Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1895-11-15


dark as the night.
l 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. l 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 enthu-
siastic. He is eloquent. BY one spring
he may bound to heights toward which
many men have been struggling for
years. profession opens before him.
He is established in the law. His
| friends cheer him. After awhile you
may see him standing in the Amerl-
can senate, or moving popular assem-
blage by his eloquence, as trees are
moved in whirlwind. Some night
he retires early. A fever is on him.
Delirium, like a reckless charioteer,
seizes the reins CT his intellect. Faith
er 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 eXtingulshed.
The garlands are snatched from the
brow. The vision is gone. Death at
the banquet!
l 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
it at the deluge? Do you suppose 1t
came through long northeast storm,
so 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 sudden
ly the heavens burst, and the mount
aims 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 beautiful walking place! A
pavement of tinged shells and pearls,
and on either side two great walls OF
water-solid. There can be no dan
ger. Forward, great host of the Egyp-
tians! 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
tremble. They rock! They fall! The
rushing waters! The shrek Of drown
ing men! The swimming of the war
horses in vain for the shore! The strew-
| ing of the great host on the bottom OF
the sea, or pitched by the angry wave
on the beach-a battered, bruised, and
! loathsome wreck, Suddenly destruc-
ton came. One half hour before they
! could not have believed it. Destroyed,
and without remedy.
| I am just setting forth fact, which
! you have noticed as well as l. Anna
Mas comes to the apostle. The apos-
tie says: did you sell the land for so
much?" He says, yes" 1t was lie.
Dead! as quick as that. Sapphire, his
wife, comes in. did you sell the land
| for so much?" YES" 1t was lie,
and quick as that she was dead Gods
! judgments are upon those who despise
| Him and defy Him. They come sud-
| denly.
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? No, no! 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 he may not have
heard the call of the Gospel for many
a year, | invite him now to come and
be saved. Flee from thy sin! Flee to
the stronghold of the Gospel! Now is
the accepted time; now is the day Of
salvation.
Good night, my young friends may
you have rosy sleep, guarded by Him
who never slumbers! May you awake
in the morning strong and we'll. But
oh! art thou despiser Of God? Is this
thy last night on earth? Shouldst thou
be awakened in the night by some
thing, thou knowest not what, and
there be shadows floating in the room,
and handwriting on the wall, and you
feel that your last hour is come, and
there be fainting at the heart, and a
tremor in the limb, and catching of
the breath-then thy doom would be
but an echo Of the words of the text:
I'm that night was Belshazzar, the king
of the Chaldeans, slain"
Oh! that my Lord Jesus would now
make Himself so attractive to your
souls that you cannot resist Him; and
| 90 x,o,, l,oy a naypr pra yad baforo on ho,.