Milford chronicle., 1888-12-07


Multitudes Of strangers from all parts Of tho
earth were present, and all together, led on
by organ and cornet, united in singing Will
lam Cowper's hymn;
There is a fountain flied with blood
Drawn from Emanuel's veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that food
Lose all their guilty stains.
The Rev T. Do Witt Talmage, D. D.,
preached an eloquent sermon on "The Fra
GRANGE Of the Gospel taking for his text;
San thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes,
and cassia, out Of tho ivory palaces. Psalms
xiv, 8. He said;
Among the grand adornments Of the city
Of Paris is the Church of Notre Dame, with
its great towers and elaborated rose windows
and sculpturing Of the last Judgment, with
the trumpeting angels and rising dead; its
battlements Of quarter foil; its sacristy
with ribbed ceiling and statues Of saints
But there was nothing in all that building
which more vividly appealed to my plain re-
publican tastes than the costly vestments
which laid in oalzen presses-robes that had
been embroidered with gold and been worn
by popes and archbishops on great occasions.
There was a robe that had been worn by Plus
VII at the browning Of the first Napoleon
There was also a vestment that had been
worn at the baptism of Napoleon H. As our
guide opened the oaken presses and brought
ont these vestments OF fabulous cost and lifted
them up, the fragrance Of the pungent aro-
matics in which they had been preserved
filed the place with sweetness that was al
most oppressive. Nothing that had been done
in stone more vividly impressed me than
these things Glat had been done in cloth,
and embroidery, and perfume. But today l
open the drawer of this text, and ! look upon
the kipgly robes of Christ, and as 1 lift
| them, flashing with eternal Jewels the whole
house is filed with the aroma of these gar
ments, 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 specta-
/ for. More brilliant is he than Queen Vashti
/ moving amid the Persian princes; than Marie
/ Antoinette on the day when Louis XVI put
upon her the necklace Of eight hundred dla-
| monds; 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 foPeverl His garments not
worn out, not dust bedraggled, but radiant,
and jeweled, and redolent lt seems as II
they must have been pressed a hundred
years amid the flowers of heaven. The ward
robes from which they have been taken must
have been sweet with clusters of campfire,
and frankincepse, and all manner of precious
wood. Do you not inhale the pdorss Ay,
ay They smell of myFrh. and aloesi and
cassia, out of the ivory palaces.
THE HISTORY AND SIGNIFICANCE OF NYRHH.
Your first curiosity is to know why the
robes of Christ are Odorous with myrrh.
This was a bright leafed Abyssinian plant.
Ii vas trifoliated. The Greeks, Egyptians,
Romans and Jews bought and sold it at a
high price. The first present that was ever
given 10 Christ was sprig of myrrh, thrown
on his infantile bed in Bethlehem, and ths
last gift that Christ ever had was myrrh
pressed into the cup Of his cruciixion. The
natives would take a stone and brulse the
tree and then it would exude gum that
would saturate all the ground beneath. Inns
gum was used for purposes Of merchandise.
One piece Of it, no larger than chest
nut, would whelm IA whole room with
Odors, It was put ip closets, in chests
in drawers. in rooms, and its perfume
adhered almost interminatly TO anything
that was anywhere near il. So when In my
text read that Christ's garments smell Of
uyrrh, Immediately conclude the exquisite
sweetness Of Jesus. know that to many he
is only like any historical person-aEother
John Howard, another philanthpopic Ober
lin, another Confucius, grand subject Tor g
painting, q heroic theme for poem, beau
tiful form fora s,atue-but to those who have
heard his voice, and felt his pardon, and re
ceived his benediction, he is music and light
and warmth and thrill, and eternaffragrance
Sweet as a friend sticking to you when al
else betray. Lifting you up while others try
to push you down. Rot SO much like morn
ing glories, that bloom only when the sun j,
coming up, nor like "four o'cloclis," thai
bloom only when the sun is going down
but like myrTh, perpetually aromatic-th'
same morning, noon and night-yesterday
today, forever. 1t seems as il we cannot Weal
him out. We put on him all our burdens
and aiIlict him with all our griefs, and Sc
him foremost in all our battles, and yet HI
is ready to lift, and to sympathize, and Il
help. We have so imposed upon him tina
one would think in eternal affront he woul'
quit our soul; and yet today ho addresses U
with the same tenderness, dawns upon u
with the same smile, pities US with the SAM
compassion.
There is no name like his for us. It i
moro imperial than Caesars, more musica
than Beethoven's, more conquering thai
Charlemagnes, more eloquent than Cicero's
1t throbs with all life. II weeps with al
pathos. 1t groans with all pain. 1t stoop
with all condescension. 1t breathes with al
perfume Who like Jesus to set a broke
bone, to pity a homeless orphan, to nurse
sick man. to take a prodigal back withou
any scolding, to illumine a cemetery al
plowed with graves, to make a queen unit
God out of the lost woman Of the street, b
catch the tears of human sorrow in a lachry
matory that shall never be brokenl VIII
has such an eye to see our need, such lip t
kiss away our sorrow, such hand to snatch u
put Of the fire, such a foot to trample our enc
mics, such heart to embrace all our necess
tlesl l struggle for some metaphor wit
which to express him, He is not like th
bursting forth Of a full orchestra, that Is to
loud. He Is not like the sea when lashed
- rage by the tempest; that is too boisteroui
He is not like the mountain, its bro
wreathed with the lightnings; that is too sol
. tary. Give us a softer type, a gentler con
parison. We have seemed to see him wit
our eyes, and to hear him with our ears, an
to touch him with our hands. Oh, that t
day be might appear TO some other one
our fye sensesl Ay, the nostril shall di
cover his presence. He comes upon us Ill
spice gales from heaven. Yea, his carmen
smell Of pungent, lasting and all peryasiS
myTrh
Oh, that you all knew his sweetness. Ho
soon you would turn from your novels.
the philosopher leaped out Of his bath in
frenzy Of joy, and clapped his hands, ar
rushed through the streets, because he ha
found the solution Of mathematical pro
lem, how viii you feel leaping from Il
fountain Of saviour's mercy ana pardO
- washed clean and made white ns sno
when the question has been solved: "He
can my soul be savedP' Naked, frost bite
storm lashed soul, let Jesus this hour thrC
around thee the garments that smell
myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out Of
ivory palaces