Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1904-04-30
Talma6e
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De oOiff
Tain age. ID. d.

vine amnesty TO all who repent. and
sinners of every degree are urged TO
accept the offer which is made with
royal magnanimity and completeness
that put human forgiveness To shame
10y comparison. The text is Psalm
Ii. I. Wash me, and shall be whittier
than SHOW
Absurd simile." you say: that state
ment cannot he scientifically true.
There Is nothing whittier than the snow,
any more than there is anything deader
than death. or blacker than black. or
ve,lder than arterial blood, or emptier
than vacuum
Snow. from chemists standpoint,
has a superlative Wilderness. The pur-
est of all vapors is that found far up
in the heavens. Along comes a sudden
cold wave aud il freezes that vapor in
TO snowfiakes. just as that cold wave
can freeze falling raindrops into hail
stones which pntter upon the pave
ment. Then as that snowflake slowly
drops through the mir il comes 10 us
as white as il Is possible for anything
to be And yet there is sense in
which the psalmst Is right in saying
that God can wash away our sins I'M
I'll we become whittier than SNOW the
pure snow. the spotless. wind driven
snow.
The Poets License.
What you state about the snow is
literally true Scientifically. there can
he nothing whittier than snow" Bnt
you must interpret these words of my
text with the figurative license of the
poet. When you see through poetic
eyes and hear through poetic ears you
can see sights and hear sounds never
analysed in any laboratory or classi-
fed by any earthly acousiician. i re-
member that some years ago in ser
mon l described myself as walking
through an orchard and lying down
under the branches of an old apple
tree and listening TO n long conversa-
ton between two apples on the tree
overhead. One apple wanted 10 live
only for self. 1t wanted To hold on To
that tree branch until its flush OF
health died away and il became
wrinkled and brown and decayed and
fell tn the ground to he trampled under
foot 10y the swine. The other apple
was willing TO die i'm order that others
might live. This second apple wanted
TO he pulled of To adorn the Thanks
giving banquet table. or To be carried
ms gift TO the invalid's room. or to be
slowed away i'm the ships hull for an
arctic explorer or 10 he crushed In
the press that the cider might sparkle
and glow with life. As | described
those two apples talking together I
saw one Of my dearest friends in the
audience with vexed look upon his
face He was n hard headed business
man. without an atom of poetry in his
makeup. After the service he came
up 10 me and said: why did you
speak all that nonsense about those
two apples! You never heard two
apples talking. Apples can't talk"
looked nj him for a moment and then
said: Didn't you ever hear the flow
ers talk and the birds talk and apples
talk: have. | have heard them
often talking TO me. If Isaiah could
make mountains and the hills break
forth into singing and all the trees of
the fields clap their hands for joy.
surely can hear two apples talk. l
know those apples talked. for heard
them
The Drunkard's Sins.
We do not bind the imagination of
the poet with the rigid bonds of scien-
tific accuracy. He is accorded Ii
cense 10 see and hear with his spirit
ual eyes and ears scenes and sounds
not scientifically true. Though these
words of my text may not he literally
true. in the figurative language of the
psalmist they are poetically so. They
may mean in the common language
this: Though your past lives show
stains that seem to you indelible as
scarlet. though you have committed
sins which have not only corrupted
your own soul. but have laid the souls
of others. like the human sacrifice of
the Aztec sun worshipers. on the fiery
affairs. yet even for you there are par
don and cleansing. If You will accept
them. Like the prodigal In his rags
anu idttfFS. II u ibillt YOU III
the Fathers house. Though. like Paul.
you have TO acknowledge Yourself the
chief of sinners. like him you may find
grace and have the honor of toiling in
Christian service.
Christ is ready to cleanse the drunk
ards sins. These are neither few nor
small. for the drunkard's sins can drag
a man down so low that he will lose
ali sense of decency and respect. They
can change man into condition
more imbruted than that of wild
beast. The drunkard after awhile
seems to become rs unquenchable in
his passions rs the patient whose vo-
racious appetite is Unsuitable after a
long attack of typhoid fever. The
drunkard's craving will make n man
lie and steal and destroy his home and
his business. The drunkard's sins will
eat out mans heart ms well as his
brain. The drunkard's sins are like
the legion of demons which took pos
session of the poor maniac who. naked
and alone haunted the tombs Of the
Gadarenes. and. like them. they may