The Bossier banner., 1893-05-25

the abundant supply OF water. cams
to it on a day when strangers were not
admitted, but by strange coincidence
at the moment l got in the kings
chariot passed and the gardener went
up on the hill and turned on the water,
and it came flashing down the broad
stairs of stone, until sunlight and wave
in gleesome wrestle tumbled at my
feet And so it is with this garden
of Christ. Everything comes from
above-pardon from above, peace
from abve, comfort from above,
sanctiication from above. Streams
from Lebanon, oh, the conso-
1ation in this thought. Would God
that the gardeners turned on the foun-
tain of salvation until the place where
we sit and stand might become Elm
with twelve wells of water and three
score and ten palm trees. But hear
His sound at the garden gate; l hear
the lifting of the latch of the garden
gate. Who comes there? 1t is the Gar
dener, who passes through the garden
gate. He comes through this path OF
the garden, and He comes to the aged
man and says: ''Old man, l come to
help thee, | come to strengthen thee.
Down to hoary hairs l will shelter
thee. will give thee strength at the
time of old age; l will not leave; will
never forsake thee. Peace, broken
hearted old man, l will be thy consola-
tion forever
And then Christ the Gardener, comes
up another path of the garden, and He
sees soul in great trouble, and He
says: 'Hush, troubled spirit, the sun
shall not smite thee by day, nor the
moon by night; the Lord shall preserve
thee from all evil; the Lord shall pre-
serve thy SOUL And then the Gardener
comes up another path of the garden,
and He comes where there are some
beautiful buds, and l say: ''Stop, oh
Gardener, do not break them Off" But
He breaks them off, the beautiful buds,
and l see a great flutter among the
leaves, and / wonder what He is
doing, and He says: 81 do not
come to destroy these flowers; l
am only going to plant them in
a higher terrace, and in the garden
around my palace. l have come into
my garden to gather lilies. l must
take back whole cluster of rosebuds.
Peace. troubled soul, all shall be well.
Suffer the little children to come unto
me, and forbid them not, for of such is
the kingdom of Heaven" Oh, glorious
Gardener of the church! Christ comes
to it now and He has right to come.
We look into the face of the Gardener
as He breaks off the bud and we say,
|
, will be done" The hardest prayer a
bereaved father or mother ever uttered
: THY will be done"
But YOU have noticed that around
: everp kings garden there is a high
7 wall. You may have stood at the
wall of a kings court and thought:
GLOW l would like to see that garden, "
and, while you were watching, the gar
dener opened the gate and the royal
, equipage swept through it, and you
caught a glimpse of the garden, but
E only a glimpse, for then the gates
t closed.
4; bless God that this garden of Christ
4 has gates on all sides; that they are
opened by day, opened by night, and
S whosoever will may come in. Oh! how
t many there are who die in the desert
e who might revel in the garden! How
many there are who are seeking in the
garden of this world that satisfaction
e which they can never find.
S 1t was so with Theodore Hook, who
G made all nations laugh while he was
t living. And yet Theodore Hook on {
J. certain day, when in the midst of HI.
e revelry he caught a glimpse of his OWL
:. face and his own apparel in the mir
# ror, said: "That is true. | look jus
t as l am-lost, body, mind, sou
and estate, lost!' And so it wa
: with Shenstone about his gar
\ den, of which l spoke in the beginning
q of my sermon. He sat down amid al
# its beauty and wrung his hands ant
q said: 81 have lost my way to happiness
! l am frantic; hate everything; l hat
.r myself as mad man ought to-" Alas
so many in the gardens of this worl,
n are looking for that flower they cal
7 never find except in the garden O
If Christ.
% Substantial comfort will not grow
In natures barren SOIL
All we can boast till Christ we know
IL | Is vanity anu tOll
n How many have tried all the four
is tains of this worlds pleasure, bu
n never tasted of the stream fror
a Lebanon How many have reveled i
Id other gardens, to their souls ruiz
er but never plucked one flower from tn
y. garden of our God! l swing open a.
I'd the gates of the garden and invite yo
m in, whatever your history, whateve
Id your sins, whatever your temptations
er whatever your trouble, The invitatio
comes no more to one than to al
"Whosoever will, let him come"
The flowers of earthly gardens 500
st fade, but, blessed be God, there are ga
IS, lands that never wither, and throug
the grace of Christ Jesus we may entt
of into the joys which are provided for
a at Gods right hand. Oh! come into tt
"a garden. And remember, as the closin
ar- thought, that God not only brings l
: into garden here, but it is a gardc
i'd all the way with those who trust ar
is love and serve Him, a garden a