The national leader., 1889-03-02
Dk. TALMAGE'S SERMON:
The Literature OF the Dust.

Jesus stopped down and wrote on the
ground. John s.: g.
A MOHAMMEDAN mosque stanC now
where once stood Herod's temple, the
scene of my text. Solomon's temple
had stood there, but Nebuchadnezzar
.hundered it down. Zerubbabel's ten
pie had stood 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 insignificant. Put eight or ten
modern cathedrals together and they
would not equal that structure. 1t
covered nineteen acres. There were
marble pillars supporting roofs of cedar,
and silver tables on which stood golden
cups, and there were carvings exquisite
and Inscriptions resplendent, glittering
balustrades and ornamented gateways.
The building of this temple kept ten
thousand wOrkmeD busy forty-Six years.
In that stupendous pile of pomp and
magni6cence sat Christ, and a listening
throng stood about Him, when
WILD DISTURBANCE
took place. A group Of men are pull
ing and pushing along a woman who
had 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 critical, merciless, dlsingenuous
crowd. They want to get Christ into
controversy and public apprehension.
If He say "Let her die" they will
charge Him with cruelty. If He let
her go, they will charge Him with be-
ing in completely with wickedness.
Whichever way He does, they would
howl at Him. Then occurs a scene
which has not been sufficiently regard
ed. He leaves the lounge or bench on
which He was sitting and goes down
on one knee, or both knees, and with
the forefnger of His right hand He
begins
TO WRITE IN TIE DUST
of the floor, word after word. But
they were rot to be diverted or hinder
ed. They kept on demanding that He
settle this case Of tranSgreSSion. until
He looked up and told them that they
might themselves begin the woman's
assassination. if the complainant who
had never done anything wrong him
self would open the fire. $50 ahead,
but be sure that the man who filings the
first missile is immaculate" Then He
resumed writing with his finger in the
dust of the floor. word after word. In
stead of looking over his shoulder to
see what He had written the scoundrels
skulked away. Finally, the whole place
is clear Of pursuerS, antagonists and
when Christ has finished this strange
chirography in the dust. lie looks up
and finds the woman all alone. The
prisoner 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 prosecu-
tors in this case? Are they all gone?
Then I discharge you; 60, and sin no
more" l have wondered
WHAT CHRIST WROTE
on the ground. For do you realize that
is the only time that He ever wrote at
all? l know that Euseblus says that
Christ once wrote letter to Abgarus,
the king of Edessa, but there is no
good evidence of such a correspondence.
The wlSest being the world ever saw, land
the one who had more to say than any
one who ever lived, never writing a
book or chapter or page or para
graph or word OIL parchment. Moth
ing but the literature of the dust, and
one sweep of brush or one breath of
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 the
seven hundred thousand books Of the
Alexan lrian library, which by the in
famous decree of Caliph Omar were
used as fuel to heat the four thousand
baths of the city, not one sentence had
Christ penned. Among all the mimi
tude Of volumes now standing in the
libraries of Edinburgh, the British
Museum, or Berlin or Vienna, or the
learned repositories OF all nations, not
one word written directly by the finger
of Christ. All that He ever wrote lie
wrote in dust, uncertain, shifting dust.
My text says He stopped down and
wrote on the ground. Standing straight
up man might write on the ground
with staff, but if with his fingers he
would write in the dust, he must bend
clear over. Aye, he must get at least
on one knee or he cannot write on the
ground. Be not surprised that
HE STOPPED DOWN
His whole life was stopping down.
STOPPING down from castle to barn.
STOPPING down from celestial homage
to mobocratlc jeer. From residence
above the stars to where star had to
fall to designate his landing-place.
From heavens front door to the world s
back gate. From writing in round and
Silvered letters Of constellation and
galaxy on the blue scroll of heaven, to
writing on the ground in the dust,
which the feet of the crowd had left In
Herod's temple. If in January you
have ever stepped out of princes con-
servatory that had Mexican cactus and
magnolias IN full bloom, into the out
side air ten degrees below zero, you
may get some idea of Christ's change
of atmosphere from celestial to terres-
trial. How many heavens there are
know not, but there are at least three,
Tor Paul was ''caught up into the third
heaven" Christ came