Connecticut western news., 1895-11-14
BELSHAZZAR'S FEAST

HEIISH AZZAK S FEASI REV. oR. TALMAGE BREACHES ON THE
 HANDWRITING ON THE WALL. ressons From . Banquet of Sin-The Sud- denness of Gods Judgments-A Word of Warning-An Echo of tho Text.
 WASHINGTON, Nov. 1O.-Since his coming to Washington Dr. Talmage's pulpit experience has been remarkable one. Not only has the church in which he breaches been filled, but the audiences have overfowed into the adjoining streets to an extent that has rendered them impossible. Similar scenes were enacted at today's services, when the preacher took for his subject, "Hand- writing on the Wall" the text chosen being Daniel v, 8, '4In that night was Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldeans, slain.
 Night was about to cone down on Babylon. The shadows of her 250 tow CTS began to lengthen. The Euphrates rolled on, touched by the fiery splendors of the setting sun, and gates of brass, burnished and Rlittering, opened and shut like doors of flame. The hanging gardens of Babylon, wet with the, heavy dew, began to pour from starlit flowers and dripping leaf.a fragrance for many miles around. The streets and squares were lighted for dance and frolic and promenade The theaters and galleries of art invited the wealth and pomp and grandeur of the. city to rare entertain ments. Scenes of riot and wassail were mingled in every street, and goddess mirth and outrageous excess and splen- did wickedness came to the king $ palace to do their mightiest deeds of darkness.
 A royal feast tonight at the kings palacel Rushing up to the gates are chariots, upholstered with precious cloths from Dedan, and drawn by fire eyed horses from Togarmah, that rear and neigh in tho grasp of the charioteers, while a thousand lords dismount, and women, dressed in all the splendors of Syrian emerald, and the color blending of agate, and the ,chasteness of coral, and the somber glory of Tyrian purple and princely yembroideries, brought from afar by camels across the desert and by ships of Tarshish across the sea.
 The Guests Assemble.
 Open wide the gates and let the guests come i'll. The chamberlains and cup bearers are all ready. Hark to the rustic of the silks, and to the carol of the musici See the blaze of the jewels Lift the banners. Fill the cups. Clap the cymbals. Blow the trumpets Let the night go by with song and dance and ovation, and let that Baby ylonish tongue be palsied that will not say, 70 King Belshazzar, live forever!"
 An, my friends, it was not any com mon banquet to which these great peo- pie camel All parts of the earth had sent their richest viands to that table. Brackets and chandeliers flashed their light upon tankards of furnished gold. Fruits, ripe and luscious, in baskets of silver, entwined with leaves, plucked from royal conservatories. Vases, inlaid with emerald and ridged with exquisite traceries, filled with nuts that were threshed from forests of distant lands. Wine brought from the royal vats, foam ing in the decanters and bubbling in the chalices Tufts of cassia and franklin cense waiting their sweetness from wall and table. Gorgeous banners unfolding in the breeze that came through the open window, bewitched with the perfumes of hanging gardens. Fountains rising up from inclosures of ivory, in jets of crys tai, to fall in clattering rain of diamonds and pearls, Statues of mighty men look. ing down from niches in the wall upon crowns and shields brought from sub- dued empires Idols of wonderful work standing on pedestals ofprecious stones. Embroideries stooping about the win dows and wrapping pillars of cedar and drifting cn floor inlaid with ivory and agate. Music, mingling the thrum of harps, and the clash of cymbals, and the blast of trumpets in one wave of trans port that went rippling along the wall and breathing among the garlands and pouring down the corridors, and thrill ing the souls of thousand banqueters.
 The signal is given, and the lords and ladies, tho mighty men and women of the land, come around the table. Pour out the wine. Let foam and bubble kiss the riml Hoist every one his cup and drink to the sentiment, 70 King Bel shazzar, live foreverp' Bestarred head band and carcanet of royal beauty gleam to the uplifted chalices, as again, and again, and again they are emptied. Away with care from the palacel Tear royal dignity to tatters! Pour out more winel Give us more light, wilder music, sweeter perfumel Lord shouts to lord, captain ogles to captain. Goblets clash decanters rattle. There come in the ob- scene song, and the drunken hiccough, and the slavering lip, and the guffaw of idiotic laughter, bursting from the lips of princes, flushed, reeling bloodshot, while mingling with it all l hear, "Huzza, huzza, for great Belshazzar p
 Seen on tho Wall.
 What is that on the clustering of the wall? sit spirit? Is it phantomf Is it God? The music stops. The goblets fall from the nerveless grasp. There is g thrill. There is start. There is thou sand voiced shriek of horror. Let Danie be brought in to read that writing. Ht comes in. He reads it, Weighed in tht balance and found wanting"
 Meanwhile the Medes, who for two years had been laying siege to that city took advantage of that carousal ant came in. hear the feet of the conquer ors on the palace stairs. Massacre rushei in with thousand gleaming knives Death bursts upon the scene, and l shu the door of that banqueting hall, for do not want to look. There is nothing there but torn banners, and broker wreaths, and the slush of upset tankards and the blood of murdered women, ant the kicked and tumbled carcass of !; dead king. For lin that night wa Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldcans slain.''
 go on to learn some lessons from al this. learn that when God writes any