Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1900-09-06
TALMAGE'S SERMON,
DISCOURSES ON CHRIST AND
THE CHURCH.
The Most Beautiful Flowers and the
Best of Fruit-Why the Saviour Picks
the Choicest First The Day of
Salvation.

hohsiho pioSC III JoulA
the valleys of Switzerland 1t seems
to have been prepared amid the bloom
and aroma of a garden midsummer.
The text is Song of Solomon v, /: Il
am come into my garden"
The Bible is great poem. We have
in 1t faultless rhythm and bold i'm
agery and startling antithesis and
Tapturous lyric and sweet pastoral
and instructive narrative and devo-
tional psalm; thoughts expressed in
style more solemn than that of Mont
gomery, more bold than that of Mil
ton, more terrible than that of Dante,
more natural than that of Wordsworth,
more imprisoned 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 its coronet, and it weaves the
flames of judgment into its garlands
and pours eternal harmonies in its
rhythm. Everything this book touches
it makes beautiful, from the plain
stones of the summer thrashing floor
to the daughters of Major filling the
troughs for the camels, from the fish
pools OF Heshbon up to the Psalmist
praising God with diapason of storm
and whirlwind and Jobs imagery of
Orion, Arcturus and the Pleiades.
My text leads us into scene of
summer redolence. The world has had
great many beautiful gardens.
Charlemagne added to the glory of his
reign by decreeing that they be es-
tablished all through the realm, decid-
ing even the names of the flowers to
be planted there. Henry w. at Mont
pellier established gardens of bewitch-
ing beauty and luxuriance, gathering
into them Alpine, Pyrenean and
French plants. One of the sweetest
spots on earth was the garden of Shen-
stone. the poet. His writings have
made but little impression on the
world, but his garden, the "Leasowes, ("
VIII be immortal. To the natural ad-
vantages of that place was brought the
perfection Of art. Arbor and terrace
and slope and rustic temple and reser-
voir and urn and fountain here had
their browning. 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
genius he brought to the adornment
Of that one treasured spot. He gave
$500 for it. He sold it for several
thousand. And yet / am to tell you
today of richer garden than any l
have mentioned. 1t is The garden
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 1t, and he shall
have it. Walter Scott, in his outlay
at Abbotsford, ruined his fortune, and
now, in the crimson flowers of those
gardens, you can almost think or
imagine that you see the blood of that
! old mans broken heart. The pay
ment of the last G1O0,O00 sacrificed
him. But l have to tell you that
Christ's life and Christ's death were
! the outlay of this beautiful garden of
the church, of which my text speaks
/ Oh, how many signs and tears and
/ pangs and agonies! Tell me, we women
who saw him hang! Tell me, ye execu-
TONERS 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 right to
walk in it. Come, then, o blessed
Jesus, today. Walk up and down these
aisles and pluck what thou wilt of
sweetness for myself!
The Church Is a Garden.
The church in my text is appropria-
ately compared to garden, because
1t is place Of choice flowers, of select
fruits and of thorough irrigation.
That would be strange garden in
which there were no flowers. If no.
where else, they would be along the
borders or at the gateway. The home
Hest taste will dictate something, If
1t be only the old fashioned hollyhock
! 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 often perhaps, but you find where
they have been by the frightened face
of the invalid and the sprig of geran-
! ium on the stand and the new window
curtains keeping out the glow of the
sunlight. They are perhaps more like
| the ranunculus, creeping sweetly along
! amid the thorns and briers of life, Civ
ing 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
flowery jasmine running in and out
amid the crev'ces. These flowers in
Christs garden are not, like the sun
flower, gaudy in the light, but wher-
ever darkness hovers over a soul that
needs to be comforted there they
stand, night blooming ceresuses. But
in Christ's garden there are plants
that may be better compared to the
Mexican caetus-thorns without, love-
illness within-mea with sharp points
| of character. They wound almost
every one that touches them. They
are hard TO handle. Men pronounce
them nothing but tncrns. but Christ
loves them, notwithstanding all theiI
sharpnesses. Many man has had q
very hard ground TO cultivate, and II