The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1888-12-13
Fragrance of the Gospel.
One Of DR.. Talmage's Most Remarkable Sermons
On Christ rs the Savior Of Men.

mage, D. D., preached an eloquent sermon on
"The Fragrance of the Gospel" taking for
his text:
"All thy garments smell of myrrh, and
aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces. y
Psalms lxv., 8. He said.
Among the grand adornments of the city
of Paris is the Church of Notre Dame, with
its great towers and elaborate rose win
dows, and sculpturing of the last Judgment,
with the trumpeting angels and rising dead;
its battlements of quarterfoil; its sacristy,
with ribbed ceiling and statues of saints.
But there was nothing in all that building
which more wildly appealed to my plain re-
publican tastes, than the costly vestments
which laid in oaken p-esses-robes that had
worn by popes and arch bishops on great oc
casions. There was robe that had been
worn by Plus VII. at the browning of the
First Napoleon. There was also u vestment
that had been worn at the baptism of Napo-
leon II. As our guide opened the oaken
presses and brought out these vestments of
fabulous cost. and lifted them up, the fra
GRANGE of the pungent aromatics in which they
had been preserved, flied the place with a
sweetness that was almost oppressive Moth
ing that had been done in stone more wildly
impressed me than these things that had been
done in cloth, and embroidery. and perfume.
But today 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 filled with the aroma of these
garments, which "smell Of myrrh, and aloes,
and cassia, out of the ivory palaces"
In my text the King steps forth. His
robes rustic and blaze as He advances. His
pomp and power and glory overmaster the
spectators More brilliant is He than Queen
vashti, moving amid that Persian princess;
than Marie Autonette on the day when
Louis XVI. put upon her the necklace of 500
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 ofHeaven,
King forever! His garments not worn out
not dust-bedraggled; but radiant, and jewell
ed, and redolent. 1t seems as if they must
have been pressed a hundred years amid the
flowers of heaven. The wardrobss from
which they have been taken must have been
sweet with clusters of campfire and franklin
cense, and all manner of precious wood. Do
you not inhale the odors? Ay, ay. They
smell OF myrrh. and aloes, and cassia. out of
the ivory palaces.
Your first curiosity is to know why the
sJas bright-leafed Abyssinian plant. 1t
wss trifoliated. The Greeks, Egyptians,
Romans and Jews bought and sold it at a
high price. The first present that was ever
given to Christ was sprig of myrrh, thrown
on His infantile bed in Bethlehem. and the
last gift that Christ ever had was myrrh
pressed into the cup of His crucifxion. The
natives would take Il stone and bruise the
tree, and then it would exude gum that
would saturate all the ground beneath. The
gum was used for purposes of merchandise
One piece of it, no larger than chestnut,
would Ehelm q whole room with odors. 1t
was put IL closets, in chests, in drawers, in
rooms. and its perfume adhered almost in
terminabIy TO anything that vas anywhere
near it. So when in my text read that
Christ garments smell of myrrh | immedi-
ately conclude the exquisite sweetness Of je-
sus. l know that to many He is only like any
historical person; another John Howard; an
etaer philanthropic Oberlin; another ConflI-
eius; a grand subject for a painting; O heroic
theme for a poem: q beautiful form for a
statue; but to those who have heard His
yoice, and felt His pardon, and received His
behedietion, He is music, and light and
warmth, and thrill and eternal fragrance
Sweet as friend sticking to you when all
else betray. Lifting you up while others try
TO push you down. Not SO much like morn
ing giorisa: that bloom only when the sun is
coming up, nor like -four o'clocks, that
bloom only when the sun is going down, put
like myrrh, perpetualiy, aromatic-,the same
morning. noon and night-yesterday, today,
forever. 1t seems as if we cannot wear Him
out. We put on Him all our burdens, and
aflict Him with all our griefs, and set Him
foremost in all our battles, and yet He Is
ready to lift, and to sympathizo, and to help
We have SO imposed upon Him that one
would think in eternal affront He would
til cd
as with the same tenderness, dawns upon US
with the snme smile, pities us with the same
compassion. Thsrs is no name like His for
us. 1t is more imperial tlat. ERsar's more
musical than Beethoven's, more conqueraS
than Charlemagne's more eloquent than
Cise-o's. 1t throbs with all life. 1t weeps
with oil pathor. 1t groans with all pain 1t
stoops with all condaseension; 1t breathes
with all perfume. Who like Jushs ta set q
broken bone, to pity homeless orphan, to
nurse a sick man, to take prodigal son
back without any scolding, to illumine a
cemetery all ploughed with graves, to make
queen unto GOD oat Of the lost woman of
the street, to catch the tears If human sor-
SOW in a lachrymatory that shall never be
broken? Who has such an eye to see our
need, sucn d lip to kiss away our sorrow, such
a hand to snatch us gut of the fire. such a
foot to trample our enemies, aIch heart to
embrace all our necessities? / struggle for
some metaphor with which to express Him.
He is not like the bursting forth
of a full orchestra; that is too
loud He is not like 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 softer type a gentier
comparison. We have seemed to see Him
with our eyes and to hear Him with our ears
and to touch Him with our hands. Oh,
that today he might appear to some other
one Of our five senses! Ay, the nostril shall
discover His presence. He comes upon us
like spice gales from heaven. Yea, His gar
persuasive myrrh.
Oh, that yo4 all knew His sweetness
How soon you would t.rp from your novels
If the philosopher leaped out If his bath in a
frenzy ofjoy, and clapped his hands, and
rushed through the streets, because he found
the solution of a mathematical problem,
how .i!l you feel leaping from the fountain Of
Savior's nsrey apd pardon, washed, clean,
and made white as snow, when the question
has been solved: "How can my soul be
saved?" Naked, frost-bitten, storm-lashod
soul, let Jesus this hour throw around thee
the garments that smell of myrrh, and
ad0ee, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces. ="
Your ssceRd curiosity is to know why the
robes of Jesus are edogous with aloes. There
these aloes grow, what ia the ea,ar of the
Aoxsr, what is the particular appearance Of
the herb. e.ffice it for you and me to know
that aloes mean bitterness the world over,
and when Christ comes with garments bear
ing that particular odor, they suggest to me
The bitterness ola Saviour's suferings. Were
there ever such n.ghtg MS Jesus lived through
nights on the mo ant1ins, nights on the
sea, nights In the desert? Wha eyer lad
such hard reception as Jesus had? A hos
telry the first, an unjust trial In over and
terminer another, q foul mouthed and yell
,na asab the last Was there space on his
back as vide as your two fingers where he
was not whippsda Was there a space on His
brow an inch square whore he was not cut OF
the briers? When the spike struck at the in
step, did it not go clear through to the hoi-
low of the foot? Oh. long, deep, bitter pill
qr1mage. AIoesl Aloes!
John leaned his head on Christ, but who
did Christ lean on? Five thousand men fed
81 tho Savior; who fed Jesus? The sympa-
thy Of sagionr's heart going out to the
Ieper and the ndsiterees. but who soothed
Christ? Denied both efadie aapd death bed
He had q fit place for neither 60 ~
born nor to die. poor babe! por lad
A Door young man! Not SO mach as
a taper to cheer his dying hours. Even the
candle of the sun suufed out. Oh, was it
not all aloes? All our tins. sorrows. be-.
locaoo and all the sranipS Of