A pastor visiting in the home of a laundress exprest admiration
of the whiteness of the linen hung out upon the lines. They
gleamed in beautiful purity as compared with the dark slates
on the roof of the house behind them. But presently snow fell
and quickly covered the roofs and streets with an absolutely
unsullied mantle, and now the linen clothes seemed actually
to have lost all their whiteness. The preacher said to the
laundress that the clothes did not look anything like so white
as before. She replied, “Ah, sir, the clothes are just as white
as they were, but what can stand against God Almighty’s white?”
It is a fact that the whitest sheet of paper looks yellow and dingy
when placed on freshly fallen snow. So looks the morality of ordinary
man beside the sinlessness of Jesus. (Text.)
(2595)
* * * * *
The ermine, whose fur is so famed for its perfect whiteness, has
been taken as the emblem of the integrity and incorruptibility
that should characterize the judiciary. Thus a judge is spoken
of as wearing the ermine. The dainty little creature makes
it the business of its life to keep clean. So strong is this
instinct that it will suffer capture or welcome death rather
than defilement. Knowing this, trappers and others seeking its
fur will smear the paths it might take to escape, and it keeps
itself unspotted, tho it yields its life. (Text.)
(2596)
See ASSOCIATIONS MOLD MEN.