The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-09-14

is a conflagration. When they sweat,
they sweat great drops of blood. When
they pray, their prayer takes fire.
When they preach, 1t is a Pentecost.
When they fight, 1t is a Thermopylae.
When they die, it is a martyrdom.
You find a great many roses IN the
gardens. but only a few giants Of bat
tie" Men say, why don't you have
more Of them in the church," L say,
why don't you have in the world
more Humboldts and yelling tons?"
God gives to some ten talents, to others
one
In this garden of the church which
Christ has planted also find the snow
drops, beautiful but cold looking, SEEM
ingly another phase OF winter. 1 mean
those Christians who are precise in
their tastes, unimpassioned, pure as
snowdrops and as cold. They never
shed any tears, they never get excited,
they never say anything rashly, they
never do anything precipitately. Their
pulses neve fiutter, their nerves
twitch, their Indignation never boils
over. They live longer than most peo-
pie, but their life is in a minor key.
They never run UP TO &C" above the
staff. In their music of life they have
no staccato passages. Christ planted
them in the church, and they must be
Of some service or they would not be
there; snowdropS-alwayS nowdrops
MOST BEAUTIFUL FLOWER.
But 1 have not told you of the o
beautiful flower in all his garden
spoken of in the text. If you see a
led. You ay, Why, this flower has
been a hundred years gathering up for
one bloom, n it will be a hundred
years more before other petals will
come out" But 1 a V to tell you of a
plant that was gathering up from all
nrarnitu and that I 0nn yaarS n on nIIr
forth its bloom to wither. 1t is
the passion plant Of the cross. Pro-
phetS foretold it, Bethlehem shepherds
looked upon it in the bud, the rocks
shook at it's bursting anG the dead got
up in their winding sheets TO see its
full bloom. 1t is a crimson flower
blood at the roots, blood on the
branches, blood on h leaves. Its per-
fume is to fill all the nations. Its
breath is heaven. Come, oh winds
from the north and winds from the
south n winds from the east and
winds from the west and bear to all
the earth the sweet smelling SAVIOR of
Christ, my Lord
His worth if all the nations knew,
Sure the whole earth would love him
too
Again, the church may be appropri-
ately compared to the garden, because
IL ID d pldCS Ol lIullS. 1Idl WOuIu pc
a strange garden which had in it no
berries, no plums or peaches or april
cots. The coarser fruits are planted
in the orchard OIL 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 a great many beautiful things
patience, charity, generosity, integri-
ty. But he Intends the choicest fruits
to be in the garden, n if they are not
there then shame on the church. Re
ligfOn is not a mere Towering Sentl-
mentality. 1t is a practical, life CIV
ing, healthful fruit, not posies, but ap-
pies.
oh" says somebody, 81 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
sight to Bartimeus, he laid the corner
stone of every blind asylum that has
ever been built. When Christ soothed
the demoniac of Galilee, he laid the cor
nerstone Of every lunatic asylum that
has ever been established. When
Christ said to the sick man, Take up
thy bed and walk" he laid h corner
stone of every hospital the world has
| ever seen. When Christ said. Il was in
| prison n we visited me-" he laid the
cornerstone of every prison reform as
ISOLATION that has ever been organized.
The Church of Christ is a glorious gar
den, and it is full of fruit. I know
there are some weeds that ought to be
/ thrown over the fence. I know there
are some 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 to destroy the whole
garden because of a little gnarled
4 - W., LII Ga -~~~, ak~~ 14nryn~
in Fontainebleau and insects that
sting in the fairy groves Of the Champs
Elysees. You do not tear down and
destroy the whole garden 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 undred and
thousands and tens of thousands OF
| glorious Christian men and women
| holy, blessed, useful, consecrated and
triumphant. There is no grander col
lection in all the earth than the col
lection OF Christians. There are Chris
| tian men in every church whose reli-
| gion is not a matter of psalm singing
and church going. Tomorrow morning
that religion will keep them just as
consistent n consecrated in their
worldly occupation as 1t ever kept
them at the communion table. There
are WOIlen Will Us lOOdy VI d LiShCi
type of character than Mary Of Beth
any. They not only sit at the feet OF
| Christ, bu they go out into the kitchen
to help Martha in her work, that she
may sit there too. There Is a woman
who has a drunken husband who has
exhibited more faith and patience and
courage than Ridley in h fire. He
was consumed in 20 minutes. Hers has
been a 20 years martyrdom. Yonder
is a man who has been Is years on his
back, unable to feed himself. yet calm
and peaceful as though he lay on one
of the green banks Of heaven, watch
ing the oarsmen dip their paddles In
the crystal river! Why it seems to me
this moment as if St. Paul threw to us
a pomologist's catalogue of the fruits
growing in this great garden of Christ
love, joy, peace, patience, character,
~brotherly kindness, g~entleness, mercy;
glorious fruit enough to fill all the
baskets of earth and heaven
BETTER TREE AND BETTER
FRUIT.
I have not told you of the better
tree in this garden and Of the better
fruit. 1t was planted just outside Je-