The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1898-08-13

And will you allow me to say that l
think l know what He wrote on the
ground? l judge from the circum.
stances. He might have written other
things, but kneeling there in the
temple, surrounded by pack of
hypocrites, who was self-appointed
constabulary, and having in his pres
ence prosecuted woman, who evident
ly was very penient for her sins. am
sure He wrote two words, both of then
graphic and tremendous and rever.
berating. And the one word was
Hypocrisy" and the other word was
forgiveness.
From the way these Pharisees and
Scribes vacated the premises and got
out into the fresh air, as Christ, with
just one ironical sentence unmasked
them, l know they were first-class
hypocrites. 1t was then as it is now.
The more faults and Inconsistencies
people have Of their own, the more Sc
we're and censorious are they about the
faults of others. Here they are-20
stout men arresting and arraigning
one weak woman Magnificent bust.
ness to be engaged in! They wanted
the fun of seeing her faint away under
heavy judicial sentence from Christ,
and then, after she had been taken
outside of the city and fastened
at the foot of the precipice, the
Scribes and Pharisees wanted the sat.
isfaction of each coming and dropping
big stone on her head, for that was
the style OF capital punishment that
they asked for. Some people have
taken the responsibility of saying that
Christ never laughed. But l think as
He saw those men drop everything,
chagrinedc mortified, exposed, and go
out quidlSer) than they came in, He
must have laughed AT any rate, it
makes me laugh to read of it, All of
those libertines, dramatizing indigna-
ton against impurity! Blind bats lee
turing on optics! A flock of crows on
their way up from carcass, denounc-
ing carbon!
Yes, think that one word written
on the ground that day by the finger OF
Christ was the, awful word hypocrisy.
What pretensions to sancity are the
part of those hypocritical Pharisees!
When the fox begins to pray look out
for your chickens. One of the cruel
magnates of olden times was going to
excommunicate one of the martyrs,
and he began in the usual form-''In
the name of God, amen" "Stop." says
the martyr, don't say in the name of
God!" Yet how many outrages
are practiced under the garb of
religion and sanctity! When in
synods and conferences, ministers
of the Gospel are about to say som e.
thing unbrotherly and unkind about
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 meal.
But l am sure there was another
word in that dust From her entire
manner l am sure that arraigned wom-
an was repentant. She made no
apology, and Christ in no wise belittled
her sin. But her supplicatory behavior
and her tears moved him, and when he
stopped down to write on the ground
He wrote that mighty, that imperial
word, forgiveness.
.
He wrote it with finger of lightning
on tables of stone, each word as by
chisel into the hard granite surface.
But when He writes the offense of this
woman He writes it in the dust, so
that it can be easily rubbed out, and
when she repents of it, oh, He was
merciful Christ! | was reading of
legend that is told in the far east
about Him. He was walking through
the streets of a city and He saw
crowd around dead dog. And one
man said: what loathsome object
is that dog!' "Yes, said another,
''his ears are mauled and bleeding"
Eyes" said another, ''even his hide
would not be of any use to the tanner"
"Yess, said another, "the odor of his
carcass is dreadful Then Christ,
standing there, said: "But pearls can
not equal the whiteness of his teeth"
Then the people, moved by the idea
that anyone could find anything pleas
ant concerning the dead dog, said:
"Why, this must be Jesus of Nazareth"
Reproved and convicted, they went
away.
And now can believe that which l
read, how that mother kept burning
a candle in the window every night for
ten years, and one night, very late,
poor waif Of the street entered The
aged woman said to her: "Sit down
by the fire." aud the stranger
said: "Why do you keep that light
in the Window" The aged woman
said: THAT is to light my hayward
daughter when she returns. Since she |
went away, ten years ago, my hair has
turned white. Folks blame me for
about her, but you see am
her mother, and sometimes, half a
dozen times a night, l open the door
and look out into the darkness |
and cry: Lizzie! 'Lizzie!' But l |
must not tell you any moro |
about my trouble, for / guess from
the way you cry you have trouble
enough of your own. Why, how cold
and sick you seem! Oh, my, can it be? |
Yes, you are Lizzie, my own lost child
Thank God that you are home again!" |
And what time of rejoicing there was
in that house that night. And Christ
again stopped down, and on the ashes |
Of that hearth, now lighted up, not
more by the great blazing logs than by
the Joy of a reunited household, wrote |
the same liberating words that had |