Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1896-04-27
THE CHURCH GARDEN
REV. DR.. TALMAGE DESCRIBES ITS
MANY BEAUTIES.

He Says Christ Bought 1t, He Planted 1t
and He Owns followers 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
IMAGES text was Isaiah lviii, 1 1, ''Thou
shalt be like q watered garden.
The Bible is a 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 mere solemn than
that of Montgomery, more bold than
that of Milton, more terrible than that
of Dante, more natural than that Ct
Wordsworth, more impassioned than
that of Pollock, more tender than that
of Cowper, more weird than that of
Spenser.
This great poem brings all the gems
of the earSr into it's coronet, and it
weaves the flames of judgment into its
garlands, and pOurS eternal haImOnies
in its rhythm. Everything this book
touches it makes beautiful, from the
plain stones Of the summer thrashing
floor to the daughters Of Major filling
the trough for the camels, from the fish
pools Of Heshbon up to the psalmist
praising God with the diapason of storm
and whirlwind, and Jobs imagery of
Orion, Arcturus and the Pleiades.
The Church.
Ny text leads us into a scene of sum-
mer redolence. The world has had q
great many beautiful gardens Charlie
magne 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-
lished 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 Shenstone, the poet. His
writings have made but little impress
sion ON the world, but his garden, ''The
Leasowers, " will be immortal. 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 Shenstone, and
all that diligence and genius he brought
to the adornment of that enc treasured
spot He gave $500 for it. He sold it
for eli, 600. And yet am to tell you
Ar<J r
mentioned 1t is the garden spoken Of
in my text, the garden of the church,
which belongs to Christ He bought it,
he planted it, he owns it, and he shall
have it. Walter Scott, in his outlay at
Abbotsford, Elined his fortune, and
now, in the crimson flowers of these
gardens, you can almost think or i'm
agine that you see the blood Of that CID
mans broken heart The payment Of
the last 600, 900 sacrificed him. But
have to tell you that Christ's life and
Christ's death were the outlay Of this
beautiful garden Of the church of which
my text speaks. Oh, how many signs
and tears and pangs and agonies! Tell
me, We women who saw him hangi 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 d right to
walk in it. Come, then, O 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
w 70 n
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 homeliest taste will
dictate something, if it 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 oleander
Well, now, Christ comes to his garden,
and he plants there some of the brightest
spirits that ever Powered 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 frightened face of
the invalid, and the sprig of geranium
on the stand, and the new window cur
tains keeping out the glare Of the sun
light. They are perhaps more like the
ranunculus, creeping sweetly along amid
the thorns and briers of life, giving kiss
for sting, and many a man who has had
In his way some great black rock Of
trouble has found that they have cover
ed it all over with dowery jasmine, run
ming in and out amid the crevices. These
flowers in Christ's garden are not, like
the sunfower, gaudy in the light, but
wherever darkness hovers over a soul
70 l,r,I, G II