Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1900-09-08
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AON l0AA Ant HhiOt ag
"Oh," he said. ~ have such a violent
temper. Yesterday morning I was cross
Ing very early at the Jersey City ferry,
and 1 saw u milkman pour a large guam
THY OF water into the milk can, and !
said to him, / think that will do And
he insulted me, and knocked him down.
Do you think l ought to Join the
church, Nevertheless that very same
man who was SO harsh in his behavior
loved Christ and could not speak Of
sacred things without tears OF emotion
and affection. Thorns without, sweet
ness within, the best specimen of Next
can cactus | ever saw.
There are others planted In Christ's
garden who are always radiant, always
Impressive. more like the rose of deep
hue that We occasionally find called
giants OF battle" the Martin Luthers,
ST. Pauls, Chrysostoms, Wycliffes, Lati-
mers and Samuel RutheFfOrds. What
in other men is a spark in them is
conhagration. When they sweat, they
sweat great drops Of blood. When they
pray, their prayer takes FIRE. When they
preach, it is Pentecost. When they
fight. 1t is Thermopylse, When they
die, IL is msrtyrdom. You find great
many roses in the gardens, but only a
few giants of battle" Men say, why
don't you have more OF them In the
church, | say, why don't you have
in the world more Humboldts and Wei
lingtons?' God gives to some ten tai
ents, TO others one.
In this garden of the church which
Christ has planted also find the snow
drops, beautiful but cold looking, seem
ingly another phase OF winter | mean
those Christians who are precise In their
tastes, unimpassioned. pure as snow
drops and as cold. They never shed any
tears, they never get excited, they never
say anything rashly, they never do any
thing precipitately. Their pulses never
fiutter their nerves never twitch, their
Indignation never boils over. They live
longer than most people, but their life is
in II minor key They never run up to
&C. above the 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
snowdr0ps
Most Beautiful Flower.
But | have not told you of the most
beautiful flower in all this garden spoken
of in the text. If you see II century
plant. your emotions are started You
say, why. this flower has been n hun
dred years gathering up for one bloom,
and it will be Il hundred years more be
fore other petals will come out" But
have to tell you of plant that was
gathering up from all eternity and that
1900 years ago put forth its bloom never
to wither. Ii is the passion plant Of the
cross. Prophets foretold 1t, Bethlehem
shepherds looked upon it in the bud, the
rocks shook at its bursting and the dead
got up in their winding sheets to see its
full bloom. 1t is crimson flower
blood at the roots, blood OH the branches
blood on the leaves. Its perfume is tC
fill all the nations. Its breath is heaven
Come, oh. winds from the north anC
winds from the south and winds from
the east and winds from the west and
bear to all the earth the sweet smelling
SAVIOR of Christ, my Lord
His worth if all the nations knew,
Sure the whole earth would love him too
Again, the church may be appropriate
ly compared to the garden. because il is
a place of fruits. That would be a
strange garden which had in it no Der
ries, no plums or peaches or apricots.
The c0arser 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 a great
many beautiful things-paticnce charity.
generosity, integrity. But he intends the
choicest fruits to be in the garden. and
if they are not there then shame on the
church. Religion is not n mere Towering
sentimentality. 1t is practical life
giving, heathful fruit, not posies, but
apples.
oh" says somebody. "T don't see
what your garden of the church has
yielded" Where did your asylums come
from? And your hospitals? And your
institutions of mercyf Christ planted
every one Of them; he planted them in
his garden. When Christ gave sight to
Bartimeus. he laid the corner stone Of
every blind asylum that has ever been
built. When Christ soothed the dcmoniac
OF Galilcr 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 walk"
he laid the corner stone of every hos
pital the world has ever seen When
Christ said, II was in prison and ye Wis
tied me-" he laid the corner stone Of ev-
cry prison reform association that has
ever been organized. The Church Of
Christ is a glorious garden, and it is fun
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 10
be uproolcd. but are you going 10 destroy
the whole garden because Of little
cnarled fruit? Yon will find worm eaten
leaves in FOniaincblcau aud insects that
sting IN the fairy groves Of the Champs
EiysecS. You do not tear down and de-
stroy the whole garden because there
are few specimens Of gnarlcd fruit,
/ admit there are men and women in
the church who ought not TO he there,
but let rs be just as frank and admit
the fact that there are hundreds and
I tau~audV and tens OF thousands Of rIori-