The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1894-07-06

the roses OF deep hue that we occasional
ly find called giants of battle"-the
Martin Luthers, ST. Pauls, Chrysos-
toms, Wyklifs, Latimers and Samuel
Rutherfords. What in other men is
spark in them is a conflagration. When
they sweat, they sweat great drops of
blood. When they pray, their prayer
takes fire. When they preach, it is a
Pentecost. When they fight, it is
Thermopyla. When they die, it is q
martyrdom. You find a great many roses
in the gardens, but only few "giants
Of battle" Men say, "Why don't You
have morocco them in the church," /
say, "Why don't you have in the world
more Napoleons and Famboldts and
Wellingtons?" God gives to some ten
talents, to another one
The Passion Flower.
In this sa~G o.; G. TO church, which
Christ has plated, also find the snow
drops, beautiful, but cold looking, SEEM
ingly another phase of the winter. l
mean those Christians who are precise
in their tastes, unimpassiored, pure as
snowdrops and as cold. They never
shed any tears; they never get excited;
they never say anything rashly; they
never do anything precipitately. Their
pulses never fiutter; their nerves never
twitch; their Indignation never boils
over. They live longer than most peo-
pie, but their life is in minor key.
They never run up to G above the staff.
In the music of their life they have no
staccato passages Christ planted them
in the church, and they must be of some
service, or they would not be there.
Snowdrops, always snowdrops.
But have not told you Of the most
beautiful flower in all this garden spo-
ken of in the text. If you see a century
plant, your emotions are started. You
say, "Why, this flower has been a
hundred years gathering up for one
bloom, and it will be a hundred years
more before other petals will come
out" But have to tell you of plant
that was gathering up from all eternity,
and that 1900 years ago put forth its
bloom never to wither. 1t is the passion
flower Of the cross! Prophets foretold
it. Bethlehem shepherds looked upon
it in the bud, the rocks shook at its
bursting, and the dead got up in their
winding sheets to see its full bloom. 1t
is crimson flower-blood at the roots,
blood on the branches, blood on all the
leaves. Its perfume is to fill all the
nations. Its touch is life. Its breath
is heaven. Come, o winds, from the
north, and winds from the south, and
winds from the east, and winds from
the west, and bear to all the earth the
sweet smelling SAVIOR of Christ, my
Lord.
Hir worth, if all the nations knew,
Sure the whole earth would love him too.
Full of Fruit.
Again, the church may be appropri-
ately compared to garden, because it
is place of select fruits. That would
be strange garden which had in it no
berries, no plums, no peaches or apricots
The coarser fruits are planted in the
orchard, or they are set out ON the sunny
hillside, but the choicest fruits are kept
in the garden. So in the world outside the
church Christ has planted great many
beautiful things = patience, charity.
generosity, integrity-but he intends the
choicest fruits to be in the garden, and
if they are not there then shame on the
church. Religion is not a mere flower
ing sentimentality. It is practical life
giving, healthful fruit-not posies, but
apples. "OhP' says somebody, II don't
see what your garden of the church has
yielded" Where did your asylums
come from, and your hospitals, and
your institutions of mercy? Christ
planted every one of them; he planted
them in his garden. When Christ gave
sight to Bartimeus, he laid the corner.
stone of every blind asylum that has
| ever been built. When Christ soothed
the demoniac of Galilee, he laid the cor.
nerstone of every lunatio asylum that
has ever been established. When Christ
said to the SICK man, Take up thy bee
and waikiki he laid the cornerstone Of
every hospital the world has ever seen.
When Christ said, II was in prison,
huu yc NlSltGu luS, llc tllO COlliN
stone of every prison reform associatio4
that has ever been formed. The church
of Christ is glorious garden, and it il
full of fruit know there is some pool
fruit in it. know there are some weed
that ought to have been thrown over tht
fence. l know there are some crabapp''
trees that ought to be cut down. l know
there are some wild grapes that ought
to be uprooted, but are you going to de
stroy the whole garden because Of lit
tie gnarled fruit? You will find worn
eaten leaves in Fontainebleau and in
sects that sting in the fairy groves of TIL
Champs Elysees. You do not tear dow
and destroy the whole garden becaus,
there are few specimens of gnarlet
fruit. ] admit there arc mel and won
en- in the church who ought not to b.
there, but let us be just as frank ant
admit the fact that there are hundred
and thousands and tens Of thousands O
glorious Christian men and women, holy
blessed, useful, consecrated and trium
plant. There is no grander collection
in all the earth than the collection o
Christians.
Catalogue Of Fruits.
There are Christian men in the churcl
whose religion is not matter of psalm
singing and church going. Tomorrow
morning that religion will keep then
Just as consistent and consecrated o.
exchange" as it ever kept them at tn
communion table. There are women il
lhe church OF higher type of characte
than Mary of Bethany. They not onl
sit at the feet of Christ, but they go on
into the kitchen to help Martha in he
work, that she may sit there too. Their
is woman who has drunken husband
sao has exhibited more saith and pa
e md courage than Hugh Latino
ti.e fire. He was consumed in 2
minutes. Hers has been a 20 years
mar.yrio.a. Yoader is a man who ha
, lain 10 yc.ri on h; back, unable eve
to feed himself, yet calm and peaceful
! as though he lay on one of the gree
, banks Of heaven watching the oarsme
d;,, fbeir paddlee in fhe crystal river