The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1889-09-18

So God will weigh churches, He takes .
great church. That great church, accord
ing to the worldly estimate, must be
weighed He puts it on one side the bal
ances, and the minister and the choir and
the building that cost its hundreds of thou
sands of dollars. He puts them on one side
the balances. On the other side Of the
scale he puts what that church ought to be,
what its conservation ought to be, what its
sympathy for the poor ought to be, what its
devotion to all good ought to be. That is on
one side. That side comes down, and the
church, not being able to stand the test,
rises in the balances. 1t does not make any
difference about your magnificent ma
chinery. A church is built for one thing
to save souls. If it saves few souls when
1t might save multitude of souls, God will
spew it out of his mouth. Weighed and
found wanting! SO God estimates nations.
How many times He has put the Spanish
monarchy into the scales, and found it in
sufficient and condemned it'll The French
empire was placed on one side the scales,
and God weighed the French empire, and
Napoleon said: "Have not enlarged the
boulevards9 Did not kindle the glorics OF
the Champs Elyseesa Have not adorned
the Tuileries9 Have not built the gilded
Opera Houser" Then God weighed the ma
ton, and He put on one side the scales the
Emperor, and the bouleyards, and the
1uileries, and the Champs Elysees, and the
gilded Opera House, and on the other side
He puts that mans examinations, that
mans selfishness, that mans goddess ambi-
ton. This last came down, and all the
brilliancy of the scene vanished. What is
that voice coming up from Sedana Weighed
and found wanting ~
But must become more individual and
more personal in my address. Some people
say they do not think clergymen ought to be
personal in their religious address, but
ought to deal with subjects in the abstract.
l do not think that way. What would you
think of hunter who should 60 to the Adj
rondacks to shoot deer in the abstract2
All, no. He loads the gun, he puts the butt
of it against the breast, he runs his eye
along the barrel, he takes sure aim, and
then crash go the antlers on the rocks. And
so, if we want to be hunters for the Lord,
we must take sure aim and fire. Not in the
abstract are we to treat things in religious
discussions. If physician comes into a
q sick room, does he treat disease in the alb
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 totreat
them in the abstract The fact is, you and
have malady which, If incurred by grace,
will kill us forever. Now, want no alb
stractiou. Where is the balml Where is
the physicianl
People say there is day Of judgment
coming. My friend, every day is day Of
judgment, and you and to day are being
canvassed, inspected, weighed. Here are
the balances Of the sanctuary. They are
lifted. and we must all be weighed. Who
will come and be weighed firsta Here is a
moralist who volunteers. He is one Of the
most upright men in the country. He
comes. Well, my brother, get in-get into
the balance now and be weighed But as he
gets into the balance say: "What is that
bundle you have along with youan "O,n he
says, that is my reputation for goodness
and kindness and charity and generosity
and kindness generally" 20, Ay brother,
we can not weigh that; we are going to
weigh you-you. Now stand in the scales
you, the moralist. Paid your debtsl" "Yes,"
you say, paid all my debts" "Have
you acted in an upright way in the COM
munity!" Eyes, yes" Have you been
kind to the poor! Are you faithful in a
thousand relations in life9" Eyes" $50
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.n Put
down one mark. "Have you loved the Lord
with all your heart and soul and mind and
strength" NO." you say. Make another
mark. "Come, now. confess that in ten
thousand things you have come short
have you not?" "Yes." Make ten thou
sand marks. Come now, get me book
large enough to make record of that NOR
alists deficit. My brother, stand in the
scales, do not fly from them. I 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 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 a journalist. He comes and he gets
into the balances, and as he gets in I see
that all his religion is in genuf1exions and in
outward observances. As he gets into the
scales say "What is that you have in this
pockets" "Oh!" he says, ''that is Westmin.
ster Assembly Catechism." say: "very
good. What have you in the other pocketl''
chism." "Very good. What is that you
have under your arm, standing in this
balance of the sanctuary" "Ohwhe says,
"this is church record" "Very good.
What are these books on your side Of the
balancel" "Ohr' he says, "those are Cal
wins Institutes" ''My brother, we are
not weighing books; we are weighing you
1t can not be that you are depending for
your salvation upon your orthodoxy. Dc
you not know that the creeds and the forms
Of religion are merely the scaffolding for the
buildingl You certainly are not going tc
mistake the scaffolding for the temple. DE-
you not know that men have gone to per.
dition with catechism in their pocketp
But" says the man, II cross mysel,
often" "Ah that will not save you.'
"But," says the man, II am sympathetic fol
the poor" THAT will not save you" Says
the man, II sat at the communion table. ,
That will not save you. But says the
man, 81 have had my name on the church
record" THAT will not save you." "Bu,
I have been a professor of religion forty
years" THAT will not save you STAND
there on your side the balances, and I will
give you the ADVANTAGE will let you have
all the creeds, all the church records, all the
Christian conventions that were ever held