Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1889-02-23

Nc Wuulu ncar tnrtst eayniB, u am tue hly
Of the valley" We could not dip seasoning
from the salt cellar without thinking Of tho
divins suggestion, I'VE are tho salt Of the
earth, hut u the salt have lost It's SAVIOR,
IL Is 1t for nothing but to h. east out
and trol,len under foot of men" Let Us
wake up from our stupidity aipl take
tho whole world rs parable. Then II
with gun AMI pack Of hounds We start or bc-
fore dawn and MO tho mornin; coming down
or Of the hills to meet US, wc would cry out
with the evangelist, "Thc day spring from
on high hath visitei u.s." or caught In u snow
storm. whilc struggling home, eyebrows and
beard anil apparel all covered with tho wIirl-
ing flakes. we would cry out with David.
wash mo aud shall Lc whittier than snow.r
In "a picture gallery Of Italy. there Is on the
ceiling an exquisite frcsco, but people having
10 look straight up, 1t wcariol and dizzied
them. AMI bent their nccks almost beyond
endurance, ~ great looking glass was put
near the floor and now. visitors only need to
look easily down into this mirror anl they sce
tho freSco nj tlicir fcct. And NJ mach Of all
the heaven 81 Gods truth il reflected In this
world ms in mirror anil the things that are
above are copied by things all around us
What right have VIC TO throw away ono Of
Gods bibles. aye, the first Bible no ever gave
the race! We talk about the Old Testament
and the New Testament, but the oldest Testa-
mcnt contains the lessons ~ the natural
world. some lssnplc like tho New Test
amcnt ~ well, they discard the Old T,Sta-
mcnt. Shall wc like the New Testament aud
the Old Testament ~ well ns Co ,cprcciatc
the oldest, namely. tliat which was written
before Mns.s was put ailoat on tho bnat Of
leaves which was calkci with nslIli;lliuin; or
reject the Genesis AMI the Revelation that
were written centuries before Adam lost
rib and gained wife. No, no; when Deity
stooIs down anl writes on tho ground, let us
read II. ] would have no less appreciation
Of the Bible on paper that comes out III tho
paper mill, but would urge appreciation of
tho Bible in tho grass, the Bible in the sand
hill, the Bible In tho gcraniun, the Bible in
the aSpho,lcl. the Bible in the dust Some
ono ask"i the ancient kin; wh"tl- h. Ind
Scl the eclipse of TIN s,li. No." said ,ic,
II have much 10 do on earth, | haze 10
timio 10 loo!: al hclvc:i." And i. our facul.
ties were wide awake in thu study If t;rti we
would not have tim" 10 ~ muc.i further than
tho first grass blal.. lhavc NJ fear TIA; nat
ural religion will ever contradict what We
call revealed religion. have NJ sympathy
with the followers Of Arsto;l., w.,p after tho
telescope was invcn;cl. woall MT look
through IL. lest It con;ra,lic; SOFAS II tho
theories az their great master. | shall h.
elad 10 put a:.liIst ono Ill q! tho Eibl. the
micruSso,,'. and against tho other iii II the
Bible the ,clc~'c.".
TIL: WORDS CHRIST wEor.:: "iyroc::tsy
AND foTGivES:sl"
But when Christ stopped down and w.'.;s
on the ground, what did no writc' The
Pharscrs did not stop 10 examine The
towards. whipped Of their own conscicnccs,
fc,l rcll NELL Notiia.; will Gay n man like
M aroused conscience. Dr.. Stevens. in his
History 81 Mc,aoiis,a,' says that wien Rev
benjamin. Abbott, 81 ol,lcn times. was preach
ing. he exclaimed: For aught know there
may 10 murderer In this house." and u man
rose in the aSscmblasc and started for tho
door AMI hawlc,l aloud. confcsSin, to q muir
der he hal committed fifteen years before.
