St. Landry democrat., 1886-07-31

other mon Is spark bu tHelu lS0 CoHA"s' q
ton. When they sweat they sweat great
drops of blood. When they pray their
PRAYER takes fire When they preach it is
a Pentecost. When they fight it is
Thermopyle. When they die it is
martyrdom. You find great many roses
in the gardens, but only few "giants OF
battle" Men say; "Why don't you have
more of them in the church," say;
"Why don't you have in the world more
Humboldts and Wellingtons." God gives
to some ten talents; to another one.
In this garden of the Church which
Christ has planted, also find the snow
drops, beautiful but cold looking, seeming
ly another phase of winter. [ mean
those Christians who are precise in
their tastes, unimpasioned, pure as
snowdrops and as cold. They never
shed any tears, they never get ex-
cited, they never say any thing rashly,
they never do any thing precipitately.
Their pulses never futter, their nerves
never twitch, their indignation never boils
over. They live longer than most people,
but their life is in a minor key. They new
er run up to sc" above the staff. In their
music of life they have no staccato pas
sages. Christ planted them in the Church,
and they must be Of some service, or they
would not be there; snowdrops, always
snowdrops.
But have not told you of the most beau
tiful flower in all this garden spoken of in
the text Ii you see century plant your
emotions are startled. You say: "Why,
this flower has been hundred years gath
ering up for one bloom, and it will be
hundred years more before other petals
will come out" But have to tell you of
a plant that was gathering up from all
eternity, and that 900 years ago put forth
its bloom never to wither. 1t is the pas
sion plant of the cross! Prophets foretold
it; Bethlehem shepherds looked upon 1t in
the bud; the rocks shook at it's bursting:
and the dead got up in their winding
sheets to see it's full bloom. 1t is a crimson
flower-blood at the roots, blood on the
branches, blood on all the leaves. It's per-
fume is to fill all the nations. Its breath
is Heaven. Come, 0, 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 IL all the nations knew,
Sure the whole earth would love him too.
&c." says somebody: II don't see VIII at
your garden of the Church has yielded"
Where did your asylums come from? and
your hospitals? and your institutions of
mercy? Christ planted every one of them.
He planted them in his garden. When
Christ gave sight to Bartimeus he laid the
corner stone of every blind asylum that
has ever been built. When Christ soothed
the demoniac of Galilee he laid the corner
stone of every lunatic asylum that has
ever been established. When Christ said
to the sick man, "Take up they bed ,a"d
walk" he laid the corner stone of every
hospital the world has ever seen. When
Christ said: 81 was in the prison and ye
visited me-" he laid the cornerstone of
every prison reform association that has
ever been formed. The Church of Christ
is glorious garden, and is full of fruit.
know there is some poor fruit in it. I
know there are some weeds that ought to
be thrown over the fence. / know there
are some crab-apple 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 be-
cause of little gnarled fruit? You will
find rm-eate n leaves in Fontainebleau,
and insects that sting in the fairy groves
of the Champs Elysees. You do not tear
down and destroy the whole garden be-
cause there are a few specimens of gnarled
fruit. 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
g. /
sands and tens of thousands of glorious
Christian men and women-holy, blessed,
useful, consecrated and triumphant. There
is no grander collection in all the earth
than the collection of Christians. There
are Christian men in this house whose re-
ligion is not matter of psalm singing and
church going. Tomorrow morning that
religion will keep them just as consistent
and consecrated in their worldly occupa-
ton as it ever kept them at the COM
muuion- table.
There are woman here to-day Of higher
type of character than Mary of Bethany.
They not only sit at the feet of Christ, but
they go out into the kitchen to help Martha
in her work, that she may sit there too.
There is a woman who has drunken hus-
band, who has exhibited more faith and
more patience and courage than Ridley in
the fire. He was consumed in twenty
minutes. Here has been a twenty years.
martyrdom. Yonder is a man who has
been twenty years on his back, unable
even to feed himsa yet calm and peace
full as though he lay ON one or the green
banks of heaven, watching the oarsmen
dip their paddles in the crystal river!
Why, it seems to me this moment as IL st.
Paul threw to us pomologist's catalogue
of the fruits growing in this great garden
of Christ-love, joy, peace, patience, char
ity, brotherly kindness, gentleness, mercy;
glorious fruit, enough to fill all the baskets