The Bossier banner., 1894-08-16

eOnHdSraIlOn. Nnen tney sweat, bney
Sweat great drops of blood. When they
pray, their prayer takes fire. When
they preach, it is Pentecost. When
they fight, it is Thermopyl@. When
they die, it is a martyrdom. You find
a great many roses in the gardens, but
only few ''giants of BATTLE" Men
say: "Why don't you have more of
them In the church," / say: "Why
don't you have in the world more Ma
poleons and Humboldts and Yelling
tons?" God gives to some ten talents,
to another one.
In this garden of the church, which
Christ has planted, also find the snow
drops, beautiful but cold looking,
seemingly another phase of the winter.
mean those Christians who are pre-
else in their tastes, unimpassioned,
pure as snowarops and as cold. They
never shed any tears they never get
excited; they never say anything
rashly; they never do anything pre-
cipitately. Their pulses never flutter;
their nerves never twitch, their indig-
nation never boils over They live
longer than most people, but their life
is in minor key. They never run up
to "C'' above the staff. In the music
of their life they have no staccato pass
ages. Christ planted them in the
church, and they must be of some serv-
ice, or they would not be there. Snow
drops, always snowdrops.
But have not told you of the most
beautiful flower in all this garden
| 1f -
century plant" your emotions are
started. You say, "Why, this flower
has been hundred years gathering up
for one bloom, and it will be hundred
years more before other petals will
come out.'' But 1 have to tell
you of a 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 fore
told it. Bethlehem shepherds looked
upon it in the bud; the rocks shook at
it's bursting, and the dead got up in
their winding sheets to see its full
bloom. 1t is a crimson hower-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
Christ, my Lord
His worth, if all the nations knew,
| - Sure the whole earth would love Him too
Again, the church may be appro-
priately compared to garden, because
it is a 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 a great many beau
tiful things-patience, charity, gener-
osity, 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 mere flow
ering sentimentality. 1t is practical,
life-giving, healthful fruit-not posies,
but apples "Oh," says somebody, 81
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 gar
den. When Christ gave sight to Bar
timeus He laid the cornerstone of every
blind asylum that has ever been
built. When Christ soothed the de-
moniac of Galilee, he laid the corner
stone of every lunatic asylum that has
ever been established. 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, 81 was in prison,
and We visited me- he laid the corner
stone of every prison reform associa-
tion that has ever been formed The
Church of Christ is glorious garden,
and is full of fruit. l know there is
some poor fruit in it. / know there
are some weeds that ought to have
been thrown over the fence. l know
there are some crab apple trees that
ought to be cut down. / know there
are some wild grapes that ought to be
uprooted, but are you going to destroy
the whole garden because of a lit
tie 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 few specimens of
gnarled fruit. l admit there are men
and women in the church who ought
not to be there, but let us be Just as
frank and admit the fact that there are
hundreds and thousands and tens of
thousands of glorious Christian men
and women holy, blessed, useful, con-
secrated and triumphant. There is no
grander collection on earth than the
collection of Christians.
! 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 con-
secrated on exchange" as it ever kept
them at the communion table. There
are women in the church of higher