Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1895-05-16

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 gem
| uine repentance, and holy remini-
scence, and Christian conservation.
But ceremony is only the sheath to the
sword, 1t 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 De sym JOlical of the in
ward. Wash the hands by all means
but, more than all, wash the heart.
Behold, also, as you see Gov. Pom
thus 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 rs hand after
the midnight assassination, and he
save:
! Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No this my hand will
rather
The nultitudnous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.
For every sin, great or small, con-
science. which is the voice of God. has
reproof more or less emphatic
Charles 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
~: 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, if | had only spared the
innocent, and the imbecile, and the
cripple!' Rousseau declared in his old
age that a sin he committed in his
youth still gave him sleepless Dights
+ Charles II. o. 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, oft IN
IL the night would say: away! away.
why do You look at rne?" Richard Ill
having slain his two nephews, would
, sometimes in the night shout from his
j couch and clutch his sword. fighting
apparitions. by. Webster, having slain
Parkman in Boston, and while waiting
for his doom, complained to the taller
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 CON
science.
From what did Adam and Eve try to
! hide when they bad all the world to
themselves? From their own con
! science What made Gains punish
ment greater than he could bear? His
! conscience. What made AhaD cry out
to the prophet: Hast thou found me.
O mine enerny?'' What made the great
EeljX tremble before the little mission
airy? Conscience. What made Belshaz-
lar'S teeth chatter with a chill when
he saw a finger come out of the black
sleeve Of the midnight and write on
! the plastering? Conscience, CON
science,
Why is it that that man in this audi
ence, with all the marks of worldly
prosperity upon him. is agitated while
speak. and is now flushed and is now
pale. and then the breath is uneven
and then beads of perspira ton on
the forehead, and then the look of
unrest comes to a look of horror and
despair? | know not. But he knows.
and God knows. 1t may be that he de-
spoiled fair young life and turned
! innocence into a waif, and the smile
of hope into tie brazen laughter
Of despair. Or it may be that he
/ has IN his possession the prop
erty of others, and by some
strategem he keeps it accord
ing to law, yet he knows it is not his
| own, and that if his heart should stop
! beating this moment he would be in
/ hell forever. Or it may be ne is re-
spOnsible Tor a great mystery, the
disappearance of some one who was
never heard of, and the detectives were
baffied, and the tracks were all covered
up, and the swift horse or the rail train
took him out of reach, and there are
only two persons in the universe who
| know of it-God and himself. God
present at the time of the TRACE
dy and present at the retro
spection, and NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
with stings, conscience with pinch
ers, conscience with fails, con-
science with furnaces, is upon him.
and until a mans conscience rouses
hin. he does not repent. What made
that farmer converted to God go to his
inidel neighbor and say: Neigh Dor,
| have four of your sheep. They came
over into my fold six years ago. They
had your mark upon them, and
| changed 1T to my mark. | want you
! to have those sheep, and want you to
! have the interest on the money, and
/ want you to have the increase of the
/ fold; if you want to send me to prison.
! l shall make no complaint" The in
! tidel heard of the mans conversion,
! and he said: 'Now, now. if you have
: COf hem sheen Won are yvplp1ma 70