Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1904-04-30
Talma8e

BY Rev.
Frank De eOhf
TaIm age. d. ID.

los Angeles. Cal. April 24.-ln this |
sermon the preacher announces the d. |
vine amnesty to all who repent, ana
sinners of every degree are urged 10
accent the offer which is made with
royal magnanimity and completeness
that put human forgiveness to shame
by comparison. The text Is Psalm
Ii. 7. Wash me, and shall be winter
than snow"
absurd slmile," you say; that state
ment cannot be scientifically true'
There is nothing whittier than the snow,
any more than there is anything deauer
than death. or blacker than black, Oh
redder than arterial blood, or empuer
than vacuum
Snow. from chemists standpoint
bos n superlative whiteness. The pur-
est Of all vapors Is that found lar up
In the heavens. Along comes sudden
cold wave and 1t freezes that vapor III
TO snowfakes, just as that cold wave
can freeze falling ralndrops into nail
stones which patter upon the pave
ment. Then as that snowflake SLOWLY
drops through the air 1t comes 10 US
M white as it is possible for anything
TO be. And yet there Is sense III
which the psalmist is right In saying
| that God can wash away our SINS uh-
III we become "whiter than snow, the
nure snow. the spotless, wind driven
snow.
The Poets License.
What YOU state about the snow ls
literally true. Scientifically, there can
be nothing "whiter than snow Blu
vou must interpret these words or my
text with the Hgurative license OF the
poet When you see through poetic
ewes and hear through poetic ears you
can see sights and hear sounds never
analyzed in any laboratory or classl-
fed by any earthly acoustician. 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 long conversa-
tion between two apples on the tree
overhead. One apple wanted 10 i've
only for self. 1t wanted to hold on 10
that tree branch until Its flush OF
health died away and 1t became
vrfnkled and brown and decayed ana
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 wahteu
70 he pulled of to adOrn the Thanks
giving banquet table, or to be carried
os gift to the invalid's room, or 10 pe
slowed away in the ships hull Tor an
arctic explorer. or to be crushed III
the press that the cider might sparkle
and glow with life. AS / described
those two apples talking together
saw one Of my dearest friends in tn'
audience with vexed look upon his
face. He was a hard headed business
man. without an atom Of poetry In his
makeup After the service he came
I'D to me and said: why did yo'
speak all that nonsense about thos'
two apples? You never heard TIVE
apples talking. Apples can't talk"
looked at him for moment and thel
said: Didn't you ever hear the now
ers talk and the birds talk and appie
talk? have. have heard then
often talking to me. If Isaiah coui'
make mountains and the hills breal
forth into singing and all the trees o
the fields clap their hands for JOY
surely / can hear two apples talk'
know those apples talked, for hear
them"
The Drunkard's Sins.
We do not bind the Imagination Q
the poet with the rigid bonds OF scler
- titic accuracy. He is accorded !
cense to see and hear with his spirl
[ nal eyes and ears scenes and sound
not scientifically true. Though thes
words of my text may not be literall
true. in the figurative language CT u
psalmlst they are poetically so. Inc
may mean in the common languae
this: Though your past lives sho'
stains that seem to you indellDle
scarlet, though you have committe
sins which have not only corrupte
your own soul, but have laid the sou
of others, like the human sacrince
the Aztec sun wOrshipers, on the nei
affairs, yet even for you there are pa
don and cleansing, If you VIII accel
them. Like the prodigal In his RAJ
. and tatters. there is q home for you
the Fathers house. Though, like PAT
You have to acknowledge yourself Il
chief of sinners, like him you may III
grace and have the honor Of toiling
Christian service.
Christ is ready to cleanse the drum
y ards sins. These are neither Few n
small, for the drunkards sins can ur'
a man down so low that he VIII 10
all sense Of decency and respect In
=, can change man into condlti'
! more imbruted than that OF WI
! beast The drunkard after avn
| seems to become as unquenchaDle
| his passions as the patient whose '
racious appetite is Unsuitable after
. long attack of typhoid fever L
drunkards craving will make m
lie and steal and destroy his home a
his business. The drunkards sins "
eat out Il mans heart as well as
brain. The drunkard's sins are II
the legion Of demons which took p
session Of the poor maniac who, max
ng and alone, haunted the tombs OF
we Gadarenes, and, like them, they m
be exercised by the same divine po
er. They are the direct and indir
cause of countless other sins.
Father Taylor, the sailors preacl
of Boston, drew vivid picture OF 81
NE q phenomenon. He used to descr
a pirate ship attacking a rieh III
IAN chairman In the beginning OF the
as century. With his inimitable poV
H. nj nd trrl