The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1895-11-23
TALMAGE's SERMON.
Lessons Derived From the Great
Feast of Belshazzar.
Daniels Interpretation of tho Handwrit-
Ing ON the WalI-Tho Feast of
Sin IL Dazzling. hut Its
End ID Death.

hcV. l. Dc WIN ldltuuRo CHOSE 10
the subject of his regular Sunday ser
mon to his Washington congregation
''The Handwriting on the WALL" TAX
ing for his text:
In that night was Belshazzar, the king OF tn
Chaldeans, slain. -Daniel ". 30
Night was about to come down OF
Babylon. The shadows of her tive
hundred and fifty towers began Il
lengthen. The Euphrates rolled on
touched by the fiery splendors of the
setting sun; and gates of brass, bur
nished and glittering, opened and shut
like doors Of flame. The hanging gar
dens of Babylon, wet with the heavy
dew, began to pour, from starlit flow
ers and dripping leaf, fragrance fol-
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 entertainments. Scenes of riot
and wassail were mingled in every
street; and goddess mirth, and outra.
geous excess and splendid wicledness
came to the kings palace. to do their
mightiest deeds of darkness.
A royal feast tonight at the kings
palace! 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 the grasp of the chariot
GERS, while thousand lords dismount,
and women, dressed in all the splend-
ors of Syrian emerald, and the color
blending Of agate, and the chasteness
of coral, and the somber glory of
! Tyrian purple, and princely embroid-
cries, brought from afar by camels
across the desert, and by ships of
Tarshish across the sea.
| Open wide the gates and let the
guests come in. The chamberlains and
! cupbearers are all ready. Hank to the
rustic of the silks, and to the carol Of
the music! 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 Baylonish
tongue be palsied that will not say:
40, King Belshazzar, live forever"
All! my friends, it was not any COM
mon banquet to which these great
people came. 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 lus-
trous, in baskets of silver, entwined
with leaves, plucked from royal con-
servatories. Vases, inlaid with emer-
aid and ridged with exquisite trace
Il Il - 1tat
threshed from forests of distant lands.
Wine brought from the royal watts,
foaming in the decanters and bubbling
in the chalices. Tufts of cassia
and frankincense waiting their
sweetness from wall and table.
Gorgeous banners unfolding in
the breeze that came through
the open window, bcwitched with the
perfumes of hanging gardens. Foun-
tains rising up from Enclosures of
ivory, in jets of crystal, to fall in
Gathering rain Of diamonds and pearls.
Statues of mighty men looking down
from inches in the wall upon crowns
and brought from subdued empires.
Idols OF wonderful work standing on
pedestals of precious stones. EN-
broideries STOPPING about the windows
and wrapping pillars of cedar,
and drifting on floor inlaid with
ivory and agate. Music, mingling the
thrum of harps, and the clash of GYM
balls, and the blast of trumpets in one
wave of transport that went ripping
along the wall and breathing among
the garlands, and pouring down the
corridors, and thrilling the souls of
thousand banqueters. The signal is
given, and the lords and ladies, the
mighty men and women of the land,
come around the table. Pour out the
wine. Let foam and bubble kiss the
rim! Hoist every one his cup and drink
to the sentiment. "O King Belshaz-
Ear, live forever!" Bestarred head band
and carcanet of royal beauty CLEAN to
the uplifted chalices, as again, and
again, aud again they are emptied.
| Away with care from the palace!
Tear royal dignity to tatters! Pour
out more wine! Give us more light,
wilder music, sweeter perfume! Lord
shouts to lord. Captain ogles to cap
tain. Goblets clash; decanters rattle.
There come in the obscene song. and
the drunken hiccough, and the SLAYER
ing lip. and the guffaw of idiotic
laughter. bursting from the lips of
princes, flushed, Keeling, bloodshot;
while mingling with it all hear,
"Huzzal huzza! for great Belshaz-
| Ear"
| What is tbct on the plastering of the
WALTZ Is it n npirit? Is it a phantom?
Is it God? The music stops. The COB
lets fall FROM the nerveless grasp.
There is thrill. There is start.
| There is thousand-voiced shrek of
horror. Let Daniel be brought in to
read that writing. He comes in. lie
reads it: Weighed in the balance and
found wanting
Meanwhile the Modes, who for two
years had been laying siege to that
city, took advantage of that carousal
and came in. hear the feet of the con-
qucrors on the palace stairs Massacre
| rushes in with thousand cleaning
knives. Death bursts upon the scene,
and shut the door of that banqueting
| hall, for do not want to look. There
Is nothing there but torn banners,
and broken wreaths and the slush of
| upset tankards, and the blood of MUIR
| darad xvopnap and the kicIxed and trm-