Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1893-05-11

in our fathers garden wha' we called the
Giant Of Battle, Il peculiar rose. very red
and fiery. Suggestive flower, it was called
the Giant Of Battle And 30 in the garden |
Of the Lord we find that kind Of flower
the Pauls and Martin Luthers, the Wye, |
lifs, the John Knoxes-giants OF battle |
What in other men is spark in them Is
a confiagration. 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 ThermopylR; 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 time" answer
your question by asking another, why
have we not more Cromwells and Hum
boldts in the worldp God wants only q
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. 1t is very pure-pure
as the snowdrop, beautiful as the snow.
drop and as cold as the snowdrop. No spe
cial sympathy. That kind of man never
loses his patience He never weeps; he
never fushes 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 snowdrops.
Give me man who may make some mis-
takes 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 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.
THE CENTURY PLANT.
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 whole century, and it will not
bloom again for another hundred years" !"
Well, have to tell you that in this garden
of the church spoken of in my text there is
a century plant.
1t has gathered up its bloom from all the
ages of eternity, and 10 centuries ago it put
| forth its glory, 1t is not only a century
| plant, but n passion fower-the passion
| flower of Christ, 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 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 gar.
ments smelling of myrrh and aloes and cas-
sia out Of the ivory palaces
| go further and say the church of Christ
is appropriately compared to a garden be-
cause of its thorough irrigation. There car
be no luxuriant garden without plenty Of
| water. saw garden in the midst of the
desert amid the Rocky mountains. / said
How is it possible you have so many flow
ers, so much rich fruit, in desert for miles
around~ suppose some of you have seen
those gardens. Well, 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 ther
poured down in water to those aqueducts
and it kept the fields in great luxuriance
And thought to myself-how like the gar
den of Christi All around 1.-THE barrennes.
of sin and the barrenness of the world, but
our eyes are unto the hills, from whenct
cometh our help. There is river thu
streams whereof shall make glad the city Of
our God-the fountain of gardens and
streams from Lebanon. Water to slake the
i TO, tha fasp
to wash the unclean, water to toss up in
fountains under the sun of righteousness
until you can see the rainbow around the
throne.
THE STREAMS OF LEBANON.
Wandered in a garden of Brazilian ca
shew nut, and saw the luxuriance Of thost
gardens was helped by the abundant sup
ply Of water l came to it on q day wher
strangers were not admitted, but by 6
strange coincidence, at the moment got in
the kings chariot passed, and the gardene
went up on the hill and turned on the water
and it came flashing down the broad stair
of stone until sunlight and wave in glee
some wrestle tumbled at my feet And s,
it is with this garden of Christ. Everything
comes from above-pardon from above
peace from above, comfort from above, sane
tificasion from above. Streams from Leba
! nonl Oh, the consolation in this thought
Would God that the gardeners turned OF
the fountain of salvation until the plac
where we sit and stand might become Elm
with 10 wells of water and threescore an,
ten palm trees. But hear his sound a
the garden gate. hear the lifting of tn
latch of the gate. Who comes there9 It i
| l fh1aE yhn in nrb +
garden gate. He comes through this patl
of the garden, and he comes to the age
man, and he says: "Old man, I come to he'll
thee; come to strengthen thee. Down t
hoary hairs will shelter thee; will Civ
thee strength at the time Of old age; vii
not leave; l will never forsake thee Peace
broken hearted old man, will be thy cor
ISOLATION forever"
And then Christ, the Gardener, comes u
another path of the garden, and he sees
soul in great trouble, and he says, Flush
troubled spirit; the sun shall not smite the
by day, nor the moon by night; the Lor
: shall preserve thee from all evil; the Lor
shall preserve thy soul" And then th
Gardener comes up another path Of the gal
. den, and he comes where there are som
beautiful buds, and say, stop, o Garder
: er; do not break them off," But he break
, them off, the beautiful buds, and I see
4 great fiutter among the leaves and I wor
der what he is doing, and he says; Il do nc
l come to destroy these flowers. am onl
+ going to plant them in higher terrace an
in the garden around my palace l hav
: come into my garden to gather lilies.
: must take back whole cluster Of ros,
r buds. Peace, troubled soul; all shall b
[ well. Suffer the little children to come III
! to me and forbid them not, for of such is th
o kingdom Of heaven" Oh, glorious Garder
j er of the church, Christ comes to it pov
ard he has right to come. We look int
the face of the Gardener as he breaks off tt
: bud, and we say, "Thou art worthy to ha'
them; thy will be DONE" The harde