The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-06-18

Il
announce this fact here tonight. You can
not defeat justice In that court; no.
sir. You cannot dodge the ministerial officers.
They nave already been on your track, and
they touched your head, brother, and those
silver hairs are the evidence that Gods
sheriff has laid his hand on your head: he
touched your side, and Oh, the pain that has
been smoldering there for weeks he touched
your limb and now you walk on crutches; he
touched your eye and you cannot see without
spectacles. Every gray hair, and every lame
limb, and every specialized eye. and everything
that ripens MS for the time are but so many evil
dences that Gods sheriff is on ouf track and as
Bishop Pierce once said, "God will burn this
world down and sift the ashes or he will bring
us to the Judgment seat of Christ We are all
on the way tonight
Ten thousand to their endless home
This solemn moment fly;
We are to the margin come,
And soon expect to die.
No, sir; we cannot bride Gods grand jury.
They have already sat upon our cases. and the
verdict-their true bill-has been found, and it
reads: He that beiieveth not shall be damned
And there it IS in the book of Gods register, for
you and for me. cannot bride the Judge that
sits upon the great white throne, and now am
ushered into His presence and have but three
ways by which can hope to escape: One by
force of law; the other by force of testi-
mony, and, thirdly and lastly, where pardon is
extended and clemency given. That Is It, Now,
brother, Can l hope to escape up yonder by force
of law? Can any man go from this house up to
the Judgment bar of God and when the books
are opened and this is the law out of which you
and l are to be judged-God will not spring any
new law on us--this is the published law OF
heaven to man. and this is the book out of which
God will judge us all; and ask you tonight can
you go to the judgment with Gods book in your
hand and say, Il have never violated a precept
Of that book in my life!'
hear men say sometimes, II do not love to
WE'LL brother, if this book condemns you down
here in Indiana, it will condemn you up yonder
at the Judgment bar of God You will be the
same man. and this will be the same book, and
justice will be the same in all worlds and you
must meet it as a sovereign, immortal manly
force of law. You moralists, hear me tonight.
Can you look this book in the face and say, Il
never violated precept of that book in my life!'
You say. ''Well. have committed little sins;
have broken some of che commandments. Well,
hear mo, my brother, hear me: He that breaketh
the least commandment is guilty of all. What
do you mean by that! Yonder is batteau
chained to the banks of your river yonder. 1t
is locked hard and fast. There are hundred
links in the chain, some of them are large and
some of them are small. | want to get that
batteau loose. I have not the key to the lock.
How will get it loosea Cut twenty of the big
gest !inksl Cut tent Cut fvea No sir When
cut the smallest link in that chain that batteau
is as effectually loose as if had cut them all
There are a hundred divergents turning
to the right or left Now, if I start
to Richmond, how many wrong roads must l
take in order not to reach that places
When take off at one wrong road | am as eff
fectually turned off the way as If | had taken off
at hundred divergents; and we have it in the
book: He that breaketh the least command
ment, he that committeth the least sin, cuts his
soul as effectually loose from God as if he had
broken them ALL" The Word of God, the Word
o. los of I'D M ctrt No not
stand on our morality up yonder, and I am
ready to say in my place, In all love and kind
ness, l would not take the record of the purest
girl, would not take the record of the purest
young man that ever lived in America and walk
up yonder to the Judgment seat of Christ ex-
pectng to be acquitted because of the record of
my life. No, sir; no, sir. I cannot hope here
or hereafter to be acquitted by the force OF the
law of God.
Saint Paul teaches us that no flesh shall be
justified by the work of the law, and
tells us, again, that the law condemneth,
the law killeth and there is no life
in the law; and hear me when | declare to
you tonight If you are resting your hope of
heaven on the fact that you have led moral
life if morality would save US. then God was
guilty of cruelty to His only begotten Son. 1t
cannot save. 1t never did save. 1t never will
save No. sir; l do not depend on morality
Then, again, might stop here longer and say that
the man who pays his honest debts and gives to
to you everything, let 1t be honesty, let
it be truthfulness. let it be charity, let it be all
the graces, and yet. l say to you, If you put
these things between your soul aud God. instead
of putting Christ between your soul and God,
those things which you offer to God are an insult
to Him and snare to your immortality. God
help US to see that the only name given under
heaven among men, whereby we can be saved
is the name of the precious Son of God. Amen.
Then we say again. there is no hope by law
The law killeth, the law condemneth. Then
the next hope of my soul is in the testimony,
the record.
Greenleaf, our best author on testimony, tells
us that the evidence produced must correspond
with the allegations and be confined to the point
at issue. He tells again that written testi-
mony is better than oral testimony. lie tells us
again that the witness who has the best reason
for knowing the truth, and the least inducement
for testifying falsely shall be accredited. Now
the text What I have written. have writ
ten." / say to you tonight that every man.
and every one of US, when we stepped across
the line accountability. our hearts were blank
tablets, and since that hour we have been
writing the testimony by which we shall
stand or fall at the Judgment seat of Christ
What have written / have written. Written
testimony is better than oral testimony. says our
highest authority; and old Joseph Henry Lump
kins, the grandest jurist that ever adorned the
Supreme bench of Georgia, said in one of his de.
cisions 81 would rather trust the smallest slip
of paper than the mightiest memory man was
ever gifted with" Man writing the testimony
the record Of his life, by which he shall stand
or fall at the Judgment seat OF Christ! Is this
unreasonable Man with his finite resources
man who has but few days and they are full of
trouble he has invented little piece of mech
anism that you take yonder to the depot
and you may attach it to that beautiful loco
motive engine Now start that engine to New
York city, and then to San Francisco, and when
that engine rolls into San Francisco you need
not ask the engineer any questions at all about
the trip. Walk up to that little piece of mechan-
ism, open to its dialplate, and there it has kept
a record of that engines travels which tells you
how many miles it ran between each stop, how
long it was running those miles, bow long it
stopped at each station, how long it was making
the whole trip; and when you open the dial-plate of
the little piece of mechanism you will find that the
engine has kept correct record Of its own tray-
els; and when God the Judge of men, the great
infinite Being of the universe. when He project
ed us out on life's current, He said: "Keep your
own record