The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1899-08-09

through the streets because he haa
found the solution Of a mathematical
problem, how will you feel leapipg from
the fountain Of Saviour,s mercy and
pardon, washed clean and made white
as snow, when the question has been
solved, How can my soul be saved?
Naked, frostbitten, storm lashed soul,
let Jesus this hour throw around thee
the garments that smell Of myrrh and
aIoes and cassia out Of the ivory pal
aces.
Your seco1d curiosity is to know
why the robes Of Jesus are oderous
with aloes. There is some difference
of opinion about where these aIoes
grow. what is the color of the flower,
what is the particular appearance 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 door
thew suggest to me the bitterness OF a
Sayiours 5 sutferings. Were there ever
such nights as Jesus lived through
nights on the mountains, nights on the
sea nigh,s on the desert? Who ever
had such a hard reception as Jesus had!
\ hosteIry tie first, an unjust trial in
over and terminer and terminer anoth-
er. foul 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 space
on his brow an inch square where ne
was rot cut Of the briers? When the
spike struck at the iDstep did it not 60
clear through to the hollow of the foot?
Oh, long, deep, bitter pilgrimage!
Aloes, aloes
John leaned his head on Christ, but
who did Christ lean on? Five thous.
and men fed by the Saviour. Who fed
Jcs2s? The sympathy of Saviour's S
heart going out to the leper and the
adulteress: but who s1othed Christ?
He had fit place neither to be born
nor to die. \ poor babe A poor lad.
A poor young man. Not so much as a
taper to cheer his dying hours. Even
the candle Of the sun snutled out.
Was it not all aloes? NOur sins, sor-
rows, bereavements, losses aud all the
agonies Of earth and hell picked up as
in one cluster and squeezed into one
cup and that pressed to his lips until
the acrid, nauseating, bitter draft was
swallowed with distorted countenance
and a shudder from head to foot and a
gurgling strangulation. Aloes! Aloes.
Nothing but aloes! All this for him
self? All this to get the fame in the
world of being a martyr? All this in a
spirit of stubbornness, because he did
not like Caesar? No, no! All this
because he wanted to 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 vera blind, and he wanted
US to sec. Because We were serfs, and
he wanted to see Us manumitted. y
ye in whose cup of life the saccbarine
has predominated; 0 ye who have
had bright and sparkling beverages,
how do you feel toward him who in
your stead and to purchase your disin-
thrallment took the aloes, the unsavory
aloes, the bitter aloes?
Your third curiosity is to know why
these garments of Christ are odorous
with cassia. This was plant which
grew in India and the adjoining is
lands. Ycu do not care to hear what
kind Of flower it had or what kind Of
a stalk. It is enough for me to tell
you that it was used medicinally. In
that land and in that age, where they
knew but little about pharmacy, cassia
was used to arrest many forms Of dis.
ease. So, when in my text we find
Christ coming with garments that smell
of cassia, it suggests to me the healing
and curative power of the Son OF God.
"Oh, you say, now you have super
huous idea. We are not sick. Why
do we want cassia? We are athletic
Our respiration is perfect. Our limbs
are 1.-the, and on bright cool days we
feel we could bound like roe. l
beg to differ, my brother, from you:
None of you can be better in physical
health than am, and yet l must say
We are all sick. have taken the di-
agposis Of your case and have examin-
:. all the best authorities on the sub
Ject, and l have to tell you that you
are'tfull of wounds and bruised and
putrefyirg sores, which have not been
bound!up or Modified with ointment: ="
The marasmus of sin is on US, the pal
sy, the dropsy, the leprosy. The man
that is expiring tonight in the next
street.-the allopathic and homeopathic
doctors have given him up and his
friends now standing around to take his
last worjs-is no more certainly dying
as to his body than you and are dying
unless we have taken the medicine
from Gods apothecary. All the leaves
of this Bible are only so many pres
criptions from The Divine Physician,
written, not in Latin, like the prescrip-
tons of earthly physicians, but written
in plain English so that man,
though fool, need not err therein.
Thank God that the Savior's garments
smell of cassia,
Suppose man were sick, and there
was phial on his mantlepiece with
medicine he knew would cure him, and
he refused to take 1t, what would you
say of him? He is a suicide. And
what do you say Of that man who, sick
in sin, has the healing medicine Of
Gods grace offered him and refuses to
take It? If he dies, he is a suicide.
People talk as though God took man
and led him out to darkness and death,
as though he brought him up to the
cliffs and then pushed him off. Oh,
no, When a man is lost, it is Dot be-
cause God pushes him off: it is because
he jumps off. In olden times sui
eide was buried at the crossroads, and
the people were accustomed to throw
stones upon his grave. So it seems to