Chapter XXXI

CHAPTER XXXI.

TEKEL.
Tekel. Daniel v. 25.

I want to have you get the text to-night. It is so short I am quite sure you that have short memories can carry it away with you, if you will listen to it; and if some one asks you after the meeting is over, I hope you will be able to give my text and the meaning of it.

In this short chapter of thirty-one verses we get all we know about Belshazzar. His history was very brief. We are told that he had a feast for his lords; he had a thousand of his noblemen, his lords, his mighty men, gathered there at Babylon. How long that feast lasted we are not told. Sometimes those Eastern feasts used to last for six months. We are told that this young king was praising the gods of gold, of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood and of stone; and all at once silence reigns in that banqueting hall. The king had sent out into the heathen temple, and had had the golden vessels that had been taken by his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar, that had been brought down from Jerusalem, brought into that impious feast, and while they were rioting and drinking and carousing, judgment came suddenly and unexpectedly. And I think if you will read the Word of God carefully, you will Copyright, 1900, by .Robt.^O-f ,w. find that judgment always conies suddenly and unexpectedly. While that feast is going on and all is merry, over on the wall, over the golden candlesticks, is seen a hand, and there is a finger writing the doom of that king. He sends for the wise men of Babylon to come in and read that writing. He offers the man that can read the writing shall be clothed in fine linen and in purple; he shall have a golden chain around his neck, and shall be made the third ruler in the realm. Those wise men tried to read it, but they were not acquainted with God's handwriting. That is the reason these skeptics and infidels don't understand the Bible—they don't know God's handwriting. With all the wisdom of the Chaldeans they could not make out that handwriting. They failed—utterly failed. The king and all his lords were astounded. They never had seen it on that fashion before. It was a strange handwriting. The Queen comes in, and she tells the Monarch that there is a man in his kingdom—he has not been heard of for fifteen years; where he has been we are not told; but she tells Belshazzar that when Nebuchadnezzar reigned and the wise men failed to tell him his dream, and the interpretation, there was a man by the name of Daniel that could tell the king his dream, and the interpretation, and if Belshazzar would send for this prophet he might be able to read that handwriting on the wall. Daniel is sent for and the king says to him, "If you read that handwriting and tell me what it is, I will give you great gifts, and I will make you the third ruler in the realm." When that prophet looks up there you can imagine how silence reigns through that audience. Every eye is upon him. The king looks at him, and as he makes this offer to the prophet, the prophet says, "Let your gifts be to others, but I will read to you the handwriting.'' He knew his God's writing. It was very familiar to him, and without any difficulty he can read, "Mene, mene: tekel, upharsin." "-What does it mean?" cries the king. "Mene, mene: Thy kingdom is numbered and finished. Tekel: Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. Upharsin: Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians." And that night Belshazzar's blood flowed with the wine in his banquet hall. That very night they could hear Cyrus coming with his army up through the streets of Babylon. He turned the Euphrates out of its channel and brought his army under the walls of the city, and that very night Belshazzar's army was defeated, the men around the royal palace were driven back, Belshazzar was slain, and Darius took the throne.

MOUNT HERMON SCHOOL.
One o£ the first buildings erected as a home for students at Mt. Hermon. ,

But, it is not my object to-night to talk about that king that reigned twenty-five hundred years ago. I don't want to take you back that far. I want to get down to Cleveland if I can. I want to get into this audience to-night, and I want to ask every man and woman in this assembly, if you should be summoned into eternity at this hour, or at the midnight hour, what should be said? "Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting.''

The other night I preached from the text, "There is no difference,'' and I tried to measure men by the law. To-night I propose to weigh them by the law. We find here this illustration of the balances used by God himself. Tekel means, "Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting." Let us imagine there were scales let down into this building—not of our making—God is going to weigh us; we are not going to weigh ourselves. The great trouble with men is they are trying to weigh themselves all the while, and they are making balances of their own. When we are weighed we are to be weighed in God's balances—not man's. The God who created us is going to weigh us. Let us imaine that the scales are fastened by a golden chain to the throne of God, who sits yonder in the heavens—a God of equity, a God of justice; and those balances come down to-night into this building, and here they are right before us, and every man, woman, and child in this assembly has to be weighed. Now, the question is, are you ready to be weighed? A man begins to look around to his neighbors and other people, and says, "Yes, I am ready to be weighed. I am as good as the average." But that is not the way to look at it. What we want is to look at the law. We are to be weighed by the law of God. The God that created us has given us a law, and among all the skeptics and infidels that I have met, I have not found any that complained of that law. The trouble is not with the law. The trouble is with ourselves.

