Milford chronicle., 1904-04-29
Talmage

BY Rev.
Frank De UOiff
TaImaS e. d. d.

Los Angeles. Cal. April 24.-In this
sermon the preacher announces the di-
vine amnesty to all who repent. and
sinners of every degree are urged to
accept the offer which is made with a
royal magnanimity and completeness
that put human forgiveness to shame
by comparison. The text is Psalm
Ii. I. Wash me, and 1 shall be whittier
than snow"
Absurd slmile," you say; that state
ment cannot be scientifically true.
There is nothing whiter than the snow,
any more than there is anything deader
than DEATH or blacker than black, or
reddcr than arterial blood, or emptier
than a vacuum"
Snow, from a chemists standpoint,
has a superlatiye whiteness. The pur-
est of all vapors is that found far up
In the heavens. Along comes sudden
cold wave and it freezes that vapor i'll
to snowfakes, just as that cold wave
can freeze falling raindrops into hail
klOutS
ment. Then as that snowflake slowly
drops through the air it comes to us
rs white as it is possible for anything
to be. And yet there is a sense in
which the psalmist is right in saying
that God can wash away our sins un-
til we become "whiter 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 'whiter than snow But
YOU must interpret these words of my
tcxt 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
unalyzed in any laboratory or classi-
fed by any earthly acoustician. l re-
member that some years ago IN a ser
mon ! described myself as walking
through an orchard ana lying down
under the branches Of an old apple
tree and listening to q long conversa-
tion 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 he trampled under
foot by tie 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 hanuuet table. or to be carried
MS gift to the inyalid'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 l described
those two apples talking together l
saw one Of my dearest friends in the
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
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" l
looked Mt him for Il moment and then
said Didn't you ever hear the flow
ers talk and the birds talk and apples
talk? | have. l 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 l can hear two apples talk. l
know those apples talked, for l heard
them"
The Drunkard's Sins.
We do not bind the imagination OF
the poet with the rigid bonds of scien-
titic accuracy. He is accorded a IL
cense to see and hear with his spirit
ual ewes and ears scenes and sounds
not scientifically true. Though these
words Of my text may not be literally
true. in the fgurative language of 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
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
and tattcrs, 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.
Christ is ready to cleanse the drunk
ards sins. These are neither few noT
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 a man into a condition
more imbruted than that of a wild
beast. The drunkard after awhile
seems to become as unquenchable II
his passions as the patient whose vo
racious appetite is Unsuitable after q
long attack of typhoid fever. The
drunkard's craving will make a mar