The Brinkley argus. (Brinkley, Ark.) 1883-current, 1896-05-07


NEVERTHELESS, that very same man. who
Ma 20 harsh in his behavior, loved
Christ, and could not speak Of sacred
thines without tears Of emotion and
aERoction. Thorns without, sweetness
within the best specimen of the Mex
lean cactus ever saw.
There are others planted in Christ's
garden who are always radiant, al
ways imprcssive--more like the roses
OF deep hue that we occasionally find,
called ''Giants Of Battle" the Martin
Luthers, St Pauls, Chrysostoms, Wick
liffcs, Latimers and Samuel Ruther-
| fs,rds. What in other men is q spark
| il them Is . confiagration. When
they sweat, they sweat great drops of
blood. When they pray, their prayer
takes fire. When they preach, 1t is a
| Pentecost. When they fight, 1t is q
Thermopyl@. When they die, it is q
martyrdom. You find q great many
roses in the gardens, but only few
"Ginnts of the Battle" Men say:
why don't you have more of them in
the church?' say: "Why don't you
| have in the world more Humboldcs and
Wellingtons?' God gives to some ten
| talents, TO another one.
In this garden of the church which
Christ has planted also find the snow
drops, beautiful, but cold-looking,
seemingly another phase OF winter. l
mean those Christians who are precise
| in their tastes, unimpassioned, pure as
snowdrops 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 futter, their nerves never
| witch, their indignation never boils
over. They live longer than most peo-
| pie, but their 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 must 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. If you see a
century plant your emotions are start
cd. You say: Why, this flower has
been hundred years gathering up for
one bloom, and 1t will be a hundred
years moro before other petals will
como 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
/ withcr. 1t is the passion plant of the
Cross! Prophets foretold it; Bethlehem
shepherds looked upon it In the bud;
rocks shook at its bursting, and the
dead got up in their winding sheets to
SEQ its full bloom. It is crimson
blood at the roots, blood on
the branches, blood on all the leaves.
Its perfume is to fill all the nations.
It's breath is in Heaven. Come,
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 0.
Christ, my Lordl
4 His worth II all the nations knew,
Surs the whole earth would love Him. too.
Religion Is not mere senti mentali
ty; it is practical, life -giving, health
full fruit-not posies, but apples. ''Oh,
says somebody, II don't see what YOU
garden of the church has yielded" II
reply, ask where did your asyluml
come from? and your hospitals2 ant
your institutions of mercy? Chris
planted every one of them; He planted
them in His garden. When Christ gays
sight to Rartimeus He laid the corner
stone to every blind asylum that hal
4 eyer been built. When Christ soothet
n tfres He.nc,ssisss "a essylaos; I'd LAID ~
corner stone of every lunatic asylum
that has ever been established. Whel
Christ said to the sick man, take u
thy bed and walk" He laid the corne
stone Of every hospital the world ha
ever SEEN When Christ said, II wa
in prison and We visited me-" He lai
the corner stone of every prison reforr
association that has ever been organ
lied. The church of Christ is gle
rious garden, and it is full of fruit.
There are Christian men in this hous
whose religion is not a matter OF psalm
singing and church-going. To-morrov
morning that religion will keep thel
just as consistent and consecrated
their worldly occupation as itever keI
them at the communion table. Their
are women here to-day OF a higher tyr
of character than Mary of Bethany
They not only sit at the feet of Chris
but they go out into the kitchen I
help Martha in her work that she ma
J sit there, too. There is woman WI
has a drunkard husband, who has e;
hibited more faith and patience an
courage than Ridley in the fire. i
L Cn Yv,iv1
has been 20 years martyrdom. Yol
, der is a man who has been Is years G
his back, unable to feed himself, y.
calm and peaceful as though he. lay {
one of the green banks of Heave
watching the oarsmen dip their pa
die in the crystal river! Why, it seen
to me this moment as if st. Pa
threw to us pomologists catalog,
J OF the fruits growing in this gree
garden of Christ--love, Joy, peac
patience, charity, brothcrly kindnes
gentleness, mercy; glorious frui
enough to fill all the baskets of ear
J, and Heaven.
Again, the Church in my text is a
propriately called a, garden, because
: Is thoroughly irrigated. No gard'
2 could prosper long without plenty
. water. have seen garden in t.
! midst of desert, yet blooming al
> luxuriant. All around us was dear
and baYrenness; but there were pipe
. aqueducts, reaching from this gard
0 up TO the mountains. and throui
J, these aqueducts the water came streal
p ing down and tossing up into beautif
/ fountains, until every root and leaf al
!. flower was saturated. That is Ii