The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-11-23

wants h stimulants OF strong drinks.
he wants the permission OF a prodigate
life. The n membership. the one bad
habit, the One carousal, robs him of all
the possibilities n innocent enjoy
ments and noble inspirations Of q life
time. BY one mouthful OF forbidden
fruit he losses a whole orchard Of fruit
unforbidden.
You see what an expensive thing is sin
1t cost a thousand. times more than it
is worth. AS some Of all kinds of quad
rupeds and all kinds Of winged crea-
lures passed before our progenitor that
he might a name, from eagle
to bat n from lion to mole, so I
suppose there were in paradise speci-
mems Of every kind OF fruit tree. And
in hat enormous orchard there was not
only enough for The original family OF
two, but enough fruit fell ripe to the
ground and was never picked up to sup
ply whole towns and villages, if they
had existed. But the infatuated couple
turned away from all those other trees
and faced this tree, the fruit Of that
they will have though it cost them all
paradise.
THE EDENIC STORY REPEATED.
This story Of Eden is rejectedb by some
as an i~mprobability, If not an impOssi-
bility, but nothing on earth is easier
for me to believe than the truth Of this
Edenic story, for I have seen the same
thing in this year of our Lord 1897
I could call them by name, if it were
polite and righteous to do so, the men
who have sacrificed a paridise on earth
and a paradise in heaven for one sin.
Their house went. Their library went.
Their good name went. Their field Of
usefulness went. Their health went.
Their immortal soul went. My friends
there is just one sin that will turn you
out Of paradise if you do not quit it.
You know what it is, and God knows,
and you had better drop the hand and
arm lifted toward that bending bough
before you pluck your own ruin. When
Adam stood on tiptOe and took in his
right hand that one round peach or
apricot or apple, satan reached up n
pulled down the round, beautiful world
of our present residence. Overworked
artist, overwrought merchant, ambi-
tious politician, avarious speculator,
better take that warning from Adam 8
orchard and stop before you put out
for that one thing more.
But 1 urn from Adams orchard to
Solomon's rchard. With his own hand
he writes, Il made me gardens and or
chards." Not depending on the natural
fall Of rain, he irrigated those orchards.
Pieces of the aQueduct that watered
those gardens I | have seen, and the res
ervoirs are as perfect as when thous-
and Of years ago the mason's trowel
smoothed the mortar over their gray
surfaces. No orchard of olden or mod
ern time, probably, ever had it's thirst
SO we'll slaked. LIE largest Of those res
ervOirs is 582 feet long, 207 feet wide
and so feet deep. These reservoirs
Solomon refers to When he says, Il
made me pools of water, to water there
with the wood that bringeth forth
trees" Solomon used to ride out to
that orchard before breakfast. 1t gave
him an appetite and something to think
about ALL the day. Josephus, the his
torian represents him as going out
"early in the morning from Jerusalem
to the famed rocks of Etam, a fertile
religion, delightful with paradises and
running springs. Thither the king, in
robes of white, rode in his chariot es-
corted by a troop Of archers
chosen for their youth and stature and
clad in Tyrian purple, whose long hair,
powdered with gold dust, sparkled in
the sum-"
After Solomon had taken his morn
ing ride in these luxuriant orchards he
would sit down and write those Won
derful things III the Bible, drawing his
illustrations from the fruits he had that
very morning plucked or ridden under,
and wishing to praise the coming Christ
he says, LAS the apple tree among the
trees Of the wood, SO is my beloved"
And wishing to describe the love Of the
church for her Lord, he writes, Com
fort me with apples, for I am sick of
love-" and desiring to make reference
to the white hair Of tn, o-ctOgenarian,
and just before having noticed that the
I1oo.o~~- 90 tho o1roo-1 &~oo 0ryh r.
he says of the aged man, "Thea almonds
trees sha flourish" The walnuts and
the pomegranates and the mandrakes
and the figs make Solomon's writings a
divinely arranged fruit basket.
RELIGION A LUXURY.
What mean Solomon's orchards and
Solomon's gardens, for they seem to
mingle. the two into one, flowers I'M
derfoot and pomegranates overhead!
To me they suggest that religion is a
luxury. All along the world has looked
upon religion chiefly as a dire necessity
Ia lifeboat from the shipwreck, a lad.
der from the cOnflagation, a soft land
ing place after we have beeen showed of
the precipice of this planet. AS a con.
sequence so many have said, eve will
await preparation for the future unit
the crash Of the ~shipwreck, until the
Is III IuIl DldZo, ulCll W.
reach the brink of the p~recipice." M
doubt religion is inexpressibly impor'
tant for the last exigency. But wha1
do the apples and the figs and thu
melons and the p~omegranates and tn
citron and the olives Of Solomon's or
chard mean? Luxury. They meal
that our religion is the l~ucious, the arc
matte, the pungent, the arbOrescent, tn
ef1orescent, the foliaged, the umbrag
eous They mean what Edward Pay
son meant when he declared, IF m!
happiness continues to increase, I cal
not support it much longer" 1t mean
what Bapa Padmanji a Hindoo CONVEX
meant when he said, II long for m,
bed, not hat I may sleep-I lie awak
often and long-but to hold communion
with my God"
1t means what the colored man sal,
when he was accosted by the colpor
teur ''I1pcle lack. how are yOu?" 9