The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1893-05-12

INK, anu 4 saw ~ HQttilAk u uiko
quantity of water into his can, and
said, That is enough, sir and he got off
the cart and insulted me, and knocked
him down. WE'LL" said he, do you
think could ever become a Christian
That man had in his soul the grace of the
Lord Jesus, but outside he was full Of
thorns, and full of brambles, and full Of
corporations, but he could not hear the
story Of Saviour's mercy told without
having the tears roll down his cheek.
There was loneliness within, but rough
ness outside. Mexican cactus all the
time.
But / remember in boyhood that we
had in our fathers garden what we
called the Giant Of Battle, peculiar
rose, very red and very fiery. Suggestive
flower, it was called the Giant Of Battle.
And so in the garden Of the Lord we find
that kind of fower-the Pauls and Mar
tin Luthers, the Wyclifs, the John
Knoxes-giants of battle. What in other
men is a spark, in them is a confagra-
ton. When they pray, their prayers take
fire; when they suffer, they sweat great
drops of blood; when they preach. it is q
pentecost; when they fight, it is Their
inopyle; when they die, 1t is martyrdom
giants of battle. You say, "Why have
we not more of them in the church Of
Christ at this timer" / answer your
question by asking another, "Why have
we not more Cromwells and Humboldts
In the world?" God wants only a few
giants Of battle. They do their work,
and they do it well.
NEED OF JEALOUS MEN.
But find also in the church Of God q
plant that I shall call the snowdrop,
very beautiful, but cold. It is very pure
pure as the snowdrop, beautiful as the
snowdrop and as cold as the snowdrop.
No special sympathy. That kind of man
never loses his patience; he never weeps,
he never flashes with anger, he never ut
tiers rash word. Always cold, always
precise, always passive-beautiful snow
drop, but I don't like him. would rath-
er have one Giant of Battle than 5000
snowdrops.
Give me a man who may make some
mistakes in his ardor for the Lords serv-
ice rather than that kind of nature which
spends its whole life doing but one thing,
and that is keeping equilibrium. There
are snowdrops in all the churches-men
without any sympathy. Very good; they
are in the garden Of the Lord; therefore
know they ought to be there, but al
ways snowdrops.
You have seen in some places perhaps
a century plant. I do not suppose there
is a person in this 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 GEN.
fury, and it will not bloom again for an
other hundred years." Well, I have to
tell you that in this garden of the church,
spoken of in my text, there is century
plant.
1t has gathered up its bloom from all
the ages Of eternity, and 10 centuries ago
it put forth its glory. It is not only a
century plant. but passion flower
the passion flower of Christ, crimson
flower, blood at the root and blood on
the leaves, the passion flower of Jesus,
the century plant of eternity. Come, o
winds from the north, and winds from
the south, and winds from the east, and
winds from the west, and scatter the per-
hume of this flower through all nations.
His worth, if all the nations knew,
III Sure the whole earth would love him too.
Thou, the Christ Of all the ages, hast
garments smelling Of myrrh and aloes
and cassia out Of the ivory palaces.
A GARDEN IN THE DESERT.
I go further and say tho 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 garden
in the midstof the desert amid the Rocky
mountains. l said, "How is it possible
you have SO many flowers, SO much rich
fruit, in desert for miles around2"
suppose some Of you have seen those
gardens. Well, they told me they had
aqueducts and pipes reaching up to the
hills, 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
luxuriance. And ! thought to myself
how like the garden of Christi All
around it the barrenness Of sin and the
barrenness of the world, but our eyes
are unto the hills, from whence cometh
our help. There is river the streams
whereof shall make glad the city Of our
God, the fountain Of gardens and streams
from Lebanon. Water to slake the
thirst, water to refresh the fainting,
water to wash the unclean, water to toss
up in fountains under the sun Of right
eo1sness until you can see the rainbow
around the throne.
wandered in garden of Brazilian
cashew nut, and / saw the luxuriance Of
those gardens was helped by the abun-
dant supply Of water. came to 1t on q
day when strangers were not admitted,
but by strange coincidence, at the mo-
ment I got in, the kings chariot passed,
and the gardener went upon the hill and
turned on the water, and 1t came fash
Ing down the broad stairs Of stone until
sunlight and wave in gleesome wrestle
tumbled at my feet. And 80 1t is with
this garden Of Christ. Everything comes
from above--pardon from above, peace
from above, comfort from above, sane
tiication from above. Streams from
Lebanon. Oh, the consolation in this
thought! Would God that the garden
ers turned on the fountain of salvation
until the place where we sit and stand
might become Elm with 10 wells of
water and threescore and ~ palm trees.
But hear his sound at thsgarden gate.
hear the lifting of the latch Of the gate.
Who comes therep It Is the Gardener,
who passes in through the garden gate.
He comes through this path Of the gar
den, and he comes to the aged man, and
he says: "Old man, 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.
will not leave; will never forsake
thee. Peace, broken hearted old man;
will be thy consolation forever"