The San Saba news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1873-1966, 1889-05-03

world Some people like the New Testament
50 well they discard the Old Testament.
Shall we like the New Testament and the
Old Testament 50 well as to depreciate the
oldest: namely, that which was written
before Moses was put afloat on the boat of
leaves which was calked with asphaltum. or
reject the Genesis and the Revelation that
were written centuries before Adam lost a
Scoops down and writes On the ground
lit US read IT, l would have no
hiss appreciation Of the Bible en- paper
lat comes out of the paper mill. but I
would urge appreciation OF the Bible in
TIE grass, the Bible in the sand hill,
| the Bible IN the geranium, the Bible in
I tie asphodel, the Bible in the dust.
/ Some one asked an ancient king
whether he had seen the eclipse of the sun.
".No. said be, 81 have SO much to do on
etrth, l have no time to look at heaven
And If our faculties were all awake in the
study OF Sod, we would not have time TO 90
much further than the first grass blade.
hive no fear that natural religion win ever
cfmtradict what we call revealed religion. 1
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 be glad to put against one
III OF the Bible the microscope. and against
q e other I'd Of the Bible the telescope.
But when Christ stopped down and wrote
on the ground. what did He writel The
Plarisees did not stop to examine. The
CO wards, whipped OF their own consciences.
fed pell NELL Nothing viii fiay a man like
an aroused conscience DR.. Stevens, /,
his History of Methodism,n says thai
wlen Rev. Benjamin Abbott of oiden
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.
t..~sf
fifteen years before. And no wonder these
Pharisees. reminded OF their sins, took
to their heels But what did Christ write
on the groundi The Bible does not state,
Yet, as Christ never wrote anything except /
that once. you cannot blame rf Tor fnntlng /
10 know what He really did write But aIn /
certain he wrote Hctn.lil trivial or zuthIue /
unImportant. AID XII 3o4 ALLOW ms
70 say that Thick know what /
He wrote on the ground iaase /
from the circumstaaces He hiiths
have written other things, bntkneeling there I
in the temple, surrounded by a pack OF 1
hypocrites, who were a self appointed con. /
stabuisry, and having in His presence a per-
secuted woman who evidently was very peni-
tent for her sins. am sure he wrote
two words both of them graphic and tire
mendOus and reverberatlng. 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 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 seeI3g her faint away m
der 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
big stone on her head, fer that was the style
Of capital punishment that they asked for.
Some people have taken the responsibility
Of saving that Christ never laughed But
think rs He saw these men drop every
thing, chagrined, mortified, exposed
and 90 out quicker than they came in, lie
me laugh 10 read OF it All OF these liber-
tines, dramatidng Indignation against m
purity Blind bats lecturing on optics
nOck OF crows on their way up from car,
cas-, denouncing carrion- Yes, think that
one word written on the ground that
day by the finger Of Christ was tne awful
word Of hypocrisy But / am sure there was
another word in that dust. From her entire
manner I am sure that arraigned woman
was repentRnt She made no apology. and
Christ in no wise belittled her sin.
But her supplicatory behavior and her tear
moved Him, and when he stopped down to {
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 a chisei !
into the hard granite surface But when He ;
writes the offense Of this woman He writes il j
in the dust so that it can be easily rubbed !
out, and when she repents OF it, Oh He was i
a merciful Christ I was reading of a
legend that Is told ia the far East about
Hin he was walking through the streets Of
i city and he saw crowd around a dead
one object Is that dog" YES said !
mother, ..his ears are mauled and bleeding
= -. said another, "eFen- his hide -FE@ssri-si,
iol Be OF any use 70 the tanner ''Yes'
aid another. the odor Of his carcass is dread
Ia Then Christ. standing there, said
But pearls cannot equal the whiteness OF :
lis teeth" Then the people, moved by the !
dea that any one could find anything
ileasant concerning a dead dog, said: 7
Why, this must be Jesus OF Naza- E
eth Reproved and convicted they went a
WY. Surely this legend Of Christ is good L
nough 10 be true. Kindness in all His 7
lords and ways and habits. Forgive I
ess. Word Of eleven letters, and some Of I
hem thrones, and some of them palm
ranches Better have Christ write close f
D our names that one word, though He o
rite i in dust. than 10 have our Eame cut Fl
ito monumental granite with the letters that D
be storms Of athousand years cannot nl.lit- n
-atH. Bishop Darlington had a book OF only 81
- leaves The nrsI leaf was lack, the ir
.cond leaf red, the third leaf white The IL
ack leaf suggested sin; the red leaf atone o
ent: the white leaf publication. That Is n
e whole story God sill abundantly m
lrdoEl ~ ~
] must not forget u say that as Christ =
oppiIig down, with His finger wrote on the Il
ounc, il is evident that His sympathies are =
tn this peniteut woman, and that lie has :,
SYN patty with her hypocritical pursuers- =
So opposite TO that Is the worlds habit ss
ny didn't these unclean Pharisees bring ~
e OF their own number % Christ for ex- e
ration and capital punishment No, no; p
y overlook That in man which they ~
innate IN woman. And so the word has
q for ofending women scourges and en-
surgatfon, and for Just one offense she pr
zones an outcass. while for men whose WI
Is have been sodomic for twenty years, KIN
word swings opens its doors OF brilliant no
icpmei and they may SIT in legislatures and TN
aies and parlam ants or on thrones. Unlike IA
Christ Of my text the world writes a no
MS nisdemeanor in dust but chisels a ms
man o1ense with great capitals upon in DIR
.ceallle marble For foreign lords inE
princes, whose names cannot even he
mentioned in respectable circles we
Dad, because they are walk cul
lszarettos Of abOmination, our the
erlclln princesses OF fortune wait and at the
first beck sail out with them into the
-kness Of darkness forever. And in what the
called higher circles Of society there is now we
ouiY their Imitation Of foreign dress and dal
ign manners but an imitation Of foreign for
olutfuess. like an Englishman and l bel
an American, but the scsIest creature on bef
% . an american playing the English tn
D. Society needs TO be reconstructed on We
subject. Treat them alike, masculine NJ.
ne and feminine crime. II you cut the ~,
in granite, cut them both in granita IN
'9n write the one in dust, write the ~,
= in dust No no, says the world. is az
isn 90 down and let man go up. Whit ~,
~ near FLASHING into the East River ct I ~,
night, and then there Is a gurgle as Of a.
uiation, and all is stil Never mind en5
! only a woman too discouraged to live he
me mills Of the cruel world grind right s .1,9
IT while speak OF Christ Of the text. p la3l
sttooping down writing in the dust. do ~.
lAinE under-ate the literature Of the sl -.
= !, ~ = the most solemn and tremendous ~ ~
1. lllera.nre. II IL the greatest of all Deei
.I.ea When Layard exhumed Nineveh thin
". only opening the door OF it, and
ny dust The excavations ~ thin
pen have only been fha ,,,c,a., thou