Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-09-02

church ought to be, what Its conservation
ought to be, what its sympathy for the pooi
ought to be, what its devotion to all good
ought to be. That is on one side. Thai
side comes down, and the church, not being
able to stand the test, rises in the balances
1t does not make any difference about you
magnificent machinery. A church is built
for one thing-to save souls. If it saves g
few souls when it might save multitude Of
souls, God will spew it out of his mouth
Weighed and found wantingl So God esti.
mates nations. How many times He has put
the Spanish monarchy into the scales, and
FOUND IT INSUFFICIENT
and condemned It'll The French Empire
was placed on one side the scales, and God
weighed the French Empire and Napoleon
said: "Have 1 not enlarged boulevards?
Did not kindle the glories of the Champs
Elysees? Have 1 not adorned the Tuile-
ries? Have not built the gilded opera
house?" Then God weighed the nation,
and He put on one side the scales the En-
peror, and the boulevards, and the Tuilerles,
and the Champs Elysees, and the gilded
opera house, and on the other side he puts
that mans denominations, that mans lib
ertinism, that mans selfshness, that man g
goddess 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 wanting.
But 1 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 go to the
Adirondacks to shoot deer in the abstract?
All! no. He loads the gun, he puts the butt
Of it against his 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 ab-
stract are we to treat things in religious dis
cussions. IT physician 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 do not want to treat them in the
abstract The fact is, you and / have a
malady which, if uncured by grace will kill
us forever. Now, l want no abstraction.
Where is the balm7 Where Is the physician?
HERE EVERY DAY.
People say there is day of judgment coming.
.
you and to-day are being canvassed, inspected,
weighed. Here are the balances of the sanctu-
airy. They are lifted, and we must all be
weighed. Who will come and be weighed frstH
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
balances now and be weighed. But as he gets
into the balances / say: what is that bundle
you have along with your "0h," he says.
that is my reputation for goodness, and kind
ness, and charity, and generosity, and kindli-
ness generally" 20 my brother! we cannot
weigh that; we are going to weigh you-you
Now, stand in the scales-you, the moralist
Paid your debts?" "Yes," you say. paid all
my debts" Have you acted in an upright
way in the community" YES yes." "Have
you been kind to the poor' Are you,
faithful in thousand relations in life?"
Yes" $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 rightG" No" you say; mo" 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 10000 things
you have come short-have you notf' Yes"
Make 10000 marks. Come now, get me a book
large enough to make the record of that moral
lists deficits. My brother, stand in the scales.
do not fly away from them. ! put on your side
the scales all the good deeds you ever did, all
the kind words you ever uttered: but on the
OIneI SlQe the scales put InlS WelgnL winch
God says must put thereon the other side
the scales and opposite to yours l put this
weight: by the deeds Of the law shall no flesh
living be justified" Weighed and found want
ing
NOT WEIGHING BOOKS.
STILL the balances of the sanctuary are sus-
pended and we are ready to weigh any who
come. Who shall be the next? Well, here is
Journalist He comes and he gets into the
balances, and as he gets in see that all his re-
ligion is in genufexions and in outward OBJ
seryances; AS he gets into the, scales say;
whats that you have in this pocket?" "Ohr'
he says. that is Westminster Assembly Cate.
chism." say: Very good: What have you
in the other pocketq' "ohr' he says, ''that is
the Heidelberg Catechism." Very good
What is that you have under your arm, stand
ing in this balance of the sanctuary" "Ohr
he says. that is a church record" "Very
good. What are these books on your side the
balances" '0h!" he says, those are Calvin's
Institutes" my brother, we are not weigh
ing books; we are weighing you. 1t cannot be
that you are depending for your salvation upon
your orthodoxy, Do you not know that the
creeds and the forms of religion are merely the
scatfolding for the building? You certain
ly are not going to mistake the scaffolding for
the temple. Do you not know that men have
gone to perditiou with a catechism in their
pocketT" But" says the man. II cross N.Y.
self often" "Ah! that will not save yon."
poor" THAT will not save you." Says the
man, 81 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" But have been a pro-
fessor of religion 40 years." That will not |
save you" Stand there on you side the bal |
ances, and l will give your the advantage-Il
will let you have |
ALL THE CREEDS,
all the church records, all the Christian con- |
ventons that were ever held all the commun-
ion tables that were ever built on your side |
the balances. On the other side the balances |
must put what God says must put there 1 |
put this million ponnd weight on the other |
ness but denying the power thereof. From /
such turn away" Weighed and found want
ing.
Still the balances are suspended. Are there
any others who would like to be weighed or
who will be weighed? Yes; here comes a
worldling. He gets into the scales. can very
easily see what his whole life is made up of.
Stocks dividends, percentages "buyer 10
days" "buyer 80 days" Get in, nv friend;
get into these balances and be weighed
weighed for this life, and weighed for the life |
to come. he gets in. l find that the two
great questions in his life are, How cheaply
can buy these goods?" and "How dearly can
sell them?' 1 fine he admires heaven be-
cause it is a land of gold, and money must be
"easy"
find from talking with him that religion
and the Sabbath are an interruption, vulgar |
interruption, and he hopes on the way TO church
TO drum up new customer! All the week be
has been weighing fruits, weighing meats
weighing ice weighing Goals, weighing con-
fections weighing worldly and perishable COM
modities, not realizing the fact that he himself
has been weighed. On your side the balances,
tuOr irtriI Irvill eriv f1II odu 7 |