The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1896-05-06
THE CHURCH GARDEN
REV. Or. TALMAGE DESCRIBES ITS
MANY BEAUTIES.

He SAYS Christ Bought 1t, He Planted It
and he Owns It-Flowers and Fruit
That May Be Found In Laboratory
Closing Words.
WASHINGTON, April 26.-As the parks
in Washington are abloom with hya-
cinths and the gardens are being made
the simile dominant in this subject IS
very suggestive and practical. DR.. Tai
mage's text was Isaiah lviii, II, "Thou
shalt be like a watered garden"
The Bible is q great poem. We have
in it faultless rhythm and bold imagery
and startling antithesis and rapturous
lyric and sweet pastoral and instructive
narrative and devotional psalm, thoughts
expressed in style more solemn than
that Of Montgomery, more bold than
that of Milton, more terrible than that
If Dante, more natural than that OF
Wordsworth, more impassioned than
that CT Pollock, more fender than that
of Cowper, more weird than that OF
Spenser.
This great poem brings al the gems
of the earth into its coronet and it
weaves the flames Of Judgment into its
parlands, and pours eternal harmonles
in its rhythm. Everything this book
touches it makes beautiful, from the
plain stones Of the Summer thrashlng
floor to the daughters of Major filling
the trough for the calncls,, from the flsh
pools of Hcshbcn up to the psalmist
praising God with the diapason Of storm
and whirlwind, and Jobs imagery Of
Orion, Arcturus ard the Pleiadcs.
The Church.
NV text leads US into scene of sum-
mer redolence. The world has had a
great many beautiful gardens. Charlie
ragne added to the glory of his reign
by decreeing that they be established
all through the realm, deciding even
the names Of the flowers to be planted
there. Henry " at Montpelier estab-
lshed 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 ShenstCne, the poet His
writings have made but little impres-
sion on the world, bat his garden, "The
Leasowers, - will be immortal To the
natural advantage Of that place was
brought the perfection CT art. Arbcr and
terrace and slope and rustic temple and
reservoir and urn and fountain here had
their crowning. Oak and yew and hazel
put forth their richest foliage. There
was no life more diligent, no soul more
ingenious, than that Of Shenstcne, and
all that diligence and genius he brought
to the adornmcnt of that one treasured
spot. He gave $500 for it. He sold it
for e17, 200. And yet I an to tell you
today of q richer garden than any have
mentioned 1t is the garden spoken Of
in my text, the garden CT the church,
which belongs to Christ. He bought it,
he planted it, he OWLS it, and he shall
have it. Walter Scott, in his outlay at
Abbotsford, ruined his fortune, and
now, in the crimson flowers of those
gardens, you can almost think CT i'm
agine that you see the blood Of that CID
mans broken heart. The payment OF
the last e1O0,000 sacrificed him. But
have to tell you that Christ's life and
CErist's dexh were the outlay OF this
beautiful garden Of the church Of which
nv text speaks. oh, how many sighs
and tears and pangs and agonies! Tell
me, We women who saw him hang! Tell
me- ye executioners who lifted him and
let him down! Tell me, thou sun that
didst hide. Ye rocks that fell! Christ
loved the church and gave himself for
it. If the garden of the church belongs
to Christ, certainly he has q right to
walk in it. Come, then, 0 blessed Jesus
today, walk up and down these aisles
and pluck what thou wilt of sweetness
for thyself.
The church in my text is appropriate
" compared to garden because it ls
the place Of choice flowers, Of select
fruits and of thorough irrigation That
would be a strange garden i'll which
.s2eyo were 10 flowers If nowhere else,
they woad be along the borders or at
the gateway. The homeliest taste Will
dictate something, if il be only the Old
fashioned hollyhock Or dahlia or daffo-
dill, but if there be larger means then
YOU will find the Mexican cactus, and
blazing azalea, and clustering olcander.
Well, now, Christ comes to his garden,
and he plants there some Of the brightest
| spirits that ever fowered upon the world.