Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1889-02-23
ClTRTSTS WRITING.
TRACING IN THE DUST THE WORDS
HYPOCRISY AND FORGIVENESS.

ChrIst's Gentle Treatment of the FIRING
woman--An illustration of tho Worlds
Injustice.
BROOKLYN, y. ", Feb. l1.-Dr. Talmagc
preached this morning in tho Brooklyn Tab
ernil, un the subject, "Thc Literature Of
thu bust" After explaining appropriate
passage II Scripture concerning Christ no
gave u,it the hymn:
oh. could speak tho inatchi,~s worth.
oh. could I sound the giorics forth
Which In my Saviour shine.
Text: John viii, Il: .Je~ais stopped down
and wrote on the ground"
y Muhanmcslan mosque stands now whcrc
oncc stoul llcrol's temple, tho scene 81 my
text. Solomon's temple had stood there, but
Ncbuchadnczznr Numbered IL down. Zorro
babelis temple had stood there, but that had
been Frustrated. Now we take our places In
q temple that Hcroi built because he was
fond Of great architecture and he wanted tho
preceding temples 20 seem insignificant. Put
eight or ten modern cathedrals together and
they would not equal that structure. II COW
cred nineteen acres There were marble pill
lars supporting rofs Of cclar and silver
tables on which st"ol golden cups. and there
were carvings exquisite and Inscriptions re-
splcn,lcni, Ilitterins balustradcs and orna-
nieni.sl ga;cways The building Of this tenn
pie kept ten thousand workmcn busy forty-six
years IN that stupcndous pile Of pomp and
magniiiCrncc sat Christ, and listening
thrnng st~-i about him, when wild dis
turlnnc' i"pk place. A group Of men arc
pullin: and pushing along n woman who
had committed the worst crime against
society. When they have brought her
In frunt of Christ, thoy ask that He scn-
tcncc her Ia death by stoning. They arc
n critical. mcrcilcss, disingcnuous crowd.
They want To- get Christ into controversy and
public apprehension. II he say, LET her
die" they will Charge him with cruelty. II
hc let her 20, they will charge him with
being In completely with wickcincSS
Whichever way he dot~, they would howl ut
him. Then occurs IA scene whic,i has not
bccn sufficiently regarded He leaves the
lounge ar iEnch on which he wax sitting and
go,s down on one kncc or 18th knees. and
with the furciin.cr III his right hainl hc
begins Ia write in the dust VI the ilnor,
word after word but they were not 10 h.
diverted or hinicrcl They kept on demand
ing that hc srtilc this case Of traiIS,rcSsion
until he looked up and told them that they
might themselves brgin the woinnn's asSliSSi-
nation, II the complainant who had never
done anything wrong himself would olN.n tho
fire. Go ahead. hut Ia sure that the man
who flings the first missile is immaculate"
t. n h. r,-S;imcl writing with his iin';rr In
til dust II the iluor. word nficr wnrl. In
stead 81 lno!.ins over his shoulder la sCr what
he had written, the SDinlrcl SkulSGl away.
Finally thu whole place i clear ~ pnrSucrs.
antagonists and acc,issrs, AMI wlca Christ
has finished this strange chiru:rlphy in tho
dust. he l"nks up AMI finds III" woman all
alone. The prisoner Is the "E!y one 81 tho
court ru1:a left. the iutl;cS. the lolicr, the
prosecuting attorneys having cleared out.
