The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1889-09-11


sufficient and condemned it! The French
empire was placed on one side the scales.
and God weighed the French empire, ana
Napoleon said: "Have l not enlarged the
boulevardss Did not kindle the glorles OF
the Champs Elyseess Have not adorned
the Tuileries9 Have not built the gllded
Opera House!" Then God weighed the ma
ton, and He put on one side the scales the
Emperor, and the boulevards, and the
Tuileries, and the Champs Elvsees, and the
gildej Opera House, and on the other SIDE
He puts that mans denominations, that
mans selfshness, that mans goddess ambi-
ton. This last came down, and all the
bril!iancy of the scene vanished. What IS
that voice coming up from Sedan! Weighed
and found wanting!
But must become more Individual and
more personal in.my address. Some people
say they DO not thinkc!lergt trnen ought to be
personal in their religious address, but
ought to deal with subjects in the abstract.
do not think that way. What would you
think Of hunter who shoald go to the Adj
rondacks to shoot deer in the abstract!
All. no. He loads the gun, he puts the butt
OF it against the breast, he runs his eye
then crash 60 the antlers on the rocks. And
50, if we want to be hunters for the Lord,
we must take sure aim and fire. Not III the
abstract are we to treat things in religious
discussions. If a physician comes into
sick room, does he treat disease in the ab-
stract! No; he feels the pulse, takes the
diagnosis, then he makes the prescription.
And if we want to heal souls for this life
and the life to come, we do not want tetreat
them in the abstract. The fact is, you aud
have malady which, if iRcured by grace
will kill US forever. Now, want no alb
strsctior Where is the balms Where is
the physicians
People say there is day Of Judgment
coming. My friend, every day is day OF
Judgment, aud you and to day are being
canyassed, inspected, weighed. Here are
the balances Of the sanctuary. They are
lifted. and we must all be weighed. Who
win come and be weighed firste Here is 3
moralist who volunteers. He is one of the
most upright men in the country. He
comes. Well, my brother, get in-get into
the balaAce now and be weighed. But as he
gets into the balance say: s'What is that
bundle you have along with you" 80, )" he
says, ''that is my reputation for goodness
and kindness and charity and generosity
and kindliness generally 80, my brother,
we can not weigh that; we are going TO
weigh you-you. Now stand in the scales
you, the moralist. Paid your debts!" 'Yes," :"
you say, ''paid all my debts" 'Have
you acted m an upright way in the com
munityl" "Yes, yes" Have you been
kind to the poors Are you faithful in a
thousand relations in ite?' Yes" 80
far, so good. But now, before you get out
of this scale, want to ask you two or three
questions. Have your thoughts always
been right2' ssNo," you say; mo" Put
down one mark. ''Have you loved the Lord
with all your heart and soul and mind and
strength2' NO. you say: Make another
mark. "Come, now. confess that in ten
thousand things you have come short
have you notl" Eyes" Make ten thou
sand marks. Come now, get me book
large enough to make a rec9rd OF that NOR
alist's dehcit. My brother, stand in the
scales, do not fy from them. l put on your
side the scales all the good deeds you ever
did, all the kind words you ever uttered;
but on the other side the scales put this
weight which God says I must put there
on the other side the scales and opposite to
yours put this weight: by the deeds of
the law shall no flesh living be justified"
Weighed and found wanting.
Still, the balances of the sanctuary are
suspended and we are ready to weigh any
who come. Who shall be the next: Well,
here is Journalist. He comes and he gets
into the balances, and as he gets in see
that all his religion is in genufeXions and in
outward observances. AS he gets into the
scales say: What is that you have in this
pockets'' "Ohp' he says, "that is Westmin-
ster Assembly Catechism." l say: VERY
good. What have you in the other pocket"
s'Ohp' he says, ''thatis the Heidelberg Cate
chism.'' ''Very good. What is that you
have under your arm, standing in this
balance Of the sanctuary" 'Oh! !'he says,
ethis is a church record" VERY good.
What are these books on your side OF the
balancep' ''Oh" he says, those are Cal
WINS Institutes" MY brother, We are
not weighing books; we are weigh you.
It can not be that you are dep Ing for
your salvation upon your orthodoxy. DO
YOU not know that the creeds and the forms
of religion are merely the scaffolding for the
building! You certainly are not going to
mistake the scaholding for the temple. DO
YOU not know that men have gone to per-
dition with catechism in their pockets"
"But," says the man, 81 cross myself
often" "Ah! that will not save you.''
But" says the man, Il am sympathetic for
the Door" THAT will not save you.' Says
the man, 81 sat at the communion table,"
That will not save you: But" says the
man. 81 have had my name on the church
record" s'That will not save your "But
I have been a professor Of religion forty
years" THAT will not save you. Stand
there on your side the balances, and will
give YOU the advantage-1 will let you have
all the creeds, all the church records, all the
Christian conventions that were ever held,
all the communion tables that were ever
built, on your side the balances. On the
other side the balances. must put what
God SAYS must put there. 1put this mil
hop-pound weight on the other side OF the
balances: "Having the form of godliness,
but denying the power thereof. From such
turn away" Weighed and found wanting!
Still the balances are suspended. Are
there any:::others who would like to be
weighed or who will be weighed! Yes;
here comes worldling. He gets into the
scales. can easily See Wuat Ills "HoIo iI'1
is made up ce Stocks, dividends, percent
ages, 'buyer ten days, y ''buyer thirty days"
Get in, my friend, get into these balances
and be weighed-weighed for this life, and
weighed for the life to come. He gets in.
l find that the two great questions in his
life are: ''How cheaply can l buy these
goodsa" and ''How dearly can sell them?"
I find that he admires Heaven because it is
q land of gold, and money must be easy"
I find from talking with him that religion
and the Sabbath are al interruption, vut-
gar interruption, and he hopes on the way
to church to drum up new customer! All
the week he has been weighing fruits.
weighing meats, weighing ice, weighing
Goals, weighing confections, weighing world
ly and perishable commodities, not real
izins the fact that he himself has been
weighed. On your side the balances, q
wording! will give you full advantage.
put on your side all the banking houses
sill the store houses, all the carSoes, all the
insurance companies, all the factories, all
the silver, all the gold, all the money vaults,
on IN