Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1896-04-30
THE GARDEN OF GOD.
REV. DR. TALMAeE BREACHES A SEA.
soNAeLe SERMON.
He Compares the Church to y Garden He.
cause 1t IL the Place of Choice Flowers,
Select Fruits and of Thorough Irriga-
tion-An Invitation to Enter.

cause 1t Is the Place of Choice FIowers
Select Fruits and of Thorough Irriga-
tion-An Invitation to Enter.
WASHINGTON, April 26.-As the parks In
Washington are abloom with hyacinths,
and tho gardens are being made the smile
dominant In this subject is very suggest
i've and practical. DR.. Talmage's text was
Isaiah lviii, II, "Thou shalt be like wa.
tered garden"
Tho Bible Is n great poem. Ro have In
It faultless rhythm, and bold imagery, and
startling antithesis, and rapturous lyric,
and sweet pastoral, and instructive nara
tive, and devotional psalm-thought OK
pressed in style more solemn than that of
Montgomery, moro bold than that Of Mil
ton, moro terrible than that of Dante
more natural than that of Wordsworth
more impassioned than that Of Pollock,
more tender than that of Cowper, more
weird than that Of Sponsor.
This great poem brings all the gon1s of
the earth into its coronet, and it weaves
the flames of judgments into it's gnrands
and pours eternal harmonics in its rhythm.
Everything this book touches 1t makes
beautiful, from the plain stones Of the
summer thrashing floor to the daughters
of Major filling the trough for the camels
from tho fish pools Of Heshbon up to the
psalnist praising God with the diapason
of storm and whirlwind and Jobs imagery
of Orion, Arcturus and tho Pleiadcs.
A Beautiful Garden.
My text leads us into n scone of summer
redolenco The world has had great
many beautiful gardens. Charlemagne
slded to the glory Of his reign by decree
ing that they DO established all through
the realm, deciding oven the names of
the flowers to DO planted there. Horny ",
at Montpelier, established gardens of be-
witching beauty and luxurinncc, gather
ing into them Alpine, Pyrenesn and
French plants. One Of the sweetest spots
on earth was the garden of Shenstono, the
poet His writings have made but little i'm.
preston on the world, but his garden, 1.-THE
Leasowes," will DO immortal. To the nat
ural 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 crown
ing. Oak and yew and hazel put forth
their richest foliage. There was no life
more diligont, no soul more ingenious,
than that Of Shenstone, and all that dill
gence and genius he brought to the adorn
ment Of that one treasured spot. He gave
/ am to tell you today Of richer garden
than any have mentioned. 1t is the gar
den spoken Of In my text, the garden of
the church, which belongs to Christ. He
bought It, he planted 1t, he owns 1t, and
he shall have 1t. Walter Scott, In his out
lay at Abbotsford, ruined his fortune, and
now, In the crimson flowers Of those gar
dens, you can almost think or imagine that
you see the blood of that old mans broken
heart. The payment Of the last 4l00,0 900
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, 20 women who saw him
hang! Tell me, 20 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 tho garden Of the church belongs to
Christ, certainly no has 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 appropriately
compared to q garden because 1t Is the
place of choice flowers, of select fruits and
of thorough irrigation. That would BIO q
strange garden In which there were no
flowers. If nowhere else, they would be
along the borders or at the gateway. The
bomeliest taste will dictate something, If
1t be only the old fashioned hollyhook or
dahlia or daffodil, but II 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 lowered upon
the world. Some Of them are violets, In
conspicuous, but sweet rs 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 gerani-
UNI on the stand and the now window cur
tains keeping out the glare Of the sunlight.
They are perhaps more like the ranuncu
lus, creeping sweebly along amid the
thorns and briers of life, giving kiss for
sting, and many q mnn who has had in
his way some great black rock of trouble
has found that they have covered it all
over with flowery jasmine, running in and
out amid tho crevioes. These flowers In
Christ's garden are not, like the sun1ower,
gnudy In the light, but wherever dark ness
hovers over soul that needs to be COM
forted there they stand, night blooming
cereuses
But in Christ garden there are plants
that may be better compared to the Mexi-
can cactus-thorns without loveliness
within, men with sharp points Of char
acter. They wound almost every ono that
touches them. They are hard to handle.
Men pronounce them nothing but thorns,
but Christ loves them notwithstanding all
their sharpnesses. Many man has had a
very hard ground to cultivate, and 1t has
only been through severe trial no has raised
even the smallest crop of grace. A very
harsh minister was talking to very placid
elder, and the placid elder said to the harsh
minister, doctor, do wish you would
control your temper" "Ah," said the
minister to the elder, ~ control more
temper in FIVE minutes than you do in five
years"
Thorns In the Garden.
II IL harder for some mon to do right
than for other men to do right. The grace
that would elevate you to the seventh
heaven might not keep your brother from
knocking q man down. 1 had friend
who came to me and said, 81 dare not join
the church." said, "WhyP" "Oh," he
said, ~ have such violent temper Yes
terday morning was crossing very early
at the Jersey City ferry, and I saw milk
man pour a large quantity Of water into
the milk can, and l said to him, Il think
that will do and no insulted me, and ]
knocked him down. Do you think ough,
to join the ohuroh?' Nevertheless thai
very same man. who was so harsh In hi,