Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1893-05-08
was black rock Of trouble and found
it covered all over with delightsome jas
mine of Christian sympathy.

CONTROL CT THE TEMPER.
In this garden OF the Lord [ find the
Mexican cactus, loneliness within, thorns
without, men with great sharpness of
behavior and manner, but within them
the peace of God, the love of God, the
grace of God. They are hard men 70
handle. ugly men to touch, very apt to
strike back when you strike them, yet
within them all loveliness and attraction,
while outside socompletely unfortunate.
Mexican cactus all the time.
Said placid elder to Christian min
lister, Doctor, you would do better to
control your temper" "Ah!' said the
minister to the placid elder, 81 control
more temper in five minutes than you do
in five years." These people, gifted men,
who have great evaporation of manner
ind seem to be very different from what
they should be- really have in their souls
tllat which conmends them to the Lord.
/ E[cxican cactus all the time. So man
said to me years ago: @@Do you think I
ought to become member of the church?
+ [ have such violent temper.
Yesterday was crossing Jersey City
ferry 1t was very early in the morn
ing. and / saw L Inilk1nan putting large
7
said. That is enough, sir, and he got off
the cart and insulted me, and knocked
him down. Well" said he, ''do you
think could ever become q Christian?'
That man had III his soul the grace of the
Lord Jesus, but outside he was full OF
thorns, and full Of braEnbles, and full Of
eXasperations, but he could not hear the
. story of a 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 Lind Of fower-the Pauls and Mar
/ tin Luthers, the Wyclifs, the John
! Knoxes-giants of battle. Whatin 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
+ pentecost; When they fight, it is Their
mopylae; when they die, it is martyrdom
giants Of battle. You say, "Why have
we not more Of them in the church of
! Christ at this timer" I 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 we'll
NEED OF JEALOUS MEN.
! But l find also in the church of God q
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 Of man
never loses his patience; he never weeps,
/ he never flashes with anger, he never ut
tiers q rash word. Always cold, always
precise. always passive-beautiful snow
/ drop. but | don't like him. would rath-
+ er have one Giant Of Battle than 5000
snowdrOps.
Give me 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 O1ght to be there but al
ways sEowdrops.
You have seen il some places perhaps
q century plant do not suppose there
is Il person il this house who has ever
seen more than one century pLalt in full
blao-a. AID when you see the century
plant YOUR emotions are stirred. You
LOOK at il and say. This flower has been
.J-,1 L, OIo
tI-r-. and it viii not bloom again for an
other hundred years" Well, have to
tell you that in this garden Of the church,
spoken of II ny text. there Is century
plant.
i 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 a passion flower
the passion flower Of Christ, q 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-
fu1ne 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 all the ages, hast
garments smelling Of myrrh and aloes
and cassia out Of the ivory palaces.
A GARDEN ~ THE DESERT.
go further and say the church OF
Christ is appropriately compared to a
garden because Of its thorough irriga-
ton. There can be no Iuxuriant garden
without plenty Of water. I saw a garden
tn the midst Of the desert amid the Rocky
Mountains. I said, How is it possible
you have SO many flowers, so much rich
fruit, in q desert for miles around?"
suppose some Of you have seen those
gardens. Well, they told me they had
lolc.1,cc III