Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1889-03-08

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 above
are copied by things all around us. What
right have we to throw. away one of Gods
Bibles ave, the first Bible He ever gave the
racel We talk about the Old Testament and
the New Testiment, but the Oldest Testa-
ment contains the lessons Of the natural
world. Some people like the New Testament
so well they discard the Old Testament.
Shall we like the New Testament and the
Old Testament 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 asphatum: or
reject the Genesis and the Revelation that
were written centuries before Adam lost a
rib and gained a wife3 No, no; when Deity
stoops down and writes ON the ground,
let us read it. | would have no
less appreciation of the Bible on paper
that comes out of the paper mill, but I
would urge appreciation of the Bible in
the grass, the Bible in the send hill,
the Bible in the geranium, the Bible in
the asphodel, the Bible in the dust.
Some one asked sn 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 our faculties were all awake in the
study of God, we would not have time to go
much further than the first grass blade.
have no fear that natural religion will ever
contradict what we call revealed religion. |
have no sympathy with the followers of
Aristotle, who after the telescope was in
vented, would not look through It, lest it
contradict some of the theories of their great
master. l shall be glad to put against one
lid of the Bible the microscope, and against
L IL - A.. Al.
But when Christ stopped down and wrote
on the ground, what did He writes The
Pharisees did not stop to examine. The
towards, whipped of their own consciences,
fed pell NELL Nothing will flav a man like
an aroused conscience. DR.. Stevens, in
his "History Of Methodism," says that
when Rev, BENJAMIN Abbott of olden
times was preaching, he exclaimed: "For
aught know there may De murderer in
! this house. and man rose in the assemblage
and started for the door and bawled aloud,
confessing to a 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 groundl 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 Inab Gnlnk KNOW WndO
He wrote on the ground9 I judge
from the circumstances. He might
have written other things, but kneeling there
In the temple, surrounded by a pack Of
hypocrites, who were a self appointed con.
stabulary, and having in His presence per-
secuted woman who evidently was very peni-
tent for her sins, / am sure He wrote
two words both of them graphic and ire
mendous 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,
class hypocrtes. 1t was then as it is now.
The more faults and inconsistencies people
have of their oWns the more severe and CEN
serious are they about the faults Of others.
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 I'M
der heavy Judicial sentence from Christ,
and then after she had been taken outside
the city and fastened at the foot of the preo-
ipice, the Scribes and Pharisees wanted the
satisfaction of each coming and dropping q
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;
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 libPr-
tines, dramatizing Indignation against i'm
purity Blind bats lecturing on optics. A
flock of crows on their way up from a 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 / am sure that arraigned woman
was repentant She made no apology, and
Christ in no wise belittled her sin
But her supplicatory behavior and her tears
moved Him, and when He stopped down tc
write on the ground, He wrote that mighty
that imperial word, forgiveness. Wher
on Sinai God wrote the law, He wrote
it with finger of lightning on table;
of stone, each word cut as by chse
into the hard granite surface. But when He
writes the offense of this woman he writes il
in the dust so that it can be easily rubbed
out, and when she repents Of it, oh, He was
merciful Christ | was reading of q
legend that is told in the far East about
Hin He was walking through the streets OF
q city and He saw a crowd around dead
dog And one man said: "What loath
some object is that dogn YES sale
another, Ibis ears are mauled and bleeding
Yes said another, 'even his hide would
not be of any uso to tho tanner" yes
said another, "the odor of his carcass is dread
fol" Then Christ, standing there, sale
but pearls cannot equal the whiteness o
His teeth" Then the people, moved by TN
idea that any one could ind anythlnl
''Why, this must be Jesus OF Naza
reth." Reproved and convicted they wen
away Surely this legend of Christ is g4Got
enough to be true. Kindness in all hi
, words and ways and habits. FcrglVe
ness. Word of eleven letters, and some o.
/ them thrones, and some OF them PAIN
,, branches. Better have Christ write clost
,, to our names that one word, though HI
write it in dust, than to have our Name GU
into monumental granite with the letters tina
the storms of thousand years cannot oolit
crate. Bishop Darlington had book OF only
, three leaves. The first leaf was black, ta'
second leaf red, the third leaf white. The
black leaf suggested sin; the red leaf atone
ment; the white leaf publication. That Il
the whole story. God will abundantlN
: pardon
l must not forget to say that as Christ
stopping down, with His finger wrote on thu
ground, it is evident that His sympathies arr
with this pentent woman, and that lie ma
no sympathy with her hypocritical pursuers
Just opposite to that is the worlds habit
Why didn't these unclean Pharisees bring
one of their own number to Christ for ex
. coriation and capital punishment? No, no
they overlook that in a man which the,
damnate in woman. And SO the world ha
. had for offending women scourges ant
> objurgation, and for just one offense sh
becomes an outcast, while for men who's
lives have been sodomic for twenty years
= the world swings opens its doors OF brllllan
welcome and they may sit in legislatures AM
senates and parliaments or on thrones. Unlik
the Christ of my text, the world writes
mans misdemeanor in dust, but chiselS
woman's offense with great capitals upon in
| effaceable marble. For foreign lord
! and princes, whose names cannot eVel
be mentioned in respectable circle
abroad, because they are walk
, ing lazarettos of abomination, on
American princesses of fortune wait, and a
, the first beck sail ont with them into tn