The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1889-07-31
A GOSPEL ARBOR.
Rev. DR.. Talmage Tells How to
Construct It.
Olive Branches for Peace, Pine Branches
for Health and Palm Branches for
vlctOry-A Rural Sermon at
Rural Resort.

The subject of Rev. T. De Witt Talmage's
recent sermon at The Hamptons, N Y, was
1.-THE Bower of Tree Branches" His text
was Nehemiah viii. 15: $50 forth unto the
mount and fetch olive branches, and palm
branches, and myrtle branches Of thick
trees, to make booths" Following is the
sermon:
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 Jerusa-
lem and on the housetops, and they twist
these tree branches into arbors and booths.
Then the people come forth from their COM
Portable homes and dwell for seven days in
these booths or arbors. Why do they do
that! Well, it is great festival time. 1t is
the feast Of tabernacles; and these people
are going to celebrate the desert travel OF
their fathers and their deliverance from
their troubles, the experience of their IA
theirs when, travelling in the DESERT they
lived in booths on their way to the land OF
Canaan. And so these booths also become
highly suggestive-I will 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 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 figuratively 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.
Yes, we are only here in temporary resi-
dence We are marching on. The merchant
princes who used to live in Bowling Green,
New York. have passed away and their res
licences are now the fields Of cheap mer-
chants. 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 preceded us have
gone SO far on that we can not even hear the
sound of their footsteps. 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 to-day to construct a
gospel arbor, or gospel booth, and how shall
we construct it! WE'LL we must get all the
tree branches and build. According to my
| text we must go up into the mount and bring
olive branches. What does that meant
The olive tree grows in warm climates, and
| It reaches the height of twenty or twenty
feet, 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 war the general Of one army
takes ore of these olive branches and goes
out to the general Of another army, what
does that mean! Why, it means unsaddle
the war chargers 1tmeans hang up the war
knapsacks. 1t is but beautiful way of say
ing, Peace
Now, five are to-day going to succeed in
building the gospel arbor we must 90 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 no t
mean to represent God asa bloody chieftain,
having grudge against us, but do mean to
affirm there is no more antagonism between a
hound and a hare, between hawk and a
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 readjustmenl, there must be
reconstruction, there must be treaty,
there must be stretching forth of olive
branches.
There is greatlawsuitg going on now, and
1t is a lawsuitwhich man is bringing against
his Maker; that lawsuit is now on the calen-
dar. II is the human versus the divine; it is
miquity versus the immaculate; it is weak
mes 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 infinite and ON
nipotent, the sooner we end it the better.
Travellers tell us there is no such place as
Mount Calvary, that it is only hill, only an
insignificant hill; but persist in calling il
the mount of Gods divine mercy and love,
far grander than any other place on earth,
grander than the Alps or Himalayas, and
there are no other hills as compared with it;
and have noticed in every sect where the
cross of Christis set forth, It'll planted with
olive branches. And all we have to do is to
get rid of this war between God and our
selves, of which we are all tired. We want
to back out of this 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 Christi
o, 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, glowing and ever
lasting relationship with the God of the
round universe; that is the Joy that makes
; hallelujah seem stupid. All, why do we
, want to have peace through our Lord Jesus
, Christi Why, if we had gone on in ten thou
sand years of war against God, we could no,
have captured so much as a sword or cav
airy stirrup, or twisted off one of the wheel.
of the chariot of his omnipotence But the
: moment we bring this olive branch God and
all heaven come to our side. Peace through
, our Lord Jesus Christi and no other kind OF
peace is worth any thing
] But then we must have that other olive
branch, peace with man. Now it is very easy
, to get up quarrel. There are gunpowdery
Christians all around us, and one match o.
provocation will set them off 1t is easy
enough to get quarrel. But, my brother
don't you think you had better have YOU
horns sawed off. Had you not better make
: an apologvs Had you not better submit t.
little humiliation. o, you say, until thai
man takes the first step will never be a
, peace with him; nothing will be done unit
he is ready to take the first step. You arr
pretty Christian. When would this worit
be saved if Christ had not taken the frs
stepl We were in the wrong, Christ wa.
in the right-all right and forever right
And yet he took the first STEP And instead