The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-11-11

vited there ana could Sit at the feast
] "On- the grandeur ot IclSnaZzar S feast
] You would have sal15 but you look ia "a
the close Of The banquet, ana your blool
/ curdles with horror. The King OF Ter
I rors mas there g. elastller banquet; huua1
] blood Is the wine, ana Dying sroanS are
I the music Sin has made itself q kins
] I'm the earth. ID has crowned itself. IT
/ has spread banquet. L invites an the
/ world TO come % T. IL has hung lu lis
/ banquentiug hal the spoils OF all king
/ doms, and he banners of all nations. lg
/ has gathered from al music. II has
streV d. from IFS wealth. the tables, ana
uoors. ana arches And yet how often
I Us that banquet broken up ANA now hCr-
rible is its eudt Ever and anon there ls
7 a handwriting on che wall. a king falls.
4 A great culpriu is arrested The knees or
Wickelness knock together GOD Jude-
meDt. Ike en- armed host. breaks, in upon
the banquet ana that night IS Itlsnaz-
Ear the King Of the Chaldeans. slain.
Here Is young man who says, II can
not see why they make such fuss about
,ae Intoxicating cup. Why 30 IS exhila-
rating, 40 makes me feel well. / can
talk better. think better. feel better /
ud.c &c against it," a few years pass on.
and he wakes up and finds himself in the
cluthchcs of an evil habit which be tries
TO break, but cannot; and he cries out, "Oh
Lord Godi help met 1t seems as though
God would not hear his prayer; and III an
aFony o. body and soul he cries out. 1T
bitetl like a serpent. and IL stingeth Ike
an adder How bright IL was al the start!
How black 10 was at the last.
Here is man who begins 20 read loose
novels. They are so charming, he says
II viii go out and see for myself whether
all these things are So He opens the
gate Of a sinful life. He goes in. a sim
full sprite meets him with her wand. She
waves her wand, and 10 Is all enchant-
mcnt. Why, II seems as II the angels Of
GOD had poured out phials Of perfume in
the atmosphere. AS he walks or, he tnds
the hills becoming more radiant with To-
Eage, and the raVlnes more resonant with
the falling water. OH what a charming
"a I'd g lfns. he afrr fa
with her wand meets him again, but now
she reNcrcS the wand, and all the cnchant-
ment is gone. The cup IS full Of poison.
lAe fruit turns to ashes. All the leaves
of the bower are fOrKed tongues of Kissing
serpents. The flowing fountains fail back
IN dead pool stenchful with corruption.
The turing songs become curses and
screams Of dcmOnac laughter. Lost
spirits gather about nim and feel for his
heart, and beckon him on with Hail
brother! Han, blasted spirit, hailH' He
tries to get out He comes TO the front
door where he entered, and tries to push
il back, but the door turns against him;
and in the Jar OF that shutting door he
hears these words, This night is Bel
saZzar, the king of the Caldeans. slain"
Sin may open bright as the morning. II
ends dark as the night,
! learn further from this subject thar
death sometimes breaks in upon q BAN
quet. Why did he not go down to the
there that would like to have died. 1
suppose there Were iuCn and women in
torture In that city who would have well
coined 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 mus rated. Here is a young
man just come from college. He is kind.
he is loving, he is enthusiastic, he is elO-
quent. by one spring he may bound TO
nights toward which many men have been
struggling Tor years. a profession opens
before him. He is established
in the law His friends cheer
mi 90. i'm A
awhile you may see him standing in the
American Senate. or moving a popular
assemblage by his eloquence as trees
are moved in whirlwind. Some night
he retires early. A fever is on him. De-
llrlum, 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 eloquence are
snatched from the brow The vision is
gone. Death at the banquet!
We saw the same thing, on a larger
scale, illustrated in our civil war. our
whole nation had been sitting at a ma
uonal banquet-north. south, east and
grew it on our hills. What invention 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 1t must sing
III
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 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 Hamp
shire, and the lumbermen of Maine and
the Carolinian from the rice plantation,
and the western emisrant from the pines
of Oregon. and we were all brothers
brothers at banquet. Suddenly the feast
onded. What meant those mounds
thrown up at Chickmauga, Shiloh, At
lanta, Gettysburg, South Mountain?
What meant those golden grain fields,
turned into pasturing ground for cav
airy horses? Wheat meant the corn fields
quilted with the wheels of the heavy sup
ply train? Why those rivers of tears
those lakes of blood? God was angryl
Justice must 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
I 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
suddenly, almost always, comes the
doom of those who despise God. and DEFY
the laws of men. How was 1t az the Del
uge? Do you suppose it came through d
long northeast storm. so that people for
days before We're sure it was coming? No;
] 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 noun
tains sank like anchors into the sea thar
dashed clear over the Andes and the
Himalayas.
The Red sea was divided. The Egyp-
tians tried TO cross il. There could be no
danger. The 1sraelites had just gone
through; where they had gone, why nor
the Egyptians? Oh. it was such a beau
wal 4
great walls of water-solid. There can
be on danger. Forward. great hosts of the
the trumpets of victory: After them! we
will catch them yet, and they shall be &c
stroyed. But the walls begin to tremble.
They rock. They FAM The rushing wa
tersi The Shrek of drowning meni The
swimming of the war horses in vain for
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EnEE ~