The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1889-03-01


through the redolent hedges we would
hear Christ saying: 81 am the rose of
we could not dip the seasoning
from the salt-cellar without thinking of
the divine suggestion, eye are the salt
Of the earth, but if the salt have lost its
SAVIOR, it is fit for nothing but to be cast
out and trodden under foot Of men," Let
us wake up from our stupidity and take
the whole world as a parable. Then, II
with gun and pack of hounds we start on
before dawn and see the morning coming
down off the hills to meet us, we
would cry out with the evangelist: "The
day spring from on high hath visited U.S."
or caught in a snow storm, while strug-
Cling home, eyebrows and beard and APP
pare1 all covered with the whirling fakes,
we would cry out with David: ''Wash me
and 1 shall be winter than snow" In a
picture gale ry of Europe there is on
the ceiling an exquisite frescO, but people
having to look straight mp, it wearied and
dizZied them, and bent their necks almost
beyond endurance, so a great looking
glass was put near the floor, and now
visitors only need to look easily down
into this mirror and they see the fresco
at their feet. And so much of all the
Heaven of Gods truth is reflected in this
world as in a mirror, and the things that
are above are copied by things all around
US.
What right have we to throw away one
of Gods Bibles, aye, the first Bible He
ever gave the racer We talk about the
Old Testament and the New Testament,
but the Oldest Testament contains the
lessons of the natural world. Some peo-
pie like the New Testament so we'll they
discard the Old Testament. Shall we like
the New Testament and the Old Testa-
ment so well as to depreciate the oldest,
namely, that which was written before
Moses was put afioat on the boat of leaves
which was calked with asphaltum, or re-
ject the Genesis and the Revelation that
were written centuries before Adam lost
rib and gained a wife? No, no; when
Deity stOOps down and writes on the
ground, let US read it. I would have no
less appreciation of the Bible on paper
that comes out of the paper mill,
but 1 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 an ancient King whether
he had seen the eclipse of the sun. mo, {"
said he, 81 have so much to do on earth,
have no time to look at Heaven" And if
your faculties were all awake in the study
of God, we would not have to 60 much
further than the first grass blade. have
no fear that natural religion will ever
contradict what we call revealed religion.
l have no sympathy with the followers of
Aristotle, who, after the telescope was
invented, would not look through it, lest
it contradict some of the theories of their
great master. I shall be glad to put
against one lid of the Bible the micro
scope, and against the other lid Of the BIZ
BILE the telescope.
Butwhen Christ stopped down and wrote
on the ground, what did he write? The
Pharisees did not stop to examine. The
towards, whipped of their own con-
sciences, fed pell nell. Nothing will fay
a man like an aroused conscience. Or.
Stevens, in his History of Methodism,"
says that when Rev. Benjamin Abbott, of
Olden times, was preaching, he exclaimed:
"For aught / know there may be a muir
derer in this house." and a man rose in
the assemblage and started from the door
and bawled aloud, confessing to a murder
he had committed fifteen years before.
And no wonder these Pharisees, remind
ed Of their SINS took to their heels.
But what did Christ write on the
ground! The Bible does not state.
Yet, as Christ never wrote any thing
except that once, you can not blame us
for wanting to know what He really did
write. But am certain He wrote nothing
trivial, or nothing unimpOrtant. And will
you allow me to say that think l know
what He wrote on the ground? judge
/ from the circumstances. He might have
written other things, but kneeling there
| in the temple, surrounded by pack OF
| hypocrites, who were a self-appointed
| cOnstabulary, and having in His presence
a prosecuted woman, who evidently was
very penitent for her sins, am sure He
wrote two words, both of them graphic
and tremendous aud 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, 1 know
they were first class hypocrites. 1t was
/ then as it is now. The more faults and
! inconsistencies 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 arraign-
/ ing one weak woman. Magnificent bust
ness to be engaged in. They wanted the
fun of seeing her faint away under q heavy
| judicial sentence from Christ, and ther
| after she had been taken outside the city
! aud fastened at the foot of q precipice, the
Scribes and Fharisees wanted the salts
faction of each coming and dropping
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 1 think, He saw these
men drop every thing, chagrined, morti-
fed, exposed, and go out quicker thai
they came in, He must have laughed. A
any rate, it makes me laugh to read it.
All Of these libertines, dramatizing in
dignation against impurity. Blind bat:
lecturing on optics. A flock of COWS on
| their way up from a carcass, denouncinl
| carrion. Yes, 1 think that one word writ
ten on the ground that day by the finger
| of Christ was the awful word Hypocrisy
But [ am sure there was another word il
that dust. From her entire manner 1 an
| sure that arraigned woman was repentant
She made no apology, and Christ in n
wise belittled her sin. But her suppl
catory behavior and her tears moved Him
and when He stopped down to write Of
the ground, He wrote that mighty, tina
imperial word Forgiveness. When Oh
Sinai God wrote the law, He wrote it wit
finger of lightn ing on tables of stone, eacl
word cut as by a chisel into the har'
granite surface. But when he write
the offense of this woman he writes /
in dust, so that it can be easily rubbe
out; and when she repents of 1t, oh, ii
was mercifuI Christi I was reading o
a legend that was told in the far Eas
about Him. He was walking through tn
streets of a city and He saw crow
around dead dog. And one man said
''What a loathsOme object is that dog !!
eyes" said another, "his ears are maule
and bleeding" Eyes" said another
''even his hide would not be of any use t
the tanner" YES" said another, eth
odor of his cascass is dreadful" The
Christ, standing there, said; "But pearl
can not equal the Wilderness Of his teeth.
Then the people. moved by the idea tina
any one could find any thing pleasan
concerning a dead dog, said; "Why
this must be Jesus of Nazareth.
Reproved and convicted they wen
away. Surely this legend of Chris
is good enough to be true. Kindness
in all His words and ways and habits
/ - 1,44..-.