The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1900-09-12

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ten talents, to others one.
In this garden Of the church which
Christ has planted also find the sDow-
drops, beautiful but cold looking, seem
ingly another phase of wioter. | mean
those Christians who are precise in
their tastes, uninpassioned, pure as
spowdrops and as cold. They never
shed any tears, they never ge: excited
they never say anything rsshiy, they
never do anything psecipisa'el: Their
prlses never ful:er, shelr nerves never
twi,ch. their irGiguation never Dolls
ever They live lorSer than mast peo-
,.!s bnt 1he;r life is ia minor key.
Ttev never run up to &c above the
s,eF n ,heir music of life they have
no s:accato passages. Christ planted
Ihen in the church, aud they must be
of some sc,vice or they would net be
there: srowdrops- always spowdrops.
But have not tc you Of the most
beautiful h>wer in all this garden spck-
en- of in the text If you see century
plant, yorr emotions are started. lcu
say, Why, this flower has been a hun.
d-ed years gathering up fer one bloom,
ard it will be hu1dred years more pc
f3re other petals will come out. But
| have to tell you of plant that was
gathering up from all eternity and that
$50 sears ago pu: forth its bloom new
er TO wither. It is the passion plant O!
the c.oss. Prophets fcrets!d it, Bethle-
hem shepherds looked upon it in tie
bud. the rocks shook at It's bursting and
the dead got upin their winding shsets TO
seo;ls ful! blocm. ltis 3 crimson fo@er
blood at the roots, blood on the
branches, blood on the leaves. Its
perfume is:o ill al the nations. It's
breath is heaven. Come, oh Winds
from the north and winds from the
south snd winds from the east aud
vilds from tne west and hear to all the
Garth the sweet smelling SAVIOR OF Christ,
ny LoIdi
His worth if all the nations knew,
Sure the whole earth would love him tco.
Again. the church may be appropri
atcly com partd TO the garden, because it
is g place of fruits. That would be a
strange garden which had in it no ber-
ries, no plum5 or pee 5 or spricots.
The coarser fruits arc 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 great many beautiful things
patience. 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. Re
ligion is not mere Towering senti
mentality. It Is practical, life Civ
ing, healthsul fruit, not posies, but sp-
Piles.
ooh" says somebody, Il don't see
what your garden Of the church has
y;elled~ Where did your asylums
come fror.? And Your hospitals? And
yocr institutions Of merc5? Christ
planted every one of them; he planted
,htm 10 his gard n. When Christ gave
SIGHT to Bartimeus, he laid the corner
stone of every blind asylum that has
e-er been built. When Christ soothed
the demonisc of Galilee, he laid the
cornerstone Of every luastic asylum
that has ever been established. When
Christ said to the sick man, Take up
thy bed and walk" he laid the corner
stone 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
sssociatioo that has ever been organized.
The Church Of Christ is glorious gar
den. and it is full Of fruit. l know
there is some poor fruit in it. know
there are some weeds that ought to be
thrown over the fence. | know there
are some crab apple trees that ought 20
be cut down. l know there sre some
wild grapes that ought to be uprooted,
but are you going to cestroy the whole
garden because Of a little gnarled fruit?
You will ied worm eaten leaves in
Fontainebleau and insects that sting
in the fairy groves of the Champs Fly
sees. You do not tear down and de-
stroy the whole garden because there
are few specimens Of gnaried fruit.
admit there are men and women in
the church who ought not to be there,
but let US be just as frsnk and admit
the fact that there are hundreds and
thousands aud tens of thousands Of
glorious Christian men and women
holy, blessed, useful, corsecrated and
triumphant There is no grauder col
lection in I'll the earth than the collec-
tion of Christians. There are Chris
tian men in every church whose religion
is rot a matter of psalm singing and
church going. Tomorrow morning that
religion will keep them just as consis-
tent and consecIated in their worldly
occupation as it ever kept them at the
communion table. There are women
with Us today Of a higher type Of charac
ter than Mary Of Bethany. They not
Only sit at the feet Of Christ, but they
60 out into the kitchen to help Martha
IL her work, that she may ST. there TOO.
There is woman who has drunken
husband who has exhibited more faith
and patience and courage than Ridley
in the FIRE. He Wss consumed in 20
minutes. Hers has been 20 years
marcyrdon. yonder is man who has
been 10 years on his back, unable to
feed himself, yet calm and peaceful as
though be lay on one of the green
banks Of heaven, watching the oarsmen
dip their paddles in the crystal river!
Why, it seems to NE this moment as ii
St. Paul threw to US pouologlst's S
catalogue Of the fruits growing in this
great garden of Christ love, jog, peace,
patience, charcter, brotherly kindness,
geDtleress, mercy; glorious fruit,
enough 10 fiji all the baskets Of earth
and heaven.