News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1889-02-28
SUNDAYS SERMON.
ONE OF REV. DIR. TALMAGES
STERLING DIsCOURSES.
Subject: "rhe Literature orDust."

TEXT: "JrSus stopped do,cn and tcrote on
the ground. John viii, q.
Mohammedan mosque stands now where
once stood Herod'S temple. the scene of my
text. Solomon's temple had stood there, but
Nebuchadne gar thundere it down Zoro
habel's temple had stool there, but that had
been Frustrated Now we take our places
In temple that Herod built because he was
fond of great architecture and he wanted the
preceding temples to seem inSign ficant. Put
eight or ten cathedrals together and they
would not equal that structure. 1t covered
nIue1een acres There were marble pillars
supporting roofs of ceder ami silver abies
ON which stood golden cups, and there were
carvings exquisite and inscriptions resp en-
dent, glittering balustradeS and ornamented
gateways. The building of this temple kept
ten thousand workmen busy forty-six years.
In that stupendous pile of pomp and mag
niticence sat Christ. and l stening throng
stood about him, when a wild disturbance
took place. A group of men are pulling ana
pushing along woman who has committed
the worst crime against society. When
they have brought her in front of Christ,
they ask that He sentence her to death by
stoning: They are a critical, merci-
less, disingenuous crowd They want
to get Christ into controversy and
public apprehension. If He say: ''Let
her die, they will charge Hum with cruelty
Ii He let her go, they will charge Him with
being IN completely with wickedness.
whichever way He does, they would howl
at Him. Then occurs a scene which has
not been sufficiently regarded. He leaves
the lounge or bench on which He was
sitting and goes down on one knee, or
both knees, and with the forefinger of
His right hand He begins to write in
the dust of the floor, word after word But
they were not to be diverted or hindered
They KEEP on demanding that He settle this
case of transgreSsion until He looked up and
told them that they might themselves begin
the womans assassination, If the complainant
who had never done anything wrong him
self would open the fire. EGO ahead
but be sure that the man who filings
the first missile is immaculate" Then He
resumed writing with H S finger in the dust
OF the floor, word after word. Instead of
looking over His shoulder to see what He had
written the Scoundreis slulked away
Finally, thee Whole place is clear of pur-
suers, antagonists and plaintiffs, and when
Christ has finished this strange chirography
In the dust. He loohs uD and finds the
woman all alone. The prison r is the only
one of the court room left. the judges, the
police, the prosecuting ATTORNEYS having
cleared out. Christ is victor, and He says to
the woman: "Where are the prosecutors in
this cases Are they all gone! Then | dis
charge you: go and sin no more.n
have always wondered what Christ wrote
on the ground. For do you realize that is
the Only time that He ever wrote at all!
know that Fusebius says that Christ once
wrote letter to Abgarus the King of
a correspondence. The wiseSt being the
word ever saw AMI the one who
had more to say than any one who ever
lived, never writing book or a chapter, or
page or a paragraph. or a word on parch-
nent. Nothing but this literature of the
nrn Of
breath of a wind obliterated that forever.
Among all the rolls of the volumes of
the first library founded at Thebes
there was not one scroll of Christ. Among
me seven hundred thousand hooks of the
A exandrian library. which by the infamous
decree of Ca'iph Omar were used as fuel
TO heat the four thousand baths of
the city, not one sentence had Christ.
penned. Among all the infinitude Of
volumes now standing in the libraries of
Vienna, or the learned repositories of all
nations, not one word written directly by
the finger of Christi All that he ever wrote
he wrote IN dust, uncertain, shifting, van
ishing dust
Ny text says He stopped down and wrote
on the ground. Standing straight up a man
might write on the ground with a staff.
but if with his fingers he would
write in the dust, he must bend clear
over. Aye, he must get at least
Oh one knee OF ne cannot write on the
ground. Be not surprised that He
stopped down. His whole life was a
STOPPING down. STOPPING down from
castle TO barn. STOPPING down from
celestial homage to mobocratic jeer.
