The national leader., 1889-09-07

be- what its devotion to all good ought TO De-
That is on one side. That side comes down,
and the church, not being able TO stand tne
test, rises in the balances. 1t does not make
any difference about your magnificent ma
chinery. A church is built for one thlng-to
save souls If 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
info the scales and found it insufficient and
condemned it! The French Empire was
nlaced on one side the scales and God welghed
The French Empire, and Napoleon said:
Have 1 not enlarged the boulevards! DID
not kindle the glor1es of the Champs EIyseesy
Have not adorned the Tuileries? Have
not built the gilded Opera House%' Then God
weighed that nation, and he put on one side
of the scales the Emperor and the boule-
wards, and the Tuileries, and the Champs
Elysees, and the gilded Opera House, and on
the other side he put that mans abomination,
that mans libertinism that mans selishness,
that mans goddess ambition. This last came
down, all the brilliancy of the scene van
ished. What is that voice coming up from
Sedan? Weighed and found wanting.
But L 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 addresses, but
ought to deal with bjects i'll 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 abstract? Ah!
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 antiers on the rocks. And So if we want
to be hunters for the Lord, we must take
sure aim and fire. Not i'll the abstract are
we to treat things in religious discussions. Il
a physician comes into a sick room does h
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. T'ho
fact is, you and I have a malady which, if
uncured by grace, will kill us forever Now,
| want no abstraction. Where is the balm:
Where is the physician?
People say there is a day of jud-, ,,ment COM
ing. My friends, every day is day of judg-
ment, and you and I to-day are being can
vassed, inspected, weighed. Here are the
balances of the sanctuary. They are lifted,
and we must all be weighed. Who will come
and be weighed first? Here is 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 "Oh, he says 'sthat
10 my IGpuUdtIO1 lOI 2OOUll0SS, anu klI(lH0SS.
and 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 debtsw YES" you
say, paid all my debts" "Have you acted in
an upright way in the community" Eyes.
yes" Have you been kind to the poor:
Are you faithful in a thousand relations in
life9' 'Yes." $50 far so good. But now,
before you get out of this scale Iwant to ask
you two or three questions. ''Have your
thoughts always been rightw mo" you say
mo" Put down one mark. Have you loved
the Lord with all your heart, and soul and
another mark. Come, now, be frank and
confess that in ten thousand 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 moralists deficits.
Ny brother, stand in the scales, do not fly
away from them. l 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 l put this
weight: ''By tie deeds Of the law shall no
flesh living be justified" Weighed and found
wanting.
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
a Journalist. He comes and he gets into the
balances, and as 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 pocket"
oh" he says, ''that is Westminster Assembly
Catechism' say: Every good. What
have you in that other pocSet?'' ''Oh," lie
says, 'that is the Heidelberg Catechism."
every good What is that you have under
= 11a1a, NF 41<a
sanctuary~ ''Oh," he says. that is church
record" every good. What are all these
books on your side the balances?' 'Oh," he
says. 'those are 'Calvin's Institutes" my
brother we are not weighing bookS; we are
weighing you. 1t cannot be said that you are
depending for your salvation upon your or
thodoxy Do you not know that the creeds
and the forms of religion are merely the scat
folding for the building? You certainly are
not going to mistake the scaffolding for the
temple Do you not know that men have gone
to perditiOn with catechism in their pockets?
''But, says the man, 81 cross myself often
''Ah! that will not save you" But" says
the man. II am sympathetic for the poor"
THAT will not save you" Says the man.
81 sat at the communion table"
''That will not save you" "But,"
saws the man. II have had my name
on the church records" 'That will
not save you" But l have been a professor
OF religion forty years" That VIII notsaVe
YOU Stand there on your side the balances
and I will give you the advantage will let
you have all the creeds, all the church rec
ords. all the Christian conventions that were
ever held, all the communion tables that were
ever built on your side the balances. On the
other side the balances l must put what God
says must put there. l put this million
pound weight on the other side the balances:
''Having the form of godliness, but denying
the power thereof. From such turn away"
Weighed and found wanting.
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.
L life l.