Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1889-09-19


insufficient and condemned it! The
French Empire was placed on one side
the scales, and God weighed the French
Empire, and Napolean said: Have
not enlarged the boulevards? Did l moi
kindle the glories of the Champs Ely.
. sees? Have l not adorned the Tuileries!
Have l not built the gilded opera
b ouse?" Then God weighed that nation,
and he put on one side of the scales the
emperor, and the boulevards, and the
Tuileries, and the Champs Elysees, and
the gilded opera house. and on the othel
side he put that mans that
mans libertinism, that mans selfish
ness, that mans goddess ambition. This
last came down, and all the brilliancy OF
the scene vanished. 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 sub
jects in the abstract. 1 do not think
that way What would you think of a
hunter who should 60 to the Adiron-
dacks to shoot dee- in the abstract! All!
no. He loads the gun, he puts the butt
of it against the breast, he runs the eye
along the barrel, he takes sure aim, and
then crash goes 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 abstract are We to treat
things i'll religious discussions. If a
physician came to a sick room, does he
treat disease in the abstract? No; he
feels the pulse, takes the diagnosis,
then he makes the prescription. And II
l l. Il Il, Co II nd
the life to come, We do not want to treat
them in the abstract. The fact is, you
and have a malady which, if uncuIed
by grace, viii kill us forever. Now, 1
want no abstraction. Where is the balm?
Where is the physician?
People say there is day of judgment
coming. My friends, every day is day
of Judgment, and you and 1 to- day are
being canvassed, 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 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 bal
ances, say: What is that bundle you
have along with you?" ooh" he says,
that is my reputation for goodness, and
kindness, and charity, and generosity,
and kindness generally" % my
brother! We cannot weigh that; We are
going to weigh you-you. Now. stand
| in the scales-you, the moralist. Paid
my debts" Have you acted in an up
right way in the community" Yes,
yes. Have you been kind to the poor?
Are you faithful in thousand relations
in life?" Yes" So far, SO good. But
now, before you get out of this scale, 1
want to 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" NO" you say. Make another
mark. Come now. be frank. and con-
fess 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 moralist's deficits. My
brother, stand in the scales, do not fly
away 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 1 put this
weight, which God say l must put
opposite to yours 1 put this weight:
BY the deeds of the law shall no flesh
living be justified" Weighed and found
wanting.
Still, the balances of the sanctuary
are suspended 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 religion is in genu-
fexions and in outward observances.
As he gets into the scales 1 say: What
is that you have in this pocket" oh"
he says, that is Westminster Assem-
bly, Catechism." I say: Very good.
What have you in that other pocket"
oh, he says, that is the Heidelberg
Catechism." Very good. What is that
you have under your arm, standing in
this balance of the sanctuary" Oh"
he says. that is n church record"
Very 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 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 the build
AAS Aou arc uOt SOluS W
mistake the scaffolding for the temple.
Do you not know that men have gone to
perdition with catechism in their
pocket?' "But, says the man, Il cross
myself often" All! that will not save
you" But says the man, 4 am SYM
pathetic for the poor" That will not
save you" Says the man, Il sat at the
communion table" THAT will not save
YOU" But" says the man, I have had
my name on the church records" That
will not save you" But have been a
professor of religion forty years.
That will not save you. Stand there
on your side the balances and will give
you the advantage-I will let you have
all the creeds, all the church records,
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 balapces
l must put what God says must put
there. put this million pound weight
on the other side the balances: "Hav-
the power thereof. From such turn
away" Weighed and found wanting.
Still the balances are suspended. Are
here any others who would like to be
weighed or who will be weighed? Yes,
here comes a worldling. He gets into
the scales. 1 can very easily see what
his whole life is made up of. Stocks,
dividends. percentages, buyer ten
days, buyer thirty days" Get in, my
friend; get into these balances and be
weighed = weighed for this life and
weighed for the life to come. He gets
in. 1 find that the two great questions
in his life are: How cheaply can buy
these goods?" and How dearly can l
sell tbem?' find that he admires Hea-
ven because it is land of gold and
money must be easy"
find from talking with him that reli-
giOn and the Sabbath are an Interrupt
tion, vulgar interruption, and he
hopes on the way to church to drum up
a new customer. All the week he has
been weighing fruits, weighing meats.
weighing ice, weighing coal. weighing
CONNECTIONS, weighing worldly and
perishable commodities, not realiz-
ing the fact that he himself has
been weighed. On your side the