The Progress. (Shreveport, La.) 1892-1900, 1898-08-06

shoy were first class hypocritcs r. w,e
ch'h rs IL Is ROW. The moro fnults and
! INCONSISTENCIES pcopl" have of their own
Inc moro severe and CcnsOrous AFRO thov
| ABOUT the faults Of others Here they o,r
| ~ STOUT mon "rrcsting md arraignIng ono
weak woman Magnificent business I,
| De engaged in They wanted thn finn IF
| n'lng her foint away undor heavy iudi
| 'la' sentence from Christ and then. of,or
she had been taken outside of the city ana
| fastened at the foot of the prccnIcn IN,
| *ribes and pharisccs wanted the emf. f,,
Won OF cnch coming and dropping u bio
stone on be, 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 |
think ~ he saw those mon drop every,
! thing, chagrlncd, mortified, exposed, and
60 out quicker than they came in he must
have laughed At any rate, It makes no
laugh to rcnd Of It. All Of those liber-
tines dramatizing indignation against I'M
purity Blind bats lccturing on opticsi
A flock OF crows on their way up from
carcass denouncing carrioni
Rebuking Hypocrisy.
Yes, l think that one word written on
the ground that day by the finger of Christ
was tho awful word hypocrisy. What pre-
tensions to sanctity arc the part Of those
hypocritical Pharisees| When the fox bc-
gins TO pray, look out for your chickens.
Una nf tina al
was going to cxcommunicate one of tho
martyrs, and he begun In the usual form
In the name of God Amen" "Stopw
says tho martyr. Don't say in the name
OF Godr " Yet how many outrnges are
practiccd under the gnrb of religion and
sanctity' When IN synods and conferences
ministers of the gospel are about to scv
something un5rotherly and unkind about
q member they almost always begin nv
being ostentatiously pious, the venom of
their assault corresponding to the heaven
~ flavor OF the prelude. About to devonr
reputation, they say grace before meal.
But am sure there WIS another word
In that dust. From hor entire manner
sM sure TINT arrngned woman was re-
Pentant. She made no apology, and Christ
IN nOwiss belittled her sin But her SIM.
plicatory behavior and her tears moved
him, and whom 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 1t with finger of lightning on tables
Of stone, each word cut as by q chscI into
the hard granite surface. But when no
writes the effense of this woman he writes
1t IN dust SO that 1t can be easily rubbed
out, and when she repcnts of it, oh. he
was merciful Christ! was reading OF
legend that is told In the far cast about
him. He was walking through the streets
OF city, and he saw crowd around
dead dog. And one man said, "What
loathsome object Is that dog!" "Yes,"
said another; This ears are mauled and
bleeding" ayes" said another; "cven
his hide would not be of any use to tho
tanner" "Y"s," said another; "the odor
of his carcass Ia dreadful" Then Christ,
standing there, said, "But pearls cannot
equal the whiteness Of his teeth" Then
the people, moved by the iden TINT any one
could find anything pleasant concerning
the dead dog, said, why, this must be
Jesus OF NAZARETH" Reprovod and con
voted, they went away. !
Surely this legend Of Christ Is good
enough to be true Kindness In ali his
words and ways and habits! Forgivenessl
Word of II letters, and some of them
thrones and some of them palm branches.
Better have Christ write close to our names
that ono word, though he write it In dust,
than to have our name out into monn
mental granite with the letters that the
storms of 1000 years cannot obliterate
Bishop Darlington had book of only
three leaves. The first leaf was black, tho
second leaf red, the third leaf white. The
binck leaf suggested sin, the red leaf
a at the white leaf publication.
That Is the whole story. God will abun-