The Yale expositor., 1899-08-11

! lull OICuoslId, ludL Is lOO iOud. Ilc ID
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 n softer type, a
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 nostrll 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 soon you would turn from
all other attractions! If the philoso-
pher leaped out OF his bath in frenzy
OF Joy. and clapped his hands ana
rushed through the streets, because he
had found the solution OF a mathemat'
ical problem, how will you feel leap
ing from the fountain of savior s
mercy and pardon. washed clean and
made white as snow, when the question
mas been solved: How can my soul
oe saved?" Naked, frost-bitton, storm
Iashed soul, let Jesus this hour throw
around thee the garments that smell
of myrrh. and aloes, and cassia out OF
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 Of
the Lerb. 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 hostelry the first, an un-
just trial in oyer and terminer another.
a oul-mouthed, yelling mob the last.
Was there a 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, 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 Asiatie
elephants were twisted into all man
ners of shapes, and there were stairs
Of ivory, and chairs OF ivory, and Ia
bles of ivory, and floors OF ivory. and
pillars of ivory, and windows OF ivor.
and fountains that dropped into basins
OF ivory, and rooms that had ceilings
of ivory. Oh, white and overwhelming
beauty! Green tree branches sweep
ing the white curbs. Tapestry trailing
the snowy floors. Brackets Of light
flashing on the lustrous surroundings.
Silvery music 'ippling on tn. beach Of
the arches. The mere thought OF 1t al
most stuns my brain, and you say:
oh, II could only have walked over
even floors! X Gould have thrown
II ysslt iHeo such a chair! II could
D., c heard the drip and dash OF those
fountains" You shall have something
better than that il 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 place
heaven must be- The Tulleries of the
French, the Windsor castle OF the Eng
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 fer the angels, insufferably bright
winged, fre-eyed. tempest-eharioted;
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 fol
you, ransomed from sin; one for me
plucked from the burning. Oh, ths
ivory palaces!
Today it seems to me as IL the win.
dows of those palaces were illuminet
for some great victory. and look ant
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, / know them. There are father
and mother, not eighty-two years ant
seventy-nine years, as when they lef
, us, but blithe and young as when OF
their marriage day. And there arr
, brothers and sisters, merrier than wheI
: we used to romp across the meadow
together. The cough gone. The can
, ce- cured The erysipelas healed. TIT
heartbreak over. Oh, how fair the!
are in the ivory palaces! And you
! | = 80 4. ~ frn