The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-05-08


that which commeuds them to the Lord.
Mexican cactus all the time. So a man
s said TO me years ago, DO You think /
ought to become a member of the church
II have such a violent temper.
yesterday was crossing Jersey City
ferry 1t was very early in the morning,
and saw a milSman putting large
quantity Of water into his can, and, |
said. That is enough, sir and he got OF
the cart and insulted me, and l knocked
him down Well" said he, do YOU
think I could ever become Christian
That man had in his soul the grace OF the
Iord Jesus. but outside he was full Of
thOrns. and full of brambles and full OF
exasperations: but he could not hear the
story of Savior'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 I remember in boyhOod that we
had in our fathers garden what we called
the Giant of Battle, a peculiar rose, very
red and very fiery. Suggestive flower, II
was called the Giant of Battle. And so
in the garden Of the Lord we find that
kind of flower the Pauls and Martin
Iuthers, the Wycliffes, the John hnoxes
Giants of Battle What in other men
is a spark. in them is a confagration;
when they pray. their prayers take fire
When they suffer they sweat great drops
of blood when they preach IL is pente
cost; when they fight it is a ThermO-
pyla; 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" | answer your
question by asking another: 'Why have
we not more Cromwells and Humboldts
in the world?" God wants only few
Giants of Battle; they do their work,
and they do it well.
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 of man
never loses his patience; he never weeps,
he never flashes with anger, he never
utters rash word. Always cold, always
precise, always passive, beautiful snow
drop, but don't like him; | would rather
have one Giant of Battle than five thou
sand snowdrops.
Give me a 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 ought to be there; but always
snowdrops.
You have seen in some places perhaps
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 a whole cent
ury and it will not bloom again for an
other hundred years Well, 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 of eternity, and nineteen centu-
ries ago it put forth its glory. 1t is not
only century plant but passiOnt1ower
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, Owinds
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 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 cas- STA, out Of the ivory palaces.
60 1urOher, and say the church of
Christ is appropriately compared TO
garden because of its thorough irrigation
:
plenty of water. | saw a garden in the
midst of the desert amid the Rocky
mountains. | said, "HOwis tIossible,you
have 50 many flowers so much rich fruit
in desert for miles arouud2" | suppose
some of you have seen these gardens
Wen. they told me they had aqueducts
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 aque-
ducts, and it kept the fields in great lux
urianCe. And I thought to myself-how
like the garden of Christi 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 fount-
ain of gardens and streams from
Lebanon. Water to Stake 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.
I wandered in q garden of Brazilian
cashew nut, and / saw the luxuriance of
those gardens were helped by the abund-
uant supply of water | came to it on a
day when strangers were not admitted
ybut, by a strange coincidence, at the mo-
Anent l got in, the kings chariot passed,
ana the gardener went up on the hill and
Turned on the water, and it came flashing
down the broad stairs of stone until sun
aight and wave, in gleesome wrestle, tum-
bled at my feet And so it is in this gar
den of Christ. Everything comes from
above-pardon from above, peace from
above. comfort from above, sane
tification from above. Streams
from Lebanon, o, the consolation
an this thought. Would God that the
gardeners turned on the fountain of sal
walton until the place where we sit and
stand might become Elm with twelve
wells of water and three score and ten
palm trees. But hear his sound at the
garden gate; l hear the lifting of the
aatch of the gate. Who comes there2 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, "Old man. come
TO help thee; | come to strengthen thee
Down to hoary hairs | will shelter thee
will give thee strength at the time OF
old age; I will not leave; ] will never for.
sake thee Peace, broken-hearted old
man; will be thy consolation forever. 81
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 al