Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1897-11-23

innocent entertainment and amuse-
ment. He walks, he rides, he plays
ten-pins in private alleys. he has
books ON his table, pictures on his wall
and occasional outings, concerts, lee
lures, baseball tickets. and the innu-
merable delights of friendship. But be
wants key TO the place Of dissolute
convocation. He wants association
with some member of high family
as reckless as he is affluent. He wants
Instead Of quiet sabbath, one OF ca
rousal. He wants the stimulus Of
strong drinks. He wants the permits
sions of profiigate life. The one
membership. the one bad habit, the
one carousal robs him OF all the pos
sibilities and innocent enioymcnts and
roble inspirations Of lifetime.
You see what an expensive thing is
sin. 1t costs a thousand times more
than il is worth. AS some of all kinds
of quadrupeds and all kinds of winged
creatures passed before our progenitor
that he might announce a name, from
eagle to bat, and from lion to mole,
so l suppose there were in paradise
specimens of every kind Of fruit tree.
And IN that enormous orchard there
was not only enough for the original
family Of two, but enough fruit fell
ripe to the ground, and was never
picked up, to supply whole towns and
villages. il they had existed. But the in
tatuated couple turned away from all
these other trees and faced this tree;
and frnit of that they will have though
il cost them all paradise.
This story Of Eden is rejected by
some as an improbability, if not an
| impossibility, but nothing on earth is
easier for me to believe than the truth
of this Edenic story, for l have seen
the same thing in this year OF our
Lord 1897. could call them by name,
il it were polite and righteous to do
| so, the men who have sacrificed a par
adise on earth and a paradise in heav-
en- for one sin. Their house went.
Their library went. Their good name
went. Their field Of usefulness went.
Their health went. Their immortal soul
went. My friends! there is just one
sin that will turn you out of paradise
If you do not quit it. You know what
! it is, and God knows, and you had bet
ter drop the hand and arm lifted to-
ward that bending bough before you
pluck your own ruin. When Adam
stood on tiptoe and took ii his right
hand that one round peach, or apricot.
or apple Satan reached up and pulled
| down the round, beautiful world Of our
| present residence Overworked artist,
overweight merchant, ambitious poll
| tician, avaricious Spectator, better
take that warning from Adams or
chard and stop before you put out for
that one thing more.
But l turn from Adams orchard to
Solomon's orchard. With his own
hand he writes: Il made me gardens
and orchards" Not depending on the
natural fall OF rain, he irrigated those
| orchards. Pieces Of the aqueduct that
watered those gardens / have seen, and
the reservoirs are as perfect as when
thousands of years ago the masons
trowel smoothed the mortar over taeir
gray surfaces. No orchard of olden
or modern time, probably, ever had its
thirst so we'll slaked. The largest OF
these reservoirs is $50 feet long, 207
feet wide, and so feet deep. These res
ervoirs Solomon refers to when he
says: 81 made me pools OF water. to
water Herewith the wood that bring
eth forth trees" Solomon used to ride
cut TO that orchard before breakfast.
1t gave him an appetite and something
to think about all the day. Josephus,
the historian, represents HIM as going
out "early in the morning from Jeru-
salem to the famed rocks OF Etam, a
fertile region. delightful with paradises
| and running springs. Thither the king,
ia robes of white. rode in his chariot,
escorted by troop of mounted arch
ers chosen for their youth and stature,
and clad in Tyrian purple, whose long
| hair. powdered with gold dust, spark
| led In the sun" After Solomon had
taken his morning ride in these luxu-
RANT orchards he would sit down and
write those wonderful things in the
| Bible. drawing his illustrations from
| the fruits lie had that very morning
| DluCkcQ vi IIuutl -iIlA, WISH
| ing TO praise the coming Christ, lie
says: LAS the apple tree among the
trees of the wood. so is my beloved"
And wishing TO describe the love OF
| the church for her Lord he writes:
Comfort ne with apples. for | am sick
! OF love-" and desiring to make refer
erce to the white hair of the octoge-
marian. and just before having noticed
that the blossoms of the almond tree
were white, he says OF the aged man:
The almond tree shall flourish" The
walnuts and the pomegranates, and
the mandrakes, and the figs make Sol
onon's writings a divinely arranged
fruit basket.
What mean Solomon's orchards and
SolOmon's gardens? for they seem to
mingle, the two into one, flowers under
foot. and pomegranates over head. To
me they suggest that religion is luz
ury. All along. the world has looked
upon religion chiefly as a dire neces-
sity--a lifeboat from the shipwreck. q
ladder from the confagration, soft
landing-place after we have been SHOW
ed off the preclpice Of this planet. AS