Now, I have to-night some weights. You know when you go into a store to buy goods they take weights and weigh out your goods. Now, I have ten weights. I am going to put them in the balances, and I want this audience to come up and get in. As I put the weights in on one side, you come up and get in on the other side and see if you are ready to be weighed by the law of God.

We will now put in the first weight, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me.'' People who live in America think there is no such thing as idolatry. They think they have to go off into China, Japan or some heathen country to find idols. Don't flatter yourselves. We have idols in America. You have not got to go far from Cleveland to find them. Yoh. will find a thousand idolaters, I was going to say, where you will find one true Christian that worships the God of the Bible. Anything that a man thinks more of than he does of God is his idol. A man may make an idol of his wealth. A man may make an idol of his wife or children; a man may make an idol of himself; a good many do that. They think more of themselves than of anything else in the wide world. They worship themselves. They revere themselves. They honor themselves. Self is at the bottom and top of every thing they do. Then there are a good many that worship the god of pleasure. Look at your young men to-day and your young ladies that bow down to the god of pleasure. "Give me a night in the ball-room and you may have heaven with all its glories. What do I care? Give me a night that will satisfy me in this world and I care nothing about the world to come." There are a good many gods. It would take all night to enumerate the gods you have got here in Cleveland. There are a good many that bow down to that god of gold, that golden calf we read of in Aaron's day. "Give me money" is the cry of the world. "You may have the Bible with all its offers of mercy and heaven. You may have everything else if you will only give me money, and give me a nice house up here on the avenue and a good turnout and all the money I want. That is all I ask for. I will just be willing to trample the Bible and all its commandments and all its offers of mercy under my feet. That is my god." "Thou shalt have no other gods before me.''

Now what is your god to-night? What do you think most of to-night? Oh, that the Spirit of God may wake us up to-night. If we are trusting any idol, if we have some idol in our heart, may God tear it from us, because God says, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." The sin of idolatry is one of the worst of sins. In that Book there is more said against idolatry, perhaps, than any other sin. God will have the first place or none. Yet there are a great many men trying to give God the second place. They say, "Business has got to be attended to, I have got to attend to business, and if I have a little time after attending to business, I will attend to my soul's wants." Instead of giving the soul the first place they give the body and this life the first place. We take a good deal better care of our bodies than we do of our souls. You know that very well. Most people think a great deal more of this life than of the life to come. They think a great deal more of the gods around them than of the God of the Bible and the God of heaven.

The next weight is very much like it We will put that weight right in the balances, "Thou shalt not bow down thyself to any-graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth." "Thou shalt not bow down to any image." I am not to even worship any cross or crucifix. I am not to bow down to anything but the God of heaven. I am not to worship any pictures, even if they are pictures of Jesus Christ—not any graven image. I think it is a great mistake that artists try to make pictures of the God of heaven and earth. It is a fearful thing. We are not to make any graven image of anything and then bow down to it.

But I must pass on rapidly. "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.'' Blasphemers come on now and be weighed. We will put that in the balances. You step in and see how quick you will go up — how quick the balance will kick the beam. If every blasphemer in this house was to be weighed to-night, what would become of his soul?

"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." It is astonishing to hear men blaspheme and curse God, and when you talk to them they say, "I don't mean anything by it." Well, God means a good deal when He says He "will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain."

Do you know that profanity is just man's showing his enmity to God? If God hadn't told man not to swear, I don't think he would have thought of it, but just because God has said, ''Thou shalt not swear," he wants to show his contempt of God by trampling His commandment under foot and spurning the grace of God. They say they can't help it. Yet these very men, when their mother is around, seldom if ever swear. That shows they have more respect for their mother than they have for the God of heaven. If the wife happens to be around, or the children very often, they will not swear. Yet they will curse God, and swear to God's face—chal

lenge God, as it were, to do his worst, and blaspheme. Yet when you talk to them about it they say, "Oh, well, I can't help it." It is false. Man may not of his own strength be able to turn from that sin, but God will give him grace. If a man has a new heart, he will have no desire to swear.

