Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1895-05-22
REV. DR.. TaLuaGE.
The Brooklyn Divine's Sunday
Sermon.
0.LJect: "Consclence."

IE1V He took water and washed nh
hands be ore :se multitu lie, saying: am in.
nocent of the blood OF this Just person. Sc,
veto II. t."-Matthew xvii. a
At about7 o'clock In the morning. mo th,
marble stairs OF palace and across tn,
noors OF richest mosaic and under ceiling
dyed with all the splendors of color and bs.
tween snowbanks Of white and glistenini
of psG sl:a9v
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 unscrupulous. compromis
ing, ttmeserving. cowardly man. with few
traces Of sympathy and fair dealing left In
his ompositlon-Governor Pontius PLATE.
Did ever such opposites meet? Luxury and
pain, sel1shness and generosity. arrogance
and humility, sin and holiness, midnight ani
uidnoon.
Tho bloated Tipped governor takes the
cushioned scat, but the prisoner stands, His
wrists manacled. In a semicircle around
the prisoner are the sanhedrists, with flash
Ing eyes and brandished fists, prosecuting
this case In the name Of religion, for the bit.
eerest prosecutions have been religious pros,
ecuttons. and when satan takes hol of q
good man he makes up by intensity fol
brevity CT occupation. II you have never
seen An ecclesiastical court trying a man,
then you have no idea of the foaming in.
lernalism OF these old religious sanhedrtsts.
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 ono 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. It 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 tho judicial bench. Aud
what with the protest Of his wife, and the
entire failure OF the sanhedrfsts to make out
their case, Governor Plate resolved to dis
charge the prisoner from custody.
But the tntimation Of such q 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 tresson. for the emperor at
Rome has already a suspicion in regard to
PLATE, and that suspicion does not cease uu-
til PLATE is banished and commits suicide.
30 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 tertwisted so that
every stroke shall be the more awful. Christ
lifts Himself from the scourging with flushed
flesh, presenting = spectacle of suffering In
which Rubens, the painter, found the theme
'or his greatest masterpiece.
But the sanhedrists are not yet satisfied.
They have had some OF His nerves Iacerated;
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, sfter all this merciful hesitation. sur
renders to the demoniacal cry of "Crucify
Him!" But the governor sends for some
L. - 4
thing. Although the constables are in haste
10 take the prisoner to execution and the
mob outside are impatient to glare upon
their victim. pause is necessitated. Yonde.
It comes-a wash basin. Some pure, bright
water Is poured into 1t, and then Governor
water and rubs them together and then lift
them dripping for the towel fastened at the
slaves girdle, while he practically says: ~
wash my hands Of this whole homicidal trans
action. I wash my hands Of this entire re-
sponslbility. You will have to bear it." That
ts the meaning Of my text when II says: "Hs
took water and washed his hands before the
multitude, saying: I am innocent OF the
blood Of this just person. See ye to it."
Behold in this that ceremony amounts to
nothing II there are not in 1t 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 1t there for some time.
Handwashing 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 q man who proposes to wash
away the guilt OF a sin which he does not
dnfv ,{Ohh hn Nk ol-ao
pentance. Pilates wash basin was a dead
allure.
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, ami 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 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, oi |
Pilates wickodness, or Pilates guilt.
Nothing against oreeds; 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 q rosary, II |
there be As many heartfelt prayers as be ids |
counted. Nothing against incense floating
up from censor amid Gothic arches, II the
prayers be As genuine as the aroma Is sweet.
Nothing against Epiphany or Lent or Ash |
Wednesday or Easter or Cool Friday OF
Whitsuntide or Palm Sunday, II 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, |
1t Is only the lamp to the flame, it is only |
the body to the spirit. The outward must |
be symbolical OF tho inward. Wash the |
hands by all meansi but, more than all, WASH
the heart.
Behold, also, as you SEQ Governor Pontiu. |
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 ac- |
quilted II he only had the courage. Poor |
Plate! His conscience was after him, and he |
knew tho 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 lavers OF tho Roman empire, there |
would be still eight fingers and two thumh
red at the tips.
oh, the power q conscience when it Is
fully aroused! With whip of scorpions over
Q bed Of spikes In pitch of midnight it chases
guilt. Are there ghosts2 Yes, not OF the
but OF ones mind not at rest.
And thus Brutus. amid his slumberins host
Startled with Caesars stalwart ghost.
Macbeth looked at his hand after the mid
night assassination. and he says:
VIII all great Neptune's ocean wash thb
blood
Clean from my hand7 No; this my hanr
will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.
For every sin, great or small, conscience,
which IL the voice Of God, has a reproo[
more or less emphatic. Charles TX, respon.
sible for St. Bartholomew massacre, was
chased by the bitter memories, and in his
dying moment said to his doctor, Ambrose
Parry: 'Doctor, I don't know what's the
matter with me. lam In fever OF body and
mind and have been for long while. On, II
had only spared the innocent and the imbe.
lille and the cripple!' Rousseau declared in
old age that \ sin he committed in his youth
ttill gave him sleepless nights. Charles IL
tf Spain could not sleep unless he hal in the