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

| ~ down and with his
finger wrote on the ground"
You must take your shoes OF and put
on the especial slippers provided at the
door II YOU would enter the Moham-
medan mosque which stands now where
cnce stood Herod's temple, the scene OF
my text. Solomon's temple had stooi
tAere, but Nebuchadnezzar had thun-
deTed 1t down. Zerubbabers temple
had stood there but that had been pros
trated. Now we take our places in a
temple that Herod built, because he
was fond OF great architecture, and he
wanted the preceding temples to seem
cAthedrals together, and they would
not equal that structure. 1t covered
nineteen acres There were marble pill
lars supporting roofs OF cedar and sill
ver tables on which stood golden cups,
and there were carvings exquisite and
inscriptions resplendent. glittering bal
ustrades and ornamented gateways.
The building Of this temple kept ten
thousand workmen busy forty -six
years
In that stupendous pile OF pomp and
magnificence sat Christ and d listening
throng stood about him when wild
disturbance took place. A group Of
men are pulling and pushing along .
woman who had committed a crime
against society. When they have
brought her in front of Christ they ask
that he sentence her to death by ston-
ing. They are critical. merclless, dis
ingenious crowd. They want to get
Christ into controversy and public rep
rehension. II he say, Let her die"
they will charge him with cruelty. II
being in completely with wickedness.
Whichever way 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 on the floor, word after word.
But they are not to be diverted or
! hindered. They kept on demanding
Y that he settle this case of transgres-
! sion, until he looked up and told them
that they might themselves begin the
woman's assassination II the complain
ant who had never done anything
wrong himself would open the fire. &c
!,
fires the first missile is immaculate
: Then ne resumed writing with his fin
! ger in the dust OF the floor, word after
word Instead OF looking over his
shoulder to see what he had written
the scoundrels skuiked away. Finally
the whole place Is clear Of pursuers
antagonists and plaintiffs, and wher
Christ has finished his strange chirog'
raphy IA the dust he looks up and finds
the woman all alone.
The prisoner is the only one OF the
. court room left, the Judges, the police
the prosecuting attorney having clear
ed out. Christ is victor, and he says /,
the woman: Where are the prosecu
- Then l discharge you. Gro and sin N
more" have wondered what Chris
wrote on the ground. For do You re
allse that that Is the only time he eve
10 wrote at all" | know that Eusebiu
says that Christ once wrote letter t
.r AhEarus. the king Of Odessa, but ther
is no good evidence of such corre
spondt nee. The wisest being tn
world ever saw. and the one who ha'
w more to say than anyone who eve
"a ter or a paragraph or word on parch
menti Nothing but the literature o
IN IN the dust, and one sweep Of brush .
one breath OF wind obliterated it for
d ever.
Among all the rolls OF the volume
n. OF the first library founded at Thebes
there was not one scroll OF Christ
- Among the 700 900 books OF the Alexan
=; drian library. which by the infamou
Z decree Of Caliph Omar We're used a
! fuel to heat the 1000 baths in the cit,
Z not one sentence had Christ pennet
, Among all the inhnttude of volume
I now standing In the libraries OF Edir
} burgh. the British Museum, or Berll
{ or Vienna, or the learned repoSitarie
I OF all nations. not one word written d
IS rectly by the finger OF Christ. All ths
K he ever wrote he wrote In dust unceI
u tain, shifting dust.
My text says he STOPPED down an
I wrote on the ground. Standing straigf
up a man might write on the groun
I with u staff. but II with his fingers h
) would write In the dust he must ben
( clear over.
Aye, he must get at least on or
5 knee " he cannot write on the groun
I BE not surprised that he stopped dow
} His whole life was stopping dow
{ STOPPING down from castle to BAR
I STOPPING down from celestial homal
to monocratic jeer. From resident
I above the stars 10 where a star had
} fab to designate his landing plac
I From heavens front door TO the world
I back gate. From writing In round ar
{ sIlveve.l lesAcrs ~ constcllatIon and u;