The Penn's Grove record., 1899-05-26
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.
Subject; "You Can't Cheat God"-He win
weigh Our Acts with Perfect Balances
opportunities Measured Against Sins
personal Responsibility For Errors,

opportunities Measured Against Sins
Personal Responsibility For Errors.
Copyright. Louis Klopsch. 1891
WASHINGTON, d. Gin these days OF
mora awakening this pointed sermon by
Dr. TalmaRe IN personal responsibility be-
lore God will be read with n deep and soi=
emn i%nterestl text, Daniel VI, ~; hThou
art weighed in the balance and found
wantlng.'
Babylon was the paradise OF architecture,
ana driven out from thence the grandest
bulidihgs OF modern times are only the
evidence OF her fall. The site having been
selected for the city, 1000 900 men were
employed In the rearing OF her walls and
the building Of her works. 1t was a city
sixty miles in circumference. There was a
trench all around the city, from which the
material for the building Of the city had
been digged. There were twenty-five
gates on each side Of the city; between
every TWO gates a tower of defense spring.
ing into the skies; from each gate on
the one side, a street running straight
through to the corresponding gate on the
other side, 50 that there were fifty streets
fifteen miles long, Through the city ran q
branch of the river Euphrates. This river
sometimes overlooked its banks, and, to
keep 1t from running the city, n lake was
constructed into which the surplus water
OF the river would run during the time Of
freshets, and the water was kept in this
artificial lake until time of drought, and
then this water would stream down over
the city. At either end of the bridge span.
ming this Euphrates there was a palace
the one palace a mile and a half around,
the other palace seven and a half miles
around.
The wife of Nebuchadnezzar had been
born and brought up in the country, and
in a mountainous region, and she could
not bear this nat district of Babylon, and
so, to please his wife, Nebuc hadnezzaf
built In the midst OF the city d mountain
400 feet high. This mountain was built out
into terraces supported on arches. On the
top OF these arches n layer of fat stones,
on the top Of hat a layer of reeds and BIZ
tumen, on the top of that W layers of
bricks closely cemented, on the top
of that a heavy sheet of lead, and on
the top Of that the soil placed the soil
so deep that a Lebanon cedar had room
to anchor its roots. There were pumps
worked by mighty machinery, fetching
up the water from the Euphrates to
this hanging garden, ms 1t was called,
so that there were fountains spouting into
the sky. Standing below and looking up,
1t must have seemed as II the clouds were
in blossom, or as though the sky leaned on
the shoulder Of a cedar. Allthis N~ebuchad-
nezzar did to please his wife. Well, she
ought to have been pleased. 1suppose she
was pleased. II that would not please her,
nothing would. There was In that city
also the temple of Belus, with towers-one
tower the eighth Of a mile high, in which
there was an observatory where astrono-
mers talked to the stars There was in
that temple an image, just one image,
which would cost what would be our $780,
600, 900.
Oh, what a ethyl The earth never saw
anything like it, never will see anything
like 1t, and yet l lave to tell you that it is
going to be destroyed. The king and his
princes are at n feast. They are all intoxl-
Gated. Pour out the rich wine into the
chalicesl Drink to the health of the kingl
Drink to the glory Of Babylonl Drink to a
great futurel Athousand lords reel intoxi-
Gated. The king seated upon a chair, with
vacant look, as intoxicated men will-with
vacant look stared at the wall. But soon
that vacant look takes on intensity, and
1t is an affrighted look, and all the
princes begin to look and wonder what is
the matter, and they look at the same point
on the wall, and then there drops Il darkness
into the room that puts out the blaze OF
the golden plate, and out OF the sleeve OF
the darkness there comes a finger-a finger
of the fiery terror circling around and cir
cling around as though it would write, and
then it comes up and with sharp tip of
lame 1t inscribes on the plastering on the
wall the doom of the king; weighed In
the balances and found wanting" The
bang Of heavy fists against the gates of the
palace is followed by the breaking in OF
the doors. A thousand cleaning knives
strike into 1000 quivering hearts. Now
death is king, and he is seated on a throne
of corpses. In that hall there Is n balance
lifted. God swung it. On one side Of the
balance are put Belshazzar's opportunities,
Sn the other side of the balance are put
Belshazzar's sins. The sins come down.
His opportunities go up. Weighed in the
balances-found wanting,
There has been a great deal OF cheating
in our country with fnlse weights and
measures and balances, and the Govern
ment, to change that state OF things, APP
pointed Commissioners, whose business 1t
was TO stamp weights and measures and
balances, and a great deal of the wrong
has been corrected. But still, after all,
there Is no such thing as a perfect balance
on earth. The chain may break or some
OF 1.-THE metal may be clipped or In some way
the equipoise may be disturbed. You can
not always depend upon earthly balances.
A pound is not always a pound, and you
may pay for one thing and get another,
but, In the balance which Is suspended TO
the throne of God, a pound is a pound and
right is right n wrong Is wrong and a
soul Is a soul and eternity is eternity.
God has a perfect bushel and II per-
IetL PECK anu Il ItlitCL EhiAOb. hb
merchants weigh their goods in the
wrong way, then the Lord weighs the
goods again. II from the imperfect
measure the merchant pours out what pre-
tends to be a gallon OF oil, and there Is less
than q gallon, God knows it, and He calls
upon His recording angel to mark 1t, 80
much wanting in that measure of oil" The
farmer comes in from the country. He
has apples to sell. He has an imperfect
measure. He pours out the apples from
this imperfect measure. God recognizes
1t. He says to the recording angel, "Mark
down so many apples too few-an imper-
feet measure" We nay cheat ourselves,
and WE may cheat the world, but we can
not cheat God, and In the great day OF
Judgment it will be found out that what
we learned In boyhood at school is correct;
that twenty hundred weight makes a tou,
and 100 solid feet make a cord OF wood. No
more, no less, and q religion which does
not take hold OF this life, as we'll as the life
to come, is no religion at all.
But, my friends, that Is not the style OF
balances am to speak OF to-day; that Is not
the kind of weights and measures. L am
| to speak Of that kind OF balances which
weigh principles, weigh churches, weigh
men, weigh nations and weigh worlds.
s'Whatli YOU say. 'Is It possible that our
world is to be ~weighedP" Yes. Why, you
would think II God put on one side OF the
balances suspended from tue throne tue
Alps and the Pyrenees and the Himalayas
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 the world
weighed. aud on one side will be the
worlds opportunities and on the other side
the worlds sins. Down will go the sins
and way will go the opportunities and
God will say to the messengers with the
torch: 0Burn hat world Weighed and
found wantingl'
But | must become more individual and
more personal In my address. Some people
| saw they d. not think clergymen ought to
he personal in their religious address. but
ought to deal with subjects in the abstract.
| do not think that way. What would you
think of a hunter who should go to the
AdIrondacks to shoot deer In the abstractf
All, mol He loads the gun; he puts the
butt OF 1t against his breast, he runs his
eve along the barrel, he takes sure aim
and then crash go the antlers on the rocksl
And so, II 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. If Il physician comes
into a sickroom, does he treat disease In
the abstract? No. He feels the pulse
totas the diagnosis. then he writes the