The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1898-08-11

but WHat olo CnTDt WIlte Oh inc
ground? The Eible does not state. yet
as Christ never wrote anything except
that once. you cannot blame US for
wanting TO know what he really did
write. but am certain he wrote MOTH
ing trivial or nothing unimportant. and
will you allow me to say that l think
I know what he wrote on the ground.
judge frcH the circumstances. He
|. mlSht have written other things. but.
knael!ng there in the temple, surround
ed by a pack OF hypocrites who were
self appointed constabulary. and hav-
ing in his presence a prosecuted wo-
man, who evidently was very penitent
for her sins, ! am sure he wrote two
words. both Of them graphic and tre-
mendous and reverberating, and the one
word was hypocrisy and the other
word was forgiveness"
From the way these Pharisees and
scribes vacated the premises and got
out into the fresh air as Christ, with
| just one ironical sentence, unmasked
them, know they were first class hyp-
ocrtes. 1t was then as 1t Is now. The
more faults and Inconsistencies people
have Of their own the more severe and
censorious are they about the faults of
others.
Yes, think that one word written
on the ground that day by the finger
Of Christ was the awful word hypoc-
rio What pcin 70 CO. -.
the part Of those hypOcrtical Phari-
sees! When the fox begins to pray.
look out for your chickens. One Of the
cruel magnates OF oiden times was 60
| lrr to e1communicate one OF the mar
tyrs, and he began in the usual form.
"In the name OF God, amen" "Stop!"
| says the martyr. Don't say "in the
name Of God" Yet how many outrages
| are practiced under the garb of relig-
ion and sanctity! When in synod and
| conferences ministers of the gospel are
about to say something unbrotherly
| and unkind about a member. they al
most always begin by being ostenta-
tioulsy pious, the venom OF their as
| sauh corresponding to the heavenly
flavor OF the prelude. About to devour
a reputation. they say grace before
the meal.
| must not forget to say that as
Christ, STOPPING down, with his finger
wrote on the ground, 1t is evident that
his sympathies. were with this penitent
woman and that he has no sympathy
with her hypocritical pursuers. Just
opposite to that is the worlds habit.
Why didn't these unclean Pharisees
bring one Of their own number to Christ
for excoriation and capital punish
ment? No. no! They overlook that IN
a man which they damnate In wo-
man, and so the world has had for Of
Tending woman scourges and objurga-
| ton, and for just one offense she be-
comes an outcast, while for men whose
lives have been sodom!c for twenty
years the world swings open its doors
Of brilliant welcome and they may sis
in high places. Unlike the Christ of
my text, the world writes a mans mis-
demeanor in dust. but chisels wo-
mans offense with great capitals upon
ineffaceable marble.
But while | speak of Christ Of the
text, his stopping down writing in the
dust do not think l underrate the lit
erature of the dust. II is the most tre-
mendous of all literature 1t Ia the
greatest Of all libraries: When Layard
exhumed Nineveh, Re was only opening
the door OF its mighty dust. The exca-
vations Of Pompeii have only been the
unclasplng of the lids OF a volume OF
nations dust.
oh, this mighty literature of the dust!
1t Is not so wonderful after all, that
Christ chose instead Of an inkstand the
lmpressionable sand on the floor of an
ancient temple and instead of hard
pen put forth his forefnger with the
same kind of nerve and muscle and
bone and flesh as that which makes up
our own foreinger, ana wrote the aw-
full doom of hypocrisy and full and
complete forgiveness for repentani
sinners even the worst. We talk about
the ocean of Christ's mercy, Put four
ships upon that ocean and let them
sail out in opposite directions for LON
years and see II they can find the shore
Of the ocean Of divine mercy. Let then
sail to the north and the south and thu
east and west. and then, after the 100
years Of voyage, let them come back
and they will report mo shore. NJ
shore to the ocean OF Gods mercy!"
And now l can believe that which
| read. how that mother kept burning
a candle in the window every night fo
| ten years, and one night very late {
I poor waif Of the street entered. Tn,
aged woman said to her, "S!t down h!
the fire." And the stranger said, "Wh!
, do you keep that light in the Window
. | The aged woman said: THAT Is t
, light my wayward daughter when sh
, returns. Since she went away. tel
years ago, my hair has turned white
: Folks blame me forYorry!ng about he
I but you see I am her mother. ant
. sometimes half a dozen times a nigh
. open the door and look out into tn
. darkness and cry Lizzie! Lizzie! Blu