Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-10-30

hall and changed the wassail Of wine
into carnival Of blood. So, my broth
er. at the very time when you feel you
are most secure and can sin with the
greatest safety, God is watching your
secret sin and he is decreeing that you
must die. Oh, man of sinful habit,
hearing tonight of Belshazzars ban
quet hall, do you not feel that you can
never escape the scrutiny Of Gods all
seeing eye. never be Independent of
his inexorable scales?
While we live Gods balances are
never put away. His all seeing eye is
never shut. Just before the battle of
Sorr, Frederick the Great gave an en-
phatic order that every light should be
put out and that no soldier should even
have a candle lighted In his tent That
night the great Prussian general, as
was his custom, went providing around
his camps to verify with his own eyes
whether his orders were obeyed. See
Ing light in soldiers tent, he crept
up and looked in. There he saw a sol
der with lighted candle hidden be-
meath his knapsack writing q letter.
All that Frederick the Great said was
this Young man, add a postscript to
that letter which you have just writ
ten. Say: 'Goodby forever. have
dsobeyed my kings commands in or
der to write this letter, aud by the or
der of King Frederick l shall be shot
tomorrow" AS Frederick the Great
always kept his eye on his troops,
Gods all seeing eye is always watch.
ing us, even in the most secret OF
places. He watches us in the most
sacred places Of our chambers, in the
Office, when we 60 down the street,
wherever we may be. No sin is Sc
cret sin to God. He knows all and sees
all. The same divine scales that
weighed the sinful life of Belshazzar
in the banquet hall Of the Babylonish
capital are continually weighing US, no
matter where we may be.
Sins Balanced by Atonement.
But, though Gods balances may be
condemning scales for the Belshazzars
of sin. they may also become scales of
salvation for every immortal soul that
avails itself Of Christ's atonement. II
is not now a question of how many
sins may be piled into the right scale,
but rather Of whether we are willing
to place the atoning cross in the left.
Though the sins of Gods wayward
children may be mountains high and
seas deep, yet that cross is able to out
weigh them all In the Philadelphia
mint can be seen a pair of scales so
perfectly adjusted that If speck Of
dirt falls into one Of the scales or fly
walks across the balancing bar over
hanging it that scale will sink. Gods
scales are perfectly adjusted spiritual
ly. No matter how many or how great
our sins may be, II we once place the
cross Of Jesus Christ into the scale op.
posite to that which is piled high with
our sins, we shall then be weighed in
the balances and not found wanting.
What blessed and transporting
thought this should be. that We can
have all our sins outweighed. We
would not dare for one instant to
preach sermon upon Gods balances
at Belshazzar's feast unless we could
place the greatest emphasis upon this
idea. 1t would be appalling to depict
the horror Of sinners eternity, unless
at the same time we could offer par
don for all sins to all people If they
would only all be willing to be cleansed
of their sins in the blood Of the Lamb.
once read Of dramatic scene where
there was not enough physical saliva
ton to go around 1t was on the deck
of the United States man-of-war Tren-
ton during the famous cyclone in the
Samoan harbor few years ago. Every
officer and sailor had Invested himself
of all his outer garments because every
moment they expected the huge ship
to go down, as many Of the other yes
sells had already been engulfed be-
fore their eyes. But though every man
was making all the necessary prepara-
tons he could for what seemed the inev-
liable plunge there was one life pre-
server for which no one seemed to have
any particular use 1t was the only
life preserver on boSfd and nobody
wanted to take it and live and let his
companions die. A sailor handed it up
to the executive officer. The executive
officer would not put 1t on, but handed
1t to the captain. The captain in turn
handed it to the admiral. The admiral
refusing to put it on this life preserver
was carelessly thrown across the rail
of the bridge. '"There it hung" said
an eyewitness, "a glowing tribute to
the courage Of men who were unwill-
ing to be saved if they knew thereby
that their companions had to die" But
though there may not be physical sal
walton enough to go around the whole
crew Of doomed ship. yet, thank God,
there is spiritual salvation enough for
all the world If we only will accept that
salvation through the blood of Jesus
Christ There is no need Of any Bel
shazzar Of sin today being found want
ing when he is weighed In Gods bal
ances If he will only let the cross Of
Jesus Christ be placed in the scale OPP
posite to that which is piled high with
his past sNls.
The entrance into Belshazzars BAN
quet hall Of sin is not one of unalloyed
Joy. The poet tried to describe the
wild e1ultation of that feast when he
imaginatvely wrote these words:
Oh nee In Babylon did blaze q sight
More richly grand. magnihoentiy bright;
Bearing his crown and dressed In robe of
High on his throne of gold Beishazzar