Milford chronicle., 1893-05-12

Er
time.
But remember in boyhood that we ha
in our fathers garden what we called th
Giant Of Battle, peculiar rose, very re
and fiery. Suggestive flower, it was calle
the Giant Of Battle And so in the garde
of the Lord we find that kind of flower
the Pauls and Martin Luthers, the WYE
lifs, the John Knoxes-giants of battle
What IN other men is n spark in them
a confagration- When they pray, thei
prayers take fire; when they suffer, the
sweat great drops of blood; when the
preach, it Is q pentecost; when they fight
it is a ThermOpyl9; when they die, it /
martyrdom-giants of battle. You say
Why have we not more Of them in tn,
church of Christ at this timer" answe
your question by asking another, 'Whl
have we not more Cromwells and Hum
boldts in the worldS" God wants only ,
few giants of battle. They do their work
and they do it well.
/ But / find also in the church Of God q
| plant that shall call the snowdrop. VERY
! beautiful, but cold. 1t is very pure-purt
as The snowdrop, beautiful as the snow
| drop and as cold as the snowdrop. No spe-
cial sympathy That kind Of man never
/ loses his patience. He never weeps; ne
never flushes with anger; he never utters a
rash word Always cold, always precise,
| always passive-beautiful snowdrop But
| don't like him. ! would rather have one
Giant of Battle than 5000 snowdrops
Give me man who may make some mis-
takes in his ardor for the Lords service
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 always
snOwdrops
THE CENTURY PLANT.
You have seen in some places perhaps a
century plant 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 whole century, and it will not
bloom again for another hundred 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 10 centuries ago it put
forth its glory. 1t is not only a century
plant, but a passion fOwer-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, o winds from the north, /
and winds from the south, and winds from I
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 ali the ages. hast gar
ments smelling of myrrh and aloes and cas-
sia out Of the ivory palaces
| go further and say the churca of Christ
IS appropriately compared to a garden be
'ause of its thorough irrigation. There car
De no luXuriant garden without plenty Of
water. ! saw a garden in the midst of the
iesert amid the Rocky mountains / said,
How is it possible you have so many flow
rs, so much rich fruit, in a desert for miles
lround?" | suppose some of you have seen
hose gardens. Well, they told me they
lad aqueducts and pipes reaching up to the
nils, and the SHOWS melted on the Sierra
Nevada and the Rocky mountains and then
'Oured down in water to those aqueducts.
nd it kept the fields in great luxuriance
md / thought to myself-how like the lyaI.
en- Of Christi All around 1.-THE barrenness
f sin and the barrenness of the world, but
uT eyes are unto the hills, from whence
ometh our help There is a river the
5reams whereof shall make glad the city Of
ur GOd-the fountain of gardens and !
-reams from Lebanon. Water to slake the
lirst, water to refresh the fainting, water ,,
} wash the unclean, water to toss up in
)untains under the sun of righteousness
ntil you can see the rainbow around the
lrOne.
THE STREAMS OF LEBANON.
| wandered in a garden of Brazilian ca l
lew nut, and ! saw the luxuriance of those
lrdens was helped by the abundant sup :
" of water. ! came to it on a day when
rangers were not admitted, but by a
range coincidence, at the moment got in,
e kings chariot passed, and the gardener
ent up on the hill and turned on the water,
I'd it came flashing down the broad stairs
stone until sunlight and wave in glee-
me wrestle tumbled at my feet. And so f
is with this garden Of Christ. Everything +
mes from abOve-pardOn from above, !,
ace from above, comfort from above, sane Il
ica5ien from above. Streams from Lebac :,
mi Oh, the consolation in this thought q
'ould God that the gardeners turned on n
e fountain of salvation until the place
lere we sit and stand might become Elm
tn 70 wells of water and threescore and
q palm trees But / hear his sound at
e garden gate. hear the lifting of the
5ch Of the gate. Who comes there? It is y
e Gardener, who passes in through the a.
rden gate. He comes through this path =
the garden, and he comes to the aged =
IN, and he says; "Old man, come to help =,
ee; l come to strengthen thee. Down to =
ary hairs ] will shelter thee; / will give ~
ee strength at the time Of old age; viii a
leave; will never forsake thee Peace, q
oxen hearted old man, will be thy con
alton forever"
And then Christ, the Gardener, comes up A,
other path of the garden, and he sees a
Il in great trouble, and he says, "Hush,
ubled spirit; the sun shall not smite thee -
day, nor the moon by night; the Lord p
Ill preserve thee from all evil; the Lord p, ~
Ill preserve thy soul" And then the ~
rdener comes up another path Of the gar. % oa
/, and he comes where there are some w w
lutiful buds, and l say, stop, Garden Pa
do not break them off," But ne breaks ~, ~
IN off, the beautiful buds, and l see a ~ ~
at fiutter among the leaves, and won ~ ~
what he is doing, and he says: Il do not -. -.
ne to destroy these flowers. | am only - -
ng to plant them in a higher terrace and ~
he garden around my palace. l have ~
ne into my garden to gather lilies. u
st take back a whole cluster Of rose
Is Peace, troubled soul; all shall be -
l. Suffer the little children to come un- - -
ne and forbid them not, for of such is the ny
gdom Of heaven" Oh, glorious Garden W W
+ the church, Christ comes to it now, ~
he has right to come. We look into nm,
face of the Gardener as he breaks off the we
!, and we say, Thou art worthy to have nla
N; thy will be done" The hardest Ia
yer a bereaved father or mother ever ut res
will be done" va
ut you have noticed that around every a /,
g's garden there is a high wall. You rms
7 have stood at the wall of kings ba,
rt and thought, "How l would like to A.