Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1904-04-29
.Talmage

BY Rev.
Frank De 6Oiff
ToIm aSe. ID. ID.


sinners Of every degree are urged TO
accept the offer which is made with a
royal magnanfmity and completeness
that put human forgiveness to shame
by comparison. The text is Psalm
II. z. wash me. aud shall be whittier
than snow"
''Absurd simile." you say; that state
ment cannot be scientifically true.
There is nothing whittier than the snow,
any more than there is anything deader
than death, or blacker than black, or
redder than arterial blood, or emptier
than vacuum"
Snow, from chemists standpoint,
has superlative wilderness. The pur-
est OF all vapors is that found far up
IN the heavens. Along comes a sudden
cold wave and it freezes that vapor in
to sncwhakes, just as that cold wave
can freeze falling raindrops into hail
stones which patter upon the pave
ment. Then as that snowflake slowly
drops through the air it comes to us
as white as it is possible for anything
to be. And yet there is sense in
which the psalmist is right in saying
that God can wash away our sins I'M
til 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
be nothing whittier than snow" But
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 acoustician. re-
member that some years ago I'm n SER
mon 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 to live
only for self. 1t wanted to hold on TO
that tree branch until its flush OF
health died away and it became
wrinkled and brown and decayed and
fell to the ground to be trampled under
foot by the swine. The other apple
was willing to die in order that others
might live. This second apple wanted
TO be pulled Off TO adorn the Thanks
giving banquet table. or to be carried
as gift TO the invalid's room. or TO be
slowed away in the ships hull for an
arctic explorer. or TO be 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 n 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 to me and said: ''Why did you
speak all that nonsense about those
two apples? You never heard two
apples talking. Apples can't talk" 1
looked at him for n moment and then
said: Didn't you ever hear the flow
ers tnls and the birds talk and apples
talk? 1 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
she fields clap their hands for Joy.
surely / can hear two apples talk.
know those apples talked. for heard
them"
The Drunlsnrd's Sins.
We do not bind the Imagination OF
the poet with the rigid bonds or scien-
tific accuracy. He is accorded H.
cense to see and hear with his spirit
ual eyes and ears scenes and sounds
not scientifically true. Though these
words OF my text may not be literally
true. in the figurative language or the
psalmist they are POLITICALLY 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
or 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
ihem. Like the prodigal IN his rags
and tatters, there is home for you in
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.
ard's sins. These are neither few nor
small. for the drunkard's sins can drag
a man down so low that he will lose
all sense OF decency and respect. They
can change q man into n condition
more imbruted than that OF a wild
Beast. The drunkard after awhile
seems TO become as unquenchable In
LIS passions as the patient whose yo-
racious appetite is Unsuitable after a
long attack OF typhoid fever. The
COMMUNICATING will make man
lie md steal and destroy his home and
his business. The drunkard's sins VIII
eat out a mans heart as we'll as his
brain. The drunlxard'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
De exercised by the same divine pow
er. They are the direct and indirect
cause OF countless other sins.
Father Taylor, the sailors preacher
OF Boston, drew a vivid picture of such
n phenomenon. He used to describe
a pirate ship attacking a rich mer-
chairman In the beginning OF the last
century. With his inimitable power
or maritime description he pictured
the terror OF the peaceful seamen
when the dreaded black flag was run
APP. He described with faithful real
ism the crowding on OF the canvas and
the pursuit by the rakish craft of the
cutthroats, drawing nearer and nearer
20 its prey. as the leaping tiger comes
nearer and nearer to a clumsy, lum-
boring buffalo. Then the Whit of
smoke, then the murderers clambering
over the gunwales OF the doomed ship,
then the wounded and dying men be-
Ing pitched overboard; then with the
dramatic effect OF contrast Father Tay-
Tor described how these cutthroats hes
itated before striking down the last of
those on the merchantmen = the cap
fain's helpless wife and his innocent,
weeping child. what did the piratical
leader then dog said Father Taylor. "He
70, T.