
and he loves to take men flying under
the very sun. He loves to take them on
the wing. Oh, flee to God this night
If there be one in this presence who has
wandered far away from Christ, though
4 L. Of