The Penn's Grove record., 1899-08-04
VOLUME XXI.
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.
Subjects The Giories of Heayen-Christ 3
Attractlveness Painted In Glowing Col
Ivory Palaces to the Agony
of the Crucihxfon.

ShAtott fhp tlfbAH ~ "hg WAN 4 hAAip
XIV, 8, "All Thy garments smell Of myrri
and aloes and cassia out OF the ivory pal
aces"
Among the grand adornments OF the city
OF Paris is the Church of Notre Dame, Will
great towers and elaborate rose Windows
and sculpturing OF the last judgment, witt
the trumpeting angels and rising dead; its
batllements OF qaatre foili its sacristy
with rib 90 ceilings and statues OF saints,
But there was nothing 10 all that build
ing which more wildly appealed to my
plain republican tastes han the costly
vestments which lay In oaken presses
robes that had been embroidered
with gold and been worn by Popes and
arehbishops on great occasions. There was
II robe that had been worn by Plus VII. at
the browning OF the 1rst Napoleon, There
was also n yestment that had been worn nj
the baptism OF Napoleon II. As our guide
opened tho oRken presses and brought out
these vestments OF fabulous cost and lifted
them Up tho fragrance of tho pungent arc
MATES In which they had been preserved
nlled the place with II sweetness that was
almost oppressive. Nothing that had been
done in stone more wildly impressed me
than these things that had been lone in
cloth and embroidery and perfume. But
to-day l open the drawer of this text, and
Hook upon the kinsly robes OF Christ, and
as l lift them, flashing with eternal Jewels
luC MiOlt IOuSb 10 Illti Win the uTUulu OIL
these garments, which "smell Of myrrh
and aloes and cassia out Of the ivory pal
aces
In my text the King steps forth. His
robes rustic n blaze rs He advances, His
pomp and power and glory overmaster the
spectator. More brilliant is He than Queen
Vashti moving mid tue Persian princes;
than Marie Antoinette on the dag when
Louis XVI. put upon her the necklace OF
500 diamonds; than Anne Boleyn the day
when Henry VIII. welcomed her to his
palace-all beauty and all romp forgotten
while we stand in the presence OF this i'm
perlal glory, King OF Zion, King OF the
earth, King OF heaven, King ~foreveri Her
garments not worn out, not dust be-
draggled. but radiant and jeweled and re-
dolent. 1t seems AS il they must have
been pressed 100 years amid the flowers of
heaven. The wardrobes from which they
have been taken must have been sweet
with clusters of camphor and franklin
cense and all manner Of precious wood.
Do you not inhale the odors? Aye, aye.
"They smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia
out of the ivory palaces"
Your first curiosity T. to know why the
robes of Christ are odorous with myrrh.
This was a bright leafed Abyssinian plant.
II was trifoliated. The Greeks. Egyptians,
Romans and Jews bought nud sold it at a
high price. The first present that was
ever given 10 CUfl5t was u SprlR Oh mNrrn
thrown on His infantilc bed in Bethlehem,
and the last gift hat Christ ever had was
myTrh pressed into the cup of His cruel
lxion. The natives would take Il stone
and bruise the tree, and then it would
eXude a gum that would saturate all the
ground beneath. This gum was usel for
the purposes OF merchandise. One piece
Of it no larger than II chestnut would
wbelm n whole room with odors. 1t was
put in closets, in chests, in drawers, in
rooms, and its perfume adhered almost in
terminabiy to anything that was anywhere
near it. So when in my text l read that
Christ's garments smell of myrrh l imme-
diately conclude the exquisite sweetness
of Jesus.-
Would that you alfknew His sweetnessi
How sooD you would turn from al other
attractions II the philosopher lea ed out
Of his path in n frenzy of Joy md capped
his hands and rushed through the sfisets
because he had found the solution OF a
mathematical problem, how will you feel
leaping from the fountain of n Sayiour's
mercy md pardon, washed clean and made
white as snow, when the question has been
solved, How can my soul be saved?"
