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“St sm S. B. Burr, SERMON BY REV- T- DEWITT TALMAGE. MEN, CHURCHES AND NATIONS WEIGHED. Services in the Brooklyn Taber nacle were opened tbis morning with the singing of the hymn : ‘Jesus shall reign where’re tlfe sun Does his successive journeys run.’ Dr. Talmage preached the fol¬ lowing discourse, taking his text jf'from Daniel, 5., 27—‘Thou art weighed in the balance and art found wanting.’ His subject was men,churches and nations weighed. Babylon was the paradise of archi¬ tecture. Driven out from thence, the most elaborate structures of modem times are only the evidence of her fall. After the site of Bab¬ ylon had been selected, 2,000,000 of men were employed for the con¬ struction of the wall and principal works. The walls of the city were sixty miles in circumference. They were surrounded by a trench out of which had been dug the mate¬ rial for. the construction of the city. There were, twenty-five gates of solid brass on each side of the square city. Between every two gates a great watch tower sprang up into the heavens. From each of the twenty-five gates on either side a street ran straight through to the gate on the other side, so that there were fifty streets, each fifteen miles long, which gave to the city an appearance of wonder¬ ful regularity; The houses did nc$ join each other on the ground, and between them were gardens and shrubbery. From house-top to house top bridges swung, over which the inhabitants were accus¬ tomed to pass. A branch of the Euphrates went through the city, over which a bridge of mar velous structure was thrown, and under which a tunnel ran. To keep the river from overflowing the city in times of freshet, a great lake was arranged to catch the sur plus, in which the water was kept as in a reservoir until times of drouth, when it was sent stream¬ ing down over the thirsty land.— A palace stood at each end of the Euphrates bridge; one palace a mile and three-quarters in compass, and the other palace seven and a half miles in circumference. The wife of Nebuchadnezzar, having been brought up amid the moun¬ tains of Media, could not stand it in this flat country of Babylon, and so, to please her, Nebuchadnezzar had a mountain, four hundred feet high, built in the midst of the city. This mountain was surrounded by terraces, for the support of which great arches were lifted. On the top of these arches flat stones were laid ; then a layer of reeds and bit¬ umen; then two rows of bricks closely cemented ; then thick sheets of lead, upon which the soil was placed. The earth here deposited • was so deep that the largest trees had room to anchor their roots.— All the glory of the flowery tropics was spread out at that tremendous height, until it must have seemed to one below as though the clouds ’ all in blossom, and the were very sky leaned on the shoulder of the cedar. At the top'an engine was constructed, which drew the water from the Eufrates, far below, and made it spout up amid this garden of the skies. All this to please his wife, I think she must have been pleased. In the midst of this city stood also the temple of Belus. One of its towers was one eighth of a mile high, and on the top of it an ob¬ servatory, which gave the astrono¬ mers great advantage, as being at so great a height, one could easily talk with the stars. This temple wa 3 full of cups, and statutes, and censers, all of gold. One image weighed a thousand Babylonish talents, which will be equal to fif¬ ty-two million dollars. But why enlarge t The city is besieged and doomed. Though provisioned for twenty years, it shall fall to-night. (3oo tho gold and silver plate flash pn tho King’s table. Pour out tho yich wines from tho tankards into * the cups. Drink, my Lords,-to tho health of the King. Drink to the glory of Babylon. Drink to the defenders of the city. Drink to a glorious future. Startle not at the splashes. of wine on the table as though, it were blood. Turn not pale at the clash of the cups, as though it were the clang of arms. On with the mirth! A thousand Lords roll on their chairs, and quarrel and curse. — The besotted King lays back on hisxhair, and stares vacantly on the wall. But that vacant look takes on intensity. It is an af¬ frighted lock. As he gazes the lords gaze. Every eye is turned to the wall. Darkness falls upon the room. The blaze of the gold plate goes out. Out of the black sleeve of the darkness a finger of fiery terror trembles through the air, and comes to the wall, circling about as though it would write, and then with a sharp tip of flame engraves on tho plastering the doom of the King: ‘Weighed in the balance and found wanting!’ The bang of heavy fists against the palace gates is followed by the crashing in of the doors. A thou¬ sand quivering hearts. A.ud now Death is the King and his throne a heap of corpses. An unseen bal¬ ance had been set up in the festal hall. God swung it. Nebuchad¬ nezzar’s opportunities on one side of the balance and his sins on the other. Down went his sins; up went his opportunities. Weighed, an-d found wanting. There has been a great deal 'of cheating in this country by false weights and measures. The Gov ernment appointed commissioners to stamp the weights and measures. Much of the wrong has been WiightSdr.....T%eak oLaa-efchter kind of scales. We all have been in- tho habit of making mistakes in our weighing of men and things.