Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1893-08-25

Mv -ricaSs v-e must have an a>svocate
poor lawyer i worse than no lawyer at all.
We must hare one who is able successfully
to present our cause before God. Where is
He? Who is He? There is only one ad-
yocate in all the universe that can plead our
cause in the last judgment, that can plead
our cause before God in the great tribunal.
Sometimes in earthly courts attorneys
have specialties, and one man succeeds bet
ter in patent cases. another in insurance
cases, another in criminal cases, another in
land eases. another in will eases, and his
success generally depends upon his sticking
70 that speciality. / have TO tell you that
Christ ;oan DO many things, but ii seems to
ne that His specially is 70 take the bad case
of the sinner and plead it before God until
He gets eternal acGuittal. Oh We must have
Him for our advocate.
But what plea can He makeR Sometimes
IN 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 an alibi- He says
This prisoner was not at the scene. Hewas
in some other place at the time" Such
plea viii. not do in our case. The Lord found
us in all our sins and in the very place of our
iniquity. 1t is impossible 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
consciences. We knew what we were doing
What, then, shall the plea be?
The plea for our eternal deliverance will
be Christ's 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 off the shackles-let the prisoner go
free who is he that condemneth It 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 gadness On the faces Of
these sons and daughters of the Lord Al
mighty? l know what you are thinking Of.
Saviour dead a Saviour risen; a Saviour
exalted; Saviour interceding. what"
say you. sis all that for me?' All, all!
Never let me hear you complaining about
anything again. With your pardoned sin
behind you, and a successful Christ pleading
above you, and a glorious heaven before you,
how can you be respondent about any
thing?
''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 outsider" Then I say,
Come into the kingdom, come out Of the
prison house into the glorious sunlight Of
Gods mercy and pardon, and come now.
1t was in the last day of the reign of terror
| the year 1898. Hundreds and thousands
| had persisted under the French guillotine.
France groaned with the tyr4nnies of Robes
pierre and the Jacobine 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 to the prison, the poor
| wretches were placed in the carts and driven
! off toward the scaffold, but while they were
! going toward the scaffold there was an out
cry ia the street and then the shock of fire.
arms and then the cry: ''Robespierre has
/ failedl Down with the Jacobins Let France
| be freel" But the armed soldiers rode in
| upon these rescuers, so that the poor Hretches
! in the carts were taken onto the scaffOld and
| horribly died
But that very night these monsters of per-
secution were seized, and Robespierre
| persisted under the very guillotine that he
| had reared for others, all France clapping
| their hands with Joy as his head rolled into
| the eXecutioner basket Then the axes of
| the excited populace were heard pounding
| against the gates of the prison, and the poor
prisoners walked out free. Ny friends, sin
| is the worst of all RObespierres- 1t is the
| tyrant Of tyrants. 1t has built a prison
| house for our soul. 1t plots our death. It
| has shorn US for the sacrifice but, blessed
| be God, this morning we hear the axes of
! Gods gracious deliverance pounding against
| the door of our prison.
Deliverance has come. Light breaks
| through all the wards of the prison. Revo-
| luton! Revolution! '-Where sin abounded,
| grace does much more abound that where
as sin reigned unto death even SO grace may
reign unto eternal life through Jesus Christ
our Lord" Glorious truth ASaviOur dead
a Saviour risen; a Saviour exalted; g
Saviour intercedingl