Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-09-11


missioners whose business it was to staml
weights and measures and balances, and
great deal of the wrong has been corrected
But still, after all, there is no such thing a
| perfect balance on earth. The chain ma,
brake, or some of the metal may be clipped
or in some way the equipoise may be lit
tie disturbed.
You cannot always depend upon earthly
balances. A pound is not always pound,
and you may pay for one thing and get an
other; but in the balance which is suspend
ed to the throne of God, pound is q
pound, and right is right, and wrong ii
wrong, and soul is soul, and eternity il
eternity. God has perfect bushel and a
perfect peck and perfect gallon. Wher
merchants weigh their goods in the wrong
way, then the Lord weighs the goods again
Ii from the imperfect measure the mer
chant pours out what pretends to be gal
lon of oil and there is less than gallon,
God knows it, and he calls upon his record
ing angel to mark it: $50 much wanting in
that measure of OIL" The farmer comes
in from the country. lie has apples to sell.
He has an imperfect measure. He pours
out the apples from this imperfect measure.
God recognizes it, He says to the record.
ing angel: 'NIark down so many apples too
few-an imperfect measure" We may
cheat ourselves and we may cheat the world,
but we cannot cheat God, and in the great
day of judgment it will be found out that
what we learned in boyhood at school is a
correct; that twenty hundred weight make
ton, and one hundred and twenty solid feet
make cord of wood. No more, no less, s,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 I am to speak of to-day,
that is not the kind of weights and measures.
am to speak of that kind of balances
which can weigh principles, weigh churches,
weigh men. weigh nations and weigh
worlds. "WhatP' you say, sis it possible
that cur 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 Pyrenee, and the Hima-
layas, 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 tbe world
weighed, aud on one side will be the worlds s
opportunity, and on the other side the
worlds sins. Down will go the slns and
away will go the opportunities, and God
will say to the messengers with the torch ::
budu WOllO WClRACo duQ lOuUu
wanting!n
So God will 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 bal
ances, aud the minister and the choir and
the building that cost its hundreds of thou
sands 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 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 difference about your magnificent ma
chinery. A church is built for one thing
to save souls. If it saves few souls when
it might save multitude of souls, God will
spew 1t out of his mouth. Weighed and
found wanting! So God estimates nations
How many times he has put the Spanish
into the scales and found it in
sufficient tlcondemned it! The French empire
was placed on one side the scales and God
weighed the French empire, and Napoleon
said: "Have l not enlarged the boulevards?
Did / not kindle the glories of the Champs
Ulysses? Have | not adorned the Tuileries?
Have not built the gilded Opera house?"
Then God weighed the nation, aud he put
on one side the scales the emperor, and the
boulevards. aud the Tuileries, and the
Champs Elysees, and the gided Opera
house, and on the other side he puts that
mans denominations, that mans libertinism,
that mans selfishness, that mans goddess
ambition. This last came down, and all
the brilliancy of the scene vanished. What
is that voice coming up from Sedan? Weigh
ed and found wanting!
But must become more individual and
more personal in my address. Some people
say they do no. think clergymen ought to
be personal in their religious address, but
ought to deal with subjects in the abstract.
do not think that way. What would you
think of hunter who should go to the
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 antler 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 re-
ligious discussions. If physician comes
into sick room does he treat disease in the
abstract? No; he feels the pulse, takes the
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 aud have a malady which, if uncured
by grace, will kill us forever. Now, l
want no abstraction. Where is the balm?
Whete is the physician?
People say here is day Of Judgment
coming My friends, every day is day of
i a,11 4 30 I,,,,
inspected, weighed. Here are
the balances of the sanctuary, They are
lifted, and we must all be weighed Who
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 you?"
"Oh," he says, ''that is my reputation for
goodness, and kindness, aud charity, and
generosity, and kindliness generally" 80
my brother! we cannot weigh that; we are
going to weigh you-you. Now, stand in
the scales-you, the moralist. Paid your
debts2'' eyes" 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, be-
fore you get out of this scale, want to ask
you two or three questions. Have your
thoughts always been right?" "No," you
say; mo" Put down one mark. "Haye
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 thou
sand things you have come short-have you
not?" "Yes." Make ten thousand marks.
Come now, get me book large enough to
make the record of that moralist's deficits.
My brother, stand in toe 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 other side the scales put this weight
which God says 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
and found wantingl
Still the halances of the sanntuarv ara