Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1900-09-07

cornerstone of every prison reform asso-
citation that has ever been organized.
The church of Christ is a glorious garden,
and it is full of fruit | know there is
some poor fruit in it. | 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
eaten leaves in Fontainebleau and insects
that sting in the fairy groves OF the
Champs 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 not to be there,
but let us be frank and admit the TACT
that there are hundreds and thousands OF
glorious Christian men and women-hoIy,
blessed, useful cOnsecrated and triumph.
ant. There is no grander collection in all
the earth than the collection of Christians.
There are Christian men in every church
whose religion is not matter OF psalm
singing and churchgoing. Tomorrow
morning that religion will keep them just
as consistent and consecrated III their
worldly occupation as it ever kept them
at the communion table. There are WON.
en- with us to-day OF higher type OF
character than Mary of Bethany. They
not only sit at the feet of Christi but they
60 out into the kitchen to help Martha
in her work, that she may sit there too.
There is woman who has a drunken hus.
band, who has exhibited more faith and
patience and courage than Ridley in the
fire. He was consumed in twenty min.
utes Hers has been a twenty years
martyrdom. Wonder is a man who has
been fifteen 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
paddles in the crystal river.
/ have not told you of the better tree
in this garden and of the better fruit. 1t
was planted just outside Jerusalem
good while ago. When that tree was
planted, it was so split and bruised and
barked men said nothing would ever grow
upon it, but no sooner had that tree been
planted than it budded and blossomed
and fruited, and the soldiers spears were
only the clubs that struck down that
fruit, and it fell into the lap of the ma.
tions, and the men began to pick it up and
eat 1T, and they found in it an antidote to
all thirst, to all poison, to all sin, TO all
death, the smallest cluster larger than
the famous one of Eshcol, which two men
carried on a staff between them. If the
one apple in Eden killed the race, this
one cluster of mercy shall restore.
Again, the church in my text is appro-
priately called garden because it is
thoroughly irrigated. No garden could
prosper long without plenty of water.
the best. From many of your households
tho bcct ono &c oono Won know that che
was too good for this world. She was the
gentlest in her ways, the deepest i'll her
affection, and when at last the sickness
came you had no faith in medicines You
knew that the hour of parting had come,
and when, through the rich grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ, you surrendered that
treasure you said: Lord Jesus take tit
is the best we have Take it. Thou art
worthy" The others i'll 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 fmmor-
tails will not make them forget you. There
out from your homes. l throw a kiss to
the sweet darlings. They are all well now
in the palace. The crippled child has a
sound foot now A little lame child says,
Ma, will l be lame in heaven" mo, 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 l be blind in heav
en-" mo, my dear, you won't be blind
in heaven" They are all well there.
l notice that the fine gardens some
times have high fences around them, and
L cannot get in. 1t is so with a kings
garden. The only glimpse you ever get of
in his splendid carriage.
1t is not SO with this garden, this
Kings garden. | throw wide open the
monopoly in religion. Whosoever will,
may. Choose now between desert and |
a 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 us laugh now |
when we read his poems, but he could |
not make his own heart laugh. While in |
the midst of his festivities he confronted |
a looking glass, and he saw himself and |
said: There, that is true. | look just |
as / am, done up in body, mind and |
purse" So it was of Shenstone, of whose
garden [ told you at the beginning of my |
sermon. He sat down amid those bowers |
and said 81 have lost my road to hap:
Diness. | am angry and envious and
frantic and despise everything around me
ust as it becomes a mailman to do"
o We weary souls, come into Christ's
garden to-day and pluck little hearts
,ase! Christ is the only rest and the only
pardon for perturbed spirit. Do you
81 III, hac o1p 81 |
You men and women who have been wait
ng year after year for some good oppor-
unity in which to accept Christ, but
lave postponed it five, ten, twenty, thirty
'ears-do you not feel as if now your hour
# salvation had come? 0 man, what
rudge hast thou against thy poor soul
hat thou wilt not let it be saved?
Some years ago vessel struck on the
ocks. They had only one lifeboat. In
hat lifeboat the passengers and crew
we're getting ashore. The vessel had
and was sinking deeper and
eeper, and that one boat could not take
he passengers very swiftly A little girl
TODD on the deck waiting for her turn
0 get into the boat. The boat came and
'ent, came and went, but her turn did
OF seem to come After awhile she could
'ait no longer, and she leaped on the
lg to the boatman: "Save me next! Save
lie next" Oh, how many have gone
shore into Gods mercy, and yet you are
inging to the wreck of sin. Others have
,cepted the pardon of Christ, but you
re in peril. Why not this moment make
rush for your immortal rescue, crying
ntil Jesus shall hear you and heaven and
nth ring with the cry: Save me next
I'VE me next" Now is the day Of saliva
on! Now! Now!