Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1893-08-19
cHp1sr's WOUNDS.

-AQu buOWb JOu VIC oNii W I" wOhAAo EoS
ten at Balls Bluff or at South Noun
tain, you stand in admiration at his hero
ism and patriotism, but If Christ should
make conspicuous the five wounds gotten
on Calvary-that Waterloo of all the
ages-he would display only a 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
Of God the Father and the unanimous
suffrage of all heaven let him sit there.
In the grand review when the redeemed
pass by in cohorts Of splendor they will
look at him and shout "VictoryI"
The oldest inhabitant Of heaven never
saw grander day than the one when
Christ took his place on the right hand
of God. Hosannal With lips Of clay. l
may not appropriately utter it, but let
the martyrs under the altar throw the
cry to the elders before the throne, and
they can toss it to the choir on the sea
of glass until ell heaven shall lift it
some on point Of scepter, and some on
string of harp, and some on the tip of the
green branches. Hosannal hosanna!
A fourth cause of Paul's exhilaration:
After clergyman had preached a SER
mon in regard to the glories of heaven
and the splendors Of the scene an aged
woman said, "f all that is to go on in
heaven, / don't know what will become
of my poor head" Oh, my friends, there
will be so many things going on in heay-
en- l have sometimes wondered If the
Lord would not forget you and me!
Perhaps Paul said sometimes: II Won
der God does not forget me down here
in Antioch, and in the prison, and In the
shipwreck. There are so many sailors,
so many wayfarers, so many prisoners,
SO many heartbroken men," says Paul,
"perhaps God may forget me. And then
I am so vile sinner. How whipped
those Christians With what vengeance
mounted that cavalry horse and dashed
up to Damascus! Oh, 1t will take
mighty attorney to plead my cause and
get me free" But just at that moment
there came In upon Pauls soul some
thing mightier than the surges that
dashed his ship into Melita, swifter than
the horse he rode to Damascus. 1t was
the swift and overwhelming thought OF
Christ's 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 our cause before
God. Where is he? Who is he? There
is only one advocate in all the universe
that can plead our cause In the last judg-
ment, that can plead our cause before
God in the great tribunal.
CHRIST AS AN ADVOCATE.
Sometimes in earthly courts attorneys
have specialties, and one man succeeds
better in patent cases, another in insur-
ance cases, another in criminal cases,
another in land cases, another in will
cases, and his success generally depends
upon his sticking to that speciality. /
have to tell you that Christ can do many
things, but it seems to me that his spe-
cialty is to take the bad case of the sin.
ner and plead it before God until hegets
eternal acquittal. Oh, We must have
him for our. advocate 4. Il - =.
But what plea can he maker Some
times an attorney in court will plead the
innocence Of the prisoner. That would
be inappropriate for us. We are all
guilty! guilty! Unclean! unclean!
Christ, our advocate. will not plead our
innocence. Sometimes the attorney in
court tries to prove an abb. He says:
"This prisoner was not at the scene. He
was in some other place at the time"
Such plea will not do in our case. The
Lord found us in all our sins and in the
very place of our iniquity. 1t is impos-
sible to prove an alibi. Sometimes an
attorney will plead the insanity Of the
prisoner and say he is irresponsible on
that account. That plea will never do
in our case. we sinned against light,
against knowledge, against the dictates
of our own conscicnces. We knew what
we were doing. What. then. shall the
plea be?
The plea for our eternal deliverance
will be Christs own martyrdom. He
will say: Look at all these wounds. By
all these sufferings demand the rescue
of this man from sin and death and hell.
Constable, knock of the shackles-let
the prisoner 60 free. who is he that
condemneth? 1t is Christ that died, yea,
rather that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand Of God, who also.
maketh intercession for us"
But why all this gladness on the faces
of these sons and daughters of the Lord
Almighty know what you are think
ing of. A Saviour dead; q Saviour risen;
a Saviour exalted; Saviour interceding.
"What,," say you, lis all that for mef'
All, all! Never let me hear you COM
planning about anything again. With
your pardoned sin behind you, and q
successful Christ pleading above you,
and a glorious heaven before you, how
can You be Respondent about anything?
CONE INTO THE KINGDOM.
"But," says some man in the audience,
"all that is very good and very true for
those who are inside the kingdom. but
how about those Of us who are outside9"
Then say, Come into the kingdom,
come out of the prison house into the
glorious sunlight of Gods mercy and
pardon, and come now.
It was in the last days Of the reign of
terror-the year 1893. Hundreds and
thousands had persisted under the French
guillotine. France groaned with the
tyrannies of Robespierre and the Jaco-
bin club. The last group Of sufferers
had had their locks shorn by Monchotte,
the prison barber, so that the neck might
be bare to the keen knife Of the guillo-
tine.
The carts came up 70 the prison, the
poor wretches were placed in the carts
and driven of toward the scafold, but
while they were going toward the scafold
there was an cutlery in the street, and
then the shock of firearms, and then the
crv: "Robespierre has fallenl Down