The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1896-05-06

gardens, but only a 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 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
snowdrops, beautiful but cold looking
seemingly another phase OF winter. /
mean these Christians who are precise
in their tastes, unimpassioned. pure as
snowdrops and as cold They never
shed any tears, they never get excited,
they never say anything rashly, they
never doanything precipitately. Their
pulses never fut,er, their nerves never
twitch, their indignation never bolls
over. They live longer than most
people, but their life is in q minor
KEY. They never run up to Z above
the staff. In their music of 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
snowdrovs.
But l have not told you of the most
beautiful flower of all this garden
spoken of in the text. If you see a
century plant, your emotions are start,
led. You say, why, this flower has
been 100 years gathering upfor one
bloom, and it will be 100 years more
before other petals will come out. y
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 pas
sion plant of the cross, Prophets fore
told it, Bethlehem shepherds looked
upon it in the bud, the rocks shook al
its burstil.tf, see and the dead got up IN
their winding sheets to see its full
bloom. 1t is a crimson tlower-blood
at the roots. blood on the branches,
blood on all the leaves. Its perfume
is to FL all the nations It's breath is
heaven. Come, @ winds, from the
north, and windssfrom the south, and
winds from the east, and winds from
the west, and bear to all the earth the
sweet smelling savor of Christ, my
Lord.
His worth if all the nations knew,
Sure the whole earth would love him too
Again the church may be appropri-
ately compared to a garden because it
is place of fruits. That would be a
strange garden which had in it no bert
ries. no plums or peaches or apricots.
The coarser fruits are planted IN the
orchard or they are set out on the sun,
ny hillside, but the choicest fruits are
kept in the garden. So, in the world
outside the church, Christ has planted
a great many beautiful things-pa.
tence, 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 rot mere sentimental,
tv. Its a practical, life giving, health,
full fruit-not posies, butapples. "Oh,
says somebody, Il don'tsee what your
garden of the church has yielded" In
reply I ask, 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
cornerstone to every blind asylum that
has ever been built. When Christ
soothed the demoniac of Galilee, he
laid the cornerstone of every lunatlc
asylum that has ever been established.
When Christ said 10 the sick man,
Take up thy bed and walk" he laid
the cornerstone of every hospital the
world has ever seen. Wien Christ
said, II was in prison and ye visited
me-" he laid the cornerstone of every
prison reform association that has ever
been organized. The church of Christ
is a glorious garden, and it is full OF
fruit.
I know there is some poor fruit in it.
I know there are some weeds that
ought to be thrown over the fence. I
know there are some crab apple trees
that ought to be cut down. I 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 ind
worm eaten leaves in Fontainebleau,
and insects that sting in thu 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. 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 thou
sands and tens of thousands of glorious
Christian men and women-holy,
blessed, useful, consecrated and trium-
phant. There is nc grander, nobler
collection in all the earth than the
collection OF Christians.
There are Christian men in this
house whose religion is not matter of
psalm singing and church going. To
morrow morning that religion will
keep them just as consecrated in their
worldly occupation as it ever kept
them at the communion table. There
are women here today of higher type
OF character than Mary of Bethany.
They not only sit at the feet of Christ,
but they go out into the kitchen to help
Martha IN her work that she may sit
there too. There is woman, who
has a drunkard husband, who has ex.
hibited more faith and patience and
courage than Ridley in Ene fire. He
was consumed in 90 minutes. Hers
has been a 20years' martyrdom Yon-
der is man who has been Is 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 orsmen dip their paddle
in the crystal river. Why, it seems
to me this moment as if St. Paul
threw to US pomologist's catalogue
Of the fruits growing in this great
garden of Christ-love. joy, peace,
patience, charity, brotherly kindness,
gentleness, mercy-glorious fruit,