The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-11-02

that Frederick the Great said was this: Young man, add q postscript to 1hae letter which yail have just written. say .Goodby forever. I have disobeyed my kings commands in order to write thls letter and by the order of King Freder- ick l shall be shot tomorrow As Fred erick the Great always kept his eye on his troops. Gods all seeing eye is at- ways watching us. even in the most se- cret of places He watches us in the most sacred places of our chambers, Tn the office when we go down the street, wherever we may be. No sin IS secret sin to God He knows all and sees all. The same divine scales that weighed the sinful life of Beshazzar In the banquet hall of the Babylonish capital are con- tinually weighing us. no matter where we may be.
 Sins Balanced by Atonement.
 But. though Gods balances may be conforming scales for the Belshazzars of sin they may also become scales of salvation for every immortal soul that avails itself of Christs atonment. It is not now question of how many sins may be piled into the right scale, but rather of whether we are willing to place the atoning cross in the left l Though the sins of Gods wayward children may be mountains high and seas deep, yet that cross is able to out weigh them all. In the Philadelphia mint can be seen a pair of scales so per- fectly adjusted that if a speck of dirt falls into one of the scales or fly walks across the balancing bar overhanging 1t lthat scale will sink. Gods scales are perfectly adjusted spiritually. No mat ter how many or how great our sins may be- if we once place the cross of Jesus Christ into the scale opposite to that which is piled high with our sins,
 
 and not found wanting.
 What blessed and transporting thought this should be- that we can have all our sins outweighedi We would not dare for one instant to preach sermon upon Belshazzar's feast unless we could place the greatest emphasis upon this idea It would be appalling to depict the horror of a sinners eternity, unless at the same time we could offer a pardon for all sins tc all people if they would i only be willing to be cleansed of their sins in the blood of the Lamb. I once read a dramatic scene where there was not enough physical salvation to go around. It was an the deck of the United States man-of-war Trenton dur ing the famous cyclone in the Samoan harbor few years ago. Every officer and sailor had divested himself of all his outer garments because every mos ment they expected the huge ship to go down. as many of the other vessels had already been engulfed before their eyes. But though every man was making all the necessary preparations he could for what seemed the inevitable plunge there was one life preserver for which no one seemed to have any particular use. It was the only life preserver on board and nobody wanted to take 1t and live and l let his companions die. sailor handed 1t up to the executive officer. The exc cutive officer would not put it on, but | handed it to the captain. The captain in turn handed it to the admiral The ad- | miral refusing to put on this life pre- server was carelessly thrown across the rail of the bridge. There it hung said an eye witness, "a glowing tribute to the l courage of the men who were unwilling | to be saved if they knew thereby that their companions had to die" But though there may not be physical salva- tion enough to go around the whole crew of a doomed ship yet thank God, there is spiritual salvation enough for all the world if we only will accept that salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ. There is no need of any Bel shazzar of sin today being found want ing when he is weighed in Gods balance if he will only let the cross of Jesus Christ be placed in the scale opposite to that which is piled high with his past sins.
 The entrance into Belshazzar's ban quet hall of sin is not one of unalloyed joy. The poet tried to describe the wild exultation of that feast when he imag- inatively wrote these words;
 Oh, neer in Babylon did blaze a sight More richly grand, magnificently bright Bearing his crown and bearing his robe
 of state;
 In shining robes and stretching far
 away,
 Like pillows quivering meath the sunset
 ray,
 Chiefs nobles, stood, the red lamps
 floating OCT
 The golden chains and purple robes they
 wore,
 The Lesson of the Feast.
 But in all that vast throng there was many a sad heart many a hopeless de- spair. To me Belshazzars feast is better described by the artist by whom I saw it pictured at Buffalo. N. Y, in the worlds fair of 1901 Ushered into a dark room, we sat there awhile in total dark ness. Then, by the magical effects of lights, it slowly became brighter and brighter, until, upon the side of the wall. we could see dim figurSs begin to form themselves. They looked at first like l hideous phantoms. Then, as it became lighter and lighter until the whole room |
 
 a huge palace There were the broad | stairs leading upward. There were the bodies of men and women lying pros- trate upon the fioor amid overturned | tables and spilled decanturs and broken | furniture. It was a scene of grandeur. | but also scene of filthy bestialities. In the center of the staircase stood the hor- rified king, with strained eyes looking at the letters of fire burning themselves into the wall, while off in the distance could be seen the Persian soldiers with drawn swords, ready to dilute the spilled wine with human gore and to change the floor into a reservoir of blood Then the lights of the room began to dim, and it grew darker and darker and blacker and blacker, until at last it seemed as though we were incarcerated in the dun geons of the eternally lost and the de-. stroyed
 So when the would-oe sinner would enter the banquet hall of sin he always goes there at first like one groping about in the darkness as fearing that he may be walking upon the edge of precipice He enters with horror and tremblins in terror and with tears. Then in the midnight hour of the carnival the ban | queter in the hall of sin sees that fatal [ handwriting upon the wall You, O sim | ner, today see iti You see it with horri | fled eyes as Belshazzar saw it; you see it written by the dead fingers of those | who have lifted the same cup of death | to their lips that you are lifting at the | present time. Then, as the room where l saw the picture at the worlds fair, you feel that it begins to grow darker and | darker The light in the reyeler's eves | can no longer keep. ycul courage mn | Already in that darkness you can sec [ the advancing messengers of God,s | vengeance. It Is horror at the opening