Barre evening telegram. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-19??, 1898-07-30
THE HAND OF CHRIST
OR. TALMAGE TELLS WHAT IT WROTE
IN THE DUST.

Inc GREAT Preacher DenOunces Hypocrisv.
Shows the Injustice of Condemning In
Woman Sins That Are Overlooked In
Man-christ's Judgment Of the Outoast.
copyright. 1898, by American Press Asso-
ciation.l
WASHINGTON, July 81.-In this dis
course DR.. Talmage gives heroic treat
ment ct delicate subject, and applies
to modern society the lesson taught by
Christ on memorable occasion; text,
John viii, 6, "Jesus stopped down and
with his finger wrote on the ground"
You must take your shoes off and put
ON the especial slippers provided at the
door If you would enter the Mohammed-
an mosque which stands now where
once stood Herod's temple, the scene Of
my text. Solomon's temple had stood
there, but ACKNOWLEDGMENT had thun.
dered it down. Zerubbabel' s temple had
stood there. but that had been prostrat-
ed. Now we take our places in tenn
pie that Herod built, because he was
fond OF great architecture, and he want
ed the preceding temples to seem insig-
nificant. Put eight or ten modern cathe-
drals together, and they would not
equal that structure. 1t covered 10
acres. There were marble pillars sup
porting roofs of cedar and silver tables
on which stood golden cups, and there
were carvings exquisite and inscriptions
resplendept glittering balustradcs and
ornamented gateways The building of
this temple kept 10000 workmen busy
46 years.
In that stupendous pile of pomp and
magnifcence sat Christ, and listening
throng stood about him when a wild
disturbance took place. A group of men
are pulling and pushing along woman
who had committed crime against so.
ciety. When they have brought her in
front of Christ, they ask that he SEN
tence her to death by stoning. They are
critical, merciless, disingenuous
crowd. They want to get 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 compile
ity with wickedness. Whichever way
he does they would howl at him.
Christ's Judgment.
Then occurs scene which has not
been sufficiently regarded. He leaves
| the lounge or bench on which he was
sitting and goes down OH one knee, or
both knees, and with the forefneger 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 hinder
ed. They kept on demanding that he
settle this case of transgression until he
looked up and told them they might
themselves begin the woman's assas-
sination if the complainant who had
never done anything wrong himself
would open the fire. EGO ahead, but be
sure that the man who filings the first
missile is immaculate. Then he re-
sumed writing with his finger In the
dust of the floor word after word. In.
stead Of looking over his shoulder to see
what he had written the scoundrels
skulked away. Finally the whole place
is clear Of pursuers, antagonists and
plaintiffs, and when Christ has finished
this strange chirography in the dust he
looks up and finds the woman all alone
The prisoner is the only one OF the
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 II
this case? Are they all gone? Then
discharge you. Go and sin no more y
have wondered what Christ wrote or
the ground, for do you realize that II
the only time that he ever wrote at all
know that Eusebius says that Chrls
once wrote a letter to Abgarus, the king
of Odessa, but there is no good evidence
of such correspondence. The wlses
being the world ever saw and the ONT
; who had more to say than any one Wh'
ever lived never writing book or
: chapter or paragraph or word OF
parchment. Nothing but the hteratur
of the dust, and one sweep OF prusl
or one breath of wind oblitcrated
forever.
Among all the rolls of the volumes Q
the first library founded at Thebe
there was not one scroll OF CHRIST
Among the 700, 600 books of the Alex
audrian library, which, by the mia
,, nous decree of Caliph Omar, were use
+. ms fuel to heat the 1000 baths OF III
civ. not che sentence had Christ penneo
Among all the infnitude OF volume
now standing in the libraries OF Eall
burch. the British museum or Del
!. lin or Vienna or the learned repos
n tories of all the nations not one WOE
. written directly by tho finger OF Chr1s
j. All that he ever wrote he wrote Ill dus
!. uncertain, shifting dust.
STOPPING Down.
NV text SAYS he stopped down an
wrote on the ground. Standing stralsl
nm a man might write on the gro",'
with a staff, but if with his fingers
would write in the dust he must pen
clear over. Aye, he must get at lea
~, ono knee. or he cannot write on u
;, ground. Be not surprised that ne stoopt
ID down; his whole life was stoopln
g down. STOPPING down from cas'lo
II barn. STOPPING down from ceiesIi
rs homage TO monocratic jeer. FROM ie9
dence above the stars to where 81
had to fall to designate MS nhu'i
Mace. From heavens front door
: the worlds back gate From "i''.l
IN round and Ailvered letters OF cons,e
, iation and galaxy on the blue scroll !
: heaven to writing Oh the ground III u
dnst which the feet Of the crown u.
left in Herod's temple. II III 1an :..aD
Ii Won have ever stepped out OF a prince
/ w had MaY1CaQ CaCl