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

pOMOLOGY OF THE BIBLE.
Or. Talmage Talks About God
Among the Orchards.
The Adams aud Evss and Apple Trees Of
Of To-DAy-rhe Tree In the Or.
ehard of FIlats The Prom-
ises Of st. John.
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage. in the fol-
lowing sermon, presents religion in ita
most attractive form. The text is:
The fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind
Genesis LIZ
It 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 tho 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 pOmO-
logical productions came ON Wednes-
day-first the flowers, and then the
fruits. The vail Of fog il lifted.
and there stand the orchards.
Watch the sudden maturity Of
tho 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.
instantly, complete orchard springs
into life. al the branches bearing
fruit The insectile forces, which have
been doing their worst to destroy
the fruits for COCO years, had not yet
begun their invasion. The curculi0
had not yet stung the plum. nor the
caterpillar hurt the apple, nor had the
phylloxera plague. which has devas-
tated the vineyards OF America and
France. assailed the grapes, nor the
borer perforated the wood. nor the
aphides ruined the cherry. nor the
grub punctured the nectarine, nor the
blight struck tho pear. There stood
the first orchard. with . perfection Of
rind. and exquisiteness Of color, and .
lusciousness Of taste, and an afnuence
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 aud birds, aud
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 preccde
the latter. The reason there are in the
world SO many Of the imbruted and
sensual il that they haze 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
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 that
groves were set apart as her temples.
You have thanked God for bread q
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 it
from being sourf
At this autumnal season how the
orchards breathe and glow, the leaves
that the crimson, or pink. or
saffron. or the yellow, or brown may
the better appear. while the arOmatics
6ll the air with invitation and remi-
As you pass through the
orchard ON these autumnsl days and
look up through the arms Of the trees
laden with fruit. you hear humping
on the ground that which u fully ripe.
and. throwing your arms around the
trunk, you give . shake that sends
down a 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
have been under the assault
Of at least 80 centuries-the storm. the
droughts. the winters. the insect
ivora. What must the FIRST orchard
have been1 And yet 10 the ex-
plore's evidence that on the site
Of that orchard there is not IN apricot,
Or IN apple, or m olive--nothing but
desert and desolation. There is not
enough to forage the explorers horse.
much less to feed his own hunger. In
other words. that first orchard is lost
orchard. How did the proprietor and
the proprietress Of all that intercolum-
NATION Of fruitage let the rich splen-
dor alp their possession? It was -
now most Of the orchards are lost;
by wanting more. Access
they had to all the fig trees, apricots,
walnuts. almonds. apples-bushels on
were forbidden the use Of
only one tree in the orchard. Not
with al but one, they reached
for that and lost the whole or
chard. Go right down through the
business marts of the great cities and
6nd among the weighers and clerks
and sub0rdinates, men who once COM
manded the commercial world. They
had whole orchard Of successes, but
they wanted just one more thing, one
more house. or one more country seat,
or one more store, or one more rail-
road. or one more million. They
clutched for that and lost all they
gained. For one more tree they lost .
whole orchard. There are business
men al around us worried nearly to
death. The doctor tells them
they ought to stop. Insom-
nia Or indigestion or aching at
the hose of the brain or mn.