St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1897-12-18

j laid hold Of that tree with
both arms, aud shook IL till The ground
all around looked like an orchard the
morning after an autunna equinox;
and careful Test he step 0n some VI the
fruit, gathered up basletful OF it fol
the Galatians, crying out: .'The fruit
Of the spirit il love, joy, pence. long
suffering. gentleness. goodness. faith,
Ineelxness. temperance" The other two
trees OF Pilates orchard were loaded,
the one with the hard fruits Of obdura,
| cy. and the other with the tender fruit
of repentance. but the center tree (how
will ever forget the day sat ON the
exact place where it was planted9--
the center tree Of that orchard
yields the antidote for the poisoned
nations. There il in old England
the hollow OF tree where Z king hid
and there is in New England tree in
which document Of national impor-
tance was kept inviolatc; and there
have been trees of great glrth and inn
mensc shade and vast wealth Of fruit
age. but no other tree had such value
of "Reminiscences. or depth Of root OF
spread of branch. or in6nitude Of
fruitage rs the center tree Of Pilates
orchard. Before / pass this day
from under it / would like TO
drop on both knees and, with
both hands outspread and uplifted
toward the heavens. cry ont with al
the nations Of earth and Heaven: II
believe in God. the Father Almighty,
Maker of Heaven and earth. aud in
Jesus Christ. His only Son. our Lord.
who was conceived by the Holy Ghost
born Of the Virgin Mary, suffered nm
der Pontius Plate. was crucified. dead.
and buried. He descended into hell.
The third day He rose from the dead.
He ascended into Heaven. and sitteth
ON the right hand of God, the Father
Almighty. From thence He shall come
to judge the quick and the dead"
Now. in this discourse OF the Pomol-
ogy Of the Bible. or God amid the
orchards, having shown you Adams
orchard. and Solomon's orchard, and
Pilates orchard. now take you into
St. Johns orchard; and I will stop
there. for having seen that you will
want to see nothing more. St. John
himself. having seen that orchard. dis
charged q whole volume Of Come!
Come! Come! and then pronounced
the benediction: 1.-The grace OF
Our Lord Jesus Christ be with
you all. Amen" Then the banished
evangelist closes the book. and the BIZ
BILE is done. The dear old book opened
with Adams orchard and closes with
St Johns orchard. St John went
into this orchard through . stone gate.
the black basalt Of the Isle Of Patmos,
to which he had been exiled. That
orchard which he saw was and is in
Heaven. One person will err in speak
ing of Heaven Is all material, aud an
other person Describes Heaven rs all
figurative and spiritual, and both
are wrong. Heaven il both ma
terial and spiritual as we arc
both material and spiritual. While
much of the Bible account of Heaven
is to be taken 6guratively and spirit
ually, it is plain to me that Heaven has
also q material existence. Christ said:
II go to prepare . place for YOU" ls
not . place material? God, who has
done all the world-building. the statis-
tics of stars SO vast as to be . bewildcr-
ment to telescopes, could have some
where in His astronomy piled up .
tremendous world to make the Bible
Heaven true. both as a material
splendor and > spiritual domain.
While there is enough Of tho pomp
OF the city about Heaven for those who
like the city best, thank God there il
enough in the Bible about country
scenery iu Heaven TO please those OF
us who were born in the country and
never got over it. Now. you may have
streets of gold in Heaven; give me the
orchards, with twelve manner Of fruits,
and yielding their fruit every month.
and the leaves Of the trees are for 1.-The
healing Of the nations; and there shall
be NO more curse. but the throne Of
God aud OF the Lamb shall be in it; and
His servants shall serve Him; and they
shall see His face, and His name shall
be in their foreheads: and there shall
be no night there, and they need
no candle, neither light Of the
sum- for the Lord God giveth
them light; and they shalt
reign for ever and ever" But just
think of place 50 brilliant that the
MONDAY sun shall be removed from
the mantle Of the sky because it is too
feeble taperl Yet, most Of all. sm I
impressed with the fact that an not
yet fit for that place, nor you either.
by the reconstructing and sanctifying
grace of Christ we need to be made ali
over. And let Us be getting our passports
reaay il we want to get into that coun-
try. An earthly passport 10 . personal
matter. telling our height, our girth,
the color Of our hair. our features, our
complexion and our age. can not get
into . foreign port on your passport,
nor can you get in on mine. Each one
Of US for himself needs . divine sigma
ture. written by the wounded hand Of
the Son Of God to get into the Heavenly
orchard, under the laden branches OF
which. in GOd's good time. we may
meet the Adam Of the frat orchard,
and the Solomon Of the second ORCH
ard, and the St John of the last ORCH
ard, to sit down under the tree Of which
the church in the Book Of Canticles
speaks when it says: "As the apple treo
among the trees Of the wood. 90 il my
beloved among the sons ! sat
down under 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 haukering after
one thing more. and that religion In