The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1898-08-12
RECORDED IN DUST.
DR.. Talmage Talks About Chrlst's
Only Known Writing.
Forgiveness for the Erring, Condemnation
for the Hypocrite-There Should
Be but One Moral Standard
God in Nature.


down by Christ on a memorable occa-
Cion. The text is:
Jesus stopped down and with his finger
wrote on the ground.-John viii. g.
You must take your shoes off and
tut on the especial slippers provided at
the door if you would enter the Mo-
hammedan mosque, which stands now
" here once stood Herod's temple, the
scene of my text. Solomon's temple
had stood there, but Nebuchadnezzar
had thundered it down. ZerubbabePs
temple had stood there, but that had
been Frustrated. Now we take our
places in temple that Herod built,
because he was fond of great archi-
lecture, and he wanted the preceding
temple to seem insignificant. Put
eight or ten modern cathedrals togeth-
er, and they would not equal that
structure. 1t covered 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
resplendent, glittering balustrades and
ornamented gateways. The buildings
OF this temple kept 10000 workmen
busy 46 years.
In that stupendous pile of pomp and
magnifcence sat Christ, and listen
ing throng stood about him, when
a wild disturbance took place. A group
of men are pulling and pushing along
a woman who had committed crime
against society When they have
brought her in front OF Christ, hey
ask that He sentence her to death by
stoning. They are critical, merci-
less, disingenuous crowd. They want
to ges 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 complielty
with wickedness. Whichever way He
does, they would howl at Him.
Then occurs a 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 forefinger 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 demanding
that He settle this case of transgres-
sion, until He looked up and told them
they might themselves begin the
woman's assassination if the complain
ant who had never done any thing
wrong himself would open the fire.
s'Go ahead, but be sure that the man
who filings the first missile is immacu-
late" Then He resumed writing with
His finger in the dust of the floor, word
after word. Instead of looking over
His shoulder to see what He had writ
ten, the scoundrels skulked away.
Finally the whola place is clear of pur-
suers, antagonists and plaintiffs, and
when Christ has finished His strange
chirography in the dust He looks up
and finds the women all alone.
The prisoner IS the only one of the
court room left, the judges, the police,
the prosecuting attorney having cleared
out. Christ is victor, and He says to
the woman: Where are the prosecu-
tors in this case? Are they all gone?
Then l discharge you; go and sin no
more" have wondered what Christ
wrote on the ground. For do you
realize that is the only time that He
ever wrote at all know that Eusebius
saws that Christ once wrote letter to
Abgarus, the king of Edessa, but there
is no good evidence of such corre-
The wisest being the
world ever saw, and the One who had
more to say than anyone who ever
lived, never writing book or chap
ter or a paragraph or a word on parch-
ment. Nothing but the literature of
the dust, and one sweep of brush or
one breath of a wind obliterated it for
ever.
Among all the rolls of the volumes
of the first library founded at Thebes
there was not one scroll of Christ.
Among the 700, 900 books of the Alex
andrian library, which, by the in
famous decree of Caliph Omar, were
used as fuel to heat the 1000 baths of
the city, not one sentence had Christ
penned. Among all the infinitude of
volumes now standing in the libaries
of Edinburgh, the British museum, or
Berlin, or Vienna, or the learned re-
positories of all nations, not one word
written directly by the finger of Christ.
shifting dust.
My text says He stopped down and
wrote on the ground. Standing
up a man might write on the
ground with a staff, but if with his
fingers he would write in the dust he
must bend clear over. Aye, he must
get at least on one knee, or he can not
write ON tha orro11nd Re not SurnriSad
that He stopped down. STOPPING down
from castle to barn. STOPPING down
from celestial homage to monocratic
jeer. From residence above the stars
to where a star had to fall to de-
signate 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 of the crowd had left in
Herod's temple. IF, in January, you
have ever stepped out of a princes con-
servatory that had Mexican cactus and
magnolias in full blo:m into the out
side air, ten degrees below zero, You
may get some idea of Christ's change of
from celestial to terrestrial.
How many heavens there are know
not, but there are at least three, for
Paul was caught up into the third
Heaven"
Heaven to the second Heaven, and