Connecticut western news., 1889-09-11

for this life and the life to come, we do not to treat them in the abstract. The fact is, you and have malady which, if uncured by grace, will kill us forever. Now, I want no abstraction. Where is the balmY Where is the physician?
 People say there is day of judgment com ing. My friends, every day is day of judg- ment, and you and I today are being can vassed, inspected, weighed. Here are the balances of the sanctuary. They are lifted, and be weighed first? Here is moralist who volunteers. He is one of the most up right men in the country. He comes. We'll, my brother, get in--get into the balances nc" noW and be weighed % But as he gets into you have along with you9'' "Oh,o he says, .' that is my, reputation for goodness, and kindness, and charity. and generosity, and kindliness generally" "Oh, my brother! we cannot weigh that; we are going to you, the moralist. Paid your debts? C Yes," you say, "paid all my debts." Have you acted in an upright way in the comnunityw Yes, yes." Have you been kind to the lions in hfef' "Yes." "so 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 right?" "No," you say; "no." Put down one mark. Have you loved the Lord with all your heart. and say. Make ancsher mark. " Come now, be frank, and confess that in ten thousand things you have come short-have you not?' " Yes" Make ten thousand marks. Come record of that moralist's deficits. My brother, stand in the scales, do not fly away 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 thereon 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 sus- B pended and we are ready to weigh any who come. Who shall be the next? We'll, here is formalist. He comes and he gets into the balances, and as he gets in I see all his religion is in genufexions and in outward observances.. As he gets into the scales, I "Ohl" he says, ''that is Westminster Assem- ply Catechism." say: every good" "What have you in the other pocket7" "Oh" he says, ''that is the Heidelberg Catechism." "Very good. What is that you have under sH" sanctaary @ % oh he he says sSs that % is ehurc ecs record" "Very good. What are those books on your side the balances?" "Ohv he says, s'those are 'Calvin's Institutes.'"; My brother, we are not weighing books;' we are weighing you. It cannot be that you orthodoxy. Do you not know that the creeds and the forms of religion are merely the scaf- folding of the building? You certainly are not going to mistake the scaffolding for the gone to perdition with catechism in their pocketw "But," says the man, "I cross my self often." "Ah! that will not save you.| .But," says the man, sI am sympathetic fot the poor" ''That will not save you" SaysA ''That will not save you." 'But," says the man, "I have had my name on the church record" ''That will not save you." 'But [ nave been professor of religion forty years." "That will not save you. Stand give the advantage-I will let you have alli 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. I put this million pound weight on the other side the balances: Having the form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. From such turn away" Weighed and found wantingl
 Still the balances are suspended. Are there any others who would like to be weigh ed or who will be weighed? Yes; here comes wording. He gets into the scales. 1 can very easily see what his whole life is made up of. Stocks, dividends, percentages,
 'buyer ten days," ''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. I find that the two great questions in his life are, ''How gheaPly can buy these goods!" and "How heaven because it is a land of gold, and money must be Heasy."
 find from talking with him that religion and the Sabbath are an interruption, and he new customer! All the week he has been weighing fruits, weighing meats, weighing ice, weighing coals, weighing confections, weighing worldly and perishable commodi- ties, not realizing the fact that he himself has been weighed. On your side the balances, o worldlingl will give you full advantage. will put on your side all the banking houses, all the storehouses, all the cargOes, all the insurance companies, all the factories, all the silver, all the gold, all the money vaults, all does not add one ounce, for at the very mo- ment we are cOngratulating you on your fine house and upon your princely income, God and the angels are writing in regard to your soul: "Weighed and found wantingp But must go faster and speak of the final scrutiny. The fact is, my friends, we are moving on amid astounding realities. These pulses which now are drumming the march of life may, after a while, call 8 hat. We walk on a hair hung bridge over chasms. All around us are dangers lurking ready to spring on us from ambush. We lie down at night, not knowing whether we shall arise in | the morning. We start out for our occupa- tions, not Knowing whether we shall come back. Crowns being furnished for thy brow or bolts forged for thy prison. Angels | fends of darkness stretching out skeleton hands to pull thee down into ruin consum- mate. Suddenly the judgment will be here. The angel with one foot on the sea and the that liveth forever and forever that time shall be no longer: "Behold, he eometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him." Hark
 to the jarring of the mountains. Why, that
 is the setting down of the scales, the balances
 And then there is flash from : cloud. but 1t Is the glitter of the shining balances, and | they are hoisted, and all nations gre to be
 weighed. The unforgiven get in on this side the balances. They may have weighed them selves and pronounced fattering decision.
 The world may have weighed them and pro-
 nounced them moral. Now they are being weighed in Gods balances-the balances that can make no mistake. All the property gone, all the titles of distinction gone, all the
 worldly successes gone; there is soul, abso-
 lutely nothing but soul, an imnOrta soul, q
 never dying soul, soul stripped of all | worldly advantages, soul-on one side the
 scales. On the other side the balances are
 wasted Sabbaths, disregarded sermons, ten
 thousand opportunities of mercy and pardon
 that were cast aside They are on the other
 side the scales, and there God stands, and in
 the presence of men and devils, cheruhm
 and archangel, he announces while grooming
 earthquake, and cracking confagration and
 judgment trumpet, aud everlasting storm re
 peat it: "Weighed in the balance, and found
 wanting."
 But, say some who are Christians: Ger
 tainly you don't mean to say that we have to l get into the balances? Our sins are all par
 ,loned, our title to heaven is secure. Certain