Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1899-05-26

] siuC INT paldH(tS- OA- hS say g
"those are Calvin s Institutes. " MY
/ brother we are not weighing books, we
/ are weighing You. II 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
1 ingf You certainly are not going to
mistake the scsifoiding fer the temple.
Do-you not know that men have gone
to perdition with a catechism in their
pocket?'' But, says the man, Il
cross myself often. ''Ah! that will not
save you" But, says the man, Il
am sympathetic for the poor. . That
will not save you. Says the man, Il
sat at the communion table. - THAT
will not saye you. But, says the
man, Il have had my name on the
church record THAT will not save
you. ''But have been professor Of
religion 40 years. " ''That will not save
you Stand there On your side the bal-
ances, and will give you the advan-
tage-I will let you have all the creeds,
all the church records, all the Christian
conventions that We're ever held, all the
communion tables that were ever built
on your side the balances On the othe1
side the balances | must put what God
says ! must put there. Iput this l, 000,-
600 pound weight On the other side the
balances Having the form of godli-
ness, but denying the power thereof. >
Weighed and found wanting!
Two Great Questions.
Still the balances are suspended. Are
there any others who would like to be
here comes worldling He gets into
the scales. / can very easily see what
his whole life is made up of. Stocks,
dividends, percentages, ''buyer ten
days, 'buyer 80 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 ]
sell them?' | find he admires heaven
because it is land of gold and money
must be ''easy." | find from talking
with him. that religion and the Sab
bath are an interruption. vulgar in
terruption, and he hopes on the way to
church to drum up Il new customer
All the week he has been weighing
fruits, weighing meats, weighing ice,
weighing Goals, weighing confections,
weighing worldly and perishable COM
modities, not realizing the fact that he
himself has been weighed. "On your
side the balances, o worldlingl will
give you full advantage. put on your
side all the banking houses. all the
storehouses, all the cargoes, all the in
surance cCmpaHi 5. all the factories, all
the silver, all the gold, all the money
vaults, all the safe deposits-al ON youI
side. But it does not add one ounce,
for at the very moment we are con9rat-
ulating you on your fine house and
upon your princely income God and
the angels are writing in regard tC
your soul. Weighed and found want
ingr"
But | must go faster and speak ct
the final scrutiny. The fact is, my
friends, we are moving on amid aston
ishing realities. These pulses which
now are drumming the march of life
may, after awhile, call a halt. We walk |
Oh hair hung bridge over cbasms. AL
around us are dangers lurking, ready
to spring on Us from ambush. We lie
down at night, not knowing whether
We shall arise in the morning. We start
out for our occupations, not knowing
whether we shall come back. Crowns |
being FURNISHED for thy brow or bolts |
forged for thy prison. Angels Of light
ready to shout at thy deliverance OF
fends of darkness stretching out skele |
ton hands to pull thee down into ruin
consummatel
Before the Judge.
Suddenly the judgment will be here.
The angel with one foot on the sea and
the other foot on the land will swear by |
time shall be no longer: ''Behcld, he
cometh with clouds, and every eye shall
see him. d" Hark to the jarring of the
mountains. Why, that is the setting
down of the scales, the balances. And
then there is flash as if from cloud, |
but it is the glitter of the shining bal.
ances. and they are hoisted, and all ma
tions are to be weighed. The unforgiven
get in on this side the balances. They
may have weighed themselves and pro
nounced q fatteriDg decision. The
world may have weighed them and pro
nounced them moral Now they are
being weighed in Gods balances-the
balances that can make NO mistake. All
the property gone, all the titles Of dis
tinction gone. all the worldly successes
gone. There is soul absolutely moth
ing but soul, an immortal soul, nev-
sr dying soul, soul stripped of all |
worldly advantages, a soul on one side
the scales On the other side the bal
ances are wasted Sabhaths, disregarded
sermons, 10000 opportunities of mercy
and pardon that were cast aside. They
are ON the other side the scales, and
there God stands and in the presence
of men and lewis. cherubim and arch
angel he announces while groaning
earthquake and cracking confiagratlcn
and Judgment trumpet and everlasting
storm repeat it, weighed and found
wantingl"
fu the Scales.
But, say some who are Christians
Certainly you don't mean to say that
we will have to get into the balances?
Our sins are all pardoned, our title to
heaven is secure. Certainly you are not
going to put us in the bsances?"