Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1898-09-01
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.
'Writing in Dust" tho SubJect-A Denun-
ciaJioh OF Hy1.Jcrisy-rhe Injustice of
Condemning in Woman Sins That Are
0Yerla0ked In Man.

COnO6mn1nR
Overlooked in Man.
TEXT: "Jesus stopped down and with
His fingers wrote on the ground."-John
Will, 6.
You must take your shoes Off and put
on the especial slippers provided ut the
door il 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
Nebuchadnezzar had thundered 1t down.
Zerupbabels temple had stood there, but
had been prostrated. Now we take our
places in a temple that Herod built, because
be was fond of great architecture, and he
wanted the preceding temples to seem In
significant. Put eight or ten modern ca
equal that structure. 1t covered nineteen
acres There were marble pillars support
ing roofs of cedar, and silver tables, on
which stood golden cups, and there were
carvings exquisite, and Inscriptions re-
splendent, glittering balustrades and orna-
mented gateways.
In that stupendous pile of pomp and
magnihcence sat Christ, and a listening
throng stood about Him when wild dis
turbance took place. A group Of men are
pulling and pushing along q 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 stoning. They are a critical,
merciless. disingenuous crowd. They want
to get Christ into controversy and public
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. Which
ever way He does, they would howl at Him.
Then occurs 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 forehnger 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 hindered. They kept on de-
manding that He settle this case OF trans
gression, until He looked up and told them
they might themselves begin the woman's
assassination, il the complainant who had
never done anything wrong himself would
open the fire. "Go ahead, but be sure that
the man who filings the first missile is i'm
maculate.' Then He resumed writing
with His finger nail 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. antag-
onists and plaintiffs, and when Christ has
finished this strange chirography in 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 prose-
cutting attorney having cleared out. Christ
is victor, and He says to the woman:
"Where are the prosecutors in this case?
are they all gone? Then / discharge you;
go and sin no more" I have wondered
what Christ wrote on the ground For do
you realize that this is the only time that
He ever wrote at all? l know that Eusebius
says that Christ once wrote letter to
Abgarus, the King OF Edessa but there is
no good evidence of such a correspond
ence. The wisest Being the world ever
saw, and the One who had more to say
Al..x -
book or a chapter or paragraph or a
word on parchment. Nothing but the lit
erature OF the dust, and one sweep OF a
brush or one breath OF u wind obliterated
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 books
of the Alexandrian Library, which, by the
infamous decree of Caliph Omar were used
as fuel to heat the baths of the city, not
one sentence had Christ penned. Among
all the inflpitude Of volumes now standing
in the Libraries of Edinburgh, the British
Museum, or Berlin, or Vienna, or the
learned repositories 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.
My text says He stopped down and wrote
on the ground. Standing straight up
man might write on the ground with staff,
but il with His fingers He would write in
the dust He must bend clear over. Ave, He
must get at least on one knee, or He can
not write on the ground. Be not surprised
that He stopped down, His whole life was
STOPPING down. Stooplng down from castle
to barn. STOPPING down from celestial
homage to monocratic jeer. From resi-
dence above the stars to where a star had
to fall to designate His landing place.
From Heavens front door to the worlds
back gate. From writing In round and
silvered letters of constellation and galaxy
on the blue scroll Of Heaven to writing on
the ground in the dust which the feet in
the crowd had left in Herod's temple.
Christ came down from the highest
breakfast, on the banks OF the lake. From
emblazoned chariots of eternity to the
saddle Of q mules back. From the hon.
age cherubic, se1aphic, archangelic. to the
paying Of sixty-two and a half cents of tax
to Caesar. From the deathless country to
tomb built to hide human dissolution
The uplifted wave OF Galilee was high, but
He had to come down before, with His feet,
He could touch it, and the whirlwind that
arose above the billow was higher yet, but
He had to come down before with His lip
He could kiss 1t into quiet. Bethlehem
Death between two burglars a stopping
down. Yes, 1t was in consonance with
humiliations that went before and self
abnegations that came after. when on that
InemoraDle uay IN derOuS temple he
stopped down and wrote on the ground.
Whether the words He was writing were
In Greek or Latin or Hebrew, l cannot say,
for He knew all those languages. 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 or fall
en- leaves. How 1t would sweeten up and
enrich and emblazon this world, could we
see Christ's caligraphy all over it. This
world was not flung out into space thou
sands Of years ago, and then left to look out
for itself. 1t is still under the Divine care
Christ never for o half second takes His
hand off of it. or it would soon be a ship
wrecked world, defunct world, an obso-
lete 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 snow
flakes to enrich the earth; and under the
clouds OF spring and says, come ye BIOS
SONS and make redolent the orchards; and
In September, dips the branches in the vat
OF beautiful colors, and swings them into
the hazy air. No whim Of mine is this.
FWithout Him was not ANYTHING made that