From residence above the stars to where
star had to fall to designate His landing place
From heavens front door to the worlds back
gate From writing in round and silvered
etters of constellation and galaxy on
he blue scroll of hea ven. to writing on the
ground in the dust, which the feet of the
,rowd had lett i'll Herod's temple.
uut of a princes conservatory that
had Mexican cactus and maguo-
iias in full bloom, into the outside air ten de-
grees eeS ., zero, you may get some ldea OF
70 terrestriaL How many heavens there are
know not, bat there are at least three. for
Pau was caught up into the third heaven"
Christ came down from highest heaven to
the second heaven, and down from second
heaven to first heaven, down swifter than
meteors ever fell, down amidst stellar span-
doris that Himself eclipSed, down throu III
clouds, through atmcsohereS through appalI-
ing space down to where there was no lower
depth. From being waited on at the ban.
quet of the skies TO the broiling of fish for
bis own breakfast on the banks of the lake.
IRON eInb azoned chariots of eternity
TO tie saddle of a mules back. The
homage cherubic. seraphic, archangelic,
~ AAiC LAY vi SiAN1 -AnO anu u udlt CcHLS
Of tax to Cesar. From the death ess
country to a tomb built to hide human
dissolution. he uplifted wave of Gallee
was high. but He had to come down before
with His fest, He could tou it, and the
whiriwind that rosa above the billow
was higher yet, but He had to come
down before, with HIS lip, He could
kiss 1t into quiet. Bethlehem a stooping
down Nazareth a STOPPING down. Death
Letveen two burglars STOPPING down
Yes, it was in consonance with humiiatiom
that had gene before and with self abnega-
tons that came after, when on that memoir
able day in Herod's temple He stopped down
and wrote on the ground
Whether the words He was writing were in
Greek, or Latin, or Hebrew, | cannot saw
for He knew all those Ian yuagss. Bat He is
still STOPPING down and with His finger writ
ing on the ground; in the winter in letters
OF crystals, in the spring in letters OF
flowers, IN summer in golden letters of
harvest, in autumn in letters o. fire on fall n
leaves. How it would sweeten up and en- l..
rich and emblazon this world could we see
Christ's calgraphy all over it. This world
was not flung out into space thousands of
years ago sn1 then left to look out for it.
self. 1t is still under the divine care
Christ never for a half second takes His
hand off OF it, or it would soon be n ship
wrecked world, defunct world, an obsolete
world, an abandon sd world, a dead world.
LET there be light" was said at the begin.
:dng. And Christ stands under the wintr9
skies and says: Let there be snowiiakes to en-
rich the earth and under the clouds Of spring
and says: Come We blossoms and make re-
dolent the orchards and in September, dips
the branches into the vat of beautiful co ors
and swings them in the hay ar. No within
Of mine is this. Without Him was not
made that las male" Christ
writing on the ground. If we could
see His hand in all the passing
seasons enow it would illumine the world
All verdure and foliage would be in allegoric,
and again we would hear Him say as of old:
Consider the lilies of the field. how they
grow" and we would not hear the whistle
of quail the cawing of
raven or the roundelay of a brown
thresher. without saving; ''Behold
the fowls of the air, they gather not INFO
harms. yet your Heavenly Father feedeth
them;' and a Dominic hen of the barnyard
could not cluck for her brood. yet we would
hear Christ saying as of old: How often
would have gathered thy children together
even as hen gathered her chickens
under her wings:n and through the redo,ent
hedges we would hear Christ saying: 81 am
the rose of Sharon" we could not dip the
from the salt cellar without think
ing OF the Divine suggestion: aye are the
salt of the earth. but if the salt have lost its
SAVIOR, it is fit for nothing but to be
east out and trodden under foot
of men," Let wake IN
from our stupidity and take the whole world
as para lie. Then if with gun and pack of
hounds we start of before dawn and see the
morning coming down OF the hills to meet
Is. we would cry out with the evangelist:
The day spring from on high hath
visited u.s." or caught in a snowstorm
while struggling home. eyebrows ami
beard and apparel all covered with the whirl-
ng flakes, we would cry out with David:
Wash me and | shall he whittier than SNOW"