Daily Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1882-1893, 1889-02-24

gained wife! No. no; when Deity
stoops down and writes on the ground,
let US read it. | would have 60
less appreciation oil the Bible on paper
that comes out Of the paper mill, but l
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 am ancient king
whether he had seen the eclipse Of the
sun. No, said he, Il have 80 much
to do on earth. L have no time to look
at heaven" And IL our faculties were
all awake in the study Of God, We
would not have time 10 60 much fur
ther than the first grass blade. have
no fear that natural religion will ever
contradict what We call revealed re-
hgion. have no sympathy with the
followers Of Aristotle, who after the
telescope was invented, would not
look through il, lest il contradict some
Of the theories Of their great master.
/ shall be glad TO put against one lid
Of the Bible the microscone. and
against the other lid of the Bible the
telescope.
THE WORDS CHRIST WROTE: "HYpoo-
EIsY AND FORGIVENESS.
But when Christ stooped down and
wrote on the ground, what did he
writef The Pharisees dill not stop To
examine The towards, whipped of
their own consciences, Heo pell nell.
Nothing will fay man like an aroused
conscience. DIR. Stevens, Il his His
tory Of Methodism,' says that when
Rev. Benjamin Abbott If 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 fifteen
years before. And no wonder these
Pharisees, reminded of their sins, took
their heels. But what did Christ write
on the groundf The Bible does not
state. Yet, as Christ never wroee
anything except that once, you
cannot blame us for wanting 10 know
what be really did write. But / am
certain he wrote nothing trivial, OF
nothing unimportant And will you
allow me TO say that think know
what he wrote on the grouDdl judge
from the circumstances. He might
have written other things, but kneel-
ing there in the temple, surrounded
by pack Of hypocrites, who were q
self appointed constabulary, and hav-
ing in his presence prosecuted wo-
man, who evidently was very peni-
tent for her sins, / am sure he wrote
two words, both of them graphic and
tremendous 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,
unmasked them, / know they were
first class hypocrites II was then as
il is now. The more faults and incon-
sistencies people have Of their own,
the more severe and censorious are
they about the faults of others. Here
they are-twenty stout men arresting
and arraigning one weak woman.
Magnificent business 10 be engaged in.
They wanted the fun Of seeing her
faint away under Q heavy judicial sen
tence from Christ, and then after she
had been taken outside the city and
fastened at the foot Of precipice, tho
Scribes and Pharisees wanted the sat
isfaction 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,
and 60 out quicker than they came in.
he must have laughed At any rate
il makes me laugh 10 read of II. All
of these libertines, dramatizing indig-
nation against impurity. Blind bats
lecturing on optics. A flock Of crows
on their way up from a carcass, de-
nouncing carrion. Yes, i think that
one word written on the ground that
day by the finger OF Christ was the
awful word Hypocrisy. But am
sure there was another word in that
dust. From her entire manner am
sure that arraigned woman was re-
pentant She made no apology. aud
Christ in no wise belittled her sin.
But her supplicatory behavior and
her tears moved him, and when he
stopped down 10 write on the ground,
he wrote that mighty, that imperial
word Forgiveness. When ON Sinai
God wrote the law, he wrote il
with finger OF lightning ON tables
of stone, each word cut as by q chisel
into the hard granite surface. But
when he writes the offense Of this
woman he writes il in dust 30 that il
can be easily rubbed out and when
she repents Of IL, oh, he was a merci-
full Christi ! was reading Of legend
that is told in the far east about him.
He was walking through the streets of
a city and he saw a crowd around Q
dead dog. And one man said: "What
q loathsome object Is that dogr rYes,~ v
said another, his ears are mauled and
bleeding" "Yes, said another, "even
his hide would not be Of any use 10
the tanner" YES, said another, '.the
odor Of his carcass Is dreadful y
Then Christ. standing there, saids
But pearls cannot equal the white
ness of his teeth" Then the peo-
pie, moved by the idea that any
one could find anything pleasant con-
corning dead dog. said: why, this
must be Jesus Of Nazareth" Reproved
and convicted they went away. Surely
this legend Of Christ is good enough =
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