The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1895-05-17


or Whitsuntide. or Palm Sunday, If
these symbols have be hind them gen.
uine repentance, and holy remini-
scence, and Christian conservation.
But ceremony is only the sheath to the
sword, it is only the shell to the kerr
mel, it is only the lamp to the flame, it
is only the body to the spirit. The
outward must be symbolical of the in
ward. Wash the hands by all means,
but, more than all, wash the heart.
Behold, also, as you see Gov Pom
titus Plate thrust his hand into this
wash basin, the power of conscience.
He had an idea there was blood on his
hand-the blood of an innocent per-
son, 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 powers of conscience when it
is fully aroused? With whip of scor-
pions over bed of spikes in pitch of
midnight it chases guilt. Are there
ghosts? Yes, not of the grave yard,
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 viii
rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.
For every sin, great or small, con-
science, which is the voice of God, has
reproof more or less emphatic.
Charles TX, responsible for St. Bar
tholomew massacre, was chased by the
bitter memories, and in his dying mo-
ment said to his doctor, Ambrose Par
ry: Doctor, / don't know what's the
matter with me; am in fever of body
and mind, and have been for long
while. Oh, if l had only spared the
innocent, and the imbecile, and the
crippled" Rousseau declared in his old
age that a sin he committed in his
youth still gave him sleepIess nights,
Charles II. of Spain could not sleep
unless he had in his room a confessor
and two friars. Catiline had such
bitter memories he was startled at the
least sound. Cardinal Beaufort, hav-
ing slain the duke of Gloucester, often
In the night would say: Away! away!
why do you look at me?" Richard Ill,
having slain his two nephews, would
sometimes in the night shout from his
couch and clutch his sword, fighting
apparitions. DIR. Webster, having slain
Parkman in Boston, and while waiting
for his doom, complained to the jailer
that the prisoners on the other side of
the wall all night long kept charging
him with his crime, when there were
no prisoners on the other side of the
wall. 1t was the voice of his own con-
science.
From what did Adam and Eve try to
hide when they had all the world to
themselves? From their own con-
science. What made Gains punish
ment greater than he could bear? His
conscience. What made Ahab cry out
to the prophet: Hast thou found me.
o mine enemy?" What made the great
Felix tremble before the little mission
airy? Conscience. What made Belshaz-
zar's teeth chatter with a chill when
he saw a finger come out of the black
sleeve of the midnight and write on
the plastering? Conscience, con-
science!
Why is it that that man in this audi
ence, with all the marks of worldly
prosperity upon him, is agitated while
l 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 a look of horror and
despair? l know not But he knows,
and God knows 1t may be that he de-
spoiled fair young life and turned
innocence into a waif, and the smile
of hope into the brazen laughter
of despair. Or it may be that he
has In his possession the prop
erty of others, and by some
strategem he keeps it accord
ing to law, yet he knows it is not his
own, and that if his heart should stop
beating this moment he would be in
hell forever. Or it may be he is re-
spOnsible for a great mystery, the
disappearance of some one who was
never heard of, and the detectives were
bafiled, 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 TRACE
dy and present at ~the retro
spection, and OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
with stings, conscience with pinch
ers. conscience with fails, con-
science with furnaces, is upon HIM;
and until a mans conscience rouses
him he does not repent. What made
that farmer converted to God go TO his
infidel neighbor and say: 'Neighbor,
I 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. / want you
to have those sheep, and 1 want you to
have the interest on the money, and 1
want you to have the increase of the
fold; if you want to send me to prison,
/ shall make no complaint" The in
fidel heard of the mans conversion,
and he said: Now, now, if you have
got them sheep you are welcome to
them. l don't want nothing of those
things at all. You just go away from
me. Something has got hold of you
that / don't understand. / heard you
were down at those religious meet
ings." But the converted man would
not allow things to stands in that
way, and so the infdel said. We'll, !
now, you can pay me the value of the !
sheep, and six per cent. interest from |
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