The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1896-06-06

grace that would elevate You 10 the
seventh heave:a might not keep your
brother from knocking a man doWn;
l had friend who came tx ms and
SAID, II dare not 5c:h The church."
said: "WsSP'' .'Oh," he said, 81 have
svah violent temper. Yesterday
morning l was crossing very early at
the Jersey City ferry, and | saw a hiilh.
man pour a large quantity OF water
into the milk eah, and / said to him:
L think that will do, and he insulted
the and knocked him down. Ft you
think / ought to ioin the church,
Nevertheless, tnat very same man, who
YVES So harsh in his behavior, loved
Christ, and could not speak Of sacred
things without teers ~ einotion and
affection, ThefHs without, sweetness
within the best specimen of the Mex
.Gan cactus ever saw.
There are others planted In christs
garden who are always radiant, al
ways impressive-inore like The roses
of deep hue that we occasionally find,
called "Giaats Of Battle" the Martin
tsuthefs, st. Pauls, Chrysosto..,s, Wick
liffes, LatinheFs and Samuel Ruther-
fords What in other men is spark
in them is confiagration. When
they sweat, they sweat great drops Of
blood. When they pray, their prayer
takes fire. When they preach, it is
rentecost,, When .aey fight, it is
TherimopSlas. When they die, it is
snaptyrdom. You find a great many
roses in the gardens, but only & lew
"Giants of the t,attia.' Men say:
"Why dosa You have more of them in
the church," I say: why don't you
have in the world more Humbold,s and
Wellingtons?" God gives to SOME ten
talents, 20 another one.
In this garden Of tie church which
Christ has planted also find the snow
DROPS, Beautiful, but cold-lool1ing,
Seemingly another phase OF winter. !
mean chose Christians who are precise
in their tastes, uHimpassioned, pure as
snewdrcBs and as cold. They never
shed any tears, they never get excited,
they never say anything rashly, they
never do anything preciPitately. Their
pulses never Aattef, their nerves never
twiteh, their Indignation never boiis
over They live longer than most peo-
pie, But shelf life is in a minor key.
They never run up to &C. above the
staff. In their music of life they have
no staccato passages. Christ planted
them in the church, and they ifiust BE
of some service Or they would not be
there; snowdrops, always snowdrops
But have not told you of the most
beautiful flower of all this garden
spoken of in the text. II you see
century plant your emotions are start
ed. You say: why, this flower has
been hundred years gathering up for
one bloom, and it will be hundred
YEATS more before other petals will
come out" But / have to tell you
of a plant that was gathering
up from all eternity, and that 1000
years ago put forth its bloom never to
wither. 1t is the passion plant of the
Cross! Prophets foretold it; Bethlehem
shepherds looked upon it in the bud;
rocks shook ut it's bursting, and the
dead got up In their winding=sheets to
see its full bloom. 1t is a crimson
fiower-blood at the roots, Blood on
the branches, blood on all the leaves.
It's perfume is to fill all the nations.
It's breath is in Heaven. Come, q
winds from the north and winds from
the south and winds from the east and
winds from the west, and bear to all
the earth the understanding SAVIOR Of
Christ, my Lord'
HIS worth IL all the nations knew,
Surs the whole earth would love Him. too.
Again, the Church in my text is ap
propriately called garden, because 4
Is thoroughly irrigated. No garden
could prosper long without plenty o
water. l have seen garden in TIT
midst of a desert, yet blooming ant
luxuriant. All around us was deartl
and bar renness; but there were pipes
aqueducts, reaching from this gardel
up to the mountains, and through
these auueducts the water came stream
ing down and tossing up into beautiful
fountains, until every root and leaf an
flower was saturated. That is lik
the church. The church is garden i
the midst of a great desert of sin an
suffering; but it is well irrigated; 10
"our eyes are unto the hills fror
whence cometh our help" From tn
mountains of Gods strength there fio'
down rivers of gladness. There is
|, river the stream whereof shall max
glad the city of our Cod" Preachin
the Gospel is one of the aqueduct
, The Bible is another. Baptism and tn
! Lords Supper are aaueducts. Watt
, to Stake the thirst, water to wash tn
unciean, water tossed high up in tn
light of the sun of Righteousness, shov
ing us the rainbow around the thron
Oh. was there ever garden so tho
| oughly irrigated! You know that II
beauty of Versailles and Chatswor'
= depends very much upon the gre'
! supply of water. l came to the latt
place, Chatsworth, one day who
strangers are not to be admitted; bu
? by an inducement which alwa.
seemed as potent with an Englishma
as with an American, l got in, al
$ then the garnener went far abo
the stairs of stone and turned
i the water. / saw it gleam1
n on the dry pavement. coming dov
= from step to step, until it came so ne
e l could hear the musical rush, and
Z over the high, broad stairs it car
il foaming, flashing, roaring down, un
v sunlight and wave in gleesome wres'
tumbled at my feet So it is with t
a church of God Everything com
q from above; pardon from above, J