The Penn's Grove record., 1896-04-24
REV.. DR.. TaLuA6E.
The Eminent Divine's Sunday
Sermon.


Far up and far blck In the history OF
heaven there came a period when its most
illustrl0us Citizen was about to absent Him.
self. He was not going to sail from beach to
bpach; we nave often done that. He was not
going to put out from one hemisphere TO ans
other hemisphere; many OF us have done
that. But He was to sail from world to
world, the spaces ~unexpiorod and the I'M
mensities untraveled. No world has ever
hailed heaven, and heaven has never hailed
any other world. / think that the win
dows and the balconies were thronSed,
and that the pearly beach was rowded
with those who had come to see Him sail
out Of the harbor Of light into the ocean
beyond. Out and out and out, and on
and on aud on, and down and down and
down He sped, until one night. with only
one to greet Him when He arrived, His dis
embarkation so unpretending. so quiet That
1t was not known on earth until the excite
ment in the cloud gave inttmation to the
Bethlehem rustics that something grand and
glorious had happened. Who comes there2
From what port did He sail2 Why was this
the place Of His destination l question the
shepherds. | question the camel drivers. l
question the angels. Ihave foundo out. He
was an exile. But the world had plenty OF
eXiles. Abraham, an exile from Haran;
John. ar exile from Ephesus; Kosciusko, an
exile from Poland; Mazzini, an exile from
Rome; Emmett, an exile from Ireland; Victor
Hugo, an exile from France; Kossuth, an ex-
lie from Hungary. But this one OF whom l
speak to-day had such r~esounding farewell
and came into such chilling re~ception-for
not even u hostler went out with his lantern
to light Him in--that He is more to be cele-
brated than any other expatriated exile OF
earth or heaven.
First, remark that Christ was an i'm
perial exile. He got down of 4 throne. He
took of a tiara. He closed n palace gate be-
hind Him. His family were princes and
princessess. Vashti was turned out of the
throneroem by Ahasuerus. David was de-
throned by Absaiom's ,infamy. The five
kings were hurled into q cavern by Joshua's
courage. Some of the Henrys of England
and some of the Louis of France were iostled
on their thrones by disconnected subjects.
But Christ was never more honored or moro
popular or 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 bottom. He was not pushed of, 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 thousand times worse
the one exile suffering for that he had de-
stroyed Nations, the other exile suffering be-
cause He came to save o world. An imperial
exile. King eternal. "Blessing n honor
and glory and power be unto Him that sit,
teth upon the throne"
But 1 go farther and tell you He was an
exile en- a barren island. This world is one
of the smallest islands Of light in the ocean
Of immensely. Other stellar kingdoms are
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 dis~agreeableness.
Christ came as an exile 10 n world scorched
with heat and bitten with cold. to deserts s-
moon swept, to n bowling wilderness. 1t was
the back dooryardseemingly of the uni verse.
Yea, Christ came to the poorest part of this
barren island of a ~world-Asia Minor, with
its intense summers. unfit for the residence
OF a foreigner, and In the rainy season UNIT
for the residence'of a native. Christ came
not to such a land as America or England or
France or Germany, but to n land one-third
of the year drowned, another third OF the
year burned up, and only one-third of the
year Just tolerable. oh, 1t was the barren
island Of a world Barren enough for Christ,
for it gave such small worship and such in
adequate affection, and such little gratitude.
Imperial exile on the barren island Of o
world. The earth against Hin.
l go further and tell you that lie was M
exile In a hostile country. Turkey was never
so much against Russia, France was never so
much against Germany, as this earth was
against Christ. 1t took Him in through the
door Of q stable. 1t thrust Him out at tho
point of a spear. The Roman Government
against Him with every weapon Of its arm,
and every decision of its courts and every
beak of lis war eagles. For years after His
arrival the only question was how best to
put Him out. Herod hated Him, the high
priests hated Him, the Pharisees hated Him,
Judas ~Iscariot hated Him, destas, the dying
thiaf hQfad Him nha tuhNln aartH aanVa-
ingly turned into a detective to watch His
steps. And yet He faced this ~ferocity. Notice
thai most OF Christ's wounds were in front,
Some scourging OF the shoulders, but most
OF Ohrist's wounds in front. He was not on
retreat when He expired. Face to face with
the worlds ferocity. Face TO face with the
worlds sin. Face to face with the worlds
VICE.: His eyes on the raging counte-
nances Of His foaming antagonists when
He expired. When the cavalry officer
roweled his steed 80 that he might
come nearer up and see the tortured visage
Of the suffering exile, Christ saw 1t. When
the spear was thrust at His side, and when
the hammer was lifted for His feet, and when
the reed was raised to 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 with
benedicdon. Mind you, His head was no.
fastened. He could look to the right and
Il NbNlh AOOh W tuo tuAtt ~ COuiu 1OOk up
and He could look down. He saw when the
spikes had been driven home, INC the hard,
round, iron heads were in the palms of His
hands. He saw them as plainly as you ever
saw anything In the palms of your hands.
No ether. no chloroform, no merciful anes-
thetic to dull or stupefy, but, wide awake,
He saw the observation of the heavens, the
unba' sncing of the rocks, the countenances
quivering with rage and the exclamation
diabolIc. Oh. ii was the hostile as well as
the barren island OF a world.
1 go farther and tell you hat this exile
vas far from home. 1t is $4,000, 900 miles
from here to the sun, and all astronomers
agree 10 saying that our solar system is only
one OF the smaller wheels of the great ma
ohinery Of the universe turning around some
one great center, the center so far distant it
Is beyond all Imagination and calculation,
and II. as some think, that great center in
the distance is heaven, Christ came far from
home when He came here. Have you ever
thought of the homesickness OF CHRISTI Some
Of you know what Inconsistencies IL when you
have been only a few weeks absent from tho
domestic circle. Christ was thirty-threa
years away from home. Some of you feel
inconsistencies when you are a hundred or a
thousand miles away from the domestic
circle. Christ was more million miles awavI
from home than you could count n all your
life you did nothing but count. You know
what it Is to be homesick even amid pleasant
surroundings, but Christ slept in huts. and
He was athirst, and He was a~-hungered, and
He was on the way from being born IN
another mans barn to being buried iV
another mans grave.
1 have read how the Swiss, when they art
far away from their native country, at tho
sound Of their National air get so homesick
that they fall into melancholy, and some-
times they die under the inconsistencies But,
oh, the homesickness Of Christi Poverty
homesick for celestial riches. Persecution
homesiok for hosanna. WEAKNESS homes
sick for rest. Homeslck for angelic
and ~archangelic companionship. Homes.
sick to get out OF the night, and
the storm, and the worlds exeeration
homeslckness will make a week seem as
ong as a month, and it seems to me that the
three decades OF Christ's residence on earth
must have seemed TO Him almost as inter-
ninable. You lave often tried to measure
he other pangs OF Christ, but you have
aever tried to measure the magnitude and
ponderosity Of a S~aviour's homesiokness.
Il take q step tArthaE and tell xQR that
~ H