The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1900-09-19
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON .
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE Blythe NOTED
DIVINE,
Subject The Garden OF the KinG-Chriat
the Founder and Gardener-The Flow
ers and Fruits OF Religious Devotion
The Beauty of Right Living.
[Copyright lgUU.l


- WASHINGTON, D. C.-This sermon DR.
Talmage sends from halting place in
his journey through the valleys of Swttz
erland. 1t seems to have been prepared
amid the bloom and aroma of a garden
midsummer. The text is Song of Solo
mon v, !; 'T am come into my garden"
The Bible is great poem. We have in
it faultless rhythm and bold imagery and
startling anthithesis and rapturous lyric
and sweet pastoral and instructive nara.
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,
more weird than that of Spenser. This
great poem brings all the gems of the
earth into it's coronet, and it weaves the
flames of judgment into its garlands and
pours eternal harmonies in its rhythm.
/ Everything this book touches it makes
beanviful, from the plain stones of the
summer thrashing floor to 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
agery of Orion, Arcturus and the Pleiades.
My text leads us into scene of sum-
mer redolence. The world has had a
great many beautiful gardens. Charlie
magne added to the glory of his reign by
decreeiug 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-
reneau and French plants. One of the
sweetest spots on earth was the garden OF
Shenstone, the poet. His writings have
but Lis 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 crowning. Oak
and yew and hazel put forth their richest
foliage. There was no life more diligent:
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 S3O0 for it;
he sold it for Ell 900. And yet l am to
tell you to-day of richer garden than
spoken of in my text, the garden of the
church, which belongs to Christ. for my
| text says so. He bought it, He planted it,
| He owns it, and He shall have it.
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 thai old mans broken heart.
| The payment of the last 100000 sacri-
feed him. But L have to tell you that
Christ's love and Christ's death were the
outlay of this beautiful garden. of the
church, of which my text speaks. Oh.
L. ~, Nd foo opd
agonies! Tell me, ye women who saw
| Him hang! Tell me. we executioners who
lifted Him and let Him down! Tell 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 a right to walk in it. Come, then.
o blessed Jesus, to-day; walk up and
down these aisles, and pluck what Thou
wilt of sweetness for Thyself! T''
The church, in my text, is appropriately
compared to garden, because it is a
place of choice flowers, of select fruits
and of thorough. irrigation. T., :.
| That would be a strange garden IN
which there were no flowers. If nowhere
else, they would be along the borders or
at the gateway. The homeliest taste will
dictate something, if it be only the old
fashioned holyhock or dahlia or daffodil,
but if there be larger means, then you
will find the Mexican cactus and blazing
azalea and clustering oleander. Well,
now, Christ comes to His Garden, and He
plants there some of the brightest spirits
that ever Powered 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
| L. go loon ~, N{ba hr;ohfop faro 0f the
invalid and the sprig of geranium 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 in his way
some great black rock Of trouble has
found that they have covered it all over
with flo very 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
night blooming cereuses. But in Christ s
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 to handle. Men
pronounce them nothing but thorns, but
Christ loves them notwithstanding all
their sharpnesses. Many a man has had
4 very hard ground to cultivate, and it
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, I do
wish you would control your temper,
"Ah," said the minister to the elder. Il
control more temper in five minutes than
you do in five years" 1t is harder for
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 your brother from knocking man
! down. had friend who came to me
and said; 81 dare not join the CHURCH"
such violent temper. Yesterday morn
ing I was crossing very early at the Jersey
large quantity of water into the milk can
and I said to him: I think that will do,
and he insulted me and knocked him
down. Do you think I ought to join the
church," Nevertheless that very same
man, who was so harsh in his behavior
loved Christ, and could not speak of sa
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's
garden who are always radiant, alway:
impressive-more like the roses Of deer
hue that we occasionally find called
"giants of battle;" the Martin Luthers
St. Pauls, Chrysostoms. Wyclifes. Lati
mers and Samuel Rutherfords. What II
other men is a spark in them is a conha
grafton. When they sweat, they sweat