And no wonder these PharisccS, reminded of
their sins. took 81 their heels. Hut what did
Christ write on the ground! Tho Biblc docs
not state. Yet, rs Christ never wrote any
thing except that once, You cannot blame us
for wanting TO know what he really did
write. But am certain he wrote no.hing
trivial, or nothing uninportant. And will
you allow me To say that think ! know
what hc wrote on tho ground. judge from
tho circumstances. lie might have written
other things. hut knccling there in tho tenn
pie. surrounded by pack Of hypocritcs, who
wcrca sell appointed constabulary and having
In his presence prosecuted woman who, evil
IDENTIFY, was very lcnitcnt for her sins, l am
sure he wrote two words, both OF them
graphic and tremendous and rcverberat-
ing. And the ono word was Hypocrisy and
tho othcr word was Forgiveness. From the way
these phnriscts and scribes vacated the prem
iscs and got out into the fresh mir, as Christ,
with Just onc ironical sentence, unmasked
them, know they Were first class hypocritcs.
IL was then rs IL is now. The more faults
and Inconsistencies people have OF their own,
the more severe and ccnsOrious are they
about tho faults Of others. Here they arc
twenty stout men arrcsting and arraigning
one weak woman. Magnificent business 90 be
engaged in. They wanted the fun Of 500
ing her faint away under n heavy judicial
sentence from Christ, and then after she had
been taken outside tho city and fastened at
the foot Of Il prccipicc, tho Scrbcs antl Phar-
is.cs wanted tho 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 Us he saw those men
drop everything, Inundated, mortified, ox-
Isos.si, and 80 cut quicker than they came in,
ho must have laughed At any rate. il makes
mo laugh To- read Of It. All 81 these libcr-
tines ,lramaii,ing Indignation against I'M
purity. Blind bats lccturing on optics. 4
ilock Of crows on their way up from "a car
cas-, ,lcnonncin. carrion, Yes, think That
one word written on the ground that day by
tho finger al Christ was the awful
word Hypocrisy But am sure there was
another word in that dust. From her entire
manner, | am sure that nrraigncd woman
was rcIrniant. She nadc no apology. and
Christ in M wis, bcliitlc,l her sin. Tut hcr
suppicaiory behavior and her tears moved
him, AMI when he stopped down 20 write on
the ground. he wrote that mighty, that I'M
pcrial wnr'l Forgiveness When on Sinai God
wrote the law he wrote II with finger Of
lightning an tables " stone, each word cut as
by n cliscl into the hard granite surface.
But when lie writes the oifciisc II this woman
he writes il in dust, 10 that IL can be- easily
rul,s,i! nut. anl when she rcpcnts Of il, oh!
h. YVES mcrciful Christ. was reading Of
a legend that Is told la the far east abou, him.
llc was walking through the streets Of city
AMI hc saw u crowd around dead dog. And
Oh" man said, "Whnt u loaihsomc object Is
that dog: Yes" said another. Ibis ears
are tnaulc'l and bleeding" YES" said
another, even his hide would not bc Of
any usr Ia H." ;aHacr." "Y,s," said nm
other. "thc odnr II his carcass is dreadful"
Then Christ, standing there. said; But
Irarls cannot equal the wilderness ~ his
teeth" Then the IA"plc, moved by the idea
that any one could find anything pleasant
concerning "a dad dog. sail why. this
must IT, Jesus If Nazareth" Rcprovc,l and
convicted they went away. Surely this
lf,cipl of Christ j. go0i enough "a la true.
Kindness In all his words AMI ways AMI
habits Forgivcn,-sl Word of eleven letters
AMI sonn uf them thrones, and some Of them
palm branches. Better have Christ write
clus' L. eur NAMES that Oi,c word, though he
write Il M dust, than To- have our name cut
into monumental granite with tho letters
tina, the storms Of a thousand years cannot
obliteratc. Bishop Darlington ha,l hook Of
only thrc leaves Tho irst leaf WIS black,
A