The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1889-11-07
WEIGHED IN THE BALANCES.
Sermon by Rev. II. Dewitt Tai
mage al Omaha, Neb.
We May Cheat Ourselves and the World,
But We Can Not Cheat God by
Assuming to be That Which
We Are Not.

The following sermon was delivered by
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage at Omaha, Neb.,
during recent visit to that city, His
text was:
Thou art weighed in the balances, and art
found wanting. Daniel ", e.
Babylon was the paradise of architect
ure, 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 her
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 Of the city; between every two
gates tower Of defense springing into
the skies; from each gate on the one
side street running straight through to
the corresponding street on the other
side, so that there were fifty streets If
teen miles long. Through the city ran
a branch of the River Euphrates.
This river sometimes overfowed its
banks, and to keep it from the ruin of the
city, a lake was constructed. into which the
surplus water of the river would run dur
ing the time of freshets, and the water
was kept in this artificial lake until time
of drought and then this water would
stream down over the city. At either
end of the bridge spanning this Euprates
there was palace-the one palace mile
and half around, the other palace seven
and half miles around. The wife of
Nebuchadnezzar had been born aud
brought up in the country, and in a
mountainous region, and she could not
bear this fiat district OF Babylon, and so,
TO please his wife, Nebuchadnezzar built
in the midst of the cit. mountain four
hundred feet high. The mountain was
built out into terraces supported on
arches. On the top of these arches
layer of fat stones, on the top of that a
layer Of reeds and bitumen, on the top of
that two layers of bricks closely cement
ed, on the top of that heavy sheet of
lead, and on the top of that the soil
plaeed-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 fount-
aims spouting into The skv.
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 Nebu-
chadnez Ear did to please his wife. Well,
she ought to have been pleased. I sup
pose she was pleased. If that would not
please her nothing would. There was
also in that city the temple of Belus, with
towers-one tower the eighth of a mile
high. in which there was an observatory
where astronomers talked to the stars.
There was in that temple an image, Just
one image, which would cost what would
be our fifty two million dollars. o, what
city! The earth never saw any thing
like 1t, never will see any thing like it.
And yet have to tell you that it is going
to be destroyed. The King and his
princes are at feast They are all in
toxicated. 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.
A thousand lords reel intoxicated. The
King, seated upon chair, with vacant
look, as intoxicated men will-with va.
cant look stared at the wall. But soon
that vacant lock takes on intensity, and
it is an affrighted look; and ali 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
q darkness into the room and puts out the
blaze OF the golden plate, and out of the
sleeve OF the darkness there comes a
fnger--a finger of fiery terror circling
around and circling around as though it
would write; anc then it comes up and
with sharp tip of fame it inscribes on
the plastering of the wall the doom of
the King: weighed in the balance, and
found wanting" The bang of heavy fists
against the gates of the palace is fol-
lowed 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 a throne of
corpses. In that hall there is balance
lifted. God swung it. On one side of the
balance are put Belshazzar's opportuni-
ties; on the other side of the balance are
put Belshazzar's sins. The sins come
down. His opportunities go up. Weighed
in the balance-found wanting.
There has been a great deal of cheating
in cur country with false weights and
measures and balances, and the Govern
ment to change that state of things. ap-
pointed commissioners whose business
it was to stamp weights and measures
and balances, and great deal of the
wrong has been corrected. But still.
after all, there is no such thing as per-
feet balance Oh earth. The chain may
break, or some of the metal NAV be
clipped, or in some way the eouipoise
may be little disturbed.
You can not always depend upon earth.
~ balances. A pound is not always o
pound, and you may pay for one thing
and get another; but in the balances
which is suspended to the throne of God.
a pound is pound. and right is right,
and wrong is wrong, and soul
IS SOUL and eternity is eternity,
God has perfect bushel and
perfect peck and a perfect gallon.
When merchants weigh their goods in
the wrong way, then the Lord weighs the
goods again. II from the imperfect
the merchant pours out what
to be a gallon of oil and there
is less than gallon, God knows il. and
he calls upon his recording angel to mark
oil.n --'''' u . VI
The farmer comes in from the country.
He has apples to sell. He has an inner.
feet measure. He pours out the apples
from this imperfect measure. God rec
ognizes II. He says to the recording