Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-07-06
THE GREEN IN RELIGION
TALATAGE CHOOSES A UNIQUE
SUBJECT FOR HIS SERMON.

" q EnOulu improve NuE ANSriASAA'.t- - =
in Opportunities for Salvation-The
Finite Struggling Agsinst the Infinite
Must succumb-We want Something
That Means Health, Aroma and Ever
greens and That Is Healthy Religion
The following is a sermon delivered by
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage, DID. the sub
ject of which is "Green and Fresh Re
hcion," The sermons based on the text,
Neh. viii, Is: SEQ forth into the mount
and fetch olive branches and pine
branches and myrtle branches and palm
branches and branches of thick trees to
make booths.'
The mount of olives seems unmOored.
The tree branches are being cut of and
shouldered and carried on down in great
procession to the city Of Jerusalem. These
tree branches are bent and twisted into
9rhOrs or booths and set on the hOuse-tOp
and along the streets. Foiiated booths
everywhere. And the people coming out
from their houses TO live in them for seven
days W5y do the people come from their
comfortable houses to this temporary
boothy 1t is grand festival. Ii is the
feast Of the tabernacles. The people cele-
brate the deliyerance of their fathers from
desert travel where they lived IN tents.
And it is also typical OF our march 70
heaven, pilgrims in a temporary booth
on the way TO Canaan. SO that say in
tigurative sense what was said to the
Jews in a literal sense: "tiO forth into
the mount and fetch olive branches and
pine branches and myrtle branches and
palm branches and branches Of thick
trees TO make booths
Our residence here is a temporary affair.
We rent or lease or buy house; but the
lease soon runs out and the deed must soon
be surrendered. Bowling Green, once in
babited bv merchant princes, has become
shipping Offices. Where are the men who
did importing business IN our great cities
80 years agoy Passed of the stage.
Where are the men who owned New Ork
90 years ago; They have departed this
life tor the most part. There is no use in
our driving our stakes too deep, for we
shall soon have to pull them up. We are
on the march and are stopping only in a
temporary booth Of twisted branches On
the way TO palaces eternal Where are
the other generatiOnss So far gone that
we cannot even hear the sound of their
feet. They have passed up the hill and
we shall soon follow them. But blessed
be God, we are not living here out Of
doors and unsheltered. No; we may 90
into the mount of God and bend and twist
for ourselves a shelter of comfort and de-
light, and bid you TO "gO forth into the
mount and fetch olive branches and pine
branches and palm branches and myrtle
branches and the branches Of thick trees
and make booths"
The olive branch you know is always
used as a sign OF peace. The olive tree
grows in warm climates to the height Of
about 20 feet, has an upright stem and
many Out-shOOting branches which can
easily be stripped off. Ii a tWig of this
tree in time of war is handed from one
General TO another, 1t means the I'M
saddling Of cavalry horses and the hang
ing up Of the war knapsacks. After
hOstilities have ceased these branches are
placed over dO0rways and they are built
into triumphal arches and they are waved
III PROFESSIONS. They spell out in verdur-
Gus letters that heaYen-bOrn word of
"PeaceW Now, my friends, ia this gospel
arbor which God sends us to build we
must have two Of these olive branches.
Peace with God! | do not mean to init
mate 10y that that God is a bloody chieftian
and has grudge against us, but | want
TO intimate that there is no
more affinity between a hare and
hound, between a hawk aud a
pullet, between an elephant and the
swine, than there is between holiness and
stu; and since God is all holiness, and we
by nature are all sin, there must be some
reimbursement, some appessement, some
reconstruction, some treaty, some stretch
ing forth of olive branches. The fact is
that the race has begun a lawsuit against
its Maker. and that lawsuit is now on the
calendar 1t is the human versus the
divine. 1t is iniquity versus the immacu-
late. 1t is weakness versus OmnipOtence.
God did not begin war against us; we
began war against him, and it is high
time that this farce of the finite struggling
against the Infinite were ended. We are
tired OF the war. We want to back out
hut Nenft
contest! BY going up into the mount Of
God and plucking olive branches. What
mOuntf Calvary. Modern travellers say
1t Is only an Insignificant hill; but per-
sist in calling IL mount, because through
the grandeur Of It's meaning IL OvertOps
the very highest Of all earthly elevations
The Alps and the Himalayas are less
than ant hills compared with il. In the
very excavation on Calvary whore the
cross was once set afterward the olive
was planted, and IL is green and thrifty
and iOllaged to-day, and | strip il OF and
waive it,saying: peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ" On, if there is
any joyful thought enough 10 overthrow
ones equilibrium that is the thought. II
may be a matter of very little importance
what Queen Victoria or Emperor William
thinks Of any one; but to be brought into
close and intimate and hearty and glow
ing relations with the God Of the round
uniYerse-that makes "a halleluah seem
stupid. II we had continued this fight
against God for ten Thousand years, we
could not have captured 50 much as
sword or taken so much as a cavalry stir
rup OF wrenched of so much as a chariot
wheel of his OmnipOtence: but God and
all heavens artillery come over on our
side at the first swing OF the olive branch.
Peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ, and there is no peace in any other
way.
But amity with God Is not enough. We
muet have two olive branches. Peace
with each other. On. IL J., easy enough 20
get up quarrel There are all around
US gunpOWdery Christians. and the small
est match OF prOyocatlOu VIII set them OF.
II is easy 70 get up quarrel in Church or
State, but it never pays. When two
Christians contend with each other. they
always both get whipped. Satan slightly
smiles when ne gets two wOrldliugs ago
with each other, but when be induces a
fight between two ChristiaDs-w he
gets two men who profess 10 love God. and
gets them AT l0ggerheads then he laugh s
20 loud that all inferno joins in the Ca
elimination. Better have your horns
sawed on. Better apologize. Better sub.
nit 10 some kind Of humiliation. NO."
you shy; iii this matter Is ever settled he
will have 10 take the FIRST step" Youare
pretty Christian, you are! ] wonder