Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1894-07-06


ever saw.
There are others planted in Christ's
garden who are always ardent, alwayg
radiant, always mpressive-more like
the roses of deep hue that we occa-
sionally find called giants of battle
the Martin Luthers, St Pauls.
Chrysostoms, Wickliffes, Latimers and
| Samuel Rutherfords What in other
men is a spark in them is a conaagra-
ton When they sweat, they sweat
great drops of blood. When they
pray, their prayer takes life. When
they preach, it is a Penticost. When
they fight, it is a Thermopylm. When
they die, it is a martyrdom. You find
a great many roses in the gardens, but
only few ''riants 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 mboldts 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
snowdrops, beautiful but cold look
ing, seemingly another phase of the
winter. mean those Christians who
are precise in their tastes, unimpas-
stoned, pure as snowdrops and as cold.
They never shed any tears, they never
get excited, they never say anything
rashly, they never do anything pre-
cipitately. Their pulse never fiutters,
their nerves never twitch, their indig-
nation never boils over. They live
longer than most people; but their
life is in a minor key. They never
run up to &C" above the staff. In the
music of their life they have no STAG
cato 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
spoken of in the text If you see u
century plant" your emotions are
started. You say: why, this flower
has been hundred years gathering up
for one bloom, and it will be a hum
dred years more before other petals
will come out" But / have to tell
you of plant that was gathering up
from all eternity, and that nineteen
hundred years ago put forth it's 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
its bursting; and the dead got up in
their winding-sheets to see its full
bloom. II is n crimson fower-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 It's breath is heaven Come, Oh
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 appro-
prIately compared TO a garden, be-
cause it is place of select fruits.
That it would be a 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 n mere Towering sentiment
atty 1t is a practical, life-giv-
ing, healthful fruit-not posies, but
apples "Oh!" says some body, 81
don't see what your garden of the
church has yielded" Where did your
asylums come from? and your hos
pitfalls? and your institutions of mercy?
Christ planted every one of them; he
planted them in his garden. When
Christ gave sight to Bartimcus, he laid
the corner stone of every blind asylum
that has ever been built When Christ
. soothed the demoniac IF Galilee he
laid the corner stone of every lunatiC
asylum that has ever been esta blished.
When Christ said to the sick man:
Take up thy bed and walk hc laid
the corner stone of every hospital the
world has ever seen. When Christ
said: IL was in prison, and ye visited
me-" he LAID the corner stone
of every prison reform asso'
citation that has ever been
: formed The Church of Christ is q
glorious garden and it is full of fruit
! know there is some poor fruit in it
/ know there are some weeds thai
ought TO have been thrown over the
| fence. 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 be
cause of little gnarled fruit? You
, will find worm-eaten leaves in Fon
, tainbleau, and insects that sting il
, the fairy groves of the Champs Elysees
You do not tear down and destroy the
r whole garden because there are few
, specimens of gnarled fruit l admit
there are men and women in tn,
church who ought not TO be there; bu