Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-09-02

h'oie, no less. ana religion which
does not take hold of this life as well as
the life to come is no religion at all.
But, my friends, that is not the kind of
balances am to speak of to-day, that is
not the kind of weights and measures
1 am to speak OF that kind of bal
ances which can weigh principles, weigh
churches, weigh men, weigh nations
and weigh worlds. ''What!' you say
sis it possible that our world is to be
weighed!' Yes. Why, you would
think If God put on one side the balances
suspended from the throne the Alps, and
the Pyrenees, and the Himalayas, and
Mount Washington, and all the cities of
the earth, they would crush it. No, no.
The time will come when God will sit
down on the white throne to see the
world weighed, and on one side will be
the world s opportunities, and on the
other side the world IS sins. Down will
go the sins and away will go the oppor-
tunities, and God will say to the messen-
gers with the torch: ''Burn that world!
Weighed and found wanting!'
SOME Personal QUESTIONS.
God viii weigh churches. He takes a
great church. That great church, ac-
cording to the worldly estimate, must be
weighed. He puts it on one side the
and the building that cost its hundreds of
thousands of dollars. He puts them on
one side the balances. On the other side
of that 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 differ
ence about your magnificent machinery.
church is built for one thing-to save
souls. If it saves a few souls when it
might save q 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 insufficient
and condemned it! The French empire
was placed on one side the scales, and
God weighed the French empire and Ma
poleon said: ''Have l not enlarged the
boulevards? Did l not kindle the gIories
of the Champs Elysees? Have I not
adorned the Tuileries? Have l not built
the gilded opera house?'' Then God
weighed that nation, and he put on one
side Of the scales the emperor, and the
bOuleYards, and the Tuileries, and the
Champs Elysees, and the gilded opera
house, and on the other side he put that
man S denominations, that mans lIber-
tinism, that man s selfshness that man g
goddess ambition. This last came down,
and all the brilliancv of the scene van
ished What is that voice coming up
from Sedan? Weighed and found want
ing!
But I 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
addresses, but ought to deal with
subjects in the abstract. 1
do not think that way. What would you
think of a hunter who should go to the
AdITondacks 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 along the barrel, he takes sure aim,
and then crash go the autlers 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 ply
siclan comes into a sick room does he
treat disease in the abstract? 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 Go not want to treat
them in the abstract. The fact is, you
ana I have q malady which, if uncured
by grace, will kill us forever. Now,
want no abstraction. Where is the balm?
Where is the physician?
WE MUST ALL BE WEIGHED.
People say there is q day of judgment
coming. My friends, every day is a day
of judgment, and you and 1 to-day are
being canvassed, inspected, weighed.
Here are the balances Of the sanctuary.
They are lifted, and we must all be
weighed. Who viii come and be weighed
first? Here is moralist who volunteers.
He is one of the most upright men IN the
country. He comes. Well, my brother,
get in-get into the balances now and be
weighed But as he gets into the bal
ances I say: ''What is that bundle
you have along with your "Oh, -
he says, "that is my reputation
for goodness, and Kindness, and
charity, and generosity, and kindliness
generalIy.'' so, 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?''
4" Yes, - you say, ''paid all my debts -
Have you acted in an upright way in
the community?' eyes, yes. - ''Have
you been kind to the poor? Are you
faithful in a thousand relations i'll life?''
eyes" $50 far, so good. But now
before you go 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 soul,
and mind, and strength?' "No,"
you say Make another mark. "Come
now, be frank, and confess that in ten
thousand things YOU have come short
have you nOt?' eyes, Make ten
thousand marks. Come now, get me a
book large enough TO make the record of
that moralist's deficits. My brother,
stand i'll the scales, do not fly away from
them. put on your side the scales all
the good deeds you ever did, ali the kind
words you ever uttered; but on the other
side the scales put this weight, which
GOD says l 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 AID found wanting.
Still the balances of the sanctuary are