The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1897-12-18

long, 2O7 feet wide and 81 feet deep.
These reservoirs Solomon refers to
when he says: ~ made me pools of
water, TO water Herewith 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.
After Solomon had taken his morn
ing ride in these luxurious orchards
he would sit down and write those
wonderful things in the Bible, draw
ing his illustrations from the fruits he
had hat morning plucked or ridden
under. And, wishing TO praise the
coming Christ, he says: "As the apple
tree among trees of the wood, so is my
beloved" And wishing to describe
the love of the church for her Lord, he
writes: Comfort me with apples, for
l am sick of love" What mean Solo
mons orchards and Solomon's gardens?
for they seem to mingle, the two
into one, flowers under foot, and
pomegranates over head. To me they
suggest that religion is a luxury.
They mean hat our religion is the
luscious, the aromatic, the pungent,
the arborescent, the efiorescent, the
foliaged, the outrageous They mean
what Edward Payson meant when he
declared: IF my happiness continues
to increase 1 cannot support 1t much
longer" 1t means what Bahia Pad
mani, a Hlndoo convert, meant when
he said: II long for my bed, not that
I may sleep-I lie awake often and
long-but to hold communion with my
God"
An old and poor musician played so
well one night before his king that the
next morning when the musician
awoke he found his table covered with
golden cups and plates, and a princely
robe lying across the back Of a chair,
and richly caparisoned horses were
paving at the doorway to take him
through the street in imposing equi-
It was only a touch of what
comes to every man who makes the
Lord his portion, for he has waiting
for him, direct from his King, robes,
banquets, chariots, mansions, tri-
umphs, and it is only a question of
time when he shall wear them, drink
them, ride in them, live in them, and
celebrate them.
You think religion is a good thing
for a funeral o, yes But Solomon's
orchard means more. Religion is a
good thing now. when you are in
health and prosperity and the appetite
is good for cltrons, and apples, and
apricots, and p-omegranates. Come In
without wasting any time in talking
about them and take the luxuries of
-a1f1i4n Honnu unurcalf than un1
can make others happy. Make just
one person happy every day, and in 20
years o will have made 1880 people
happy. My friends, we ought never
to be reckless, but If, through the par
doning and rescuing grace of Christ,
you have gained the victory over sin
and death and hell, you need fear
nothing on the earth or under the
earth. Religion for the funerali o,
yes; but religion for the wedding
breakfast; religion for the brightest
spring morning and autumn's most
gorgeous sunset. Religion for the day
when stocks are up, just as much
when stocks are down. Reli-
gion when respiration is easy, as we'll
for the last gasp; when the temper
allure is normal, as well as when 1t
reaches 104. 1t may be a bold thing
to say, but I risk it, that If all people,,
without respect to belief or character,
ut death passed into everlasting happi-
ness, religion for this world is such a
that no a or oma could
afford TO do without It,
The dear old book opened with
orchard and closes with st.
Johns orchard st. John went into
orchard through a stone gate, the
black basalt of the Isle of Patmos. to
he had been exiled- 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
and spiritual, and both are
Heaven is both material and
spiritual, as we are are both material
and spiritual. While much of the Bible
account of Heaven Is to be taken hgur-
and spiritually, 1t Is plain to
me that Heaven has also a material
Christ said: II go to pre-
pare a place for you" Is not a place
naterials God, who has done all the
world-building, the statistics OF stars
so vas as 10 be q bewilderment to tele-
could have somewhere in His
piled up a tremendous world
to make the Bible Heaven true, both
as a material splendor aud a spiritual
l do not believe God put all
the flowers, and all the precious stones,
and all the bright metals, and all the
music, and all the fountains, and all
the orchards In this little world of
ours. How much was literal and how
much was fgurative, 1 cannot say;
but St John saw two rows OF trees
on each side of q river, and it dit
from other orchards in the
fact that the trees bore IL manner OF
The learned translators of our
sommon Bible say it means - different
kinds Of fruits in N year. Albert
Barnes says it means Ia crops of the
same kind of fruit in M year. Not
able to decide which Is the more accu'
rate translation, I adopt both. If 1t
mean ls different kinds of fruit. 1t de-
variety In heavenly joy. If 1t
means 10 crops of the same kind Of
fruit, 1t declares abundance in heaven
" joy, and they are both true.
VARIETY Oh, yesi Not an eternity
nothing but music; that
oratorio would be too p~rotracted.
Not an eternity of procession
IN white horses: that would be too