Article January 31, 1925 Issue

"Hath no man condemned thee?"

MARGARET T. CAMPBELL

IN the eighth chapter of John there is an account of a trial where the accusers were the scribes and Pharisees, the accused a woman, and the judge Christ Jesus. The woman had been brought before the judge; and material sense had made its accusation of evil against her. Mortal mind watched to see what Jesus would do. He stooped and wrote on the ground, acting as if he did not hear what was said. But at last the verdict came: the woman might be stoned, according to the law of Moses, provided the stones were cast by those who were without sin! Again Jesus seemed to withdraw himself from the situation; again he stooped and wrote on the ground. It was for the accusers to make the next move. They had not counted on being put on trial themselves; they had not counted on the righteousness of their judge, nor on the uncovering of error in their own consciousness. But Truth had examined them, swiftly and surely and silently,—the woman the while trembling and timid, the accusers still bold and aggressive.

The trial went on; all thoughts were being searched. The judge was delivering "righteous judgment,"—the judgment that would deprive each erroneous thought of its seeming power. Each accuser now saw the enormity of his own offense in trying to judge another when he himself was believing in and expressing error. So, the accusers withdrew in silence, the elder ones first, perhaps because they were the greater sinners, then on to the younger, who perhaps felt less guilty and therefore were better able to endure the light of Truth.

At last all were gone, for Christ Jesus as a "righteous judge" had been pleading for spiritual man all the time. Was any one able to plead against him? There was no argument now except that of Christ, man's eternal advocate. Every mortal accusation had been met, silenced, and cast out. Consequently, the woman was healed, and dismissed in love by the great Friend of all mankind. Thus we can know in times of temptation, when error's advocates are bringing forth the arguments of sin, sickness, and disaster against man, that they have no real voice, that their arguments are not heard at the bar of Spirit. The eternal Christ tells the truth about man, and so proves man's eternal harmony.

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