The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1898-08-06

N this discourse Dr. Talmage gives
heroic treatment of a delicate subject
/ and applies 10 modern society the les /
son taught by Christ on a memorable oc- /
casion: text, John viii, =, Jesus stopped
down and with his finger wrote on the
ground
You must take your shoes off and put
on the especial slippers provided at the
door If you would enter the MOhammedan /
mosque which stands now where once
stood Herod's temple. the scene of my
text. Solomon's temple had stood there, /
but Nchuchadnczzar had Numbered 1t ,
down. ZerubbabcIs temple had stood
there, but that had been Frustrated. Now
we take our places in i temple that Herod
built, because he was fond of great ar
Chitecture ana he wanted the preceding
temples to seem insignificant. Put eight
or ten modern cathedrals together, and
they would not equal that structure. 1t
covered nineteen acres. There were mar
bic pillars supporting roofs of cedar and
silver tables on which stood golden cups,
and there were carvings exquisite and i'll
scriptions Respondent, glittcring balus-
trades and ornameuted gateways. The
building Of this temple kept 10000 work
men busy forty-siX years.
In that stupendous pile of pomp and
magniticenCe sat Christ, and q listening
throng stood about him when a wild dis
turhance took place. A group Of men are
pulling and pushing along a 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 stonine. They are critical.
merciless, disingenuous crowd They
want IN Christ NJ traC md
public apprehension. If he say Let her
die, they will charge him with cruelty.
Ii he let her go, they will charge him with
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 forefnger of his right hand
he begins to write in the dust of the floor
word after word. But they were not to
he 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 the
woInans ASA sSination if the complainant
who had never done anything wrong him
self would open the fire "Go ahead. but
be sure that the man who filings the first
missile is immaculate" Then he resum
ed writing 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 s"0uudrelS Skulkod away
Finally the whole place is clear of pur>u-
ers, antagonists and plaintiffs and when
Christ has finished his strange chiros
raphE in the dust he looks up and finds
4 "a NO ON III \
\ Divine Judge.
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 h. says to the WON
an. her" are the prosecutors in this
case: Are they all gone: Then | dis
charge you. 60 and sin no more"
have wondered what Christ wrote on the
ground. For do you rculizr that is the
only time that he ever wrote mt aIIy |
know that Euschius says that Christ once
wrote letter to Abgarus, the king Of
Edessa, but there is no good evidence. Of
such correspondence. The wiSrSt being
the world ever saw, and the one who had
more to say than any one who ever lived.
never writing a book or 4 chapter or \
paragraph or a word ON parchment, Moth
ing hut the literature of the dust. and
one sweep If brush or one breath of y
wind ohlltcrnted il forever.
Among all the rolls Of the volumes OF
the first library founded AT Thebes there
was not one scroll of Christ. Among the
tpHD books Of the Alexandrian library. |
which by Il" Infamous decree OF CaIipb
omar were used rs fuel 10 heat the 1 .Oon
baths or the city, not one sentence had
Christ penucG. Among all the infnituJe
ff vain -, Il
OF Edinburgh, the British museum or
berlin or Vienna or the learned repoSi-
tories Of all nations not one word written
directly by the finger of Christ. All that
he ever wrote he wrote in dust. un..r;.- :
tain, shifting dust.
Ny text says he stopped down and
wrote on the ground. Standing straight
up mum might write on the ground with
a stan, but if with his fingers he would
write in the dust he must bend clear over. J
Ave. he must get ut least on one knee
or he cannot write on the ground Be NOT ,
surprised that he stopped down His whole |
life was a STOPPING down. STOPPING down
from castle To barn. STOPPING down from
celestial homage to mouocratiC ierr. From
residence above the stars To where n star
had to fall 10 designate his landing nIara /
From heavens front door 10 the worlds
back gate. From writing in round and
silvcred letters Of constellation and ,-,l |
axy on the blue scroll OF heaven to writ
Ing on the ground in the dust which the |
feet OF the crowd had left in Herods tenn |
PIE. II in January yen have ever sfep-
ped out of a princes conservatory thar !
had Mexican cactus and magnolias in full |
bloom into the outside air. 10 degrees be
low zero, you may get some idea of ,
thrists change Of atmosphere from Celes- /
tial to terrestrial. How many heavens /
there are | know not, but there are NJ
least three, for Paul was caught up into |!
the third heaven
Christ came down from the highest /
heaven 70 the second heaven and down /
from second heaven to first heaven. down
swifter than meteorS ever fell. down amid +
stellar sp!endors that himself cclipsei |
down through clouds. through atraoS-
phereS, through appalling space. down TO /.
where there was no lower depth From /
being waited on At the banquet of the /
skies 70 the hrrilng Of FISH for his own /,
breakfast on the banks of the lake. From /
enhlazoned Chariuts If eternity to the 1
saddle Of n mules back From the HON /
age cheruhic. seraphic. archaugelic. 10 the (
paving OF 62la cents Of tax to Caesar. /
From the dcathlcss country to a tomb /
built 70 hide human dissolution. The up I
lifted wave Of tialilec was high. hut he .
had to come down before with his feet
he could touch IT, and the whirlwiud that i
arose above the billow was higher Yer, /
but he had 10 come down before with his /
LIP he could kiss it into quiet. Bethlehem /
a stepping down. Nazareth a STOPPING
down. Death between two burglars \
STOPPING down. Yes. il was in conSunance /
Fi1,,-, l.. !
self ahnegations that came after when on /
that memorable day in Herod's temple he /
stopped down and wrote 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. /
h., 4.