Naked, frostbitten, storm-lashcd soul, let
Jesus his hour throw around thee the
garments that smell of myrrh and alocs
and cassia out OF the ivory palace"
YOU second cur osity is to know why the
robes of Jesus arc odorous with aloes.
There is somO difference of opinion about
where these aloes grow, what is tho color
of the flower, what Is the particular APP
pGnrance OF 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 oior
they suggest to me the bitterness OF n
Sayiour's suffcriDGs. We're there ever such
nights ms Jesus lived through-nights on
tho mnuntnInG niphtG m thu Saa nfphtc in
the desert? Who eyer had such a hard re-
ception rs Jesus had A hosiery the first,
an unjust trial in oyer and terminer an
other, a foul mouthed, yelling mob the last.
Was there a space on His back as wide as
yourtwo 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 cl ar through to the hollow of the
foot? Oh, long, deep, bitter pilgrimage!
Aloesl Aloosl
John leaned his read on Christ, but who
did Christ lean on? Five thousand men
fed by tho Saviour; who fed Jesus? The
sympathy of a Saylour's heart going out to
tue leper and the adultress; but who
soothed Christi He had Il 1T place neither
to be born nor to die. A poor babel A
poor lad A poor young mani Not so
much ms a taper to cheer His dying hours.
Even the candle Of the sun snuffed out.
Was it not all aloes2 Our sins, sorrows,
Gereavements. losses and all the agonies OF
eaith and he'll picked up as in enc cluster
md squeezed into one cup, and that
pressed to His lips until tho acrid, nauseat-
ing, bitter draft was swallowed with n dis.
torted countenance and n shudder from
head to foot and n gurGling s~trangulation.
Aloes, aloes! Nothing but aloes. All this
for Himself? All this to get the fame in
the world Of being n martyr? All this in n
gufrft NJ gt,t hlAr hnnnt~n H. .Ifl 80
Ike Caesar? No, mol All this because He
wanted 10 pluck me and you from hell.
Because He wanted to raise me and you to
heaven. Because we were lost and He
wanted us found. Because we we're blind,
and He wanted us to see. Because we
were seris, and He wanted US manumitted.
Oh, ye in whose cup of life tho saccharin
has predominated; oh, ye who rave had
bright and sparkling beverages, how do
you feel toward Him who In your stead
and to purchase your disenthrallment,
took the aloes. the unsayory aloes, the
bitter aloes?
Your third curiosity is to know why
these garments of Christ are odorous with
eassia. This was q plant which grew in
India, and tho adjoining islands. You do
not care to hear what kind of a flower it
had or what kind OF a stalk. 1t is enough
for ne to tell you that il was used
incidentally. In that land and in that age.
where they knew but little about pharmacy,
cassia was rcd to arrest many forms OF
d sease. So. when In my text we lind Christ
coming with garments that smel of cassia.
ii suggests to me the healing and curative
power Of the Son of God. "Oh," YOU say,
'nOw you have a superfuous ideal We
are not sick. Why do we want cassia?
We are athletic. Our respiration is per-
feet. Our limbs are 1.-THE, and on bright
cool days we feel we could bound like n
roe" | beg to differ, my brother, from
you. None of you can DO better IN
physical health than | am, and yet /
must say We are all sick. l have taken tho
diagnosis of your ease and have examined
all the best authorities on tho 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 notified
with ointment" The marasmus OF sin Is
on us-the palsy, the dropsy, the ~leprosy.
The man that is expiring tonight in the
next street.-the allopathic and homeo-
pathie doctors have given him up and his
friends now standing around to take his
last words-is no more certainly dying as
to his body than you and | are dying unless
we have taken the medicine from Gods
aptthecary. All the leaves OF this Bible
are only so many prescriptions from tho
Divine Physician, written, not in Latin,
like the prescriptions Of earthly physicians,
but written in rlain English, so That u