Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1902-10-31
TALNAGE
SERMON
BY Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TALMAGE. DID,.
Pastor OF Jefferson Park Presby-
terrain Church, Chicago

draws lessons for the life of today:
text, Daniel V, %, Thou art weighed
in the balances and found wanting"
These words Were spoken in the royal
banquet hall OF the most famous capt.
tai In the east This is Babylon-beau-
tiful, licentious. corrupt, luxurious,
shameless Babylon; Babylon the pride
OF the Chaldeans; Babylon the wonder
of the world
Ctesias tells us that Babylon was
sixty miles square. That means its
area was more than one third the size
of the modern city of London, the Eng
lish beehive, with its 100000 inhabit-
ants. 1t was of such vast wealth that
within its central temple was an idol
made of solid gold, which alone was
worth over 100000, 900. Its surround
ing walls were 365 feet high and wide
enough TO allow four charioteers to
drive their sixteen chargers abreast
upon the top of them, while the moon
shimmered upon $50 watch towers and
tipped with light the spears of hundreds
OF sentinels and shone upon n hundred
gates of solid brass, which swung open
to let friends in and changed shut to
keep enemies out
Standing upon the heights of the IA
nous hanging gardens, which Nebu-
chadnezzar. the king who had courted
Amytis among the hills of Ecbatana,
had thrown up to humor a within OF
his queen, we can see off In the dis
lance the mighty river Euphrates flow
ing through the midst of the metropolis
and cutting the city in twain. Along
the wharfs of the river were daily
heard the cries of the sailors unloading
from the ships cargoes of merchandise
ana foodstuffs, as well as the gold and
silver and myrrh and precious stones
imported from other lands In the Gen.
ter of the capital we can also see where
the engineers had gathered the wa
tiers OF this mighty river into a large
artificial lake forty miles square. This
lake was wide enough and deep enough
to harbor oil the modern navies of the
world. In it all these ships OF war
could drop their anchors, fold their
white sails and float side by side in
peace.
The boulevards OF this ancient city
were pillared with statuary. The
streets encircled the busy marts where
merchants wrangled for barter and
gain or led down to the magnificent
bridges which spanned the river. These
bridges were 6anked with palaces,
where beauty and wealth loitered away
the lazy hours or sang themselves to
sleep, Graded in the graceful gondolas.
which gently pressed the waters into
ripples or contemptuously tumbled the
foam from off their crested breasts
Everywhere artesian wells tossed up
the waters into fountains, shining
through which the sun arched the
flowers with rainbows, while birds of
brilliant hue, whose ancestors had been
brought from tropical chimes, stopped
their singing long enough to quench
their thirst or to cleanse their gorgeous
plumage. There in the evening hour
these fountains lifted up their lips,
while their cheeks blushed into n deep
red for the good night kiss OF the set
ting sun.
The Feast OF Be1shazzar.
! But we must hurry on tonight and
not linger over the scenic delights OF
this famous capital, for I am going to
lead you into the royal banquet hall,
where Belshazzar, the king OF the Chal-
deans, is giving great feast to a thou
sand lords OF his kingdom. He is Civ
ing this feast tonight in n hall deco
rated with the trophies Of conquest and
the triumph of art, with the air
rhythmic with song and redolent with
incense, with the faces OF his dead an
cestors pictured upon the walls or
chiseied by the sculptors In marble of
Nxh II 10 10 xFx- 4,
In q banquet hall where the sandaled
foot strikes mosaic floor or sinks into
softest rug; where, under the light, the
precious stones sparkle and CLEAN as
the Jeweled hand of an aristocrat
pushes back the tapestry or lifts the
golden chalice to the lip. The king Is
giving this drunken feast to show his
contempt for the besieging army OF
Cyrus the Great, which for nearly two
long years had fruitlessly laid siege to
his capital. that seemed impregnable.
But at last, In this banquet hall, at
this famous feast, when the intoxicat-
ed eye became more brilliant than the
diamonds glittering upon the naked
threats of the assembled guests and
the flushed cheek redder than the wine
Out OF space there stretches q hand
an armless, bodlless hand-and with
the finger of this strange hand for a
pen hidden power writes there awful
words Of doom upon the wall of that
banquet hall. 1t is to interpret one OF
these words, ''tekel." which means
'thou art weighed IN the balances and
art found wanting" that I am today
preaching this sermon. j preach upon
this one word because these fatal five
letters announced to BelshazZar. the
king Of the Chaldeans, that night that
be had to die.
Gods balances always have accord
ant weights. He weighs every man
according to the work which he has
given him to do. He weighs every
man In proportion to the religious op-
portunitles that have surrounded his
past life. He weighs every man with
reference to the Christian home In
which he was born and to the prayers
OF Christian men and women which
haye been Uttered In his behalf. God
weighs man not only with regard to
his sins OF commission. but also as to
what he might have accomplished for
God had he applied himself for his Di-
vine Master as he should have done.
The Scales of God.
When God In this royal banquet hall
OF Babylon held high the balances with
which he weighed Belshazzar, the king
OF the Chaldeans, God weighed that
life by standard entirely different
from that with which he would weigh
the life Of an ignorant, brutal African
x cannibal, taught from the days of his
youth that it was right and honorable
to eat the roasted flesh of his captives
and slaves. God placed In one of the
scales of his balances all Belshazzar's
Infinite opportunities Scr doing good as
the mighty ruler of tSe wealthlest cap
1tal OF the east. God placed in that
one scale all Belshazzar's opportunities
for knowing and learning about the
true God and his divine love. Bel
II.