Marshall County independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1897-1902, 1899-08-11

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 ano
rushed through the streets, because he
had found the solution OF a mathemat-
zeal problem, how will you feel leap
ing from the fountain of a savior's
mercy and pardon, washed clean and
made white as snow, when the question
has been solved: How can my soul
oe saved?" Naked, frost-bitten, storm
lashed 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 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 a 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-
| i,,c t,;., in ,i,,ar
a 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 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 Asiatic
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 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:
"Oh, if l could only have walked over
such floors, If 1 could have thrown
myself into such a chair. If | 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 place
heaven must be, The Tuileries of the
French, the Windsor castle of the Eng
fish, 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, insufferably 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 if 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, 1 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
Ger cured. The erysipelas healed. The
heartbreak over Oh, how fair they
are in the ivory palaces And your
dear little children that went out from
you-Christ did not let one of them
drop as he lifted them. He did not
wrench one OF them from you. No
They went as from one they loved vel
to One whom they loved better. If
should take your little child and press
its soft face against my rough cheek
I | might keep it a little while; but wher
you, the mother, came along it would
struggle to go with you. And so yor
stood holding your dying child wher
Jesus passed by in the room. and the
little one sprang out TO greet him. Tha
is all. Your Christian dead did not g(
down into the dust. and the gravel
: and the mud. Though it rained all tina
: funeral day, and the water came up tt
| the wheels hub as you drove out t.
[ the cemetery, it made no difference t
| them, for they stepped from the home
| here to the home there, right into tn,
1 ivory palaces. All is well with them
All is well.