Connecticut western news., 1900-09-06
GARDEN OF THE KING
DIR. TALMAGE LIkENS IT UNTO THE
 CHRISTIAN CHURCH.

Eious Devotion The Beauty of 1 Right Living.
 WASHINGTON, Sept. 2.-This sermon Dr. Talmage sends from a halting place In his journey through the val ieys of Switzerland. It seems to have been prepared amid the bloom and aroma of a garden midsummer. The text Is Song of Solomon V, l, .I am come into my garden"
 The Bible Is great poem. We have in It's faultless rhythm and bold inn agery and startling antithesis and rap turous lyric and sweet pastoral and in structiye narrative and devotional psalm; thoughts expressed in style more solemn than that of Montgomery, more bold than that of Milton, more terrible than that of Dante more nat ural than that of Wordsworth, more impassioned than that of Pollok, more tender than that of Cowper, more weird than that of Spenser. This great poem brings all the gems of the earth into its coronet and 1t weaves the flames of judgment into its garlands and pours eternal harmonies in it's rhythm. Everything this book touches 1t makes beautiful, from the plain stones of the summer thrashing floor to the daughters of Manor filling the troughs for the camels; from the fish pools of Heshbon up to the psalmist praising God with diapason of storm and whirlwind, and Jobs imagery of Orion, Arcturus and the Pleiades.
 My text leads us into scene of sum- mer redolence. The world has had great many beautiful gardens. Charle- magne added to the glory of his reign by decreeing that they be established all through the realm-deciding even the names of the flowers to be planted there. Henry W, at Montpelier, es- tablished gardens of bewitching beauty and luxuriance, gathering into them Alpine, Pyrenean and French plants. One of the sweetest spots on earth was the garden of Shenstone, the poet His writings have made but little impress sion on the world; but his 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 fountain here had their crowning. Oak 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 dili- gence and genius he brought to the adornment of that one treasured spot. He gave f300 for 1t; be sold 1t for f17,000. And yet, I am to tell you to- day of richer garden than any have mentioned. 1t Is the garden spoken of in my text. the garden of the church, which belongs to Christi 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 f100,000 sacrificed him. But 1 have to tell you that Christ's life 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 bangs and agonles! Tell me, ye women who saw him hang, Tell me, ye executioners who lifted him and let him down! Tell me, thou sun that didst hide; ye rocks that fell! Christ loved the church and gave him. self for it." If the garden of the church belongs to Christ. certainly he has right to walk in it. Come, then, o blessed Jesus, today; walk up and down these aisles, and pluck what thou wilt of sweetness for myself!
 The Church ms a Garden.
 The church, in my text, Is appro- priately compared to garden, because it is place of choice flowers of select fruits, and of thorough irrigation.
 That would be strange garden in which there were no flowers. If no- where else. they would be along the borders or at the gateway. The home Hest 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 cluster ing soleander. We'll, now, Christ comes to his garden and he plants there some of the brightest spirits that ever lowered upon the world. Some of them are violets, inconspicuous, but sweet as heaven. You have to search and find them. You do not see them very often, perhaps, but you find where they have been by the frightened face of the invalid and the sprig of gera- nium on the stand and the new window curtains keeping out the glow of the sunlight. They are, perhaps, more like the ranunculus, creeping sweetly along amid the thorns and briers of life, giving kiss for sting; and many a man who has had in his way some great black rock of trouble has found that they have covered 1t all over with f1owery jasmine running in and out amid the crevices.
 These flowers in Christ's garden are not. like the sunfiower, gaudy in the light, but wherever darkness hovers over a soul that needs to be comforted, there they stand. night blooming cereuses. But in Christ's garden there are plants that may be better compared to the Mexican cactus-thorns without, love Illness within; men with sharp points of character. They wound almost every one that touches them. They are hard to handle. Men pronounce them noth- ing but thorns, but Christ loves them notwithstanding all their sharp nesses. Many a 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 very placid elder, and the placid eIdor said tO the harsh minister. Doe. tor. I do wish you would control your temper" "Ah," said the minister to the elder, 'I control more temper in five minutes than you do in five years" It Is harder for some men to do right than for other men to do right. The grace that would elevate you to the seventh heaven might not keep your brother from knocking n man down