The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1900-10-06
TALMAGE SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE ABlF o.
VINE.
Subject: The Garden of the King-Chriet
the Founder and Gardener-The Flow
crs and Fruits of Religious Devotion
Tho beauty Right Living.

Tho beauty OF Right Living.
tCoryrIgh. 1901
WASHINGTON, y, C-This sermon DR.
lailnage sends from a halting place in
his Journey through the valleys of Swift
Grand 1t seems to have been prepared
and the bloom and aroma of garden
midsummer. The text is Song of Solo
mon @ v !; II am come into my garden"
me lible ls q great poem. We have in
it fantiess rhythm and bold imagery and
startling anthithesis and rapturous lyric
and sweet pastoral and instructive nara.
tire 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 impasSoned than that of
Pollok. more tender than that of Cowper.
more weird than thar Of Spenser. This
great poem brings all the gems of the
earth INTO lis 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 Nahor filling the troughs for the cam
els; from the fish pools of Heshbon up to
the psalmist pralsing God with diapason
OF storm and whirlwind, and Jobs i'm
| 81
My text leads us into a scene of sum-
mer redolence. The world has had a
great many beautiful gardens Charlie
magne added to the glory of his reign bv
! decrceing that they be established all
| through the realm-deciding even the
names of the flowers to be planted there
Henry ", at Montpelier, established
| rance, gathering into them Alpine. Py
| renea< and French plants. One of the
| sweete"t spots on earth was the garden of
Shenstone, the poet. His writings have
| made but little impression on the world.
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
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 adornmcnt of that
one treasured spot. He gave $500 for it;
he sold it for 1900. And yet l am to
tell YOU to-day of richer garden than
any, haye 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 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 that old mans broken heart
The. payment of the last fl00,000 sacri-
Christs love and Christ's death were the
outlay of this beautiful garden of the
church, Of which my text speaks. Oh
how many sighs and tears and pangs and
agonles! Tell me, We 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 lie
has a right to walk in it. Come, then.
. blessed Jesus, to-day: walk up and
down these ais!es. and pluck what Thou
wilt Of sweetness for Thyself!
Tie church, in my text, is appropriately
compared to a garden, because it is a
place of choice flowers, of select fruits
and OF thorough irrigation.
That would be strange garden IN
which there were no flowers. If nowhere
else. they would be along the borders OF
at the gateway. The homeliest taste will
dictate something. if it 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
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, bnt you find where they
have been bv the frightened face of the
invalid and the sprig of geranium on the
stand and the new window curtains keep
ing out the glow of the sunlight. They |
creeping swiftly along amid the thorns
and briers of life, giving kiss for sting,
and many man who has had in his way |
some great black rock of trouble has |
found that they have covered it all over !
with fowery jasmine running in and out |
amid the crevices.
These flowers in Christ's garden are not |
like the sunfower, gaudy in the light, but |
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
their sharpnesses. Many man has had
a 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 placid elder, and the placid elder
said to the harsh minister: Doctor, l do
wish you would control your temper"
All" said the minister to the elder, Il
control more temper in five minutes than
Iou do in five years" 1t is harder for
same men to do right than fer other men
u uv right. The grace that would ele-
rate You to the seventh heaven might rot
Keep your brother from knocking a man
iown. l had friend who came to me
md said, II dare not Join the church"
aid, "Why:' "Oh,' he said, Il have
uch a violent temper. Yesterday morn.
ng | was crossing very early It the Jersey
Jity ferry. and | saw lnilkmaa pour a
arge quantity of water into the mill. can,
nd l said to him: I think that will DO
md he insuted me and l knocked him
lown. Do you think | ought to join the
hurch" Nevertheless that very same
nan, who was 50 harsh in his behavior,
owed Christ, ard could not speak OF ga
red things without tears Of emotion and
tfection. Thorls without, sweetness
best specimen of Mexican
actus ever saw
There are others planted in Christ's
arden who are always radiant, always