Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1898-08-03

out into the fresh air. as Christ with
just one ironical sentence unmasked
them, / know they were first-claSs
hypocrites. IL was then as il is now.
The more faults and Inconsistencies
people have OF their own. the more Sc
we're and censorious are they about the
faults of others Here they are--s0 stout
men arresting and Arranging the weak
woman! Magnificent business to be
engaged inl They wanted the fun of
seeing her faint away under "a heavy
judicial sentence from Christ. and then
after she mad been taken outside of
the city and fastened at the foof,of, the
precip ice, the Scribes and Pharisees
wanted the satisfaction OF each COM
ing and dropping big stone on her
head, for that was the STYLE
of capital punishment that they
asked for Some people have
taken the responsibility of saw
ing that Christ never laughed. But 1
think as He saw those men drop every
thing, chagrined. mortified. exposed,
and go out quicker than they came in.
He must have laughed. At any rate.
II makes me laugh 20 read of it. All of
these libertines, dramatizing indiyna-
ton against impurity, Blind bats
lecturing on optics. A flock OF crows
on their way up from carcass de-
nouncing carrioni
Yes, / think that one word written
on the ground that day by the finger
of Christ was the awful word hypoc-
risy. What pretensions TO sanctity
are the port of those hypocritical
Pharisees? When the fox begins to
pray, look out for your chickens
One OK the cruel magnates of olden
times was going to eXcommunicate
one of the martyrs, and he began
in the usual form-"In the name
of God, Amen" "Stop!r saws the
martyr; don't say in the name
OF God!H Yet how many outrages are
practiced under the garb OF religion
and sanctity! When in SYMBOLS and
conferences ministers of the Gospel
are about TO say something un brother-
ly and unkind about a member, they
almost always begin 10y being ostenta-
uously pious, the venom OF their as
sault corresponding 10 the heavenly
flavor of the prelude. About TO de-
YOUR reputation they say grace be-
fore meal
But / am sure there was another
word in that dust From her entire
manner l am sure that arraigned
woman was repentant She made no
apology. and Christ in no wise be-
Titled her sin. But. her supplicatorv
behavior and her tears moved Him,
and when lie stopped down to write
on the ground he wrote that mighty,
that imperial word, forgiveness.
When on Sinai God wrote the law.
He wrote it with finger of lightning
on tables of stone. each word cut rs by
chisel into the hard granite surface.
But when He writes the offenses of
this woman He writes il in the dust so
that ii can be easily rubbed out. and
when she repents Of it, oh, He was "A
merciful Christ! / was reading of a
legend that is told in the far east
about Him. He was walking throur n
the streets of city and He saw n
crowd around n dead dog. And one
man said: What n loathsome object
Is that dog" YES said another.
mis- ears are mauled and bleeding. -
Yes, said another. 1.-THE odor of his
carcass is dreadful" Then Christ.
standing there, said: "But pearls can
not equal the whiteness of his tee tn. -
Then the people. moved by the idea
that any one could find anything
| pleasant concerning the dead dog.
said: why, this must be Jesus
of Nazareth. " Reproved and convict
ed they went away.
Surely this legend of Christ is good
enough to be true. Kindness in all
His words and ways and habits. For
giveness. Word of IL letters. and some
of them thrones, and some of them
palm branches. Better have Christ
write close to our names that one
word, though lie write il in dust. than
to have our name cut into monumental
granite with the letters that the
storms of a thousand years can not
obliterate. Bishop darlington had n
book Of only three leaves The first
leaf was black, the second leaf red. the
third leaf white. The black leaf sug-
gested sin; the red Leaf atonemeut;
the white leaf publication That is
the whole story. God will abundantly
pardon.
l must not forget to say that as
Christ, STOPPING down. with His fin.
ger wrote on the ground. it is evident
that His sympatnics are with this mem
itent woman. and that He has no
sympathy with her hypocritical pur-
sucrs Just opposite TO that is the
worlds habit Why didn't these un-
clean Pharisees bring one Of their
own number 60 Christ for excoriation
and capital punishment? No. no They
overiook that IN man which they
damnate in woman. And so the
world has had for offending woman
scourges and objurpation. and for Just
one offense she becomes an outcast.
while for the men whose lives have
been sodomic for 20 years the world
swings open its doors Of brilliant
welcome: and they must ait in high
places Unlike the Christ Of my tex q.
the world writes a mans tnisdemeanor
in dust. but chisels "a woman's oTeuse
with great capitals upon iuenaceabIe
marble
THE United States. as participator
in the trade. ranked second only to
spain. the value 81 the goods ex.
changed averaging SO. So. o5s a wear.
or 1898 per cent II the total Aft@r
spain aud the United states. Cuba was
the most important factor the portion
~ trade credited to that island
amounting % i3. 81 pcr cent. and hav-
ing an average yearly value Of s. COG o.