Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-09-14

to the recording angel: mark down so
many apples too few-an imperfect
measure" We may cneat ourselves and
we may cheat the world, but we cannot
cheat God, and in the great day Of judg-
ment 1t will be found out hat what we
learned in boyhood at school is correct;
that twenty hundred weight make a ton,
and one hundred and twenty solid feet
make a cord Of wood. No more, no less,
and a 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 style of balances / am TO
speak of today, and that is not the kinds
of weights and measures. / am 70 speak
Of that kind of balances 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 II God put on one
side the balances suspended from the
throne the Alps, and the Pyrenees, and
the Himalayas, and Mt. 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 and see the world weighed,
and on one side will be the worlds OPP
portunities, and on the other side the
worl's sim, Down will go the sins and
away will 60 the opportunities, and God
will say TO the messengers with the
torch: Burn that world! weighed and
found wantingl'
So God will weigh churches. He
takes a great church. That great
church, according TO the worldly esti-
mate, must be weighed. He puts it on
one side the balances, and the minister
and the choir and the building that cost
It's hundreds Of thousands 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
sympathy for the poor ought to be, what
its devotion TO all good ought TO be.
That Is ON n 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 machinery. A church is
built for n thing-to a w souls. II 1t
saves a few souls when it might save a
multitude of souls, God will spew it out
OF his mouth. Weighed and found
wanting! So God estimates nations.
How many times has he put the Spanish
monarchy into the scales, and found it
insufficient and condemned 1t! The
French empire was placed on n side
the scales, and God weighed the French
empire, and Napoleon said: ''Have /
not enlarged the boulevards? Did ! not
kindle the glories of the Champs
Elysees? Have / not adorned the
Tuileries? Have ! not built the gilded
opera house?" Then God weighed the
nation, and he put on one side the
scales the emperor, and the bouleyards,
and the Tuileries, and the Champs
Elysees, and the gilded opera house,
and IN the other side he puts that mans
denominations, that mans libertinism,
that mans selfishness, that mans god
less ambition. This last came down,
and all the brilliancy 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
address, but ought to deal with subjects
in the abstract. | do not think thai
way. What would you think of q
hunter who should 60 10 the Adiren'
dacks to shoot deer in the abstract? All
no. He loads the gun, he puts the butt
of IL against the breast, he runs his cyl
along the barrel, he takes sure aim, anc
then crash go the antlers on the rocks
And so, IL we want 10 be hunters for the
Lord, we must take sure aim and fire
Not in the abstract are we TO trea'
things in religious discussions. IL
physician ONE into a sick room, doe:
he treat disease in the abstract? No
he feels the pulse, take the diagnosis
then he makes the prescription. And /
we want to heal souls for this life and
the life to come, we do not want TO trea
them in the abstract. The fact is, yol
and / have a malady, which, il uncurec
by grace, will kill us forever. Now,
want no abstraction. Where Is thu
balm? Where Is the physician?
People say there is a day Of judgmen
coming. My friends, every day is a da,
OF Judgment, and you and / are toda,
being canvasSed, inspected weighed
Here are the balances OF the sanctuary
They a:e lifted. and we must all b
vcighsa. Who will come and b
, weigised first? Here IS a moralist VIII.
ve1unteers. He is n of the most UP
right men in the country. He comes
|. Well, my brother, get in-get into tn
balances now, and be weighed. But a
he gets into the balances ! say: 'Wha
is that bundle you have along wit
you?" ''Oh," he says, ''that is my reI
~utation for goodness. and kindness, an
, charity, and generosity, and kindlines
, generally" 20, my brother! we canno
weigh that; we are going TO weigh 20
-you. Now, stand in the scales-you
the moralist. Paid your debts?" Eyes,
ycu say, paid all my debts" "Hav
, you acted in an upright way in the CON
! munity?" 'Yes, yes" Have 20
|. been kind to the poor? Are you faith
! fxa in o thousand relations in life?
YES" $50 far, so good. But row, be
fore you get out Of this scale, l a I
: ask you two or three questions. Hav
|. Year thoughts always been right?
/ NO" you say; mo" Put down on
mark. slave you loved the Lopd wit
all your heart. and soul, and mind, an
strength" "No," you say. Make al
: other mark. sCome now, be frank, an
. confess that In 10. 900 things you hay
9 come s~hortr-have you not?" Yea.
I Make 10, 200 marks. Come now, get N
9 o book large enough to make the recon
! of that moralist's deficits. My brothes
! stand in the scales, do not ny away froa
. them I put on your side the scales ..
. the good deeds you ~ did, all tn
. kind words you ever uttered; but on th
other side the scales put this weigh