The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1895-05-17

fist of the other. All that is vel
4 enough for symbol, but here in the
text is a man who proposes to wash
away the guilt Of a sin which he does
!, not quit and of which he does not make
any repentance. Pilates wash basin
was dead letter.
Ceremonies, however beautiful and
appropriate, may be no more than this
hypocritical ablution. In infancy we
may be sprinkled from the baptismal
. font, and in manhood we may wade in
,, to deep dimensions, and yet never
come to moral publication. We may
kneel without prayer, and bow with
! out reverence, and sing without ac-
ceptance. All your creeds, and litur-
gies, and sacraments, and genufec-
tions, and religious convocations
amount to nothing unless your heart
life go into them When the bronzed
slave took from the presence of PLATE
that wash basin he carried away none
of Pilates cruelty, or Pilates wicked
ness, or Pilates guilt.
Nothing against creeds; we all have
them, either written or implied. Moth
ing against ceremonies; they are Of in
finite Importance. Nothing against
sacraments; they are divinel, COM
manded. Nothing against rosary, if
there be as many heartfelt prayers as
beads counted. Nothing against in
cense floating up from censor amid
Gothic arches, if the prayers be as
| genuine as the aroma is sweet. Moth
ing against Epiphany, or Lent, or Ash
Wednesday, or Easter, or Good Friday,
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 sym5olical 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 will
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
a reproof more or less emphatic.
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 a long
while. Oh, IL had only spared the
and the imbecile, and the
cripple!' Rousseau declared in his old
age that a sin he committed in his
youth still gave him sleepless 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
.pparitions- DIR. Webster, having slain
Parkman in Boston, and while waiting
'or his doom, complained to the jailer
hat the prisoners on the other side of
he wall all night long kept charging !
him with his crime. when there were
10 prisoners on the other side of the I
vail. It was the voice of his own con-
cience.
From what did Adam and Eve try to g
hide when they had all the world to I
themselves? From their own con- I
cience. What made Gains punish &
nent greater than he could bear? His I
onaciauco What made Allah cry ont | I
o the prophet: Hast thou found me. q
} mine enemy" What made the great I
Felix tremble before the little mission '