The Hazel Green herald. [volume] (Hazel Green, Wolfe County, Ky.) 1885-19??, 1895-12-12

him and fcei his heart, and bcclon
him en- with Hail brotheri Hail,
blasted spirit, hail!' He tries TO get
out. He comes to the front door where
he entered. and tries 10 push 1t back,
but the door turns against him; and in
the Jar of that shutting door he hears
these words: This night is Belshaz.
| gar, the king of the Chaldeans, slain"
Sin may open bright as the morning.
IL ends rark as the night
] 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 liked 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 dnsning to the
tiptop pitch. Death breaks in at the
banquet We have often seen the same
thing illustrated. Here is q 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 struggled for
years. A profession opens before him.
He is established in the law. His
friends cheer him. Eminent meA en-
courage him. After awhile you may
see him standing in the American SEN
ate, or moving a popular assemblage
by his eloquence as trees are moved in
a whirlwind. Some night he retires
~, -. l.
like a reckless charioteer, 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 elo-
quence are being extinguished The
garlands are snatched from his brow.
The vision is gone. Death at the ban
quet
We saw the same thing, on larger
scale, illustrated in our civil war. Our
whole nation had been sitting at the
national banquet-north, south, east
and west What grain was there, but
we grew II on our hills. What inven-
ton 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 Arctic. What fish,
but our nets must sweep them
for the markets. What music, but it
r2ust sing in our halls What elc-
quence. but it must speak in our sem
ates. Ho! to the national banquet
reaching from mountain, and from sea
to sea! To prepare that banquet, the
sheep-folds 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 Hampshire,
and the lumbermen of Maine, and the
Carolinian from the rice plan ia ton, and
the western emigrant from the pines of
Oregon, and we were all brothers.
brothers at banquet. Suddenly the
feast ended What meant those
mounds thrown up at Chickamauga,
Shiloh, Atlanta, Gettysburg, South
Mountain? What meant those golden
grain fields, turned into pasturing
ground for cavalry horses? What
meant the corn fields quilted with the
wheels of the heavy supply train?
Why those rivers of tears--those lakes
mutt come. A handwriting on the |
wall! The nation had been weighed |
and found wanting. Darkness Dark |
ness! 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 de>pise 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 despse /
God, and defy the laws of men. How |
was it at the deluge? DO you suppose |
it carne through u long northern |
storm. or that people for days before |
were sure H. was coming? No; sup |
pose the morning was bright; that |
calmness brooded on tine 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. %as
The Red sea was divided. The Egyp-
tians tried to cross II. There could /
be no danger. The Israelities had
gone just through; where they had
gone, why not the Egyptians? oh.it
was such a beautiful walking place.
"a pavement Of tinged shells and
pearls, aud on either side two great
walls OF water solid. There can be
no danger Forward, great hosts Of
10 IN5,rn.ianst Clan the cymhnls and |