Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1895-05-11
moral pnrification. We may lmeel with

and sing without any acceptance All
your creeds. and liturgies and sacra-
ments and genufections and religious
convocations amount to nothing unless
your heart life go into them When that
bronzed slave took from the presence of
PLATE that wash basin, he carried away
none of Pilates cruelty, or PLATE S
wickedness, or Plate guilt.
Nothing against creeds; we all have
them, either written or implied Moth
ing against ceremonies; they are of in
finite importance. Nothing against sac
ramcnts; they are divinely commanded.
Nothing against Il ROSARY, If there be as
many heartfelt prayers as beads counted
Nothing against incense floating up from
censor amid Gothic arches, if the pray
ers be rs genuine as tho aroma is sweet.
Nothing against Epiphany or Lent or Ash
Wednesday or Easter or Good Friday or
Whitsuntide or Palm Sunday. if these
symbols have behind them genuine re-
pentance, and holy rcminiscence, and
Christian conservation 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, it is only the body to
the spirit The outward must be SYM
bolical of Tie inward Wash the hands
by all means but, more than all, wash
the heart
The Voice OF God.
Behold, also, as you see Governor
Pontius 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 person,
whom he might have acquitted if he
only had the courage Poor PLATED His
conscience was after him, and he knew
the stain would never be washed from
the right hand or the left hand, and un-
til the day Of his death. though he might
wash III all the LAYERS CT the Roman en-
pire, 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 midnight
it chases guilt. Are there ghosts? Yes,
not Of the graveyard, / of ones mind
not at rest.
And thus Brutus, amid his sluinbering host
Startled with Cnsar's stalwart ghost.
Macbeth looked at his hand after the
midnight assassination, and he says:
viii all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand2 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. Charles
TX, responsible for st. Bartholomew
massacre, was chased by the bitter mem
cries, and in his dying moment said to
his doctor, Ambrose Parry: Doctor, l
don t know what S the matter with me.
| am in fever of body and mind and
have been for a long while Oh, if | had
only spared the innocent and tho imbe-
cile and the cripple'' Rousseau de-
clared in old age that sin he commit
ted in his youth still gave him sleepless
nights Charles II Of Spain could not
sleep unless he had in the room con-
fessor and two friars Catiline had such
bitter memories he was startled at the
least sound. Cardinal Beaufort, having
slain the Duke of Gloucester. often in
the night would say: Away, away
Why do you look at me?" Richard III,
having slain his two nephews, would
sometimes in the night shout from his
couch and clutch his sword, fighting ap-
partitions DIR. Webster, having slain
Parkm2n III 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 conscience.
From what did Adam and Eve try to
hide when they had all the world to
themselves? From their own conscience.
What made Cams punishment greater
than he conld bear? His conscience.
What made Ah2bcry out to the prophet,
Hast thou found me, o r2ine enemy?"
What made the great Felix tremble be-
fore tho little missionary? Conscience,
What made BelshazZar's teeth chatter
with chill when he saw finger come
out Of the black sleeve of the midnight
and write on the plastering? Conscience,
conscience.
Fsiclled by Conscience.
Why is it that that man in tbis andi-
ence with all the marks Of worldly nros-
perity mon him is aqitated while I
speak and is now flushed and is now
pale. and then the breath is Uneven. and
then beads of perspiration ON the fore
head. and then the look of unrest comes
to look of horror and DESPAIR? | know
not But he knows. and Cod knows IT,
NAV be that he despoiled a fair vounp
wife and turued innocence into a waif
and the smile of hone into the brazen
laughter of despair. Or it NAV be that
he has in his possession the uroperty of
others. and bv some stratagem he keens
il according TO law and VET he knows II
is not his own. and that if his heart
should stoD beating this moment he
would be in he'll forever. Or it NAV be
he is responsible for a great mystery.
the disappearance of some one who was
D u aud tho SWIFT sn9 hos ~F a ra iGtf ran