Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1871-09-28

| ey to the woman, but 4 sting to the
man. What must they both have
thought of the marvellous audacity OF
that mild guest who, in defiance of all
the laws of Moses, of all the traditions
of the elders, and of all the sanctities
of society, suddenly exclaimed to the
man: 81
81 say unto thee, her sins, which
are many, are forgiven, for she loved
much; )" and who, turning at the same
time to the woman, repeated the same
strange speech:
Thy sins are forgiven thee-ge in
peace''
l quote and emphasize these words
for the sake of asking this question.
namely:
If forgiven by him, why not then
forgiven by us all?
The birds could not have sung SO
sweetly as they did this morning, nei-
ther could the sky have kept so bright
a blue, nor the earth dressed herself in
so soft a green, if the human heart,
for which the earth and all that it con
tains were made, must remain forever
prevented from its Maker, by so strange
fact as that its warmest love should
suddenly constitute its greatest sin.
Thinking this thought, 1 then sud
denly saw in the gravel-path at my
feet the strange handwriting which the
man of Nazareth once stopped and
wrote upon the ground. l mean, i
saw it not in fact but in fancy. How
runs the tale?
''And the Scribes and Pharisees
brought unto him a woman taken in
adultery, in the very act.
Now Moses in the law commanded
US that such should be stoned; but
what sayest thou?'
Jesus stopped down, and with his
finger wrote upon the ground as though
he knew it not. So when they contin-
ued asking him, he lifted up himself
and said unto them:
He that is without sin among you,
let him first cast q stone
Without achat sin? Not all sins in
general, but one sin in particular. The
sinned it. And, furthermore, most
men since then have been like sinners,
and are to this day.
"Again he stopped down, and wrote
on the ground, and they which heard
it, being convicted by their own con-
science, went out one by one, begin
ming at the eldest, even unto the last
and Jesus was left alone, and the wo-
man standing in the midst When Je-
sus had lifted himself up and saw none
but the women, he said unto her:
Woman, who are those thine accu.
sers Hath no man condemned thee p
She said, No man, Lord
And Jesus said unto her, Neither do
I condemn thee ge and sin no more
Did not say that knew what he
wrote upon the ground Perhaps
) err in my imaginings. Nor will ven
? ture to put his guest thoughts into my
weak words. But l believe that as
I the Woman's sin was of the earth an6
7 earthly, he therefore engraved upoT
{ the very earth itself the everlasting
I record of her pardon! So that any
woman who should thereafter, in al
coming time, fall from her purity ever
e to the street, and be trodden unde
q foot of men, and grovel in the dust
might then and there, even in the very
I soilure and defilement with which sh,
Thy sins are forgiven thee-go il
9 peace"
It is written of this teacher that h
n "spake as never man spake" This,
y am sure, is true. For what man eve
said of a woman taken in adultery:
II Neither do l condemn thee"
II It requires something of the God
:, head to say that
81 During my rambles I reflected o,
I, that great ina partiality Of Nature whic
S sends the sun and the rain alike on tn
/ just and the unjust-in contra distinc
D. ton to the miserable partiality of hu
N man judgment as one sees it in thi
Is very case.
le ''They say unto him, Master, thi
IS woman was taken in adultery, in tn
= very act.''
IN If so, then not only the woman wa
rs taken, but also the man. But wins
he became of the man? The woman wa
dragged to the temple to be STONED
en- The man probably went away anon
10 his companions to laugh. Indeed
1g there is no evidence that he was NJ
G. her chief accuser, and the ringlead'
Ct of her punishment.
ID Now let me point the moral whic
1d adorns this tale.
nd If the woman crime merits marty
er dom, what does the mans If 81
1t was sinner, what was he? And y
how does the world judge between tt
lie two culprits All, now as then, al
IL in every such case, the Scribes al
Pharisees meet together to forgive Il
ad man, and then go away and leave it
IN Christ alone to forgive the woman!