Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1900-10-12

Religion is not mere noWerlhg SEN
timentality. 1t is practical, life
giving, healthful fruit, not posies, but
apples.
"Oh," says somebody, II don't see
what your garden of the church has
yielded" Where did your asylums
come from? And your hospitals?
And your institutions of mercy?
Christ planted ewry one of them;
He planted them in His garden. When
Christ gave sight to Bartimeus, He
laid the cornerstone of every blind
asylum that has ever been built.
When Christ soothed the demoniac
of Galilee, He laid the cornerstone 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 cornerstone
of every hospital the world has ever
seen. When Christ said: 81 was in
prison and we visited me-" He laid the
cornerstone of every prison reform
association that has ever been or
ganized. The church of Christ is n
glorious garden, and it is full Of fruit.
l know there is some poor fruit in 1t.
know there are some weeds that
ought to be thrown over the fence.
know there are some crap apple
trees that ought to be cut down. l
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 few specimens of gnarled
fruit.
/ admit there are men and women
in the church who ought not to be
there, but let us be just as frank and
admit the fact that there are hun
dreds and thousands and tens of thou
sands of glorious Christian men and
women-holy, blessed, useful, conse-
Grated and triumphant. 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 a mat
ter of psalm singing and church 60
ing. Tomorrow morning that reli-
gion will keep them just as consist
ent and consecrated in their worldly
occupation as 1t ever kept them at
the communion table. There are
women with us to-day of higher
type of character than Mary of Beth
any. They not only sit at the feet
of Christ, but they go out into the
kitchen to help Martha in her work
that she may sit there, too. There
is a woman who has n drunken hus.
band who has exhibited more faith
and patience and courage than Rid
ley in the fire. lie was consumed in
20 minutes. Hers has been 20-years
martyrdom. Yonder is a man who
has been Is years on his back, unable
to feed himself, yet calm and peace
full as though he lay on one of the
green banks of Heaven, watching the
oarsmen dip their paddles in the crys
tai river! Why, 1t seems to me thi,
moment as If st. Paul threw to us
pomologist's catalogue Of the fruits
. growing in this great garden Of
Christ-love, joy, peace, patience
character, brotherly kindness, gentle
ness, mercy; glorious fruit, enough tc
fill all the baskets of earth ant
Heaven.
. I have not told you of the better
tree in this garden and Of the better
} fruit. 1t was planted just outsid,
Jerusalem a good while ago. Wher
that tree was planted, it was so spill
and bruised and barked men sale
t nothing would ever grow upon it, bu
! no sooner had that tree been planted
] than it budded and blossomed ant
! fruited, and the soldiers spears were
l only the clubs that struck down tha
! fruit, and it fell into the lap of tn,
nations, and men began to pick it VI
e and eat it, and they found in it al
e antidote to all thirst, to all poison
e to all sin, to all death; the smalles
i, cluster larger than the famous on
i Of Eshcol, which two men carried OF
t staff between them. If the on
! apple in Eden killed the race, this on
cluster of mercy shall restore.
Again, the church in my text 1
appropriately called garden becaus
: it is thoroughly irrigated. No gar
den could prosper long without plen
ty Of water. | have seen gardel
in the midst of a desert, yet bloom
ing and luxuriant. All around wa
dearth and barrenness, but Their
3 were pipes, aqueducts, reaching fron
this garden up to the mountains
and through these aqueducts the wa
ter came streaming down and toss
: ing up into beautiful fountains unit
I every root and leaf and flower wa
n saturated. That is like the church
n The church is garden in the mijs
Oh u RGtdb dtStlU VI OH dnU
d but it is well irrigated, for "our eye
k are unto the hills from whence COR
P eth our help" From the mountain
u of Gods strength there flow dow
d rivers of gladness. "There is a rive
), the stream whereof shall make ga
IS the city of our God" Preaching TIL
IS Gospel is one of the aqueducts. TIL
e Bible is another. Baptism and tn
q Lords Supper are aqueducts. Waite
n to slake the thirst, water to wash tn
n unclean, water tossed high up in tn
t, light of the Sun of Righteousness
showing rs the rainbow around tn
throne. Oh, was there ever a garde
o. so thoroughly irrigated? You kno
}. that the beauty of Versailles an
e. Chatsworth depends very much upo
It the great supply Of water. I cam
4 - 4ba Iaffar n1ona Chofswortb ~,