Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-12-20
ON TRIAL BEFORE CHRIST
TREMENDOUS ISSUES WHICH
ARE AT STAKE.

Ten Counts In the Iud ctment of the
Court of High H~Svan Against the
Christian--So emD Contracts OF Pray er
Violated - DAm ages Claimed -Th
World Incapable of Being an Impair
tial Witness.
BROOKLYN, Dec. l9.-Rev. T. Dewitt
Talmage, ID, preached to-day in the
Brooklyn Tabernacle on the subject: "0n
Trial" Taxing for his text l. John ill.,, =:
"We have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ, the righteous" He said;
Standing in a court room you say to
Yourself: SAT this bar crime has often
been srraigned; at this witness stand the
oath has often been taken; at this jurors
this judges desk sentence has been pro-
nounced." But l have to tell you to-day
of a trial higher than any Over ana Ter
miner, or Circuit, or supreme, or Chan
Gerry. II is the trial OF every Christian
man for the life of his soul. This trial Is
d lfferent from any other in the fact that it
s both civil and criminal. The Issues at
stake are tremendous. and l shall In my
sermon show you, first, what are the
grounds of complaint; then who are the
witnesses in the cause, and lastly, who
are the advocates.
When trial is called on, the first
thing is to have the Indictment read.
Stand up then, o Christian man, and hear
the indictment of the court of high heaven
against thy soul! 1t Is an indictment Of
ten counts, for thou hast directly or in
directly broken all the ten command
ments, You know how it Numbered on
Sinai, and when God came down how the
mountain rocked, and the smoke assembled
as from a smOldering furnace, and the
darkness gathered thick, and the loud
deep trumpet uttered the words: 1.-The
soul that sinneth 1t shall dep Are you
guilty or not guilty? Do not put in
negative plea too quick, for | have to an
nounce that "all have sinned and come
short of the glory OF God. There is none
that dOeth good; no, not one. Whosoever
shall keep the whole law, yet offend in one
point, he is guilty of ALL" Do not, there
fore, be too hasty in pronounclng yourself
not guilty.
This lawsuit before us also charges you
with the breaking of solemn contract
Many a time did we promise to be the
Lords. We got down on our knees and
said: SO Lord, i am Thine now and for
ever" Did you keep the promise? Have
you stood up TO the contract? go back
to your first communion. You remember
II as well as If IL were yesterday. You
know how the vision of the cross rose be-
fore you. You remember how from the
head, aad the hauds, and the side, and the
feet, there came bleeding forth these two
words: Remember meW You recall
how the cup OF communion trembled in
YOUR hand when you first took it; and as
in a sea shell you may hear. or think you
hear, tne roaring of the surf even alter the
she'll had been taken from the beach. 80
you lifted the cup of communion,
and you heard in 1T the surging
of the great ocean of SavlOur's
agony; and you came forth from that
communion service with face shining as
though you had been on the Mount OF
TRANSPORTATION; and the very air seemed
tremulOus with the love of Jesus, and the
woods, and the leaves, and the grass, and
the birds were brighter and sweeter-
voiced than ever before, and you said
down in the very depths of your soul:
Lord, thou knowesJ all things; thou
knowest that l love Thee" Have you
kept the bargain, o Christian man? Have
you not some time ialtered whep you
ought to have been trueY Have you not
been proud when you ought to have been
humble9 Have you not played the cow
ard when you ought to have been the
herof / charge it upon you, and l charge
it upon myself-we have broken the con-
tract.
Still further this lawsuit claims dam
ages at your hands. The greatest slander
on the Christian religion is an inconsis-
tent professor. The Bible says religion
is one thing; we by our Inconsistency say
religion is some other thing, and what Is
more deplorable about 1t is that people
can see faults in others while they cannot
see any in themselves. If you shall at
~, Et,.l cd, nr,,fu ~ 10 nj in
with imperfectiOns from the crown OF her
head TO the sole of her foot, perfect
blotch OF sin herself, she will go tattling,
tatting, tattllng all the years OF her life,
about the Inconsistencies OF others, hav-
ing no idea that she is inconsistent her.
self. God save the world from the gossip,
female and male! / think the males are
the worst. Now the chariot OF Chrlsps
salvation goes on through the world; but
it is our Inconsistencies, my brethren,
that block up the wheels, while all along
the line there ought to have been cast
nothing but palm branches, and the
shout shou d have been lifted, "Hosana 20
the son of David"
Now you have heard the indictment
read. Are YOU ready to plead guilty or
not guilty? Perhaps you are not ready
vet to plead. Then the trial Will 90 on.
The witnesses will be called, and we shall
have the matter decided. In the name Of
sod now make proclamation: "Oyez!
Oyez! Oyez! WhosoeVer hath anything
10 offer IN this trial in whicn God the
plaintiff and the Christian soul is the
defendant, let him now step forth and
give testimony in this solemn trial."
The first witness that call upon the
stand Ia behalf Of the prosecution, is the
WOrd-al critical and observant OF
Christian character. You know that
there are people around YOU VINO per-
petuRlly banquet on the trailties OF Gods
children. You may know, il you have
lived in the country, that crow cares
for nothing 30 much as carriOn. There
are those who imagine that out OF the
faults Of Christians they can make "a
bridge OF boats across the stream OF
death, and they are going TO try H.; but,
alas. Tor the mistake. When they get amid
stream away will go the bridge and down
will 20 their soul TO perdltlon. q, World
of the greedy eye and he hard heart, come
on the stand now and testify in behalf OF
the prosecution against his Christian soul
on trial. What do you know about this
Christian man? Goa" SAYS the World,
Il know a great deal about him. He talks
about putting his treasures in heaven,
but he is the sharpest man In trade
ever knew. He seems TO want us 10 be-
lieve that he Is n child OF God, but he Is
Just full Of imperiections. l do not know
but | am great deal better than be Ia
now. Oftentimes he is very earthly, and
be talks so little about Christ and so much
about himself, | am very glad TO testify
that this is a bad man."
Stop, ., World with the greedy eye and