If a man is born of God he will not want to take God's name in vain. Let the blasphemers in this house to-night remember that God is not going to "hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain." If every blasphemer in this assembly should be cut down to-night with cursing and blasphemy upon his conscience and upon his heart, what would become of his soul? It is a fearful thing. You look upon a thief as a horrid monster, many of you, and think he is a curse to the community, but is it not as bad to break God's laws as to break the laws of the state? You elect men to your legislature to make laws for you, and you think the laws which they make ought to be revered and honored more than the laws of high heaven. Here is a law from , heaven, and that law says "thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." Man shows contempt for God and his laws and goes on blaspheming.

The next weight we will put in the balances is, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." As it looks to me, we are drifting into a dark age. We thought when we had slavery in this country that it was a great curse to the land; but we have something worse to-day. If this nation gives up its Sabbath, we are not going to see blood flow in a few Southern States, but it will not be long before it will flow in all our cities. It won't be long before we will see a darker day than this nation has ever seen. No republic can exist without righteousness. If men are going to violate the law of God; if you teach men to break God's law, how long will it be before they will take the laws of man in their hands and tear them, as it were, to pieces and throw them to the winds and trample them under their feet?

We have to teach men to honor God's law if we expect them to honor the law of man. We see this desecration of the Sabbath increasing every year, giving up a little here and giving up a little there. A few years ago in Chicago we did not have a theater open on the Sabbath, but now every theater is open. Every Sunday night those theaters are crowded. I want to say to the working men, if you give up the Sabbath, you give up the best friend you've got, and* it will not be long before these capitalists will take your Sabbath and make you work seven days in the week, and you will not earn a dollar more than you do now in six days. God is our friend; he would not have given us one day in seven unless it was for our good. Man needs it, beast needs it. So let us honor the Sabbath day and keep it holy. If we have to give up our business and get some other business, let us do it even if we don't make quite so much money. It is a good deal better for us to be right, to know we are honoring God, and to have God on our side, than it is to be breaking God's law. If a father teaches his child not to observe the Sabbath, takes him out riding on Sunday, teaches him not to go to the house of God, it will not be long before that boy will break his father's commandments. You teach him to dishonor God's law and he will dishonor yours. Is not that so? Does history not

teach you that? Look around you. Have you got to go to the Bible to find that out? Is it not so? You take a man that goes around on the Sabbath, who don't teach his boy to go to Sabbath-school and to church, but teaches him to play marbles, and it will not be long before that boy will break that father's heart—if he has a heart.

Throw this commandment into the balances and Sabbath-breaker, step in. If you do, what will become of you? You will find written on the wall, "Tekel. Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting." If a man cannot keep one day out of seven, what is he going to do with that eternal Sabbath in heaven? He will not want to go there. Heaven would be hell to him.

I must pass on. "Honor thy father and thy mother." That is another thing that shows we are drifting into a dark age. Men seem to be void of natural affection. Now, I want to call your attention to this fact; wherever you see a young man or young lady treating their parents with scorn and contempt, you may just mark this, they will never prosper. I am not an old man and I am not a prophet, but I have lived long enough to notice that I have yet to find the first case where a young man or young lady has started out in life that has dishonored father and mother, that has treated them with scorn and contempt, that has ever prospered. I believe today one reason why so many men's ways are hedged up, and they do not prosper is because they have dishonored their parents. I do not know of anything that is more contemptible. I do not know of anything that sinks a man lower in my estimation, than to hear him speak disrespectfully of his father and mother, that cared for him in his childhood, that watched over him in sickness and did everything they could for him.

