The Penn's Grove record., 1899-05-26

'AAAAA 49,. ~
die the glories Of the Champs Elyeesf Have
/ not adorned the Thileries} Have ] 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 nd
the gilded opera house, and on the other
side He puts that mans denominations,
that mans libertinism, that mans selfish
ness, that mans goddess ambition. rms
last came down, and all the brilliancy of
the scene vanished. What is that voice
coming up from Sedanp Weighed and
found wantingl
People say there is a day OF judgment
coming. My friends, every day Is a day OF
Judgment; and you and | to-day are being
eanvassed, 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 n
morallst who volunteers. He is one OF tue
most Upright men In the country. He
comes. "Well, my brother, get tn-Get
into the balances now and be weighed"
But as he gets into the balances L say,
"What is that bundle you have along with
you2" ooh" he says, chat is my reputa-
ton for goodness and kindness and charity
and generosity and kindliness generally!''
ooh, my brother, we cannot weigh thatl
We are going to weigh you-you. Now
stand in the s~cales-you, the mora list.
Paid your debtsf"' Yes" you say, paid
Ill my ubDlS. hdNb gOu h1tNN ~ va
upright way in the community" Yes,
yes.' Gave you been kind to the poor
Are you faithful In a thousand relations in
lfe?' eyes, $50 far, so good. But now,
before you get out of this scale want to
ask you two or three questions. Have your
thoughts always been rlghtf" mo" you
say; "no.' Put down one mark. "Havg
you loved the Lord with all your heart and
soul and mind and s%trength2' mo" you
saw, Make another mark. Come now, be
frank and confess that in 10 900 things you
AVE come short, have you not?" yes"
Make 10000 marks. Come now, get me
book large enough to make the record OF
the moralist's deficits. My brother, stand
In the scales, do not fly away from them.
put on your side the scales all the good
deeds YOU ever did, all the kline words you
ever uttered. But on the other side the
scales I put this weight which God says L
| mist put thereon the other sidethe scales
and opposite to yours 1 put this weight.
"By the deeds of the law shall no flesh Hv-
ing be justified" Weighed and found want
Ing!
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 a Journalist. He comes and he gets
| into the balances, and rs he gets In | sec
that all his religion is in genutiection and
in outward observances: As he gets into
the scales 1 say, "What is that you have in
this pocket2' "Ohl" he says, that is n
Westminster assembly catechism." l say;
every good. What have you in the other
pocket?" 'Ohl,' he says, that is the
Heidelberg cateehism." Very good.
What is that you have un Ter your arm,
standing In this balance OF the sanctuary"
"Ohi" he says, "that is Il church record"
Every good. What are those books on your
side the balances2' "Ohl' he says, those
are 'Calvln's Institutes" my brother,
we are not weighing books, we are weigh
ing you. 1t cannot be that you are de-
pending for your salvation upon your
orthodoxy. DO you not know that the
creeds and the forms OF religion are merely
the seaffoIding for the building? You GER
tainly are not going to mistake the scat
folding for the temple. Do you not know
that men have gone to perdition with n
catechism in their pocketf" "But," says
the man, II cross myself often" AM
that will not save YOU" But" says the
man, II am sympathetic for the poor"
"That will not save you" Says the man,
II 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 OF religion
forty years." "That will not save you.
Stand there on your side the balances, and
I will give you the advantage-I 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 balances L
must put what God says l must put there.
I put this 1000, 900 pound weight on the
other side the balances, Having the form
of godliness, but denying the power there
off," Weighed and found wantingl
Still the balances 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
scales. l 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 archaeological
for this life N weighed for the HE to
Gomez He gets in. 1 find that the two
great questions in his life are. How
cheaply can l buy these goods?" and How
dearly can | sell them?" l find he ad-
mires heaven because 1t is a a OF gold,
and money must be ''easy." l find, from
talking with him, that religion and the
Sabbath are an interruption, u vulgar In
terruption, 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 Goals, weighing connections,
Weighing worldly and perlshable commodl-
ties, not realizing the fact that He himself
has been weighed. o your side the
balances, o worldly l will give yo1 full
advantage. 1 put on your side all the
banking houses, all the s~torehousea. all
the cargoes. all the insurance companies,
all the factories, all the silver all the gold,
all the money vaults, all the safe deposits
all on your side. But 1t does not add
one ounce, for at the very moment we are
concentrating you on your fne house and
upon your p~rincely income God the
angels are writing in regard to your soul