The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1897-11-19
FRUIT IN THE BIBLE.
REV. DR.. TALMAGE ON GOD IN MA
TURE.

of the Bible-The Country versus the
City.
copyright 1897. by American Press Asso-
ciation.l
WASHINGTON, Nov. 14.-Dr. Talmage
finds the divine hand in all the domin-
ions of the natural world, and this ser
mon presents religion in its most radi-
ant attractiveness. The text is Genesis
i, IL, 1.-The fruit tree yielding fruit aft
er his kind. "
1t is Wednesday morning in paradise.
The birds did not sing their opening
piece, nor the fish take their first swim
until the following Friday. The solar
and lunar lights did not break through
the thick, chaotic fog of the world S
manufacture until Thursday Before
that there was light but it was electric
light or phosphorescent light not the
light of sun or moon. But the botanic
al and genealogical productions came on
Wednesday-fr the flowers and then
the fruits. The veil of fog is lifted, and
there stand the orchards. Watch the
sudden maturity of the fruit In our
time pear trees must have two years be-
fore they bear fruit, and peach trees
three years, and apple trees five years,
but here instantly complete orchard
springs into life, all the branches bear
ing fruit. The insectile forces, which
have been doing their worst to destroy
the fruits for &, 600 years, had not yet
begun their invasion. The curculio had
not yet stung the plum, nor the cater
pillar hurt the apple, nor had the phyl-
loxera plague, which has devastated the
vineyards of America and France, as
sailed the grapes, nor the borer perforat-
ed the wood, nor the aphides ruined the
cherry, nor the grub punctured the nee
tarine. nor the blight struck the pear
There stood the first orchard, with a
perfection of rind, and an exquisiteness
of color, and lusciousness of taste
and an aff1uence of production which it
may take thousands of years more of
study of the science of fruits to repro
duce.
The Orchards.
Why was the orchard created two
days before the fish and birds and three
days before the cattle? Among other
things, to impress the world with les
son it is too stupid to learn-that fruit
diet is healthier than meat diet, and
that the former must precede the latter
The reason there are in the world so
many of the imbruted and sensual is
that they have not improved by the
mighty, unnoticed fact that the or
chards of paradise preceded the herds
and aviaries and fish ponds. Oh, those
fruit bearing trees on the banks of the
Euphrates and the Gihon and the Hid
dekel wonder not that the ancient |
Romans, ignorant of our God, adored |
Pomona, the goddess of fruits, and that |
ali the sylvan deities were said to Yor-
ship her, and that groves were set apart |
as her temples. You have thanked God
for bread Thousand times. Have you
thanked him for the fruits which he
made the first course Of food in the menu
OF the worlds table? The acids of those
fruits to keep the world 8 table from be-
ing insipid. and their sweets to keep it
from being too souri,
At this autumnal season how the or
BlOW, GLo LEAVES IT,
moved, that the crimson, or pink, or
saffron, or the yellow, or brown may
the better appear, while the aromatics
fill the air with invitation and reminis-
cence. AS you pass through the orchard
ON these autumnal days and look up
through the arms of the trees laden with
fruit you hear humping on the ground
hot 1nb f11llx yriTn
your arms around the trunk, you give
shake that sends down shower of gold
and fire on all sides Of you. Pile up in
baskets and barrels and bins and on
shelves and tables the divine supply.
But these orchards have been under the
ASSAULT of at least 90 centuries-the
storm, the drtughts, the winters the
What must the first orchard
have been? And yet it is the explorers
evidence that on the site of that orchard
there is not an apricot, or an apple, or
III olive-nOthing but desert and DESC
alton. There is not enough to forage
,he explorer 5 horse, much less to feed
ais own hunger In other words, that
irst orchard is lost orchard. How did
ihe proprietor and the proprietress of
Ill that lntercolumnlation of fruitage
ct the rich splendOr slip their posses
non! 1t was as now most of the or
lizards are lOst-namely, by wanting
more. Access they had to all the fig
rees aprlcots. walnuts, almonds, APP
)les- bushels ON bushels-and were for
hidden the use of only one tree in the
richard Not satisfied with all but one,
hey reached for that and lost the whole
richard.
Go right down through the business
narts of the great cities and find among
he weighers and clerks and subordi- ]
ates men who once commanded the
world They had whole
richard of successes, but they wanted
ust one more thing-one more house or
ne more country seat or one more store
T one more railroad or one more million.
hey clutched for that and lost all they
ad gained For one more tree they lost !
whole orchard. There are business {
hen all around us worried nearly to 6
cath. The doctor tells them they ought t
D stop Insomnia or indigestion or ach- c
no at the ba ca of the hrain or I1npOvern- I