The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-03-06
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINES SUN
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "The Literature of the
Dust -

| NeDuCAaQnC?.Qr CnunCeTel IL E-oio
babel'S temple had stood there. but that had
been prostrated Now we take our places
in a temple that Heroi built because he was
fond of great architecture and he wanted the
preceding temples to seem insignificant Put
eight or ten catheirals together and they
would not equal that structure. lt covered
nineteen acres. There We're marble pillars
supportin, roofs of ceder and silver tables
on which stood golden cups, and there were
carvings exquisite and inscriptions reSpen-
dent, glittering balustradeS and ornamented
gateways. The building Of this temple kept
| ten thousand workmen busy forty-six years
In that stupendous pile OF nomp and mag
nifcence sat Christ. and listening throng
stood about him, when a wild disturbance
took place. A group of men are pulling ana
l pushing along woman who has committed
| the worst crime against society. W hen
| they have brought her in front OF Chrlst,
they ask that He sentence her to death by
ssonng They are crod grtifa Sbsv msaf want
to get Christ into controversy and
! public apprehension. If He say: Let
her die" they will charge HIM with cruelty
| If He let her go. they will charge Him with
| being in completely with wlckedness:
Whichever way He does, they would howl
at Him. Then occurs scene which has
not been sufficiently regarded. He leaves
the lounge or bench on which He was
sitting and goes down on one knee, or
! both knees, and with the forefinger OF
His right hand He begins to write IN
| the dust of the floor, word after word. But
! they were not to be diverted or hindered.
They KEEP: on demanding that He settle this
4 case of transgression until He looked up and
/ tod them that thev might themselves begin
| the woman's assassination, if the complainant
| who had never done anything wrong hlm-
self would open the fire. eco ahead,
but be sure that the man who flngs
| the first missile 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 He had
written the scoundre!s skulked away.
| Finally, the whole place is clear Of pur-
| suers, antagonists and plaintiffs, and when
Christ has finished this strange chirography
in the dust. He looks up and finds the
woman al 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 case, Are they all gone: Then dis
charge you; 60 and sin no more"
l have always wondered what Christ wrote
on the ground. For do you realize that is
the only time that He ever wrote at ala
know that Eusebius says that Christ once
wrote a letter to Abgarus. the King Of
! Edessa, but there is no good evidence OF such
a correspondence. The wisest being the
. world ever saw and the one who
4 had more to say than any one who ever
lived, never writing book or chapter. or
q page or paragraph. or word on parch-
nent. Nothing but this literature OF the
dust, and one sweep Of brush or one
breath of 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 hooks of the
| A'oxonIrior Ebrorv yybiph hv fhp inf0mOuS
decree Of Ca!iph Omar were used as fuel
to heat the four thousand baths of
the city, not one sentence had Christ
penned. Among all the infinitude OF
. volumes now standing in the libraries of
| Edinburgh, the British Museum. or Berlin or
Vienna. or the learned repositories of all
nations, not one word written directly by
the finger of Christ. All that he ever wrote
he wrote in dust, uncertain, shifting, van
ishjng dust.
MY text says He stopped down and wrote
on the ground. Standing straight up man
but if with his fingers he would
write in the dust, he must bend clear
over. Ave, he must get at least
on one knee or lie cannot write on the
= ground. Be not surprised that He
stopped down. His whole life was
stopping down. Stooping down from
castle to barn. Stooping down from
From residence above the stars to where
star had to fall to designate His landing place.
From heavens front door TO the world S back
gate. From writing in round and silvered
. letters of constellation and galaxy ON
), the blue scroll of heaven. to writing on the
crowd had let in Herod's temple.
If in January you have ever stepped
out Of princes conservatory that
had Mexican cactus and maguo-
las in full bloom, into the outside air ton de.
grees below zero, you may get some idea OF
Christ's change of atmosphere from celestial
! to terrestrial. 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 down from second
heaven to first heaven, down swifter than
meteors ever fell. down amidst stellar spen-
dors that Himself eclipsed, down through
I clouds, through atmospneres, through appall-
1 ing space, down to where there was no lower
i depth. From being wait!d on at the ban
ouet Of the skies to the broiling of fish rot
i His own breakfast on the banks OF the lake.
From emblazoned chariots Of eternity
to the saddle Of mules back. The
homage cherubic, seraphic,. archangelic,
to the paying of sixty-two and half cents
OF tax to Cesar srGm the s;ds death h,tnsS eSs
dissolution. The uplifted 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 the billow
was higher yet, but He had to come
down before, with HIS lip, He could
kiss It into quiet Bethlehem a STOPPING
down. Nazareth stopping down. Death
between two burglars STOPPING down.
Yes, it was in consonance with humiliations
that had gone before and with self abnega.
tions that came after, when on that memoir
i able day in Herod's temple He stopped down
and wrote On the ground
Whether the words He was writing were in
Greek, or Latin, or Hebrew, cannot say,
for He knew all those languages. But He is
i still STOPPING down and with His finger writ
ing on the ground; in the winter in letters
of crystals, in the spring in letters OF
= flowers, in summer in golden letters OF
harvest, in autumn in letters OF fire on fallen
leaves. How it would sweeten up and en-.
rich and emblazon this world could we see
Christ's caligraphy all over it. This world
was not flung out into space thousands OF
years ago and then left to look out for it.
self. 1t is still under the divine care.
Christ never for half second takes His
hand off of it. or it would soon be ship.
wrecked world, defunct world, an obsolete
world, an abandoned world, dead world.
ssLet there be light was said at the begin.
ming. And Christ stands under the wintry
skies and says: Let there be snowflakes to en-
rich the earth: and under the clouds OF spring
T. and says: Come ye blossoms and make re-
dolent the orchards. and in September, dips
the branches into the vat of beautiful co ors
and swings them in the hay air. No whlm
of mine is this. Without Him was not
anything made that was ma: e." Christ
writing on the ground. If we could
see His hand in all the passing
seasons Enow it would iilumine the world!
All verdure and foliage would be in allecoric,
and again we would hear Him say as of old: