The Penn's Grove record., 1889-08-03
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON:
The Bower of Tree Branches.

go forth unto the mount, ana lticn DIV
branches, and pine branches, and myrtle
thick trees to make booths, Neh. s; Is.
Ir seems as if Mount Olivet were I'M
moored. The people have gone into the
mountain, and have cut off tree branches
and put them ON their shoulders, and
they come forth now into the streets of
Jerusalem, and on the housetops, and
they twist these tree branches into
arbors, or booths. Then the people
come forth from their comfortable
honses, and dwell, and dwell for seven
days in these booths, or arbors. Why
do they do that? Well. it is
GREAT t TIME,
1t is the Feast of Tabernacles; and
these people are going to celebrate the
desert travel of their fathers and their
d%eliverance from their troubles, the ex-
p~erience of their fathers when, travelling
in the desert, they lived in booths'on
their way to the land of Canaan. And
so these booths also became highly sug-
gestive-I will not say they are neces-
s,rily typical, but highly suggestive-of
our march toward heaven, and OF the
fact that We are only living temporarily
here, as it were, in booths, or arbors,
on our way to the Canaan of eternal
rest. And what was said to the Jews
literally may to-day be said tiguratively
to all this audience. 'Go forth into
the mountain, and fetch olive branches,
and pine branches, and myrtle branches,
and palm branches, and branches of
thick trees to make booths" Here we
are i'll temporary residence.
WE ARE MARCHING ON.
The merchant princes who used to live
in Bowling Green, New York, have
passed away, and their residences are
now the fields of cheap merchants.
Where are the men who fifty years ago
owned New York? Passed on! There
is no use in our driving our stakes too
deep into the earth: we are on the
march. The generations that have pre-
ceded us have gone so far on that we
cannot even hear the sound of their
foot steps. They have gone over the
hills and we are to follow them. But,
blessed be God! we are not in this world
left out of doorsand unshelteTed. There
are gospel booths, or gospel drbors, IN
which our souls are to be comforted.
500 forth unto the mountain, and
fetch olive branches, and pine branches,
and myrtle branches, and palm branch
es, and branches of thick trees, and
build booths"
Well, now, we are to-day to construct
a gospel arbor, or gospel booth; and
how shall we construct it2 Well, we
must
E L THE TREE BRANCHES
and build. According to my text, we
must GO up into the mount and bring
0liue branches. What does that mean?
The olive-tree grows in warm climates,
and it reaches the height of twenty OF
twenty-five feet, a straight stem, and
then an offshoot from that stem. And
then people come, and they strip off
these branches sometimes, and when In
time of wal the general of n army
takes one of these olive branches and
goes out to the general of another army
what does that mean? Why, it means,
unsaddle the war chargers. 1t means
hang up the war knapsacks. 1t is but
a beautiful way of saying, Peace!
Now, if we are to-day gong to succeed
in building this 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 at
least two olive branches-peace with
God and peace with man. When L say
peace with God | do not mean to rep
resent God rs Il bloody chieftain having
a grudge against us, but L do mean to
affirm there is no more anta2onism be-
tween a hound and a hare, between a
hawk and a pullet, between elephant
and swine, than there is hostility be-
tween holiness and sin. And if God is
all holiness and we are all sin, there
must be n REIMBURSEMENT, there must be
a reconstruction, there must be a treaty,
there must be a stretching forth of
OLIVE BRANCHES.
There is agreat lawsuit going on now,
and it is a lawsuit which man is bring
ing against his Maker; that lawsuit is
now on the calendar. 1t is the human
versus the divine, it is iniquity versus
the immaculate; it is weakness versus
omnipotence. Man began it-God did
not begin the lawsuit. We began it; we
assaulted our Maker, and the sooner we
end this part of the struggle in which
the finite attempts to overthrow the in
finite and omnipotent, the sooner We
end it the better.
Travellers tell us there is no such
place as Mount Calvary, that it is only
u hill, an insignificant hill; but I persist
in calling it the mount of Gods divine
mercy and love, far grander han any
other place OF earth, grander than the
Alps or the Himalayas, and there are no
other hills as compared with it. and |
have noticed in every sect where the
90 ftI,..,t =, r,t e--4l =. 1knI
with olive branches. And all we have
to do is to get rid Of this war between
God and ourselves, of which we are all
tired. We want to go back ont of the
war; we want to get rid of this hostility.
All We have to do is Just to get up on
the mount of Gods blessing, and pluck
these olive branches and wave them be-
fore the throne. Peace through our
Lord Jesus Christ.
AHoPELEss WAR.
Oh, it doesn't make much difference
what the world thinks OF you-what this
king, that queen, that senator thinks of
you. But come into the warm, intimate,
glowing, and everlasting relationship
with the God of the round universe;
that is the Joy that makes a hallelujah
seem stupid. All! why do We want to
have peace through our Lork Jesus
Christ? Why, if we had gone OF in ten
thousand years of war against God, we
could not have captured so much as a
sword or a cavalry stirrup, or twisted
off one of the wheels of the chariot of
His omnipotencc, But the moment we
bring this olive branch, God and all
come on II side. Peace through !
our Lord Jesus Christ: and no other |
kind of peace is worth anything.
But then we must have that other
olive branch-peace with man. Now it
is very easy to get up aquarrel, There
are
GUNPOwDERY CHRISTIANS
all around us, and one match of provoca-
ton will set them off. 1t is easy enough
to get up II quarrel. But, my brother,
don't you think You had better have
your horns sawed off? Had you not
better make an apology? Had you not
submit to a little humiliation?
"Oh," you say, until that man takes
the first step | will never be at peace
.r.Al, H., ,,.tl,. Ill l.. I'LL L. 1