The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1893-05-31
In This garden of thu Lord And the

ness of behavior and manner, but
within them the peace of God, the love
of God, the grace of God. They are
hard men to handle, ugly men to touch,
very apt 20 strike back when you strike
them, yet within them all ioveliness
and attraction, while outside so COM
pletely unfortunate. Mexican cactus
all the time.
Said a placid elder to Christian
minister; Doctor you would do better
to control your temper"
"Ah!' said the minister to the placid
elder Il control more temper in he
minutes than you do in five years
These people, gifted men, who have
great evaporation OF manner, ana
seem to be very different from what
they should be, really have in their
souls that which comnends them to
the Lord. Mexican cactus al! the time.
So a man said to me years ago do
you think ought to become a member
of the church, have such a violent
temper?''
Yesterday / was crossing Jersey City
Terry. 1t was very early in the morn
ing, and | saw milllman putting
large quantity of water into his can,
and said, THAT is enough, sir" and he
rot off the car and insulted me, and |
knocked him down. WELL" said he,
''do you think l would ever become
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 exaspcrations; but he could not
hear the story of Savior's mercy told
without having the tears run down his
cheek. There was loneliness within,
but rOughness outside. Mexican cac-
tus 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. Sugges-
tive 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 Martin Luthers, the Wye
| litfes, the John KnoXes-Giants of Bat
tie. What in other men iG a spark in
them is confagration; when they
! pray their prayer takes fire. When they
suffer they sweat great drops of blood;
when they preach it is pentecost;
when they fight it is a Thermopyle:
when they die it is martyrdom-Gi-
ants of Battle. You say: why have
we no more of them in the Church of
Christ at this time?" | answer your
question by asking another; "Why
have we not more Cromwells and Hum
bolts in the world?" God wants only a
few Giants of Battle; they do their
work, and they do it we'll
But | find also in the church of God a
plant that 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 o. man never loses his patience;
he never weeps, he never flashes with
anger, he never rttcrs harsh word.
Always cold, always precise, always,
passive, beautiful snowdrop; but don't
like him; | would rather havfar0se
Giant of Battle than 5000 showdpoItsA r
Give me man who may make some
mistakes 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 equiIi-
brium. 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.
You have seen IN some places per-
haps a century plant. do not suppose
there is 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 century, and it will not bloom
again for another hundred years. y
Wen, 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 oS eternity, and nineteen cen
turtles ago it put forth its glory. 1t is
not only a century plant, but passion
flower, the passion flower of Christ: {
crimson flower. blood at the root anC
blood on the leaves, the passion flower
OF Jesus. The century plant of eternity
Come, oh winds from the north, an(
winds from the south, and winds frou
the east, and winds from the west, ant
scatter the perfume of this flower
throughout all nations.
His worth II all the nations knew,
Sure the whole earth would love Him too.
Thou, the Christ of all the ages, has
garments smelling of myrrh, and aloes
and cassia out of the ivory palaces.
/ go further, and say the Church o
Christ is appropriately compared to
garden, because of its thorough irriga
ton. There can be no luXuriant gar
den without plenty of water. | saw
garden in the midst of the desert, annie
the Rocky mountains. | said: GLOW i
1t possible you have so many flowers. S,
, much rich fruit in a desert for mile
Around?' suppose some of YOU hav
, seen those gardens. Well, they toll
me they had aqueducts and pipes reach
ing up to the hills, and the snow
melted on the Sierra Nevada and tn
Rocky mountains, and then poure
down IL water to these aqueducts, anC
- it kept the f >lds in great luxuriance.
, And thought to myself-how lilS
t the gaiden of Christ All round it tn