The Penn's Grove record., 1895-11-15
NUMBER II.

gathered from all music. 1t has strewn
rom It's wealth the tables and floors and
Irches. And yet how often is that banquet
broken up and how horrible is its end! Ever
Ind anon there is O handwriting on the wall.
KING Tails. A great culprit Is arrested.
Ihe knees OF w~ickedness knock together.
Iodsjudgment, like an armed host, breaks
n upon the banquet, and that night Is Bel
ihazzar. the king Of the ~Chaldeans, slain.
Here is a young man who says: ~ cannot
Zee why they make such a fuss about the in
oxieattng cup. Why, IT is exhilaratingl 1t
makes me feel well. / can talk better, think
better, feel better. Icannot see why people
lave such a prejudice against it," A few
years pass on, and he wakes up and finds
himself in the clutches OF an evil habit which
ae tries to break. but cannot, and he cries
out, 20 Lord God, help mel II seems as
;hough God would not hear his prayer, and
n an agony Of body and soul he cries out,
1t biteth like a serpent. and stingeth like
IN ADDER" How bright 1t was at the start
how black it was at the last!
Here is a man who begins to read loose
bowels. "They are so charming" he says.
Il will go out and see for myself whether all
these things are So" He opens the gate Of
\ sinful life. He goes In. A sinful sprite
meets him with her wand. She waves her
wand, and 1t Is all enchantment. WHY. it
seems as IL the angels Of God had poured out
vials of perfume in the atmosphere. As
he walks on he finds the hills becoming
more radiant with foliage and the
ravines more resonant with the falling
water. oh, h a charming landscape he
seesl But that sinful sprite, with her wand,
meets him again. but now she reverses the
wand, and all the ~enchantment is gone. The
sup Is full of poison. The fruit turns to
ishes. Allthe leaves ofthe bower are forked
tongues OF kissing serpents. The flowing
fountains fall back In a dead pool stenchful
with corruption. The lu ing songs become
1 snrGau and arnar ~ IapaNnf.u t,,~hk.r.
Lost spirits gather about him and ~feeffor his
heart and beckon him on with "Hail brotherl
Hail, blasted spirit, hail" He tries to get
put. He comes to the front door where he
entered and tries to push 1t back, but the
ioor turns against him, and in the jar OF
hat shutting door he hears these words,
"This night is Bslshazzar, the king of the
Chaldeans, slain" Sin may open bright az
The morning. 1t ends dark as the night.
Z lean further from this subject that death
sometimes breaks in upon a banquet. Why
lid he not go down to the prisons in Baby
lon? There were people there that would
ike to nave died. suppose there were men
and women in torture In that city who
would have welcomed death, but he comes
20 the palace, aud Just at the time when the
nirth is dashing to the tiptop pitch death
breaks in at the banquet. We have
often seen the sa ne thing illustrated. Here
s a 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 profess
sion opens before him. He is established in
lhe law. His friends cheer him. Eminent
men encourage him. After awhile you may
see him standing in the American Senate or
moving a popular assemblage by his elo-
tuence, as trees are moved In a whirlwind.
Some night he retires early. A fever is on
him. Delirium, like a reckless charioteer,
' hatuaa &ha rasp, - ksa ;-ka1I,1N nusL----4
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 e%loquence are being extin-
guished- The garlands are snatched from
the brow. The vision is gone. Death at the
| banquet!
/ have also to learn from the subject thai
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 1t at the deluge2 Do you suppose II
came through a long northeast storm, so
that people for days before were sure 1t was
coming? No, 1 suppose the morning was
bright; that ealmness 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 that
dashed clear over the Andes and the Himala.
vas.
The Red Sea was divided. The Egyptians
| tried to cross it. There could be no danger.
The Israelites had just gone through. Where
| they had gone why not the Egyptians2 Oh,
It was such a beautiful walking place! A
pavement OF tinged shells and pearls, and
on either side two great walls Of water
solid. There can be mo danger. Forward,
| great host of the Egyptiansl Clap the
| cymbals and blow the trumpets OF vlctoryi
After theml We will catch them yet, and
they shall be destroyed. But the walls begin
to tFemble! They rocki They fall The
rushing waters! TIL shrek Of drowning
men! The swimming Of the war horses In
/ vain for the shorel The strewing of the
great host on the bottom of the sea, or
| pitched by the angry wave on the beach,
battered. bruised and loathsome wreck
Suddenly destruction came. One half houf
before they could not have believed it. De
Itroyed, and without remedy.
i am just setting forth a fact, which You
have noticed as we'll as 1. Auanias comes
TO the apostle. The apostle says, ibid you
sell the land for SO much?' He says, eyes"
1t was a lie. Dead. us quick as thati
~sapphira, his wife, comes in. 'Did you sell
the land for so much?" Eyes" It was a
lie, and quick as that she WAS dead! Gods
Judgments are upon those who despise Him
ind defy Him. They come su ldenly.
Skilled sportsmen do not like to shoot
| bird standing on a sprig nearby. II they ara
skilled, they pride themselves on taking it on
the wing, and they wait till it starts. Death
5 an old sportsman and he loves to take men
dying under the very sun. He loves to take
them on the wing. Oh, flee to God this
night If there be one in this presence who
| has wandered far away from Christ, though
he may not have heard the call of the gospel
for many a year, | invite him now to come
and be saved. Flee from thy SIN! Flee to
| he stronghold OF the gospel! Now is the ac-
,epted time. Now is the day of salvation.
Good night, my young friends; may You
have rosy sleep, guarded by Him who never
sulmbers! May you awake in the morning
strong n WE'LL But. oh, art thou a de-
piser of God2 Is this thy last night on
sarth? Shouldst thou be awakened in the
night by something. thou knowest not what,
and there be shadows floating in the room,
and a handwriting on the wall, and you feel
that your last hour is come, n there be q
fatnting at the heart, aud a tremor In tho
limb, and a catching of the breath-then thy
doom would be but an echo of the words OF
the text; ain that night was Belshazzar, tho
king of the Chaldeans, slain"
Oh, that my Lord Jesus woul now mako
Himself so attractive TO you souls that VOC
cannot resist Him, aud IL you have never
prayed before or have not prayed since
those days when you knelt down at your
mothers knee, then that tonight you might
pray, saying.
Just as I am, without one plea
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bidst me ZONE TO Thee,
Lam OF God, l comei,
But IL you cannot think OF so long a prayn
as that, 1 will give you a shorter prayer that
you can say, "God be merclfui to me, n sim
nerl" Or, II you caqnot think of so long q
prayer as that, l will give you q stillsaorter
| one that YOU NAV utter. .'Lori save me- or l
perlshl' Or, If that be TOO long a PRAYER. you
need not make it. Use the WORT "help,"
Or. II that be too long a word, you need not
use any word at all. Ju5t LOOK aa1 iva.
The road to poverty is easy to find
but hard to travel.
By desiring what is perfectly good,
even when we do not know quite what
il Is, and cannot do what we would, We
are part of the diyinepower agaist evil
widening the skirts of light and
making the struggle with darkness
narrower.