St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1896-06-20

Mood whsa they Pray. their prayer
takes flre. When they preach, II y :
Pentecost When they fight. It = :
Thermopyle. When they die. Il d .
mArtyrdOm. You ind . great many
roses In the gardens. but only . few
ssGiants Of the Battle" Men say:
why don't you have moro Of them in
the church7" 1 say: why don't You
have in the world more Humboldss and
Wellingtons?" God gives to some ten
talents, 70 another one.
In this garden of the church which
Christ has planted Ialso find the snow
drops. beautiful. but coldlooking.
seemingly another phase OF winter. l
mean those Christians who are precise
in their tastes, unimpassioned, pure a.
snowdrops and rs cold. They never
shed any tears, they never get excited.
they never say anything rashly, they
never do anything precipitately. Their
pulses never dutter, their nerves never
twitch, their indignation never boils
over. They live longer than most peo-
pie, but their life is in . minor key.
They never run up to ''C' above tho
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 .
century plant your emotions are start
ed. You say: "Why, this flower has
been a hundred years gathering up for
one bloom. and it will be a hundred
years more before other petals will
come out" But I have to tell you
of q plant that was gathering
up from all eternity, and that 1900
years ago put forth its bloom never to
wither. It 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 shcets to
see its full bloom. It is crimson
fiowcr-blood at the roots, blood on
the branches, blood on all the leaves.
It's perfume is to all all the nations.
Its breath is in Heaven. Come. o
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-smclling SAVIOR OF
Christ, my Lord!
His worth II all the nations know,
Surs the whole earth would love Him. too
Again, the church may be appropri-
atcly compared to q garden, because
1t is place of fruits. That would be
strange garden which had in it no
berries. no plulns, or peaches, or april
cots. The coarscr 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 great many beautiful
things-patience. charity, generosity,
integrity; but He intends the choicest
fruits to be in the garden. md II they
are not there, then shame on the
church.
Religion IS not q Nero son timentali-
ty; it is a practical, life-giving, health
full fruit-not posies, but apples. ''Oh. !"
says somebody. II don't see what your
garden Of the church has yielded" In
reply, ask where did your .asylums
como from? and your hospitals? and
your institutions of mercy? Christ
planted every one Of them; He planted
them in His garden. When Christ gavo
sight to Bartimeus He laid the corner
stone to every blind asylum that has
ever been built. When Christ soothed
the demoniac of Galileo He laid the
corner stone of every lunatic asylum
that has ever been established. When
Christ said to the sick man, "Take up
thy bed and wdlH," He laid the corner
stone of every hospital the world has
ever seen. When Christ said, II was
in prison and We visited me-" He laid
the corner stone of every prison reform
association that has ever been organ
lied. The church of Christ Is q glo-
rious garden, and it is full of fruit.
know there is some poor fruit init.
I 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 =
little gnarled fruit? You will find
worm-caten leaves in Fontaine-
bleau, and insects that sting in
the fairy groves Of the Champs
Elyses. You do not tear
down aud destroy the whole garden
because there are few specimens of
gnarled fruit. I admit there are men
and women in the church who ought
not to be there; but let us be just as
frank and admit that there hundreds
and thousands and tens of thousands
of glorious Christian men and women
holy, blessed, useful, consecratcd and
triumphant There is no grandcr,
nobler collection in all the earth than
the collection of Christians
There IRE Christian men in this house
whose religion is not matter of psalm
singing and church-going. Tomorrow
morning that religion will keep them
Just n consistent and c0nsecrated 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 tho feet Of Christ,
but they go out into the kitchen to
help Martha in her work that she may
sit there, too. There is . woman who
has drunlxard husband, who has ex.
hibited more faith and patience and
courage than Ridley in the fire. He
was consumed IN ~ minuteA Hers
has been 20 years. martyrdom. Yon-
der Is a man who has been IS years on
his back, unable to feed himself, yet
calm and peaceful as though he lay on
one Of the green banks Of Heaven,
watching the oarsmen dip their pad
die In the crystal river! Why, it seems
to me this moment rs II st. Paul
threw to rs . pomologist's catalogue
Of the fruits growing in this great
garden Of Christ-love, joy, peace,
petieuce, charity, brotherly kindness,
gentleness, mercy; glorious fruit,
enough to fill all the baskets Of earth
and Heaven.
Again, the Church In my text il up.
propriately called garden. because il