The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1889-03-13
WROTE IN THE DUST.
Dr.. Talmage breaches on "The
Literature os the Dust"
Chrfst's Rebuke to the Scribes and Phari-
sees-His Compassion for the Perse-
cuted Woman Who Had Slnned
against Society-A Gle
rlous Example.


rlous Example.
Inc SUBJECT Of Rev. DR.. Talnlage's recent
sermon at the Brooklyn Tabernacle was
1.-THE Literature Of the Dust" and his text
John viii s: "Jesus stopped down and
wrote on the ground" Dr. Talmage spoke
as follows:
A Mohammedan mosque stands now
where once stood Herod's temple, the scene
of my text. Solomon's temple had stood
there, but Northumberland thundered it
down. Zorobabel's temple had stood there,
but that had been prostrated. Now we
take our places in temple that Herod bnilt
because he was fond Of great architecture,
and he wanted the preceding temples to
seem Insignificant Put eight or ten modern
cathedrals together aud they would not
equal that structure. 1t covered nineteen
acres. There were marble pillars support
ing roofs Of cedar, and silver tables on
which stood golden cups, and there were
carvings exquisite ard inscriptions re-
splendent, glittering balustrades and orna-
mental gateways. The building Of this
temple kept ten thousand workrlen busy
forty-six years. In that stupeGdous
pile Of pomp and magnifcence sat
Christ and a listening throng stood
about him, when wild disturbance took
place. A group of men are pulling and
pushing along a woman who had committed
the worst crime againstsociety. When they
have brought her in front Of Christ, they
ask that he sentence her to death by ston-
ing. They are critical, merc!less disln-
genuous crowd. They want TO get Christ
into controversy and public reprehension.
If He say Let her die" they will charge
Him with cruelty. If He let her 20, they
will charge Him with being in completely
with wickedpess. Whichever way He does,
they vould howl at Him. Then occurs q
scene which has not been sufficiently re-
garded. He leaves the lounge or bench on
which He was sitting and goes down on
one knee, or both knees, ana with the fore
finger Of His right hand He begins to
write in the dust of the floor, word
after word. But they are not to be
diverted or hindere6. They kept on de-
mauding that he settle this case Of trans
gression until He looked up aud told them
that they might themselves begin the
woman's assassination, If the complainant
self would open the fire. ''Go ahead, but be
sure that the man who filings the first mis-
sile is immaculate" Then He resumed
writing with His finger in the dust of the
floor, word after word. Instead Of looking
over His shoulder to see what Ia had writ
ten the scoundrels s&ulked away. Finally,
the whole place is clear Of pursuers, an
tagonists and plaintiffs, and when Christ
has finished this strange chirography in the
dust, he 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 prosecutors in this cases
Are they all gomez Then discharge you;
20 and sin no more"
What did Christ write? I have always
wondered what Christ wrote on the ground.
For do you realize that is the only time
that He ever wrote at ala I know that
Eusibius says that Christ once wrote letter
to Abgarus, the king of Odessa, but there is
no good evidence of such correspond
ence. The wisest being the world ever
saw and the one who had more to
say than any one who ever lived,
never writing a book, or chapter, or
a page, or a paragraph, or word on parch-
ment. Nothing but this literature Of the dust
and one sweep Of brush or one breath Of a
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 Alexandrian library,
which by the infamous decree OF Caliph
Omar were used as fuel to heat the four
thousand baths Of the city. not one SEN
tence had Christ penne6. Among all the
infnitude Of volumes now standing in the
libraries of Edinburgh, the British Museum,
or Berlin, or Vienna, or the learned reposi
tories Of all nations, not one word written
directly by the finger Of Christ. All that
Ee ever wrote He wrote in dust, uncertain,
shifting, vanishing dust
My text says He stopped down and wrote
on the ground. Standing straight up man
might write on the ground with a staff, but
il with his fingers he would write in the
dust, he must bend clear oyer. Aye, be
must get at least on one knee or be can not
write on the ground. Be not surprised that
He stopped down. His whole life was a
STOPPING down. STOPPING down from castle
to barn. STOPPING down from celestial
homage to mobocratic jeer. From residence
above the stars to where star had to fall
to designate His landing place. From
heavens front door to the worlds 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
Eerod's teuple. II in January you have
ever stepped out Of a princes conservatory
that had Mexican cactus and uagnolias in
full bloom, into the outside air 100 below
zero, you may get some idea Of Christs
change OF atmosphere from celestial to ter
rest;a!. How many heavens there are
know not. but there are at least three. for
Paul was caught up into the third
heaven" Christ came down from highest
heaven to the second heaven. and from
second heaven to first heaven, down swifter
than meteors ever fell, down amidst stellar
splendo-s that Himself eclipsed, down
through clouds, through atulospheres,
through appalling space, down to where
there was no lower depth. From being
waited on at the banquet of the skies to the
broiling Of fish for his own breakfast on the
banks Of the lake. From emb!azoIed
chsriots Of eternity to the saddle Of q mules
back. The homage chsrubic. seraphic,
archanselic, to the paying Of sixty-two
and half cents of tax to Caesar. From
the deathless country to tomb built
to hide human dissolution. The up-lifted
wave Of Galilee was high, but He had to
come down. before, with His feet, He could
touch it. and the whirlwind that rose above
+bo hit]nvy was higher vet but He had to
come down before, with His lip. he could
kiss it into quiet. Bethlehem STOPPING
down. Nazareth a stopping down. Death