The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1896-05-06

night. The Lord shall preserve thee
from all evil. He will preserve thy soul
Courage, o troubled spirit!"
PIuckin2 the Flowers.
Then I see Jesus going up another
garden path, and see great excitement
among the leaves, and hasten up that
garden path to see what Jesus is doing
there, and 10! he is breaking off flowers
sharp and clean from the stem, and !
say, "Stop, Jesus; don't kill those beau
tiful flowers. He turns to me and says:
II have come into my garden to gather
lilies and I mean to take these up to a
higher terrace, for the garden around
my palace, and there will plant them,
and in better soil and in better air they
shall put forth brighter leaves and sweet
er redolence, and no frost shall touch
them forever And looked up into his
face and said: "Well, it is his garden,
and he has right to do what he will
with it. Thy will be done!" the hardest
prayer ever man made.
It has seemed as if Jesus Christ took
the best; from many Of your households
the best one is gone. You know that she
was too good for this world; she was
the gentlest in her ways, the deepest in
her affections, and when ct last the sick
ness came you had no faith IN medicines.
You knew that the hour Of parting had
come, and vixen, through the rich grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ, you surrender
ed that treasure you said: Lord Jesus,
take it. It is the best we have; take it.
Thou art worthy" The others in the
household may have been Of grosser
mold She was Of the finest.
The heaven of your little ones will
not be fairly begun until you get there.
All the kindnesses shown them by i'm
mortals will not make them forget you.
There they are, the radiant throngs that
went out from your homes I throw a
kiss to the sweet darlings. They are all
well now in the palace. The crippled
child has O sound foot now. A little
lame child says, 'Ma, will I be lame in
heaven?" "No, my darling; you won't
be lame in heaven" A little sick child
says, "Ma, will be sick in heaven?"
"No, my dear; you won't be sick in
heaven A little blind child says,
"Ma, will I be blind in heaven?' "No,
my dear; you won't be blind in heaven
They are all well there. :"
notice that the fine gardens some
times have high fences around them and
you cannot get in. 1t is so with kings
garden. The only glimpse you ever get
Of such garden is when the king rides
out In his splendid carriage. 1t is not 80
with this garden, this Kings garden. l
throw wide open the gato and tell you
ell to como in. No monopoly in religion.
Whosoever will, may. Choose now be-
tween desert and garden. Many Of
you have tried the garden Of this worlds
delight. You have found it has been
chagrin. So it was with Theodore Hook
He made all the world laugh. He makes
IS laugh now when we read his poems,
but he could not make his own heart
laugh. While in the midst Of his fes-
tivitics he confronted looking glass,
and he saw himself and said: "There,
that is true. I look just as I am-dcne
up in body, mind and purse. " So it was
of Shenstone, Of whose garden I told
you at the beginning Of my sermon. He
sat down amid those bowers and said:
II have lost my road to happiness l
am angry and envious and frantic, and
tlespisc everything around me, just as it
becomes a madman to do!'
An Invitation.
o ye weary souls, como into Christ's
garden today and pluck little hearts-
ease. Christ is the only rest and the
only pardon for a perturbed spirit. Do
you not think your chance has almost
come? You men and women who have
been waiting year after year for some
good opportunity in which to accept
Christ, but have postponed it 8, 10, 20,
80 years-do you not feel as if now your
hour of deliverance and pardon and sal
walton had come? 0 man, what grudgs
hast thou against thy poor soul that thou
wilt not let it he saved? feel as if sal
vation must come today in some Of your
hearts.
Some years ago q vessel struck Oh the
rocks They had only one lifeboat. In
that lifeboat the passengers and crew
were getting ashore. The vessel had
foundered and was sinking deeper and
deeper, and that cne boat could not take
the passengers very swiftly. A little girl
stood on the deck waiting for her turn
to get into the boat. The boat came and
went, came and went, but her turn did
not seem to come After awhile she
could wait no longer, and she leaped on
the taffrail and then sprang into the
sea, crying to the boatman; "Save me
next! Save me nextr' Oh, how many
have gone ashore into Gods mercy, and
yet you are clinging to the wreck Of sin!
Others have accepted the pardon ct
Christ, but ycu are in peril. Why not
this moment make a rush for your i'm
mortal rescue, crying until Jesus shall
hear you and heaven and earth ring
with the cry: "Save me next! Save me
next!' Now is the day Of salvation
Now! Now!
This Sabbath is the last for some Of
you. It is about to sail away forever.
Her bell tolls The planks thunder back
in the gangway. She shoves off. She
floats out toward the great ocean Of eter-
nifty. Wave farewell to your last chance
for heaven. "Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusa-
lem, how often would have gathered
thee as hen gathereth her brood under
her wings, and ye would not! Behold
your house is left unto you desolate. "
Invited to revcl in garden, you die IN
desert! May God Almighty, before 1t
is too late, break that infatuation.
iva iuac Gauad