Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1893-08-25
.and guarding the dead. But bark to the


are our own loved ones-father, mother
brother, sister, companion, children, comins
ND out OF the excavation Of the rock unit
the last one has stepped out into the light
and am bewildered, and cannot under
stand the scene until l see Christ wave Hi
hand over the advancing procession from tn
rock and hear Him cry: II am the resur
rection and the life. He who belieyeth il
Me. though he were dead, yet shall he live.
And then I notice that the long dirge OF thu
worlds woe suddenly stops at the archangeli'
shout OF Come forth p
Oh, my friends, If Christ had not broker
out of the grave you and would never come
out of it 1t would have been another cas-,
Of Charlotte Corday attempting to Stay I
tyrant. herself slain. 1t would have beer
another case of John Brown attempting t.
free the slaves. himself hung. 1t would hav
been Death and Christ in grapple ant
Death the victor. The black flag would hav'
foated on all the graves and mausoleums
the dead, and hell would have conquered
the forces Of heaven and captured the ram
parts of God, and satan would have come t
coronation in the palaces OF heaven, and
would have been devils on the throne an
sons OF God III the dungeon.
mol no no. When that stone was rolleC
from the door of Christ's grave, it was hurleC
grave doors Of Christendom, and now tn,
tomb is only bower where Gods children
take a siesta. an afternoon nap, to wake W
in mighty IMMIGRATION. "Christ is risen
Hang that lamp among all the tombs OF my
dead. Hang it over my own resting place
Christ's suffering is ended; His work i:
done. The darkest Friday afternoon OF the
worlds history becomes the brightest Sunday
morning of its resurrection Joy. The Good
Friday of bitter memories becomes the
Easter of glorious transformation and resur-
rection.
Ye riotrh;nS saints, dry every tear
For your depar ell Lord.
Behold the place He is not here.
The tomb is all unbarre1
The gases Of death were closed In vain.
The Lord is ristn-He lives again.
give you the third catse of Paurs exhil.
aration We honor the right hand more than
we do the left If in accident or battle we
must lose one hand, let it be the left. The
left hand being Aearer the heart, we may not
do much Of the violent work Of life With that
hand without physical danger, but he who
has the right arm in full play has the might
est of all earthly weapons. In all ages and
in all languages the right hand is the symbol
of strength and power and honor. Hiram
sat at the Fight hand Of Selomen. Then We
have the term, lis he a right hand man."
Lafayette was Washington's right hand man.
Marshal Ney was Napoleon right hand man.
And now you have the meaning ofPaul when
he speaks of Christ who is at the right hand
Of God.
That means He is the first guest of heaven.
He has right to sit there, The here OF the
universal Count His wounds two in the
feet, two in the hands, one in the side-fve
wounds. Oh, you have counted wrong.
These are not half the wounds. Look at the
severer wounds in the temples Each thorn
an excrlcatiop,
TIA herd comes back from battle, and he
takes off his hat or rolls up his sleeve and
shows you the scar of wound gotten at
Balls Bluff or at South Mountain, you stand
in admiration at his heroism and patriotism,
but If Christ should make conspicuous the
five wounds gotten on Calvary-that Water
loo of all the ages-He would display only
small part of His wounds. Wounded all over,
let Him sit at the right hand Of God. He has
right to sit there. By the request oi God
the Father and the Unanimous suffrage OF all
heaven let Him sit there. In the grand re.
view when the redeemed pass by in cohorts
OF splendor they will look at Him and shout
Victory
The oldest inhaSitant Of heaven never saw
a grander day than the one when Christ took
His place on the right hand Of God. Hosan'
ma With lips of clay may not appropriate.
ly utter it. but let the martyrs under the altar
throw the cry 10 the elders before the throne
and they can toss it to the choir on the sea OF
glass until all heaven shall lift it-some on
point of scepter; and some on string ol harp,
and some on the tip Of the green branches.
Hosanna hosanna
A fourth cause OF Pauls exhiliration
After clergyman had preached sermon in
regard to the glories of heaven and the
splendors of the scene an aged woman sa1d,'
eff all that is to 60 on in heaven, don't
know what will become of my poor head.
Oh, my friends, there will be so many things
going on id heaven have sometimes won
dered if the Lord would not forget you and
EN-
Perhaps Paul said sometimes III wonder
God does hot forget me down here In Au-
tioch. and in the prison, and in the ship
wreck. There are SO many sailors, SO many
wayfarers, so many prisoners; SO many heart
broken men," says Paul; "perhaps God may
forget me. And then am so vile sinner.
How whipped those Christians With what
vengeance | mounted that cavalry horse and
dashed up to Damascus Oh, it will take
mighty attorney to plead my cause and get
me free But just at that moment there
came in upon Paul's soul something might1er
than the surges that dashed his ship into
Melita. swifter than the horse he rode TO
Damascus. 1t was the swift and overwhelm'
ing thought Of Christ intercession.
My friends. we must have an advocate. A
poor lawyer is worse than no lawyer at all.
We must have one who is able successfully
to present bur cause before God. Where is
He? Who is He? There is only one ao-
vocate in all the universe that can plead our
cause in the last judgment, that can plea
our cause before God i'll the great tribunal.
Sometimes in earthly courts attorneys
have specialties, and one man succeeds bet
ter in patent cases, another in insurance
cases, another i'll criminal cases, another III
land cases, another in will cases, and his
success generally depends upon his sticking
to that speciality. [ have - tell you that
Christ can do many things, but it seems to
me that His specially is to take the bad caso
of the sinner and plead it before God until
He gets eternal acquittal. Oh, we must have
Him for our advocate.
But what plea can He make? Sometimes
an attorney in court will plead the innocence
ofthe prisoner. That would be inappropriate
for US. We are all guilty! guilty Unclean
unclean Christ, our advocate, will not
plead our innocence. Sometimes the attor-
ney in court tries to prove all alibi. He says |
This prisoner was not at the scene. Hewas
in some other place at the time" S1ch u
plea will not do in cur case. The Lord found
us in all our sins and in the very place Of our
inquity 1t is impossible 20 prove an alibi.
Sometimes an attorney will plead the insanity
of the prisoner and say he is irresponsible OH
that account That plea viii never do in our
case. We sinned against light, against
knowledge. against the dictates of our own
consciences We knew what we wero doing