The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1895-11-15


often seen the same thing illustrated.
Here ID 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 profession opens before
him. He is established in the law. His
friends cheer him. Eminent men en-.
courage him. After awhile you may see
him standing In the American senate or
moving q popular assemblage by his elo-
quence, as trees are moved in whirl-
wind. Some night he retires early. A
fever is on him. Delirium, like reck-
less oharioteerj seizes 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
tlef What warm furs but our traders
must bring them from Dc arcticf What
fish but our nets must sweep them for
the markets? What music but it must
stag 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 Oh
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
grainfelds turned into a pasturing
ground for cavalry horses? What meant
the cornfields quilted with thewheels of
the heavy supply train? Why those
rivers Of tears-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 it at the
deluge? Do you suppose it came through
long northeast storm, so4khat people
for days before were sure it was coming!
No. I 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 q
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 tremble! They rock They fall The
rushing waters! The shrek of drowning
menl The swimming of the war horses
in vain for the shore! The strcwing q
the great host on the bottom Of the sea,
or pitched by the angry wave Oil 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 /. 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 Sapphira, his wife, CONF:
in. did you sell the land for SO much?"
Eyes" 1t was 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 tie
people knew that he was coming? Did
they hear tho flap Of his great wing
Mol Mol Suddenly, Unexpectedly, he
came.
Skilled sportsmen do not like to shoot
a bird standing on a sprig near by. Il
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, fee to God this night
If there be enc in this presence who has
wandered far away from Christ, thou n
he may not have heard the call Of the
gospel for many year, invite him nov
| to come and be saved. Flee from thy
SIM Flee to the stronghold of tine gos-
pei Now is the accepted time. Now is
the day of salvation.
Good Eight, my young friends; may
you have rosy sleep, guarded by him