The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-06
THE POWER OF CONSCIENCE.
TALMAGE breaches ON CHRIST
BEFORE PLATE.

Dealing still Left in the Govern
or's Composition, But Not Sum-
cient strength of Character TO Dis
obey the Demands OF the Mob-The
ScOurginE of the savior and the
Final Surrender of POntius.
New York. May 5.-Rarely does any dis
course hold an audience with such intense
interest as did that which Rev. Dr. Tai
mage delivered this afternoon in the Acad-
envy Of Music. He chose FOR his subject.
conscience" the text selected being
Matt Z7.24, He took water and washed
his hands before the multitude. saying.
am innocent Of the blood Of this just
person see We to it,"
At about o'clock in the morning. up
the marble stairs Of a palace and across
the floors Of richest mosaic. and under
ceilings dyed with all the splendors Of
color. and between snowbanks of white
and glistening sculpture, passes poor.
pale, sick young man Of 80, already con-
demned to death, on bis way 20 be CON
demned again. Jesus Of Nazareth is his
name
Coming out to meet him on this tessel-
lated pavement is an INSCRIPTIONS, COM
promising, time-serving cowardly man.
with a few traces Of sympathy and fair
dealing left in his observation-disclosures
Pontius PLATE. Did ever such opposites
meet? Luxury and pain. selhshness and
generosity, arrogance and humility. sin
and holiness. midnight and midnoon.
The blcated-lipped governor takes the
cushioned seat, but the prisoner stands.
his wrists manacled. In a semi-circle
around the prisoner are the Sanhedrists,
with flashing eyes and brandished fists,
prosecuting the case ~ the name OF re
ligion, for the bitterest prosecutions have
been religious prosecutions, and when Sa-
tan takes hold of a good man he makes
up by intensity for brevity OF occupation
If you have never seen an ecclesiastical
court trying "a man. then you have no idea
of the foaming infernalism of these old
religious Sanhedrists. Gov. Pilot cross
questions the prisoner, and finds right
away he IS innocent, and wants to let
him go. His caution is also increased by
some one who comes to the governor and
whispers in his ear. The governor puts
his hand behind his ear. so as to catch the
words almost inaudible. IL Is n message
from Claudia Procula. his WIFE, who has
had 2 dream about the innocence Of this
prisoner and about the danger of eNecut-
ing him, and she awakens from this morn
ing dream in time to send the message
10 her husband, then on the judicial bench
And what, with the protest of his wife.
the entire failure OF the Sanhedrists to
make out their case, Gov. PLATE resolves
TO discharge the prisoner from custody.
But the intimation of such thing brings
upon the governor an eQuinoctial storm Of
indignation. They will report him to the
emperor at Rome. They will have him re-
called They will send him up home, and
he will be hung for treason, for the en-
peror at Rome has already "a suspicion in
regard to PLATE. and that suspicion does
not cease Until plate is banished and com
Co 70
compromises the matter, and proposes that
Christ be whipped instead Of assassinated.
So the prisoner is fastened 10 a low pillar.
and on his bent and barred back come
and bone intertwisted. so that every stroke
shall be the most awful. Christ lifts him
self from the scourging, with flushed cheek
and torn and quiVering and mangled flesh,
presenting a spectacle of suffering in
which Rubens, the painter found the
theme for his greatest masterpiece.
But the Sanhedrists are not yet salts
fed. They have had some OF his nerves
lacerated; they want them all lacerated
They have had some of his blood; they
want all of it, down to the last corpuscIe
merciful hesitation, surrenders to the de-
moniacal cry of Cruelty him. But the
governor sends for something. He sends
a slave out to get something. Although
the constables are in haste to take the
prisoner to execution and the mob out
SIDE are impatient to glare upon their
1t comes. a wash basin. Some pure, bright
water is poured into it, and then Governor
Plate puts his white, delicate hands into
the water and rubs them together, and
then lifts them dripping, for the towel
fastened at the slaves girdle, while he
practically says; Il wash my hands of
this whole homicidal transaction l wash
my hands of this entire responsibility: YOU
will have to bear it," That is the mean
ing of my text when II saws: He took
water and washed his hands before the
iI l1 saying. / am innocent of the
blood OF this just person; see We to IT,"
Behold, in this, that ceremony amounts
TO nothing. if there are not in il cores
pondencies of heart and life. 1t is a good
thing TO wash the hands. God created
fhree-quarters of the world water. and in
mat commanded cleanliness: and when
tne aneients did not take the hint. ne
plunged the whole world under water
and kept 1t there for some time. Hand
washing was a religious ceremony among
the Jews. The Jewish Mishna gave par
tieular direction how that the hands must
oe thrust three times UP to the wrists
IN water, and the palm of the hand
must be rubbed with the closed fist of the
other. All that well enough for a SYM
Dol, 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 a dead failure.
Ceremonies, however beautiful and an
propriate, may be ne more than this hyp-
ocritical ablution. In infancy we may he
manhod we may wade into deep INNER
sions, and yet never come to moral puri-
fication. We may kneel without PRAYER.
and bow without reverence, and sing with
out any acceptance. All your creeds and
liturgies, and sacraments. and genufec-
tions, and religious convocations amount
10 nothing unless your heart-life 20 into
them. When that eronzed slave took
from the presence of Plate that wash
basin he carried away none of Plate s
cruelty, or Pilates wickedness, or Pr
late's guilt.
Nothing against creeds; we ali have
them, either written or implied Nothing
against ceremonies: they are of infinite
importance. Nothing against sacraments,
they are divinely commanded. Nothing
against a rosary. if there be as many
heartfelt prayers as beads counted Moth
ing against incense floating up from cen
ser 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, OF
Whitsuntide, or Palm Sunday. if these
symbols have behind them genuine repent
ance and holy reminiscence, and Christian
conservation. But ceremony is only the
sheath of the sword. il is only the shell
TO the kernel, ii is only the lamp to the
fame, it is only the body to the spirit
The outward must be symbollcal of the
inward Wash the hands by all means
but more than all, wash the heart
Behold, also, as you see Governor Pom.
- IL