Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1896-04-30

and as cold. They never shed any tears,
they never get excited, they never say any
thing rashly, they never do anything pre-
cipitately. Their pulses never dutter, their
nerves never twitch, their indignation
mover boils over. They live longer than
most people, but their life is in minor
key. They never run up to G 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 DO there. Snow
drops, always snowdrops
But have not told you of the most
boau tiful flower of all this garden spoken
Of in the text. If you sec a century plant,
your emotions are started. You say,
why, this flower has been 100 years gath
oring up for ono bloom, and 10 will DO 100
years moro before other petals will come
out" But have to tell you of plant
that was gathering up from oil eternity,
and that 1900 years ago put forth Its
bloom never to wither. 1t is the passion
plant of the crossl Prophets foretold 1t,
Bethlehem shepherds looked upon it in the
bud, tho rocks shook at its bursting, and
the dead got up in their winding sheets to
SEQ It's full bloom. 1t is crimson flower
blood at tho roots, blood on tho branches,
blood on all the leaves. Its perfume is to
I'll all tho nations. Its breath Is heaven.
Come, y winds, fro@i tho north, and
winds from tho SOUTH and winds from the
enst, and winds from tho west, and bear
to all the earth tho sweet smelling SAVIOR of
Christ, my Lord
His worth IL all the nations lsncw,
Sure the whole earth would, love him too.
Fruit In the Garden.
Again the church may be appropriately
compared to garden because It Is a place
of fruits. That would be strange gar
den which had in 1t no berries, no plums
or peaches or apricots. Tho coarsor fruits
nro planted In the orchard or they arc set
out on the sunny hillside, but tho choicest
fruits ore kept in tho garden. So, In the
world outside the church, Christ has plant
cd great many beautiful things-pa-
thence, charity, generosity, integrity-but
he intends tho choicest fruits to be In the
garden, anu, II they arc not there, then
shame on tho church.
Religion Is not nero sentimentality.
1t is practical, life giving, healthful
fruit-not posies, but apples. "Oh, says
somebody, ~ don't sec what your garden
OF the church has yielded" In reply 1 ask,
Where did yonr asylums como from, and
your hospitals, and your institutions
vi mprCyl CIrHb pluutcl cNcry OHc VI
them; no planted them in his garden.
Whom Christ gave sight to Bartimeus,
ne laid the cornerstone to every blind
asylum that has ever been built. When
Christ soothed tho demoniac of Galilee, he
laid the cornerstone Of every lunatic asy-
lum that has ever been established When
Christ said to tho sick man, "Tako up thy
bed and walk" he laid tho cornerstone of
every hospital tho world has ever seen.
When Christ said, ~ was in prison and ye
visited me-" he laid tho cornerstone Of
every prison reform association that has
ever been organized. The church Of Christ
is a glorious garden, and 1t Is full of fruit
/ know there is some poor fruit in it. /
know there are some weeds that ought to
be thrown over tho fence. l know there
arc some crab apple trees that ought to DO
cut down. / know there aro some wild
grapes that ought to DO uprooted But are
you going to destroy the whole garden be-
cause of a little gnarled fruitP You will
find worm eaten leaves In Fontaineblcau,
and insects that sting in tho fairy groves
| Of the Champs Elysees. You do not tear
down and destroy the whole garden be-
cause there are few specimens Of gnarled
fruit. l admit there arc men and women
in the church who ought not to be there
but lot 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 triumphant.
There is NO grander, nobler collection in
all the earth than the collection Of Chris
| tians.
There are Christian men in this house
whose religion Is not a matter Of psalm
Let,
morning that religion will keep thom just
as consistent and consecrated In their
worldly occupation AZ it ever kept them at
the communion table, There arc women
here today 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 to help Martha in her work
that she may sit there too. There Is
woman, who has drunkard husband, who
has exhibited more faith and patience and
courage than Ridley In the fire. He was
consumed in go minutes. Hers has been
a 20 years martyrdom. YoDder is a man
who has been IS years on his back, unable
to feed himself, yet calm and peaceful as
though he lay on one of tho green banks
Of heaven watching tho oarsmen dip their
paddle in the crystal river. Why 1t seems
to me this moment az IL st. Paul threw to
us q pomologists catalogue of the fruits
growing In this great garden of Christ
love, joy, peace, patience, charity, brother
ly kindness, genteness, INTERPRETATIONS
fruit, enough to Ill all the baskets of
earth and heaven.
The Watered Garden.
Again, the church in my text Is appro-
priately called garden because it is thor
oughly irrigated No garden could pros
per long without plenty of water. have
seen a garden in the midst Of desert, yet
blooming and luxuriant. All around us
were dearth and barronncss, but there were
pipes, aqueducts, reaching from this gar
Aen up TO the mountains, and through
those aquoducts the water camo streaming
down and tossing up into beautiful foun-
tains, until every root and leaf and flower
was saturated. That is like the church.
The church Is q garden in tho midst of a
great desert Of sin and suffering but 1t Is
well irrigated, for 'our eyes are unto the
bills from whence cometh our help"
From the mountains of Gods strength
there flow down rivers Of gladness
There is river tho stream whereof shall
make glad the city of our God" Preach
Ing the gospel is one Of tho aqueducts.
The Bible Is another. Baptism and tho
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