The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1898-08-11
A SINGLE STANDARD.
Modern Application Of a Lesson
Taught by Christ


Rev T. Dewitt Taimage go Che 20.
lowing discourse tee8ts q ae.leate sab
Sect he s heroic manner applying q
modern soc ety the issa58 iangHg b
Christ The text is.
Jesus sH33gel do#b aua Ws1 aa aase
uf3is 1s the gr9uat John wis d
You must take your shoes of au.
pnt 90 the especial llppers provided a
the door t you would enter the hi1
hamuedan mosque which stands NOS
whore ongt stood Hsrud5 temple thf
scene u my text sotBnaBs tempt
bad stood there. but NebuahadnezzaI
had Numbered IL down. ~Hrrubbabeii
temple had stood there, but that hal
been Frustrated Now we take gul
places IN o temple that Herod built
because Hc was fond of great archi.
lecture, aud he wanted the preceding
temple 20 seem insignificant Put
eight OF ten modern catAedra.s tOgeth'
en-, and gieY would not equal that
structure u covered 70 acres There
were marble pillars supporting roofs
Of cedar, and silver tables on which
stood golden caps, aud there were
carvings exquisite, and inscriptions
resplendent, glitterlng baiustrndcs and
ornamented gateways The buildings
Of this temple kept 10000 wortmen
busy 90 years
IN that ~stupeudous pile Of pomp aud
maFuiHeenur SAT Christ. aud a LISTEN
ing throng atoad about him, when
o wild disturbance took place Agronp
Of mon are pulling and pushing along
o womau who had committed q crime
against society When they have
brought her 10 front OF Christ, they
ask that He sentence her to death by
sloDing They are a critical mcrel-
less, dlsingenuOus crowd They want
10 got Christ into controversy aud
public apprehension II lie 5avt Let
her die, tboy VIII charge Him with
cruelty II uc let her 70, they win
charge Him with being in completely
with welcomes, Whichever way He
does, they would howl at Him
Then occurs o scene which has not
been sufficiently regarded, lie leaves
the lounge or bench On which He was
sitting, and goes down on one knee, or
both knees, and with the furehnger Of
His right hand He begins to write in
the dust Of the floor, word after word.
But they were not TO be diverted or
hiudered They kept on demanding
that lie settle this case Of trausgres-
sion, until He looked up aud told them
they might themselves begin the
woman IS assassination ~ the complain
ant who had never done any thing
wrong himself would open the fire.
Go ahead, but be sure that the man
who Hings the arst missile is immucu-
late Then He resumed writing with
His finger ia the dust of the floor, word
after word Instead of looking over
His shoulder 10 sec what He had writ.
ten, the scoundrels stulked away
Finally the whole place Is clear Of pure
suers, antagonists and plaintiffs, and
when Christ has finished His strange
c%hirogruphy IA the dust He looks UP
and finds tho women all alone
The prisoner IS the only one Of the
court room left, the judges, the police
the prosecuting attorney having cleared
out. Christ is victor, and He says TO
the woman Where are the prosecu-
tors in this case2 Are they all gomez
Then 1 discharge you; 20 and sin no
moro have wondered what Christ
wrote on the ground For do Won
realize that Is the only time that He
ever wrote at all know TINT Eusebius
says that Christ once wrote a letter TO
Abgarus, the king Of Odessa, but there
IS no good evidence of such a CORES
~spondeuee. The wisost being the
world ever saw, and the One who Ind
more to say than anyone who ever
lived, never writing a book or a chap.
ter or d paragraph or o word on parch-
ment, Nothing but the literature Of
the dust, and oue sweep Of a brush or
one breath Ola wind obiitGgatcl ii for
ever
Among all the rolls OF the volumes
OF the first library founded at Thebes
cre was not one scroll Of Christ,
Among the 100000 books Of the Alex
andriun library which, by the in,
famous decree Of Cnliph Omar, were
used as fuel to heat the 1000 baths Of
the city, not one sentence had Christ
penned Among gill the inHnitude OF
volumes now standing IN the libaries
OF Edinburgh, the British museum, or
Berlin, or Vienna, or the learned re.
positories Of all nations, not one word
written directly hy the finger OF Christ.
AlIthat Heever wrote He wrote in dust,
uncertain, shifting dust.
My text says lie stopped down and
wrote on the ground, Standing
straight up a man might write on the
ground with a staff, but IL with his
fingers he would write in the dust he
must bend clear over. Aye, he must
get al least on one knee, or he can not
write on the ground BE not surprised
that he stopped down, STOPPING down
from castle to barn STOPPING down
from celestial homage to monocratie
teer From residence above the stars
"a where a star had TO fall TO de-
signhte His landing place, From
Heavens front door 10 the worlds
back gate. From writing In round
and silvered letters % constellation aud
galaxy On the blue scroll Of Heaven to
writing on the ground ia the dust
which The feet Of the crowd had left 10
Herod's temple, II, 10 January, you
have ever stepped out ola princes con.
~seryatory that had Mexican cactus and
magnolias Ia full bloom into the out.
side dir, ten degrees below zero, You
mayget some idea Of Christ's change OF
atmosphere from celestial 20 terrestrial
How many heavens there are know
not, but there are at least three, for
Paul was caught up into the third
Heaven"
Christ came down from the highest