The Monitor-register., 1896-08-21
Summing Up.

Ol OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
Summing Up.
We have come now to the most inter-
esting part Of this great trial. The evil
dence all in, the advocates speak. The
profession of an advocate is full of re-
sponsibility. In England and the United
States there have arisen men who Il this
calling have been honored by their race
and thrown contempt upon those who
in the profession have been guilty Of a
great many eannesses. That profess
sion will be honorable as long as it has
attached to it such anne as Mansfield
and Marshall and Story and Kent and
Southland and William Writ. The court
room has sometimes been the scene Of
very marvellous and thrilling things.
Some of you remember the famous Gil
rard will case, where II of u advo-
Gates pleaded the cause of the Bible and
Christianity in mastery Anglo-Saxon,
every paragraph a thunderbolt.
Some of you have read of the famous
trial in Westminster hall of Warren
Hastings, the despoiler of India. That
great man had conquered India by splen-
did talents, by courage, by brlbes, by
gigantic dishonesty. The whole world
had rung with applause or condemna-
lion. Gathered in Westminster hall, a
place in which 80 kings had been in
augurated, was one of the most famous
audiences ever gathered. Foreign mill
listers and princes sat there. Peers
marched in, clad i'll ermine and gold.
Mighty men and women from all and
looked down upon the scene. Amid all
that pomp and splendor and amid an
excitement such as has seldom been seen
in any courtroom Edmund Burke ad-
yanced in q speech which will last as
long as the English language, conclud-
ing with this burning charge, which
made Warren Hastings cringe and cow
er: 81 impeach him in the name OF the
commons house of parliament, whose
| trust he has betrayed. I impeach him in
| the name of the English nation, whose
| ancient honor he has sullied. l impeach
him in the name of the people OF India,
whose country he has turned into a des-
| ert. And, lastly, in the name OF human
| nature, in the name of both sexes, III
the name of every age and rank, L I'M
| peach him as the common enemy n
| oppressor of all"
But I turn from the recital Of these
memorable occasions to a grander trlai,
| and I have to tell you that in this trial
| of the Christian, for the life of his soul,
the advocates are mightier, wiser n
| more eloquent. The evidence all being
| in. severe and stern Justice rises on be-
| half of the prosecution to make his plea.
With the Bible open in his hand he
| reads the law, stern and ~inf1exible, and
the penalty, ''The soul that slnneth, 1t
| shall die" Then he says: 20 thou
| Judge and Lawgiver, this is thine own
statute, and all the evidence in earth
and heaven agrees that the man has
| sinned against these enactments. Now
| let the sword leap from its scabbard.
| Shall a man go through the very flames
| of Sinai unsinged? Let the law be ex-
ecuted. Let Judgment be pronounced.
| Let him die. l demand that he die!'
o Christian, does it not look very
| dark for thee? Who will plead on thy
side in so forlorn a cause? Sometimes a
man will be brought into a court of
law, and he will have no friends and no
money, and the judge will look over The
bar and say, SIS there any n who
will volunteer to take this mans case
and defend him?' And some young
man rises up and says, 81 will be his
| counsel perhaps starting on from that
very point to a great and brilliant ca
reer. Now, in this matter of the soul,
as you have nothing to pay for counsel.
| do you think that any one will volun-
teer? Yes, yes; 1 see one rising. He is a
| young man, only 33 years of age. l see
| his countenance suffused with tears and
| covered with blood, and all the galleries
| of heaven are thrilled with the spec
tacle. Thanks be unto God, W have
an advocate with the Father, Jesus
Christ the righteous.
o Christian soul, your case begins
| to look better. 1 think, perhaps, after
| all, you may not have to die. The best
| advocate in the universe has taken your
| side. No one was ever so qualified to
defend you. He knows all the law, all
it's demands, all its penalties. lie is al
| ways ready. No new turn OF the case
| can surprise him, and he will plead for
| YOU for nothing as earnestly as though
| YOU brought a world of treasure to his
| feet. Besides that, he has undertaken
| the case of thousands who were as for
| lorn as you, and he has never lost a
| case. Courage, o Christian soull l
| think that, after all, there may be some
| chance for you, for the great advocate
rises to make his plea. He says: Il ad-
nit all that has been proved against my
| client. / admit all these sins, aye, more;
| but look at that wounded hand of mine
/ and look at that other wounded hand,
and at my right foot and at my left
J foot. By all these wounds I plead for