GARDENS OF THE BIBLE

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21081, 5 February 1934, Page 10

GARDENS OF THE BIBLE

SOURCES OF SPIRITUAL UPLIFT Gardens famous in Biblical history were referred to in a sermon given at the Church of St. John the Baptist, Latimer square, yesterday, by the Rev. J. T. Holman, a visitor to Christchurch. The speaker emphasised that while gardens were often found to be the sources of great uplift mentally and spiritually it had not always been so in history: there had been many times where sin had been associated with the beauty of trees and flowers found in a garden. "From time to time there comes to men and women a sense that God is very near, and sometimes that realisation comes to you in your garden," said Mr Holman. "But while it is true that, as the poet has said, God walks in gardens, it is also right that the devil can walk there, too. Sin began in a garden, and it is said in Isaiah, 'ye shall be confounded in the gardens ye have chosen.'" Hatred for Art. Beauty and blasphemy had often gone hand in hand, and that perhaps had been the cause of much of the hatred held by the Puritans for all forms of art. Temptation surrounded men everywhere, and even if it were his good fortune to have all the lovely things that he could desire, it was good for a man to remember that he was always in danger of becoming a prey to the lust of the flesh. Mr Holman mentioned the Garden of Gethsemane, the scene of Christ's agony—the agony which, he said, was His victory when He went to the Cross. The third garden was associated with the darkest deed in history—the crucifixion of Jesus. Easter had been held in a garden, and lastly came the reference to a garden in the closing chapters of the Bible, where John saw the new Jerusalem as a city with a garden everywhere. Paradise was a garden to which all hoped to attain, but its beauty was visible only to those who were drilled in the spirit of God.