Owingsville outlook. [volume] (Owingsville, Ky.) 1879-192?, 1896-04-30

say: why don't you have more of
them in the church?"' ! say: why
don't you have in the world more Hum
boldts and Wcllingtons?' God gives to
some ten talents; To another one.
In the garden of the church which
Christ has planted l also find the snow
drops, beautiful, but cold-looking,
seemingly another phase of winter. |
mean those Christians who are precise
in their tastes, unimpassioncd, 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 flutter, their nerves
never twitch; their Indignation
never boils over. They live longer
than most people, but their life is in II
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 snow
| drops.
But | have not told you of the most
beautiful flower of all this garden
spoken Of in my text. IL you see CEN
fury plant your emotions are started.
You say: why. this flower has been a
hundred years gathering up for one
bloom, and il will he "A hundred years
more before other petals will come
out" But | will have to tell you of n
plant that was gathering up from all
! eternity. and that nineteen hundred
years ago put forth its bloom never to
| wither. II is the passion plant of the
Cross, Prophets foretold it; Bethle-
hem shepherds looked upon it in the
bud; the rocks shook at its bursting;
and the dead got up in their winding
| sheets to see its full bloom. 1t is a
crimson fower-blood at the roots,
blood ON the branches, blood on all the
leaves, Its perfume is to fill all the
nations Its breath is 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 sweet-smell-
ing SAVIOR of Christ, my Lord!
His worth il all the nations knew,
Sure the whole earth would love him, too
Again, the church may be appropri-
ately compared to a garden, because it
is a place of fruits. That would be a
strange garden which had in il no
berries, no plums or peaches or april
cots. The coarser fruits are planted in
the orchard or they are set out on the
sunny hillside, but the choicest fruits
are kept in the garden. So in the
world outside the church, Christ has
planted a great many beautiful things
patience, charity, generosity, integri-
| ty, but he intends the choicest fruits to
be kept in the garden, and if they are
not there, then shane on the church.
Religion is not mere sentimental
ity. 1t is practical, life-giving,
healthful fruit-not posies, but apples.
oh" said somebody, IL don't see what
your garden of the church has yield
| ed" In reply, ask where did your
| asylums come from, and your hospitals
and your institutions of mercy? Christ
planted every one of them-he planted
| them in his garden. When Christ gave
| sight to Bartimeus he laid the corner
stone to every blind asylum that has
been built. When Christ soothed the
demoniac of Galilee he laid the corner
| stone of every lunatic asylum that has
been established. When Christ said to
the sick man, Take up thy bed and
| walk" he laid the corner stone of every
hospital the world has ever seen. When
Christ said, Il was in prison and ye
| visited me-" he laid the corner stone of
every prison reform association that
has ever been organized. The Church
of Christ is glorious garden, and it is
| full of fruit
know there is some poor fruit in it.
l know there are some weeds that
| ought to be thrown over the fence.
know there are some crab-apple trees
that ought to be cut down. | know
| there are some wild grapes that ought
to be uprooted-but are you going to
| destroy the whole garden because of a
little gnarled fruit? You will find
worm eaten leaves in Fontainbleau and
insects that sting in the fairy groves of
the Champ Elysees. You do not tear
down and destroy the whole garden
because there are a few specimens of
gnarled fruit. | admit there are men
and women in the church who ought
admit the fact that in there are hun
dreds and thousands and tens of thou
sands of glorious Christian men and
| women-holy, blessed, useful, conse-
Grated and triumphant. There is no
grander, nobler collection in all the
earth than the collection of Christians.
There are Christian men in this
house whose religion is not a matter of
psalm singing or church going. To-
| morrow morning that religion will
keep them just as consistent and con-
secrated in their worldly occupation as
| it ever kept them at the communion
table. There are women here to-day
of higher type of character than Mary
of Bethany. They not only sit at the
feet of Christ, but they go out into the
kitchen to help Martha in her work,
that she may sit there, too. There is a
! woman who has n drunken husband,
who has exhibited more faith, patience
and courage than Ridley in the fire. He
was consumed in 20 minutes. Hers has
been a 20 years martyrdom. Yonder
is man who has been Is years on his
back, unable to feed himself, yet calm
anu pcdcciui as tiiouRh nc Jay On Ont
of the green banks of Heaven, watching
the oarsmen dip their paddle in the
crystal river! Why, it seems to me this
moment as il st. Paul threw to us n
pomologists catalogue, of the fruits
growing in this great garden of Christ
love, joy, peace, patience, charity,
brotherly kindness, gentleness, mercy;
glorious fruit, enough to fill all the
baskets of earth and Heaven.
Again, the church in my text is APP
propriately called a garden, because it
is thoroughly irrigated. No garden
could prosper long without plenty Of
water. l have seen n garden in the
midst of desert, yet blooming and
luxuriant. All around us was dcarth
and barrenness; but there were pipes,
aqucducts, reaching from this garden
up to the mountains, and through those
, aqueducts the water came streaming
down and tossing up into beautiful
fountains. until every root and leaf
and flower was saturated. That is like
the church. The church is garden in
the midst of a great desert of sin and
suffering; but it is well irrigated; for
''our eyes are unto the hills from
| whence cometh our help" From the
mountains of Gods strength there flow
down rivers of pladness ss'There is a