A young man that will go out and get drunk and come home at midnight, or 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning, knowing his gray-haired mother is sitting up for him and weeping, is crushing that mother, just breaking her heart, just murdering her by degrees. I do not know why it is not just as bad to murder your father and mother, break their hearts and take months to do it and to kill them, as it is to take a revolver and shoot them down at once. There are hundreds of young men doing that to-day. You haven't got to go out of Cleveland to find them. I venture to say while I am talking here to-night some young man is in a brothel or in some saloon or billiard hall, who will go home to-night or tomorrow morning beastly drunk and curse the mother that gave him birth, and curse her gray hairs, and perhaps lift up that great strong arm of his and beat that mother. Or some husband will go and be untrue to some wife and go home, and if she says a word, down comes that right arm upon her. Yes, it is only one, two or three murderers we have perhaps in jail at a time, but how many walk the streets of Cleveland to-day! I tell you a young man that don't honor his father and mother, need not expect to prosper in this life, or in the life to come.

There was a young man who used to think considerable of his parents. He was a very fine looking young man. His father was a great drunkard, and his mother used to take in washing just to give that boy an education. She kept him at school and worked hard to do it. But one day he was out on the sidewalk talking with that mother. She had been washing and was not dressed as well as some ladies. He saw a school-mate coming towards him and he walked away from that mother. The schoolmate asked him who that woman was he was talking to, and he said it was his washer-woman. Ashamed to own his own mother. You laugh, young lady. Shame on such a man as that. I think we ought to be ashamed of a man that would speak that way of a mother who is toiling day and night to give him an education. "Honor thy father and thy mother." Treat them kindly, you will not always have them. By and by they will be gone. No one in the wide world loves you like that mother. No one in the wide world loves you like that father. Treat them kindly. Make the evening of their lives as sweet as you can. It will come back again. You will have children by and by, perhaps, and they will treat you kindly. But bear in mind if you treat that father and mother with scorn and contempt, by and by, after a few years have rolled around you will be paid back in your own coin. "Be not deceived. God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.'' The reaping is coming, and men will have to reap the same seed that they sow.

You treat that aged mother of yours with scorn and contempt and expect God to smile on you and prosper you, and you will be deceived.

If there is a man or woman in this audience tonight that is not treating father or mother with respect or kindness, let him step into the balances and see how quick they will strike the beam. You will be found lighter than dust in the balances. You will find that word "Tekel" blazing out. "Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting."

But I must pass on. "Thou shalt not kill." I suppose if you had said a few months ago to some of those men that have been killing lately that they were going to come to that, they would have said, "Am I a dog that I should do it?" They thought they would not; but when Satan takes possession of a man you don't know what he will do; you can't tell. When a man goes on step by step from one thing to another, it will not be long before he will be guilty of almost any crime. I have not got to kill a man to be a murderer. If I wish a man dead, I am a murderer at heart. That is murder. If I get so angry with a man that I wish him dead, I am guilty in the sight of God. God looks at the heart, not at the outward man. We only look at the acts of men, but God looks down in the hearts. If I have murder in my heart, if I wish a man or woman dead, I am guilty. "Thou shalt not kill." As I said before, there are a good many men who are not looked upon as murderers, that really kill their parents, kill their children, kill their wives. How many drunken men have murdered their wives! They have literally killed them inch by inch. They have gone to the altar and sworn before the God of heaven they would love, cherish, protect and support that woman, and inside of five years they have become horrid monsters, and beaten that defenceless woman, until at last she has gone with a broken heart into the grave. Nothing but a cruel husband' murdered that woman. "Thou shalt not kill.'' Do

you think a God of judgment, a God of equity, a God of mercy will not bring these men into judgment?

But I must pass on. We will put these six Weights right up there, and come to the next. I would pass over this commandment if I dared, but when I see what the enemy is doing, when I see the terrible, terrible state of things we are having all around, in all kinds of society, high and low, I feel that I must cry out and spare not. "Thou shalt not commit adultery." It is a sin that is not much spoken of. It is one of those things that we like to pass over. We hear a good deal about intemperance, but the twin sister of intemperance is adultery to-day. I want to read to you something that will express what I want to say, perhaps, better than I can myself—the seventh chapter of Proverbs.

I want to say to the young people in this audience to-night, I do not know of a quicker way to ruin, I do not know of a quicker way down to hell than the way of the adulterer. Do you know that the average life of a fallen woman is only seven years? It is very short. How a woman can surrender her virtue and take that road is one of the greatest mysteries of the present day, when they can look around and see how they have brought ruin and blight upon their life, and made it <Jark and bitter.

