The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1900-09-07
DR. TALMAGES SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE sY THE NOTED
DIVINE.
Subject The Garden of the Kinr-christ
the Founder and Gsrdener-rhe Flow
ere and fruits of Religious Devotion
The Beauty OF Right Living.
ICorrrirhtlsonl

/ lNoINrlent lSVll
] WASHINGTON, ID. C.-This sermon DR..
his journey through the valleys of Swhz-
erland. IL seems TO have been prepared
amid the bloom and aroma OF a garden
I midsummer. The text Is Song of Solo
mon v, !; Il am come into my garden"
/ The Bible Is a great poem. We have in
il faultless rhythm and bold imagery and
1 startling anthithesis and rapturous lyric
and sweet pastoral and instructive narra-
tive and devotional psalm: thoughts ex-
pressed IN style more solemn than that
/ OF Montgomery, more bold than that
! OF Milton. more terrible than that of
Dante, more natural than that OF Words
worth, more impassioned than that of
Pollok, more tender than that of Cowper,
I more weird than that OF Spenser. This
great poem brings all the gems OF the
. earth into It's coronet, and II weaves the
flames OF Judgment into its gGrlands and
pours eternal harmonies in its rhythm.
| Everything this book touches IL makes
beautiful, from the plain stones Of the
summer thrashing floor 10 the daughters
| OF Major filling the troughs for the cam
els; from the fish pools OF Heshbon up TO
the psalmist praising God with diapason
Of storm and whirlwind, and jobs inn
agery of Orion, Areturus and the Pleiades.
My text leads us into a scene of sum
mer redoence. The world has had a
. I
magne added to the glory OF his reign hv
decreeing that they be established all
through the realm-deciding even the
names OF the flowers TO be planted there.
Henry ", at Montpelier established
gardens Of bewitching beauty and luxu-
rance, gathering into them Alpine Py-
renean and French plants. One of the
sweetest spots on earth was the garden of
Shenstone, the poet. His writings have
made but little impression on the world.
but his garden, The Leasowes," will be
immortal. To the natural advantages 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 crownng. Oak
and yew and hazel put forth their richest
foliage. There was no life more dllgent
no soul more ingenious than that OF
Shenstone, and all that diligence and ge-
Mus he brought TO the adornment of that
one treasured spot He gave $500 for it;
he sold il for fl7.0 And vet | am 20
tell YOU to-day OF a richer garden than
any | have mentioned. IL is the garden
spoken of in my text, the garden of the
church, which belongs 70 Christ. for my
text says so. He bought it, lie PLANTED it,
He owns Il, and He shall have K.
Walter Scott, in his outlay at Abbots-
ford, ruined his fortune, and now, in the
crimson flowers of those gardens. you can
almost think or imagine that YOU see the
blood of thas old mans broken heart
The payment of the last 100000 sacri.
feed him. But / have TO tell you that
Chrst's love and Christ's death were the
OUTLAY of this beautiful garden of the
church. of which my text speaks Oh
how many siRhs and tears and pangs and
agonles! Tell me, We women who saw
Him bang! Tell me. We executioners who
lifted Him and let Him down. Tel me-
thou sun that didst hide We rocks that
fell! Christ loved the church and gave
Himself for it," If the garden Of the
church belongs to Christ, certainly He
has right TO walk IN It. Come, then
Q blessed Jesus, to-day: walk up and
down these aisles. and pluck what Thou
wilt OF sweetness for Thyself!
The church, in my text, is appropriately
compared to a garden, because II is a
place of choice flowers, of select fruits
and of thorough irrigation.
| That would be a strange garden in
which there were no flowers. If nowhere
else, they would be along the borders ol
at the gateway. The homeiest taste wil
dictate something, if il be only the old
fashioned hollyhock or dahlia or daffodil
but If there be larger means, then you
viii find the Mexican cactus and BLAZING
aZalea and clustering oleander. Wen
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, inconspicuous but
sweet as heaven. You have TO search and
find them. You do not see them very Of
ten. perhaps, but YOU find where they
h-ye been hv the frightened face of the
invalid and the sprig of geranlum on the
stand and the new window curtains keep
ing out the glow OF the sunlight. They
are, perhaps more like the ranunculus
creeping swiftly along amid the ,thorns
and briers of life, giving kiss for sting
and many a man who has had m his way
some great black rock of trouble has
foand that they have covered it all over
with fowery jasmine running in and out
amid the crevices.
These flowers in Christ's garden are not
like the sunhower, gaudy in the light. but
wherever darkness hovers over a soul that
needs to be comforted, there they stand
night blooming cereuses. But in Christ I
garden there are plants that may be bet
ter compared to the Mexican cactus
thorns without, loveliness within; men
with sharp points of character. They
wound almost every one that touches
them. They are hard 20 handle Mer
pronounce them nothing but thorns, but
Christ loves them notwithstanding al
their sharpnesses Many a man has had
very hard ground TO cultivate. and il
has only been through severe trial he has
raised even the smallest scrap of grace
A very harsh minister was talking to a
very pla id elder, and the placid elder
said TO the harsh minister Doctor, j dc
wish you would control your temper.
"Ah," said the minister 20 the elder u
control more temper in FIVE minutes than
you do in five years IL is harder foI
some men TO do right than for other men
TO do right. The grace that would ele
vate you to the seventh heaven might not
keep yoar brother from knocking a man
down. | had a friend who came 20 me
and said. Il dare not join the church"
said why" oh" he said, II have
such a violent temper. Yesterday morn
ing | was crossing very early at the Jersey
City ferry, and | saw a milkman pour q
large quantity of water into the milk can
and ] said to HIM i think that will do,
/ and he insulted me and ] knocked him
down. Do you think / ought 90 join the
church," Nevertheless that very sam,
man, who was so harsh in his behavior
loved Christ, and could not speak OF "a
/ cred things without tears OF emotion and
affection. Thorns without, sweetness
within-the best specimen OF Mexican
cactus ] ever saw.
There are others planted in Christ
garden who are always radiant, always
impressive-mcre like the roses OF deer
hue that we occasionally find, called
giants Of hattle;" the Martin Luthers
S. Pauls. Chrysostoms. Wyclfes Lati
mers and Samuel Rutherfords. What ~
other men is a spark IN them is a cOnha
| grafton. When they sweat. they sweat
/ great drops of blood When they pray
their prayer takes FIRE. When they pr6aci
IL y a Pentecost. When they fight. IL -
| Thermopylae When they die, u j.
martyrdom. You find a great many rose
in the gardens. but only a few giants o
battle Men say, Why. don't you have