Connecticut western news., 1900-09-06

they sweat great drops of blood. When
 they pray, their prayer takes fire.
 When they preach, it is Pentecost
 When they fight, it Is a Thermopylp.
 When they die, it is a martyrdom.
 You find great many roses in the
 gardens, but only a few giants of bat
 tle." Men say, Why don't you have
 more of them in the church?" I say,
 "Why don't you have in the world
 more Humboldts and Wellingtons|
 God gives to some ten talents, 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 I mean
 those Christians who are precise in
 their tastes, unimpassioned, pure as
 snowdrops and as cold. They never
 shed any tears, they never get excited,
 they never say anything rashly, they
 never do anything precipitately. Their
 pulses never flutter, their nerves never
 twitch, their indignation never boils
 over. They live longer than most peo-
 pie, but their life is in a 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 snowdrops. But I have not told you of the most
 beautiful flower in all this garden spo- ken of in the text. If you see centu- ry plant, your emotions are started. You say "Why, this flower has been hundred years gathering up one bloom, and 1t will be a hundred years more before 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 it's bloom nev- CT to wither. It is the passion plant of the cross. Prophets foretold it; Beth
 lehem shepherds looked upon it in the bud; the rocks shook at it's bursting,
 and the dead got up in their winding sheets to see it's full bloom. It Is crimson fower-blood at the roots, blood on the branches, blood on the leaves. It's perfume is to fill all the nations. It's breath is heaven. Come, o winds from the north and winds from the south and winds from the east and winds from the west, and bear to all the earth the sweet smelling sa- vor of Christ, my Lord!
 His worth if all the nations knew,
 Sure the whole earth would love him too. The Place of Fruits.
 Again, the church may be appropri- ately compared to a garden, because | it is place of fruits. That would be a strange garden which had in 1t no Der ries, no plums or peaches or apricots. | The coarser fruits are planted in the orchard or they are set out on the sun ny hillside; but the choicest fruits are kept in the garden. So in the world outside the church Christ has planted l I great many beautiful things-pa- tience, 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 mere Towering sen | timentality. It is practical, life giv- Ing healthful fruit-not posies, but ap- | ples. "Oh," says somebody, "I 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 every one of them. He plant ed 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, q was in prison, and ye visited me-" he laid the cornerstone of every l prison reform association that has ever been organized. The church of Christ | Is a glorious garden, and it is full of l fruit. 1 know there is some poor fruit | in it. I know there are some weeds | that ought to be thrown over the fence. I know there are some crab | apple trees that ought to be cut down. | 1 know there are some wild grapes ! that ought to be uprooted. But are you | going to destroy the whole garden be- cause of a little gnarled fruit? You | will find worm eaten leaves in Fon- | tainebleau and insects that sting in the fairy groves of the Champs Ely
 sees. You do not tear down and de-
 stroy the whole garden because there | are a few specimens of gnarled fruit. J I admit there are men and women in | the church who ought not to be there; but let us be frank and admit the fact that there are hundreds and thousands
 of glorious Christian men and women -hOly, blessed, useful, consecrated, and triumphant. There Is no grander collection in all the earth than the col
 lection of Christians. There are Chris | tian men in every church whose re- | ligion is not a matter of psalm singing
 and churchgoing. Tomorrow morning
 that religion will keep them just as
 consistent and consecrated in their
 worldly occupation as 1t ever kept l them at the communion table. There
 are women with us today of a higher | type of character than Mary of Bethany. 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 a drunken husband, {! who has exhibited more faith and pa tience and courage than Ridley in the fire. He was consumed in 20 minutes Hers has been 20 years martyrdom.
 Wonder is a man who has been 15 years
 Dn his back, unable to feed himself, yet
 calm and peaceful as though he lay on one of the green banks of heaven,
 watching the oarsmen dip their pad
 dies in stheN crystal river! Why, it
 seems to me at this moment as if St.
 Paul threw to us pomolOgists cata- logue of the fruits growing in this great garden of Christ-love, joy, peace, patience, charity, brotherly
 kindness, gentleness, mercy; glorious
 fruit, enough to fill all the baskets of | earth and heaven. -E