Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1886-12-31

II
| John H., |,
Standing In courtroom you say to YOUR
| sell: AT tn s bar crime has often been ar
| algnet; at this witness stand the oath has
| often been taken; at this Jurors bench tho
| ye diet has been rendered; at this iudte's
ieSk sentence has been pronoun e H. BuG |
! nave t. tell you j-daV II O trial higher than
any Oyer an Terniner or Circuit or Su-
| prelne or Chan cry. 1t is the trial of every
Christian man for the life of his soul. This
trial IS different from any other in the fact
mat u Is both civil aud criminal. The issues
at stake are tremendous and | shall In my
sermon show you, first, what are the grounds
OF complaint; then, who are the witnesses in
the au'e, and lastly, who are the advocates
when trini is callel on, the first thing is
70 nave the Indictment read. Stand up then
! " Christian men, aud hear the Indictment
| OF the court of high heaven against thy soul.
| ~ is an Indictment of ten counts for thou
mas directly or indirectly broken ail the ten
commandments You know how it thun.
| dered on Sinai, and when God came down
now the mountain rocked and the smoke as
cended as from smouldering furnace and the
darkness gathered thick and the loud deeD
trumpet uttered the words '"rhe soul that
slnneth, it shall die" Are you guilty or not
guhtyf DO not put in q negative plea too
| IulcA, Tor have to announce that ''all have
slnned and cone short of the glory OF God
There is none that doeth good; no, not one
| W hoso=ver shall keep the whole law, yet of
len1 IN one point, he IS guilty of all Do
not, tn reiore, be too haSty in pronouncing
! yoarSclf not guilty.
This lawsuit before us also charges you
| with the breaking OF solemn contra +
Many time did we promise to be the
! Lords. We got down on our knees and said:
- Lord, l am thine now and forever
Did you keep the promise! Have you stood
up to the contracts go back to your first
! communion. You re member 1t as well as if
it were yesterday You know how the Wis
ION OF the cross rose before you. You re-
member how from the head and the han s
and the side and the feet, there came bleed
| ing forth these two words: "Remember
Me You recall how the cup of &C mmunion
tremb:ed in your hand when you first took
| 1t; ami a in S, ,a-shell you may h ar, or
tnlhK You hear, the roaring of the surf even
alter the shell has been ia zen from the
beach, so you lifted the cup of
| communion and you heard in it
tho surging of the great OCEAN of
| a saviour agony; and yol came forth from
that communion service with face shining as
though you had been on the NJ Junt of Trans
! tigul alton: an1 the very air SCENE t. EMU
lous with the love of Jesus, aud the woods
AMI the leaves and the ass and the birds
| were brighter and sweeter-voiced than ever
! before, and yol said down in the very depths
Of your soul: Lord, ThoI knowest all
things; Thou knowest that l love Thee"
Have You kept the bargain, y Christ an
! man: Have you not sometimes faltered
| Wien you ought to have zen truei HGve you
not been proud when you ought to have been
humble: Have you not played the coward
| when You ought TO have been thu he"oI |
charge 1t upon you and | charge it upon my
| Selt-we have bl oxen the contract
Still further; this law suit claims damages
at your hands The create Sian ler on the
| a Ui iS ON .ot,f
sor. The Bible says religion is one thing;
! we by our lnconsis ency say religion is some
other thing, and what is more deplorab!e
about it is that people can see faults Of others
While they cannot see any in themselves. If
you shall at any time lind some mi ,erabe old
| gossip, with imp2lfectoni from the crown
of her head to the sole of her foot perfect
blotch OF sin herself, she will go tattling, tat
| ting, tatting all the years of her life alb ut
! the ncon 3istenciss of others, having no idea
that she is inconsistent herself. God save the
world from the gossip, female and mlle.
| think the males are the worst. Now the
| chariot of [ hJi It's salvation goes on through
the world; but it is o. Inconsistencies,
my brethren, that blocl; up the wheels, while
al along the line there ought to have been
cast nothing but palm branches, and the
shout sh juld have been lifted: "Hosanna
TO the son of David
Now you have heard the indictment read
| <NlC OOI lStti1 W EltSIu SullIS Vi nOl
| guiItys Perha! you are not ready yet to
| plead Then the trial will go on. The wit
nesses will be called anti we shall have the
matter decided. In tie name of Go1 now
make proclamation. Oyezl Oyezi Oyol
Who5oever hath anything to Offer in this
tr o., in whi h God is the plaintiff and the
Christian soul the defeudont, let him now
step forth and give testimony in this solemn
trial.
The first witness that call up IN the stand
| in behalf of the prose- ution is the world al
| criti al and o1servant of Christian haracter
You know thai there are eople aroun you
who rerTetually banquet on the frailties oil
Gods Oh lren. You may know, if you have
lived in the country, that er1w cares for
nothing so much as carriOn. There are thost
who imagine that olt of the faults of hrij
t'aus they can make bridge of boats acros!
the stream of death, and they are G ing t.
try it; but, as, for the mistake! " men they
got amid stream away will go the bridge
and down will 90 their souls to ler
ditiop. o world OF tho greedy eye and
tho hard heart, come on the stand nov
and to;tify in behalf of the prosecution
against this Christian soul on trial. Wha
do you know about this Christian man
"Oh," says the world, 'I know great deal
about him. He talks about putting his treas
ures in heaven, but he is the sharpest man in
trade | ever knew. He seems to want us to
believe that he is child of God, but he is
Just full of imperfectons. / do not know
but am great deal better than he is now
Oftentimes hs is very earthly, and he talks SO
little about Christ aud SO much about him
self am very glad to testify that this is a
bad man."
Stop, o World with the greedy eve and
harl heart. | fear you are too much inter-
ested in this trial to give impartial evidence
Let all those who hear the testimony of this
witness know that there is an old family
quarrel between these two parties There
always has been a variance between the
world and the church and while the world
on the witness stand to-day has told great
deal Of truth about this Christian man, you
must take it all with some allowance, re-
membering that they still keep the old
grudge good. o World of the q eedy eye
and the hard heart hat will do. You may
sit down.
The second witness ] call in this case is
Conscience. Who art thou, o Conscience.
What is your business Where were you
born ! What are you doing here ooh, y
says Conscience, 81 was born in heaven:
came down to hefriend this man; have lived
with him, have instructed him. l have
warned him. l shovel him the right and
the wrong, advising him to take the one and
eS"hew the other; | have kindlel a great
light in his soul: with whip of scorpions ]
have scourge1 his wicxedness and ]
have tried to cheer him when doing
right; and yet l am compelled tC
testify on the stand to-day that he has
sometimes rejected my mission. Oh. how
many cups Of life have Ipressed to his lirs
t'at he dashed down. and how often has he
stood with his hard heel on the blee ling
heart of the Son of God 1t pains me very
much that l have to testify against this
Christian man, AMI yet must, in behalf of
Him who will in no wise clear the guilty.. saw
that this Christian man has done wrong He
has been worldly. He has been neglectful,
He has done a thousand things he ought not
to have done and left und0ne a thousand
things he ought to have donen That will do.
Conscience. You can sit down
| The third witness call in tho cnsa jc nm