The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1882-04-27

great ligut ln his sQUl. With q whip of
scorpions | have scouTged his wicked
ness, and | have trird Joch.,r him when
DONG right; ana yet 1 am compelled To
testify on the stand to-day nat he has
sometimes rejected my mission. O, how
many cups of life have / pressed to his
lips that he dashed down, and how often
has he stood with his hard heel on the
bleeding heart o. the Son OF uOd. IL
pains me very much that / have to tes-
THY against this Christianman, and yet
must, In behalf of Him who will in no
wise clear the guilty, say that this Chris
tlan man has done wrong. He has been
worldly. He has been neglectful. He
has done a thousand things he ought
not to have done" That will do, Con
science. You can sit down.
The third witness l call in the case is
an Angel "t God. Bright and shining
one, whfA dOest thou here? What hast
go" says the Angel, 81 have been a
messenger to him. l have guarded him.
| have watched him. With this wing |
have defended him, and Oftentimes,
when he knew it not, | led him into the
green pastures and beside the still wat
eTs. l snatched from him the poisoned
chalices. When bad spirits came
upon him to destroy him, | fought
them back with infinite feTceness; and
yet | have to testify to-day that he has
rejected my mission. He has not done
as he ought to have done. Though |
came from the sky he drove me back.
Though with this wing L defended him,
and though with this voice | wOoed
him, have to announce his multiplied
imperfectiOns. | dare not keep back the
testimony, for then l should not dare to
appear again amongst the sinless ones
before the great white Throne"
There Is only one more witness to be
called on behalf of the prosecution, and
that Is the great, the holy, the august
the omnipOtent Spirit of God. We bow
down before him. Holy Spirit, knOwest
thou this man? 80 yes" says the Holy
One, Il know Him. | have striyen with
sometimes he did seem to repent, he fell
back again as often from his first estate
Ten thousand times ten thousand has he
grieyed Me, although the Bible warned
him, saying: 'GrieYe not the Holy Ghost.
Quench not the Spirit. Yes, he has
driven Me back. Though lam the Third
Person of the Trinity. he has trampled
on Md mission, and the blood of the
AtOnement that | brought, with which
| to cleanse his soul, he sometimes de-
spised. | came from the throne of God
to convert, to comfort, and sanctify and
yet look at that man and see what
he is compared with what, unTesisted, |
would have made him."
| The evidence on the part of the prose-
| cutiOn has closed. Now let the defence
| bring on the Tebuttal testimony. What
| have you, o Christian soul, to bring in
reply to this evidence of the world, of
! the conscience, of the angel, and of the
! Holy Ghost? No evidence? Are all
! these things true? Eyes. Unclean, un-
clean, says every Christian soul. What?
Do you not begin to tremble at the
thought of condemnation?
We have come now to the most inter
esting part of this great trial. The evil
dence all in, the advocates speak. The
| profession of an advocate is full of re-
spOnslbility. In England and the United
States there have arisen men who in
this calling, have been hOnOTed by their
race, and thrown cOptempt upon those
who in the profession have been guilty
| Of a great many meannesseS. That pro
fessiOn will be honorable as long as it
has attached to it such names as Mans
field, and Marshall, and Story, and Kent,
and Southland, and William Writ. The
| court room has sometimes been the
| scene of very marvellous and thrilling
| things. Some of you remember the fam
GUS GiraTd will case, where one of our
! advocates pleaded the cause of the Bible
and Christianity in mastery Anglo
Saxon, every paragraph a thundeTbOlt.
| Some of you have read the famous trial,
in Westminster Hall, of Warren Hast
| ings, the despOiler of India. The great
man had conquered India by splendid
talents, by courage, by bTibes, by gigan-
tic dishonesty. The whole world had
rung with applause or condemnation.
| Gathe ed in Westm 'ter Hall, place
| in which thirty kings had been inaugu-
rated, was one of the most famous au-
diences ever gathered. Foreign minist-
| eTS and princes sat there, Peers marched
in, clad in eTmine and gold. Mighty
men and women from all lands looked
down upon the scene. Amid all that
pOmp and splendOT, and amid an excite
| ment such as has seldom been seen in
| any court room, Edmund Burke advanced
J in speech which will last as long as
| the English language, concluding with
| this burning charge which made Warren
Hastings cringe and cover: II impeach
him in the name of the Commons House
| of Parliament, whose trust he has be-
tTayed. | impeach him in the name of
the English natiOp, whose ancient honor
he has sullied. | impeach him in the
name of the people of India, whose
rights he has tTampled on, and whose
country he has turned into desert.
| And lastly, in the name of human ma
ture, in the name of both sexes, in the
name of every age and rank, | impeach
him as the common enemy and Oppres-
SOr OF all. BuJ LuTn from Ine recital
of those memorable occasions to
grander trial, and have to tell you that
in this trial of the Christian for the life
of his soul the advocates are mightier,
wiser and more eloquent.
The evidence all being in, Justice
rises on behalf of the prosecution to
make his plea. With the Bible open in
his hand, he reads the law, stern and
J inflexible, and the penalty: "The soul
, that sinneth, it shall die" Then he
, says: 30, Thou Judge and Lawgiver,
! this is Thine own statute, and all the
evidence in earth and heaven agrees in
stating that this man has sinneC
against all these enactments. Now lei
, the sword leap from its scabbaId. Shal
D man go through the very flames o.
g Sinai unsingedP Let the law be exc
l cuted. Let judgment be pronounced
= Let him die. l demand that he die"
. o Christian, does it not look very darl
4 for theeP Who will plead on thy sidt
a in so fOTlOrn cause? Sometimes mar
t will be brought into court of law, an6
g he will have no friends and no money
l and the judge will look over the bal
| |. hn mill