The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1897-12-23
POMOLOGY OF THE BIBLE.
Or. Talmage Talks About God
Among the Orchards.
The Adams and Ewes and Apple Trees OF
of To-Day-The Tree In the Or
chard OF Pilate-The Prom
Uses OF st. John.

Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage, in the fol-
lowing sermon, presents religion in its
most attractive form. The text is:
The fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind
Genesis IL
1t is Wednesday morning IN Para
disc. 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 worlds manufacture until
Thursday. Before that there was
light, but it was electric light or phos-
phorescent light, not the light of sun
or moon. But the botanical and pono-
logical productions came on Wednes-
day-trst the flowers, and then the
fruits. The vail 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 before they
bear fruit, and peach trees three years,
and apple trees five years; but here,
v,
into life, all the branches bearing
fruit The insectile forces, which have
been doing their worst to destroy
the fruits for 5000 years, had not yet
begun their invasion. The curculio
had not yet stung the plum, nor the
caterpillar hurt the apple, nor had the
phylloxera plague. which has devas-
tuted the vineyards of America and
France. assaulted the grapes, nor the
borer perforated the wood, nor the
aphides ruined the cherry, nor the
grub punctured the nectarine, nor the
| blight struck the pear. There stood
the first orchard, with a perfection of
rind, and exquisiteness of color. and a
| lusciousness Of taste. and an atf1 uence
of production which it may take thou
sands of years more of study Of the
science of fruits to reproduce.
| 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 lesson 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
orchards of paradise preceded the
herds. and aviaries, and fish ponds.
Oh, those fruit-bearing trees on the
banks of the Euphrates and the Gihon
| h. Ii I,1- al I l., "a
the ancient Romans, ignorant of our
God, adored Pomona, the Goddess OF
Fruits, and that all the sylvan deities
were said to worship her. and tina,
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 worlds table from being
insipid, and their sweets to keep i
from being sour?
At this autumnal season how the
orchards breathe and glow, the leave.
removed that the crimson, or pink, OF
saffron, or the yellow, or brown may
the better appear, while the aromatics
fill the air with invitation and remi
niscences. AS you pass through the
orchard on these autumnal days ano
look up through the arms of the tree!
laden with fruit, you hear humping
on the ground that which is fully ripe
and, throwing your arms around the
trunk, you give a shake that send
down a shower Of gold and fire on al
sides of you. Pile up in baskets ant
barrels and bins and on shelves ant
tables the divine supply. But thes'
orchards have been under the assault
of at least 60 centures-the storm. tn,
droughts, the winters, the insect
ivora. What must the first orchar,
have been? And yet is the ex
? plorer's evidence that on the sit
of that orchard there is not an apricot
or an apple, or an olive-nothing bu
desert and desolation. There is no
enough to forage the explorers horse
!. much less to feed his own hunger. Il
other words, that first orchard is los
!: orchard. How did the proprietor an
the proprietress of all that intercolum
VI IL lCb Vic liCi Spltu
dor slip their possession? 1t was a
: now most of the orchards are lost
: namely, by wanting more. Access
s they had to all the fig trees, apricot.
s walnuts, almonds. apples-bushels O
s bushels-and were forbidden the use G
!: only one tree in the orchard. No
5 satisfied with all but one, they reache
!: for that and lost the whole o.
!, chard. Go right down through tn
5 business marts of the great cities an
: find among the weighers and clerk
and subordinates, men who once con
manded the commercial world. The
had whole orchard of successes, bu
they wanted just one more thing, on
more house, or one more country sea
or one more store, or one more raj
road, or one more million. The
clutched for that and lost all the
gained. For one more tree they lost
whole orchard. There are busine.
men all around us worried nearly t
death. The doctor tells thel
they ought to stop. Inson
MIA or indigestion or aching ;