The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1886-12-23


down to befriend this man. 1 have lived
with him 1 have instructed him. 1 have
warned him. ] showed hiTl the right and
| the wrong, advising him to take the one and
eschew the other. I have kindled great
light in his soul. With a whip Of scorpions
have scourged his wickedness and
have tried to cheer him when doing right;
and yet l am compelled to testify on the
stand to-day that he has sometimes rejected
my mission. Oh. how many cups of life
have 1 pressed to his lips that he dashed
down, and how often has he stood with his
hard heel on the bleeding heart of the Son of
God! It pains me very much that have to
testify against this Christian man, and yet I
must, in behalf of Him who win in no wise
clear the guilty, say that this Christian man
has done wrong. He has been worldly. He
has been neglectful. He has done thousand
things he ought not to have done, and left
undone a thousand things he ought to have
done" That viii do, Conscience. You can
sit down.
The third witness 1 call in the case, is an
Angel of God. Bright and shining one, what
doest thou herea What hast thou to say
against this man on triall "Ohp says the
angel, Il have been messenger to him. l
have guarded him. I have watched him
With this wing 1 have defended him, and
oftentimes when he knew it not I led him
into the green pastures and beside tho still
waters. 1 snatched from him the poisoned
chalices. When bad spirits came upon him
to destroy him 1 fought them back with
infiuite tierceness; and yet 1 have to
testify to-day chat he has rejected my mis-
sion. He has not don as he ought to have
done. Though l came from the sky he drove
me back. Though with this wing defended
him, and though with this voice 1 wooed
him, have to announce his multiplied i'm
perfections. dare not keep back the testi-
mOny, for then should not dare to appear
again amongst the sinless ones before the
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 "Oh,
yes" says the holy one, 81 know him. have
striven with him ten thousand times, and
though sometimes he did seem to repent, he
fell back again as often from his first estate
Ten thousand times ten thousand has he
grieved Me, although the Bible warned him
saying: 'Grieve not the Holy Ghost Quench
not the spirit Yes, he has driven Me back
Though 1 am the third person Of the Trinity
he has trampled on my mission, and the blooQ
of the atonement that 1 brought with which
to cleanse his soul, he sometimes despised.
came from the throne of God to convert, and
comfort, and sanctify, and yet look at that
man, and see what he is compared with what,
unresisted, would have made him.
The evidence ON the part of the prosecution
has closed. Now let the defense bring ON the
rebuttal testimony. What have you, o
Christian soul, to bring in reply to this evil
dence of the World, of the Conscience, of the
Angel and of the Holy Ghost? No evidence9
Are all these things true9 "Yes, unclean, un-
Do you not begin to tremble at the thought
of condemnation
We have come now to the most interesting
part of this great trial. The evidence all in,
the advocates speak. The profession of an
advocate is full of responsibility. In England
and the United States there have arisen men
who in this calling have been honored by
their race and thrown contempt upon those
who in the profession have been guilty of a
great many meannesses. That profession
will be honorable as long as it has
attached to it such names as Mansfield, and
Marshall, and Story, and Kent and South
ard and William Writ The court room has
sometimes been the scene of very marvellous
and thrilling things. Some Of you remember
the famous Girard viii case, where one of
our advocates pleaded the cause of the Bible
and Christianity in mastery Anglo-Saxon,
every paragraph thunderbolt.
Some of you have read of the famous trial
in Westminster hall of Warren Hastings, the
despoiler of India. That great man had con-
quered India by splendid talents, by courage,
by bribes, by gigantic dishonesty. The whole
world had rung with applause or condemna-
ton. Gathered in Westminster hall was one
of the most famous audiences ever gathered.
Foreign ministers and princes sat there.
Peers marched in clad in ermine and gold. !
Mighty men and women from all lands !
looked down upon the scene. Amid all that |
pomp and splendor, and amid an excitement
such as has seldom been seen in any
court room, Edmund Burke advanced, !
in a speech which will last as long as
the English language, concluding with this |
burning charge, which made Warren Hast |
ings cringe and cover: Il impeach him in |
the name of the Commons house of parlia- /
ment, whose trust he has betrayed. / i'm
peach him in the name of the English nation, |
whose ancient honor he mas sullied. i'm |
peace him in the name of the people of India, |
whose rights he has trampled on, and whose |
country he has turned into desert And |
lastly, in the name of human nature, N the
name of both sexes in the name of every age
and rank, 1 impeach him cs the common enc
my and oppressor of all"
But turn from the recital of these mem
orable occasions to a grander trial, and 1
Christian for the life of his soul the advo-
Gates are mightier, wiser and moro 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 inlexible, and the
penalty: "The soul that sinneth it shall die"
Then he says: 80 thou, judge and lawgiver,
this is thine own statute, and all the evi-
deI.ce in earth and heaven agrees in stating
~
actments. Now let the sword leap from its
acabbard. Shall man go through the very
flames of Sinai unsinged? Let the law be
executed. Let Judgment be pronounced.
Let him die demand that he die.n
o Christian, does it not look very dark for
theea Who will plead on thy side in so for
lorn cause! Sometimes man will be
brought into a court of law, and he win have
no friends and no money, and the judge will
look over the bar and say: as there any one
who will volunteer to take this mans case
and defend hirnl" and some young man rises
up and says: "I viii be his counsel" perhaps
starting on from that very point to a great
and brilliant career. Now in this matter Of
the soul, as you have nothing to pay for
counsel do you think that any one will vol
unteer? Yes, yes; l see one rising. He is a
young man, only 80 years of age. I SEQ His
countenance suffused with tears and covered
with blood, and all the galleries of heaven
are thrilled with the spectacle Thanks be
unto Godl "Wo have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous"
o, Christian soul, your case begins to look
better. 1 think, perhaps, after oil you may
not have to die The best advocate in all the
universe he's taken your side. No one was
ever SO qualified to defend man as this ad-
vocate is qualified to defend you. He knows
all the law, all its demands, all its penalties.
He is always ready. No new turn of the
case can surprise Him, and He viii plead for
you for nothing as earnestly as though you
brought O world of treasures to His feet Be