Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1899-08-10
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
THE IVORY PALACES" LAST
SUNDAYS SUBJECT.
IAN the Garments Smell Of Myrrh, and
Aloes, and Cassia, Out OF the Ivory
Palaces"--FrOm the Book of Psalms
Chapter xl, Verse 8.
Copyright 1899 by Louis Klopsch)

Copyright 1899 by Louis Klopsch)
Among the grand adornments of the
| city OF Paris is the Church of Notre
Dame, with it's great towers and elab-
| crate rose windows, and sculpturing OF
| the last judgment, with the trumpeting
| angels and rising dead; its battlements
| OF quatre-foil; it's sacristy, with ribbed
ceiling and statues of saints. But there
! was nothing in all that building which
| more wildly appealed to my plain re-
| publican tastes than the costly vest
| ments which lay in oaken presses
robes that had been embroidered with
| gold, and been worn by popes and arch
bishops on great occasions. There was
| robe that had been worn by Plus
VII. at the browning of the first Ma
| poleon. There was also a vestment
| that had been worn at the baptism of
Napoleon H. AS our guide opened the
oaken presses, and brought out these
vestments of fabulous cost, and lifted
them up, the fragrance of the pungent
aromatics in which they had been pre-
| ness that was almost oppressive. Moth
| ing that had been done in stone more
wildly impressed me than these things
| that had been in cloth, and embroidery
and perfume. But today | open the
drawer of this text, and | look upon
the kingly robes of Christ and as l lift
them, flashing with eternal jewels, the
| whole house is filled with the aroma of
these garments, which smell of
myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of
the ivory palaces"
In my text the king steps forth. His
I robes rustic and blaze as he advances.
His pomp and power and glory over
master the spectator. More brilliant
is 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 for
gotten 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 st-bedrag gled; but radiant and
jeweled and redolent. 1t seems as if
they must have been pressed a hundred
years amid the flowers of heaven. The
wardrobes from which they have been
taken must have been sweet with Gus
tiers of campfire, and frankincense, and
all manner of precious wood. Do you
| not inhale the doors? Ay, ay, "They
smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia,
ont of the ivory palaces"
Your first curiosity is to know why
the robes of Christ are odorous with
myrrh. This was a brightleafed Abys-
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 to
Christ was a sprig of myrrh thrown on
his infantile bed in Bethlehem, and the
last gift that Christ ever had was
myrrh pressed into the cup of his cru
/ citiXion. The natives would take a
stone and bruiSe the tree, and then
1t would eXude gum that would satu-
rate all the ground beneath. This gum
was used for purposes of merchandise.
One piece of it, no larger than a chest
nut, would whelm a whole room with
odors. 1t was put in closets, in chests,
in drawers, in rooms and it's perfume
adhered almost Unfortunately to any
thing that was anywhere near it. So
when in my text | read that Christ's
garments smell of myrrh, Immediate
ly conclude the exquisite sweetness of
Jesus.
| know that to many he is only like
any historical person; another John
Howard; another philanthropic ODER
lin; another COnfucius; grand sub
ject for painting, a heroic theme for
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
warmth, and thrill, and eternal fra
grance-sweet as friend sticking to
you when all else betray; lifting you
up while others try to push you down;
not so 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, perpetually aromatic-the
same morning, noon and night; yes
| terday, today, forever 1t seems as if
we cannot wear him out. We put on
| him all our burdens, and afflict him
with all our griefs, and set him fore
most in all our battles; and yet he is
| ready to lift, and to sympathiZe and to
help. We have so imposed upon him
that one would think in eternal affropt
he would quit our SOUL and yet today
he addresses us with the same tender
ness, dawns upon us with the same
smile, pities us with the same COM
| passion.
/ There is no name like his for us. 1t
is more imperial than Caesars, more
musical than Beethoven's. more con-
quering than Charlemagne's, more elo.
guent than Cicero's. 1t throbs with all
life. 1t weeps with all pathos. II
| groans with all pain. 1t stoops with all
condescension. 1t breathes with all
perfume. Who like Jesus to set a
broken bone, to pity a homeless or
phan, to nurse a sick man, to take 9
prodigal back without any scolding
to illumine a cemetery all ploughet
with graves, to make a queen unto
God out of the lost woman, to catch
the tears of human sorrow in {
lachrymatory that shall never b(