The free press., 1893-05-25

WORD. Always colui always pEeclse, Always
passive-beautiful snowdrop, but don't hike
him. would rather have one Giant OF Bat
tie than 5000 snowdrops.
Give me a 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 in doing but one fhina- AND
| that is keeping equilibrium. There are snow
drops in all the churches men without any
sympathy Very good; they are in the
garden OF the Lord therefore l know they
ought to be there, but always snowdrops.
You have seen in some places perhaps q
century plant. / DO not suppose there Is a
person in this house who has ever seen more
tnau one century pant in fu1l bloom, ard
when you see the century plant your emo
tions 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 CEN
fury plant
In has gathered up its bloom from all the
ages OF eternity, and 19 centuries ago it put
forth its glory. 1t is not only century plant,
but passion fower--the passion Hover 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 perfume OF
this flower through all NatlOnS.
His worth il all 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 ana cas-
sia out of the ivory palaces.
90 further and say the church OF Christ
is appropriately compared to garden be-
cause of its thorough irrigation. There can
be no luxuriant garden without plenty OF
water. l saw a garden in the midst OF 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 around?' [ suppose some OF you have
seen those gardens Well, they told me they
mad aoueducts 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 III great luXurlance.
And | thought to myselfho like the gar
den of Christ 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 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 the rainbow around the throne.
/ wandered in garden of Brazilian cashew
nut. and / saw the luxuriance of those gar
dens was helped by the abundant supply OF
water. | came to it on day when strangers
were not admitted, but by a strange eomci-
dence, at the moment | 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
or Christ. Everything comes from above
pardon from above, peace from above, com
fort from above sanctidcatiOn 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
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. He comes
through this path Of the garden and He
comes to the aged man, and He says cold
man, | come to help thee l come to
strengthen thee Down to hoary hairs 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 l will be thy consolation 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 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 | say, ''Stop Gardener do not
break them Off" But He breaks them off,
the beautiful buds, and | see a great 1utter
among the leaves, and | wonder what He is
doing, and He says II do not come to
destroy these flowers. L 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. 1 must 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 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 Il
bereaved father or mother ever uttered
"Thy will be done"
But you have noticed tnat around every
kings garden there is a high wall. You may
have stood at the wall of kings court and
thought, "How l would like TO see that gar
den" and while you were watching the
gardener opened the gate, and the royal
equipage swept through it, and you caught
a glimpse of the garden, but only glimpse,
for then the gates closed
l bless God that this garden of Christ has
gates on all sides that they are opened by
day opened by night, and whosoever will
may come in. Oh, how many there are who
die in the desert when they might reve
in the garden How many there are whs
are seeking in the garden of this world that
satisfaction which they can never find
1t was so with Theodore Hook, who made
all nations laugh while he was living. And
yet Theodore ON certain day, when in the
midst of his revelry he caught a glimpse OF
his own face and his own apparel III the
mirror said "That is true. l look just as
/ AMIDST 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 II have lost
my way to happiness / am tsaptic: hate
everything | hate myself as a mad man
ought to-" Alas, so many in the gardens of
this world are looking for that flower they
never can find except in the garden of Christ,
Substantial comfort will not grow
In natures barren SOIL.
All we can boast till Christ we know
Is vanity and toll.
How many have tried all the fountains Of
this worlds pleasure, bat never tasted OF the
stream from Lebanon. How many have re-