Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1896-05-06
REI. DR.. TalulGE.
The Eminent Divine's Sunday
SefDoa.
Subject: 1.-The Church Garden. :"

Sef0DD,
Subject: '.The Church Garden.
TEXT: "Thou shalt he like watered gar.
den."-Ieaiah, lviii. N.
The Bible is . great poem. We have Il fn
faultless rhythm and bold imagery and start
ling antithesis and rapturous lyric and sweet
pastoral and instructive narrative and do.
vottonal pealm, thoughts expressed In style
more solemn than that Of Montgomeryy
more bold than that Of Milton, more terri
bic than thEt Of Dante. moro natural than
that OF Wordsworth, more impassioned than
that OF Pollock, more tender than that Of
Gov per, more weird than that Of Gpenser.
This great poem brings al the gems of the
flames OF judgment into its gariands, and
POurs eternal harmonies in its rhythm.
Everything this book touches It makes beau.
ttful, from the plain stones OF the summer
thrashing noor TO the daughters OF NahoR
filling the trough for the camels, from the
nsh pools Of Heehbon mp to the psalmise
praiein& God With the diapason Of storm and
whirlwind, and Jobs imagery Of Orion Aro.
turus and the Pieiades.
Ny text leads Us into . scene OF summes
redolence. The world has had . great many
beautiful gardens. Charlsmagne added to
the glory Of his reign by decreeing that they
be established all through the realm, dectd-
planted there. Henry ". at Aontpslier es-
tablishsd gardens of bewitching beauty and
luxuriance. gathering into them Alpine.
Pyrenean and French plants. One OF the
sweetest spots on earth was the garden OF
made but little impression on the world. but
his garden. ''The Leasowers," will b. i'm.
mortal To the natural advantage Of that
place was brought the perfection of art. Ar
Dor and terrace and slope and rustic temple
and reservoir and urn and fountain here had
their browning. Oak and yew and hazel put
life more diligent, NO soul moro ingenious,
than that Of ShenstOne. and all that dili-
gence and genius he brought to the adorn-
ment OF that one treasured spot. He gave
fS0O for 1t. He sold II for E17,0O
And yet am to tell you to-day
mentioned. 1t ts the garden spoken of in
my text, the garden OF the church, which
belongs to Christ He bought 1t, He planted
II. He owns 1t, and He shall have II. Walter
SCOTT. In his outlay at Abbotsford, ruined
his fortune, and now. In the crimson flowers
OF those gardens. you can almost think OF
imagine that you can see the blood Of that
old mans broken heart. The payment of
the last f100. 900 sacrificed him. But have
to tell you that Christ's life and Christ's
death were the outlay Of this beautiful gar
den OF the church Of which my text speaks.
Oh, how many sighs and tears and pangs
and agoniesi Tell me, 70 women who saw
Him hAngi Tell me, ye executioners who
lifted Him and let Him down! Tell me, thou
sun that didst hidel Ye rocks that felli
Christ loved the church and gave Himself
for It. II the garden Of the church belongs
10 Christ. certainly He has a right to walk
in II. Come. then, o blessed Jesus, to-day,
VAIL and Anuvn thooo afoloo nd MI,
what Thou wilt Of sweetness for Thyseff.
The church in my text Is appropriately
compared to q garden because II Is the place
Of choice flowers, of select fruits and OF
thorough irrigation. That would be a strange
garden in which there were NO flowers. II
borders or at the gateway. The homeliest
taste will dictate something. tfit be only the
old fashioned holiyhOck or dahlia or daffo-
dill, but II there be larger means then you
will find the Mexican cactus, and blazing
azalea, and clustering oleander. Well, now,
Christ comes to His garden, and He plants
there some OF the brightest spirits that ever
flowed upon the world. Some Of them are
violets, inconsps ious. but sweet as heaven.
You have to search and find them. You do
not see them very often perhaps, but you
find where they have been BY the frightened
face OF the invalid. and the spng Of gsranium
on the stand, and the new window curtains
keeping out the glare Of the sunlight. They
Arc perhaps more like the canunculus, creep
Ing sweetly along amid the thorns and briars
Of life, giving kiss for sting, and many q man
who has had in his way some great black
rock of trouble has found that they have
covered II all over with nowery jasmine,
running In and out amid the crevfces. these
flowers in Ohrist's garden are not, IKE the
sunnower, gaudy in the light, but wherever
darkness hovers over . soul that needs to bs
comforted there they stand, night blooming
cereuses.
But I'm Ohrist's garden there are plants that
may be better compared to the Mexican cac-
tus-thorns without, loveliness within, men
with sharp points OF character. They wound
almost every ono that touches them They
arc hard to handle. Men pronounce them
nothing but thorns. but Christ loves them
notwithstanding all their sharpnesses Many
. man has had very hard ground to oulti-
vafe, and 1t has only been through severe
trial he has raised even the smallest crop of
grace. A very harsh minister was talking
to very placid elder. and the placid [elder
said to the harsh minister, ''Doctor, do
wish you would control your temper"
"Ah," said the minister to the elder, 81 con-
troll more temper in i've minutes than you
do In five years.
1t is harder for some men to do right than
for other men to do right. Tho grace that
would elevate you to the seventh heaven
might not keep your brother from knocking
. man down. I had q friend who came to
me and said, ~ dare not Join the church. ."
said, '.why2" .'Oh," he said, 81 have such
. violent temper. Yesterday morning was
crossing very early At the Jersey City ferry,
and saw q milkman pour q large quantity
OF water into the milk can, and said to
him, Il think that will do and he insulted
me, and knocked him down. Do you think
ought to Join The church7' Nevertheless
that very same man. who was 80 harsh In his
behavior, loved Christ and could not speak
of sacred things without tears of emotion
and affection. Thorns without, sweetness
wtthin-the best specimen Of the Mexican
cactus I ever saw.
who arc always radiants, always impressive,
more like the roses Of deep hue than We Oc-
casionally find, callei "Giants Of Battle"
the Martin Luthers, 81. Pauls, Ohrysostoms,
Wyclifs, LatimeFs and Samuel Rutherfords.
What In other men II q spark In them Is Q
conhagration. When they sweat, they sweat
great drops Of blood: When they pray, their
prayers take fire. When they preach, It Is q
Pentecoet. When they fight, 1t Is Thermo-
pyln. When they die, It is . mArtyrdom.
You find great many roses In the gardens.
but only . few ''0tants Of Battle" Men say,
s'Why don't you have more Of them In the
church," I say, "Why don't you have in
the world more Humboldts and Wellingtons2
God gives to some ten talents; to another
ono.
In this garden OF the church which Christ
has planted I also hnd the snowdrops. beau
tiful, but cold-lookinR, seemingly another
phase OF winter. I mean those Christians
who are precise In their tastes. unim-
passionea, pure a. snowdrops and a. cold.
They never shed any tears; they never get
excited; they never say anything rashly;
they never do anything Prectpitately. Theil
pulses never nutt0r: their nerves never
fwitch; their indignation never boils over.
They live longer than most people. but theiz
life is in q minor key. They never run up
to O above the stan. In their music of life
they have NO stsccafo passages. Chris
planted them In the church. and they mus(
Be OF some service or they would not b<
there-snowdrops, always snOwdrops.
But have not told you Of the most beau.
tiful flower of all this garden spoken OF IA
he text. II you $50 . century plant, youl
emotions are startled. You say, 'WhY, thil
lower hes been 100 yeaxs gathering up fol
- bloom. and Il will be 100 years more be
Does other petals win coma out" But