Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1905-02-02


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, vito Of Elm.
perpr ClaDdiiis, had robe made en-
tirely Of gold. No wonder. thon, Dari-
US, king Of the Pcrsiaus, had q golden
mantle with jeweled Chaps ana with
two great golden war hawks woven in
to the. texture. No wonder that among
the royal wardrobes OF Herod the
Great was found garment made en-
tirely of silver threads and that Pliny
the younger wrote Of a Roman lady
who had a dress made UP entirely Of
precious pearls. II the adornments Of
the apparel Of the ancients wer0 20 ex-
pensive, we can understand why SCION
and Pythagoras and Cato and Fan.
Mus ard Ditlius Ivy "suinptuary laws"
tried to restrict extravaganza In dress.
An Oriental Description.
Now. what gold and silver and pre-
cious stones in dress nean to the west.
ern mind myrrh and aloes and cassia
in a sense mean 10 the oriental mind.
A. 1 would say to you. Her dress was
sparkling with Jewels" the oriental, to
depict suiuptuousuess and expensive
ness Of apparel. would say, Ills gar
ments were aromatic with myrfh and
aices and cassia." Nyrrh was ono Of
the treasures Of the east When the
wise men came to how at the manger.
what expensive presents did they
bringg t}old and frankincense and
myrrh. These oriental sages would not
have offered to king a present Of
myrrh unless 1t had been Of great
value. DR.. Kitto tells "a this: "Myrrh
was offered in presents. M natural
products were in those days. because
such as were procured from distant
countries were very rare. In the same
way we often hear of rurc animal
or bird being presented to royalty in
tho present day" 'Thc aloes Of
Cochin China" wrote Dr. Faussett
"are worth their weight in goid.' The
value of cassla also was enormous. It
was used, as DR.. McClintock In
forms us. as an ingredient in the cost
lest unguents. When the psalmist
tells us that Christ's wedding garments
smell Of myIrh and aloes and casSia we
know that he means US to understand
how precious they will be.
Let US consider what makes them
precious. They are the glory Of our
Lord He will wear them in JOY and
era titrde for the sacrifices his people
have made in hts cause. They are 60
ing to cost all the moneys we give to
our churches and to our reforDaatory
institutions. We must give this money
for Christ's robes. He bids us give.
They are going to cost ell the moneys
we send to foreign missions. go
teach all men" is the Bible command.
Not only have they cost money, but
blood They arc going to cost NIL the
blood OF the martyrs which has been
shed in the past. All, now the ex-
pense OF those wedding robes is rolling
up. If the dead body Of common la
borer slain by an express train in New
York state is worth $1,000 how much
must have been worth the martyred
blood Of Paul q Peter. a Stephen, a
Polyceip. & Justin Martyr, Havona-
rola, Ridley, an Elphege, Gileyn dc
Muller. n John Rogers, Lawrence San
ders. John Harper, Breboeuf. I.al-
lermand and OF the thousands and the
tens Of thousands Of men and women
slain by sword and spear and battle
ak or burned at the stake and tortured
with untold agonies in many CHAM
hers Of horrorsr' God alone can know
how the value Of Christ's wedding gar
ments IS increasing.
Tho Supreme Cost.
But the supreme element in the cost
of those wedding garments 81 the blood
of Christ himself. 1t 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
lie, that cometh from Edom with dyed
garments from Bozrah-this that is
glorious in his apparel? Wherefore
art thou red in thine apparel aud 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 Christs
wedding garments. I am glad that
even in heaven, when looking upon the
divine face of Jesus. we shall not be
allowed for one moment tn forget the
enormous cost in money and blood OF
the marriage robes IN which Christ will
he clad as the bridegroom when he
takes the church as his bride in eter
nal uuptials. Am going beyond my
right in Declaring that Christ's wed
ding robes are to be tho most expensive
Of garments?
But drawing near to the Divine Bride
groom. I Ind that Christs wedding
robes have q wonderful curative quail
ity. Their touch IL like the cool hand
upon the fcvered brow. Oh. yes. they
are moro than that. Their touch givea
spiritual and physical healing. 1t II
like the healing power OF Christ.
earthly robe when the border OF 1t wa,
pressed Just an instant by the forN
finger Of the poor woman who had M
Issue Of blood for twelve years. NJ
sooner I'D her 6ssh como In contact
with its folds than immediately ''thl
woman was made whole from that
hour" We have read how the ancient
devotees used to travel many miles to
he c,lretl Of their nhv0iCal Mains at tho