The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1889-09-07

III . u puRub W uedl "lbh buDJOSbo III
the abstract. l do not think hat way.
What would you think of a hunter who
should go to the Adirondack to shoot
deer in the ABSTRACT All! no. He loads
the gun, he puts the bit of it against the
breast he rum his eye along the barrel,
he takes aim and then crash 60 the antlers
the rocks. Aud 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 religious discussions.
People say there is a day of judgment
coming. My friends, every day is a day
of Judgment, and you and l to-day are
being canvassed, inspected, weighed.
Here are the balances of the sanctuary.
They are lifted, and we must ali be
weighed. Who will come and be
weighed first? Here is a moralist who
volunteers. He is one of the most up
right men in the country. He comes.
Well, my brother, get in-get in the bal
ances now and be weighed. But as he
gets into the balance, l 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 kindliness generally"
so my brotherl we can not weigh that;
we are going to weigh you-you. Now.
stand in the s~cales-you, the moralist. "
'Pail your debts?" EYES," you say,
paid all my debts" 'Have you acted In
an upright way in the community" Eyes.
yes" Have you been Kind to the poorf
Are you faithful in a thousand rela-
tions in life?" ''Yes.n 80 far, so
good. But now, before you get out of
this scale, l want to ask you two or three
questions. Have your thoughts always
been right" NO" o say, no" Put
down one mark. "Have you loved the
Lord with all your heart and soul, and
mind and strengthH' '.No," you say. Make
another mark. Come, now, be frank,
and confess that in ten thousand things
you have come short-have you notf"
Yes" Make ten thousand marks. Come,
now, get me a book large enough to make
the record of that moralist's deficits. My
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 l put this weight
which God says l must put thereon the
other side the scales and opposite to yours
l 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 u Journalist. He comes and he gets
into the balances, and as he gets in l see
that all his religion is In genufi ections and
outward observances. As he gets into the
scales l say: "What is that you have in
this pocket" 'Or" he says, that is
Westminster Assembly Catechism." ]
say: every good. What have you in the
the other pocket?" "O!" he says, ''that
is the Heidelberg Catechism" Very good.
What is hat you have under your arm,
standing in this balance of the sanctuary
or" says he. That is a church record. u
Very good. What are these books on
your side the balances?" "O" he says,
those are 'Calvin's Institutes"
my brother, we are not weighing books.
we are weighing you. 1t can not be that
you are depending for your salvation upon
your orthodoxy. Do you not Know that
the creeds n The forms of religion are
merely the scaffolding Of tho building
You Certainly are not going to mistake
the s~caffolding for the temple. Do you
know that men have gone to perdition
with a catech.sm in their pocket" "But,'
saws the man, 81 cross myself often"
"AhI that will not save you" 'But, .
says the man. 81 am sy~ mpathetic for the
poor" THAT will not save you" Says
the man, 81 sat at the communion table,
''That will not save you" But" says
the man, 81 have had my name on the
church record" 'That will not save
you" "But l have been a professor oil
religion forty years." THAT will moi
save you" Stand there on your side
the balances and 1 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 bal
ances. On the other side the alliances ]
must put what I'd says I must put there
1 put this million pound weight on the
other side the balances: Having tn
form of godliness, but denying the power
thereof. From such turn away" Weighed
and oundw wanting.
Still the balance are suspended. Are
there any others who would like to be
weighed or who will be weighed? Yes;
here comes a wording. He gets into the
Gales can very easily see what his
whole life is made up of. Stocks, divi'
dends, percentages, buyer ten days.
DuyoE LulTJy udIS. OoU III, lily ITltnu,
get into these balances and be weighed
weighed for thisl life and weighed for the
life to come. He gets in. 1 Inc that
the two great questions in his life
are: How cheaply can 1 buy
these goodsi" and 'How dearly can !
sell them?" 1 find he admires Heaven
because it is a land of gold and
money must be "easy." find from talk.
ing with him that religion and the Sab.
bath are an interruption, a vulgar inter.
ruption, and he hopes on the way tt
church to drum up q new customer Al
the week he has been weighing fruits
weighing meats, weighing ice, weighing
Goals, weighing confections, weighing
worldly and perishable commodities, no
realizing the fact that he himself has beef
weighed. On your side the balances,
wording! 1 will give you full advantage
/ put on FOUR side all the banking houses
all the store houses, all the cargoes, all tn,
II sura ce companies, all the factories, al
the silver, all the gold, all the none,
vaults, all the safe deposits--all on you
side. But 1t does not add one ounce, 70
at the very moment we are congratulatinl
you on your fine house and upon you
princely income God and the angels ar
writing in regard to your soul: "WeigheI
n found wantingW
But l must go faster and speak Of tn
final scrutiny. The fact is, my friends
we are moving on amid astounding reali
ties. These pulses which now are drum
ming the march Of life may, after awhile
call a halt. We walk on a hair hun
bridge over cbasms. All aroun US ar
dangers lurking ready to spring on u
from ambush. We lie down at night, no
knowing whether we shall arise in tn
morning. We start out for our occupa
tions, not knowing whether we shall com
back. Crowns being FURNISHED for tn
brow or bolts forged for thy prison
Angels Of light ready TO shout at thy de
liverance, or fiends of darkness stretchin
out skeleton hands to pull thee down int
ruin consummate. Suddenly the judg
ment will be- here. The angel with on
foot on the sea and the other foot on tn
land, will swear by Him that liveth for
ever and ever that time shall be n
longer: Behold, He cometh with clouds
and every eye shall see Him." HarI
to the Earring of the mountains. Why
that is the setting down of the scales, tn
balances. And hen there is a fash a
from a cloud, but it is the glitter Of tn
shining balances and they are hoisted an
all nations are to be weighed. The un
forgiven get on this side of the balances
They may nave weighed themselves an
pronounced a factoring decision. TIL
world may have weighed them and pre-
nounced them moral. Now they are be
ing weighed in Gods balances that ca
make no mistake. All the property gone
all the titles of distinction zone, all tn
worldly success gone; there is IA soul, al
solutely nothing but n soul. an immor
tai soul, n never-dying soul, a sol
stripped Of all worldly advantage
a soul on one side the scales; on tn
other side the balances are wasted Sab
baths, disregarded sermons ten thousan