The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1899-08-11

he is not like the bursting forth OF
full orchestra; that is too loud. He is
not like the sea when lashed to rage
by the tempest; chat Is too boisterous.
He is not like the mountain, its brow
wreathed with the lightnings; that is
too solitary. Give us softer type,
gentler comparison. We have seemed
to see him with our eyes, and to hear
him with our ears. and to touch him
with our hands. Oh, that today he
might appear to some other one Of our
five senses! Ay, the nostril shall dis
cover his presence. He comes upon us
like spice gales from heaven. Yea, his
garments smell of lasting and all-per-
vasive myrrh.
Would that you all knew his sweet
ness how sooA you would turn from
all other attractions! If the philoso-
pher leaped out of his bath in frenzy
of joy, and clapped his hands ano
rushed through the streets, because ne
had found the solution Of mathemat'
ical problem, how will you feel leap
ing from the fountain of a savior
mercy and pardon. washed clean ana
made white as snow, when the question
has been solved: How can my soul
DE saved?" Naked, frost-bitten, storm
1ashed SOUL let Jesus this hour throw
around thee the garments that smell
of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia out Oh
ivory palaces"
Your second curiosity is to know
why the robes of Jesus are odorous
with aloes. There is some difference
of opinion about where these aloes
grow, what is the color of the flower,
what is the particular appearance or
the herb. Suffice 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 suggest to me the bitterness
of Savior's sufferings. Were there
ever such nights as Jesus lived through
nights on the mountains, nights on
the sea, nights in the desert? Who
ever had such a hard reception as
Jesus had? A hosiery the first, an I'M
just trial in oyer and terminer another,
foul-mouthed, yelling mob the last.
Was there space on his back as wide
as your two fingers where he was not
whipped? Was there a space on his
brow an inch square where he was not
cut of the briers? When the spike
struck at the instep, did it not go clear
through to the hollow of the foot?
Oh, long deep, bitter pilgrimage!
Aloes! aloes!
According to my text, he comes "out
of the ivory palaces" You know, or,
If you do not know, I will tell you now,
that some of the palaces of olden time
were adorned with ivory. Ahab and Sol
ONION had their homes furnished with
it. The tusks Of African and Asiatic
elephants were twisted into all man
ners of shapes, and there were stairs
of ivory, and chairs of ivory, and ta-
bles of ivory, and floors of ivory, and
pillars of ivory, and windows of ivory,
and fountains that dropped into basins
of ivory, and rooms that had ceilings
of ivory. Oh, white and overmastering
beauty! Green tree branches sweep
ing the white curbs. Tapestry trailing
the snowy floors. Brackets of light
flashing on the lustrous surroundings.
Silvery music ripping on the beach OF
the arches. The mere thought Of it al
most stuns my brain, and you say:
ooh, if l could only have walked over
such floors! If l could have thrown
myself into such a chair! If l could
have heard the drip and dash of those
fountains!" You shall have something
better than that If you only let Christ
introduce you. From that place he
came, and to that place he proposes to
transport you, for his garments smell
of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of
the ivory palaces" What a place
heaven must be! The Tuileries of the
lish, the Spanish Alhambra, the Rus
sian Kremlin, are mere dungeons COM
pared with it! Not so many castles on
either side the Rhine as on both sides
of the river of God-the ivory palaces.
One for the angels, insufferab1y bright,
winged, fire-eyed, tempest-charioted
one for the martyrs, with blood-red
robes from under the altar; one for
the King, the steps of his palace the
crown of the church militant; one for
the singers, who lead the one hundred
and forty and four thousand; one for
you, ransomed from sin; one for me,
plucked from the burning. Oh, the
ivory palaces!
Today it seems to me as IL the win
dows of those palaces were illumined
for some great victory, and look and
see, climbing the stairs of ivory, and
walking on floors of ivory, and look
ing from the windows of ivory, some
whom we knew and loved on earth.
Yes, l know them. There are father
and mother, not eighty-two years and
seventy-nine years, as when they left
us, but blithe and young as when on
their marriage day. And there are
brothers and sisters, merrier than when
we used to romp across the meadows
together. The cough gone. The can