The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1899-09-22

metaphor with which to express Him
Tie is not like the bursting forth of q
full orchestra; that is too loud. He i.
not like the sea when lashed 10 rage by
the tempest; that is too boisterous
He is not like the mountain, its brow
wrcathed with the lightnings; that is
zoo solitary. Give us a softer type, q
rcntier comparison. We have seemed
10 see Him with our eyes and TO hear
Him with our ears and TO touch Him
with our hands. Oh, that to-day He
might appear TO some other one Of om
five sensesl Aye, the nostri shall dis
cover His presence. lie comes upon us
. like spice gales from Heaven. Yea, His
garments smell of lasting and all per-
yasiye myrrh.
Would that you all knew his sweet
nessl How soon you would turn from
all other attractions. If tie philoso-
pher leaped out of his bath in a frenzy
of JOY and clapped his haLds and rushed
through the streets because he he'd
found the solution of a mathematical
problem, how will you feel leaping
from the fountain of a Saviours mercy
and pardon. washed clean and made
white as snow, when the question has
been solved: How can my soul be
sayed?" Naked rostbitten, storm
lashed soul. let Jesus this hour throw
around thee the garments that smell
of myrrh and aloes and cassia out of
the ivory palaces"
Your second curiosity is to know why
the robes of Jesus are odorous with
aloes. There is some difference of opin-
ion about where these aloes grow. what
is the color of the flower, what is the
particular appearance Of the herb. Suf-
fee it for you and me to know that
aloes mean bitterness the world over,
and when Christ comes with garments
bearing that particular odor they sug-
pest to me the bitterness Of a Sa-
yi0urs sufTerings. We're there ever
such nights as Jesus lived through
nights ON the mountains. nights on the
sea. nights i'm the desert? Who ever
had such hard reception as Jesus
had? a hostelry the first. an unjust
trial i'm oyer and terminer another, a
foul-mouthed, yelling mob the last
Was there a space on His back as wide
as your two fingers where ne was not
whipped? Was there a space on His
brow am inch square where he was not
cut of the briers? When the spike
struck at the instep. did it not go clean
through 10 the hollow Of the foot? Oh,
long deep, bitter pilgrimage. Aloes,
aloes.
John leaned his head on Christ, but
who did Christ lean on? Five thousand
men fed by the Saviour. Who fed
Jesus? The sympathy of a Sayiours
heart going out to the leper and the
adultress: but who soothed Christ? He
had a fit place neither to be born nor to
die. a poor babe. a poor lad. a poor
young mani Not so much as taper to
cheer His dying hours. Even the can
die of the sun snuifed out. Was il not
AN aloes? Our sins, sorrows, bereave-
ments, losses and all the agonies of
earth and hell picked up as in one clus-
ter and squeezed into one cup that
pressed to His lips until the acid, nau-
seating. bitter draft was swallowed
with a distorted countenance and a
shudder from head TO foot and a
gurgling strangulation. Aloes. AlOeal
Nothing but aloesl All this for Him
self? All this to get the fame in the
world of being a martyr? All this in
a spirit of stubborness, because lie did
not like Caesar2 No, no. All this be-
cause fIc wanted TO pluck ne and you
from hell Because lie wanted TO
raise me and you TO Heaven. Hecause
we were lost, and lie wanted rs found.
Because we were blind, and lie wanted
MS to see. Because we were serfs, and
lie wanted, us manumitted. o ye
in whose cup of life the sacchar-
inc has predominated; 0 ye who
have had bright and sparkling bev-
erages, how do you feel toward
Him who in your stead and to purchase
your disinthrallment took the aloes,
the unsavory aloes, the bitter aloes?
Your third curiosity is TO know why
these garments of Christ are odorous
with cassia. This was a plant which
grew I'm India and the adjoining islands.
You do not care to hear what kind of
flower il had or what kind of a stalk. 1t
is enough for me TO tell you that it was
used incidentally. In that land and in
that age, where they knew but little
about pharmacy, cassia was used TO ar
rest many forms of disease. So, when in
my text we find Christ coming with gar
ments that smell of cassia, it suggests
to me the healing and curative power OF
the Son of God "Oh," you say, NOW
YOU have a superhuous idea! We are
not sick. Why do we want cassia? We
are athletic Our respiration is perfect.
Our limbs are 1.-the, and on bright cool
davs we feel we could bound like roe
I beg TO differ, my brother, from you.
None of you can be better in physical
health than am, and yet / must say we
are ali sick. L have taken the diagnosis
of your case and have examined all the
best authorities on the subject, and l
have to tell you that you are full Of
wounds and bruises and putrefying
sores. which have not been bound up
or Modified with ointment" The
marasmus Of sin is on us, the palsy, the
dropsy, the leprosy. The man that is
n.-l.irinn tn-ninlf in the next street