Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-07-31

..- "Ieo SVoP! we, the offending
Paf'y, yet Christ taking the first step.
10 not therefore, take a knotty and twist.
gu scourge and go after your enemy: but
20 W into the mount where the Radiant
one suffered for his enemies, and twist off
al owe branch. and, without stripping
away any OF the soft, tender, cool, beauti-
iul leaves, put on your enemy that GOSPEL
switch. 1t will not hurt him. and it will
save you. Oh, for a million olive branches
from the Mount of God, that we might
pulld them into an arbor for our SOULS, Go
up into the mount and pluck olive branch
es and make booths.
wy text IN the next place suggests that
IN this arbor for our soul on the wa to-
ward glory we ought to have a good many
pine branches. Now, pine, you know, is
nealthful, aromatic and an evergreen. 1t
mas often been the case that invalids have
been sent into the regions where the pine
grows, and they have come back thor
oughly well. 1t is a frequent prescription
on the part of physicians to say $50 for q
few weeks amid the pines, aud you will be
oe1ter." Now, we want in this Gospel
arbor pine branches. We want something
that means health, aroma md evergreen.
This is q very healthy religion. 1 have
known an old Christian with no capital of
physical health and carrying about him
oil the respectable diseases that one can
carry, and yet kept alive by nothing at all
but his religion. He did not eat enough to
sustain a child. He lived on a beverage of
hosannas. He lived high, because every
day he dined with the King. 1 could not
understand his exhilaration until I found
out that he lived in an arbor of pine
branches Gospel pine branches. Oh,
it is a healthy religion. 1t is healthy for
the head. 1t is healthy for the heart. 1t
is healthy for the lungs. 1t is healthy for
the liver. 1t is healthy for the whole man.
l mean if we get enough of it. Now, there
are some people who get just enough re-
ligion to make them sick or to bother them;
but l mean full inhalation-a full draught
from the breath of the pine branches in
Gods mount This is living, bounding,
exuberant, undying immortal health.
But this Gospel is evergreen. Iremark
still further, what does the pine forest care
for the snow on it's brow: 1t merely con-
siders it a crown of glory. You can not
freeze out the pine forest, and this grace
Of God is just as good in the winter of
trouble as it is in the summer of prosper
ity. 1t is the religion you want-not
dependent upon weather or upon change.
There are some of you who feel that you
have had more than your share of trouble.
All the troubles seemed to come together
in your life, and you may be as bad off as
Muckelbacket, the fisherman who was
chided for mending his boat on the same
day that his boy was buried. They said:
cit is indecent for you to be working at
your boat when your child was just buried
this afternoon" And he looked up in tho
mans face and said: "INhat am l to do?
Shall 1 allow the five to starve because
one of them is drowned? 1t is well enough
for you gentles, who can sit in your
houses with your handkerchiefs at youl
eyes, to talk chat way when you have
grief, but the like of us maun to oul
work though our heart beat like this
hammer" Oh, yes! Your b%ereave-
ments and your poverties anc
your distresses may all have come at once
But l wan to tell you of a Gospel that is
full Of life, full of comfort, full of peace
You have tried every thing else; you have
tried the world, 0 have tried human
sympathy, come now and try Holy Cos
pei. have read Of a Cardinal who wa:
very fond of money, and during his sick
ness he used to ask tina a basin of gold be
brought to him, and then he would thrust
his equity hands in the gold and amuse
himself, and cool his hands by turning
over the gold in the basin. What a vail
attempt! There is nothing in all the sill
yer and the gold and the honors and the
emoluments of this world, however briskly
YOU may turn them over, to soothe u per
turbed spirit. You can not be consoled il
that way. You want something mightiel
than the worlds gains to appease YOU
sorrow. Come and get this consolation
A young Prince refused to play with any
but Kings, md l wish you would this day
throw aside all other solaces and try thi:
regal satisfaction. Come, my friends and
neighbors, and try a religion which is a
good in the winter of trouble as it is in tn
summer of prosperity. 1t is glorious anc
ever green. Go into the Mount Of God, anc
fetch pine branches and make booths.
"Thc hill of Zion yields
A thousand sacred sweets
Before we reach the Heavenly fields.
Or walk the golden Streets"
HMy text suggests still further that thi
arbor Of Christian grace ought to have il
it q goodmany palm branches. You know
that is a favorite tree ut the East. TIL
ancients used to make it into three hun
dred and sixty uses. The fruit is con
served. The sap becomes a beverage. TIL
stones are ground up as food for camels
The base of the leaves is twisted into rope
Baskets and mats are made out of it, ane
from the root to the tip-top of the palm il
is all usefulness. 1t grows eighty-five fee
in height, is columnar, its fringed leave
sometimes four or five yards long, and tn
ancients used to carry it in professions a
a symbol of victory. Oh for more pain
branches in our Gospel arbor! Usefulness
, and victory! Head, heart, tongue, pen
money, social position-all employed TO
, God. Counsel is often given on world.
matters about investments that yo
! must not put all the eggs in one basket
, but in this matter Of religion I wish tina
we might give all to God and get in our
selves.
"Oh," says some man, tiny business i
to sell silks and calicoes." Then sell silk
and c%alicoes for the glory of God. Say
l another man: "My business is to edit