The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-11-07
WEIGHED AND WANTING.
The International Sunday School Les
son for November IL Is "Belshaz-
zar's Feast and Fate" Daniel 5.
(Rv II, LIS

son for November II is "BelShaZ-
zar.S Feast and Fate" Daniel ).
(By WILLIAM T. ELLIS.)
This is one Of the Oldest and most
frequently quoted stories in litera-
ture. Painters and poets and novel
lists and descriptive writer's have all
done their utmost to reproduce the
dramatic scene in the ancient court
Of Babylon. when a mystic hand upon
the wall wrote the doom Of a king and
i kingdom. n yet the last word
has not been said. SO true to life in
al its larger meanings is this graphic
episode that weighed in the bal
ance and found wanting is one Of the
commonest illusions Of cultivated
speech.
No artistic reproduction of the
scene has eve made the facts so real
10 me as my W recent visit to Ba-
bylon. sic transit gloria mundi'-
$50 passes the glory Of the world
NY mind kept repeating, as I stood
on the very spot in the palace Of. Neb
uchadneZZar where rested the throne
Of B~elshazzar, son Of Nabonidus, the
usurper to the throne. The German
psychologists at Babylon have exca-
waited the palace and the throne
recess at one side Of the great room,
my German friend said: There is
where stood the throne Of Belshazzar,
and it was opposite that he saw the
handwriting on the wall" Now all is
ruin. Even the name of Belshazzar
does not remain upon any of the
bricks, although there are thousands
inscribed with the stamp Of Nebu-
c~hadneZZar. 1t is a wonderful spot
IN which to muse upon the transform
ness of earthly glory. Yonder by the
temple Of Marduk stood the Tower OF
Babel, man vain effort to outwit
God. Along the sacred way leading
past the temple Of Isthar, great
triumphal professions passed. Now
the psychologists have to conjecture
who was who among gods and kings
Of this highway of earthly glory.
A Drama Well Staged.
The episode Of the handwriting on
the wall came amid psychological
surroundings and at the psychological
kingdom Of Babylon. Persia was at
the city's gate. Defiant King Belshaz-
Ear held a great carnival Of opulence
and luxury to which he invited his
generals and leading men. All that
the extravaganza and florid taste Of
the East could devise to please the
senses was there in abundance. 1t
was pleasure to the point Of safety.
To stimulate the jadedness of the
~over-indulged appetites Of the drunk
en- jewellers, the king had brought
into the>banqueting room the vessels
from the temple of the God Of the
Jews at Jerusalem. There, they
praised the mu1titudinous gods Of
Babylonia in contrast with the one
God called Jehovah. It was as if the
mad would defy this un-
known God. He accepted the chal-
lenge.
Romance Under Ground.
There are aspects Of the story that
are difficult for the scholar. Some
day We may dig up a further chapter
upon it. All over Babylonia the
Arabs are finding cune1fOrm tablets
reciting history, and the seals which
all men were obliged to carry as a
signature. Assyriologists are able to
read these. Who knows but that we
may one day find the seal of Danfel?
Perhaps it is one of those which I
have in my possession at h moment!
This is the alluring possibility about
the romantic discoveries that are be-
ing made in Babylonia.
God has stored away in the safe
deposit vault Of mother earth, be-
meath a perfectly dry climate, these
records which should lie idle for
thousands Of years until, in a fullness
of time which seems now to be COM
ing, they should be brought to the
light to attest the truth Of the sacred
Scriptures. Wise men have learned
not to be positive in saying that any
thing is untrue in Scripture, when
there is a possibility Of confederation
from these vaults Of history SO long
and wonderfully sealed.
Shocking The Superstitious.
A superstitious people were these
Babylonians. they were peculiarly
susceptible to omens and portents.
SO when into the midst or the gran
deur Of the great feast was projected
a spectral hand, writing unknown
characters upon the wall, there was a
CONSERVATION which sobered the
drunken and the abandoned. Out OF
nowhere it had come. Before their
dazed eyes it traced upon the wall its
message.
If Jehovah wished to write a warn
ing upon the hearts Of men he could
not do it better than here. Babylon,
be it ramamhared WAS the capital OF