Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1893-08-17


IF 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 heaven have sometimes
wondered if the Lord would not forget you
and mel
PAUL IN PRISON.
Perhaps Paul said sometimes: 81 wonder
God does not forget me down here in An
tioch, and in the prison, and in the ship
wreck. There are so many sailors, SO many
wayfarers, 90 many prisoners, so many
heartbrokcn men," says Paul, perhaps
God may forget me. And then am so vile
n sinner. How whipped those Christiansl
With what vengeance | mounted that cav
airy horse and dashed up TO Damascusl
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 mightier than the surges
that dashed his ship into Melita, swifter
than the horse he rode to Damascus. 1t
was the swift aud overwhelming thought
of Christ's intercession.
Ny friends, we must have an advocate.
A poor lawyer is worse than no lawyer at
| all. We must have one who is able Sue
| cessfuly 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 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
| sases another in criminal cases, another in
| land cases, another in will cases, and his
,uccess generally depends upon his sticking
10 that speciality. | have to tell you that
| Christ can do many things. but it seems to
me that his speciality is to take the bad
case 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 maker Sometimes
an attorney in court will plead the inno-
cence of the prisoner. That would be inap-
propriate for us; we are all guilty! guilty!
| Unclean, uucleanl Christ, our advocate,
will not plead our innocence Sometimes
the attorney in court tries to prove an al
ibi He says: This prisoner was not at
| the scene. He was in some other place Mt
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
| 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
conscences; we knew what we were doing.
What then shall the plea be-
CTRIsT's MARTYRDOM
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 shack les-let the prisoner
so 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 intcrcessiou for
! US"
But why all this gladness on the faces of
these sous and daughters of the Lord AL
mighty? ! know what you are thinking
Of \ Saviour dead; a Saviour risen; Il
Saviour exalted. q Saviour nterceding
What" say you, rs all that for mei" All!
all. Never let me hear you complaining
about anything again. With your par
doned sin behind you, and a successful
Christ pleading above you, and glorious
heaven before you, how can you be de-
spondent about anything?
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
| 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 days of the reign of ter
ror, the year 1893 Hundreds and thousands
had persisted under the French guillotine
| France groaned with the tyrannies of Robe
sphere and the Jacobin club. The last
group of sufferers mad had their locks shorn
by Monchotte, the prison barber, 50 that
the neck might be bare to the keen knife of
the guillotine.
The carts came up to the prison, the poor
wretches were placed in the carts and driv-
en- off toward the scaffold. But while they
were going toward the scaffold there was
an cutlery in the street, and then the shock
| of firearms, and then the cry "Robespierre
has fallen Down with the Jacobins! Let
France be free But the armed soldiers
rode in upon these rescuers, SO that the
poor wretches in the carts were taken on
to the scatfold and horribly died.
But that very night these monsters of
persecution 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's basket Then the axes of
against the gates of the prison, and the poor
prisoners walked out free. My friends, sin
is the worst of all Robespierres. 1t is the
tyrant of tyrants. ltlhas built prison
house for our soul. 1t plots our death 1t
has shorn usIfor 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 abound.
ed grace does much more abound, that
whereas sin reigned unto death even SC
grace may reign unto eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord" Glorious TRUTH A
Saviour dead Saviour risen; a Saviour
exalted; a Saviour interceding
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