The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1898-08-05

Exl6llS< zINlVtrated. Now we
REV. rALMAeE. take our places in a
temple that Herod built because he
was fond of great architecture, and he
wanted the preceding temples to seem
insignifcant Put eight or ten modern
pathedrals together and they would
not equal that structure. 1t covered
10 acres There were marble pillars
supporting roofs of cedar, and silver
tables, on which stood golden cups,
and there were carvings exquisite, and
inscriptions resplendent, glittering
balustrades and ornamented gateways
The building of this temple kept 10, 900
workmen busy 46 years.
In that stupendous pile of pomp and
magnifcence sat Christ, and listen
ing throng stood about him when a
wild disturbance took place. A group
OF men are pulling and pushing along
n woman who had committed a crime
against society. When they have
brought her in front of Christ, they
nsk that He sentence her to death
by stoning. They are a critical, mer-
CHESS disingenuous crowd. They want
to get Christ into controversy and pu b.
lie apprehension. If He say Let her
die" they will charge Him with
cruelty. If He let her go, they will
charge Him with being in completely
with wickedness Whichever way He
does, they would howl at Him. Then
occnrs 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 forefnger of His right hand He
begins TO write in the dust of the floor,
word after word. But they were not
20 be diverted or hindered. They kept
ON demanding that He settle this case
Df transgression, until He looked up
md told them they might themselves
begin the woman's assassination, il the
complainant who had never done any
thing wrong himself would open the
fire. go ahead, but be sure that the
man who filings the first missile is
immaculate" Then He resumed writ
ing with His finger in the dust of the
floor, word after word. Instead OF
looking over His shoulder to see what
He had written, the scoundrels skulked
away. Finally, the whole place is
clear of pursuers, antagonists and
plaintiffs, and when Christ has finished
His strange chirography in the dust
He looks up and finds the woman all
alone.
The prisoner is the only one of the
eonrt room left, the judges, the pc.
lice, the prosecuting attorney having
cleared out Christ is victor, and He
says TO the woman: Where are the
prosecutors in this case? Are they all
gomez Then discharge you; go and
sin no more" | have wondered what
Christ wrote on the ground. For dc
n You realize that is the only time thai
He ever wrote at all? / know thai
Eusebius says that Christ once wrote
a letter to Abgarus, the king of Edes-
sa, but there is no good evidence OF
such correspondence. Tbs wisest
being the world ever saw, and the one
who had more to say than any one
who ever lived, never writing a book
or chapter or paragraph or word
on parchment Nothing but the litera
ture of the dust, and one sweep of q
brush or one breath of a wind obliter.
ated 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 700, 600 books of the Alex,
andrian library, which, by the infa
nous decree of Caliph Omar, were used
as fuel to heat the 1000 baths of the
city, not one sentence had Christ
penned Among all the infnitude OF
volumes now standing in the Libraries
of Edinburgh, the British museum, OF
Berlin, or Vienna, or the learned re.
positories of all nations, not one word
written directly by the finger of Christ
All that He ever wrote He wrote in
dust, uncertain, shifting dust
Whether the words He was writing
were in Greek or Latin or Hebrew
cannot say, for He knew all those Ian.
gnaRes. 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
on golden leaves. How IL would
sweeten up and enrich and emblazon
this world could we see Christ's calig
raphy all over IT, This world was moi
flung out into space thousands of years
ago, and then left to look out foI
itself II is still under the divine care.
Christ never for half second takes
His hand off of it, or it would soon be
a shipwrecked world, defunct world
an obsolete world. an abandoned
world, dead world. LET there be
light" was said at the beginning,
And Christ stands under the wintry
skies and says, let there be snowfiakes
To enrich the earth; and under the
clouds OF spring and saws come We
blossoms uni lnake redoent the or