— There is, indeed, only one pair of balances absolutely perfect, and that is suspended from the throne of God Almighty. Other balances get out of order. The chain breaks or the metal is clipped, or the equi¬ poise in some other way is broken, and a pound does not always mean a pound, and you pay for one thing and get another. But the balances of God never lose their adjustment. With them a pound is a pound, and right is right and wrong is wrong, and a soul is a soul, and eternity is eternity. ' G od has a bushel measure, a peck measure, and a gallon measure. Whenever a merchant measures a bushel of or salt or corn, God weighs it immediately after him. The merchant’s measure is just right.— If a merchant measures a gallon of oil and does not give the proper quantity, God measures it for him and says : ‘So many drops too few. Recording angel, write it down.” If a farmer comes to town with apples for sale and he does not give full measure, the apples are immediately put into God’s peck, and record is made of twenty ap¬ ples too few. We may cheat our¬ selves and we may cheat our neigh bor, but in the.last day we shall find that what we learned at school in our boyhood is true, and that twelve ounces make a pound, and two thousand weight make a ton, and one hundred and twenty eight solid feet, make one cord of wood—no more, no less. But I am not now to speak of the weighing of coffees and sugars, but of the weighing of principles, of individuals, of churches and of worlds. Many suppose that sin is imponderable ; but it is heavy enough to crush * world. Yea, a our earth itself is to be put on the scales, with all its mountains and valleys and seas. You would think that the Alps and Pyrenees and Himalayas and mount Washingtons and all the cities of the earth on one side of the scalo would crush it. No 1 God will at last seo what opportunities tho world had, aud what opportunities it neglected; and ho will sit down on tho white throne to seo tho old world weigh ed, and will seo it rise in tho- bal anco lighter than a fenthor; and ho will cry out to his messengers who \v FORT VALLEY, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, MAY 14., 1880. carry the torch: ‘Burn that World. Weighed and found wanting 1’ God is every day estimating churches. He puts a great church into the scales. He puts the min istiy aud the choir, and the grand structure, that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, on the same side. On the other side of the scales he puts the idea of - spiritual life that the church ought to pos sess, or brotherly love, or faith, or sympathy for the poor. Up goes tho grand meeting house with its minister and choir. God says that a church is of much worth only as it saves souls ; and if, with all your magnificent machinery, you might save a multitude. He will spew you out of his mouth. Weighed and found wanting! God is also estimating nations. He put the Spanish monarchy in the scales and found it unsufficient and cast it aside. He put the French monarch, with his empire, in the scales. Napoleon cried out: ‘See what I have done to enlarge the Boulevards -. I kindled up tho glo¬ ries of the Champs Elysees; I en¬ larged tho Tuileries; I built the gilded Opera-house!’ Then God put on one side of the scales the Emperor, and the Boulevards, and the Champs Elysees, and the Tuil leries arid the gilded Opera house, but on the other side of the scales he put the man’s abominations and the outrages he had committed against the French nation. Down went the sins ; up went tho Empe¬ ror, with all his surroundings. ‘Weighed in the -balance and found wanting!’ But I want to become more per¬ sonal. I have heard persons say thatministers ought to deal with tilings'in tho afestriftt, and n6t bo personal. What success would a hunter have if he went out to shoot deer in the abstract ? He puts the butt of the gun to his breast; lays his eye along the barrel; takes sure aim ; draws tho trigger, and crash go tho antlers on the rocks ! What if a. physician, called into your house, should treat your ailments in the abstract ? How long before the inflam ition would heal or ' the pain be assauged ? What folly to talk about sin in the abstract, when you and I have in our souls a mal¬ ady that must be cured, or it will kill us, miserably aud forever. God lifts the balances this morn¬ ing. Judgment day is coming.— Every day is a day of Judgment. We are this moment being canvass¬ ed, inspected, weighed. But do not let us all get on the scales at once. We will take one at a time. Who will get on first ? Here is a volunteer. Jle is a moralist—as upright a man as there is in Brook¬ lyn. Get in brother. What is it you have in that bundle ? He says, ‘It is my reputation for morality and uprightness and integrity.’