"THE THREE GARDENS."

Taranaki Daily News, 4 December 1920, Page 11 (Supplement)

"THE THREE GARDENS."

(Xotes of an Addict by Rev. A. 11. Collins, of New Plymouth.

I have no text. Xo single passage of Holy Scripture expresses the truth t wish to state,'and to use Ihe Bible its a mere pulpit convenience, is irreverence. This does not mean that I have no subject, or .that my subject is not biblical, for I hope to show that what I have to say is scriptural and practical, thoui'h no crisp, clean-cut text is available..

You must have noticed .thai three of the greatest events in the history of tlie race are associated with gardens'. There is Eden, Gethsemany. and Paradise. The garden of human innocence, the garden of human struggle and pain, ami the garden of human triumph. The life of wan on. the earth opens in Eden, and ends in Paradise, but the road from the one to the other winds through the trembling shadows of Gethsemany. In this, the word of God, and the life of man, are one. Every good man's life begins in the Eden of innocent pleasure, passes through the Gethsemany of suffering, and ends in the glory and the triumph of Paradise. This, then is my subject: Eden, Oethsemany, Paradise; types of -human experience, stages in human progress. Quite simply and naturally the Bible record opens with the picture of man, living a life of unsigned innocence, and unalloyed happiness, fearless because sinless, at peace with all the world, because at peace .with his Maker. Read these wonderful opening chapters of Genesis however you will; call them poetrv, history, parable, or a blending of these elements; the fact remains the same. Tt is a picture of primal innocence; man appears as you would expect him to appear, fresh from the hand of the great Creator. It was the childhood of the race, and the man-child, the crown ami glory of God's creative power, steps forth enshrined in beauty and pure a = the angels of God. But man's first estate, though pure and fair, was the life of moral childhood. It was a state of innocence, and not a state of virtue. •Mark and weigh the distinction, for it is important. The difference between innocence and virtue, for it is fundamental. Adam was pure because he had never been tested; he had not fallen because he had not been tempted; and win st that is all we expect of sunnv, blithsomc. dimpled, childhood we -look for something more in the life of a man. Man's highest achievement is not to preserve his innocence, for innocence is simply the absence of guilt, but virtue means the presence of good and evil with power to choose either, and the deliberate choice of good. Innocence is a dean, new flag, on which has never passed a whiff of gunpowder or a stain ot blood. Virtue is that same flag afrer it has been carried into life's battle, around which the fight has ra«ed and bursting shell has screamed, torn, stained, almost lost, and vet brought back in safety. a „d hung up in The aanc uanes of life, the sign of conflict, but the proof ot victory. Every life has '" Eden penod. its days of innocence. There ,s no need to split theological, lia.rs; no need to discuss the dogmas' winch have div.ded Christendom for cenjines; no need to ask at what period the innocence of childhood is exchanged for the accountability of riper years Enough to know there is such a period }r.en conscience wakens, and we know difference between good and evil. There are times when we are inclined to look back and wish it were possible Wh r /„T r "'f in " OMnoe ° f <* Moo,!. hen the gmlt of wilful sin rests on the burdened conscience we wish ourselv back in Eden.

"I- remember, I remember The fir trees dark and Irish I used to think their purple tops Wore close against the sky. it was achildish ignorance But now it is no joy ' To know rm further off from God liian when I was .a boy."

The wish for lost Edens is natural, vat I.T° M .T e tan all s,,wd ". bi. vain i, the wish and as unwise as it Is TtJr ethin X bett " than innocence "POMiblej we may attain to virtue. The r Testament does not call us back to Eden; but forward to Paradise. We are otcaied to be "innocents," wettn . 0 ° a ™ 0 be saints" of a robust ami manlv ,vp; and sainthood is greater and nobler absence of temptation. To see evil arrayed; in us most seductive forms, to hear evil gmpng its most dulcet tones, to TJ 7 g ? 8 n° f eV " J ,,9t «-ithi„ our grasp, and st.II "chose rather to suffer .affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season ; to elect to be poor rather than rich by fraud; to stand up for an unpopular cause because you feel it right rather than shout with the crowd- to dare to be singular when conscience demands it—that is to step forth a conqueror It is idle to weep and sigh for lost Edens Our wisdom lies in spending the time that remains in such wise as "•ill turn a temporary defeat into an eternal victory. Our Eden is gone, but 1 aradise is a sublime possibility. But But this is no child's play, no holiday task. The road to Paradise lies through Gethsemany. The palm branch of victory is pi U( , ked in the gar(lpjl of grit!fs The soul must be cleansed by fire. That is the meaning of o ur great saying: "Th* Captain of our salvation was made perfect through siifferine." and rhere is no easier path for his humbles!, followers. Visitors to Edinburgh Castle are conducted up a dark and "winding stairway that leads to an equallv dark room, where the Crown jewels of Scotland are stored. These are "the treasures of darkness." which, slar-like, shine with greatest brilliance amid surrounding darkness. It is so in human bte. The soul returns from the shadowed temples of struggle, and sorrow, and pain, bejewelled with items from the hand of God. Mind, I am not making light of suffering. The Bible uses no unreal words on that subject. Pain is pain, however you try to disguise it. Neither do I pretend to understand why it is that the road to paradise, lie's through some Gethsemany. When the last word has been spoken on that 'object, it still remains a gre.it and inscrutable mystery. 1 only know that as fire tempers steel, awl exercise develops strength, so suffering and struggle are the conditons of moral firmness" The athlete attains mastery by stern discipline. The author wins fame as the reward of brain sweat. Sovereignty in the realm of spirit is reached by kingship in the sphere of suffering. All that is fine iii life is made so by the refiner's fire and the carver's tool. "No cross no crown" is the rule. You may make life easy and pleasant in an 'ignoble way by shirkjng the battle, and bv re- ! fusing to jnauDle with antagonisms'; but

in this way life is emptied of its regality. Yon may hug the coasts of life, and never venture out' into the deep; only in such case you will discover no new lands, and gain no great treasure. He who hath conflict hath never a victor's crown. "We dig the wells of life, And Cod the water gives, We win our way by strife, Then He within us lives, And only war could make us meet For peace so sacred and so sweet." Hall Caino in his novel, "The Prodigal Son," reminds us of this truth. His book is our Lord's parable in modern dress, but with a significant addition. He carries on the prodigal life story after his forgiveness, lie pictures 11ie younger son in the'days that followed his welcome home. He depicts the solemn, sometimes forgotten, truth, that even after the forgiveness of sin there lies a life of struggle with old habits and ingrained passions; and hard-breathed wrestling with the consequences of past sin. Where the novelist fails is that he does not tell us of the grace that waits to turn the moral conflict into a moral triumph. As J. H. Newman sings;-- '■'() wisest love! that flesh and blood, Which, did in Adam fail, Should strive afresh against the foe, Should strive and should prevail." I have this word io add. flethsnmany is not the final stage. Eden, Gethsenuiny, Paradise! The perfect life revealed in perfect light. These are the steps in the stairway of life. Eden is passed for all of us. for "all have sinned." Got.hsemany is the present experience of some, the garden of griefs and tears, repentance, and the sense of shame and loss. Hay God help us, just there He will if we call upon Him; and the Paradise of the blessed, the robes made white in the blond of the Lamb, the palm branch of victory and the song of the ransomed, may yet be ours. "After long agony, rapture of bliss, Eight was the pathway leading to this.".