Newspapers / Eastern Courier (Hertford, N.C.) / May 15, 1895, edition 1 / Page 6
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REY. DRV TALHAGE . Th Eminent Kew York Divine's Sun day Sermon. Subject:' CoBsclence.', Text: "lie took "water and Trashed his hands be ore the multitude, saying: I am in nocent of the blood of this just person. ' Seo yetolt." Matthew xxvii.. 24. At about 7 o'clock in tne morning, up the marble stairs of a palace and across the floors of richest mosaic and under ceilings dyed with all the splendors of color and be tween snowbanks of white and trlistening sculpture, passes a poor, pale, sick young man of thirty-three, already condemned to death, on His way to be condemned again. Jesus of Nazareth is His name. Coming out to meet Him on this tessellated pavement is an unscrupulous, compromis ing, timeserving, cowardly man. with a few traces of eym pathy and fair dealing let in his composition G-overnor Pontius Pilaie. Did ever such opposites meet? Luxury and pain, selfishness and generosity, arroeancs und humility, sin and holiness, midnight and mid noon. The bloated lipped governor takes th6 cushioned seat, but the prisoner stands. His wrists manacled. In a semicircle around the prisoner are the sanhedrists, ;with flash ing eyes and brandished flsts, prosecuting this ca3e in the nam9 of religion, for the bit terest persecutions have been religious pros-' ecutions, and when satan takes hold of a good man he makes up by intensity for brevity cf occupation. If you have never seen an ecclesiastical court trying a man, then you have no idea of the foaming in fernalism of these old religious sanhedrists. Governor Pilate cross questions tb.9 prisoner and finds right away He is innocent and wants to let Him go. His caution is also in creased by some one who comes to the gov ernor and whispers in his ears. The gover nor puts his hand behind his ear so as to catch- the words almost inaudible. It ia a message from Claudia Prooula, his wife, who has had a dream about the innocence of this prisoner and about the danger of executing Him, and she awakens from this morning dream in time to send the message to her husband, then on toe judicial bench. And what with the protect of his wife, and the . entire failure of the an.hedrist3 to make out their case, Governor Pilate resolved to dis charge the prisoner from custody But the intimation of such a thing brings upon the governor an equinoctial storm of indignation. They will report him to the emperor of Rome, they will have him re- - called, they will send him up home, and he will be hung for treason, for the emperor at Rime has already a suspicion fa regard to Pilate, and that suspicion does not cease un- t l Pilate-is banished and commits suicide. S Governor Pontius Pilate compromises the matter and propose? that Christ be whipped instead of assassinated. So the prisoner is fastened to a low pillar, and on His bent and bared back come the thongs of leather, with pieces of lead and bone intertwisted, so that every strake shall be the more awful. Chrlrt lifts Himself from the scourging with flushed cheek and torn and quivering and mangled flesh, presenting a spectacle of suffering in which Bubens, tha painter, found the theme for his greatest masterpiece. But the sanhedrists a-e not yet satisfied. They have had some of His nerves lacerated; they want them all lacer.tfed ; they have had some of His blood; they want all of it, down to the last corpuscle. S Governor Pontius Pilate, after all this mer -i'ul hesitation, sur renders to the demoniac; 1 cry of 'Crucify Him!" But the governor ilj for some thing. Ha sends a slave ouc t get some thing. Although the constables are in haste to take the prison er t execution and the mob outside are i7 i-h-.t to glare 'upon their victim, a paue n- Stated. Yonder it eomes a wash basin. S oe pure, bright water is poured into it. n I then Governor Pilate put h!s white, delk-at hands into the water and rubs them together and then Ufa them dripping for the towel fastened at the slave's girdle, while he practically savs: "1 wash my hands of this whole homicidal trans action, I waVi nv auds of this entire re sponsibility. You wili have to bear it." That Is the meaning of my text when it says: "Ha took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying: I am Innocent of the blood of this iust person. See ye to it" BehoM in this that ceremony amounts to nothing if tpr are not init correspondencies of heart and life. It