The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1889-02-22
gainst the other lid of the Bible the

THE WORDS CHRIST WROTE: "HYPoC-
RIsY AND FORGIVENESS.
But when Christ stopped down and
wrote ON the ground, what did he
writer The Pharisees did not stop to
examine. The towards, whipped of
their own consciences, fled pell nell.
Nothing will fay q man like an aroused
conscience. DR.. Stevens, in bis Ills
tory of Methodism," says that when
Rev. Benjamin Abbott Of olden
times was preaching, he exclaimed:
"For aught I know there may be o
murderer in this house, and a ban
rose in the assemblage and start pr
the door and bawled aloud, conf hg
to murder he had committed len
years before. And no wonder use
Pharisees, reminded of their sin ok
their heels. But what did Chri lite
on the ground9 The Bible dol hot
state. Yet, as Christ never (ote
anything except that once, Iou
cannot blame us for wanting to low
what he really did write. But am
certain he wrote nothing trivi or
nothing unimportant. And wi you
allow me to say that think how
what he wrote on the ground2 ! Judge
from the circumstances. He might
have written other things, but kneel-
ing there in the temple, surrounded
by pack of hypocrites, who were
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, I know they were
first class hypocrites. It was then as
it is now. The more faults and incon-
sistencies people have Of their own,
the more severe and censorioRs are
they about the faults of others Here
they are-twenty stout men arresting
and arraigning one weak woman,
Magnificent business to be engaged in.
They wanted the fun of seeing her
faint away under a heavy judicial SEN
tence from Christ, and then after she
had been taken outside the city and
fastened at the foot of a precipice, the
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 20 out quicker than they came in,
he must have laughed. At any rate,
it>makes me laugh to read OF it. All
of these ibertines, dramatizing indig-
nation against impurity. Blind bats
lecturing on optics. A flock of crows
on their way up from carcass, de-
nouncing carrion. Yes, l think that
one word written on the grol2d that
day by the finger of Christ pas the
awful word Hypocrisy. By am
aust aust. From n n her entire fna,1l "
sure that arraigned womaAa Nhs rel
peptant. She made no apology, and
CNEist in no wise belittled her sin.
But her supplicatory behavior and
her tears moved him, and when he
stopped down to write ON the ground,
he wrote that mighty, that imperia!!
word forgiveness. When on Sinai
God wrote the law, he wrote it
with finger of lightning on tables
of stone, each word cut as by chisel
into the hard granite surface. But
when he writes the offense of this
woman he writes it in dust SO that it
can be easily rubbed out, and when
she repents of it, oh, he was a merci-
full Christ! 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 crowd around
dead dog. And one man said: What
loathsome object is that dogr" Eyes, !"
said another, ''his ears are mauled and
bleeding" Eyes," said another, "even
his hide would not be of any use to
the tanner" Eyes, said another, the
odor of his carcass is dreadful. !"
Then Christ, standing there, said
"But pearls cannot equal the white
ness Ol Ills CccVll. 1ACu CA1C PCo
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 to
be true. Kindness in all his words
and ways and habits Forgiveness
Word Of eleven letters, and some Of
them thrones, and some of them palm
branches. Better have Christ write
close to our names that one word,
though he write it in dust, than to
have our name cut into monumental
granite with the letters that the storms
Of thousand years cannot obliterate
Bishop Babington had book of only
three leaves. The first leaf was black,
the second leaf red, the third leaf
white. The black leaf suggested sin /;
the red leaf atonement; the white leaf
publication. That is the whole story.
God will abundantly pardon.
AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE WORLDS IN
JUSTICE.
I must not forget to say that as
Christ, stopping down, with his finger
wrote on the ground, it is evident that
his sympathies are with this penitent
woman, and that he has no sympathy
with her hypocritical pursuers. Just
opposite to that is the worlds habit.
Why didn't these unclean Pharisees