Christ is victor. anl he SIyS 10 the woman,
"WhrrC ar' thu prosecutors IN this c,S". Arc
they all gor.: Then 'iischar..c you. Go
and sin no more"
CHRIST WROTE IN SHIFTING AND VANISH; 20
DUST.
have always wondered what Christ wrote
OH the ground. For do you realize that is tho
only time that hc ever wrote Mt all. know
that Eilscbius says that Christ once wrote a
letter to Ab,arus, the king OF EdcSsl. but
there is no good evidence II such "a CORE
spondencc. Tie wisssst bcinG the world ever
any one who ever lived, never writing u
book or chapter, or page or "a paragraph
or n word on parchment. Nothin: hut this
literature 81 the dust, and one sweep of q
brush or one breath Of winl elaborated
that forever. Among all the rullSof the vol
umcs OF the first library founded at Thcbcs,
there WAS not onc scroll of Christ. Among
the seven hundred thousand books 81 the Al
exandrian library, which by the infamous
decree OF Caliph Omar were uSSl rs fuel 10
heat the four Thousand baths OF the city, not
one sentence had Christ lrnnd Among all
the iniiniiu,lc of volumes now standing In tho
libraries "f Edinburgh, the British museum,
or Berlin ur Paris. or the learned rcposi-
tories of all nations. not onc word written di-
rcctly by the fingers Of Christ. Al that he
ever wrote, he wrote in dust; uncertain,
shifting, vanishing dust.
My text says he stoopi down aid wrote
on the ground. Standing straight up n man
might write al the ground with n staff, but
II with his fingers he would write in the dust,
no must bond clear over Aye he must get,
at least, un one knee or lac cannot write ON
the ground. bc not surprised TINT hc siooped
down. Ills whole life was IA STOPPING down.
'Stooping down from castle Ia harm Stoop-
ing down from celestial homage to mobo-
cratic jccr. From residence above tho stars
70 where star had 10 fall to designate his
landing place. From heavens front door TO
tho worlds hack gate From writing In
round and silvercd letters Of constellation
and galaxy on tho blue scroll Of heaven, to
writing on the ground in the dust, which tho
feet Of the crowd hal left in Hcroi's temple.
II In january you have ever stepped out Of n
princes conservatory that had Mexican cac-
tus AMI magnolias In full bloom, into tho
outside air - dogs below zero, you may get
some idea of Chrlsts change Of atmosphere
from celestial to terrestrial. How many
heavens there arc know not, hut there nrc
Mt least thrcc, for Paul was caught up into
the third heaven" Christ came down from
highest heaven To the second heaven and down
from second heaven 10 third heaven. down
swifier than mcicors over fell, down amidst
stellar spendors that himself ecliIHel, down
through clouds, through atmOspi .cr,>. through
appalling space. down 90 where there was no
lower depth. From being waited ON at the
banque: 81 the skies 10 tho broiling Of fish for
his own breakfast on tho banks 81 the lake
From cinblazon-l chariots Of eternity Ia the
saddlc az mules hack. From homage
cherubic. scraphic, archangclic, To the pay
Ing Of sixty-ilvo aud half cents u tax to
CaSar. From the dcathlcSs country to n
tomb built To- hide human dissolution. The
upliftc,l wave Of Galllcc was high. hut he had
10 {. mn down, before with his feet, he could
touch 1t. and the whirlwind that rosc above
the billow was higher yet, but he had la come
down, before with his lip he could kiss II into
quiet. Bethlehem a STOPPING down. Nazareth
a STOPPING down. Death lctw,cn two burg
lars stopping down. Ycs. II was in conson-
nncc With hu,ntiaticus that had zone before
and with srlf abncg stions that came after.
when on that memorable day In Judca ;
temple hc ;ioopos ccwn AMI wrote ON the
ground.
IIIIs WORLD ~ sTiIi. UNDER THE DIviNE
EsE
Whether the words hc was writing were III
Grccs, cr Latin. or Arabic, cannot say
for h. knew all t.osc languages. Blt ho Is
Ui.! STOPPING down anil with his finger writ
ing os the ground: In tho winter, IN letters
Of crystals; In tho sprin., In letter. of flowers
In summer, in golden letters % harvest in
autumn, In letters Of fir on fallen leaves
How IL would swsS'icn up AMI enrich anil iln-
inmate this world. could wo Sc Christ's cali
grufbv NIL nv..r ~ Thu x.,rll ,,.,, 80, a,...