The Yale expositor., 1899-12-01

the presence OF PLATE that wash basin
he carried away none OF Pilates cruel
ty, or Pilates wckedness, 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
! sacraments; they are divinely COM
manded. Nothing against rosary, If
there be as many heartfelt prayers as
beads counted. Nothing against in
cense floating up from censor amid
Gothic arches, If the prayers be as gen.
uine as the aroma is sweet. Nothing
against Epiphany, or Lent, or Ash
Wednesday, or Easter, or Good Friday,
! or Whitsuntide, or Palm Sunday, II
! these symbols have behind them genu-
inc repentance and holy Renaissance,
and Christian conservation. But GER
emony 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 symbolical of the inward.
Wash the hands by all means, but
more than all, wash the heart
Behold. also, as you see Governor
Pontius PLATE thrust his hands into
his wash basin, the power Of con-
science. He had an idea there was
blood on his hand-the blood Of an in
nocent 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 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 power of conscience when it
is fully aroused! With whip of seer
pions 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.
And thus, Brutus, amid his slumbering
host,
Startled with Caesars stalwart ghost.
Macbeth looked at his hand after
the midnight assassination, and he
says:
Will all great Neptune's ocean wash
this blood
Clean from my hand? No; this my
hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.
From what did Adam and Eve try TO
hide when they had all the world TO
themselves? From their own con-
science. What made Gains punish
ment greater than he could bear? His
conscience. What made Ahab cry out
to the prophet, Hast thou found me,
o mine enemy?" What made the
great Felix tremble before the little
missionary? Conscience. What made
Belshazzar's teeth chatter with 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 1t that that man in this audi
ence. with all the marks of worldly
prosperity upon him, is agtated while
speak, and is now flushed and is now
pale, and then the breath is uneven,
and then beads Of perspiration on the
forehead, and then the look Of unrst
comes to a lock of horror and despair?
| know not. But he knows, and God
knows. 1t may be that he despolled a
fair young life and turned innocence
into a waif, and the smile OF hope into
a., ~.
may be that he has in his possession
the property of others, and by some
strategem he keeps it according to law,
and yet he knows 1t is not his own,
and that if his heart should stop beat
! ing this moment he would be in hell
forever. Or it may be he is rcspon-
! sibe for a great mystery, the disap-
! pearance Of some ore who was never
heard Of, and the detectives were baf-
/ fed, 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 tragedy and
present at the retrospection, and con-
science-conscienc with stings, con-
science with pincers, conscience with
fails. conscience with furnaces, is up
on him; and until a mans conscience
rouses him he does not repent. What
made that farmer converted to God
go to his infdel neighbor and say:
"Neighbor, / have four of your sheep.
! They came over into my fold six years
ago. They had your mark upon them,
and changed it to my mark. l want
you to have those sheep, and l want
you to have the interest on the money.
and l want you to have the increase
of the fold; If you want to send me to
prison / shall make no complaint"
The infldel heard of the mans CONVEX
sion, and he said: Nov, now IL you
have got them sheep you are welcome
to them. don't want nothing of those
things at all. You just go away from
me. Something has got hold of you
that l don't understand. l heard you
were down at those religious meet
ings." But the converted man would