Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1905-02-04

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the HohenZolern greens have worn for
generations. Then sly 10 YOU. When
the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria
married the Crown Prince Frederick.
she wore these gems. What would
you answer: All" you would reply
"her wedding dress must have been
made of very expensive material to
have been appropriate for such adorn-
ments as those" Suppose | should tell
you that when the noted German ar
chaeologist DIR .Schiemann made his OK
plorations under ancient Troy lie found
There the coStliest of feminine and
masculine adornments. There We're
wristbands of gold. earrings of gold.
bracelets of gold. headbands of gold.
tiaras of precious stones. finger rings
of gold. All You say. IF the ancient
Inhabitants of Troy had such rich
Wristbands as these. truly the ancient
dresses and robes must have been of
the most expensive Materials No Won
der. then. that Agrippina. wife of En-
peror Claudus. had a robe made en-
tirely of gold. No wonder. then. Dari-
us. king of the Persians. had Il golden
mantle with jeweled clasps and with
two great golden war hawks woven in
To the texture. No wonder that among
the royal wardrobes of Herod the
Great was found Il garment made ell
tirely of silver threads and that Pliny
the younger wrote of IL Roman lady
who had Il dress made up entirely of
precious pearls. III the adornments of
the apparel of the ancients were so ex-
pensive we can understand why Scion
and Pythagoras and Cato and Fan
MUS and Didius by "sumptuary laws"
tried 10 restrict extravaganza in dress.
An Oriental Description.
Now. what gold and silver and pre-
cious stones in dress mean To the west
ern mind myrrh and aloes and cassia
in II sense mean TO the oriental mind.
AS would say To you, Her dress was
sparkling with jewels" the oriental. to
depict sumptuousness and expensive
ness of apparel. would say. Ills gar
ments were aromatic with myrrh and
aloes and cassia" Myrrh was one of
the treasures of the east. When the
wise men came To bow ut the manager.
what expensive presents did they
bring: Gold and frankincense and
myrrh. These oriental saees would not
have offered 10 king present of
myrrh unless it had been of great
value. DR. Ktto tells us this: "Myrrh
was offered in presents. as natural
products were in those days. because
such as were procured from distant
countries We're very rare. In the same
way we often hear of rare animal
or bird being presented TO royalty in
the present day The aloes OF
Cochin China wrote DR.. Faussett.
ARE worth their weight in gold" The
value of casSia also was enormous. 1t
was used. as DR. McClintOck in
forms us. as an ingredient in the cost
liest unguents. When the psalmist
smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia we
know that lie means us 10 understand
how precious they will he.
Let us consider what makes them
precious. They are the glory of our
Lord. He will wear them in joy and
gratitude for the sacrifices his people
have made in his cause. They are GO
ing To cost all the moneys we give to
our churches and To our reformatory
institutions. We must give this money
for Christ's robes. lie bids us give.
They are going To cost all the moneys
we send 10 foreign missions. 60
teach ali men is the Bible command.
Not only have they cost money. but
blood They are going TO cost all the
blood of the martyrs which has been
shed in the past. All. now the ex-
pense of those wedding robes is rolling
borer slain 10y IN express train in New
York state is worth 5000. how much
must have been worth the martyred
blood of Paul. Peter. a Stephen, a
Polycarp. Justin Martyr. "a Savona-
rola, a Ridley. an Elphege, a Gileyn de
Muller a John Rogers. Lawrence San
ders. John Harper. a Breboeuf. Lal-
lermand and of the thousands and tho
tens of thousands of men and women
slain by sword and spear and battle
AK or burned ut the stake and tortured
with untold agonies in many cham
bers Of horrors God alone can know
how the value of Christ's wedding gar
ments is increasing.
The Supreme Cost.
But the supreme element in the cost
of those wedding garments is the blood
of Christ himself Ii was by his own
suffering and death that he won the
right to wear them. DO you wonder
that Isaiah when in prophetic vision
he sees these wedding robes describes
them by their color-the color of the
bloody sacrifice: Who is this" cried
he, that cometh from Edom with dyed
garments from BoZrah-this that is
glorious in his apparel? Wherefore
art thou red in thine apparel and thy
garments like him that treadeth in the
wine vat:" All, my friends. am glad
today we can talk about the royal Grim
son and not the royal purple of Christ's
wedding garments. | am glad that
even in heaven. when looking upon the
divine face of Jesus. we shall not be