Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-09-13
THE BALANCES LIFTED.
DIR. TALMAGE, THE ELOQUENT d.
VINE, IN OMAHA.
The Sermon is BASED on These Memorable
Words: "Thou Art Weighed in the Bal
ances, and Art Found Wanting. Dan
iel v, ~.

|
IN immense congregation in Omaha, on
Sunday, Sept. /. His text was: "Thor
art weighed in the balances, and art
found wanting. Daniel v, 81. The
preacher said:
| Babylon was the paradise of architec-
ture, and driven out from thence the
grandest buildings of modern times are
only the evidence of her fall. The site
having been selected for the city, two
million men were employed in the rear
ing of her walls and the building of he,
works. 1t was city sixty miles in cir.
conference. There was a trench all
around the city from which the material
for the building of the city had been
digged.
There were twenty-five gates on each
side the city; between every two gates a
tower of defense springing into the
the skies; from each gate on the one
side, street running straight through
to the corresponding gate on the other
side, so there were fifty streets fifteen
miles long. Through the city ran a
branch of the River Euphrates. This
river sometimes overtiowed it's banks.
and to keep it from the ruin of the city
lake was constructed, into which the
! surplus water of this river would run
| during the time of freshets, and the
water was kept in this artificial lake I'M
til time of drought, and then this water
| would stream down over the city. AT
either end of the bridge spanning this
Euphrates there was a palace-the one
| place mile and half around, the
| other palace seven and half miles
around.
The wife of Nebuchadnezzar had
been born and brought up in the coun-
try and in u mountainous region, ana
she could not bear this flat district of
Babylon; and so, to please his wife.
| Nebuchadnezzar built IN the midst of
the city mountain 400 feet high. This
| mountain was built out into terraces
| supported on arches. On the top of
these arches q layer of fiat stones; on
the top of that a layer OF reeds and
bitumen; on the top OF that two layers
OF bricks, closely cemented; on the top
of that heavy sheet of lead, and on
the top of that the soil placed-the soil
SO deep that Lebanon cedar had room
to anchor its roots. There were pumps
worked by mighty machinery, fetching
up the water from the Euphrates to this
hanging garden, as it was called, so that
there were fountains spouting into the
| sky.
| Standing below and looking up it
must have seemed as if the clouds were
in blossom. or as though the sky leaned
on the shoulder of cedar. All this
Nebuchadnezzar did to please his wife.
Well, she ought to nave been pleased!
suppose she was pleased. If that
would not please her nothing would.
There was in that city also the temple
OF Belus, with towers one tower the
eighth of mile high, in which there
was an observatory where astronomers
talked to the stars. There was in that
temple on image, just one image, which
cost what would be our fifty two million
dollars.
owhat city! The earth never saw
anything like it, never will see any
thing like it. And yet I have to tell
you that it is going to be destroyed.
The king and his princes are at feast.
They are all intoxicated. Pour out the
rich wine into the chalices. Drink to
the health of the king. Drink to the
glory of Babylon. Drink to a great
future.
thousand lords reel intoxicated.
The king, seated upon chair, with va
cant look, as intoxicated men will-wi.h
vacant look stared at the wall. But
soon that vacant look takes on intensity,
and it is an affrighted look; and all the
princes begin to look and wonder what
is the matter, and they look at the same
point on the wall. And then there
drops darkness into the room and puts
out the blaze of golden plate, and out
| of the sleeve of darkness there comes q
tinger--a finger of fiery terror circing
around and circling around as though
1t would write; and then it comes up and
with sharp tip of flame it inscribes on
the plastering Of the wall the doom of
the king: Weighed in the balances
and found wanting" The bang of
heavy fists against the gates of the pal
ace are followed by the breaking in of
the doors. A thousand cleaning knives
strike into thousand quivering hearts.
Now Death is king, and he is seated on
throne OF corpses. In that hall there
is balance lifted. God swung it. On
one side OF the balance are put Belshaz-
Ears opportunities, on the other side of
the the balance are put Belshazzar's sins.
The sins come down. His opportuni-
ties go up. Weighed in the balances
found wanting.
There has been a great deal of cheat
ing III our country with false weights
and measures and balances, and the
government, to change the state Of
things, appointed commissioners whose
business it was to stamp weights and
measures and balances, and q great deal
of the wrong has been corrected. But
still, after all, there is no such thing as
perfect balance on earth. The chain
may break or some of the metal may be
clipped, or in some way the equipoise
may be little disturbed.
You can not always depend upon
earthly balances. A pound is not al
ways pound, and you pay for one
thing and you get another; but in the
balance that is suspended to the throne
Of God, pound is a pound, and right is
right, and wrong is wrong, and a soul is
. soul, and eternity is eternity. God
has perfect bushel, and perfect peck,
ana perfect gallon. When merchants
weigh their goods in the wrong way.
then the Lord weighs them again. If
from the imperfect measure the mer-
chant pours out what pretends to be a
gallon of oil and there is less than a
gallon, God knows it, and he calls upon
his recording angel to mark it.: $50
much wanting in that measure of oil"
The farmer comes from the country. He
has apples to sell. He has an imperfect
measure. God recognizes it. He says
to the recording angel: MARK down SO
many apples too few-an imperfect
measure" We may cheat ourselves and
we may cheat the world, but we cannot