Morris tribune., 1912-01-19
SATURDAY. i.NlGHT
SERM0NSESslz3IAsAo
BY, ...>M=I!h,sSs
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REySAMIJELW pVIpVTS M
THE CROSS IN THE GARDEN.


Text. Now in the place where he was |
erucif1ed there was a garden" John xix, !
Il. |
No one but John would have noticed |
the garden The ability to see things
Is a rare gift-doesn't grow on every
bush. The disciple of love was also |
gifted with an eye for nature He is
q poor lover whose eyes are closed to
grass and shrubs and trees. And
when others wrote of the horrors of
the crucifixion John noticed in the
place where they crucified his Lord
was a garden. In that garden they
buried the Master. The treasures of
earth and sea were his The cattle on
a thousand hills belonged to him. But
bis grave was a borrowed one. In that
garden of Joseph of Arimathea was
planted the worlds fairest flower
A Garden Lost.
God didn't start man in a city, but in
a garden. Human story begins and
ends In a paradise of flowers. All be-
tween is but a fearful parenthesis
There man was put on trial and wretch
| eddy failed. It's long painful jour
ney from paradise lost to paradise re-
| gained-many a desert full of griefs
and graves, mounts Of toll and trouble,
rivers of suffering and sorrow. All,
that first garden! The home of man
| not yet haunted by shadows of fear,
/! thorns Of regret not yet in paths Of
| pleasure. 1t stood for wealth without
1 want, health without sickness, joy
/ without sorrow, love without loss, life
without death. And mankind mourns
| like Gagged bird for the wild woods like
| slave under burden of bondage.
| He fOrgets that not change of scene,
| but change of heart, makes human
veal or woe. Men still barter their
| Edens for trifie-a handful Of green
I backs, pretty face, a moment of for
hidden love, bit of flattery, a hand
some gown, a higher position, little
| social recognition-and the door of
| paradise is closed Then tears, loneli-
ness, remorse, death.
A Garden Of Grief.
| Midnight Pale Passover moon is
shining through the trees in the olive
!
| Of the Nazerene. Then comes the
| weary one. Chill Of night, loneliness,
| anxiety, nervous depression, a sensi-
tive soul press in on his human side;
| worlds sin and woes on divine side.
| Gethsemane means "Olive press" Sig
| nificant! AS olive crushed gives it's
rich oil, so out of pressure of fearful
trial comes best in the soul. Some
fields need deep subsoil blowing to
bring out greatest fertility. Ever been
in your Gethsemane? Hours of sleep
lessness, carrying sins and dfsgraces
of some one you love better than you
love your own self! Were there mo-
ments when the swimmers strength
was almost spent? Then you came
from it sweeter and better
Like the vase in which roses have once
been distilled.
You may break, you may shatter, that
vase If you WILL
But the scent of the roses will cling round
1t still. "-.s
The Garden at GoIgotha.
Calvary's the great passion drama Of
the world. Motive, love; cause, sin.
To palliate sin is to make sickening
, burlesque of worlds greatest tragedy.
Sunset at midday, yet only the sixth
hour, Night drags in, born before
time; not merciful starlight night, but
shuddering and horror stricken, hid
eous and haunting; semidarkness like
twilight in perdition. Crosses, cursing,
crucified criminals, maddening thirst,
: quivering flesh, tortured senses, then
: Father forgive them" The glazing
eyes close on Jerusalem, seen for the
J first time thirty-three years ago, babe
: Oh a mothers breast. The curtain
, drops. at lis finished Say, friend,
the garden of life is incomplete with
: out the cross. The worlds garden is
| a GOlgotha. Its flowers grow among
: skulls. Any crosses in your garden
l Trial, temptation, poverty, handicap!
PauPs garden had its cross-a "thOrn
Z in the fiesh;" Wesley's, domestic I'M
| happiness; Whitefeld's, strabismus
: Bunyan's, prison.. Mi1ton's, blindness
: Lifes greatest boon is found in gar
: dens where crosses are erected. Your
r hard to bear? Glory in it. A present
7 Christless, and crossIess life means fu
: ture crownless life.
!. The Garden Resained.
Wonderful, marvellous, that the last
page of Revelation should bend round
to touch the first page of Genesis! q
( mighty circle, in which Gods plan be
9 gins and. ends in paradise. That's di
e vine way of saying that all between
sin, misery, DEATHS but a human
y parenthesis. Long and dark will have
been the ages since man left the frs
t garden. The whole purpose Of divine
Il revelation is to open a way for thu
i outcast wanderer to come home. From
e beginning to end there's a continue
yearning cry, Return unto me, "
d children of men," Now paradise i
e regained by way Of the cross. TIL
l pure in heart shall yet see Ged
n From the temple of God are fou
d garden vistas-garden of Eden, par