Not long ago a scene occurred in Chicago, of a mother that left her family in Iowa and a'man that left his, and they came to Chicago, and after getting tired and sick of their life, and remorse, I suppose, seized hold of him, at the hotel where they were, he cut her throat from ear to ear, and as she fled from him into the hall, he cut his own from ear to ear and fled into the hall and embraced her, and the adulterer and adulteress died in each other's arms. What a fearful ending! That is occurring all the while from one end of the land to the other. "Thou shalt not commit adultery!" And I want to say to these libertines — these men that think they can commit that sin and cover it up, and think it will never come to light; some of them come to our public meetings; some of them come into our churches, and they sweep down the broad aisle, perhaps, with their wives upon their arms; they take the best seats, perhaps, in our churches, and they think the crime is covered up—be not deceived. You ruin some man's daughter, and some vile wretch will ruin yours. You will find it out by and by.

Do you think that God is not going to bring men to judgment for this thing? Do you think that men can go on, and that they can get clear, and the woman be cast out? They say the thing is unequal. Well, it may be among men, but bear in mind there is a God of equity sitting in the heavens, and this thing is going to become straight by and by. Not that the women are excused; one is as bad as the other. It is a sin, and it is a fearful sin. It is a sin we must cry out against at the present time. Don't let any adulterer or adulteress think he or she is going into the kingdom of God. And I want to say to the men here to-night, if you are bound to some fallen woman, if you are to-night guilty of that awful sin, give it up or give up heaven. If God should summon you into those balances to-night, what would become of you, vile adulterer, what would become of you? And you, poor, fallen woman!—you step in and see what would become of your soul. "Thou shalt not commit adultery."

I want to say once more before I pass this commandment, that people may cavil and laugh and make light of it, as they do; but it is one of the greatest evils of the present day. Many a man's life is ruined, many a family has been broken up, and many a mother has gone down to her grave with a broken heart, because a son or a daughter has been ruined. It is a time that the church of God should send up one cry that our children should be kept. It is a day of temptation. It is a day of trial on our right hand and on our left. We are living in a day of decayed conscience, as some one has said. Men are losing their consciences. It is astonishing how a man can talk. I got a letter from a man to-day—the first letter I got to-day. He stated he was living this kind of a life, and he seems to have no conscience about it, and he wanted to have me pray that they may be separated, and he says if there is a God they will be separated. He doubts whether or not there is a God. Men get so steeped in sin that they want to stifle conscience, they want to deceive themselves, and they begin to reason that there is no God at all. You will find out by and by there is a God. Bear in mind God will bring you into judgment by and by. Because sentence is not executed at once is no sign He is not going to execute the sentence. Because God don't bring men to judgment at once is no sign he will not come to judgment. He will come. Paul reasoned with Felix of "righteousness, temperance and judgment to come." God has appointed a day when He will judge the world. Men may cavil and laugh as much as they like, but the day is appointed, the hour is fixed, and men have got to come to judgment, and then sins which you have committed in secret, and which you think are covered up, will come to light and be made public, unless they are covered by the blood of Christ; unless you repent and turn from them and ask God to have mercy upon you. They will be blazoned out to that great assembled universe.

But I must pass on., "Thou shalt not steal." Is there a man here to-night that is a thief? Oh, no, you can say there are no thieves here. Ah, don't you flatter yourself. There is many a man that thinks he is not a thief, that is a thief. When that young man takes twenty-five cents out of his employer's till to go to the theater, he is a thief as much as if he stole five thousand dollars and got caught. When a man appropriates to himself one dollar that belongs to some one else, he is a thief in the sight of God. A drop of water is water as much as Lake Erie is water; and the man that steals five cents is a thief in the sight of God as much as if he stole five hundred dollars. Some men think that they are not thieves unless they get caught; and they think if they cover up their tracks and don't get caught they never will be brought to judgment. God's eyes are going to and fro through the earth. If you have a dollar that belongs to some one else, I beg of you, as a friend, to make restitution before you go to bed to-night. Pay it back if you want the light of heaven to flash across your path, if you want the smile and approbation of God to rest upon you, pay it back. You will not prosper as long as you have some one else's money. "Thou shalt not

