The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-08-09
HYPOCRACY RBBUKBD
W HAT WAS III THAT CHRIST
WROTE IN THE DUST
DR.. Talmage Explains the Story Of the
Saviour and the SHINING Woman
Sympathy for the Penelent-ROund-
less Ocean Of Divine Mercy.

sociation.)
In this discourse DR.. Talmage gives he
roic treatment of a delicate subject and
applies TO modern society the lesson
taught by Christ on a memorable occa-
sion; text, John viii, 6, Jesus STOPPED
down and with his finger wrote on the
ground"
You must a your shoes off and nut
on the especial slippers provided at the
door II you would enter the Mohammeda
mosque which stands now where once
stood Herod's temple the scene of my
text SoIomon'S temple had stood there
put Ne1uchadnezzar had thundered it
DOWN ZeruoodDeis temple had stood
there. but that had been Frustrated. Now
we take our places in a temple that Her
cd built, because he was fond OF great
architecture, and he wanted the preced-
ing temple TO seem Insignificant Put
eight or ten modern cathedrals together
and they would not equal that struc-
ture. 1t covered IS acres. There were
marble pillars supporting roofs Of cedar
and silver tables on which stood golden
cups, and there were carvings exquisite
and inscriptions Respondent, glittering
balustrades and ~ornamented
The building Of this temple kept 1900
workmen busy As years.
In that Stupendous pile of pomp and
magnlncence sat Christ. and a listening
throng stood about him when a wild dis
turbance took place. A group of men are
~ ASAAA aAoAS q olIId HO
had committed a crime against society.
When they have brought her in front Of
Christ, they ask that he sentence her to
death by stoning. They are a critical.
mercilesS, disingenuous crowd. They
want to get Christ into controversy and
public apprehension. If he say. Let her
die they will charge him with cruelty.
II ne let her go. they will charge him
with being in completely with wicked
ness. Whichever he does they would
howl at him.
Then occurs a scene which has not been
sufficiently regarded. He leaves the
lounge or bench on which he was sitting
and goes down on one knee or both knees
and with the forefinger of his right hand
he begins to write in the dust of the
floor, words after word. But they We're
not to be diverted or hindered. They kept
on demanding that he settle this case OF
transgression, until he looked up and
told them they might themselves begin
plainant who had never done anything
wrong himself would open the fire. Go
ahe2d, but be sure that the man who
filings the first missile is immaculate"
Then he resumed writing with his finger
in the dust Of the floor. word after word.
Instead of looking over his shoulder to
skulked away. Finally the whole place
is clear of pursuers, antagonists and
plaintiffs, and when Christ has finished
this strange ~chirography in the dust he
looks up and finds the woman all alone.
A DIVINE JUDGE.
Inc prisoner Is the only one OF the
courtroom left, the judges, the police, the
prosecuting attorney having cleared out.
Christ is victor, and he says to the wo-
man.: Where are the prosecutors in this
case; are they all gone? Then 1 discharge
you. Go and sin no more" / nave won
dered what Christ wrote on the ground.
For do you realize hat is the only time
that he ever wrote at all? l know that
EuSebiuS says that Christ wrote a letter
to Abgarus, the king of Odessa, but there
is no good evidence of such a correspond
anon Thn rryicnct ha;nr H. -4~1l o-@-
saw, and the one who had more to say
than any one who ever lived, never
writing a book or a chapter or a para
graph or a word on parchment! Nothing
but the literature of the dust, and one
sweep of a brush or one breath of a
wind obliterated it forever.
Among all the rolls of the volumes of
the first library founded at Thebes there
was not one scroll of Christ. Among the
100 600 books of the Alexandrian library,
which by the Infamous decree of Caliph
Omar were used as fuel to- heat the 1900
baths of the city, not one sentence had
Christ penned. Among all the infinitude
Of Edinburgh, the British museum or
Berlin or Vienna or the learned reposito-
ries of all nations not one word written
directly by the finger of Christ. All that
he ever wrote he wrote in dust, uncer-
tain, shifting dust.
My text says he stopped down and
wrote on the ground. Standing straight
with a staff, but if with his fingers he
would write in the dust he must benz
clear over.
Aye, he must get at least On one knee
surprised that he stopped down. His
whole life was a STOPPING down. Stoop-
ing down from castle to barn. STOPPING
down from celestial homage to monOcrat-
ic jeer. From residence above the stars
to where a star had to fall to designate
his landing place. From heavens front
door to the worlds back gate. From
writing in round and silvered letters to
constellation and galaxy on the blue
scroll of heaven to writing on the ground
had left in Herod's temple. If in January
you have ever stepped out of a princes
conservatory that had Mexican cactus
and magnolias in full bloom into the put
side air, 10 degrees below zero, you may
get some idea of Christs change of at
mosphere from celestial to terrestrial.
not. but there are at least three, for
Paul was caught up into the third
heaven"
Christ came down from the highest
heaven to the second heaven and down
from the second heaven to first heaven,
down swifter than meteors ever fell,
down amid stellar splendorS that him
self eclipsed, down through clouds.
through atmospheres, through appalling
space, down to. where there was no low
er depth. From being waited on at the
banquet of the skies to the broiling OF
of the lake. From emblazoned chariots
of eternity to the saddle Of a mules
back. From the homage cherubic. sera-
phic, archangelic. to the paying of 6215
cents of tax to Caesar. From the DEATH
less country to a tomb built to hide hu-
man dissolution. The uplifted wave of
Galilee was high, but he had to come
down before with his feet he could touch
it. and the whirlwind that arose above
the billow was higher yet. but he had
to come down before with his lip he
could kiss it into quiet. Bethlehem a
STOPPING down. Nazareth a STOPPING
down. Death between two burglars a
STOPPING down. Yes. it was in consonance
with humiliations that went before and
self abnegations that came after when
on that memorable day in Herod's tenn
pie he stopped down and whote on the
ground.
HOW CHRIST WRITES.
Whether the words he was writing
were in Greek or Latin or Hebrew. | can
not say, for he knew all those languages.
but he is still STOPPING down and with
his finger writing on the ground. In the
winter in letters Of crystals. in the
spring in letters of flowers. in summer
in golden letters of harvest. in autumn
in letters of fire or fallen leaves. How
it would Sweeten I'D and enrich and en-