Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1898-09-01

wrote on the ground, what d1u he Wtltof
| The Pharisees did not stop to examine.
The towards, whipped Of their own con
sciences, fed pell NELL. Nothing will fay
| a man like an aroused conscience. DR..
stevens, in his History Of Methodism,"
says that when the Rev. Benjamin Abbott,
claimed: "For aught I know there may
be murderer In this house," and a man
rose from the assemblage and started for
the door and bawled aloud, confessing to
a murder he had committed fifteen years
before. And no wonder these Pharisees,
reminded OF their sins, took to their heels.
But what did Christ write on the ground2
The Bible 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 I am GER
tain He wrote nothing trivial or nothing
say that think know what He wrote on
the ground2 l judge from the circum-
stances. He might have written other
things, but kneeling there in the Temple,
surrounded by pack OF hypocrites who
were self-appointed constabulary, ana
having in its presence prosecuted woman,
who evidently was very penitent for her
sins, am sure He wrote two words, both
| of them graphic and tremendous and re-
verberating. And the one word was
hypocrisy" and the other word was for
| giveness."
Yes, think that one word written on
the ground that day by the finger Of
Christ was the awful word hypocrisy.
What pretensions to sanctity are the part
of those hypocritical Pharisees! When the
fox begins to pray look out for your chick
ems. One Of the cruel mngnates of olden
times was going to- excommunicate one
of the martyrs, and he began In the usual
form-"In the name of God, Amen"
''Stopr' says the martyr. "dont say Sin the
name of God!" Yet how many outrages
are practiced under the garb of religion
and sanctityl When in synods and con-
ferences, ministers o; the Gospel are about
to say something unbrotherly and un-
kind about q member, they almost always
begin by being ostentatiously pious, the
venom of their assault corresponding to
the heavenly flavor OF the prelude. About
to devour reputation they say grace
before meat.
But am sure there was another word
in that dust. From her entire manner I
am sure that arraigned woman was re-
pentant. She made no apology, and Christ
in nowise belittled her sin. But her sup
plicatory behavior and her tears moved
Him, and when He stopped down to write
on the ground He wrote that mighty, that
imperial word, forgiveness.
When on Sinai God wrote the law, He
wrote it with finger of lightning on tables
of stone, each word cut as by a chisel into
the hard granite surface. But when He
writes the offence Of this woman He writes
it in dust so that it can be easily rubbed
out, and when she repents OF it-oh, He
was merciful Christ! was reading of O
legend that is told in the far East about
Him. He was walking through the streets
of city and He saw crowd around dead
dog. And one man said: What loath-
some object is that dog!" EYES," said an
other, "his ears are mauled and bleeding"
eyes," said another, seven his hide would
not be of any use to the tanner" eyes,"
thA 1n- ~ n Dc fr
dreadful" Then Christ, standing there,
said: "But pearls cannot equal the white
ness Of his teeth" Then the people, moved
by the idea that anyone could find any
thing pleasant concerning the dead dog,
said: "Why, this must be Jesus of Naza-
away.
But while speak OF Christ OF the text.
His stopping down writing in the dust, do
not thin underrate the literature of the
dust. 1t is the most tremendous OF all
literature. It is the grandest OF all libra
ries. When Layard exhumcd Nineveh he
was only opening the door OF its mighty
dust. The excavations OF Pompeii have
only been the unclaspinR OF the lids Of
nations dust.
Oh! this mighty literature OF the dust:
Where are the remains OF Sennacherib and
Attila and Epamlnnondas and Tameriane
and Tralan and Philip OF Macedon and
julius Caesar? Dust! Where are the
guests who danced the floors Of the Alham-
bra or the Persian palaces OF Ahasuerus2
Dust! Where are the musicians who
played, or the orators who spoke, and the
seulptors who chisled, and the architects
who built, in all the centuries except our
own? Dust Where are the most of the
books that once entranced the world2
Dust! Pliny wrote twenty books of his
tory; all lost. The most OF Menander's
writings lost. OF one hundred and thirty
comedies Of Plautus, ali gone but twenty.
Eurpides wrote hundred dramas, all
gone but nineteen. Eschylus wrote q hum
dred dramas, all gone but seven. Quin-
lillian wrote his favorite book on the cor
ruption Of eloquence, all lost Thirty
books Of Tacitus lost. Dion Cassius wrote
eighty books only twenty remain. Bero-
siuss history all lost. Where there is one
living book there are q thousand dead
books.
oh! this mighty literature of the dust. Il
is.not so wonderful, after all, that Christ
chose, instead of an inkstand, the impress
slonable sand on the floor OF an ancient
temple, and, instead of a hard pen, put
forth His forehnger, with the same kind Of
nerve and muscle and bone and flesh as
that which makes up our own forefinger.