The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1889-09-04

SO God will weigh churches He takes
great church. That great church, accord
ing to the worldly estimate, must be
weighed. He puts 1t on one side the bal
ances, and 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 It's 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. II it saves few souls when
! 1t might save multitude Of souls, God will
| spew it out Of his mouth. Weighed and
! found wanting SO God estimates nations.
How many times He has put the Spanish
monarchy into the scales, and found 1t in
| sufficient and condemned Ill The French
| empire was placed on one side the scales,
and God weighed the French empire, and
Napoleon said: "Have not enlarged the
boulevardsl Did not kindle the glories Of
| the Champs Elyseesl Have not adorned
the Tuileriesl Have not built the gilded
Opera Housep Then God weighed the ma
| tion, and He put on one side the scales the
| Emperor, and the boulevards, and the
Tuileries, and the Champs Elysees, and the
gilded Opera House, and on the other side
! He puts that mans denominations, that
mans selfshness, that mans goddess ambi-
tion. This last came down, and all the
brilliancy of the scene vanished. What is
| that voice coming up from Sedanl Weighed
and found wantingl aiL
But 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 that way. What would you
think Of hunter who should go to the Adj
rondacks TO shoot deer in the abstracts
All, no. He loads the gun, he puts the butt
Of 1t against the breast, he runs his eye
along the barrel, he takes sure aim, and
then crash go the antlers on the rocks. And
so, il we want TO be hunters for the Lord,
we must take sure aim and fire. Not in the
abstract arc we to treat things In religious
discussions. II physician comes into
| a sick room, does he treat disease In the alb
stractl No; he feels the pulse, takes the
diagnosis, then he makes the prescription.
| And II we want TO heal souls for this, life
and the life TO come, we donot want 10 treat
| them In the abstract The fact Is, you and
| have malady which, II incurred by grace,
| will kill us forever. Now, want no alb
| stractiou. Where Is the balm. Where Is
the physicianl
People say there is day of judgment
coming. My friend, every day is day Of
judgment, and you and to day are being
canvassed, inspected, weighed. Here arc
the balances of the sanctuary. They are
| lifted. and we must all be weighed. Who
will como and be weighed frsti Hero is
moralist who volunteers. He is one Of tho
most upright men in the country. Ho
comes. Well, my brother, get in-get into
the balance now and be weighed. But as he
gets into the balance say; "What is that
bundle you have along with your "O," he
says, 'that is my reputation for goodness
and kindness and charity and generosity
and kindness generally" 30, my brother,
we can not weigh that; we are going 70
weigh you-you. Now stand In the scales
you, the moralist. Paid your debtsl" "Yes,"
you say paid all my debts" "Have
you acted in an upright way in the com
munityp "Yes, yes.n Have you been
kind TO the poorl Are you faithful in O
thousand relations in lifei" "Yes." 80
far so good. But now, before you get out
Of this scale, want 10 ask you two or three
| questions. Have your thoughts always
been right" "No," you say; mo" Put
down one mark. "Have you loved the Lord
with all your heart and soul and mind and
strength" mo" you say. Make another
mark. "Come, now, confess that in ten
thousand things you have come short
have you notir "Yes." Make ten thou
sand marks. Come now, get INC a book
large enough 10 make record Of that NOR
alists deficit Ny brother, stand In the
scales, do not fly from them. Iput 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 there
on the other side the scales and opposite 10
yours I put this weight; "By the deeds Of
the law shall no flesh living be justified"
Weighed and found wanting.
Stiil, the balances OF the sanctuary are
suspended and we are ready 10 weigh any
who come Who shall be the nexti Well,
here is Journalist He comes and he gets
into the balances, and rs he gets In see
that all his religion Is in genufexions and In
outward observances. As he gets into the
scales say: "What Is that you have in this
poclketip "Ohp, he says, "that Is Westmin.
ster Assembly Catechism." / sayi "Very
good. What have you In the other pocket"
''Oh ~ he says, ''thatis the Heidelberg Cate
chism.n "very good. What is that you
have under your arm, standing In this
balance Of the sanctuaryir "Ohr'he says,
'this Is q church record" "vcry good.
What are these books on your side Of the
balancep' "Ohr' he says, "those are Cal
WINS Institutes.'" my brother, we are
not weighing books; we are weighing you.
IL can not 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 scaffolding for tho
buildingi You certainly are not going 10
mistake the scaffoldlng for the temple. Do
you not know that men have gone 10 per-
dition with catechism In their pocketw
"But,n says the man, ~ cross myself
often.n "Ahl that will not save you.r
"But,n says the man, II am sympathetic for
the poor" "That will not save your Says
the man, ~ sat at tho communion table.n
That viii not save you. "But," says the
man, ~ have had my name on the church
record.n THAT will not save you" "But
| I have been professor OF religion forty
years. THAT will not save you. Stand
there on your side the balances, and will
give you the advantage-I win let you have
all the creeds, all the church records, all the
Christian conventions that were ever held,
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