is a good thing to wash the hands God created three-quarters of the world water and in that commanded cleanliness, and when the ancients did not . take the hint He plunged the whole world under water and kept it there for some time. Handwashing was a religious ceremony among the Jews. The Jewish Mishna gave - particular direction how that the hands must bethrust three times up to the wrists in water, and the palm of the hand must be rubbed with the closed fist of the other. AU that is well enough for a symbol, but here in the text is a man who proposes to wash away the guilt of a sin which ha does not quit and of which he does not make any re pentance, Pilate's wash basin was a dead failure. Ceremonies, however baautif ul and appro priate, may be no more than this hypocriti cal ablution. In infancy we may besprinkled from the baptismal font, and in manhood we may wale into deep immersion, and yet never cone to moral purification. We may kneel without prayer an i bow without rever ence and sing without any .acceptance. All your creeds and liturgies and sacraments and genuflections and religious convocation amount to nothing unless your heart life go into them. When that brnzed slave took from the presence of Pilate that wash basin. Be carried away none of Pilate3 cruelty, or Pilate's wickedness, or Pilate's guilt. Nothing against creeds; we all have them, either written or implied. Nothing against ceremonies; they are of infinite importance. Nothing against sacraments; they are divinely commanded. Nothing against a rosary, if there -e as many heartfelt prayers as bevd3 counted. Nothing against incense floating up from censer amid Gothic arches, if the prayers be as genuine a? the aroma is sweet. Nothing against Epiphany or Lent or Ash Wednesday or Easter br Gaol Friday or Whitsuntide or Palm Sunday, if these sym bols have bshind theaa genuine repentance, and holy reminiscence, and Christian conse cration. But ceremony 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 hand3 by all means; but, more than all, wash the heart. Behold, also, as you see Governor PontrUs Pilate thrust his hand into this wash basin, the power of conscience. He had an idea there was blood on his hand the blood of an innocent person, whom he might have ac quitted if he only had the courage. Poor Pilate! His conscience wa3after 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 lavers 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 scorpions over a bed of spikes in pitch of midnight it chases guilt. Are there ghosts? Yes, not of the graveyard, but of one's mind not at" rest. And thr3 Brutus, amid his slumbering host, Startled with Cfesar's stalwart ghost. Macbeth looked at his hand after the mid night assassination, and he says: Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood Clean from my hatul? No; this my hand will rather The multitudinous sea3 incarnadine. Making the green one rsi. For every sin, srreat o? -small, conscience, which is the voice of God. has a reproof, more or les3 enmhatic. Charles IX. respon sible for St. Bartholomew massacre. Va? chased by the bitter memories, and in his dying moment said to his doctor. Ambrose Parry: "Doctor, I don't know what's th matter with ,me. I am in a fever of body and mind and have been for a long while. O'j, if I had only spared the innocent and the imbe cile and the cripple!" Rousseau declared in old asre that a sin he committed in fiis youth still gave himsleepless nicrhts. Charles II. of Spain could not sleep unless he had in the room a confessor and two friars. Catiline had such bitter memories he was startled at the leaat sound. Cardinal B?aufort, having slain the Duke c Gloucester, often in the night would sav: "Away, away! Why do you look at me?" Richard III. , having slain histwo nephews . would sometime ip. the uign- snoTrrrr.5m nls couch and clutch his sword, fltrhting apparitions. Dr. Webster, having slain Parkman in Boston, and while waiting for hi3 doom, complained to the jailer that the prisoners on the other sid of the wall all night long kept charging him with his crime, when there were no prisoners on the other side of the wall. It wa3 the voice of his own conscience. From what did Adam and Eve try to hid when they had all the world to themselves? From their cwn conscience. What made Cain's punishment greater than he could bear? Hi3 coiseienee. What made Ahah cry out to the pronhet. "Hat thou found me, O mine enemy?" What made the srreat Felix tremble before