The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1884-10-15
PULPIT UTTERANCES.
DR.. TALMAcE TALKS ON CONSCIENCE.
"Stain Not Your Hands With Things
that are Evil, and Thereby Avoid
the Day OF Remorso
and Eegrets."

Dr. lultnlge auuTtsscu uu bu'
dience in the Brooklyn Tabernacle Sun.
day morning. The subject was "Gov.
ernor Plate Washing His Hands," Fol-
lowing is the text;
He took water and washed his hands before
the multitude, saying ] am innocent OF The
blood OF this Just person.-.hdthew rrpa:T1.
About eight O'Clock in the morning, up
the marble stairs Of palace, and across
Aoor Of richest mosaic, and under ceiling
dyed with all the splendors of color, aud
along snow-bank5 OF white and glittering
sculpture, passes pale, poor, sick young
man OF thirty three, condemned to death
by one courl and on his way to be con-
demned by another. Jesus of Nazareth is
his name. To meet him on the tesselated
pavement comes out an unscrupulous,
cowardly, time-serving, compromising
man, with some few traces of sympathy
and fair-dealing left in his composition
Governor Pontius PLATE. Did ever two
such opposltes meet? Luxury and pain,
sclfshness and generosity, sin and holi-
uoss, arrogance and humility, midnight
and midnoon, PLATE and Christ. The
bloated-lipped Governor takes cushioned
seat and leans back at his ease. The pris.
Oner stands, his wrists manacled. In the
semi-circle around him are the fiery San.
hedrists, their eyes flashing and their fists
brandished, prosecuting the case for the
sake of religion; for in all ages religious
prosecutors are the fiercest OF all perse-
cutors, and when the devil does get pos.
session Of good men he makes up by In
fOt - nd
you have never been in an ecclesiastical
court where they had some one on trial,
You can not understand the foaming in
fernalism of those old Jewish Sanhedrists.
Governor PLATE begins to cross-question
the prisoner, and finds him innocent and
wants to let him go. To add TO his eau.
tion in the matter some one comes up and
whispers In bis ear. "Whaps that"
asks the Governor, his hand behind his
ear to catch the words almost inaudible.
II is q message from Claudia Procula, his
wife, who has had dream about the pris-
oner's innocence and the danger Of exc.
cutting him, and has just awakened from
this morning dream to send news Of it 10
the Governor, at that very moment on the
judicial bench; and what with the pro-
test Of his wife and the voice of his own
conscience, and the entire failure Of the
Sanhedrists TO make out case, he re.
solves to discharge the pris from Gus.
tody.
But that announcement let loose on the
Governor an equinoctial storm of in
dignation. They would get him recalled
by the Emperor Tiberius at Rome, and he
should no more be Governor OF Judea, and
bow would he feel, then, in disgrace, and,
perhaps, be hanged for treason? He had
already excited tho old Empero's sus-
picion, who rested not until it finally did
effect his Punishment and suicide. So
Governor Plate, TO compromise the mat
ter, proposes the whipping Of Christ, in
stepd of His assassination. He was tied
to u pillar, near the ground, and on His
bent and bare back came the throngs OF
leather with chunks of lead and bone in.
tertwisted to augment the force and hor-
ror of the stroke, and when He was led up
from that with flushed cheek and torn, an
quivering, and bleeding flesh He present.
cd spectacle Of suffering in which Ru-
bens, the painter, found the theme for his
great masterpiece. But the Sinhedrists
were still unsatished. They wanted not
only part Of His nerves lacerated; they
wanted all Of them lacerated. They did
not want part Of His blood; they want
ed all OF 1t, down TO the last corpuscle. So
after all his merciful hesitation, PLATE
surrendered 10 the demoniacal cry o
"Crucify himW But Governor PLATE
seated In the presence of the people, send
slave TO fetch him something. The con
stables are impatient TO lead out the Grim
inal TO execution, and the mob In th,
street are waiting 10 glare on their victim
But a pause is necessitated for few mo
ments. Yonder comes wash.basin. Tn,
clean, bright water Is poured into II, AM
Governor Pontius PLATE puts back tn
sleeves Of his robe and thrusts his soft
delicate hands into the water, and rub
them together, and then lifts them drip
ping for the towel fastened 10 the slave
girdle, and said, practically: ~ wash m,
hands of this whole homicidal transac
tion. / will take none Of the responsible
ty Of this prisoners death. You must as
sumo all OF It." My friends, that Is tn
meaning Of text when 1t says; /" He too
water and washed his hands before th
multitude, saying: Il am innocent Of th
blood Of this just person, see ye to ftp"
Behold how ceremonies amount TO notl
ing without correspondence OF hear
It is well that Che hands be WASHED
When God made three-fourths Of th
world water He commanded cleanliness
and, as the ancients did not take the him
He put whole world under water. Th
Jewish religion made hand. washing
law. By minute direction the hands mu.
be plunged three times up to the wrist
and the palm of one hand rubbed
the closed fist Of the other. The Jews
Mishna gives an elaborate rule on th
subject. All well as a symbol But hei
In my text Governor PLATE proposes
wash OFT guilt which he does not quit, an
OF which he makes no repentanc
Pilates wash-basln is q failure. Ger
monies grand and good in themsslv
may mean no more than this hypocritic
ablution. We may be sprinkled in chill
hood at baptismal fountains, and In ma
hood may wade into solemn immersion
and never reach moral puriflcatlon. v
may kneel without prayer, and bow Il
mead without reverence, and sing witho'
acceptance. All the creeds and all IL
liturgies, and all the sacraments, and a
the genuhections, and all the religion
conversations amount 10 nothing unless n