Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-12-07
now, His garments smelling of uyrrh"'

cure; and according to ny text, He comes
'out OF the ivory palaces"
You know, or II you do not know l will
tell you now, that SINE Of the palaces of
olden times were adorned with ivory,
Aaab and Solomon had their homes fur.
nished with 1t. The tusks OF African and
Asistic elephants were twisted into all
manners Of shapes, and there were stairs
CT ivory, and chairs Of ivory, and tables
OF ivory, and floors Of ivory, and pillsrs
OF ivory, and windows OF ivory, and foun.
sains that dropped into basins OF ivory,
and rooms that had ceilings Of ivory. on
white and overmastering beauty. Green
tree.branches sweeping the white curbs.
Tapestry trailing the snowy floors.
Brackets Of light flashing on the Iustrous
surroundings. Silvery music ripping to
the beach Of the arches. The mere
thought Of II almost stuns my brain, and
you say: "OA, II could only have
walked over such foorsl II / could have
thrown myself in such o chsir! II l
could have heard the drip and dash OF
those f)untRins!" You shall have some
thing batter than that IL you only let
Christ introduce you. From that place
he came, and to that place He proposes
to transport you, for His
garments smell OF myrrb, and
aloes, and csssia, out OF the ivory
palaces.
On, what Q place heaven must be, The
Tulleries Of the French, the Windsor
Castle OF the English, the
SPANISH ALHAMBRA,
the Russian Kremlin, dungeons compared
with II! Not SO many castles on either
side OF the Rhine IS on both sides OF the
river OF God the ivory pslacssi One for
the angels, insufarsbly bright, winged,
fire. eyed, tempest.chsrioted; one for the
martyrs, with blood.red robes, from un-
der the altar; one for the King, the steps
OF His palace the crowns Of the church
militant; one for the singers, who lssd
the one hundred and forty and four thoux
sand; one for you ransomed from sin;
one for me, plucked from The burning
On, the ivory palaces!
| To-day i. seems to me as il
the windows CT those palaces
were illumined for some g-est VIC
tory, and look and see climbing the
stsirs Of ivory, and walking on f oors Of
ivory, and looking from the windows OF
ivory, some whom We knew and loved on
earth. Yes, / know them. There are
Esther and mother, not eigth.Y.two snd
ssventy-nlns years, as when they left US,
but hlithe and young IS when en- their
marriage dsy. And there are brothers
and sisters merTier than when we used 70
tcnlp scroas the meadows together. The
cough gore. The cancer cured. The
erYsipelas healed. ThsAeart-bresk over.
Oh, how IA they are ID the ivory pal.
aces! And your deaf little children that
went out from youA Christ did: not let
one Of them drop as Hslitted thems He
did 2t wrench one oNthem fem you.
NJ. They went as frome one they loved
well to Ole whom uey IeYed bettarss- II
1 should tske your Hktlechiid ana
It's soft face agsin+N mJFough cheek, !
might keep It little wni.ee; but when
you, the mother, came along, Il wuu.,.
Struggle to go with you. And SO you
stood
HOLDING YOUR DYING CHILD
when Jseus passed by In the room, and
the little one sprang out to greet Him.
That is su. Your Christian dead did not
go down into the dust and the gravel and
the mud. Though 1t rained sill that tuner.
al day, and the water came up to the
wheels hub IS you drove out to the Gem
etery, it msda no difference to them, for
they stepped from the home here to the
home there, right into the ivory palaces.
All Is well with them. All is well.
Ii is not Q desd weight that you lifs
when you carry Christian out. Jesus
makes the bed up soft with velvet prom
lses, and he says: "Plt her down here
very gently. Put that head, which will
never ache again. on this pillow Of halle
lujshs. Send up word that the proces-
sion 10 coming. Ring the bells. Ring
open your gates, ye ivory palsces!"
ana so your loved ones are there. They
are just as certainly there, having died in
Christ, rs that you are here. There Is
only one thing more they want. Indeed,
there Is one thing in heaven they have
not got. They want 1t. What is IL?
Your company. But, oh, my brother,
unless you change your tack you cannot
reach that hsrbor. You might IS we'll
take the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad,
expecting In that direction to reach To-
ronto, as to go on in the way some Of you
are going, and yet expect to reach the
ivory palaces. Your loved ones are look
ing out OF the windows OF heaven now,
and yet you seem to turn your back upon
them. You do not seem to know the
sound OF their voices as well as you used
to, or to be moved by the sight OF their
dear faces. Call louder, ye departed
ones. Call louder from the ivory pal
aces. When I think OF that place, and
think OF my entering 1t, feel awkward;
feel as sometimes when l have been
EXPOSED TO THE WEATHER,
and my shoes have been benired, and my
coat is soiled, and my hair is disheveled,
and stop In front OF some fine residence
whera have Al errsnd. feel not fls 10
go in IS am and sit among polished
guests. So some OF US feel about heaven.
We need to be washed-we need to be
rehabilitsted before We 60 into the ivory
palaces. Eternal God, let the surges of
Thy pardoning mercy roll over us. I
want not only to wash my hands xnd M
feet, but, like some skilled diver, stand
ing on the pier-held, who leaps into the
wave and comes up ut fsr-distan. point
from where he went In, 30 want to go1
down and so want to come up. o Jesus,
wash me in the waves Of Thy salvation.
And here ask you to solve mystery
shst has been depressing me Tor thirty
years. have asked 1t Of doctors OF di-
vinity who have been studying theology
for half century, and they have given
me no Satisfactory answer. ] have turned
over all the books in my library, but 60.
no solution to the question, and to-day
/ come and ask you for An explanation.
By what logic was Christ induced to ex-
change the ivory palaces Of heaven for
the crucifirion sgonies Of eartha shall
take the drss thousand million years In
heaven to study out that problem. Mean
while and now, taking 1t as the tenderest
and mightiest Of all facts that Christ did
come, that He camehwAh spikes in His
feet, came with thorns in His brow, came
with spears in His heart, to save you and