The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1899-05-27

the golden plate, and out Of the sleeve
Of the darkness there comes a finger
. finger of fiery terror. cireling around
and c%ircling around as though II would
write, and then il comes IN. and with
sharp tip of fame Il inscribes on the
plastering OF 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 a thousand
quivering hearts. Now death is king.
and he is seated upon a throne Of
corpses- In that hall there is a balance
lifted. God swung it, On one side Of
the balance are put Belshazzar's oppor-
tunities; on the other side of the bal
ance are put Belshazzar's sins. The sins
come down. His opportunities go up.
Weighed In the balances-found want
ing.
There has been u great deal Of cheat
ing in our country with false weights
and measures and balances and the
government, to change that state Of
things appointed commissioners whose
business ii was TO stamp weights and
measures and balances, and q 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 the metal may
be clipped, or in some way the equi-
poise may be disturbed. You cannot al
ways depend upon earthly balances.
APound is not always a pound, and you
may pay for n thing and get another,
but in the balance which Is suspended
to the throne Of God pound is q pound,
and right is right and wrong is wrong,
and a soul is q soul. and eternity Is eter-
nifty. God has a perfect bushel and a
perfect peck and a perfect gallon.
When 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
pretends to be a gallon Of oil and there
is less than a gallon, God knows il, and
He calls upon His recording angel 10
mark il: so 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 imper-
feet measure. God recognizes it he
says to the recording angel: Mark
down so many apples too few-an i'm
perfect measure" We may cheat our
selves, and We may cheat the world, but
we cannot cheat God. and in the great
day Of Judgment 1t will be found out
that what we learned in boyhood at
school is eorrect-that 20 hundred
make a ton and 100 solid feet make u
cord of wood. No more. no less. And
q religion which does not take hold Of
this life as well 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. / am 10 speak Of that kind
Of balances which weigh principles.
weigh churches, weigh men, weigh n
tons and weigh words. What" you
say, lis II possible that our world Is TO
be weighed" Yes. Why, you would
think IL God put on one side Of the bal
ances suspended from the throne the
Alps and the Pyrenees and the Hima-
l~ayasand Mount Washington and al the
cities Of the earth they would crush II.
No, mol The time win come when God
will sit down on the white throne 10
see the world weighed. and on one side
will be the worlds opportunities and
on the other side the worlds sins.
Down will go the sins. and away will
go the opportunities, and God will say
to the messengers with the torch:
Burn that worldl Weighed and found
wantingi"
So God will weigh churches. He takes
q great church. That church, great ac-
eording to the worldly estimate, must
be weighed. He puts 1t on one side the
balances and the minister and the choir
and the building that cost its hundreds
of thousands 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 its consecrs-
ton 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 balance. It does not
make any difference about your mag
nihcent machinery. A church is built
for n thing-to save souls. If IL saves
a few souls whsn il might ave q multi
tuds Of souls, God will spew it out Of
His mouth. Weighed and found want
ing!
So we perceive that God estimates ma
tions. How many times He has put the
Spanish monarchy into the scales and
found II insufficient and condemned Ill
The French empire was placed on one
side Of the scales, and God weighed the
French empire, and Napoleon said:
Have I not enlarged the bouleyardsf
Did l not kindle the glories Of the
Champs Elysees? Have 1 not adorned
the Tuileries? Have I not built the
gilded opera house?" Then God
weighed the nation, 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
h~bertinism, that mans selAshness, 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 wantingl
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 a hunter
who should go to the Adirondacks "a
/ shoot deer in the abstract? All, mol
He loads his gun; he puts the butt of II
against his 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 fol
/ the Lord, we must take sure aim and
| fire. Not in the abstract are we to treat
things In religious discussions. II q
physician comes into a sick room, doer
he treat disease In the abstract? MOI
1 he feels the nnlse. mnkea the dinnnnsis