The Monitor-register., 1896-04-24
CHRISTvS SAD EXILE
THE LONG ExPATRIAToN WAS DR..
TALMAGE's SUNDAY THEME.
when the King Went Forth and Tarrled
I'm n Place Which Was Far on-Christ's
n~aat Homesickness-From the Throne
room tn the Sheep Pen.

Tn a Place Which Was Far On-ChriNts
nn.at Homesickness-From the Throne
room to the Sheep Pen.
WASHINGTON, April 19.-lt is Won
derful to how many tunes the gospel
NAV he set. DR.. Talmage's sermon to-
dav shows another way in which the
aortblv experience of our Lord is set
forth. His text was Ill Samuel XIV, IL,
"And the king went forth and tarrled
in a place which was far off.
Far up and far back in the history OF
heaven there came a period when its
most illustrious citizen was about TO ap-
sent himself. He was not going TO sail
from beach to beach; we have often
done that. He was not going to put out
from n hemisphere to another heml-
sphere; many of us have done that. But
he was to sail from world to world, the
spaces unexplored and the immensltles
untyayeled. No world has ever hailed
heaven. and heaven has never hal!eo
any other world. 1 think that the WIN
dows and the balconies were
and hat the pearly beach was CROWDED
with those who had come to see him sail
ont of the harbor of light into the ocean
beyond. Out and out II out, ana on
and on and on, and down and down and
down he sped, until II night, with
only one to greet him when he arrived,
his decentralization SO unpretend1ng, SO
ouiet that it was not known on earth
until the excitement in the cloud gave
;n+;mation TO the Bethlehem rustics that
something grand and glorious had hap
nened. Who comes there? From what
mort did he sail? Why was this the place
of his destination? l question the shep-
herds I question the camel drivers. l
ouestion the angels. I have found out.
He was an exile. But the world had
nlenty of exiles. Abraham, an exile
from Haran; John, an exile from Ephe-
uus. Kosciusko, an exile from Poland;
Mazzini. an exile from Rome; Emmett,
an exile from Ireland; Victor Hugo, an
exile from France; Kossuth, an exile
from Hungary. But this II of whom
I sneak today had such resounding fare
we'll and came into such chilling recep-
tion-for not even a hostler went out
with his lantern to light him in-that
be is more to be celebrated than any 9TH
or expatriated exile of earth or heaven.
From Throneroom to Sheep Pen.
First, | remark that Christ was an
imperial exile. He got down off a
throne. He took off a tiara. He closed a
palace gate behind him. His family
were princes and princesses. Vashti was
~nod a,t Of tha fbrnuaroop Inv A hos
uerus. David was dethroned by Absa-
lom's infamy. The five kings were
hurled into a cavern by Joshua's cour-
Q Some of the Henrys of England
and some of the Louis of France were
jostled ON their thrones by discontinued
subjects. But Christ was never more
honored or more popular u more loved
than the day he left heaven. Exiles
have suffered severely, but Christ turned
himself out from throneroom into sheep
pen, and down from the top to the bot
tom. He was not pushed off. He was
not manacled for foreign transportation.
He was not put out because they no
more wanted him in celestial domain,
but by choice, departing and descending
into an exile five times as long as that
Of Napoleon at st. Helena, and a thou
sand times worse-the one exile suffering
for that he had destroyed nations, the
other exile suffering because he came to
save a world. An imperial exile. King
eternal. Blessing and honor and glory
and power be unto him that stitch up
ON the throne"
But I go farther and tell you he was
an exile on a barren island. This world
is of the smallest islands of light
in the ocean of immensely. Other stel-
lar kingdoms i many thousand times
larger than this. Christ came to this
small Patmos of a world. When exiles
are sent out, they are generally sent to
regions that are sandy or cold or hot
some Dry Tortugas of disagreeableness.
Christ came as an exile to a world
scorched with heat and bitten with
cold, to deserts simoom swept, to a
howling wilderness. It was the bach
-dnaryasA see-@iaalJ vf thD universe.
yea, Christ came to the poorest part OF
this barren island of a world-Asia
Minor, with its intense summers, unfit
Tor the residence of a foreigner, and in
the rainy season unfit for the residence
or a native. Christ came not to such a
land as America or England or France
or Germany, but to a land one-third of
the year drowned, another third of the
year burned up, and only one-third of
the year just tolerable. Oh, it was the
barren island of a world! Barren enough
Tor Christ, for it gave such small wor-
snip and such inadequate affection, and
such little gratitude. Imperial exile ON
the barren island of a world.
The Earth Against Him.
L go farther and tell you that he was
an exile III a hostile country. Turkey
was never SO much against Russia,
france was never SO much against Ger
many, as this earth was against Christ.
IL o o him in through the door of a
Stable. 1t thrust him out at the point of
aspear. The Roman government against
MIN with every weapon of its arm, and
every decision of its courts and every
Deak or It's Wal eagles. For years after
ms arrival the only question was how
pest TO put him out. Herod hated him,
the high priests hated him, the Pharisees
mated him, Judas Iscariot hated him.
Gestas, the dying thief, hated him. The
wnole earth seemingly turned into a de-
tectlve to watch his steps. And yet he
faced this ferocity. Notice that most of
Chrlst's wounds were in front. Some
scourging on the shoulders, but most of
Chrlsts wounds i'll front. He was not
on retreat when he expired. Face to face
with the worlds ferocity. Face to face
with the worlds sim Face to face with
the worlds woe. His eye ON the raging
countenances of his foaming antagonists
when he expired. When the cavalry off
Ger roweled his steed SO that he might
come nearer up and see the tortured Wis
age OF the suffering exile, Christ saw it.
When the spear was thrust at his side,
and when the hammer was lifted for his
feet, and when the reed was raised te
strike deeper down the spikes of thorn,
Christ watched the whole procedure
When his hands were fastened to the
cross they were wide open still will
benediction. Mind you, his head wa.
not fastened He could look to the righf
and he could look to the left, and hi
could look up and he could look down
He saw when the spikes had been driver
home, and the hard. round, iron headl
were in the palms of his hands. He saw
them as plainly as you ever saw any,
thing In the palms of your hands. NJ
ether, no ~chloroform, no merciful anas
thetic to dull O stupefy, but, wide
awake, he saw the observation of the
heavens, the u~nbalancing of the rocks,
the countenances quivering with rage
and the exclamation diabolic. Oh, il
was the hostile Is we'll as the barren is
land of a world.