The Penn's Grove record., 1893-05-12

garden OF the Lord therefore / know they
ought to be there, but always snowdrops.
You have seen in some places perhaps q
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 emo
tions are stirred. You loo at 1t and say,
''This flower has been gathering up its beauty
for a whole century, and it will not bloom
again for another hundred years" Well, I
have to tell you that in this garden OF the
church, spoken Of in my text, there is q GEN.
fury plant.
In has gathered up It's bloom from all the
ages of eternity, and 10 centuries ago It put
forth its glory. 1t is not only q century plant,
but a passion flower-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 fr- d the north, and winds from the
south, aud winds from the east, and winds
from the west, and scatter the perfume OF
this flower through all Nations.
His worth. IL ali the Nations knew,
Sure the whole earth would love Him too.
Thou, the Christ of all the ages, hast gar
ments smelling Of myrrh and aloes and GUS
STA out Of the ivory palaces.
/ 60 further and say the church of Christ
Is appropriately compared to a garden be-
cause Of its thorough irrigation. There ran
be no luxuriant garden wie.sout plenty OF
n q u hAoO - hAS AtAAhAok ~ NHS
desert amid the Rocky mountains. l said,
"How is it possible you have so many
flowers, so Much rich fruit, in q desert for
miles around?" Isuppo5e some OF you have
seen those gardens. Well, they told me they
had a~queducts and pipes reaching up to the
hills, and the SHOWS melted on the Sierra
Nevada and the Rocky mountains and then
poured Town in wnter to those aqueducts,
and 1t kept the fields in great luxurlance.
And thought to myself-how like the gar
den 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 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 Righteousness until you can
see TIC rEiOtow around the throne.
l wandered in a garden of Brazilian cashev
nut, and | saw the luxuriance of those gar
dens was helped by the abundant supply of
water. 1 came to it on a day when strangers
were not admitted, but by a strange coinci-
dence, at the moment 1 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 tum-
bled at my feet. And so it is with this garden
of Christ. Everything comes from above
pardon from above, peace from above, COM
fort from above, sanctiication 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 twelve wells of
water and threescore and ten palm trees. But
l hear His sound at the garden gate. / hear
the lifting of the latch of the gate, Who
comes there? It is the Gardener, who passes
in through the garden gate. He comes
through this path Of the garden. and He
comes to the aged man, and He says "Old
man, i come to help thee; / come to
strengthen thee. Down to hoary hairs l will
shelter thee 1 will give thee strength at the
time of old age. / will not leave; l will
never forsake thee. Peace, broken hearted
old man / will be thy consolation forever"
And then Christ. the Gardener, comes up
another path of the garden. and He sees a
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 preserve thy soul" And then the Gar
dener comes up another path of the garden,
and He comes where there are some beautiful
buds, and l say, "stop, Q Gardener do not
break them off" But He breaks them off,
the beautiful buds, and l see a great flutter
among the leaves, n l wonder what He is
| doing, and He says ~ do not ems to
destroy these flowers. ] am only going TO
plant them IN a higher terrace and
in the garden around My pal
ace. l have come into My garden to gather
lilies. l must take back a whole cluster of
r%osebuds. 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 a 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 a
bereayed father or mother ever uttered
"Thy will be DONE"
But you have noticed that around every
kings garden there is a high wall. Youmay
have stood at the wall of a kings court and
thought, "How l would like to see that gar
den r' and while you were watching the
gardener opened the gate, and the royal
equipage swept through it, and you caught
q glimpse Of the garden, but only a glimpse,
for then the gates closed.
/ bless God that this garden of Christ haA
gates on all sides that they are opened by
day, opened by night, and whatsoever will
may come in. oh, how many there are who
die in the desert when they might revel
In the garden! How many there are who
are seeking in the garden of this world that
satisfaction which they can never n
1t was so with Theodore Hook, who made
all nations laugh while he was living. And
yet Theodore on q certain day, when in the
midst of his revelry he caught a glimpse OF
his own face N his own apparel in the
mirror, said: ''That Is true. 1 look Just as
l am-lost, body, mind, soul and estate. lost ~
And so it was with Shenstone about his gar
den, Of which / spoke in the beginning of my
sermon. He sat down amid all its beauty
and wrung his hands and said, 81 have lost
my way to happiness / am frantic l hate
everything l hate myself as a mad mar
ought to-" Alas, so many in the gardens OF
I al..- -el4 -. IL a~. aIaN &c.,. ehar1
never can find except in the garden of Christ
Substantial comfort will not grow
10 natures barren sol.
All we eau boast Till Christ we know
Is vanity and tot.
How many have tried all the fountains OF
this worlds pleasure, but never tasted OF the
stream from lebanon How many have re-
veled in other gardens tatheir souls ruin, hut
never pluckea cne flower from the garden oil
our Godl I swing open all the gates Of the
garden and invite you In, whatever your his
tory, whatever your sins, whatever yourtemp
tations, whatever your trouble. The invita-
ton comes no more to one than to all,
whatsoever will, let HIM come
The flowers OF earthly gardens soon fade
but, blessed be God, there are g~arlands that
never wither, and through tine grace of Christ
Jesus we may enter into the joys which are
provided for us at Gods right hand. oh,
come into the garden. And remember, as
the closing thought, that God not only
brings us into q garden here, but it is n gar
den all the way with those who trust and
love and serve Him, a garden all through tbs
struggles of this life, a garden all up the
slope Of heaven.
Thsr re everlasting sprluz abides
And never whitening flowers.
Death, Ike a narrow stream, oiY'ts5
That heavenly iLHi frc!a OufC.
The French Academy has male Pre-.
( ssor Henry Rowland, physicist. d
Baltimore, U. $. A., a correspond. &
member. {