The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1895-05-10
THE LONDONDERRY SITTER.

anu SILK Wltuuut tuiN VNtptdiiVS. All
your creeds and hturgies and sacra-
ments and genufcctions and religious
conventions amount to nothing unless
your heart lifc go into them. When that
bronzed slave took from the presence Of
PLATE that wash basin, he carried away
none of Pilates cruelty, or Pilates
wicl1edness, or Pilates guilt.
Nothing against creeds; we all have
them, either written or implied Moth
ing against ceremonies; they are of in
finite importance. Nothing against sac
raments; they are divinely commanded.
Nothing against a rosary if there be as
many heartfelt prayers as beads counted
Nothing against incense floating up from
censor amid Gothic arches, if tho pray,
ers be as genuine as the aroma is sweet,
Nothing against Epiphany oyhent or Ash
Wednesday or Easter or Good Friday on
.Whitsuntide or Palm Sunday, if these
symbols have behind them genuine re-
pentance, and holy reminiscence, and
Christian conservation But ceremony is
only the sheath to the sword, it is only
the shell to the kernel, it is only the
lamp to the flame, it is only the body to
the spirit The outward must be sym
bolical Of the inward Wash the hands
by all means; but, more than all, wash
the heart
Tho Voice of God.
Behold, also, as you see Governor
Pontius 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 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 un-
til the day of his death, though he might
wash in all the LAYERS of the Roman en-
pire, 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 a 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.
atn mus it % aiio ms nos'
,I-,~., ~ - a.
po.'i .oonu :o ms ii,'i, w. '. '''
mum sn' '''''''' iii"''oi' anu '.o s'''
Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood
-- thor my ''''i'' -'0' ny
The multitudinous 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. Bartholomew
massacre, was chased by the bitter mem
cries, and in his diving moment said to
his doctor, Ambrose Parry: doctor, l
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 imbe.
cile and the cripple!'' Rousseau de.
clared in old age that sin he commit
ted in his youth still gave him sleepless
nights. Charles II of Spain could not
sleep unless he had in the room CON
fessor and two friars. Catiline had such
DlGtpr memories he WAS SJ9rVlpO lU JIlp
least sound. Cardinal Beaufort, having
slain the Duke of Gloucester, often in
the night would say: "Away, away!
Why do you look at me?" Richard III,
having slain his two nephews, would
sometimes in the night shout from his
couch and clutch his sword, fighting ap-
partitions. DIR. Webster, having Slam
Parkman III Boston, and While waiting
Tor his doom, complained to the Jaller
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 conscience.
From what did Adam and Eve try TO
hlde when they mad all the world 10
themselves! From their own conscience.
What made Cams punishment greater
than he could bear? HIS conscience.
what MADE Ahab cry out to the prophet,
Hast thou found me, . mine enemy!
What made the great Felix tremble be-
fore the little missionary! Conscience.
what made Belshazzar 8 teeth chatter
with a chill when he saw finger come
out OF the black sleeve OF the midnight
and write on the plasterlng? Conscience,
conscience.
Pricked by Conscience.
Why is it that that man in this audi
ence with all the marks of worldly pros
perity upon him is agitated while
sneak and is now flushed and is now
pale, and then the breath is uneven, and
then beads of perspiration on the fore
head, and then tho look of unrest comes
to look of horror and despair know
not But he knows. and God knows 1t
may be that he despoiled fair young
wife and turned innocence into a waif
and the smile of hone into the brazen
laughter of despair. Or it may be that
he has in his possession the property of
others, and by some stratagem he keeps
il according to law. and vet he knows il
is not his own. and that if his heart
should stop beating this moment he
would be in hell forever. Or it NAV be
he is RESPONSIBLE for n great mystery
the disappearance of some one who was