The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1896-04-29
CHRIST'S SAD EXILE.
THE LONG ExPATRlATIoN WAS Or.
TALMAGE'S SUNDAY THEME.
When the King Went Forth and Tarried
In . Place which Was Far On-christ's
Great Hcraesickness-From the Throne
room to the Sheep Pen.

room 60 the Sncep Tcus
WASHINGTON, April l9.-It is won
derful to how many tunes the gospel
may be set Dr.. Talmage's sermon to-
day shows another way in which the
earthly experience of our Lord is set
forth. His text was II Samuel XIV, II,
"And the king went forth and tarried
in 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 ab-
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 one hemisphere to another he1ni-
sphere; many Of Us have done that But
he was to sail from world to world, the
spaces unexplored and the immensities
untrayeled. No world has ever hailed
heaven, and heaven has never hailed
any other world I think that the win
dows and the balconies were thronged,
and that the pearly beach was crowded
with those who had come to see him sail
out of the harbor of light into the ocean
beyond. Out and out and cut, and on
and On and on, and down and down and
down he sped, until one night, with
only one to greet him when he arrived,
his Decentralization SO unpretending, so
quiet that it was not known ON earth
until the excitement in the cloud gave
intimation> to the Bethlehem rustics that
something grand and glorious had hap
pened. Who comes there? From what
port did he sail? Why was this the place
of his destination? I question the shep-
herds. Iquestion the camel drivers.
question the angels have found out
He was an exile. But the world had
plenty CT exiles Abraham, an exile
from Haran; John, an exile from Ephe-
sre: Kosciusko, an exile from Poland;
Mazzini, an exile from Rene; Emmet,
an exile from Ireland; Victor Hugo, an
exile from France; Kossuth, an exile
from Hungary. But this che Of whom
7 speak today had such resounding fare
well and came into such chilling reccp-
tion-fcr not even a hostler went cut
with his lantern to light him in-that
he is more to be celebrated than any 9TH
er expatriated exile Of earth or heaven.
From Throneroom to Sheep Pen.
First, I remark that Christ was an
imperial exile. He get down off a
throne. He took OFF tiara. He closed
palace gate behind him. His family
were princes and princesses. Vashti was
turned out of the throneroom by Ahas-
uerus. David was dethroned by Absa-
lom's infamy. The five kings were
hurled into = cavern by Joshua's cour-
age. Some cf the Henrys Of England
and some cf the Louis cf France were
jostled Oh their thrones by discontentcd
subjects. But Christ was never mere
honored or more popular CT more loved
than the day he left heaven. Exilcs
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 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 thou
sand times worse-the one exile suffering
for that he had destroyed nations, the
other exile suffering because he came to
save world. An imperial exile. King
eternal Blessing and honor and glory
and power he unto him that sitteth up
oG the throne.
But l SO farther and tell you he was
an exile ON q barren island. This world
is one of the smallest islands of light
in the ocean Of immensely. Other stel-
lar Kingdoms are many thousand times
larger than this Christ came to this
small Patmcs Of 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 Us an exile to i world
scorched with heat and bitten with
cold, to deserts simoom swept, to a
bowling wilderness 1t was the back
dooryard seemingly of the universe.
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 foreigner, and III
the rainy season unfit for the residence