Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-09-14
TALMAGE SERMON
Weighed in the Balances and
Found Wanting.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine
breaches on the Above Very
Appropriate Subject
&C Omaha.


OMAHA, Neb., Sept. 1.-Great interest
wa manifested here today, the Rev. T.
De Witt Talmage, ID. D., preaching 70
m immense congregation. His text was:
''Thou art weighed in the balances, and
art found wahting."-Daniel v, 81. The
preacher said:
Babylon wal the paradise Of archi-
tects, 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, 2,000,-
900 men were employed in the rearing
Of her walls and the building Of her
works. 1t wa a city sixty miles in cir
conference. There was a trench all
around the city, from which the ma
terial for the building Of the city had
been digged.
There were twenty-five gates Of each
SIDE the city, between every two gates
q tower OF defense springing into the
skies; from each gate on the one side, a
street running straight through to the
corresponding street on the other side,
&C that there were fifty streets fifteen
miles long. Through the city ran a
branch of the River Euphrates. This
river sometimes overfiowed its banks,
and to keep 1t from the ruin Of the city
. Ike was constructed into which the
surplus water Of the river would run
during 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
the Euphrates there was a palace-the
one palace a mile and a half around, the
other palace seven and a half miles
around.
The wife OF Nebuchadnezzar had been
born and brought up in ~thecountry, and
in a mountainous region, and she could
not pear this fat district Of Babylon;
and so, TO please his wife, N~ebuchad-
nezzar built in the midst of the city a
mountain 400 feet high. This noun
tain was built out into terraces sup
ported on arches. On the top of these
SFCuts a layer Vi uhb cDODtS, vi tIt JOp
of that a layer Of reeds and bitumen,
on the top Of that two layers of bricks
closely cemented, on the top of that a
heavy sheet of lead, and on the top of
that the soil placed-the soil Sc deep
that q Lebanon cedar had room 10
anchor its roots. There were pumps
worked by mighty machinery, fetching
up the water from the Euphrates TO this
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there were fountains sprouting into the
sky.
Standing below and looking up II
must have seemed as il the clouds were
IN blossom, or as though the sky leaned
on the shoulder OF a cedar. All this
Nebuchadnezzar did 10 please his wife.
Well, she ought TO have been pleased.
] suppose she was pleased. Ii that
would not please her nothing would.
There was in that city also the temple
OF Belus, with towers-one tower the
eighth Of = mile high, in which there
was an observatory where astronomers
talked 10 the stars. There was in tina,
temple an image, just image, which
would cost what would be our $751;
600, 900.
o what a city! The earth never saw
8nllulHk llht IL, HtNtE Will Btu any
thing like 1t. And yet i have to tel
you that 1t Is going to be destroyed
The king and his princes are at a feast
They are all intoxicated. Pour out tho
rich wine into the chalices. Drink u
the health Of the king. Drink 10 thu
glory Of Babylon. Drink TO a great flu
ture.
A thousand lords reel intoxicated
The king, seated upon q chair. with va
cant look, as intoxicated men will
with vacant look stared at the wall. Blu
soon that vacant look takes on in
tensity, and it is an affrighted look
and all the princes begin 10 look AM
wonder what is the matter, and the.
look at the same point on the wall. Ant
then there drops a darkness into th'
room and puts out the blaze OF III,
golden plate, and out Of the sleeve o
the darkness there comes a finger,
finger of fiery terror circliag around an,
circling around as though IL woul,
write; and then it comes UP and witt
sharp tip Of fame it inscribes on tn
~plastering of the wall the doom of tn
king: weighed in the balances, an,
found wanting" The bang of heav,
fists against the gates of the palace ar
followed by the breaking in of the doors
A thousand cleaning knives strike int
: thousand ~quivering hearts. No,
Death Is king, and he Is seated on
throne OF corpses. In that hall there l
. balance lifted. God swung it. o.
one side of the balance are put Belshaz
sar's opportunities, on the other side O
the balance are put Belshazzar's sins
The sins come Gown. His opportunitie
60 mp. Weighed In the balances-foun
wanting.
There has been . great deal Of chea,
ing in our country with false weight
and Measures and balances, and tn
government 70 change that state Q
things, appointed commissioners who's
business Ii was to stamp weights an
measures and balances, and q great dea
OF the wrong has been corree*ed. Blu
still, after all, there Is no such thing q
perfect balance en- earth. The chat
may break, or some of the metal ma
be clipped. or In some way the eQripos
may be . little disturbed.
You canaot always depend apo
earthly balances. A pound Is not q
ways : pound, and you may pay far On
thing and get another; but In the ha'
ance which y snspended to tho thron
q God, . pound = . pound, and right
siGht and wrong d wrong. ana . soul 4
= soui. and eteraitv II eternity. Go
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