The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1906-12-21

stands forever. And on that Gay
when God, the Judge, shall pronounce
sentence it will not be a vindictive
sentence, but one dictated by his
righteousness. "As / live, saith the
Lord God, l have no pleasure in the
death of the wicked" Remember the
Judgment seat of Christ is court OF
law and the spiritual code must pre-
vail.
A Righteous Judgment.
But as | again sound forth the sol
emn words of my text eve shall all
stand before the judgment seat OF
Christ" emphasize still another fact.
Not only shall we all then be judged
according to the evidence, but this
evidence will be presented before all
the assembled hosts who shall meet us
at this bar of unerring justice. This
assertion of the divine court is exactly
the same as of the temporal court In
order to appreciate that what / say
is true, let us assume that you are
frequenter of the courts of law. A
murder trial is on. The district at
torney has hunted up every incident
of the defendants life. So on the
great day Of the judgment seat of
Christ we must face all the evidences
of the evil deeds of our past lives. We
must face all those people whom we
have wronged or led astray. They will
all arise. They shall all confront us.
They will all point the condemnatory
fingers at US. They will say: There
he is. There is the man who did it.
There is the man who led me into the
paths of sin" oh, the unutterable
horror of it! We shall all face our ac-
cusng witnesses at the judgment seat
Of Christ. We shall all face the evil
dences of our evil lives.
Now, as we all must stand before
this spiritual tribunal to hear our doom,
do you not believe we should prepare
for this trial just as soon as we can,
and do you not also believe we should
get the very best advocate we can to
plead our cause? Yes" you answer,
Eyes, yes. But how can prepare? My
record is so black. Who can plead for
me, and who would if he could? must
plead guilty. For me there is no hope"
Yes, my friend, there is hope. Will you
let me tell it you? l want you to know
that you can have the greatest Of all
advocates to plead your cause. And
before the judgment seat of Christ you
can have the best Of all defenses. Turn
first to the second chapter of the first
epistle of John. And if any man sin
we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ, the righteous" What
does that mean? Why, it means, no
matter how far a prodigal may go
astray, no matter what sin or crime he
may commit, if that sinner will only
throw himself upon Christ's mercy
Christ will plead his cause before the
judgment seat of heaven. Oh, the news |
the glorious news! When we go be-
fore that judgment seat we need not |
go friendless. Christ will be by our
side There Christ will see that we get |
mercy and pardon.
The Best of Advocates.
But" you say, what is the good of
my getting a good advocate when /
know l am guilty? He may plead for
mitigation of punishment, but | must |
be condemned. AS you have said, that +
is to be a righteous court, and in a
righteous court there is no escape for
me-" Nay, my brother, that is the
wonder of our religion. God has de-
clared that, while she is just, he is
the justfier of him who believeth in
Jesus" 1t was to work out that sal
walton that Christ came, and now the
man who acknowledges his guilt, who
expresses his repentance and commits
his case to Christ is pardoned rNone
of the sins that he has committed
shall be mentioned to him." There
is no condemnation to him who is in
Christ Jesus" See you not the de-
Tense? Can you not now almost hear
the Judge saying: Angels, let the pris-
oner go free. On account of Christ's
blood let him go free" The gladia-
torial combats of Rome during the
siege of Emperor Honorius were for
ever stopped because a Christian
monk, Telsmachus by name, entered
the arena and threw himself between
the combatants and by them was
Struck down dead In his endeavors to
stop the conflict The noble sacrifice
of a Telemachus worked the miracle
So the condemnation of Christ's fol-
lowers at the judgment seat Of heav-
en- shall be hanged into acquittal be-
cause Christ himself, the attorney 40
vocate has suffered death on account
of his clients crimes. Oh, will you
not believe it2 Will you not reach
out and say: Lord Jesus, be thou my
advocate! Be thou my defender! Be
thou my Saviour even at the bar Of
eternal justicev' Why not take him
as our advocate and turn from our sins
now? Could there be any better time
to call him to our side? ..s,.s
1t Saved Her. rff
There Is beautiful story told of the
conversion of a poor degenerate out
cast in one of our penitentiuries.G For
many years this woman had been in
generated, but the keepers could do
nothing with her. She would not
work. When she was punished, she
would take 1t In a sullen silence or
with awful, bloodcurdling blasphemy.
For the most part she was kept in
solitary confinement in dark cell,
but one Sunday evening about 3
O'Clock she was taken to the, vesper
services. While she sat all bent up in
her seat she suddenly looked up. The
sun had come through one of the west
ern windows, and, like a burning fire,
1t lighted up five small words which
were written over the prison affairs:
go and sin no more" This degen-
crate woman looked at these words.
They gave her hope. She saw the
NJ hnIn INST Of hnr r,rirIrnh ifn hInttnd |