steal.'' Now go to thinking. Have you anything that belongs to some one else? Have you cheated any one? Have you jumped on to those horse cars and not paid your fare sometimes when there was a great crowd and the conductor did not come around for it? That is stealing just as much as if you had been a defaulter or a forger. Have you been on the steam cars, and the conductor did not happen to come around and get your fare, and have you said, "I have got a ride for nothing"? You are a thief. You laugh at it, but it is not to be laughed at. What we want to-day is righteousness in this nation. What we want in the church to-day above every thing else is downright honesty; and may God give it to us! These things are not to be laughed at. Do you know how men become defaulters? Just in that way. They take a little to begin with, and conscience comes up and smites them; but the next day they take a little more. Conscience don't trouble them so much. By and by they stifle conscience, and they can go on and do anything. That is the way these forgers begin. That is the way these defaulters begin. That is the way these great noted criminals begin. It is just the entering wedge. It is a little thing in their sight. But I tell you what we want to remedy is sin, and sin is not little. If there is a man here to-night who has commenced a downward course, commenced a dishonest life, I want to beg of you to-night, before you sleep, make up your mind, God helping you, that you will straighten up any dishonesty of whicbr you have been guilty, let it cost you what it will. Make restitution.

"Thou shalt not bear false witness." I wish I had time to dwell on that, and the next: "Thou shalt not covet."

There are those ten weights. Now, you cannot be weighed by one of them; you must be weighed by the whole. Is there a man or woman in this audience that is ready to be weighed? Come. I have heard so much about morals—is there a moral man here to-night? Are you ready? Have you not broken that decalogue? Is there a man or woman in this audience that has never broken any of those commandments? If you have broken one, you are guilty. Those are not ten different laws, but one law; and if I have broken one of those commandments, I have broken the law of God, and I am guilty.

Let the moralist come up to-night and step into the scales, and see how quick he will kick the beam. Bring on the moralist. He walks up to those golden scales, and he sees written there, "Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.'' He says, "You will excuse me to-night, sir. I can't be weighed.'' He don't like to step in over the text. He knows very well he will be found wanting. He knows very well it will be said, "Tekel: Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting.' He goes around on the other side of the scales and he sees, "Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven." "Well," he says, "I think I will not be weighed to-night." He is not quite ready to be weighed after all. You know these texts were given by Christ to the moralists of His day. But, says the moralist, "I will step in, I guess, on the other side. I don't like to step in over this text," and he goes on around on the third side, and there he sees: "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." He says, '' I will not go in on that side.'' He steps around to the fourth side. '' Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven." "Well," he says, "I think I will not be weighed in those balances.'' But bear in mind God is going to weigh you in them. You have got to be weighed in them.

Let the rumseller step up to the scales and see if he is ready to be weighed. As he steps up to those scales, he finds written there in golden letters: "Woe be to the man that putteth the bottle to his neighbor's lips." "Well," he says, "I think I won't be weighed to-night.'' He is not ready.

Let the drunkard come, rum bottle in hand. He looks at those scales and sees: "No drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of God." He says, "I will not step in there to-night. I am afraid it will be found written on the wall, as it was on Belshazzer's wall: "Tekel. Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.''

Where is there a man to-night that is ready to be weighed. I can imagine a man up in the gallery says, "I wonder what Mr. Moody would do if he was to be weighed. I wonder if Mr. Moody is ready to step into those scales and to be weighed.'' I want to tell you I am; and I say it, I hope, without any boasting or egotism. You may put into the scales all those commandments, every one of them, and I am ready to step in against them. Do you want to know how? I will take Christ in with me. I took Him as my Savior twenty odd years ago. I am ready to step into those scales with Him at any time. He will bring it down. He kept the law. He was the end of the law for righteousness' sake. That is man's only hope. I would not dare to be weighed without him; but with Him, I am ready at any time, day or night. If God calls me to step into those scales to-night, I will step in; and I will step in with a shout, too, and I will not be looking on the wall to see if it is written "Tekel: Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting," because Christ has kept the law, and I have got Him. He offered himself to me, and I took Him. He offers himself to every guilty sinner here tonight. To every man and woman who has broken that law there is a Savior offered, there is salvation offered, and you can have it and live forever. But without Christ, what are you going to do?