the little missionary? Conscience. What ma ie Belshazzar'3 teeth chatter with a chill when he saw a finger come out of the black sleeve of the midnight and write on the plastering? Conscience, conscience. Why is it that that man in this audience with all the raark3 of worldly prosperity upon him 13 agitated while I speak and i3 now flushed and is now pale, and then the breath is uneven, and then" beads of persoir ration on the forehead, and then the look of unrest come3 to a look of horror and de spair? I know not. But he knowa. and Go 1 knows. It may be that he despoiled a fair young wife and turned innocence Into a Vaif and the smile of hope into the brazen laugh ter of despair. Or it may be that he has in his possession the proparty of other, and by -some stratagem he keeps tt according to law, and yet he know3 tt is not his own, and that if his heart should stop beating this moment' he would be in hell forever. Or it may be he is responsible for a great mystery, the disap pearance of some one who was never heard of. and the detectives were baffled, 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 uni verse who know of it Go I aadhimsel'. Go d present at the time of the tragedy and pres ent at the rBsrospe-'tion and conscience conscience with stings, conscience with pinchers, conscience with flails, conscience with furnaces, is upon him, and until a man's conscience rouses him he does not re pent. What made that farmer converted to Go I go to his infidel neighlwr and say: "Neigh bor, I have four of your sheep. Tcey came over into my fold six years ago. They had your mark upon them, and I chmgad itto my mark. I want you to have those sheep, and I want you- to have the interest on the money, and I want you to have the increase' of the fold. If you want to send me to prison. I shall make no complaint?" The in fidel hevd of the rasa's conversion, and he said: "Now, now, if you have get them sheep you are welcome to them. I. don't want nothing of thosa things at all. You just go away from me. Soiieihinr has got hold of yon that I don't on lerstani. I heard you were down at thi3 religious metinss," Bat the converted man would not allow things to stand in that way, and so the infidel saM: "Weil, now, you can pay me the value of the sheep, and six per cent! interest from that tinn to this, and I shan't sav anything more about it. J ust go away from me." What was the matter with the two farmers? In the one case a convicted ! concience leading him to honesty, and in the- j other case a convicted concienee warning ; against infldelity. ' Thomas Oliver was one of John Wesley'3 ; preachers. The early part of his life had '; been fuii of recklessness, and he had made j debts wherever he could borrow. He was j convened to God, aud then he went forth to I nreach and rav his debts. He had a small amount of property left him,, and immedi ately set out to pay his debts, and everybody knew he was in earn3t, and to consummate the last payjveat he had to sell his horse and saddle and bridle. That wa3 conscience. That is converted conscience. That is relig ion. Frank Tiebout, a converted rumseiler had a large amount of liquor on hand at the time of his conversion, and he put all ths kegs and barrels and demijoims in a wagon and took them down in front of the old church where he had baen converted and had everything emptied into the street That i3 religion. Why the thousands of dollars sent every year to the United States Treasury at Washington as "conscience money?" -Why, it simply means there are postmasters and j there are attorneys ana mere are omciais who sometimes retain that which does not belong to them, and these men are convert ed, or under powerful pressure of conscience, j and make restitution. If all the moneys out ! of which the State and the United States ! treasuries have been defrauded should come I back to their rightful exchequers, there would be enough money to pay all the State debts and all the United States debt by day after to-morrow. ! Conversion amounts to nothing unless the heart is converted, and the pocketbook is converted, and the cash drawer is converted, and the ledger is converted, and the fireproof, safe is converted, and the pigeonhole con taining the correspondence is converted, and i his improvement is noticed even Dy the canary bird that sings in the parlor, and the cat that licks the platter after the meal, and the dog that comes bounding from the ken nel to greet him. A man half converted .or