The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-07-04

say, why, this Hover mas been a nun
dred years gathering up for one bloom,
and 1t will be hundred years more be-
fore other petals will come out" But 1
have TO tell you Of plant that was gath
ering up from all eternity. and that 1900
years ago put forth it's bloom never to
wther. II is the passion flower of the
crOssl Prophets fOretold 1t. Bethlehem
shepherds looked upon 1t in the bVd; the
rocks shook at its bursting, and the dead
got up in their winding sheets TO see its
full bloom. 1t is a crimson flower-bloOd
at the roots, blood on the branches, blood
on all the leaves. Its perfume is to fill all
the nations. It's touch is life. It's 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.
His worth If all the nations knew,
Sure the whole earth would love him, too.
Again, the church may be appropriate
~ compared TO a garden, because it is a
place OF select fruits. That would be a
strange garden which had in 1t no berries,
no plums, no peaches or apricote. 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 gar
den.
The Choicest Fruits.
SO in the world outside The church
Christ has planted a great many beauti-
full 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 lowering senti-
mentally. 1t is a practical. life-giving,
healthful fruit-not posies. but apples
oh says somebody, 4 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 i'm Ills garden.
When Christ gave sight TO BalTimeus,
he laid the cornerstone of every blind
asylum that has ever been built When
Christ soOthed the demonac OF GaE!ae,
he laid the cornerstone of every lunatic
asylum that has ever been esta blished.
When Christ said to the sick man,
Take up thy bed and walk" he laid the
cornerstone of every hospital the world
has ever seen. When Christ said, Il
was in prison, and ye visited me-" lie
laid the cornerstone Of every prison re-
form association that has ever been
formed. The church of Christ is a glori-
Gus garden, and it is full of fruit. l
know there Is some poor fruit in it. /
know there are some crab-apple trees
that ought to be cut down. l know there
are some wild grapes that ought to be
uprOOted. but are you going to destroy
the whole garden because of a little
gnarled fruit? You will find worm
eaten leaves in FOntainebleau and in
sects that sting in the fairy groves of the
Champs Elysees. You do not tear down
and destroy the whole garden because
there are a few specimens of gnarled
fruit. j admit there are men and women
in the church who ought not to be therS,
but let us be just as frank and admit
the fact that there are hundreds and
thousands and tens of thousands of
nd hrT
blessed. useful consecrated and triumph
ant. There is no grander collection in
all the earth than the collection of
Christians.
some Modern Martyrs.
There are Christian men in the church
whose religion is not a matter of psalm
singing and church-going. Tomorrow
morning that religion will keep them just !
as consistent and consecrated on Eek
change" as it ever kept them at the
communion table. There are women in |
the church OF a higher type of character |
than Mary of Bethany. They not only |
sit at the feet Of Christ, but they go out |
into the kitchen 10 help Martha in her |
work. that she may sit there. too. There
is a woman who has a drunken husband, |
who has exhibited more faith and pa
thence and courage than Hugh Latimer |
in the fire. He was consumed in twenty |
minutes. Hers has been twenty-years' |
martyrdom. Yonder is a man who has |
lain fifteen years on his back, unable to |
feed himself, yet calm and peaceful as |
though he lay on one of the green banks |
of heaven, watching the Oarsmen dip |
their paddles in the crystal riverl Why.
it seems to me this moment as if Paul |
threw to US a pOmolOgist's catalogue of |
the fruits growing in this great garden |
of Christ-love, joy, peace patience, |
charity, brotherly kindness, gentieness, |
mercy-gloriOus fruit, enough TO fill all |
the baskets of earth and heaven.
L have not told you of the better tree |
in this garden and of the better fruit. |
1t was planted just outside Jerusalem a |
good while ago. When that tree was |
planted it was so split and bruised and |
barked men said nothing would ever
grow upon it, but no sooner had that tree |
been planted than it budded and bios |
sOmed and fruited, and the soldiers |
spears were only the clubs that struck |
down that fruit, and it fell into the lap |
of the nations, and men began to pick |
it UP and eat IT, and they found in it an |
antidote to all thirst to all poison, to all |
sin, to all death-the smallest cluster |
larger than the famous one of EshcOl, |
which two men carried on a staff be- |
tween them. If the one apple in Eden |
killed the race, this one cluster of mercy |
shall restore it.
A Well watered Garden.
Again, the church in my text is appro- |
priately called a garden because it is |
thoroughly irrigated. No garden could |
prosper long without plenty of water. l |
have seen a garden in the midst OF |
desert, yet blooming and luXuriant. All |
around was dearth and barrenness, but |
there were pipes. aqueducts reaching |
from this garden up TO the mountains, |
and through those aqueducts the water |
came streaming down and tossing up |
into beautiful fountains until every root |
and leaf and flower was saturated. That |
is like the church. The church is a |
garden in the midst of a great desert Of /
sin and suffering. 1t is well irrigated, |
for "Our eyes are unto the hills, from |
whence cometh help" From the |
mountains of Gods strength there flow |
down rivers Of gladness. There is a river |
the stream whereof shall make glad the |
city Of our God. Preaching the gospel is |
one Of these aqueducts. The bible is /
another. Baptism and the Lords supper |
are aqueducts. Water to slake the thirst. |
water to restore the faint, water to wash |
the unclean, water tossed high up in the |
light of the sun Of righteousness, show |
ing US the rainbow around the throne. |
On, was there ever a garden so thorough |
ly irrigated? You know the beauty Of /
Versailles and Chatsworth depends very !
much upon the great supply of water. L |
came to the latter place (ChatswOrth) one /
day when strangers are not to be adj |
mitted, but by an inducement, which al II