Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1900-09-13

| fruits are planted in the orchard or they
are set out on the sunny 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.
mentality. 1t is a practical, life giving,
| healthful fruit-not posies, bet apples.
oh" says somebody, Il don't see what
the 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 asy-
lum that has ever been built. When
Christ soothed the demoniac of Galiee,
lie 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 cor
nerstone OF every hospital the world has
ever seen. When Christ said. Il was in
prison, and ye visited Me- He laid the
| cornerstone OF every prison reform asso-
| ciation that has ever been organized.
The church of Christ is glorious garden,
and it is full of fruit | know there is
some poor fruit in it. | know there are
some weeds that ought to be thrown over
the fence. | know there are soiue crab
apple trees that ought to be cut down. l
know there are some wild grapes that
ought to be uprooted. But are you going
little gnared 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 few specimens of gnared fruit.
/ 1,..,t Al,A,,, Il -
the church who ought not to be there,
but let us be frank and admit the fact
that there are hundreds and thousands oil
! glorious Christian men and women-holy,
blessed, useful, consecrated and triumph
ant. There is no grander collection III all
the earth than the collection of Christians.
There are Christian men in every church
whose religion is not matter of psalm
singing and churchgoing Tomorrow
morning that religion will keep them just
as consistent and consecrated in their
worldly occupation as it ever kept them
at the communion table. There are wom
en- with us to-day of 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 woman who has a drunken hus
band, who has exhibited more faith and
patience. and courage than Ridley in the
|
utes. Hers has been a twenty years
martyrdom. Yonder is man who has
been fifteen years on 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 thei.
paddles in the crystal river!
| have not told you OF the better tree
in tins garden and OF the better fruit. 1t
was planted just outside Jerusalem il
! good while ago. When that tree was
| planted, 1t was so split and bruised and
barked men said nothing would ever grow
| upon 1t, but no sooner had that tree been
planted than it budded and blossomed
and fruited, and the soldiers spears were
only the clubs that struck down that
fruit, and it fell into the lap of the ma
tions, and the men began to pick it up and
eat 1t, and they found i'll it an antidote to
all thirst, to all poison, to all sin, to all
death, the smallest cluster larger than
the famous one Of Eshcol, which two men
carried on staff between them. If the
one apple IN Eden killed the race, this
one cluster OF mercy shall restore.
Again, the church in my text is appro-
priateiy called garden because it is
thoroughly irrigated. No garden could
prosper long without plenty OF water
! 1t has seemed as ii Jesus Christ took
the best From many of your households
the best one is gone. You know that she
was too good for this world. She was the
| gentlest In her ways, the deepest in her
affection, and when at last the sickness
came you had no faith in medicines You
knew that the hour of parting had come,
and when, through the rich grace of the
| Lord Jesus Christ, You surrendered that
treasure you said: Lord Jesus take tit
| is the bIst we have. Take it. Thou art
worthy The others in the household
may have been OF grosser mold. She was
of The finest
The heaven of your little ones will not
be fairly begun until you get there. All
the kindnesses shown them by tmmor-
tails will not make them forget you. There
they are, the radiant throngs that went
out from your homes. | throw kiss to
the sweet darlings They are all well now
in the palace. The crippled child has
sound foot now. a little lame child says.
Ma, will | be lame in heaveu:' No, my
darling, you wont be lame IN heaven.
\ little sick child says. Ma, will | be
wont @ be sick in heaven. ( little blind
child says, Ma, Will | be blind in heav
en- No, my dear. You won't be bind
i'll heaven. They are all well there.
| notice that the fine gardens some
times have high fences around them. and
| cannot get IN. 1t Is so with kings
garuen. 1 he only glimpse YOU ever get OF
such garden Is when the king rides out
in his splendid carriage.
1t is not so with this garden; this
Kings garden. throw wide open the
gate aad tell YOU all TO come in. No
monopoly III religion. Whosoever will.
may. Choose now between desert and
garden Many of you have tried the
garden OF this worlds delight. You have
found il has been a ohasrin SO it was
with Theodore Hook. He made all the
world laugh lie makes Us laugh now
when We read his poems. but he could
not make his own heart laugh. While in
the midst OF his festivities he confronted
a looking glass, and he saw himself and
said; There, that is true. | look just
"a | am. done up IN body. mind and
purse. 30 1t was ot >henstone. OF whose
suriel | told You at the beginning ot my
sermon. lie sat down amid those bowers
aud said: Il have lost my road 10 hap
piness. am angry aud envlous and
frantic and despise everything around me
Just a, 1t hceomes a madman To do.
q We weary souls, come into Christ's
garden to-day and pluck q little hearts.
ease, Christ is the only rest and the only
pardon Tor perturbed spirit. DO you
not thini. Your chance has almost Gomez