The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-11-23
THE BIBLE ORCHARD.
DR.. TALMAGE'S SERMON ON THE
FRUITS OF PARADISE.

Solomon's Orchards and Gardens.
copyright, by American Press Asso-
ciation.)
DR.. Talmage finds the divine hand
in all the dominions of the natural
world, and this sermon presents relig-
ion in it's most radiant attractiveness.
The text is Genesis i, II, THE fruit
tree yielding fruit after his kind"
1t is Wednesday morning in paradise.
The birds did not sing their opening
piece nor the fish take their first swim
until the following Friday. The solar
and lunar lights aid not break through
the thick, choatic fog Of the worlds
manufacture until Thursday. Before
that there was light, but it was electric
light or phosphorescent light, not the
light Of sun or moon But the botani-
cal and genealogical productions came
on Wednesday-first the flowers and
then the fruit. The veil Of fog Is lift
ed, and there stands the orchards.
Watch the sudden maturity of the 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 a complete or
chard springs into life, all the branches
bearing fruit. The insectile forces,
which have been doing their worst to
destroy the fruits for 5000 years, had
not yet begun their invasion. The cur
-culiO had not yet stung the plum, nor
the caterpillar hurt the apple, nor had
thy phylloxera plague, which a de-
vested the vineyards of America n
France, assailed the grapes, o the
tborer perforated he wood, nor the ap-
hides ruined the cherry, nor the grub
punctured the nectarine. nor the
blight struck the pear. There stood
the first orchard, with a perfection of
rind, and al exquisiteness of color, and
a lusciousness Of taste, and an afflu-
ence Of production which it may lake
thousands Of years more Of study f
the science of fruits to reproduce.
THE FRUIT DIET.
Why was the orchard created W
days before the fish and birds and
three days before the cattle? Among
other things, to impress the world with
a lesson it is too stupid to earn-that
fruit diet is healthier than meat diet,
and that the former must precede the
latter. The reason there are in the
world so many of the imbruted and sem
sual is that they have not improved by
the mighty, unnoticed fact that the
orchards of paradise preceded the
herds and avaries and the fish ponds.
Oh, those fruit bearing trees on the
banks Of the E~uphrates, and the Gihon
and the Hiddekel! I wonder not that
the ancient Romans, ignorant Of our
God, adored Pomona, the goddess of
fruits, and that all the sylvan dieties
were said to worship her. and that
groves were set apart as her temples.
You have thanked God for bread a
Thousand times. Have o 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 stable from being in
Siuid, and their sweets to keep it from
bNag too Jour?
Etthis autumna1 season how the or
chards breathe the glow, the leaves re-
moved that the crimson or pink or SAT-
from or yellow or brown may the better
appear, while the aromatics fill the air
with invitation and "reminiscences. AS
you pass through the orchard on these
autumnal days and look up through
the arms of the trees laden with fruit
you near humping on the ground that
WHICH AS July ripe, dIlu lIS yum
arms around the trunk you give a
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 orchards have been under
the~assault of at least 60 centuries
the storni, Tho droushts, the winters,
the insectivora. What must the
first orchard have been? And yet 1t is
the explorers evidence that on the site
of that orchard there is not an apricot
or an apple, or an olive-nOthing but
desert and desolation. There, Is not
enough to forage the explorers horse
much less to feed his own hunger. Ir
other words, the first orchard Is a los
= orchard. How did the proprietor anG
\ the proprietress of all that intercolum'
NATION Of fruitage let the rich splendol
slip their possession? 1t was, as now
most Of the orchards are lost-namelJ
by wanting more. Access they had tt
all the fig trees, apricots, walnuts, al
monds, apples-bushels OF bushels
and were forbidden the use Of only one
tree in the orchard. Not satisfied will
all but one, they reached for that ant
lost the whole orchard. Go right dow
through the business marts Of the grea
cities and inc among the weighers an(
clerks and subordinates men who one
commanded the commercial world
They had a whole orchard Of sue
cesses, but they wanted just n NOR
thing, one more house, or one NOR
country seat or one more store. or on
more railroad, or one more million.
FOR ONE MORE TREE.
They clutched for that and lost al
they had gained. For one more tire
they lost a Whole orchard. There ar
business men all around us worrie'
nearly to death. The doctor tells Their
they ought to stop. Insomnia or indi
- gestion or aching at the base of tn
brain or ungovernable nerves tell ther
they ought to stop. They really hav
enough for themselves and their fam
lies. Talk with them about their over