Milford chronicle., 1889-02-22

graphy all over It'll This world was not flung
out into space thousands Of years ago and
then left to look out for itself. It is still
under the divine care. Christ never for
half second takes his hand of it, or it would
soon be a shipwrecked world, a de-
funct world, an obsolete world, an
abandoned world, a dead world. "Let
there be light was said at the begin
ming. And Christ stands Under the wintry
skies and says, Let there be snOwflalIes to en-
rich the earth; and under the clouds Of
spring, and says, Come ye blossoms and
make redolent the orchards; and in Septem-
Der dips the branches into the vat Of beauti-
full cOlors and swings them in the hazy air.
No whim Of mine is this without him was
not anything made that was made Christ
writing on the groundl II we could
see his hand in all the passing sea-
sons, how it would illumine the world
All verdure and foliage would be allegoric
and again we would hear him say of old,
Consider the lilies of the field how they
grow;n and we would not hear the whistle of
quail OF the cawing of raven or the roup-
delay Of a brown thresher, without saying,
'Behold the fowls Of the air, they gather not
into barns yet your heavenly Father feedeth
them;" and Bantam hen Of the barn yard
could not cluck for her brood, but we would
hear Christ saying as Of old, How often
would have gathered thy children together,
even as a hen gathereth her chickens under
her wings;n and through the redolent hedges
we would hear Christ saying, II am the lily
Of the valley we could not dip seasoning
from the salt cellar without thinking of the
divine suggestion, ''Ye are the salt Of the
earth, but if the salt have lost its SAVIOR,
it is fit for nothing but to be cast out
and trodden under foot of men," Let us
wake up from our stupidity and take
the whole world as a parable. Then if
with gun and pack Of hounds we start off be
fore dawn and see the morning coming down
OF Of the hills to meet us, we would cry out
with the evangelist ''The day spring from
on high hath visited us;n or caught in a snow
storm, while struggling home, eyebrows and
beard and apparel all covered with the whirl-
ing flakes, we would cry out with David,
Wash me and | shall be whittier than snow.
In picture gallery Of Italy, there is on the
ceiling an exquisite frescO, hut people having
to look straight up, it wearied and dizzied
them, and bent their necks almost beyond
endurance, so a great looking glass was put
near the floor and now, visitors only need to
look easily down into this mirror 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 aye, the first Bible he ever gave
the racel We talk about the Old Testament
and the New Testament, but the Oldest Testa-
ment contains the lessons of the natural
world. Some people like the New Test
ament so well, they discard the Old Testa-
ment. Shall we like the New Testament and
the Old Testament 50 well as to depreciate
the Oldest, namely, that which was written
before Moses was put ahoat 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 wifcl No, no; when Deity
stoops down and writes on the ground, let us
read it. l would have no less appreciation
Of the Bible on paper that comes out Of the
paper mill, but 1 would urge appreciation of
the Bible in the grass the Bible in the sand
hill, the Bible IN the geranium, the Bible in
the asphodel, the Bible in the dust Some
| one asked the ancient king whether he had
seen the eclipse Of the sun "NO,n said he,
Il have so much to do ON earth have no
time to look at heaven" And if our facul-
ties were wide awake i'll the study of God we
would not have time to go much further than
the first grass blade. Ihave no fear that nat
mal religion will ever contradict what we
call revealed religion. l have no sympathy
with the followers of Aristotle, who after the
telescope was invented, 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 tho
microscope, and against the other lid Of the
Bible the telescope.
THE WORDS CHRIST WROTE; "HYPocRIsY
AND FORGIVENESS,
But when Christ stopped down and wrote
on the ground, what did he write! The
Pharisees did not stop to examine The
cowards whipped of their own consciences,
fed pell nell. Nothing will lay man like
an aroused conscience. DR.. Stevens, in his
History Of Methodism, says that when Rev.
| Benjamin Abbott, of olden times, was preach
ing, he exclaimed: For aught l know there
may be murderer in this house, and man
rose in the assemblago and started for the
door and bawled aloud, cOnfessing to mur-
der he had committed fifteen years before.
I And no wonder these Pharisees, reminded Of
their sins took to their heels But what did
| Christ write on the ground! The Biblo does
not state Yet, as 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 nothing
trivial, or nothing unimportant. And will
/ you allow me to say that l think know
what he wrote on the groundi judge from
tho circumstances. He might have written
other things, but kneeling there in the tenn
| pie, surrounded b. pack Of hypocrites, who
were self appointed constabulary and having
! in his presence a persecuted woman who, cvi-
| IDENTIFY, was very penitent for her sins, am
sure he wrote two words, both of them
/ graphic and tremendous and reYerberat-
! ing And the one word was Hypocrisy and
theother word was Forgiveness. From the way
these pharisees and scribes vacated the prem
! ises and got out into the fresh air, rs Christ,
with Just one ironical sentence, unmasked
4 them, know they were first class hypOcrites.
] It was then as it is now. The more faults
and inconsistencies people have of their own,
/ the more severe and censorious are they
| about the faults of others. Here they arc
twenty stout men arresting and arraigning
/ one weak woman. Magnificent business to be
engaged in They wanted the fun Of see
I ing her faint away under heavy judicial
sentence from Christ, and then after she had
! been taken outside the city and fastened at
the foot Of precipice, the Scribes and Phar-
isees 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 l think as he saw those men
drop everything, humiliated, mortified, ex
posed, and go out quicker than they came in
he must have laughed At any rate, it make:
me laugh to read Of 1t. All of these aber-
tines dramatizing indignation against inn
purity Blind bats lecturing on optics. a
flock Of crows on their way up from a car
cas-, denouncing carrion. Yes, think that
one word written on the ground that day by
the finger Of Christ was the awfu
word HypotSisy. But I am sure there was
another word in that dust. From her entire
manner, am sure that arraigned woman
was Tepentant. She made no apology, and
Christ in no wise belittled her sin. But hei
supplicatory behavior and her tears moved
| him ood rvhon ha cfoorad 1t,xs-1 m yyJssto on