The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1889-07-25
CHRISTIAN LIFE.
Sermon by Rev. T. Dewitt Tai.
mage at "The Hamptons."
The Peecofulness Of the Christian LIZ,
Portrayed-The Onward March Toward
the Mount of Gods Mercy
The Divine Fellowship.

The following sermon was delivered by
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage at "The Hamp.
tons" His text was.
60 forth unto the mount and fetch olive
branches, and pine branches, and myrtle
branches, and palm branches, and branches Of
thlck trees, to make booths.-Nchemiah viii
l5 '''
1t seems as if Mount Oliyet were uu-
moored. The people have gone into the
mountain, aud have cut off tree branches,
ana put them on their shoulders, and
they come forth now into the streets of
Jerusalem, and on the house tops, and
they twist these tree branches into arbors
or booths. Then the people come forth
from their comfortable homes, and dwell
Tor seven days in these booths or arbors,
why do they do that? Well, it is a great
testal time. 1t is the feast of tabernacles; /;
ana these people are going to celebrate
the desert travel of their fathers and
their deliverance from their troubles, the
experience of their fathers when, travel
ing III the desert, they lived in booths on
their way TO the land of Canaan. And so
these booths also become highly suggest
lVe-l viii not say they are necessarily
typical, but highly suggestive-of our
march toward Heaven, and of the fact
that we are only living temporarily here,
as 1t were, in booths or arbors, on the
way to the Canaan Of eternal rest.
And what was said to the Jews literally
may to-day be said fguratively to all
this audience. Go forth into the mount
nin, and fetch olive branches, and pine
branches, aud myrtle branches, and
palm branches, and branches Of thick
trees TO make booths. Yes, we are only
here in temporary residence. We are
marching on. The merchant princes
who used to live in Bowling Green, New
York, have passed away, and their resi-
dences are now the fields of cheap mer-
chants. Where are the men who fifty
years ago owned New York? Passed.
There is no use in our driving our
stakes too deep into the earth; we arc on
the march. The generations that have
preceded us have gone so far on that we
can not eV-n 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
doors and unsheltered. There are Gospel
booths, or Gospel arborS, in which our
souls are to be comforted. Go forth unto
the mountain and fetch olive branches,
and pine branches, and myrtle branches,
and palm branches, and branches of thick
trees. and build booths.
Well, now we are day to construct
Gospel arbor or Gospel booth; and how
shall we construct it? Well, we must get
all the tree branches and build. Accord
ing to my text we must go up into the
mount and bring olive branches. What
does that mean:
The olive tree grows in warm climates,
Iii, %
twenty-five feet, straight stem, and
then an OffshOOt from that stem. And
then people come, aud they strip off these
branches some times, and whom III 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, it means uusaddle 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 going 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 / say peace with
God do not mean to represent God as
bloody chieftain, having a qudge
against US, but | do mean to affirm there
is no more antagonism between hound
and a hare, between a hawk and q pullet,
between elephant and swine than there
Is hostility between holiness and sin.
And if God is all holiness, and we are all
sin, there must be a readjustment there
must be a reconstruction, there must be
a treaty, there must be a stretching forth
of olive branches.
There is a great lawsuit going on now,
and it is 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 omnipotence.
Man began it; God did not begin The law
suit. We began il; we assaulted our dear
Maker, and the sooner we end this part
of the struggle in which the finite at
tempts to overthrow the infinite and
omnipOtent, the sooner we end it the bet
ter.
Travellers tell us that there is no such
place as Mount Calvary; that it is only
Hill, only an insignificant hill; but | per-
sist in calling it the mount of Gods di-
vine mercy and love; far grander than
sany other place on earth, grander than
the Alps or Himalayas, and there are no
other hills as compared with it; and l
have noticed in every sect where the
cross of Christ is set forth it is planted
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 back out 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 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 you.
But come into the warm, intimate, glow
ing and everlasting relationship with the
God of the round universe; that is the
ioy that makes a hallelujah seem stupid.
All. why do we want to have peace
through our Lord Jesus Christ? Why, If
we had gone on in ten thousand years of
war against God, we could not have capt
ured SO much as a sword or a cavalry
stirrup, or twisted off one of the wheels
of the chariot of His omnipotence. But the
moment we bring this olive branch God
and all Heaven come on our side. Peace
through our Lord Jesus Christ; and no
other kind of peace is worth any thlng'
But then we must have that other olive
branch, peace with man. Now 1t Is very
easy to get up a quarrel. There are gun.
powdery Christians all around us, ana
one match of prOvocation will set them
off. 1t is easy enough to get up a quar-
rel. But, my brother, don't you think
Won had better have your horns sawed
off +? Had you not better makelan apology