Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-07-27
BOWERS or BRANCHES
The Rev. DR.. Z. Dewitt Tai
IMAGES Sermon.
1hc Significance Of Olive and Other
Kinds Ot Branches When
Used as Flags
OF Truce.

VI lICI bIdIIuCb, Ills lGAl VAS ANtuG
miah viii, Is. Go forth unto til,
mount and fetch olive branches, anC
pine branches, AID myrtle branches, anC
palm branches, and branches Of thick
trees, TO make booths" Following il
the sermon:
1t seems as II Mount Olivet were IN.
moored. The people have gone into The
mountain, and nave cut of tree branches
and put them en- their shoulders, and
they come forth now into the streets OF
Jerusalem, ana on the house tops, and
they twist these tree branches into arbors
or booths. TAen the people com forth
from their comfortable homes ana dwel,
for seven days in these booths or arbors.
Why do they do that? Well, il Is . great
festal time. Its the feast CT t~abcrnaCles;
and these people are going to celebrate
the desert travel OF their forcfathers and
their deliverance from their trouble, the
experience OF their fathers when, travel.
ing in the desert, they lived in booths on
their way TO the land Of Canaan. And
so these booths also become highly sug-
gestive-I will not say that they are nee
essarily lyrical, but highly suggestive =
of our march toward heaven, and of the
fact that we are only living temporarily
here, as il were, in booths or arbore, on
our way to the Canaan Of eternal rest.
Al ,,l,t .-nc cosI - ~ -, H.
ally may today be said fguratively to all
this audience. Go forth into tie noun
tain, and fetch olive branches an" pine
branches, and myrtle branches, a.. palm
branches, and branches OF thick trees to
make booths. Yes, we are only here in
a temporary residence. We are march
ing on, The merchant princess who
used to live in Bowling Green, New
York, have passed away, and their resi-.
denCes are now the fields of cheap
merchants. Where are the men who
nifty years ago owned New York
Passed on.
There is no use in our driving our
stakes 90 deep into the earth; we are on
the march. The generations that have
preceded us have gone 50 far on that we
CdluOi even near lhG eOluu OF lDcll IDDl-
steps. They have gone over the hills.
and We are to follow them. Bat, blessed
be God, we are not IN this world leit out
OF doors and unshcltercd. There are
gospel booths, OF gospel srbcrs, in which
our souls are 10 be comforted. Go forth
unto the mountain and fetch olive
branches, and pine branches, and myrtle
branches, and palm branches, and
100 ,,,l.u ~ tItnt- TUNE tA. l,,s1.1
booths.
Well, now we are today 10 construct q
gospel arDor. or gospel booth; and how
shall we construct it? Wen, we must
get all the tree branches and build. Ac-
cording to my text we must 20 up into
the mount and bring olive branches.
What does that mean2
The olive tree grows in warm climates,
and it reaches the height Of twenty or
twenty-five feet, a straight stem, and
then an offshOot from that stem. Aud
then people come, and they strip of
these branches sometimes, and when in
time Of war the general Of one army
takes one OF these olive branches and
goes out TO the general of another army,
what does that mean? Why, il means,
unsaddle the Wal chargers. 1t means
hang up the war knapsaczs. 1t is but a
beautiful way Of saying, Peacel
Now, if We are today going TO succeed
in building thus gospel arbor, we must go
into the mount Of Gods blessing, and
fetch the olive branches, and whatever
else we must have, we must have al
least two olive branches-peace with
God and peace with man. When | say
peace with God, ! do not mean to repre-
sent God as a bloody chieftain, having a
grudge against us, but | do mean TO af-
firm there is no more a~ntagonism be-
tween 8 hound and a hare, between q
hawk and a pullet, between elephant and
swine, than there is hostility between
holiness and sin. And if God is all Holt
ness, and we are al sin, there must be 8
reimbursement, there must be a recon
struction, there must be a treaty, there
must be a stretching forth Of olive
branches.
There Is q great lawsuit going on now,
and il is a lawsuit which man is bringing
against his Maker; that lawsuit is now on
the calendar. 1t is the human versus the
divine; it is iniquity versus the immacu.
late; it is weakness versus omuipotence.
Man began it: God did not begin the law.
suit. We began it; we assaulted our
Maker, and the sooner we end this part
of the struggle in which the finite at
tempts to overthrow the infinite and m
nipotent, the sooner we end il the better.
Travellers tell us there is no such place
az Mount Calvary, that it is only a hill,
only an insignificant hill; but | persist In
calling it the mount Of Gods divine
mercy and love, far grander than any
other place on earth, grander than the
Alps or Himaiayas, and there are no
other hills as compared with IL; and y
have noticed in every sect where the
cross OF Christ is set forth. il is planted
with olive branches. Aud ali we have 10 |
do is to get rid of this war between God
and ourselves, OF which we are al tired.
We want to back out Of the war. we want
to get rid Of this hostility. All we have |
to do is just 70 get up on the mount Of
Gods blessing, and pluck these olive
branches and wave them before the
throne. Peace through our Lord Jesus
Christ!
Oh, it don't make much difference
what the world thinks Of you-what this
king, that queen, that senator thinks Of
J ou. But come into the warm. intimate,
Z owing and everlasting relationship with
Il e God Of the round universe; that is a
] y that makes a hallelujah seem stupid.
All, why do we want to have peace
through our Lord Jesus Christi Why. |
I we had gone on in 10. 600 years Of war
against God wo cnuii not have can |