The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1896-05-08


They never shed any team they never goi
ezelied thoy mover say anything raahlyi
thny never 90 nnyihlnR procluitAtay Their
pulses never luttUri their nerves never
witch, tho.r indignation never b0ila over.
They liFo longer than most people. but their
hio is Ia q minor key. They never run up
% above the star. In their music Of ne
they have no siacoato passages. Christ
planted Thorn ID tho church. and they must
DO OK some service or they would not be
therc-anowdropa, always anowdr0pa
But have not told you of the most beau
uiul flower OF all this garden spoken OF in
40 text IN you 500 q onnturY plant. your
emotions are startled. You say "WhV. thIf
flower has been 100 years gathering up foi
ono bloom. and Il win bo 100 yeam more b..
ioro other petals win como out" But
have 10 tell You OF plant that was gather
ing up from all eternity, and that 1000 years
ago Tut forth ita bloom never 30 withor 10
d the passion plant OF the crossi Prophets
ioreiold Il, bethlehem shepherds looked mp
on Il In the bud. tho rocks shook no its buuit-
Ing and the dead got mp IN its winding
sheets 10 see its fall bloom. It's crimson
llower-blood At the roots. blood on the
branches, blood on an tho leaves. It's per-
tune ia 90 nm an the Nations. It's breath A.
heaven. Come o winds from the north, and
winds from the south, and winds from the
east. and winds from the west. and bear 10
al the earth tho sweet-smelling SAVIOR OF
Christ my Lord
His worth n all tho Nations knew.
Sure the whole earth would love Him too.
Again. the church may appropriately be
compared 20 garden because Il n a place OF
fruits. That would be strange garden
which had In II no berries. no plums or
peaches or aprleots. The coarser fruits arc
planted In the orchard, or they are set out
on the sunny hillside, bat the choicest fruits
are kept in the garden. so In tho world out
side the church Christ has planted a great
many beautiful things-patience, charity,
generosity, integrity-but He intends the
choicest fruits to be IN the garden, and II
they are not there. thon shame on tho
church,
Religion Is not a more sontimentallty. It
| is practical, life giving, hoalthful fruit
not posles but apples. "Oh," says somo-
! body, az don't see what your garden OF tho
/ church has yielded" I reply I ask where
did your asylums come from, aud your hos
pitfalls. and your institutions OF mercy2
| Christ planted every one OF them. He plant
/ ed 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
/ lunatic asylum that has ever been estab-
| llshed. When Christ said to the sick man;
take up thy bed and walk" He laid the
I cornerstone Of every hospital the world has
ever seen. When Christ said: al was In
| prison and ye visited Ne, )" He laid the cor
/ nerstone Of every prison reform association
/ that has ever been organized. The church
OF Christ isa GLORIOUS garden, and It is full
OF fruit.
1 know there Is some poor fruit in It.
know there are some weeds that ought 10 be
thrown over the fence. i know there are
some crab apple trees that ought 70 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 q
little gnarled fruit? You will find worm
eaten leaves In Fontainebleau ana Insects
that sting in the 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. I 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 hun.
dreds and thousands and tens OF thousands
| of glorious Christian men and women--holy,
blessed, useful, eonsecrated and triumphant.
| There is no grander. nobler collection in all
the earth than the collection Of Christians
There are Christian men Ia this house
whose religion is not a matter OF psalm sing
ing and church going. Tomorrow morning
that religion will keep them Just as eonsis-
tent and consecrated in their worldly occu-
patton as It ever kept them at the COM
muDion table. There are women here to-
day or higher type OF char lcter than Mary
of Bethany. They not only sit at the feet OF
Christ. but they 20 out into the kitchen to
help Martha in her work that she may sit
there too There is ! woman VINO has a
drunkard husband W D has exhibited more
faith and patience and courage that Ridley
in the fire. Hs was consumed in twenty
minutes. Hers has been twenty years
martyrdom. Yonder is a man who has been
fifteen years on his back, unableto feedhim-
self, yet calm and peaceful az though he lay
on one of the green banks Of heaven, watch
ing tho oarsmen dip their paddle in the crys-
talriverl Why, it seems to me this moment
as il st. Paul threw to US a pomologists
catalogue OF the fruits growing in this great
garden Of Christ--love, Joy, peace, patience
charity, brotherly kindness, gentleness
mercy, glorious fruit, enough to ill all the
baskets Of earth aud heaven.
Again, the church in my text is APP
propriately called n garden because it il
thoroughly irrigated. 40 garden could
prosper long without plenty OF water.
have seen a gardenin the midst Of desert
yet blooming and luxuriant. All around u
were dearth and barrenness, but there
were pipes, aqueducts, reaching from thii
garden up to the mountains, and through
those aqueducts the water came streaming
down and tossing up into beautiful foun
tains, until every root and leaf and hoWe
was saturated. That is like the church
The church is a garden in the midst Of 9
great desert OF sin and suffering, but It il
well irrigated, for tour eyes are unto tn,
hills from whence cometh our help" From
the mountains Of Gods strength there flow
down rivers of gladness. "There is river
the stream whereof shall make glaC
the city of our God" Preaching the
gospel Is one OF the aqueducts. The
Bible is another. Baptism and the Lord
supper are aqueducts. Water to slake thu
thirst, water to wash the unclean, waite
tossed high up in the light of the Son 0
Righteous, showing US the rainbow arount
the throne. Oh, was there ever q garden 81
thoroughly irrigated You know that thu
beauty Of Versailles and ChatsWorth depends
very much upon the great supply OF water
came to the latter place. Chatsworth, on
day when strangers are not to be admitted
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