Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1888-12-13

square where he was not cut of the bri' <rsy
W hen the spike struck at the instep, Al, II
not go clear through to the hollow OF the
foot? o, long. deep, bitter pill riseape.
Aloes! A !oes!
John leaned his head on Chri Il. but who
did Christ lean on? Five thous and men fed
by the Saviour; who fed Jesr xsy The svm.
rathy of a Saviour's heart going out to the
leper and the adulteress; but who soothed
Christ? Denied both Cradle and DEATH
bed. He had a MT place neither to
be born nor to die! A Door babel A
poor lad! A poor young gAan! Not SO
much as a taper to. cheer his dying hours.
Even the candle Of the sun snuffed out
0, was it not ell aloes? ALL our sins, sor~
rows, bereav ements, losses and all the
agonies Of earth and hen picked up as IN.
one cluster and squeszed into one cup and
that pres sed to His lips until the acrid,
nauseatIIg, bitter drsnght was swallowed
with distorted cous tenance and stud-
der from head to {oot and a grrsiing
stranP .uIaticn- Aloes! Aloes! Nothing
but 'soes. All this for Himself! Az this
to get the fame in the world Of being a
mars all this IN spirit Of stubborn
ne ., because He Gid not like Cessr2 No!
y o. and me from hell. Because He wanted
I o raise you and me to Heaven. Because
we were lost end he wanted rus found.
Because we were blind and He wanted US
10 see. Because were serfs and He wanted
rs mguumitted. o, We in whose cup of
life the saccharine has predominated; o,
We who have had bright and sparkling
bevsy ages, how do you feel toward Him
who in your stead, and to purchase your
disenthrallsLent, took the aloes, the I'M
savory aloe5, the bitter ateeS?
Your third curiosity is TO know why
these gar=s ents of Christ are odorous with
cassia. This was plant that grew in In
'dia and 'the adjoining islands. You do
not care"to hear what Kind of flower it
had or~hat kind of a stalk. 1t is enough
for me 10 tell you that lit was used me-
sdicinafty. In that land and in that age
where they knew but littl sa bout pharmacy,
4cassiaHgas used to arrest many forms of
disease. So when in my text we find
4 Christ coming with garments that smell Of
tcassis, it suggests to me the healing and
curative power of the Son of God.
Co." you say, NOW you have a supsr-
fuUus idea. We are not sick. Why do
we want cassia? We are athletic. Our
respiration is perfect. Our limbs are 1.-THE
and in these cool days we feel we could
bound like the roe" Il beg to differ, any
brother. from you None of you can be
better in physical health than l am and
yet l must say we are all sick. l have
/ taken the diagnosisNof your case and have
J examined all the best authorities on the
subject, and / haveccome now to tell you
! that you are full Of wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores which have notsbeen
! bound up nor mo.Efied with ointment.
The marasmus of sin is on us-the palsy,
| the dropsy, the leprosy. The man
who is expiring Tonight on Fulton street
the allopathic ami homeopathic doctors
have given him Vp, and his friends now
| standing aToundFto take his last words
| is no more certainly dying as to his body
than you and are dying unless we have
taken the medicine from God's apothecary.
! All the leaves of this Bible are only so
many prescriptions from the divine physi-
| clan, written, not in Latin, like the pre-
scriptions of earthly physicians, but writ
ten in plain English so that a man, though
| a fool, need not err therein. Thadk God
| thatthe SavioUTis garments smell of cassia.
| Suppose a man were sick and that there
was phial on tie mantelpiece witt med
icine he knew would cure him and he re-
fused to take IS. what would you say to
him: He is suicide. And what do you
say of that man who, sick in sin, has the
healing medicine of Gods grace offered
him, and refuses to take it? IL he dies he
is a suicide.
People talk as though God took e man
and led him QUITO darkness and death. as
though He brou ght him up to the cliffs and
then pushed him off. o, no. When a
man is lost it is not because God pushes
him off; it is because he jumps off. In
olden times q suicide was buried at the
crossroads, anc the people were Vaccus
toned to throwsstones upon his grave. So
it seems to me there may be in this house
a man who is destroying his own soul,
and as though the angels of Coz were
here to bury hin at the point where the
roads of life and death cross each other,
throwing upon the grave the broken law
and a great pile of misimproved privileges,
so that those going may look at tbs fear
full mound and learn what suicide it is
when an immortal soul, for which Jesus
died, puts itself out of the way.
When Christ'tEod this planet with foot
of flesh, the people rushed after him--peo-
pie who were sick, and those who, being so
sick they could not walk, were brought by
their friends Here see a mother holding
up her little ckild and saying: Cure this
Group. Lord sJesus. Cure this scarlet
fever" And others saying: "Cure this
ophthalmia. Give ease and rest to this
spinal distress. Straighten this club
foot" Christ made every house where He
stopped dispensary. do not believetha
in the nineteen centuries that have gone by
since, His heart has got hard. feel4hat
we can come now with all our wounds of
soul and get His benediction. o Jesus,
here we are. Welwant healing. We want
sight. We vam health. We want life.
The whole need not a physician, but thsy
that are sick. Blessed be God that Jesus
Christ comes Though this assembiage
now. His garments smelling of myrrh"
that means fr&grancs-"and aloess-
they mean bitter sacri6eial memories
''and cassia"-thst means medicine and
cure; and according b my text,
He comes ''out of the ivory palaces,
You know, or il you do net know L will
tell yos now, that sefne of the palaces of
olden times were adorned with ivory.
-Ahab and Solomon had Their homes fur
nished with it The ,tusks Of African and
Asiatic elephants were twisted into all
nanners,of shapes and tables of ivory and |
floors of ivory and oillars OF ivory and i
windows of ivory and four tains that |
dropped into basins cf ivory and rooms |
that had ceilings of ivory. o, white and /
ovarmasterng beauty Green tree bran 1
ches sweeping the white curbss tapestry |
traiGng the snowy foonS; brackets of light |
flashing on the lusuous surroundings;
silvery music ripping ts the bend of the |
archer. The enere thought of it nearly |
stunts my brain, and yaE say: 10. if 1 |