The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-08-04
THE IVORY PALACES.
DIR, TALMAGE ON THE GLORIES OF
THE wORLDTO COME

THE WORLDTO COME
Attractiveness of Christ, Who
opens the Way For His Faithful Fol.
lowers-The Christian's Guide TO
Heaven
Copyright, Louis Klopsch, 1899
In this discourse DR.. Talmage sets
the glories of the world to come
and the attractiveness Of the Christ, who
opens the way; text, Psalms xiv, s: "AI
thy garments smell Of myth and aloes
and cassia III of the ivory palaces
Among the grand adornments OF the
city of Paris is the Church or Notre
Dame, with it's great towers and elabo-
ate rose windows and sculpturing on
the last judgment, with the
angels and rising dead; its battlements
of uuatre foil; it's sacristy, with rlnoed
ceiling and statues of saints. But there
was nothing in all that building winch
more wildly appealed to my plain re-
publican tastes than the costly vest
meuts which lay in oaken presses
robes that had been embroidered with
gold and been worn by popes and arcn-
bishops on great occasions. There was
a robe that had been worn by Piu VII
at the browning Of the first Napoleon.
There was also a vestment that mad
been worn at THE baptism of Napoleon
II. AS our guide opened the oaken
presses and brought out these vest
ments of fabulous cost and lifted them
UP, the fragrance Of the pungent arc
matics in which they had been preserv-
ed filled the place with a sweetness
that was almost oppressive. Nothing
that had been done in stone more WV
idly impressed me than these Things
that had been done in cloth and en-
broidery and perfume. But today L
open the drawer Of this text, n l look
upon the kingly robes Of Christ, and
as I lift them, flashing with eternal
Jewels, the whole house is filled with
the aroma of these garments, which
Smell of myrrh and aloeS and caSs1a
out of the ivory palaces"
In my text the King steps forth. His
robes rustic and blaze as he advances.
His pomp and power and glory over
master the spectator. More brilliant 1s
he than Queen Vashti, moving amid
the Persian princes; than Marie An
toinette on the day when Louis XVI
put upon her the necklace Of 500 dia-
monds; than Anne Boleyn the day when
Henry VIII welcomed her to his palace
all beauty and all pomp forgotten
while we stand in the presence of this
imperial glory, King of Zion, King OF
earth, King of heaven, King forever!
His garments not worn out, not dust
b~edraggled, but radiant, and jeWeled,
and redolent. 1t seems as if they must
have been pressed a undred years
- %lA NV So &c Lnnrynp h xvn r6
robes from which they have been TAX
en- must a been sweet with clusters
of campfire, and frankincense, and all
of precious wood. Do you no
inhale the doors? Aye, aye, They
smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia
out of the ivory palaces"
Your first curiosity is to know why
the robes of Christ are odorous with
myrrh. This was a bright leafed Abyss
sinian plant. 1t was trifoliated. The
Greeks, Egyptians, Romans and Jews
bought and sold it at a high price. THE
first present that was ever given ito
Christ was a sprig of myrrh thrown
nthis infantile bed in Bethlehem, and
the last gift that Christ ever had was
myrrh pressed into the cup of his cruel
fXion. The natives WOuld take a stone
and bruise the tree, and then it would
eXude a gun hat would saturate all
the ground beneath. This gum was
used for purposes of merchandise. One
piece of it no larger than a chestnut
would whelm a whole room with odors.
It was put in closets, in chests, in
drawers, in rooms, and it's perfume adj
herred almost Unfortunately to anything
that was anywhere near 1T. So when
in my text I read that Christ's gar
ments smell of myrrh 1 Immediately
the exquisite sweetness Of
Jesus.
1 know that to many he is only like
any historical person-another John
Howard, another philanthropic Oberlin,
another C%onfucius, a grand subject for
a painting, a heroic theme for a poem,
a beautiful form for a statue, but to
those who have heard his voice
and felt his pardon and received his
benediction he is music and light and
and thrill and eternal frag-
rance, sweet as "a friend sticking to you
when all else betray, lifting o up
while others try to push you down, not
80 much like morning glories that
bloom only when the sun is coming up,
nor like -four o'clocks," that bloom
only when the sun is going down, but
like myrrh, p~erpetually aromatic, the
morning, noon and night, yester-
daily, today, forever. 1t seems as If
we cannot wear him out. We put on
him all our burdens and afflict him with
all III griefs and set him foremost in
A ~ oiAN ySk 1S 10 1CoAy "
lift and to SympathiZe and to help. We
so imposed upon him that one
would think in eternal affront he would
quit u soul, and yet today he ad-
dresses us with the same tenderness,
dawns upon us with the same smile,
pities us with the same compassion.
There is nc name like his for us. It
is more imperial than Caesars, more
musical than B~eethoven's, more con-
quering than Charlemange's, more elo-
quent than C~icero's. 1t throbs with all
life. 1t weeps with all pathos. IT
groans with all pain. 1t stoops with
all condescension. 1t breathes with all
perfume. Who like Jesus to set a brok-
en- bone, to pity a homeless orphan, to
nurse a sick man, to take a prodigal
back without any scolding, to illumine
cemetery all plowed with graves, to
a queen unto God out of the lost
woman, to catch the tears of human
in a lachrymatory tina shall
never be broken? Who has such an eye
to see our need, such a lip ITO kiss away
our sorrow, such a hand to snatch US
out of the fire, such a foo to trample
,ur enemies, such a heart to embrace
all our necessities? I struggle for some