The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-08-21

OF battle we must lose one hand, let it
be the left. The lett hand being nearer
the heart, we may not do much of the
violent work of life with that hand with
out physical danger, but he who has the
right arm in full play has the mightiest
of all earthly weapons. In all ages and
| in all languages the right hand is the
symbol of strength and power and hon
or. Hiram sat at the right hand of Solo
mon. Then we have the term, ''He is a
right hand man." Lafayette was Wash
ington's right hand man. Marshal Ney
was Napoleon's right hand man, And
now you have the meaning of Paul when
he speaks Of Christ who is at the right
hand of God.
That means he p the first guest of
heaven. He has a right to sit there.
The hero of the universal Count his
wounds; two in the feet, two in the
hands. one in the side-fve wounds. Oh,
Won have counted wrong. These are not
half the wounds. Look at the seyerer
wounds In the temples. Each thorn an
excFuciatlon
cHgsT'S WOUNDS.
If @ hero comes back from battle, and
he takes off his hat or rolls up his sleeve
and shows you the scar Of a wound got
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.--tlat Waterloo 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
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 ssVictoryY'
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 all heaven shall Lift it
some on point of scepter, and some on
string Of harp, and some on the tipof the
green branches. Hosannal hosanna!
A fourth cause of PaJlFs 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, eff 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 heav-
en- I have sometimes wondered II the
Lord would not forget you and me!
Perhaps Paul said sometimes: 81 Won
der God does not forget me down here
in Antioch, and in the prison, and IN the
shipwreck. There are SC many sailors,
so many wayfarers, SO many prisoners,
SO many heartbroken men," says Paul,
7ssperhaps God may forget me. And then
am so vile a sinner. How / whipped
those Christians! With what vengeance
mounted that cavalry horse and dashed
up to Damascus! Oh, it will take a
mighty attorney to plead my cause and
get me free" But gust at that moment
there came in upon PauFs 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.
But what plea can he make? 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 alibi. He says:
"This prisoner was not at the scene. He
was in some other place OF the time"
Such plea will not do in our case. The
Lord found rs in all our sins and in the
very place of our iniquity. Tt is impos-
sible to prove an aiibi. Sometimes an
attorney will plead the insanity of the
prisoner and cay 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