The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1895-05-22
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
SUNDAYS SERMON IN THE NEW
, YORK ACADEMY OF MUSIC
Subject: "Consclence."

hands be ore the multitude. saying: am in
,nocent of the blood of this Just person. See
iye to it. t."-Matthew xvii. "a.
! At about7 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 be-
tween snowbanks OF white and glistening
sculpture, passes a poor, pale. sick young
man Of thirty-three, already condemned to
death, on His way to be condemned again.
Jesus of Nazareth is His name.
Coming out to meet Him on this tessellated
pavement Is an INSCRIPTIONS. compromis-
ing. timeservins; cowardly man; with few
traces of sympathy ard sa;S dealing left in
his mposition--Governor Pontius PLATE.
Did ever such opposites meet? Luxury and
pain, selfishness and generosity. arrogance
and humility, sin and holiness, midnight and
midnoon.
The bloated Tipped governor takes the
cushioned seat, but the prisoner stands, His
wrists manacled. In a semicirce around
the prisoner are the sanhedrists, with flash
ing eyes and brandished fists, prosecuting
this case in the name OF religion. for the Bit
terest prosecutions have been religious pros
ecutions. and when satan takes hold Of
good man he makes up by intensity for
brevity cf occupation. If You have never
seen an ecclesiastical court trying man,
then YOU have no idea Of the foaming in
fernalism OF these old religious sanhedrists.
Governor PLATE cross questions the prisoner
and finds right away He is innocent and
wants to let Him go. His caution is also in
creased by some one who comes to the gov
ernor and whispers in his ears The COVER
nor puts his hand behind his ear so as to
catch the words almost inaudible. 1t is
message from Claudia Procula, his wife. who
has had dream about the innocence OF this
prisoner and about the danger Of executing
Him, and she awakens from this morning
dream in time to send the message to her
husband. then on the judicial bench. And
what with the protest OF his vile. and the
entire failure of the sanhedrists to make out
their case, Governor PLATE resolved to dis
charge the prisoner from custody.
But the intimation of such Il thing brings
upon the governor an equinoctial storm OF
Indignation They will report him to the
emperor of Rome. they will have him re-
called, they will send him up home, and he
will be hung for treason, for the emperor at
Rome has already suspicion in regard to
plate, and that suspicion does not cease un-
til PLATE is banished and commits suicide.
So Governor Pontius PLATE compromises the
matter and proposes that Christ be whipped
instead of assassinated. So the prisoner is
fastened to low pillar. and on His bent and
barred back come the thongs of leather, with
pieces of lead and bone intertwisted, so that
every stroke shall be the more awful. Christ
lifts Himself 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 satisfied.
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 corpuscle. So Governor Pontius
plate. after all this merciful hesitation, sur
renders to the demoniacal cry OF "Crucify
Him. But the governor sends for some
thing. He sends a slave out to get some
thing. Although the constables are IN haste
to take the prisoner to execution and the
mob outside are impatient to glare upon
their victim, pause is necessitated. Yonder
it comes-a wash basin. Some pure. bright
water is poured into it. and then Governor
Pilate put his white, delicate hands into the
water and rubs them together and then lifts
them dripping for the towel fastened at the
slaves glrdle. while he practically says: II
wash my hands of this whole homicidal trans
action. I wash my hands of this entire re-
sponsibility. You will have to bear it. That
is the meaning of my text when 1t says: He
took water and washed his hands before the
multitude, saying: l am innocent OF the
| Behold in this that ceremony amounts to
nothing if there are not nit correspondence
of heart and life. 1t Is good thing to wash
the hands. God created three-quarters Of
the world water and in that commanded
cleanliness. and when the ancients did not
take the hint He plunged the whole world
under water and kept it there for some time.
Handwashins was a religious ceremony
among the Jews. The Jewish Mishna gave
particular direction how that the hands
must be 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 is we'll enough for symbol, but here in
the text is man who proposes to wash
away the guilt of sin which he does not
quit and of which he does not make any re-
pentance. Pilates wash basin was dead
failure.
Ceremonies, however beautiful and appro-
pirate, may be no more than this hypocriti-
cal ablution. In infancy we may be sprinkled
from the baptismal font, and in manhood We
may wade into deep immersion, and yet
never come to moral publication. We may
kneel without prayer and bow without rever-
ence and sing without any acceptance. All
your creeds and liturgieS and sacramentS
and genuhections and religious convocations
amount to nothing unless your heart life 60
into them. When that bronzed slave took
from the presence Of PLATE that wash basin,
he carried away none Of Pilates cruelty, or
Pilates wickedness, or Pilates guilt.
Nothing against creeds; we all have them.
either written or implied. Nothing against
ceremonies; they are Of infinite Importance.
Nothing against sacraments; they are divinely
commanded. Nothing against rosary. If
there be az many heartfelt prayers as bel ids
counted. Nothing against incense floating
up from censor amid Gothic arches. if the
prayers be as genuine as the aroma is sweet.
Nothing against Epiphany or Lent or Ash
Wednesday or Easter or Good Friday or
Whitsuntide or Palm Sunday, if these SYM
bols have behind them genuine repentance,
and holy reminiscence, and Christian conse-
Grafton. But ceremony is only the sheath to
the sword, it is only the shell to the kernel,
II is only the lamp to the flame, it 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 Pontius
PLATE thrust his hand into this wash basin,
the power OF conscience. He had al idea
there was blood on his hand-the blood Of an
innocent person, whom he might have ac-
quilted il 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
q bed of spikes in pitch of midnight it chases
guilt. Are there ghosts? Yes, not of the
graveyard. but OF ones mind not at rest.
And thus Brutus, amid his sumbering host,
Startled with Caesars stalwart ghost.
Macbeth looked at his hand after the mid
night assassination, and he says:
Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this