— Leave that behind. It is not fair that you carry a bundle with you. We just want to measure you.— Have you slandered your neighs bors? You say, ‘Never have I slan¬ dered them.’ What outrage have you committed against society ? You say ‘none.’ So far so good.— Have your thoughts always been right? You answer, ‘No.’ I put down one mark against you: Have you served God as you ought? ‘No/ Another mark against you. Come now, be frank. Have you not in ten thousand things, come short in your duty ? ‘Yes.’ Then I put down ten thousand marks against you. Bring me a larger book, in which I may make record of your defects and neglects, Do not jump out of the scales until I liav.p examined them. You stand on one side with all your testaments and charities and conciliations of De liavior. On tho other side I put just ono weight by the deeds of tho law shall no flesh living bo justified.’— Down goes tho weight; up go your good works. ‘Weighed in tho bal¬ ance and found wanting.’ Who will como next? Hero comes a formalist, who gets on tho scalo —a man whoso religion is mado up of gomiflectionn, posturers r.ud out ward proprieties. Brother, what is that you have in your pocket ? He says: ‘It is a Westminister As¬ sembly , Catechism.’ What ki- it you have in that other pocket"? ,11 e says that it is the Heidelberg’ Cat echism. What is that you have under your arm ? A - He says it is a Church reed'd.— What are those books I sed spat Teired around, on your side ci the 'scales? He says they are institutes. My brother we did not come here to weigh books however good they may be. We want on this scale nothing but jour your orthodoxy won’t save you.— Men have'gone to hell,with a cate¬ chism in each pocket. The forms of religion are only the scaffolding for putting up the spiritual house. Alas! if you have mistaken the scaffolding for the temple itself.— “But. I cross myself ever bo ma»y times,” you say. That will not save you. “But I give'liberally jto the poor.” That will not save you. “But i read a chapter every night before I go to bed.” That will net save yon. “But I sit at the com¬ munion table.’ That will not savo you. ‘But my name is down on the church book.’ That will not save you. ‘But I have been a pro¬ fessor of religion for thirty years.’ That will not save you. I place on your side of the balance all the edicts, all the religious counsels, all the communion tables that wore over built, and on the other side of the balance I put this hundred pound weight: ‘Having the form of Godliness, but denying'the power thereof. From such turn away.’ ‘Weighed in the balance and found wanting.’ Here comes a world ing; you c.in not mistake h im. are'ffilTIJffefllfflfes H - g.-asaf ^ hands, fita heart stocks, dividends, per esntages, scrip, ‘buyer ten days,’ ‘buyer thirty days.’ His happiness is suceefes fu! bargain; his eternity, so many feet front by so many feet deep.— lie wants to go to heaven, because where there is so much gold it must be that ‘money is easy.’ The most tremendous question he ever aafo himself is,‘Haw long can I buy these goods, an 1 haw high a price can I got for them. The day. is full of push and din, and he sleeps and sweats under a night¬ mare of dollars. The Sabbath is a vulgar interruption, and he hopes, on his way to church, to druraup a new customer. Day by day he has been weighing confections, weigh¬ ing fruits, weighing ico or weigh¬ ing coal, not knowing tbit he all the time was weighed. I pile up beside him, on his side of the scales, the hogsheads, and the bar¬ rels, and the money vaults, and the store-houses, and the cargoes, but all these give to the worldling no additional weight. At the. very moment wo were congratulating him on the fine store, and tho full blooded stock, and the princely in¬ come, God and the angles were looking upon the scene and an¬ nouncing tho solemn truth:— ‘Weighed in the balance and found wanting.’ But I must go on faster and look at the last great scrutiny. We are passing on, heedless of the most astounding considerations. In a moment the ground may break through and let you fall into the grave. * The pulses of life, now so regularly drumming in the march, any moment may cry halt. On a hair-hung bridge we walk over bot¬ tomless chasms. When we go to bed at night we know not that wo shall see the day dawn. When wo go forth from our homes we know not that we shall return again.— Dangers lurk about your path, and are ready to break upon you from ambush. In a moment the door of eternity may swing open 1 and invisible ushers conduct you in for reward or for retribution. A crown of glory is beingbumishod for your brow, or bolts are being FORGED FOR YOUR PRISON, Angels of light arc making ready to shout over your deliverance, or fiends of darkness reaching up their skeleton hands to pull you down into ruin consummate. Buds douly the judgement will be here, The angel, with one foot on tL sea and the other on the land, wi. swear by Him that liveth forevei that time shall be no longer! Hark! I hear the jarring of the mountains. It is setting down oi the balances. Look! there is some thing like a flash from the cloud.