The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1895-05-10
LUNSCIENCE PRICKS.
GRAPHIC STORY OF CHRIST BEFORE
GOVERNOR PLATE.

f'SSNt1s
rev, .,r, Taiuage Holds an Audience SPELL
bound by His Matchicss Eloquence--Pow-
CT and Eject of the "Stili. Small Voice.
D'vlas Mercy.
',rw York, May 8, Rarely does any
EcoG:se hold an audience with such in.
ic& @ interest as did that which Rev DR.,
m 20 delivered this afternoon in the
Na,trny of Music He chose for his
crhjc conscience" the text selected
We Ng Matthew xvii, pa; He took wa.
Ter Gad washed his hands before the
multitude, saying: am innocent of the
1iood If this just person, See ye to it, "
AT about O'Clock in the morning, up
e r;arble stairs Of a palace and across
20 fleors of richest mosaic and under
ol;ngs dyed with all the splendors of
'o!or and between snowbanks of white
,.nd listening sculpture, passes poor,
"a'". sex young man of 33, already con-
DEM; II to death, ON his way to be con-
denied again Jesus of Nazareth is his
" nc.
Coming out to meet him on this tes-
sella;'l pavement is an INSCRIPTIONS
'cmI"omising, timcserving cowardly
man, With few traces of sympathy ard
,,oaling left in his composition
Governor Pontius PLATE. Did ever such
opposites meet? Luxury and pain, self
ishness and generosity, arrogance and
humility, sin and holiness, midnight and
midnoon.
Christ Before PLATE.
The bloated Tipped governor takes the
cushioned seat, but the prisoner stands,
his wrists manacled In semicircle
around the prisoner are the sanhedrists,
with flashing eyes and brandished fists,
prosecuting this case in the name of re-
ligion, for the bitterest prosecutions
have been religious prosecutions, and
when satan takes hold of a good man he
makes up by intensity for brevity of oc-
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 Coy
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. It is a 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 wife,
and the voice of his own conscience, and
the entire failure Of the sanhedrists to
make out their case, Governor PLATE
resolves to discharge the prisoner from
custody.
But the intimation of such a 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 will be hung for
treason, for the emperor at Rome has
already a suspicion in regard to PLATE,
and that suspicion does not cease until
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 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 it, down to the last corpus
Gle. So Governor Pontius PLATE, after
all this merciful hesitation, surrenders
to the demoniacal cry Of Cruelty him -
But the governor sends for something.
He sends 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 in 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: 81 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 l am innocent of the blood of this
| just person. See We to it. "
Hypocritical Additions.
Behold in this that ceremony amounts
to nothing if there are not in 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 i'll 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 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
well enough for symbol, but here in
! the text is man who proposes to wash
away the guilt Of a sin which he does
not quit and of which lie does not make
any repentance Pllate's wash basin
was a dead failure.
Ceremonies. however beautiful and
appropriate, may be no more than this
hypocritical ablution In infancy We
NAV no s,,,i A. pd from the bintisrla