The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1903-01-23
Rev. Frank De Witt Talmage
Points to Belshazzar.
He Tells How the King Of babylon
Learned That He Had Been
Weighed and Found Want
ing-A strong Lesson.


banquet hall Of the most famous capi
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. II was OF such vast wealth that
within its central temple was an idol
made of solid gold which alone was
worth over S20OOOO.OOO. Its surround
ing walls were 3GJ feet high and wide
enough to allow four charioteors to
drive their sixteen chargers abreast
upon the top Of them. while the moon
shimmered upon 80 watch towers and
tipped with light the spears Of hundreds
Of sentinels and shone upon a hundred
gates of solid brass. which swung open
to let friends in and changed shut to
keep enemies out.
But we must hurry on tonight and
not linger over the scenic delights Of
this famous capital. for / am going to
lead you into the royal banquet hall.
where Belshazzar, the king Of the Chal.
deans, is giving a great feast to a thou
sand lords Of his kingdom. lie is Civ
ing this feast tonight in a hall deco
rated with the trophies Of conquest and
the triumph of art. with the an
rhythmic with song and redolent with
incense, with the faces Of his dead an
cestors pictured upon the walls or
chiseled by the sculptors in marble Of
purest white. He is giving this feast
in n 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, I'm this banquet hall. at
this famous feast, when the int0Xicat-
ed eye became more brilliant than the
diamonds glttering upon the naked
throats of the assembled guests and
the flushed cheek redder than the wine
cup, there appears a marvellous sight.
out Of space there stretches a hand
an armless. bodiless hand-and with
the finger Of this strange hand for a
pen a hidden power writes there awful
words Of doom upon the wall Of that
banquet hall. 1t is to interpret one OF
those words, "tekel" which means
thou art weighed in the balances and
art found wanting" that / am today
this sermon. ! preach upon
this one word because these fatal five
letters announced TO Belshazzar the
king Of the Chaldeans, that night that
he 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- .
portunities that have surrounded his .
past life He weighs every man with .
reference to the Christian home ih /
which he was born and to the prayers .
Of Christian men and women which
have been uttered in his behalf. God
weighs a man not only with regard Il
his sins Of commission, but also as e
what he might have accomplished foi
God had he applied himself for his hi.
vine Master as he should have done.
When God in this royal banquet hall
1f Babylon held high the balances with
which he weighed Belshazzar. the king
If the Chaldeans, God weighed that
ife by a standard entirely different
rom that with which he would weigh
he life Of an ignorant. brutal African
taught from the days Of his
youth that IL was right and honorable
o eat the roasted flesh Of his captives
md slaves. God placed in one Of the
icales Of his balances all BelshazZar's
infinite opportunities for doing good as
he mighty ruler Of the wealthiest cap
tai of the east. God placed I'm that
me scale all Belshazzar's opportunities
or knowing and learning about the
rue God and his divine love Bel
hazzar was not. as some suppose. the
leathen ruler Of heather nation. He
vas the grandson Of the Nebuchadnez-
ar whose famous prime minister was
Daniel, the mighty man Of God. In
II probability he had heard from Dan
els own lips the commandments Of
he God of the Jews. and how that
iOd had protected the prophet and
losed the mouths Of the hungry wild
,easts when his servant was thrown
nto the lions den. Daniel, al the time
4 which | speak was about eighty
ears Of age He could have testified
nd in all probability did testify TO
,elshazzar how the love Of the true
iod had cared for his believing child.
ow for nearly fourscore years. So
be word written on the wall Of that
anquet hall was the record Of test.
opportunities Of leading a
odly life had been placed In one scale,
nd when the evil effects Of the life
c did lead were put in the other scale
had gone down like fash. That
-as the inevitable result. He had been
-eighed in the balances and found
'anting.
Nv brother and sister. are you ready
, let God hold aloft the same balances
18th which he weighed Belshazzar
fe in the royal banquet hall Of Baby
IN? Are you ready TO let him weign
be results Of your lifeg "Oh, no"