The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1889-02-20
WROTE In THE DUST.
DIR. Ta'mage breaches on "The
Literature of the Dust"
ChrIst's Rebuke tp the scribes and Phari-
sesr-'iis compass on for the Perse-
cutsd women Who Had slnned
Against Soci.ty--A Gio-
rious Example.


wrote on the grou ID" DR.. Talmage spoke
as follows:
Mohammedan mosque stands now
where once stood IIerod's temple the scene
OF my xt. SoOmon's temple had stood
here, but NebuchadnrH thundered II
down. r0babeps temp had stood there,
but that had been pr 'Stratpd. Now we
take our pl res in a temple that Herod b ilt
because he was fond OF great architecture,
and he wanted the ecc,lug temples to
So m insignificant Put eight or ten modern
catlird uls together and they would moi
equal ib structure It. covered nineteen
acres there were marble pillars support
ing roofs OF cedar, and silver tables on
which stood golden CT ps, and there were
CARVINGS exquisite and inscriptions re-
spcndcnt glittering Lalu trades and orna-
mental gateways. The building OF this
temple helt ten thousand worknen busy
10 ty-six years. In that siupendous
pile Of r"nIp and magnhcence sat
Christ aud listening throng stood
about him, when a wild disturbance took
place. A group Of men are pulling and
pushing along woman who had cnnmiti' d
the worst crime yainst society. When they
have brOu ht her in front Of Christ, they
ask that He sentence her TO death by ston-
ing. They are u critical, mcrcilesS disin-
g 'nuous crow,l They want TO ret Christ
into controversy and public preh nsion.
II He say "I.et her die" theg will charge
Him with cruelty. If He let her 90 they
win charye Him with being in completely
with wic'Sedness. VIII clever way lie does,
they would howl at Him. Then occurs a
scene which has n been sufficiently re-
gardcd. lie leaves the lounge or bench on
which lie was slttln and goes down on
one knee, or both knees. Rnl with tn I re-
finger OF His righ hand He begins to
write In the dust OF the hlor, word
after word. But they are not to be
diverted or hindered. They kept on de-
mandin tlnt lie settle this case NJ trans
gres ion unit He looked up aud Id them
that they might themselves begin the
woman's assassinat on, II the comp 'ainant
who had never done anything wrong him
self would open the fire. go ahead, but be
sure tnat the man who filings the first mis-
sile IL immaculate" Then He re .umed
writing with His finger In the dust Of the
floor, word after word. Instead OF looking
over His shoulder IN see what Hs had writ
ten the scOunlrels sSulked away. Finally,
the whole place Is clear Of pursuers. an
tagonists and plaintiffs. and when Christ
has finished this strange chirography in the
dust, He looks up and finds the woman all
alone. The prisoner Is tho only one Of the
court room left, the judges. the police, the
prosecuting attorneys having cleared out.
Chrlt Ia victor. and He 'ays TO the woman
"Where are the prosecutors In this easel
Are they all gonei Then discharge you;
70 and sin no more"
What did Christ writei / have always
wondered what Christ wrote on the ground.
For do yol realize that Is the only time
that He ever wrote at ALI ! know that
EusbiuS says that Christ once wrote letter
TO Abgarus. the king Of Edessa, but there Is
no good evidence OF such a correspond.
ence. The wisest being the wc'ld ever
saw and the one who had more IN
say than any ono who ever lived,
never writing book, or q chapter OF
page, or paraCraph. or word on parch-
mont Nothing hut this literature Of the dust
and one sweep Of brush or one breath Of q
wind obliterated that forever. Among all
the rolls of the volumes OF the first libpry
founded at Thebes there was not one scroll
OF Christ Among the seven hundred
thousand books OF the Alexandrlan library,
which by the Infamous decree OF Caliph
Omar were used as iael 10 heat the Z NJ
Thousand baths Of the city. not one sen.
tence had Christ penned. Among all the
inhnitude ~ volumes now standing In the
libraries OF Z linburgh. the British Museum
or Berlin or Vienna or the learned repos;
tories Of all nations, not one word writer
directly by the finger Of Christ All that
He ever wrote He wrote In dust, uncertaic
shifting vanishing dust.
NV text saws He stoopei down and wrote
on the ground. Standing straight up mar
mi ht write on the Rrounl with staff, hui
n with his fingers he would write In tn
dust, he must bend clear over. Aye, hi
must get NJ least on one knee or he can no
write on the ground Re not surprised thai
He si0Oped down. His whole life was {
stooplnv down. Stoopng down from castle
10 barn. Stoonine d,Sn from cnlestia
homage to mohocratlc jeer. From re-idenc'
above the stars TO where star had TO fal
IN designnte His landing Place. From
ncNNtn n ITOUt uOOT VI lHt WUFl y OtCN kiVf
From writing In round and ailvered letter
Of constellation and ga'axv on the blne scrol
OF heaven, IN writing on the Gr inni In th'
dust whchthe feet Of the crowd had left II
Herod's temple. II in January YOU hav,
ever steppei out OF princes conser ator,
that had Mexican cactus and maCnolias II
full bloom, into the outside air 100 be'ov
zero, you may get some ida of Christ
change Of atmosphere from ce'es'lai N ter
restial. How many heavens there arc
know not but there arc at least three. foi
Pani was 'canuht up into the thirI
heaven" Christ came down from highes
heaven 10 the second heaven. and from
second heaven 10 first heaven, down swifie
than mcteors ever fe'l, down amidst stellar
splendors that Himself eclipsed. dowr
through clouds, through atmospheres
through appalling space, down TO wher'
there WIS no lower depth. Fron bein'
waited on at the banquet OF the skies 10 thi
broiling OF fish for his own breakfast q. tn
banks Of the lake From emb azrna
chariots Of eternity y the saddle OF mu,e'
back. The homage cherubic, seraphic
archanoeic, To-. the paying OF sixiy-tw
and half cents OF tax TO Cnsar Friu
the deathless country To tomb hui
to hide human dissolution. The up-lif o.
wave Of Galilee WIS high. but He had :,
come down. before, with His feet, He coul,
touch II, and the whirlwind that rose abov,
tho billow was higher yet, but He had !,
come down before, with his lip. He coul'
kiss it into quiet. Bethlehem stoopinI
down. Nazareth a STOPPING down. Dealt
between two burglars STOPPING down
Yes. Il was In consonance wi b humiliation
that had gone before and with sef-sbnega
tions that came after, when on that memor
abb day in Herod's temple He stopped dow
and wrote on the ground. Whether th
words He was writing were In Greek, o
Latin, or Eebrew. can not say, for H