Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1889-08-01
A BOWER OF BRANCHES.
SUBJECT OF SERMON PREACHED BY
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
Tho Eloquent Brooklyn Divine Adapts the
Words Of the Bible Relating to tho Feast
u tho Tabernacles to the Present Time.

Tho Eloquent Brooklyn Divine Adapts tn
Words Of the Bible Relating to the Fsas
u tho TabernacIes to the Present Time
Tert-Go forth unto the mount an
| fetch olive branches, and pine branches
and myrtle branches, and palm branches
and branches of thick trees, to max,
booths. Nehemiah, vii. 10.
1t seems as if Mount Olivet were un.
moored. The people have gone into the
mountain, and have cut of tree branches
and 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 for seven days in these booths
or arbors. Why do they do that? Well
| it is q great festal 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 theil
fathers 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 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
OH.
There is no use in our driving our
takes too deep into the earth; We are
on the march. The generations that
have preceded US have gone SO far on
that we cannot 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 COM
forted. 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
gospel arbor, or gospel booth; and
how shall We construct it? Well, 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 mean?
The olive tree grows in warm climates,
and it reaches the height of twenty or
twenty-five feet, straight stem, and
then an offshoot from that stem. And
then people come, and they strip off
these branches sometimes, and when in
takes one of these olive branches and
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 day going to sue
;eed in building this gospel arbor, We
must go into the Mount of Gods bless
ing, 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 1
say peace with God, l do not mean to
represent Goa as bloody chieftain,
having a grudge against us, but l do
mean to affirm there is no more antagon-
ism between a hound and hare, be-
tween a hawk and pullet, between ele-
plant 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
reconstruction, there must be q treaty,
there must be stretching forth of olive
branches.
There is q great lawsuit going on now,
and it is 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
infinite and omnipoient, 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 it 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 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
:hese olive branches and wave them be-
fore the throne. Peace through our
Lord Jesus Christ!
Oh, it don't make much difference
hat the world thinks of you-what this
king, that queen, that senator thinks of
nate, glowing, and everlasting relation
ship with the God of the round universe; !
hat is the joy that makes q hallelujah |
seem stupid. All, why do We want to
nave peace through our Lord Jesus |
Christ? Why, if We had gone on in ten |
thousand years of war against God, |
We could not have captured SO much as |
sword or cavalry stirrup, or twisted |
If 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 !
'ther kind of peace is worth anything.
But then We must have that other !
olive branch, peace with man. Now it |
S very easy to get up quarrel. There
ire gunpowdery Christians all around |
Is, and one match of provocation will !
let them off. 1t is easy enough to get |
Up a quarrel. But, my brother, don't |
'ou think you had better have your i
lorrs sawed of? Had you not better
make an apology? Had you not better
ubmit to little humiliation? Oh, You
ay, until that man takes the first step 1 |
will never be at peace with him; moth
ng will be done until he is ready to
axe the first step. You are a pretty
Christian. When would this world be |
aved if Christ had not taken the first
tep? We we're in the wrong, Christ
vas in the right-all right and forever
light. And yet He took the first step.
I'D -