The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1889-02-18

have OF their own, the more severe and |
censorous are they about the faults Of |
others. Here they are-twenty stout men
arresting and arraigning one weak woman.
Magnificent business to be engaged in.
They wanted the fun Of seeing 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
a prccipice, the Scribes and Pharisecs
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 i,r. Some people have taken
the responsibility OF saying that Christ
never laughed. But | think as he saw
those men drop everything, chagrinnod,
mortified, exposed, and 90 out quicker than
they came in, he must have laughed. At
any rate, it makes me laugh to read of it.
Allof theseliber,incs, dramatizing indigna-
ton against impurity. Blind bats lcctur-
ing on optics. A flock of crows on their
way up from a carcass, donouncing carrion.
Yes, think that one word written ON the
ground that day by the finger OF Christ
was the awful word hypocrisy, But ! am
sure there was another word in that dust.
From her entire manner / am sure that
arraigned woman was rcpentant She
made no apology, and Christ in no wise
belittled her sin. But her supplicaory
behavior and her tears moved him. and
when he stopped down TO write on the
ground, he wrote that mighty, that inn
peral word forgiveness. When on Sinai
God wrote the law, He wrote IL with finger
OF lightning on tables OF stone, each word
cut as by chiscl into the hard granite
surface. But when he writes the ollense
Il a.. Il Il
il can be easily rubbed out, and when she
repants OF it, oh, lac was a mercilul
Christi was reading Of legend that
is told in the far east about him. lie
was walking through the streets OF
city and he saw crowd around a
dead dog. And one man said, "What q
loathsome object is that dog" "Ies. said
another, "his ears are mauled and bleed
ing" Eyes, said another, "evcn his hide
would not be Of any use 10 the tanner"
eyes" said another, "the odor OF the car
cass is dreadful" Then Christ, standing
there, said, "But pearls cannot equal the
whiteness OF his teeth" Then the people,
moved by the idea that anyone could find
ANYTHING pleasant concerning n dead dog,
said "Why, this must be Jesus oi Naza-
rcth." Reproved and convicted they
went away. Surely this legend OF Christ
| is good enough TO be true. Kindness in
all Ills words aud ways aud habits. For
/ givcness. Word OF eleven letters, and
some Of them thrones and some Of them
palm branches. Better have Christ write
| close 10 our name that one word, though
| lie write il in dust, than 10 have our
name cut into monumental granite with
| letters that the storms OF 900 ycars can
not obltcraie. Bishop BabingtOn had a
! book of only three leaves. The first leaf
was black, the second leaf red, the third
! leaf white. The black leaf suggested sin,
! the red leaf atonemcnt, the white leaf puri-
| fcation. That Is the whole story. God
will abundantly pardon.
/ must not forget 10 say that rs Christ,
stopping down, with His finger wrote on
| the ground, Il is evident that His sympa-
! thies are with this penitcnt woman, and
! that lie has no sympathy with her hypo'
! critical puuucrs. just opposite 10 that Is
| the worlds habit Why didn't these un-
clean Pharisccs bring one Of their own
number 10 Christ for cxcoriation and cap.
ual punishment No, no; they overlook
that Ia man which they dumnato IN q
| woman. And No the world has had for
offending women scourgcs and Objufga'ion,
and Tor Just one oilcnsc she becomes an
ouicast, while for men whose lives have
been Sodomic for twenty years, the world
swings open its doors OF brilliant welcome,
aud they may sit in Legislatures and Sen.
atcs and Parlilments or on thrones. Un-
like the Christ OF my text, the world writes
q mans misdemcanor In dust but CHS
els woman's oilcnse with great cap
itals upon inollnccablc marble. For
foreign Lords and Princes, whose names
cannot ecycn be mentioned In rcspccta'
ble circles abroad because they are
walking lazarcttos OF abominaiion, our
| American princcsses OF fortune wait, and
at the inst beck sail out with them into
the blackncss Of darkness forever. And
in what are called higher circles OF society
there Is now not only the imitation Oi
foreign dress aud foreign manners, but an
imitation of foreign dissolutencss. j like
an Englishman aud like an American,
hut the sickcst creature on earth Is M
American PLAYING the Englishman. So
! cictv needs 10 be reconstructed on thu
subject. Treat them alike, masculin,
crime aud feminine crime. II you cut th,
one in granite, cut them both la granite
II YOU write the one In dust, write the oihcl
in dust No, no. saws tho world, let wo
man 20 down and lot mau ~ up. Wha
ia that hear plashirg into the East rive
at midnight and then thcrc Is q gurglc .
of strangulauon, aud all IN st,,i. Nevc
mind. II Is only a woman too discpuragc'
10 live. Let the mills Of the cruel wOrl,
grind right on.
, But while speak Of Christ o, the text
his stopping down writing IN the dust III
not think 1 undeuatc the literature Of thI
dust. Il IL the most solemn and trcmcn
| -. Il III Itt,v,turg H. Ia tho greatest q
All Hbrnrics. when layard cXhumei
! Nineych ho WIS only opening the door Q
! Ia mighty dust Tho excavations Oi Pom
9 pcii have only bcon the uncllsping OF th
liIs of A volume Of q nations dust. Whc
4 AJmirnl Farrilut aud his friends, io'
? years AGO. visited that rpsufrcciod city, th
. house oi Balb1. who had been one Of II
- chief citizens in its prosperous days, wa
n oponod and table va. spread In tha
!. house which eighteen hundred aud to
u ycar. has been buried by volcanic eruption
4 and Farragut and his guests walked oy,
: tberauisite mosaics and underline bcautiil
v ircsc6. aud Il almost seemed like boin
n rnteftained by those who eighteen Get
q turirs AGO had turned 90 dust Oh. th
a mighty literature Ol the dust. Where ui
= the rrmains OF Scnnachcrib, and Attili
!. and Epaminonias, aud famcrlanc, an
|, Trojan. and Philip Oi Maccd0n, aud Jt
/? iiu. C.9.ar2 Dust Where are the hero,
4 who fought on both sides at ChHronca,
!. hastings. nj Marathon, at Cfossy, Of tl
v 10 O01 men who fought at Agincouri,
r the 2jO. 900 men who faced death at Jon
10 oi the iOO. OJJ whose afmor glllicrcd In u
o sun at Wagnm, Of the ,OOO, oJOincn una
n Darius at Arbcl'a, Of the 2,bll ,OOO me
] Ii |aHN