The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1893-05-13
ness outside. Mexican cactus all the

in other men is a spark, in them is a
conflagration: when they pray, their
prayers take fire. When they suffer
they sweat great drops of blood; when
they preach it is a Pentecost; when they
fight it is a Thermopyln; when they die
it is martyrdom-giants of battle. You
say, ''Why have we not more of them in
the church of Christ at this time?" l !
answer your question by asking anoth-
er: "Nhy have we not more Cromwells !
and H~umboldts in the worId?" God
wants only a few giants of battle; they
do their work, and they do it well.
But | find also in the church of God IL
plant that | shall call the Snowdrop.
Very beautiful, but cold; it is very
pure, pure as the Snowdrop, beautiful
as the %nowdrop, and AS cold as the
snowdrop. No special sympathy. That
kind of nal never lcscs his patience;
he never wceps, he never flashes with
anger, he never utters IL rash word.
Always cold, always precise, always
passive, beautiful snowdrop; but
don't like him. | would rather have
one giant of battle than 5000 snow
drops.
Give me a man who may make some
mistakes in his ardor for the Lords
service, rather thar that kind of nature
which spends it's whole life doing but
one thing, and that is keeping equil-
brium. There are snowdrops in all the
churches-men without any sympathy. 4
Very good; they are in the garden of
the Lord, therefore / know they ought
to be there; but always snowdrops.
You have seen in some places, per-
haps, a century plant. | do not sup
pose there is a person in ibis house who
has ever seen more than one century
plant in full bloom, and when you see
the century plant your emotions are
stirred. You look at it and say: This
flower has been gathering up its beauty
for a whole century, and it will not
bloom again for another 100 years.
Well, / have to tell you that in this
garden of the church, spoken of in my
text, there is a century plant.
1t has gathered up its bloom from all
the ages of eternity, and nineteen cen
turtles ago it put forth its glory. 1t is
not only Il century plant, but n passion
fiower-the passion flower of Christ; a
crimson flower, blood at the root. and
blood on the leaves, the passion flower
of Jesus, the century plant of eternity.
Come, oh, winds from the north, and
winds from the south, and winds from
the east, and winds from the west, and
scatter the perfume of this flower
through all nations.
His worth, If all the nations knew,
Sure the whole earth would love him, too.
Thou, the Christ of all the ages, mast
garments smelling of myrrh, and aloes,
and cassia, out of the ivory palaces.
l go further and say the church of
Christ is appropriately compared to a
garden, because of its thorough irriga-
ton. There can be no luxuriant garden
without plenty of water. | saw "a gar
den in the midst of the desert amid the
Rocky mountains. l said: How is it
possible you have S many flowers, so
much rich fruit in a desert for miles
around? | suppose some of you have
seen those gardens. Well, they told
me they had %aqueducts and pipes
reaching up to the hill, and
the SHOWS melted on the Sierra
Nevada and the Rocky mountains,
and then poured down in water to
those aqueducts, and it kept the fields
in great Insurance. And | thought to
myself, how like the garden of Christ.
All around it the b|arrenness of sin and
the b~arrenness of the world, but our
eyes are unto the hills, from whence
cometh our help. There is a river. the
streams whereof shall make glad the
city of our God, the fountain of gar
lens and streams from Lebanon. Water
to slake the thirst, water to refresh the
F.-A.--, ,.@oN - ,,,a.I ALo ,-..1..
water to toss up in fountains under the
sun of righteousness, until you can see
the rainbow around the throne.
/ wandered in n garden of brazilian
cashewnut, and / saw the luXuriance
of those gardens were helped by the
abundant supply of water. | came to
it on n day when strangers were not
admitted, but by Il strange coincidence,
at the moment 1 got in the kings char
lot passed and the gardener went VI 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 was with this garden of
Christ. Everything comes from above
pardon from above, peace from
above, comfort from above, sancti-
f~ication from above. Streams from
Lebanon, oh, the consolation in
this thought. Would God hat the
gardeners turned on the fountain 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: | hear the
lifting of the latch of the gate. Who
comes there? 1t is the gardener, who
passes in through the garden gate. lie
comes through this path of the garden,
n he comes TO the aged man and he
says: "Old n ! come to help thee,
come to strengthen thee. Down tC
hoary hairs | will shelter thee. | will
give thee strength at the time of old
age; | will not leave; | will never for.
sake thee. Peace, broken-hearted ole
man, | will be thy consolation forever
And then Christ, the gardener, come:
up another path of the garden and he
sees n soul in great trouble, and he
"a "Hush. troubled spirit. the sur
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 garden
eaep1n5sa mp another path of the garden
ID sanzt13f H comes where there are SOM
Observation-Disclosures 4f1dI say, stop, oil
gardensrs dc not hraak then of 2 Blu
he breaks thenro IT. tfn beautiful buds
and l see q great zIntter pusong.th
leaves, and I wondef S5ts1iAt he
is doing, and he says, 4
not come to destroy these flow.
. ers; l I'M only going to plant
them in a higher terrace, and in the
/, garden around my palace. have come
into my garden to gather lilies. Unjust
: take back a 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 Il right to come,
We look into the face of the gardener
as he breaks off the bud, and we say;
Thou art worthy to have them; thy
will be done" The hardest prayer d
bereaved father or mother ever uttered
THY will be done"
But you ave noticed hat around
every lTiur'S garden there is a hi0L