The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1889-03-07


before Moses was put afioat on the boat OF
leaves which was caked with asphaltum; or
reject the Genesis and the Revelation that
were written centuries before Adam lost
rib and gained wifei No, no; when Deity
stoops down and writes on the ground,
less appreciation Of the Bible on paper
that comics out Of the paper. mill, but I
would urge appreciation Of the Bible in
the grass, the Bible in the sand hill,
the Bible in the geranium, the Bible in
the asphodel, the Bible in the dust,
Some one asked an ancient king
whether ne mad seen the eclipse or the sun.
earth, have no time to look at heaven"
And IL our faculties were all awake in the
study OF God, we would not have time to go
much further than the first grass blade l
have no fear that natural religion will ever
contradict what we call revealed religion
have no sympathy with the followers Of
Aristotle, who after the telescope was in
vented, would not look through it, lest it
contradict some Of the theories OF their great
master shall DO glad to put against one
lid OF the Bible the microscope, and against
the other lid of the Bible the telescope,
But when Christ STOPPED down and wrote
on the ground, what did He writel The
Pharisees did not stop to examine. The
towards, whipped Of their own consciences,
fled pel NELL Nothing will fay man like
an aroused conscience. DR.. Stevens, In
his "History of Methodism," says that
when Rev BENJAMIN Abbott of olden
times was preaching, he exclaimed: For
aught know there may be a murderer in
this house., and a man rose in the assemblage
and started for the door and bawled aloud,
confessing to a murder he had committed
Pharisees, reminded OF their sins, took
to their heels. But what did Christ write
on the groundl The Bible does not state.
Yet, as Christ never wrote anything except
that once you cannot blame us for wanting
to know what He really did write But am
certain He wrote nothing trivial, or nothing
unimportant. And will you allow me
He wrote on the groundi judge
from the circumstances He might
have written other things, but kneeling there
in the temple surrounded by pack of
hypocrites, who were self appointed con-
stabulary, and having in His presence per-
secuted woman who evidently was very peni-
tent for her sins, / am sure He wrote
two words both of them graphic and ire
mendous and reverberating And the one
word was hypocrisy and the other word
was forgiveness. From the way these
Pharisees and scribes vacated the premises
and got out into the fresh air, as Christ,
with just one ironical sentence,
L
class hypocrtes. 1t was then as it is now.
The more faults and inconsistencies people
have Of their own, the more severe and CEN
serious are they about the faults Of others
Here they are-twenty stout men arrest
ing and arraigning one weak woman.
Magnificent business to be engaged in. They
wanted the fun of seeing her faint away I'M
der a heavy judicial sentence from Christ,
and then after she had been taken outside
the city and fastened at the foot of the prec-
ipice, the Scribes and PhariseeS wanted the
satisfaction Of each coming and dropping a
big stone on her head, for that was the style
of capital punishment that they asked for.
Some people have taken the responsibility
of saying that Christ never laughed. But
think as He saw those men drop every:
thing, chagrined, mortified, exposed
must have laughed. At any rate, it makes
me laugh to read of it. All of these liber.
tines, dramatizing indignation against i'm.
purity. Blind bats lecturing on optics. A
flock of crows on their way up from car
cass, denouncing carrion. Yes, think that
one word written on the ground thai
day by the finger of Christ was the awful
another word in that dust. From her entir'
manner l am sure that arraigned woman
was repentant, She made no apology, ant
Christ in no wise belittled her sin
But her supplicatory behavior and her tear
moved Him, and when He stopped down t.
write on the ground, He wrote that mighty
that imperial word, forgiveness. Wher
on Sinai God wrote the law, He wrot,
it with finger of lightning on table
| of stone each word cut as by chise
into the hard granite surface. But when Hi
writes the offense of this woman He writes i
in the dust so that it can be easily rubbed
out, and when she repents of it, oh, He wa
| ff,l h,trf / tncr ut .
legend that is told in the far East abou
Hin. He was walking through the streets o
city and He saw a crowd around deat
dog. And one man said: "What loath
some object is that dog" Yes" sale
another, Ibis ears are mauled and bleeding.
YES" said another, 'even his hide would
not be of any use to the tanner" Eyes,
said another, 1.-THE odor Of his carcass is dread
ful.n Then Christ, standing Tiers, .saie
s'But pearls cannot equal the whiteness o
His teeth" Then the people, moved by TN
idea that any one could find anything
pleasant concerning dead dog, said
''Why, this must be Jesus of Naza
reth." Reproved and convicted they wen
away. Surely this legend of Christ Is goo
enough to DO true Kindness in all hi
words and ways and habits. Forgive
ness Word of eleven letters, and some o
them thrones and some of them pain
branches. Better have Christ write clos
to our names that one word, though ID
write it in dust, than to have our zane Gu
into monumental granite with the letters tina
the storms of thousand years cannot oollt
crate, Bishop Darlington had a book of onl.
three leaves The first leaf was black, tn
second leaf red, the third leaf white. Tn
black leaf suggested sin; the red leaf atone
ment; the white leaf publication. That
the whole story. God will abundant.
pardon.
1 must not forget to say that as Christ
stopping down, with His finger wrote on TN
ground, it is evident that His sympathies ar
with this penitent woman, and that He ba
no sympathy with her hypocrtical pnrsuers
Just opposite to that is the worlds hahit
Why didn't these unclean Pharlsess brinl
one of their own number to Christ tor es
coriation and capital punishment! No, no
they overlook that in a man which the.
damnate in woman. And so the world ma
had for offending women scourges an
obiurgation, and for Just one otfense sh
becomes an outcast while for men WHO'S
lives have been sodomc for twenty years
the world swings opens its doors OF bri'iiah
welcome, and they may sill in legislatures an'
senates and parliame nts or on thron IS mix
the Christ of my text, the world writes
mans misdemeanGr in dust but ch'sols
womans offense with great cap tils upon IN
effaceable marble For foreign lori
and princes, whose n mes cannot eve
be mentioned in respectable circe
abroad, because they are wa'S
ing lazarettos of abomipation, on
American prncesses OF fortune ait and a
the first beck sail out with them into n
blackness of darkness forever. And N VIVA
are called higher circles Of society there Is no.
not only their imitation of foreign dress an
foreign manners, hut an imitation OF torclE
dissoluteness. / like an EngifShman and
like an American, but the sickest creata'''' A"
earth is an American playing the Eng ,s'
man. Society needs TO lie re'on'tru t-Tt +"
this subject. Treat them ise, mascll u
crime and feminine crime. Ii Won cur ~
one in granite, cut them both in st'a Z
II you write the one in dust. write IN
other IN Dust No. no, says the worId, Ie
woman go down and let man go up; VIVA
is that hear FLASHING into the East River q
midnight, and then there Is a gurgle as Q
strangulation, and all is still. Never mind
It is only woman too discouraged to live
Let the mills of the cruel world grind RICH
on.
But while speak of Christ of the text
His STOPPING down writing in the dust, d
not think underrate the literature OF th
dust 1t is the most solemn and tremendou
of all literature. 1t is the greatest OF a
libraries. When Layard exhumed Nineve
he was only opening the door OF il
mighty dust The excavations