Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1895-05-09

hany, or Lent, or Ash Wednesday, or
Easter, or Good Friday, or Whitsuntide,
or Palm Sunday, If these symbols have
behind them genuine repentance, and
holy Renaissance, and Christian conse-
Grafton. But ceremony is only the
sheath to the sword, it is only the shell
to the kernel, it is only the lamp to the
flame, 1T is only the body to the spirit.
The outward must be symbolical of the
inward. Wash the hands by all means,
but more than all, wash the heart.
Behold, also, as you see Governor Pom
titus Plate thrust has hands into his
wash-basin, the power of conscience. He
had an idea there was blood on his
hand-the blood of an innocent person,
whom he might have acquitted if he
only had the courage. Poor PLATE! his
conscience was after him, and he knew
the stain would never be washed from
the right hand or the left hand, and
until the day of his death, though he
might wash in all the LAYERS of the
Roman Empire, there would be still
eight fingers and two thumbs red at
the tips
Oh, the power of conscience when it is
fully aroused? With whip of scorpions
over bed of spikes in pitch of mid
night it chases guilt. Are there ghosts?
Yes, not of the graveyard, but of ones
mind not at rest.
And thus, Brutus, amid his slumbering
host,
Startled with Caesars stalwart ghost.
Macbeth looked at his hand after the
midnight assassination, and he says:
Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this
blood
Clean from my hand? No; this my
hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.
From what did Adam and Eve try to
hide when they had all the world to
themselves? From their own conscience.
What made Gains punishment greater
than he could bear? His conscience.
What made Ahab cry out to the pro-
phet, Hast thou found me, o mine
enemy?" What made the great Felix
tremble before the little missionary?
Conscience. What made Belshazzar's
teeth chatter with a chill when he saw
finger come out of the black sleeve of
the midnight and write on the plaster
ing? Conscience, conscience?
Why is it that that man in this audi
ence, with all the marks of worldly
prosperity upon him, is agitated while
1 speak, and is now flushed and is now
pale, and then the breath is uneven,
and then beads of perspiration on the
forehead, and then the look of unrest
comes to look of horror and despair?
I know not. But he knows, and God
knows. 1t may be that he despoiled a
fair young life and turned innocence in
to waif. and the smile of hope into
the brazen laughter of despair. Or it
may be that he has in his possession
the property of others, and by some
Strategem he keeps it according to law,
and yet he knows it is not his own,
and that if his heart should stop beat
ing this moment he would be in hell
forever. Or it may be he is responsible
for great mystery, the disappearance
of some one who was never heard of,
and the detectives were baffied, and the
tracks were all covered up, and the
swift horse or the rail train took him
out of reach, and there are only two
persons in the universe who know of it
God and himself. God present at the
time of the tragedy and present at the
retrospection, and conscience-consci-
ence with Stings, conscience with pin
GERS, conscience with fails, conscience
with furnaces, is upon him; and until
mans conscience rouSes him he does
not repent. What made that farmer con-
verified to God go to his infidel neighbor
and say: "Neighbor, have four of your
sheep. They came over into my fold six
years ago. They had your mark upon
them, and / changed it to my mark. 1
want you to have those sheep, and 1
want you to have the interest on the
money, and want you to have the in
crease of the fold; if you want to send
me to prison / shall make no COM
plaint?" The infdel heard of the mans
conversion, and he said: Now, now,
if you have got them sheep you are
welcome to them. don't want nothing
of those things at all. You just go away
from me. Something has got hold of
you that 1 don't understand. / heard
you were down at those religious meet
ings." But the converted man would
not allow things to stand in that way,
and so the infidel said: "Well, now,
you can pay me the value of the sheep,
and six per cent interest from that time
to this, and 1 shan't say anything more
about it, Just go away from me-" What
was the matter with the two farmers?
In the one case a convicted conscience
leading him to honesty, and in the 9TH
er case a convicted conscience warning
against infidelity.
Conversion amounts to nothing unless
the heart is converted, and the pocket
book is converted, and the cash drawer
is converted, and the ledger is convert
ed and the fireproof safe is converted,
and the pigeon hole containing the cor
respondence is converted, and his inn
provement is noticed even by the can
airy bird that sings in the parlor, and
the cat that ticks the platter after the
meal, and the dog that comes bounding
from the kennel to greet him. A man
half converted, or quarter converted,
or thousandeth part converted, is not
converted at all What will be the great
book in the day of judgment? Con-
science. Conscience recalling misim-
proved opportunities. Conscience recall
ing unforgiven sins. Conscience bring
ing up all the past. Alas for this govern
nor Pontius PLATE. That night after the
court had adjourned and the Sanhed-
rists had gone home, and nothing was
heard outside the room but the step of
the sentinel, see Pontius PLATE arise
from his tapestried and sleepless couch,
and go to the laver and begin to wash