quarter converted, or a thousandth part con verted is not converted at all. What will be the great book in the day of judgment? Con science. Conscience recalling misimproved opportunities. Conscience recalling unfor given sins. , Conscience bringing up all the past. Ala3, for this governor, Pontius Pilate! That night after the court had ad journed, and the sanhedrists had gone homer and nothing was heard outside the room but the step of the sentinel, I see Pontius Pilate arise from his tapestried and sleepless couch and go to the laver and begin to wash his hands, crying: "Out, out. crimson spot! Tellest thou to me, and to God, and to the night, my crime? Is there no alkali to re move these dreadful stains? Is there no chemistry to dissolve thi3 carnage? Must I to the day of my death carry the blood of this innocent man on my heart and hand? Out, thou crimson spot!" The worst thing a man can have is an evil conscience, and the best thing a man can have is .what Paul calls a good conscience. But is there no such thing a3 moral purifi cation? If a man is a sinner once, must he always be a sinner, and an unforgiven sin ner? We have all had conscience after us. Or do you tell me that all the wtrd3 0f your life have been just right, and all the thoughts of your heart have been just right, and all the actions of your life just right? Then you do not know yourself, and I take the respon sibility of saying yon are a Pharisee, you are a hypocrite, you are a Pontius Pilate, and do not know it You commit the very same sin that Pilate committed. Yon have crucified the Lord of Glory. But if nine-tenths of this audience are made up ol thoughtful and earnest people, then nine-tenth3 of this au dience are saying within themselves: Is there no such thing a3 moral purification? Is there no laver in which the soul may wash and be clean? VYes, yes, yes. Tell it in song, tell it in sermon, tell it in prayer, tell it to the hemispheres. That is what David cried out for when he said, "Wash me thoroughly from my sin, and cleanse me from mine In iquities." And that is what, in another place, he eried out for when he said. "Wash me and 1 shall be whiter than snow." Behold, the laver of the gospel, filled with living fountains. Did you ever see the picture of the laver in the ancient tabernacle or in the ancient temple? The laver in the ancient tabernacle was made out of the women's me tallic looking glasses. It trasagreat basin, i standing on a' beautiful pedestal, but when i iue limine was Duiir, men tne laver was an immense affair, called the brazen sea. and, oh, how deep were the floods there gathered! And-there were ten lavers besides five at the richt and five at the left and each laver had 3J3 gallons of water. And the outside of these lavere was carved and chased with paiai trees so delicately cut you could al most see the leaves tremble, and lions so true to life that you could imagine you saw the nostril throb, and tha chefabim with out spread wings. That magnificent laver of the old dispensation is a feeble type of the more glorious laver of our dispensation our sun lit dispensation. Here is the laver holding rivers of salva tion, having for its pedestal the Rock of Ages, carved with the figures of the lion of Ju lah's 1 ribe. and having palm branches for victory and wings suggestive of the soul's flight toward God in prayer and the sonl'3 flight heavenward when we die. Come ye auditory, and wash away all your sins, how ever aggravated, and all your sorrows, how- . ever agonizing. Come to this fountain, open for all sin ani uncleanness. the furthest the worst. You need not carry your sias half a second. Come and wash in this glorious gospel laver. Whv, that is an opportunity enough to swallow tip all nations. That b an opportunity that will yet stand on the Alps and beckon to Italv and yet stand on the Pyrenees ahd'h.., Spain, and it will yet stand on the Urai ai beckon to Russia, and it will stan i it tha gate of heaven and beckon tfli all nations. Pardon for all sin, and pardon right awav through the blood of the Son of God. A lit tle child that had been blind, but through skillful surgery brought to sight, said: Wh- mother, why didn't you tell me the earth ani sky are so beautiful? Why. didn't you tell me?'' "Oh," replied the mother, "my oluli I did tell you often.. I often told you.how beautifal they are, but yoa were blind ani you couldn't S3er ' 1 Oh, if we could have our eyes opened tj see the glories in Jesus Chri3t we