The Globe-republican., 1893-05-12
lightsome jessamine of Christian SYM

lightsome jessamine of Christian SYM
pathy.
In this garden of the Lord find the
Mexican cactus, loneliness within.
thorns without, men with great sharp
ness of behavior and manner. but with
in 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 to strike back when you strike
them. Yet within them all loveliness
and attraction. while outside so COM
plet Ely. unfortunate. Mexican cactus
all the time.
Said a placid elder to a Christian
minister: Doctor, you would do well
to control your temper" "Ah!' said
the minister to the placid elder. Il
control more temper in five minutes
than you do in five years" These peo-
pie, gifted men, who have great ex-
ASPIRATION of manner, and seem
to be very different from what
they should be. really have in
their souls that which cOmmends them
to the Lord. Mexican cactus all the
''Do you think l ought to become
member of the church, have such a
violent temper? Yesterday l was cross
ing Jersey City ferry. 1t was very ear
~ in the morning. and saw a milk
man putting a large quantity of water
into his can, and said: That is
enough, sir, and he got off the cart and
insulted me. and knocked him down.
WE'LL" said he, do you think l could
ever become a 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 exas-
peratiOns; 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
called the Giant of Battle. a 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 fiower-the Pauls
and Martin Luthers. the Wyclitfes, the
John Knoxes-giants of battle. What
in other men is spark. in them is a
conflagration: when they pray, their
prayers take fire. When they suffer
they sweat great drops of blood: when
they preach it is a Pentecost: when they
fight it is Thermopyla; when they die
it is Observation-Disclosures of battle. You
saw, ''Why have we not more of them in
the church of Christ at this time?"
answer your question by asking anOth-
err: ''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. Tha,
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 snOwdrOp; but
don't like him. would rather have
one giant Of battle than 5000 snow
drops.
Give me a man who may make some
mistakes in his ardor for the Lords
service. rather than that kind of nature
which spends it's whole life doing but
one thing. and that is keeping equil
brium. There are snOwdrOps in all the
churches-men without any sympathy
Very good; they are in the garden o.
the Lord, therefore know they ought
to be there: but always snowdrops.
You have seen in some places. per
haps, a century plant. l do not sup
pose there is person in this house wht
has ever seen more than one century
plant in full bloom, and when you SEE
the century plant your emotions arr
stirred. You look at it and say: This
flower has been gathering up it's beauty
, for a whole century, and it will no
, bloom again for another 100 years.
Well, have to tell you that in thi
. garden of the church, spoken OF in my
text, there is century plant.
1t has gathered up its bloom from al
the ages of eternity, and nineteen cen
turtles ago it put forth its glory. 1t
/ not only century plant, but passion
flower-the passion flower of Christ;
, crimson flower, blood at the root, am
blood on the leaves, the passion fiowe
, of Jesus. the century plant of eternity
| Come. oh, winds from the north, AM
winds from the south. and winds from
: the east. and winds from the west. an
l scatter the perfume of this fioweI
, through all nations.
His worth il all the nations knew,
{ Sure the whole earth would love him. too
S Thou. the Christ of all the ages. has
l garments smelling of myrrh. and aloes
, and cassia. out of the ivory palaces.
1 Igo further and say the church
Christ is appropriately compared to
e garden, because of its thorough irriga
e ton. There can be no luxuriant garde
e without plenty Of water. say ga
q den in the midst of the desert amid tn
? Rocky mountains I said: How is
t possible you have so many flowers,
much rich fruit in a desert for mile
D around? / suppose some of you hav
e seen those gardens. Well, they toll
e me they had aqueducts and pipe
]. reaching up to the hill, an