queen

could neither read it nor give the interpretation thereof. At length, by the advice of the mother, Daniel is called in. He read the writing; he gave the interpretation thereof. The words are few, but, indeed, they are full of terror!--“Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin." One of which we have selected for our consideration, "Tekel;" the meaning of which is"Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting." How dreadful the interpretation! Weighed in the balances and found wanting! Alas! the trial is over; the decision is made; the sentence is gone forth; and all this announced in a manner so awful-so mysterious! Methinks it fell upon Belshazzar's ear, as the sudden pealing thunder of a midnight storm! Hushed is the voice of mirth. Silent the song of revelry. The king and his courtiers, stupified with amazement, await in awful suspense, the unseen but hovering judgment. For a moment the palace, which had been ringing with all manner of music, and the songs of mirth and revelry, is wrapt in the solitude and silence of the grave. Suddenly the silence is broken. The voice of alarm rings along the streets! It is the clashing of arms; the shrieks of the wounded--the groans of the dying, commingled with the thundering shouts of a victorious foe. The Lord God Almighty has opened to Cyrus the gates of brass, and has broken in sunder the bars of iron.

Babylon is taken! Soldiers crowd into the palace-Belshazzar is slain. O! disastrous night; where is Belshazzar's pomp and glory now? He was flushed with wine; but he is now icy cold in death! His royal robes, of gold and purple, are torn and rolled in his own blood. The impious monarch, in the midst of his bacchanalian debauch is hurried to the bar of a thrice holy God. You tremble, perchance, at the doom which awaits him. O sinner! sinner! think of Belshazzar, and be wise. Are you shocked that I should insinuate a comparison between you and this wicked king. Remember you live in a gospel land; Belshazzar lived not in a gospel land. You have a Bible; Belshazzar had no blessed Bible. You have heard of the dear dying Saviour; Belshazzar never heard of this great Legate from the skies. And remember, you must be weighed in the balances too, and what though you be not found as much wanting as Belshazzar, if found wanting at all, in the great day of judgment, you will be for ever undone. My purpose is, not to sketch the character of this impious and idolatrous king-but to bring forward two classes of characters, and weigh them in the balances of the sanctuary. The first class of characters will embrace those who are heterodox in sentiment-those who embrace some fundamental error. The second class will consist of those who may be very orthodox or correct in senti

ment, but are not so in practice. All these we purpose now to weigh in the balances of the sanctuary—and, let it be remembered, it does not need the forms and solemnities of the judgment day to ascertain any given character. Here, in the Scriptures before me, we have the balances of the sanctuary; and if weighed in these, and found wanting, you may be as sure it is according to the decision of heaven, as if it were actually announced, in a voice of thunder from the throne of the Great Eternal! To the law and to the testimony, if it speak not according to this, it is because there is no light in them.

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Class I. Those who are heterodox in sentiment, or those who embrace fundamental error. 1. The Atheist. When we look abroad upon the heavens, and mark the garniture of the sky -when we contemplate our own bodies, so fearfully and wonderfully made; or when we look around, and observe the proofs of design on every hand, it really seems astonishing that any man in his senses should deny the existence of a God. But, as Spinoza, and Vaninni, and several members of the French Convention advocated atheistical sentiments, we are disposed to believe that some persons, in the plenitude of their pride, may, peradventure, persuade themselves that there is no God. Now, on the supposition that there is such a character, let the atheist be weighed in the

balances of the sanctuary. What says the Psalmist? "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." Ps. xiv. 1. And this is condemnatory; but what is the language of Paul, in his epistle to the Romans?" The invisible things of him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse." Now, if atheists in pagan lands are without excuse, certainly those who live amid the splendours of gospel day are also without excuse. The atheist, then, being weighed in the balances, is found wanting.

But,

2. Let the Deist next be placed in the balances. There have been deists, no doubt, in every age; but this name was assumed by certain persons in France and Italy, who, although inclined to atheistical sentiments, chose rather to be called deists. Deists differ in many things, but agree in one particular, viz: in rejecting the sacred volume as a divine inspiration. Now, to the law and to the testimony. In Rev. xxii. 19, it is thus written-"If any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city." But the deist, or infidel, takes away not only a part--he takes away the whole of God's blessed word. If this should meet the eye of an infidel, or deist, he will, no doubt, be

disposed to smile at my simplicity--that I should presume to weigh him in the balances of the sanctuary. He rejects these balances, which are suspended as it were from the throne of Almighty God, and he would be weighed in balances of his own--balances framed by his own deceitful heart, and poised aloft by Apollyon, the angel of the burning pit. Deluded mortal! How dost thou know that thy balances are correct? What angel whispered it in thine ear? To what high authority wilt thou appeal? Deluded mortal! I ask again, How dost thou know that thy balances are correct? Who stamped them? Now, these balances of the sanctuary are divinely stamped. They bear the stamp of prophecy; the stamp of miracles; the stamp of holiness;--they bear many a clear stamp divine. If the balances of the infidel be correct, how comes it to pass that the champion of infidelity* recanted when he was sick, and cried aloud in terror when he died? How comes it to pass that one in the hour of death said--“I am taking a leap into the dark;" and another cried out--“O, the insufferable pangs of hell and damnation." Ah! my readers, you have heard, it may be, of many an infidel recanting on a bed of death; did you ever hear of a Christian then recanting? You have heard, no doubt, of many an Francis Newport.

* Voltaire. + Hobbes.