The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1897-12-23

ana careful lest ilS Slcp On some Oh tliS
fruit, gathered up a bashetful of it for
the Galatians, crying out: The fruit
of the spirit is love, JOY, peace, long
suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meeknesS, temperance. 1.-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 chow
will | ever forget the day sat on the
exact place where it was planted.)--
the center tree OF that orchard
yields the antidote for the poisoned
nations. There is in old England
the hollow of Il tree where king hill
and there is in New England a tree in
which a document of national impor-
lance was kept inviolate: and there
have been trees of great glrth aud inn
mensc shade and vast wealth of fruit
age, but no other tree had such value
of "reminiscences, or depth of root, or
spread of branch, or infnitude OF
fruitage as the center tree of Pilates
orchard. Before l pass this day
from under it | would like to
drop on both knees and, with
both hands outspreud and uplifted
toward the heavens, cry out with all
the nations of earth and Heaven: Il
believe i'll God, the Father Almighty,
! Maker of Heaven and earth, and in
Jesus Christ, His only Son. our Lord,
who was conceived By the Holy Ghost.
| born of the Virgin Mary, suffered un.
! der pontius PLATE. was crucifed. dead,
and buried. He descended into hell.
The third day lie rose from the dead.
He assembled into Heaven, and sitteth
on the right hand of God, the Father
Almighty. From thence lie 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 | will stop
there, for having seen that, You will
want to see nothing more. st. John
himself, having seen that orchard, dis
charged a whole volume of Come.
Come. Come. and then pronounced
the bencdiction: The grace of
Oar 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 a stone gate,
the black basalt of the Isle of Patlnos,
to which he hal been eXiIeu. That
orchard which he saw was and is in
Heaven. One person will err in speak
ing of Heaven as all material, and an
other person describes Heaven as all
figurative and spiritual, and both
are wrong. Heaven is both ma.
terial and Spiritual. as we are
both material and spiritual. While
much Of the Bible account of Heaven
is to be taken fguratively and spirit,
ually, it is plain to me that Heaven has
also material existence. Christ said
Il go to prepare a place for YOU" Is
not u place material? God, who has
done all the world-building. the stats,
ties of stars SO vast as to be a bewilder.
ment to telescopes, could have some
where in His astronomy piled up 1
tremendous world to make the Bible
Heaven true, both as Il materia
splendOr and q spiritual domain
While there is enough of the POM
of the city about Heaven for those wht
} like the city best, | thank God there i.
, enough in the Bible about countr,
. scenery in Heaven to please those OF
US who were born in the country anC
never got over it. Now, you may hav,
streets Of gold in Heaven; give me thy
orchards, with twelve manner Of frui IS
) and yielding their fruit every month
and the leaves of the trees are for the
healing Of the nations; and there Shall
be 10 more curse, but the throne 0
God and of the Lamb shall be in it; an,
= His servants shall serve Him: and they
: shall see His face, and His name shal
be in their foreheads; and there sllal
be no night there, and they neet
no candle, neither light of til,
t sun, for the Lord God givetl
4 them light; and they shal
, reign for ever and ever But Jus
: think of d place SO brilliant that the
S MONDAY sun shall be removed from
2 the mantle OF the Sky because it is to-
: feeble a taper. Yet, most of all. am
l. impressed with the fact that | am not
, yet tit for that place, nor you either
+ BY the recOnstructlng and sanctifvin2
: grace Of Christ we need to be made al
: over And letus be getting our passport
t ready if we want to get int to that couu
| try. An earthly passport is a persona
: matter, telling our height, our girth
Z the color of our hair, our features on
= complexion and our age | can not pc
into foreign port on your passport
S nor can you get in on mine. Each on
e of US for himself needs divine sigma
o ture, written by the wounded hand O
5 the Son of God to get into the Heavenl
t orchard, under the laden branches G
e which, in Gods good time, we ma
t meet the Adam OF the first orchard
i and the solomon of the second orch
e ard, and the st. John of the last orc
t ard. to sit down under the tree of whic
t the church in the Book of Canticle
Y speaks when it says: las the apple tire
t among the trees of the wood, SO is IN
e beloved among the sons. | S,