Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1886-08-07

bursting, and the dead got up in all their
winding sheets to see its full bloom. It is
crimson fower-blood at the roots, blood on
the branches, blood on all the leave;. Its
perfume is to fill all tho nations. Its breath
Is heaven. Come, oh winds from the north,
and winds from the south, and winds from
the east, and winds from the west, and bear
to all the earth the sweet smelling SAVIOR Of
Christ, my Lord
His worth If all the nations knew,
Sure the whole earth would love Him too.
Again, the church may be appropriately
compared to a garden, because it is place Of
select fruits. That would be strange gar
den which had in it NJ berries, no plums or
peaches or apricots The coarser fruits are
planted in the orchard, or they are set out on
the sunny hillside; but the choicest fruits are
kept in the garden. So in the world outside
the church Christ had planted great many
beautiful things-patien7e, charity, gener-
osity, integrity, but he intends the choicest
fruits to be in the garden, and if they are
not there, then shame on the church. Relig
ion is not mere Towering sentimentality.
1t is a practical, life-giving, healthful
fruit not posies, but apples. "Oh,"
says somebody, ~ don't see what
YOUR garden OF the church has
yielded.S Where did your asylums come
FRONT and your hospitalsl and your insti-
buttons of mercyl Christ planted every one
of them; He planted them in His garden.
When Christ gave sight to Bartimeus He
that has ever been built When Christ
soothed the demoniac Of Ga!ilee He laid the
cornerstone of every luuatic asylum that has
ever been established. When Christ said to
the sick man: '"Take up thy bed and walk
He laid the cornerstone of every hospital the
world has ever seen. When Christ said: II
was in prison and ye visited me" He laid the
ton that has ever been formed. The church
Of Christ is glorious garden and it is full
of fruit
know there is some poor fruit in it, /
know there are some weeds that ought to be
thrown over the fence. l know there are
some crabapple trees that ought to be cut
down. know there are some wild grapes
that ought to be uprooted; but are You going
to destroy the whole garden because Of lit
tie gnarled frulti You will find worm-eaten
leaves in Fontaincbleau and insects that
sting in the fairy groves of the Champs
Elysees. You do not tear down and destroy
the whole garden because there are few
specimens of Gnarled fruit. I admit there
are men and women in the church who ought
not to be there; but let us be just as frank
and admit the fact that there are hundreds
and thousands and tens of thousands of glori.
GUS Christian men and women-holy, blessed,
useful, consecrated and triumphant There
Il no grander collection in all the earth than
the collection Of Christians. There are
Christian men in this house whose religion is
not a matter Of psalm-singing and church
going. Tomorrow morning that reh
gion will keep them just as consistent
and consecrated in their worldly occupation as
it ever kept them at the communion table.
There are women here to-day of higher
type of character than Mary of Bethany.
They not only sit at the feet of Christ, bnt
ont into fl,a Iifo1a,, 20 1aIx1 fbo
in her work that she may sit theretoo. There
is a woman who has a drunken husband who
has exhibited more faith and patience and
courage than Ridley in the fire. He was con-
sumed in twenty minutes. Hers has been o
twenty years martyrdom. Yonder is man
who has been fifteen years on his back, I'm.
able even to feed himself, yet calm and peace
full as though he lay on one of the green banks
of heaven, watching the oarsmen dip their
paddles in the crystal river. Why, it seems
to me this moment as if St. Paul threw to us
a pomologist's catalogue of the fruits grow
ing In this great garden of Christ-love, Joy,
peace. patience, charity, brotherly kindness,
gentleness, mercy-glorious fruit, enough to
fill all the baskets of earth and heaven.
have not told you of the better tree in
this garden and of the better fruit 1t was
planted just outside Jerusalem, good while
ago. When that tree was planted it was SO
split and bruised and barked men said moth
Tug WOulu ever grow upon lUs Nub uO SOOucI
had that tree been planted than it budded
and bloszomed and fruited, and the soldiers
spears were only the clubs that struck down
that fruit and it fell into the lap of the ma
tons, and men began to pick it up and eat it,
and they found in it an antidote to all thirst,
to all poison, to all sin, to all death-the
smallest cluster larger than the famous one
of Eshcol, which two men carried en- staff
between them. If the apple in Eden killed
the race this one cluster of mercy shall re-
store it.
Again, the church in my text is appropri-
ately called a garden because it is thor
oughly irrigated. No garden could prosper
long without plenty of water. / have seen a
garden in the midst of a desert, yet bloom
ing and luxuriant. All around was dearth
and barrenness; but there were pipes and aque-
ducts reaching from this garden up to the
mountains, and through those aqueducts the
water came streaming down and tossing up
into beautiful fountains until every root and
leaf and flower we're saturated That is like
the church. Tho church is a garden in the
midst Of great desert Of sin and suffering;
but it is well irrigated, for 'our eyes are
unto the hills from whence cometh our help"
From the mountains of Gods strength there
flow down rivers of gladness. There is q
river the stream whereof shall make glad
the city of our God. Preaching the gospel
is one Of these aqueducts. The Bible is an
other. Baptism and the Lords Supper are
aqueducts. Water to slal1e the thirst, water
to restore the faint, water to wash the I'M
clean, water tossed high up in the light of
the Sun of Righteousness, showing the rain
bow around the throne.
Oh, was there ever garden so thoroughly
Irrigated You know that the beauty of
Versailles and Chatsworth depends very
much upon the great supply Of water.
,ame to the latter place, Chatsworth, one day
when strangers are not to be admitted; but
by an inducement which always seemed as
applicable to an Englishman as an Ameri-
AN, got in, and then the gardener went far
lp above the stairs of stone and turned on
the water. ! saw it cleaning on the dry
pavement coming down from step to step
until it came SO near could hear the musi-
cal rush, and all over the high. broad stairs
it came foaming, flashing, roaring down
until sunlight aud wave in gleesome wrestle
tumbled at my feet. So it is with the church
Of God. Everything comes from above, joy
from above, adoption from above, satisfac-
ton from above. Oh, that now.God would
turn on the waterA of salvation, that they
might flow down through this heritage, and
that to-day we might find this place to be
"Elim, with twelve wells of water and three
lcore and ten palm trees"
Harkl hear the latch of the garden gate,
and look to see who is coming. hear the
voice of Christ: ~ am come into my gar
den" say: "Come in, o Jesus, we have
been waiting for Thee; walk all through the
tko 800 I. O.. Ieo go -.