— It is the glitter of the shining balances. All the unforgiven souls of-the earth must get into the scales. They may struggle to keep out, but God will put them in.— Let the universe look on and see tho last great weighing. The world may have weighed them and pronounced them moral. They may have weighed themselves and given, a self-gratulatory decision, but now God weighs them in un¬ mistakable balances. On this side of the scales are placed the souls of the unpardoned—their wealth all" gone, their crowns all gone, their titles all gone; nothing re¬ mains but the naked souls of the unforgiven. On tho other side of the scales are placed wasted Sabbaths, mis improved privileges, disregarded sermons, innumerable opportunities of pardon. Hark! How the scales come down on the last side loud as thunder! God looking at the balance shall an¬ nounce in the presence of men and devils aiid cherubim and archangel while groaning earthquake, and crackling conflagration, and judge-, ment trumpet, and everlasting storm, shall repeat it, ‘Weighed in the balance r.nd found wanting.’ ‘But,’ you ask, ‘how, if we repent to-day, and come to God, will we at last be weighed!’ Yes! yes! There is no escape from the scru¬ tiny. The wicked have been tested and driven away in their wicked heSs, ib« i-ighiaoiis gait .on to the balances. ‘Oh,’ you say — ‘let me off; I cannot stand the test.' Get in, ye righteous! ‘What, with all my sin?’ No time to discuss that matter. The bell of judge¬ ment is tolling. - The balances are adjusted—get in you must. All your opportunities of being better and doing more good are placed on one side of the scales, and you get in the other. You are too light to bridge tho balances, in your favor. On your side are spread all the kind words you ever spoke, and all the Christian deeds you ever did. Too light yet. On your side are put all your prayers, all your reputation, all your faith. Too-light yet! Come and get on this side—Paul, Luther Baxter, Payson, and Doddridge— and help the Christian bear down the scale. Too light yet! Get on this side, and ye martyrs who went through fire and flood—Wickliffe, Ridley, and Latimer. Too light yet! Come angles of God, and got on the scales, and see if ye can not turn the balances in favor of the saints; for tlyi judgment is ending, and let not the righteous be banished with the wicked. Too light yeti Place on this side all the scepters of light, aud all the palm branches of triumph, and all the thrones of glory. Too light yet! But at this point Jesus, tho Son of God, steps up to the bal¬ ances. He puts one scarred foot on the Christian's side of the scales and they tremble and quiver from top to bottom. He puts both feet on, and down go the scales on the Christian’s side with a stroke that sets all the bells of heaven a chim¬ ing! This llock of Ages is heavier than any other weight. But O, Christian! you may not get off so easily. I place on the opposite scale all the sins that you ever committed and all the envies and hates and inconsistencies of a life-time, but altogether they do not budge the scales. Christ, on your side, has settled tho balances forever. There is no condemna¬ tion to them that are in Christ Jo bub. Go free! go free! Sins pardoned, shackles all broken, on doors all opened. Go froo ! go free! Weighed in tho balance aud nothing wanting, A Nevada Indian is going life with the beautiful natnepf ing Goose. Mother Never Told a Lie Some time ago a boy was discov¬ ered in the street, evidently bright md intelligent, but sick. A -man who had feelings of kindness strongly developed, went to ask him what he was doing there. ‘Waiting for God to come for me,' he said.— ‘What do you mean?' said the gen¬ tleman, touched by the pathetic tone of the answer, and the condi tion of the boy, in whose bright eye and flushed face he saw the evi dence of fever. ‘God sent for fath¬ er, and little brother,’’ said he, ‘and took them up to His home in the sky, and mother told me when she was sick that God would take care of me. I have nobody to give me anything, and so I came out hero, and have been looking so long in the sky for God to come and take care of me, as mother said he would lie will come—won’t he f Mother told a lie.’ “Yes my lad,’ said the gentleman, overcome with emotion. ‘He lias sent mo to take of yon.’ You should have seen his eyes flash, and tho smile of triumph break over his face as he said: ‘Mother never told a lie, sir, you have been so long on the way.’ What a lesson of trust, and how this incident shows the effect of never deceiving children with tales. Prejudice of Color Talk, write and discourse as peo may, there is a color prejudice which will never bo eradicated. It is as strong North as South. No matter how well the negro may he educated, the strictest Radical looks with a species of contempt on the colored brother. The republican journals of the North discuss him as something inferior to the whites in a half apologetic way, and there is not a Caucasian in the land, no matter how low, who does not re¬ gard himself as higher jn tho scalo of being than the first rank of Afri¬ cans. The distinction permeates all ranks. The evidence of it is plain at West Point Military Acade¬ my, where there are far more North¬ ern than Southern Cadets. The nc gro is isolated. No Northern State has ever elected a negro to a post of responsibility. The prejudice is inherited. General B. F. Butler’s quarter¬ master, a West Point graduate, tells his experience during the war. lie employed at Newberne, N. C., a conscientious, original abolitionist, whose integrity was unquestioned, aud whose humanity was recognized by everybody who knew him. He was accordingly put over a largo number of contrabands. Soon one cameiu with his head cut open with a stick, and the humanitarian at once acknowledged that he did it. He further stated that he had found out to his surprise and sor.i row that he could not take from a negro what ho would from a white man, and that lie, a life-long friend of the race, actually had prejudice against them. Petroleum for Couohs.— Dr. Moubre, writing to tho Gazette des Ilopitaux, gives his experience petroleum capsules in simple and chronic bronchitis. This balsamic bad been brought before the Theras putic Society by Dr. Blanche a year ago, at the suggestion of a Paris chemist, who named it Gabian oil, to prevent public prejudice. Each capsule contains 25 conti grammes of pure petroleum, the ordinary of not being used, as it has to be distilled incoutaot with sulphuric acid to ren¬ der it fit for lighting purposes. At the Hospital Beaujon, where these capsules hove been freely ordered for chronic bronchitis, a rapid dis munition of the secretion and (its coughing were observed. In tu¬ berculosis this medicine gave en¬ couraging results. ‘Is this my train ?' asked a travel cr of Dennis Owens at the depot. ‘I don't know, but I . not,’ waa tlie doubtful reply. ‘I it’s got (he lame of i Ho company on the side, a: d I it belongs to then). Have you a train anywhereT V0I.-9 No. 44. Luck is Pluck When- a man is fortunate he boasts of his good management and shrewd¬ ness; when he is what is termed un» fortunate, he complains of bis ill luck. It is said that Providence al¬ ways smiles on the side ot the best and most bayonets and heaviest guns Cannotthe same principle be also applied to farming? Success is the result of good management, of the best breeds of cattle, best tools and the richest soils. Success springs economy in saving and making and in the judgment os* in their application. It consists the proper selection of seeds, the time of mowing the grass, the way and manner of tilling the ground, in destroying weeds, the of catle and the manner of feed¬ in keeping the fences in order, the building in good repair. are a few of the elements of luck. How it Originated “What,” asks a correspondent, the origin of the expression a bull,’ applied to an error of It is said to have pro¬ from a wager between two gentlemen in London, a long ago, that there was, or was five signs of the' bull in the The one who held tho affir¬ opinion was asked to eluc¬ when ho said: “There’s the hull, the red bull, aud the bull, and the brown bull, and dun cow." “That's a bull, on conscience!” exclaimed his op. laughing at the blunder, this admission cost him tho and" conferred tho title of on every error of the" same since. A landlady w.as complaining that couldn’t make both euds meet. said a boarder, ‘why not one end vegetables?’ Country stiles are cut crossways. Wills are among the last sad The butcher who trusts loses Miners delight in picking “pock« A strong batter may burst the A Dead wood man—A cigar Indian. •Courtship is a novel; marriage a • Owing to tho rise in paper kites up. A dead suro thing—man's mortal • A dangerous man—ono who takes cheerfully. A figure of speech—naught set in malice. The weigh of the transgressor is as well as hard. The holc-ly land—up in Pennsyl¬ vania where the oil wells are. A wooded shoe factory has been started in Illinois. It will uso up a great many feet of lumber. Before tho railroads were con¬ the prairies were a trackless west. Speaking of tho sudden varia« in tho weather and tho dan¬ of taking cold, a friend says it safe to change a pocket hand¬ nowadays. A friend explains how a young lady yields her heart to a rough looking sailor. IIo says she is car* ried by a salt. ‘Help from an unexpected quara ter,’ as a tramp remarked when a twenty-five cent piece was handed hhn by the lady of tho house. A Bt. Louis rich man drew up a will which was so pathetically worded that it moved all his rela tives to tears. It left all his prop¬ erty to an orphan asylum. A traveler says it is true that many young Russians will oat can* dies. Of course they will; they oat up the candles so that they may kiss in the dark, John B. Gough comp’ains of liq nor drinking on railroad trains.— Thero is a ‘smash’ there pretty of* ten, to ray nothing of tho conduc-j tor s punch-