would fl that the half had not baen told us, and yoa would go to some Christian man and sav "Why didn't yon tell me before of the glori-j in the Lord Jesus Christ?" and, that frienj would say, "I did tell you, but you were blind and could not see, and you were deaf and could not hear.! History says that a great army came to capture ancient Jerusalem, and "when this army got on the hills so that they saw the turrets and the towers of Jerusalem thy gave a shout that made the earth tremble and tradition, whether false or true, says that sa great was the shout eagles flying in the air dropped under the atmospheric percussion. Oh. if we could only catch a glimpse of tha towers of this gospel' temple intQ which you are all invited to come and wash there would ne a song jubilant, and wide resound ing at New Jerusalem seen, at New Jerusa lem taken, the hosannas of other worlds fly. ing midair would fold their wings and drop into our closing doxology. Against the dis appointing and insufficient laver of Pilate's vice and Pilate'a cowardice and Pilate's sin L place the bra2ea saa of a Saviours pardon inf mercy. 'Temperance. A LSSSOlf IX VESSE. Little drops of porter, little sips of stout, Make the breathing shorter, and will aid tha gout; And these slight derangements (trifling' though they.be) Prompt on other ailments, or some malady. Little drops ot liquor, little sips of ale; Pulses beating quicker; faces grim and pale; Mixtures alcoholic, be they what you please, Will increase a colic, or a heart disease. Little drops of Burtcn, little sips of wine. Are a sure and certain health-destroying sign. Little drops of Ailsopp, little drops of Bass, Take away the senses, and make a man an ' ' ass. Sledical Pioneer. TEE3'S A FLAW. Dr. Paul Garnier, of Paris, has made a special study of the" children of habitual drunkards. He says: "There is a flaw in the very nature of these children that the physiologists see clearly and notes with ap prehension the absence of affectionate emo tions. When they do not become lunatics they show insensibility nnd pitilessness." FE.TZ. FBOM THE SALOON CCnSE. The town of Harvey, III., Is established on a solid temperance basis, and has proved that manufacturers can be more prosperous when their employes are prospered and are free from the saloon curse. It. has been fully demonstrated , there that men can do better work in foundries and iron and steel works without beer than with it. They have just located three additional industries. One huncired and sixty-eight new houses are under contract, and there is great activity in this manufacturing town. Harvey is without a saloon, and the ! restrictions are such on every lot that salotna. anot come in tha future. Christian at WorST TE3TPERA'CE SEWS AXO N'OTES. Dr. Parker calls the Ealoon the corner g;od of London." The saloon posing as the laboring man's friend is his worst enemy. "The devil in solution" is Dr. Benjanii2 Ward Richardson's forcible description oi alcohol. Look into the drundard's home, if you wonld see tracks that have been made by the .cloven hoof. j A man has just died at Auburn, N. -y1?0 spent over two thousand hours in jail withm eight years, all in short sentences for drunk enness. Some Protestant ministers near Blackburn, xugiana, ine oiner aay reiuseu iu a-f- eneefc lor fioo tor cnurcn purposes, ucc.-w--it came from a brewer. A prominent English physician of long ex perience With drunkards say3 that he can recall hundreds of recoveries among ma, but only five among women. A Temperance Toast. "Here's to the man who cut down trees, who cleared the lanci, who plowed the ground, who planted th-j corn, who fed the goose that raised -the quid with which wa3 written the Total Abstinence Pledge!" j The American steamship line has it as an invariable rule that no captain or other ora-. cer. sailor or other employe shall use in toxicating liquors as a drink. A famous cap tain on one of its great lines recently a. i w one of our leaders: "Many a time has a of whisky wrecked a ship." Mrs. Carlisle, wifeot Secretary Carlisle is not only known to be opposed to the u u intoxicating beverages, but is notably con sistent in her convictions. Her dinner? ar? served without th alcoholic ccnM-''. ants which custom seems to haTe nxe a r inflexibly upon iesa independent ani lightened society leaders.
Eastern Courier (Hertford, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
May 15, 1895, edition 1
6
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