The Carolina Spartan. [volume] (Spartanburg, S.C.) 1852-1896, 1857-02-05
Christ no Writer.

One Of the most remarkable facts in the
history of Christ is, that he left no writings
behind him, and the only record there is OF
his writing anything is in the case where
'she stopped down and with his finger wrote
upon the ground" What be wrote then
and there no one knows; though perhaps
the most plausible conjecture is that he
wrote the answer to the question, whether
the woman taken in the act of adultery
should be stonedl "Ee that is without sin
among you, let him cast stone nj herr
Hearer, did this strange fact ever occur 10
you, that the greatest relormer that ever
lired--professedlv the divine teacher sent
OF God 10 reveal his truth to the world
whose teachings have survived the wreck
oi ages, and now command tho crelence,
therespect and the most profound admira
Il onof the enlightened world, and who is
claimed as the "author and finisher" Of q
great system Of faith and practice, has lef,
behind him no sentence Of his writing, and
those unknown characters written with his
finger in the sand constitute the sum total
ofall his writings of which there is any &c.
count!
Is there, or has there over been, since the
invention of letters, or reven rude hieroglyph-
les, any such thing as system of religion,
whose founder did not take special pains to
reduce his teachings 10 writing, and thus
give them the most exact and permanent
form?
The Brahmins have their Vedas, their
Pourauas, their Ramayal. aud their laws
and institutes of Menu, and these are all
written and preserved with theutmost care.
The Chinese have their books of Fohi, their
founder, as opened and expounded by their
great Confucius. The Persiaus have their
Zendevesta, attributed to their leader, Zorro
aster, containing the doctrine and laws of
their religion. The Jews had their sacred
books; and Moses and the prophets, and Da.
vid, and Solomon, put their teachings in
writing, that they might be preserved.
Plato and Pythagoras, and Cicero and
Demosthenes, wrote much. Mahomet
wrote the Koran, and gave it to the faithful
as their guide. The writings of Sweden.
borg are yoluminous; aud in our day, oven
the Mormon imposior wrote bis book of
Mormon. But mere comes one who claims
precedence even 10 Moses and Abraham.
and especially claims that greater than
Solomon is in his own person, and an
nouncing himself rs a herald of a new dis.
pensation from God, which is to cast Mo.
ses and the prophets in the shade, and pre-
vail over all other systems, and subdue our
entire race, and yet this great teacher wrote
never word, save only the characters in
the sand, which the next breath OF wind
might obiterate. Who can account for
this strange proceduei Will it comport at
all with the idea that he was an impostorl
Did ever an impostor pursue q course like
this! Never. And it seems to us that In the
single fact to which we have alluded, there is
the impress Of truth, and proof that his mis-
sion is all divine. He stands. out before us
as onewho knows that his mission is from
God, and that ii can stand upon its own mer-
It's 50 confident is he Of its power, that he is
content to breathe il out upon Gods air,
and leave it TO live by its own inherent and
selfperpetuating immortality. or live not at
all. And so he goes about doing good,
now teaching in the synagogue and temple,
now talking to his disciples as he sits on
Ohvet or by the sea of Galilee, and now
dropping a word as he walks by the way.
And there is not manifested the slightest
apprehension that what be says will be lost.
lie writes it not on stone or parchment
Nay, he writes it not at all. He seeks on.
ly TO give it n lodgment in the hearts of
the few disciples that followed him--to
make them comprehend it, and feel its pow.
er, and love il; and is willing to leave il
there TO produce its fruits, and TO be writ.
ten by the hand of affection, IL il should be
written at all. And on those hearts he did
impress HIMSELF and they, for the love they
bore him, wrote the meagre sketch wo have
of his life and teachings.
her. J. d. Williamson.