Tekel


As I was passing through the market one 

morning, I saw a crowd of people collected 

near a stall.

I stopped to see what was the matter, and found

that an officer, called the clerk of the market, 

was weighing a farmer's butter, in a large pair of

 scales, to try whether it was of the right weight.

 It is the law that every lump of butter which is 

offered for sale as a pound, shall be taken away

 from the owner, if it does not weigh a pound in 

the clerk's scales. The country people knew this

 very well; and yet some of them are so fond of a

 little dishonest gain, that they will run the risk 

of the loss and shame which they are sure to 

suffer, if they are caught attempting to cheat. 

But many of them have better principles, and 

would not cheat, even if there was no law 

against it. I saw the clerk put one lump after

 another into his scales, and finding it all too

 light, he soon emptied the farmer's tub, and 

filled his own basket. I believe very few, if any 

of the crowd who were looking on, pitied the 

man, for they all seemed to think that he 

deserved this punishment.

While I observed the strict justice of the officer,

and the confusion of the farmer, as his 

dishonesty was exposed before the gazing

 crowd, I was strongly reminded of the terror and

 dismay which seized the guilty Belshazzar, when

 the miraculous handwriting on the wall declared

 his character and his doom. ''Tekel, thou art 

weighed in the balances, and art found wanting."

 And my thoughts were carried forward to that 

awful day, when the actions and motives of men

 shall undergo a still stricter examination, before

 the Searcher of hearts. No doubt my little 

readers are all ready to condemn the conduct of

 the dishonest farmer; but I have a higher object

 in view in relating to them this little incident. I 

want them to search their own hearts, and weigh

 their own conduct in the scales of God's law,

 that they may know what is their character in

 his, sight, and what are their prospects for 

eternity. My dear children, it is not sufficient 

that your conduct should seem to be good.

It must be really good, if you would have it

 approved of God. Now no thought, word, or

 action can be good in the sight of God, which 

does not proceed from a new heart. Then first of

 all you must seek to have your heart renewed by

 the Spirit of God, your sins forgiven through the

 blood of Christ, and to grow in grace through the

 gift of the Holy Spirit. You may deceive your 

friends, and parents, and teachers, by seeming

 to be good. You may even deceive your own 

selves, and think that all is right with you. But 

you cannot deceive God. He looks not only at the

 outward actions,but at the motives and feelings

 of the heart.

So he tells us himself in his holy word. '' The

Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions

are weighed." 1 Samuel 2:3. " All the ways of a

man are clean in his own eyes; but the Lord

weigheth the spirits". Proverbs 16:2. Do you ask,

"What is the standard weight by which I may

weigh my conduct?" You may find it in the first

epistle to the Corinthians, the tenth chapter and

thirty-first verse "Whether therefore ye eat or

drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of

God." All that does not come up to that standard

will be "found wanting," in the day when the

Lord shall bring all things into judgment. Think

of this in the house, and by the way; in your

 intercourse with parents, teachers, and 

companions; in your daily employments, and in

 the worship of God; and pray continually: 

Search me, O God, and know my heart. 





Youth's Friend 1835.