Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1895-05-11
CONSCIENCE PRICKS.
GRAPHIC STORY OF CHRIST BEFORE
GOVERNOR PLATE.

GRAPHIC STORY OF CHRIST BEFORE
GOVERNOR PLATE.
Rev. Dir. Talmage Holds an Audience SPELL
bound by His Matchiess EIoquence-- Pow
or and Eject of the "stiil. Small Voice."
Divine Mercy.
NEW York, May 5.-Rarely does any
( discourse hold an audience with such in
tense interest as did that which Rev. DR.
/ Talmage delivered this afternoon in the
| Academy of Music. he chose for his
subject Conscience, " the text selected
being Matthew xvii. "a He took wa
I .cr aud washed his hands before the
multitude, saying; am Innocent Of the
blood of this just person. See We TO it. .
! At about O'Clock i'll the morning. up
the marble stairs of 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 30, already con-
demned to death, on his way to be con-
demned again jesus Of Nazareth is his
name
! Coming out to meet him ON this tes-
sellated pavement is an INSCRIPTIONS
compromising. timeserving cowardly
man, with n few traces of sympathy and
fair dealing left in his composition
I Governor Pontius Plate Did ever such
opposites meet? Luxury and pain, self
isilness and generosity, arrogance and
humility. sin and holiness, midnight and
midnoon.
Christ Before PLATE.
I The bloatcd Tipped governor takes the
cushioned seat, but the prisoner stands,
/ his wrists manacled In a semicircle
around the prisoner are the sanhedrists,
with flashing eyes and brandished fists,
( prosecuting this case i'll the name of re-
4 ligion, for the bittercst prosecutions
have been religious prosecutions, and
VIXEN satan takes hold of good man he
makes up by intensity for brevity of &C.
cupation. If you have never seen an &C.
clesiastical court trying man, then you
/ have no idea of the foaming infernalism
of these old religious sanhedrists Gov
ernor PLATE 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 in
audible 1t is a message from Claudia
I Procula, his wife, who has had dream
about the innocence of this prisoner
and about the danger of executing him,
and she awRkens 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 wife,
aud the voice of his own conscience, and
I the entire failure of the sanhedrists TO
make ont their case. Governor Plate
resolves to discharge tho prisoner from
custody.
Bat 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 recalled, they Will send
! him up home. and he viii be hung for
treason, for Tie emperor at Rome has
already Il suspicion il regard to PLATE,
and that suspicion docs not cease until
plate is banlshed 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 a low pillar, and
, on bis bent and barred back come the
thongs Of leather, with pieces of lead
and bone in;ertwisted, 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 Il specta-
Gle 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 ii. down to the last corpus
Gle. So Governor Pontius PLATE, after
all this mereiful hesitation, su1enders
TO the demoniacal cry of Cruelty him p
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 outside are impatient to glare upon
their victim, "A pause i'll necessitated
Yonder it comes--a wash basin Some
pure bright water is poured into it, and
then Governor PLATE puts his white. deli
cate hands into the water and rubs them
together and then lifts them dripping
! for the towel fastened at the slaves CIR
die, while he practically says: Il wash
my hands of this whole homicidal trans
action. | wash my hands of this entire
responsibility You will have to bear
it. That is the meaning of my text
when it says; he took water and wash
ed his hands before the multitude, say
ing am innocent of the blood of this
just person. See ye to it. "
HypoeriticaI Additions.
Behold in this that ceremony amounts
to nothing if there are not i'll it CORE
spondencies Of heart and life 1t is a
good thing to wash the hands God
created three-quarters of the world wa
ter 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.
Hand washing was a religious cere-
mony 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 a symbol but here in
the text is a man who proposes to wash
away the guilt Of sin which he does
not quit and of which he docs not make
any repentance Pilates wash basin
was dead failure
Ceremonies, however beautiful and
appropriate, may be no more than this
hypocriucal ablution In infancy we
may be sprinkled from the baptismal
font, and in manhood we may wade into
deep immerSlcn, and yet never come to
commandments