The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-08-09

lilies OF the ISI. now NUSs t4OW
we would not hear in the whistle OF a
quail or the cawing OF a raven or tne
oundela OF a brown thrasher wltnout
TheV rather not in barns. yet your
Heavenly father feedeth them. ana a
Dominic hen of the barnyard could hot
Christ saying. as of old. How OTTER
would / have gathered thy children to-
gether. even as a hen gatheretn hes
chickens under her wings and through
Christ saying. II am the rose OF Sna-
ron" We could not dip the seasoning
the divine suggestion, Y are the san
OF the earth. but Il the salt hath lost
its SAVIOR IL is At for nothing but 10 De
cast out and trodden under foot OF men
Let US wake from our stupidity and
take the whole world as a parable Then.
If with gun and pack OF hounds We start
coming down off the hills 10 meet US we
would cry out with the evangelist. The
~day-spring from on high hath visited US.
or. caught in a snowstorm while sirug-
Cling home. eyebrows and beard and
apparel all covered with the whirling
fakes. We would cry out with David
Wash me. and l shall be wh,ter than
snow" In a picture gallery OF Europe
there Is or the ceiling an exquisite fres-
CO, but the people having 10 look straight
up. it wearied and dizzied them and bent
their necks almost beyond endurance. so
a great looking glass was put near the
floor. AID now visitors only need TO look
easily down into this mirror. and they
see tho fresco at their feet. And SO.
much OF the high heaven OF Gods truth
is reflected in this world as in a mirror.
and things that are above are copied by
things around US
What right have we TO throw away one
of Gods Bibles-aye, the nrst Bible ne
ever gave the race? We talk about the
Old Testament and the New Testament
but the oldest testament contains the
lessons OF the natural world. some peo-
pie like the New Testament so well
tbax- J;-narJ +ha Ola TaSraraAnf Shall We
like the New Testament and the Oid
Testament so we'll as TO depreciate the
~oldest-namely, that which was written
before Moses was put afoat on the boat
of leaves which was calked with aspnal-
tum-or reject the Genesis that was writ
ten centuries before Adam lost a rib and
stoops down and writes on the ground
let US read it
THE BIBLE IN NATURE.
/ would have no less appreciation OF
the Bible on paper that comes OUT or the
paper mill. but / would urge apIrecia-
ton of the Bible in the grass, the Bible
in the sand Hill, the Bible in the gera-
MUS, the Bible in the ~asphodel' the
an ancient king whether he. had
seen the eclipse of the sun. NO, sald
he. Il have so much TO STUDY on earth
/ AVE no time to look at heaven And
if our faculties were all awake in the
study of God we would not have time to
go much farther than the frst grass
blade. ! have no fear that natural reli-
gion will ever contradict what we call
revealed religion. 1 have no sympathy
with the followers of Aristotle, who az
ter the telescope was invented would not
look through it lest it contradict some
of the theories of their great master. l
shall be glad to put against one lid OF
other lid of the Bible the telescope.
But when Christ stopped. down and
wrote On the ground what did he write?
The PhariseeS did not stop TO
The towards. whipped of their own con-
sciences, fed pellmell. Nothing will fay
a man like an aroused conscience. DR.:
says that when Rev. Benjamin Abbott.
of oldeH times. was preaching he ex-
claimed, For aught / know there may
be a murderer in this house And a
man rose from the assemblage and start
ed for the door and bawled aloud, con-
Tossing to a murder he had committed
fifteen years before. and no wonder these
Pharasees. reminded Of their sins, took
to their heels.
But what did Christ write on the
ground? The Bible does not state, yet as
once you cannot blame US for wanting
to know what he really did write. but i
am certain he wrote nothing trivial or
nothing unimportant and will you allow
me to say that l think l know what he
wrote on the ground? l judge from the
circumstances. He might have written
temple, surrounded by a pack of hypo-
critics who were a self appointed con-
stabulary and having in his presence a
prosecuted woman, who evidently was
very penitent for her sins, / am sure he
wrote two words, both of them graphic
and tremendous and reverberating,. 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
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 severe and censorious are
they about the faults of others. Here they
are, twenty stout men arresting and
arraigning one weak woman! Magnif-
wanted the fun Of seeing her faint away
uder a heavy judicial sentence from
Christ, and then, after she had been
at the foot of the precipice, the scribes
and Phrases wanted the satisfaction
of each coming and dropping a big stone
on her head, for that was the style of
capital punis hment that they asked for.
Some people have taken the responsible
ty of saying that Christ never laughed.
but 1 think as he saw those men drop
everything. ~chagrined, mortified. expos
ed, and go out quicker than they came
in he must have laughed. At any rate,
it makes me laugh to read of IL, All of
those libertines dramatizing indignation
against impurity! Bind bats lecturing on
optics! A flock Of crows on their way up
from a carcass denouncing c%arrion!
Yes, 1 think that one word written on
the ground that day by the finger of
Christ was the awful word hypocrisy.
VIA pretensions to sanctity are the
part of those hypocritical Pharisees!
When the fox begins to pray, look out
for your chickens. One of the cruel mag
mates of olden times was going to ex-
communicate one of the martyrs, and he
began in the usual form-"In the name
of God. Amen" Stop" sys the martyr.
Don't say in the name of Godr" 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 something
unbrotherly and unkind about a MEM
Der, they almost always begin by being
ostentatiously pious, the venom of their
assault corresponding to the heavenly
flavor of the prelude. About 10 devour
a reputation, they say grace before meal.
But Il am sure there was another
word in that dust. From her entire man.
ner / am sure that a~rraigned woman
was repentant. She made no apology, and
Christ in nowise belittled her sin. But
her supplicatory behavior and her tears
moved him. and wnen he stopped down