The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-08-01
HYPOCRISY REBUKl,ED
WHAT WAS IT THAT CHRIST WROTE
~ IN THE pUSTi

U
WHAT WAS IT THAT CHRIST WROTE
" IN THE DvsTi
Or. Tainsse Explains the Story Of the
!. Saviour and the sinning Woman-sym-
pathy For the Penitent - Boundless
Ocean Of Divine Mercy.
, copyright. 1898. by American Press Asso-
| '''" '"" ciation.l & .s
WASHINGTON, July 81.-In this dis
course Dr.. Talpage gives heroic treatment
, OF delicate subject and applies to mod
ern society the lesson taught by Christ on
memorable occasion; text, John viii, 8,
Jesus stopped down and with his finger
wrote on the ground" -
You must take your ahoes off and put
on the especial slippers provided at the
door II You would enter the Mohammedan
mosque which stands now where once
atood Herod's temple, the ,soene of. ny
text. Solomon's temple had stood Aere,
but Nebuchadhezzar had Numbered 10
down. Zerubbabe1s temple had stood
there. but that had been Frustrated. Now
We take our places In a temple that Herod
built, because he was fond Of great archl-
lecture, and he, wanted the preceding tenn
pies to seem insigniflcant. Put eight or
ten modern cathedrals together, and they
would not equal that structure. It Gov
cred 10 acres. There were marble pillars
supporting roofs Of cedar and silver tables
on which stood golden cups, and there
were carvings exquisite and inscriptions
Respondent, glittering balustrades and
ornamental gateways. The building Of
this temple kept 10, 600 workmen busy 40
years.
In that stupendous pile of pomp and
magnifcence sat Christ, and a listening
throng stood about him when wild dis
tnrbanoe took place. A group of men are
pulling and pushing along woman who
nad comitted crime against society.
When they have brought her In front Of
Christ, they ask that he sentence her to
death by stoning, They are critical,
Inerciless, disingenuoua crowd, They
want to get Christ into controversy and |
public apprehension. II he say, LET her
de-" 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 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 DO
diverted or hindered. They kept on de-
manding that he settle this case of trans-
erosion, until he looked up and told them
they might themselves begin the woman's
assassination If 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 immaculate" Then he resumed writ.
Ing with his finger In the dust Of the floor,
word after word. Instead Of looking over
his shoulder to see what no had written,
tho scoundrels skulked away. Finally the
whole place Is clear Of pursuers, antago-
nists and plaintiffs, and when Christ has
finished this strange chirography in the
alone.
A Divine Judge.
The prisoner is the only one of the l.
courtroom left, the judges, the police, the
prosecuting attorney having cleared out.
Christ Is victor, and he says to the woman:
Where are the prosecutors In this casep
Are they all gomez Then discharge you.
Go and sin no more" l have wondered
what Christ wrote on the ground For do
you realize that is the only time that he
ever wrote ut ALP I know that Eusebius
says that Christ once wrote letter to Alb
garus, the king Of Odessa, but there is no ]
good evidence OF such q correspondence.
The wisest being the world ever saw, and
the one who had more to say than any one
who ever lived, never writing book or
chapter or q paragraph or word on parch- I
mentl Nothing but the literature Of the Q
dust, and one sweep Of brush or one h
breath Of q wind obliterated 1t forever. Q
Among sll the rolls Of the volumes of U
the first library founded at Thebes there 9
was not one scroll Of Christ. Among the t
200, 900 books Of the Ale1sndrian library, q
which by the infamous decree Of Caliph Il
Omar were used as fuel to heat the 1000 81
baths OF tho city, not one sentence had v
Christ penned. Among all the inflnitude b
of volumes now standing in the libraries q
of Edinburgh, the British museum or Der h
In or Vienna or the learned repositories Of b.
al nations not one word written directly II
BY the finger Of Christ All that he ever p
wrote he wrote In dust, uncertain, shifting O.
lust.
Ny text says no stopped down and wrote &C
IN tho ground. Standing straight up IN
nan might write on the ground with y. ~
e0Ab puV IL WIN HIS llu8eTb ne would | -,
write In the dust he must bend clear over. IN
Aye, he must get at least on one knee IN
r he cannot write on the ground. Be not IN
urprised that he stopped down. His Oh
Whole life was STOPPING down. STOPPING ~
lown from castle to barn STOPPING down w
rom celestial homage to monocratic jeer. DC
rom residence above the stars to where a se'
tar had to fall to designate his landing Gu
lace. From heavens front door to tho sn
7orld's back gate From writing in round ia
nd silvered letters of constellation and Sci
alaxy on the blue scroll of heaven to tlo
'riting on the ground in tho dust which sto
he feet of the crowd had left In Herod's NJ
nipple. II In January you have ever STEP 81
cd out Of a princes conservatory that had NJ
lexioan cactus and magnolias In full tbi
loom into tho outside air, 10 degrees be. thi
w zero, you may get some idea Of 90
hrist's change of atmosphere from celes- ha,
al to terrestrial. How many heavens Ian
lere arc ! know not, but there are at least tin
'roe, for Paul was "caught up into the M,
,ird heaven" A.
Christ came down from the highest car
,aven to the second heaven and down
ON second heaven to first heaven, down
Vifter than meteors ever fell, down amid
ellar splendors that himself eclipsed, inc
'WH VurouSu ClOuub, UuTOuSN aGmO6- |
!eres, through appalling space, down to zen
hero there was no lower depth From hyp
ing waited on at the banquet OF the skies GIN
the broiling Of fish for his own break oh'
st on tho banks Of the lake. From en- was
azoned ohariots Of eternity to the saddle ma,
mules back. From the homage che
bic, seraphic, arohangelic, to the paying say!
6sH cents Of tax to Cesar From the OF
athless country to tomb built to hide pra'
man dissolution. The uplifted wave Of sam
lilee was high, but he had to come down MIN
fore with his feet no could touch it, and som
} whirlwind that arose above tho billow u
IS higher yet, but he had to come down PEN
'ore with his lip he could kiss it into ,he,
let. Bethlehem a STOPPING down. MAJ ~
'th STOPPING down. Death between D re-
Q burglars n STOPPING down. Yes, it j. !,
8 In consonance with humiliations that IN u
mt before and self abnegations that am
ne after when OH that memorable day in n
Herods temple no stopped down and plica