Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1893-05-12

"0ld man, / come to help thee, l come
TO strengthen thee. Down to hoary
hairs / will shelter thee; l will give
thee strength at the time of old age:
i will not leave; / 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 pre-
serve thee from all evil; the Lord shall
preserve thy soul" And then the
Gardener comes up another path of the
garden, and he comes where there are
some beautiful buds, and | say, stop,
o Gardener, do not break them off. F"
But he breaks them off, the beautiful
buds, and | see great fiutter among
the leaves, and / wonder what he is
doing, and he says, Il do not come to
destroy these flowers; / am only going
to plant them in higher terrace, and
in the garden around my palace. /
have come into my garden TO gather
lilies. must take back n whole clus-
ter Of rosebuds. Peace, troubled soul;
all shall he 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 break
off the bud, and we say, Thou ar
worthy to have them; thy will be
DONE The hardest prayer a be-
reaved father or mother ever uttered
.-"Thy will be done"
But you have noticed that around
every kings garden there is a high
wall. You may have stood at the wall
of kings court and thought GLOW
would like to see that garden;" 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 a
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
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 salts
ia ction which they can never fnd
1t was so with Theodore Hook, who
made all nations laugh while he was
living. And yet Theodore Hook on a
certain day, when he caught a glimpse
Of his own face and his own apparel in
the mirror. said, That is true | look
Just rs | AMIDST, body, mind, soul
and estate, LOST And so it was with
Shenstone about his garden. of which
| spoke in the beginning of my SER
mon. lie sat down amid all its beauty
and wrung his hands and said, 81 have
lost my way to happiness, | am fran
tic; hate everything; hate myself as
a mad man ought to-" Alas. so many
in the gardens of this world are look
ing for that flower they can never 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 fount-
aims of this worlds pleasure, but never
tasted of the stream from Lebanon!
How many have revealed in other
gardens. to their souls ruin, but never
pluclSed one flower from the garden of
Godl | swing open all the gates of
the garden and invite you in, what
ever your history, whatever your sins
whatever your temptations, whatever
your trouble. The invitation comes
no more to one than to all: "Whoso-
ever will, let him come"
The flowers of earthly gardens soon
fade, bat, blessed be God, there are gar
dens that never wither, and through
the grace of Christ Jesus we may en-
ter into the joys which are provided
for us at Gods right hand. o! come
into the garden. And remember, as
the closing thought, that God not only
brings us into a garden here, but it is
garden all the way with those who
trust and love and serve him, gar
den all through the struggles of this
life, a garden all up the slope of
Heaven.
There everlasting spring abides
And neverwithering flowers.
Death, like a narrow stream, divides
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