Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1897-12-10

and clad In lEfllu purple Wnu~- long hair
powdered with gold dust. sparkled In the
sun. After solomon had taken his morn
ing ride In these luKuriaut orchards. lac
would sit down and write those wonderful
things In the Bible, drawing his ilusira-
tions from the fruits he had that very
morning plurked or ridden under.
What mean S0lom0u's orchards and Sol
onions gardens for they seem TO mingio
the two into one flowers undrrioot, and
pomegmnates overhead. To me they -ug-
gest that religion l. "A luxury. They mean
that our religion is the luscious, the arc
matte. the pungent the ab0rescent, the
effiOre-cent, the foliaged, the outrageous.
They mean what Edward PaysOn meant
when he declared. II my happiness con-
tinues to Increase / cannot support u much
longer" 1. means what Bapa Padmauii,
a Hindoo convert, meant when he said: 81
long for nv bed, not that ! may slerp-l
lie awake often and long-but TO hold COM
munion with my God.
You think religion is good thing for
n funeral Oh. yes. But SOlOmOn's orchard
means more. Religion Is a good thing
now when you are IN health and PROSPER
ty and the appetite is good for citronS,
and apples, and apricOts, and prOmegran-
atas religion for the funeral. OH YES:
but religion for the wedding breakfast: re-
lirion for the brightest spring morning
and autumn's most gorgeous sunset. Re-
Iipion for the day when the stocks are up
inst a. much as when stocks are down.
Religion when inspiration is easy, rs well
AS for the last gasp; when the temperature
is normal. as well as when il reaches lOI.
1t may be bold thing To say, but | risk
it, that IL all the people, without respect to
belief or character, at death passed into
everlasting happiness, religion for this
world is such luxury that no man or
woman could afford 10 do without II. The
dear old book opened with Adams orchard
and closes with st. Johns orchard. St.
John went into the orchard through
stone gate, the black basalt OF the Isle OF
Patmos. to which he had been exilcd.
That orchard which he saw was and is
in heaven. One person will err in speak
ing Of heaven as all material, aud another
person describes heaven as all iiguratiye
and spiritual, and both are wrong. Heaven
is both material and spiritual, rs we are
both material and spiritual. While much
Of the Bible account Of heaven is to be
taken lguratively and spiritually, it is plain
TO me that heaven has also a material exist
eucc.
How much was literal and how much was
ilguratve, | cannot say, but 81. john saw
two rows OF trees on each side of u river
and it differed from other orchards in the
fact that the trees bore twelve manner 81
fruits. The learned translRters Of our COM
mon Bible say il means twelve different
kinds Of fruits in one year Albert Barnes
says in means twelve crops of the same
kind Of fruit in one year. Not able to de-
eide which is the more accurate tranSla-
ton. | adopt both. II it mean twelve dit
iereut kinds OF fruit, it declares variety In
heavenly JOY. II II means twelve crops Of
the same Kind Of fruit, 1t declares abuu-
dance in heavenly Joy, aud they are both
true. Variety: Oh yes, Not an eternity
with nothing but music that Orat0rio
would be too protracted. Not an eternity
Of procession on white hOrscs-that would
be too long in the stirrups Not an eternity
Of watching the river that would be too
much OF the picturesque. Not an eternity
Of plucking fruits from the tree of life
that would be too much OF the heavenly
orchard. But all manner OF varieties. aud
| will tell you 81 at least twelve ui those
varieties JOY ot divine worship; JOY over
the victories ofthe Lamb who was siHiu;
JOY over the repentant sinners; Joy of re-
counting our own rescue: JOY of embracing
old friends; JOY at recognition OF patriarras,
apostles, evangeists and martyrs; Joy Of
ringing harmOnies; JOY OF reknitting oroaeu
friendship; joy at the explanation o. Pcoyi-
Dental mysteries; Joy at walking the houlr-
wards Of gold; Joy at looking at walls green
with emerald, and blue with sapphire, aud
crimson with jasper, and aAash with ame-
luN-lr tuktltb tNItuEl SWINGING gates,
their posts, the hinges and their panels OF
richest pearl; JOY that thorc is to be no sub
sidence, no reaction, no terminus 10 the
felicity.
While there is enough of the pomp OF the
city about heaven for those who ike tho
city best, ! thank God there Is enough in
the Bible about country scenery in heaven
to please those of us who were born in the
country and never got over It. Now. YOU
hnyp the GtFppt. Of Gold u hpnEup
give me the orchards. with twelve manner
OF fruits, and yielding their fruit every
month; and the leaves of the trees are for
the healing Of the nations: and there
shall be no more curse. but the throne of
God and the Lamb shall he in 1t; and His
servants shall serve Him; and they shall
see His face, and His name shall be in
their foreheads; and there shall he no
night there; and they need no candle,
neither light OF the sun, for the Lord
God giveth them light: and they shall
reign for ever and ever But Just think Of
a place so brilliant that the MONDAY sun
shall be removed from the mantle of the
sky because it is too feeble Rtaper. Yet most
Of all am | impressed with the fact that
am not yet lit for that place. nor you
either. By the reconstructing and sane
tiIying grace iof Christ we need TO be
made all over. And let us be getting our
passports ready If we want to get into
that country. An earthly passport is
personal matter, telling our height, our
girth, the color Of our hair, our features.
our complexion, and our age. l cannot
get into foreign port on your passport,
nor can you get in on mine. Each one Of
us for himself needs Il divine signature,
written by the wounded hand of the Son Of
God. to get into the hesvenly orchard, I'M
der the laden branches OF which, in Gods
good time, we may meet the Adam of the
first orchard and the solomon OF the sec
ond orchard, and the st. john of the last
orchard, to sit down under the tree of
which the church in the Book Of Canticles
speaks when it says: AS the apple tree
among the trees of the wood, SO is my
Beloved among the sons. l sat down un-
der His shadow with great delight and His
fruit was 'sweet to my taste:'' and there it
may be found that to-day we learned the
danger OF hankering after one thing more,
and that religion is a luxury, and that
there is a divine antidote for all poisons,
and that we had created In us an appetite
for heaven, and that it was wholesome
and saving thing for US to have discoursed
on the pomology of the Bible, or God
4l,. u nrI,