The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1896-08-28

| often has he stood with his hard heel
ON the bleeding heart of the Son Of God!
| 1t pains me very much that have 70
testify against this Christian man, and
vet must, in behalf of Him who will
in no wise clear the guilty, say that
| this Christian man has done wrong.
He has been worldly. He has been
neglectful. He has done Thousand
things he ought not to have done, and
left undone thousand things he
ought to have done" That will do,
| Conscience. You can sit down.
The third witness call in the case
| is an angel of God. Bright and shin
ing one, what doest thou here? What
hast thou to say against this man on
trial? "Oh," says the angel, Il have
been a messenger to him. l have
guarded him. have watched him.
With this wing have defended him,
and oftimes, when he knew it not,
led him into green pastures and De-
side the still waters. snatched
from him the poisoned chalices
When bad spirits came upon him
to destroy him, l fought them back
with infinite fierceness, and yet have
to testify to-day that he has rejected
nv mission. He has not done as he
ought to have done. Though came
from the sky, he drove me back.
Though with this wing defended
him, end though with this voice
wcoed him, have to announce his
multiplied imperfections. dare not
keep back the testimony, for then
should not dare to appear again
amongst the sinless ones before the
great white throne.
There is only one more witness to
be called on behalf of the prosecution,
and that is the great, the holy, the
august, the omnipotent Spirit of God.
We bow down before Him. Holy
Spirit, knowest Thou this man? "Oh,
yes" says the Holy Gne, "Iknow him.
I have striven with him 10000 times,
and though sometimes he did seem to
repent, he fell back again as often from
his first estate. Ten thousand times
ten thousand has he grieved me, al
though the Bible warned him, saying:
'Grieve not the Holy Ghost. Quench
not the Spirit Yes, he has driven me
back. Though | am the third person
of the Trinity, he has trampled on my
mission, and the blood of the atone
ment that / brought with which to
cleanse his soul he sometimes despised.
l came from the throne of God to con-
vert and comfort and sanctify, and yet
look at that man and see what he is |
compared with what, unresisted, l
would h n va mazda him -
The evidence on the part of the pros
ecution has closed. Now let the de-
Tense bring on the rebuttal testimony.
What have you, o Christian soul, to |
bring in reply to this evidence of the |
world, of the conscience, of the angel |
and of the Holy Ghost? No evidence? |
Are all these things true? Eyes. I'm
clean, unclean," says every Christian
soul. What? Do you not begin to |
tremble at the thou ht of condemna-
ton?
We have come now to the most inter- |
esting part of this great trial. The |
evidence all in. The advocates speak. |
The profession of an advocate is full |
of responsibility. In England and the |
United States there have arisen men |
who in the calling have been honored |
by their race and thrown contempt |
upon those who in the profession
have been guilty of great many |
meannesses. That profession will be |
honorable as long as it has attached to |
it such names as Mansfield, and Mar |
shall, and Story, and Kent, and South
ard, and William Writ. The court |
room has sometimes been the scene of |
very marvellous and thrilling things. |
Some of you remember the famous |
Girard will case, where one of our adj |
vocates pleaded the cause of the Bible |
and Christianity in mastery Anglo
Saxon, every paragraph a thunder |
bolt
Some of you have read of the IA
nous trial in Westminster Hall of |
Warren Hastings, the despoiler of In
dia. That great man had conquered
India by splendid talents, by courage,
by brides, by gigantic dishonesty. The
whole world had rung with applause
or condemnation. Gathered in West
minister Hall. place in which 30 kings |
had been inaugurated, was one of the !
most famous audiences ever gath |
cred. Foreign ministers and princes /
sat there Peers marched in, clad
in ermine and gold. Mighty men
and women from all lands looked
down upon the scene. Amid all that
pomp and splendor, and amid an ex-
element such as has seldom been seen
in any court room, Edmund Burke
advanced in speech which will last
as long as the English language, con-
Guiding with this burning charge,
which made Warren Hastings cringe