The Covington leader. (Covington, Tenn.) 18??-current, 1888-12-14
TALMAGE's SERMON.
An Eloquent Discourse on IS The
Fragrance of the Gospel"
The Robes of Christ Redolent of sweet
and Lasting Perfumes that Pene-
trate the IBnermost ReeesseS
of the Christian Life.

In q recent sermon at the Brooklyn
Tabernacle Rev. T. De Witt Talmage took
for his subject ''The Fragrance of the
Gospel" His text was:
All Thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes.
aHd eassie out Of the ivory palaees.-Psalms
XIV. 8.
Among the grand adornments of the
City of Paris is the Church of Notre Dame,
aFith its great towers, and elaborated rose
windows, and sculpturing of the last judg-
ment; with its trumpeting angels and ris i.
ing dead; its battlements of quarter foil ,
its sacristy, with ribbed ceiling and stat
sues of saints. But there was nothing in
an that building which more wildly APP
poaled to my plain republican tastes than
the costly vestments which laid in oa11en
presses-robes that had been embroidered
with gold and been worn by Popes and
Archbishops on great occasions. There
was robe that had been worn by Plus
VII. at the crowning of the first NapoS
leon. There was also Testment that had
been worn at the baptism of Napoleon II:
As cur guide opened the oaken presses
and brought out these vestments of fabu-
lous cost and lifted them up, the fra
grance of the pungent aromatics in which
they had been preserved filed the place
with a sweetness that was almost OPP
IN stone more wildly impressed me
fFan these things that had been done in
18th and embroidery, and perfumes
But to-day open the drawer of this text,
and look upon the kingly robes of Christ,
and as lift them, flashing with eternal
jewels, the whole house is filed with the
aroma of these garments, which 'smen of
myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the
ivory palaces"
In NV tpyt the zinc GfpDS forth HiS
robes rustic and blaze as he advances.
His pomp, and power, and glory overmas-
ter the spectator. More brilliant is He
than Queen Vashti; moving amid the Per-
Sian Princes; than Marie Antoitette on
Dthe day when Louis xvi. put up01t her the
Necklace Of eight hundred diamonds; than
Anne Boleyn the day when Henry VIII.
welcomed her to his palace; all beauty
and all pomp forgotten, while We stand in
the presence of this imperial glory.
king of Zion, King of earth, King of
Heaven, King forever! His garments not
sworn out, not dust bedraggled; but ra-
N.bnt, and jeweled, and redolent. 1t
seFllis IS If they must have teen pressed q
hundred years amid the flowers Of Heav-
en-. The wardrobes from which they have
been taken must have been sweet with
clusters of campfire, and frankincense,
and all manner of precious wood. Do you
AOb 1LlLdl6 Tic OQOESs Ays dys 1ueH
smell of myrrh, and aloesy and cassia, out
of the ivory palaces.
Your first curiosity is to know why the
robes OF Christ are odorous with myrrh
This was a bright-Ieafed Abyssinian
plant. 1t was trifoliated. The Greeks
Egyptians, Romans and Jews bought and
sold ii at high price. The first present
that was ever given Ia Christ was . spr1g
Of myfrh, thrown On His infant bed in
Bethlehem, and the last gift that Christ
ever had was myrrh pressed into the cup
Of His crueifxion: The natives would
take a stone and bruise the tree, and then
it would exude gum that would saturate
all the ground beneath. This gum was
used for purposes of merchandise. One
piece of it, no larger than a chestnut,
would Whelm q whole room with OdOrs.
1t was put in closets, in chests, in drawers,
in rooms, and its perfume adhered almost
interminably to any thing that was any
syghere near it. So when in my text read
that Cbrist's garments smell of myrrh,
kimmediateiy conclude the exquisite sweets
sso Of Jesus. / know that to many He is
Ike any historical person, another
fTdoWard, another philabthl o BIC
Berlin, another Confucius, a grahd
subject for painting, heroic
theme for a poem, a beautiful form
for statue, but to those who have heard
His voice, and felt His pardon, and
received His benediction, He is music, and
light, and warmth, and thrill, and eternal
fragrance. Sweet as a friend sticking to
you when all else betray. Lifting you up
while others try to push you down. Not
so much like morning glOries, that bloom
only when the sun Is coming up, nor like
''folIr o'clock's," that bloom only when
tho sur is going down, but like myrrh;
perpetunlly aromatic-the same morning,
noon and night-yesterday, to-day, for=
ever. 1t seems as if we can not wear Him
out. We put on Him all our burdens, and
aff1ict Him with our griefs, and set Him
foremost in all our battles, and yet He is
ready to lift, and to sympathize and to
help. We have so imposed upon Him that
one would think in eternal affront He
% quit our soul: and yet to- day He adj
nesses us with the same tenderness,
dawns upon US with the same smile, pities
US with the same compassion.
There is no name like His for us. It is
lore imperial than Caesars, more musical
than BeethOven's, more conquering than
ClIarlemagne's, more eloquent than
Cicero's. 1t throbs with all life. 1t weeps
%ikh all pathos. 1t groans with all pain.
rstoops with all condescension. 1t
HSSShes with all perfume. Who like
Jesus to set a broken bone, to pity home
less orphan, to nurse a sick man, to take
prOdigal back without any scolding, to
illumine g cemetery all plowed with
graves, to make a queen unto God out of
the lost woman of the street, to catch the
tears of human sorrow in q lachrymatory
that shall never be broken? Who has such
an eye to see our need, such a lip to kiss
away our sorrow, such hand to snatch
us out of the fire, such foot to trample
orr enemies, such heart to embrace all
oar necessitiesY l struggle for some
metaphor with which to express Him.
He is not like the bursting forth of full
orchestra; that is too loud. He is not
Ike the sea when dashed to rage
by the tempest; that is too boisterous.
He is not like the mountain, its brow
wreathed with the hghtnings; that is too
solitary. Give US a softer type, gentler
We have seemed to see Him
with our eyes, and to hear Him with our
ears, and to touch Him with our hand.
Oh, that to-day He might appear to some
one Of our five senses! Ay, the nostril
shall discover His presence. He comes
upon US like spice gales from Heaven.
Yea, His garments smell of pungent, last
ing and all-pervasive myrrh.
Oh, that you all knew His sweetness.
How soon you would turn from your
novels. If the philosopher leaped out of
his bath in frenzy of joy, and clapped
his hands, and rushed through the streets,
because he had found the solution of a
mathematical problem, how will you feel
leap1ng from the fountain of a Saviour,s
mercy and pardon, washed clean, and
made white as snow, when the question
has been solved: Chow can my soul be
saved?" Naked, frost-bitten, storm
dashed soul, let Jesus this hour throw
around thee the garments that smell of
myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the
ivory places"