Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1886-12-20
ON TRIAL.
HEAR THE INDICTMENT OF THE COURT OF
HIGH HEAVEN AGAINST THY SOUL
The Trial OF the Christian For the Life Of His Soul
Justice the Prosecutor Demands His Death
But the Best Advocate In the Universe
Has Taken Your Side.


Has Taken Your Side.
BROOKLYN, n. Y, December 19.-The
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage, d. D., preached
to-day in the Brooklyn Tabernacle on the
subject: ''On Trial" Taking for his
text John II, 2: "We have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the right
eous," he said:
Standing in a court room you say to
yourself: AT this bar crime has often
been arraigned; at this witness stand the
oath has been taken; at this jurors bench
the verdict has been rendered, at this
judges desk sentence has been pronounc-
ed" But 1 have to tell you to-day of a
trial higher than any Oyer and Terminer,
or Circuit, or Supreme, or Chancery. 1t is
the trial of every Christian man for the
life of his soul. This trial is different from
any other in the fact that it is 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 advo-
Gates.
WHEN A TRIAL IS CALLED ON,
the first thing is to have the indictment
read. Stand up then, o Christian man,
and hear the indictment of high heaven
against thy soul! 1t is an indictment of
ten counts, for thou hast directly or in
directly broken all the ten commandments.
You know how it thundered on Sinai, and
when God came down how the mountain
rocked, and the smoke ascended as from a
smouldering furnace and the darkness
gathered thick and the loud deep trumpet
uttered the words THE soul that sinneth
it shall die ~ Are you guilty or not gull
| ty? Do not put in negative plea too
| quick, for have to announce 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, therefore, be too hasty
in prOnOuncing yourself not guilty
This lawsuit before us also charges you
with the breaking of solemn contract.
Many time did we promise to be the
Lords. We got down on our knees and
said: 80 Lord, 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
it Us well rs if it were yesterday. You
know how the vision of the cross rose
before you. You remember how from the
head, aud the hands, and the side, and the
feet, there came bleeding forth these two
words: Remember me - You recall
how
THE CUP OF COMMUNION TREMBLED
in your hand when you first took it, and
as in sea shell you may hear, or think you
hear, the roaring of the surf even after the
she'll has been taken from the beach, so
you lifted the cup of communion, and you
heard in it the surging of the great ocean
of Slviour'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 knowest all things;
Thou knowest that / love Thee" Have
YOU kept the bargain, o Christian man?
Have you not sometime faltered when
you ought to have been true? Have you
been humble? Have you not played the
coward when you ought to have been the
hero? charge it upon you, and 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 inconsistent
professor. The Bible says religion is one
thing; we by our inconsistency say reli-
giOn is some other thing, and what is more
deplorable about it is, that people can see
faults in Others while they can not see any
in themselves. If you shall at any time
find some miserable old gossip, with i'm
pertectiOns from the crown OF her head to
the sole Of her foot, perfect blotch of sin
herself, she will go tattling, tattling, tat
Ting all the years of her life, about the
inconsistencies Of others, having no idea
that she is inconsistent herself. God save
the world from the gossip, female and
male! | think the males are the worst.
Now the chariot of Christ's salvation goes
on through the world; but it is our incOn-
sistencies, 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 should have been
lifted "HoSanna to 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 yet
to plead. Then the trial will 90 on. The
witnesses will be called, and we will have
the matter decided. In the name of God /
now make proclamation: "Oyez! Oyez!
Oyezi WhoSoever has anything to offer in
this trial (which God is the plaintiff and
the Christian soul the defendant, let him
now step forth and give testimony in this
solemn trial"
The first witness that call upon the
stand in behalf of the prosecution, is the
wOrld-all critical and Observant of Chris
tian character. You know that there are
people aIl dIOuuu YOU MuO ptIpttutIly
banquet on the frailties of Gods children.
You may know, if you have lived in the
country, that q crow cares for nothing so
much rs carrion. There are those who
imagine that out of the faults of Christians
they can make bridge of boats across the
stream of death, and they are GO
ing to try il; but, alas, for
the mistake! When they get amid
stream away will go the bridge and down
will go their soul to perditiOn. o world of
the greedy eye and the hard heart, come
on the stand now and testify in behalf of
the prosecution against this Christian soul
on trial What do you know about this
Christian man? oh" says the World
II know great deal ABOUT him. lie talks
about putting his treasures 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 imperfectiOnS l do not know but