The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1902-09-17
The Gardens.

den-to spend ones leisure in the cultiva-
ton Of flowers. And If you have no leisure
and your general lot is cast where the gar
dens do not bloom, still in summer time
you sometimes see their beauty; let them
remind you Of three Bible stories connect
ed with gardens, which find an echo IN the
experience of every soul.
I see in q garden salvation required. The
Bible pictures a man andswoman tremb-
the sound Of the wind nor of the murmur.
ing trees--a movement that is not the stir
ring Of the leaves; nay, oh trembling SIM
ner, we'll mayest thou hide thyself; this is
the voice of the Lord. The voice of the
Lord shaketh the cedar. tree" may
il shake thee! It speaks the sentence OF
exile, condemnation, death. Go forth; hu.
man nature is utterly fallen; We have no
spark Of goodness left whereby we may
claim to enter into the presence OF the
Lord.
All. that curse OF the race is on all OF US.
All inherit sin; all are conscious OF vile
ness within. You are kind, charitable. re-
spectacle, you do your duty; but it matters
serpent is over it all: you need Saviour!
And you remember the day when first you
realized it, and cried to God to reveal His
Christ to your soul.
Again, / look at a garden. and ] see sal.
vation being wrought out. 1t is night in
garden now. Pale night has come, the
trees cast long shadows, and the shrubs
take fantastic shapes. and the night has
many voices. but the birds and flowers are
asleep and heed not the marvels Of dark.
ness; and not only the flowers. but there
are weary men there. sleeping for sorrow.
One only wakes, agonizes, cries ont IN an
guish Of spirit. Who is this? Oh. prom.
ised Seed, oh, Star of Jacob, oh. bringer
OF Thy people home, it is Thou! Thou, oh
Saviour, ar. agonizing for the sins Of man.
"Great High Priest, we view Thee stoop-
ing,
With our names uron Thy breast,
In the garden, groaning. dropping,
To the ground with horror pressed"
He il sore amazed, for He sees the sins
Of all His children, their blackness, their
ingratitude; He ls to lear it all, to bear all
the punishment that they may 60 free.
"If it be possible, let this cup pass from
Me-" Nay, o Master, it is not possible;
Thou must drain that cup to the very
drees that may be pardoned and purified.
Christian. has not the fcene in that gar
den been often made precious TO your soul! !!
And have you not known something OF
the anguish and amazement, as you have
seen and realized the sin within you-that
sin which amazed the Christ? Have you
not known the agony, too, as salvation was
being wrought out in you. as you did not
yet know that your calling and election
was not yet vouchsafed to you! He. the
Sinless. entered into agony vixen He was
accomplishing salvation for US; we, the
sinful, must enter into agony, in a meas.
are, when salvation was being accomplished
in US.
"His way was much rougher and darker
than mine:
Did Christ, my Lord, suffer, and shall l
repine?"
look at another garden, and ] see sal.
OF Jesus. In darkness and pain tie Lord
of Life has expired upon the cross. In the
place where He was cruci6ed there is a gar.
den. and in the garden a sepulcher; there.
with weeping and mourning, pious hands
have laid the body OF Jesus to rest. Pale
and bathed in blood, wrapped in lin.
en-. in the darkness OF the tomb in that
garden.place, lies the body OF the eternal
Son OF God. He has atoned for His peo-
ple's sins now; they are all put away; they
! owed to God a debt OF unimaginable mag
nitude. but it is all paid now. paid to the
utmost fsrthing-therc is nothing for them
10 paw. No one can lay anything now to
the charge of Gods elect. 1t is finished !;
the little fock need rot fear-theirs is the
kingdom OF heaven.
Christian have You realized that that
final JOY, the joy Of knowing that the
atoning work was accomplished for you
that you are accepted in the Beloved
The Rev. r. c. Fillingham, in '"rhe Gospel
in the Fields"