The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1900-10-11

Again, the church may be appro-
compared to the garden, be-
cause it is place of fruits. That
would be strange garden which had
in it no berries, no plums or peaches
or apricots. The coarser fruits are
planted in the orchard or they are set
out on the sunny hillside. But the
choicest fruits are kept in the gar
den. So in the world outside the
church Christ h.~ planted great
many beautiful things--,atience,
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
It is a 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 every 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: II was in
prison and ye visited me-" He laid the
cornerstone of every prison reform
association that has ever been Or
ganized. The church of Christ is
glorious garden, and it is full of fruit.
I know there is some poor fruit in it.
l 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. I
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 a few specimens of gnarled
fruit.
I 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 it ever kept them at
f, the communion table. There are
women with us to-day of a 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 woman who has a drunken hus.
band who has exhibited more faith
and patience and courage than Rid.
ley in the fire. He was consumed in
20 minutes. Hers has been 2o-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. it seems to me thi.
moment as if St. Paul threw to u.
a pomologist's catalogue of the fruit.
growing in this great garden O.
Christ-love, joy, peace, patience
character, brotherly kindness, gentle
ness, mercy; glorious fruit, enough tt
fill all the baskets of earth ant
Heaven.
Again, the church in my text /,
appropriately called garden because
it is thoroughly irrigated. No gar
den could prosper long without plen
ty of water. l have seen a garde1
in the midst of desert, yet bloom
ing and luxuriant. All around wa
dearth and barrenness, but ther
| were pipes, aqueducts, reaching from
this garden up to the mountains
and through these aqueducts the wa
ter came streaming down and toss
ing up into beautiful fountains unit
every root and leaf and flower wa
saturated. That is like the church
The church is a garden in the mids
of a great desert of sin and suffering
but it is well irrigated, for "our eye
are unto the hills from whence com
eth our help" From the mountain
of Gods strength there flow dow
rivers of gladness. There is rive
the stream whereof shall make gla
the city of our Cod" Preaching tn
Gospel is one of the aqueducts. TIL
Bible is another. Baptism and tn
Lords Supper are aqueducts. Waite
| fo SlaEe the thirst water to wash tn