The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-03-06

ttWash me and shall be whittier than snow"
In a picture gallery OF Europe, therei is on the
ceiling an exquisite fresco, but people
having to look straight up, it wearled ana
dizZied them. and bent their necks almost oe-
vond endurance, so great looklng-glass
was put near the floor and now visitors only
need to look easily down into this mir
ror 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 ahoVe
are copied by things all around us. What
right have we to throw away one OF Hon
Bibles. ave. the first Bible He ever gave the
race, We talk about the Old Testament ana
the New Testiment, but the oldest Testa-
ment contains the lessons OF the natural
world. Some people like the New Testament
so we'll they discard the Old Testament.
Shall we like the New Testament and the
Old Testament so we'll as to depreciate the
oldest; namely, that which was written
before Moses was put atioat on the boat OF
leaves which was calked with aSphaltum: or
reject the Genesis and the Revelation that
were written centuries before Adam lost
rib and gained 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 OF, paper
that comes out Of the paoer mill but L
would urge appreciation of the Bible IN
the grass, the Bible in the sand NIL,
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.
NO" said lie. II have so much to do on
earth, have no TIME to look at heaven.
And If our faculties were all awake IN the
study Of God, we would not have time to 60
much further than the first grass blade.
have no fear that natural religion will ever
contradict what wa call revealed re,lgion. !
have no sympathy with the followers OF
Aristotle, who after the telescope was IN.
vented, would not look through it. lest 1t
contradict some of the theories of their great
master. I shall be glad to put against one
lid of the Bible the microscope. and against
the other lid of the Bible the telescope.
But when Christ stopped down and wrote
on the ground. what did He write? The
Pharisees dill not stop to examine The
towards, whipped of their own conscenceS
fled pell nell. Nothing will flay man like
an aroused conscience. Dr. Stevens. il
his "History of Methodism," says tina,
when Rev. BENJAMIN Abbott of olden
times was preaching, he exclaimed: "For
aught know there may be murderer in
this house." and man rose in the aSsemblage
and started for the door and bawled aloud.
confessine to q murder he had committed
fifteen years before. And no wonder these
Pharisees, reminded 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 anything except
that once you cannot 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 I think I 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 self appointed con.
| stabulary, and having in His presence per-
secuted woman who evidently was very peni.
| tent for her sins. I am sure He wrote
| two words both of them graphic and tre'
mendous and reverberating. And the one
| word was hypocrisy and the other word
was forgiveness From the way these
Pharisaes 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 hypocriues. 1t was then as it IS now.
The more faults and inconsistencies psople
| have Of their own. the more severe and cen.
serious are they about the faults Of othere
here they are-twenty stout men arrest
ing and arraigning one weak woman.
| Magnificent business to be engaged in. They
wanted the fun of seeing her faint away un.
der heavy judicial sentence from Christ,
and then after she had beer taken outside
the citv and fastened at the foot of the prec.
ipice, the Scribes and Pharisees wanted the
satisfaction 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 go out quicker than they came in, He
must have laughed. At any rate, it makes
me laugh to read of it. All of these liber-
tines. dramatizing indignation against i'm
purity. Blind bats lecturng on optics. A
flock of crows on their way up from car.
cass, denouncing carrion. Yes, think that
one word written on the ground that
day by the finger of Christ was the 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 repsntant, She made no apology, and
Christ in no wise belittlei her sin.
But her supplicatory behavior and her tears
moved Him, and when He stopped down tc
write en- the ground, He wrote that mighty,
that imperial word, forgiveness When
on Sinai God wrote the law, Ho wrote
it with finger of lightning on tables
of stone, each word cut as by chsel
into the hard granite surface. But when He
writes the offense Of this woman He writes it
out, and when she repents OF it, oh. He was
merciful Christ. l was reading of a
legend that is told in the far East about
Hin He was walking through the streets of
city and He saw crowd around dead
dog. And one man said: "What loath
some object is thaet dog, Yes" said
another, "his ears a.e maued and bleeding"
Yes said another. "even his hide would
not be of any use to the tanner" Eyes"
said another, 'the odor of his carcassis is dread.
ful.n Then Christ. standing there, said
But rearls cannot equal the whltenesS or
His teeth" Then the people, moved by the
idea that any one could find anything
pleasant concerning a dead dog, SAID:
"Why, this must be Jesus OF Naza.
away. Surely this legend of Christ IS good
enough to be true. Kindness in all His
words and ways and habits Forgive.
ness. Word of eleven letters, and some or
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 Same cut
into monumental granite with the letters tha0
the storms Of n thousand wears cannot ob',t-
crate. Bishop Darlington had book OF only
three leaves. The Iirst leaf was black, Ito
second leaf red, the third leaf white. The
black leaf suggested sin: the red leaf atone
ment: the white leaf purification Ihat 1s
the whole story. God will abundantly
pardon.
1 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 pentent woman, and that He has
no sympathy with her hypocritical pursuers.
Just opposite to that Is the worlds habit
Why didn't these uncean Pharisees bring
one of their own number to Christ for eN-
coriation and capital punishment? No. no;
they overlook That in man which they
do rno ta in @ 1ynmon And so the world has