The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1896-05-06
THE GARDEN OF GOD.
REV. DR.. TalMAGE PREACHE6 ASEA-
SONAELE SERMON.

SONASLE SEHNON
He Compares the Church 10 q Garden BE
cause It is the Place of Choice Flowers,
Select Fruits aud OF Thorough Irrigation
An Invitation to Enter.
WASHINGTON. April 26.--As the
parks in Washington are a5loom with
hyacinths, and the gardens are being
made, the siuile dominant IN this
subject is very suggestive and practi-
cal. DR.. Talmage's text was Isaiah
lviii, II, Thou shalt be ike watered
garden
The Bible is a great poem. We have
in it faultless rhythm, and bold imag.
cry, and startling antithesis, and
rapturous lyric, and sweet pastoral,
and instructive narrative, and devo
tional psalm-thought expressed In
style more solemn than that of Mont.
gomery, more bold than that OF Mil
ton. more terrible than that OF Dante.
more natural than that of Words
worth, more imprisoned than that o.
Pollock, more tender than that OF
Cowper, more weird than that OF
Spenser..
This great poem brings all the gems
of the earth into its coroaet, ana II
weaves the flames of judgment into its
earlands 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 filing
the trough for the camels, from the
6sh pools of Heshbon up to the psalm
ist praising God with the diapason of
of storms and whirlwind and Jobs
imagery of Orion, Areturns and the
Pleiades.
Ny text leads US into a scene OF
summer redolence. The world has
had a great many beautiful gardens.
Charlemagne added to the glory OF
his reign by decreeing that they be
established all through the realm, de-
Gliding even the names of the flowers
to be planted there. Henry ", at
Montpelier, established gardens Of
bewitching beauty and luxurlance,
gathering into them Alpine. Pyren-
can and French plants. One OF the
sweetest spots on earth was the garden
of Shenstone, the poet. His writings
have made but little impression on the
world, The Leasowes,' will be I'M
mortal. To the natural advantage Of
that place was brought the perfection
of art. Arbor 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 Shen-
stone, and all that diligence and gen
ius he brought to the adornment OF that
one treasured spot. Hegave $500 for
it; he sold it for 1900, And yet l
am to tell you today of richer gar
den than any have mentioned. 1t IS
the garden spoken of in my text, the
garden of the church, which belongs
to Christ. Re bought it, he planted it,
he owns it, and he shall have it, Wal
ter Scott, in his outlay at Abotsford,
ruined his fortune. and now, IN the
crimson flowers of those gardens, you
can almost think or imagine that you
see the blood of that old mans broken
heart. The payment of the last s100,-
900 sacrificed him. But I have to tell
you that Christ's lifeand Christ's death
were the outlay of this beautiful gar
den of the church of which my text
speaks. Oh. how many Siehs and tears
and pangs and agonies! Tell me, ye
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 # the garden of the church be-
longs to Christ, certainly he has
right to walk in it. Come, then, Q
blessed Jesus, today; walk up and
down these aisles and puck what
thou wilt of sweetness for thyself.
The church, in my text, IS approprl-
ately compared to garden because It
is the place of choice flowers, of select
fruits and of thorough irrigation. That
would be strange garden in which
there were no flowers. If nowhere
else, they would be along the borders
or at the gateway. The holiest taste
will dictate soCpething, if it be only
the old fashioned hollyhock or dahlia
or dafodil, but if there be larger
means then you will find the Mexican
cactus and blazing azalea and cluster
ing oleander. Well, now, Christ
comes to his garden, and he plants
there some Of the brightests spirits that
ever fowered upon the world. Some
OF them are violets, inconspicuous, 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 bright
ened faces of the invalid and the sprig
of geranium on the stand and the new
window curtains keeping out the glare
of the sunlight. They are perhaps
more like the ranunculus, creeping
sweetly along amid the thorns and
briers of life, giving kiss for sting, and
many man who has had in his way
some great black rock of trouble has
found that they have covered it all
over with fowery jasmine, running
in and out amid the crevices. These
flowers in Christ's garden are not, like
the sundower, gaudy in the light, but
wherever darkness hovers over soul
that needs to be comforted there they
stand, night blooming cereuses.
But in Christ's garden there are
plants that may be better compared
to the Mexican cactus-thorns without,
loyeliness within, men with sharp
points of character. They wound al
most every one that touches them.
They are hard to handle. Men pro-
nounce them nothing but thorns, but
Christ loves them Notwithstanding all
their sharpness. Many a man has had
a very hard ground to cultivate, and
it has only been through severe trial