The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1888-12-03

'NsANAs W. want lllt. lIt MIOlt Htfu
not physician, but they that are sick.
Blessed be God that Jesus q lrist comes
through this assemblage now, His gar
men;s smelling of myrrh"-,hat means
fragrance 'and aloes"-they mean Bit
ter sacriticial memories-"and cassia'-
that means medicine and cure; and ac-
cording to my text, lie comes ''out of the
ivory palaces"
You know, or il you do not know will
tell you now, that some Of the palaces OF
olden time were adorned with ivory.
Ahab and Solomon had their homes fur
nlshed with it. The tusks of African and
Asiatic elephants were twisted into all
manner OF shapes, and there were stairs
OF ivory, and chairs of ivory, and tables
OF ivory, and floors OF ivory, and pillars Of
ivory, and windows Of ivory, and foun-
talns that dropped into basins of ivory,
and rooms that had ceilings OF ivory. Oh,
white and overmasterng beauty. Green
branches sweeping the white curbs.
Tapestry trailing the snowy floors Brack-
OTIS OF light flashing on the lustrous sur
roundings. Silvery music ripping TO the
beach OF the arches. The mere thought of
II almost stuns my brain, and you say:
Oh, II | could only have walked over
such floors! Ii | could have thrown my
self in such chair II could have heard
the drip and dash of those fountansl"
You shall have something better than that
II you only let Christ introduce you.
From that place He came, and to that
place lie proposes TO transport you for
His garments smell of myrrh, and alocs,
and cassia, out Of the ivory palaces"
oh, what place heaven must bel The
Tuileries OF the French, the Windsor Cas-
tie OF the English, the Spanish Alhambra,
the Russian Kremlin, dungeons compared
with IL Not so many castles on either side
the Rhine as on both sides oithe river OF God
the ivory paacesl One for tho angels,
insuflerably bright-winged, flre-eyed, tenn
pest-charioted; one for the martyrs, with
blood-rcd robes, from under the altar; one
for tho King the steps of His palace the
crowns of the church militant; one for
the singers, who lead the one hundred
and forty and four thousand; one for you,
ransomed from sin; one for me, plucked
from the burning. Oh, the ivory palacesl
Today II seems to me as II the windows
OF those palaces were illumined for some
great victory, and look and see climbing
the stairs OF ivory, and walking on floors Of
ivory, and looking from the windows OF
ivory, some whom We knew and loved on
earth. Yes, know them. There are father
and mother, not eighty-two years and sew.
enty-nine years, as when they left us, but
blithe and young rs when on their mar
riago day. And there are brothers and
sisters, merrer than when we used TO romp
across the meadows together. The cough
gone. The cancer cured The erysipelas
healed. The heart-break over. Oh, how
fair they are in the ivory palaces! And
your dear little children that went out
from you-Christ did no, let one Of them
drop as lie lifted them. lie did not wrench
one OF them from you. No. They went ~
from one they loved well TO one whom
they loved better. II | should take your
little child and press It's soft face against
my rough cheek, | might keep il little
while; but when you, the mother, came
along, Il would struggle 10 90 with YOU.
And 30 you stood holding your dying
child when Jesus passed by in the room,
and the little one sprang out 10 greet Him.
That In all. Your Christian dead did not
go down into the dust aud the gravel and
the mud. Though II ained all that funeral
day, and the water came up 10 the wheels
hub rs you drove out 10 the cemetery. Il
made no difference To them. for they
stepped from the home here 10 the home
there, right into the ivory palaces. All Is
well with them. All Is wen.
Il is not dcad-wcight that you IN when
YOU carry a Christian out Jesus makes
the bed up soft with velvet promises, and
lie SAYS "Put her down here very gently.
Put that head, which will never ache
again, on this pillow Of hallelujnhs. Send
up word that the procession is coming
Ring the bells. Ring Open your gates,
We ivory palaces Aud NO your loved ones
are there. They are Just ~ certainly there,
having died In Christ, a. that you are hero.
There Is only one thing more they want
Indeed, there IL one thing In heaven they
have not got They want II. What Is ~
Your company. But, oh, my brother, un-
less you change your tack you cannot reach
that harbor. You might as well take the
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, expecting In
that direction 10 reach Toronto, ~ 10 90 on
ia the way some OF you are going aud yet
expect N reach the ivory palaces. Your
loved ones are looking out Of the windows
Of heaven now, and yet you seem TO turn
your back upon them. You do not seem
10 know the sound OF their voices NJ well
NJ you used 10, or 10 be moved by the sight
OF their dear faces. Call louder,
We departed ones. Call louder from
the ivory palaces. When / think
Of that place, aud think Of my entering Il,
/ feel awkward; feel ~ sometimes when
! have been exposed 10 the weather, and
my shoes have been bcmirod, aud my coat
II soilcd, and my hair is disheyelcd, and
stop In front Of some fine residence where
have an Grand. / feel not ilt 30 40 In as
| am aud vi among polished guests. SO
some " ~ feel about heaven. We need
10 be washcd-wo need 20 be rchabilitaicd
bciotc We 20 into the ivory palaces. Etor-
nal God, let the surgcs OF thy pardoning
mercy roll over us. / want not only 10
wash NV hands aud my feet, but, like
some skilled diver, standing on the pier
head, who leaps into the wave and comes
up at Tar distant point from where ho
went In, 40 want 30 90 down aud 10 !
want 70 come up. Jesus, wash inc In
the waves Of Thy salvation.
And here ! ask you 10 solve a mystery
that has been depressing Tue for thirty
years. ! have asked Il Of doctors Of diyin.
ity who have been studying theology half
a century, and they have given me no
satisfactory answer. I have turned over
all the books In my library. but got no 30
luton 10 the question, and today come
and ask you for an explanation. by what
logic was Christ induced 10 exchange the
ivory palaces Of heaven for the crucinxion
ayonies oi carth2 I shall take the nrat
thousand million Yeas In heaven 10 study
out that problem. Meanwhile and now,
taking il ~ the tcndcrest and mightiesl Of
an facts that Christ did come. that lie
came with spikes In His icoi, came with
H.. III. -.
Ills heart, 10 save you aud ~ save me-
tl,.I -. I.,aI tLo ,.5.,iI that 10 s,ava bla