News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1889-07-25
SUNDAYS SERMON
ONE OF REV. DIR TALMAGE's
STERLING DISCOURSES.
Subject d" The Bower of Tree
Branches" preached at the
HamptOns, Long IsIand,)

TEXT: go forth unto the mount and
Fetch ottue branches, and pine branches, GnG
myrtle branches, and palm branches, and
6rG"cheS of thick trees, to make booths."-
Nehemiah viii, IS.
1t 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 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 those booths
It is 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 their 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 sug-
gesnve-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 fguratively to all this au-
dlence. TO forth into the mountain, and
| fetch olive branches and pine branches, and
branches of tislck trees to make booths. Yes,
we are only here i'll g 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 thefnen who fifty years ago owned
| New York? ssssl on
There is no Cos in our driving our stakes
too deep inIsr-e-o dacth we are on the
march. The generations that have preceded
c,,- hat =
hear the sound Of their footsteps. They have
/ gone over the hills and are to follow
/ them. But, blessed be God, we are not in
TINS 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.
Wei, now we are to-day to construct a
gospel arbor, or gospel BOOTH and how shall
we construct it? Well, we must get all the
tree branches and build. According to NV
text we must go up into the mount and bring
olive branches. What does that mean?
The olive tree grows in warm climates, and
1T reaches the3reight of twenty or 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 war the General of one army takes
one OF these olive branches and goes out to
mean? Why, it means unsaddle the war
chargers. 1t means hang up the war knap-
sacks. 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 fotch the
olive branches and whatever else we must
nave. We muS~Rave at least two olive
brancheS-peace with God and peace with
man When | say peace with God 1 do not
mean to represent God as bloody chieftain
having grudge against us, but do mean to
affirm there is no more antagonism between
hound and q hare between q hawk and pull
let, 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 re-
construction, there must be treaty, there
must be stretching forth of olive branches.
There is great lawsuit going on now, and
it Is lawsuit which man is bringing against
his Maker; that lawsuit is now on the cal
endar 1t is the human versus tho divine;
it is iniquity versus the immaculate; it is
weakness versus onnipotence. Man began |
it; God did not begin the lawsuit. We be- |
gan 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 omnipotent, 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 LisASulhCant mr. DuG L 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 have to do is /
to get rid Of this war between God and |
ourselves, Of which are all tired.
Ms T g to e t is 6 S5 Its Ali we
have to do is lust 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, glowing and
everlasting 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 thousand
years of war against God, we could not have
captured so much as a sword or cavalry stir
rup, 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 Throughout 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 a quarrel There are gun
match of provocation will set them off. 1t
is easy enough to get up 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 better sub
NIT to a little humiliation2 Oh, you say,
until that man takes the first step 1 will never
be at peace with him; nothing will be
done until he is ready to take the
first step. You are a pretty Christian.
When would this world be saved if Christ
had not taken the first step?. We were in
the wrong, Christ was in the right-all right
and forever right. And yet He took the first
step. And instead of going and getting a
knotty scourge with which to whip your an
tagonlst, your enemy, you had better get up
on the radiant mount where Christ suffered
for His enemies, and just take an olive branch,
not stripping off the soft, cool, fragrant
leaves, but leaving them all on and then try
on them that gospel switch. 1t won't hurt
them, and it will save you. Peace with God;
two doctrines you are no Christian.
Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love-
The fellowship OF Kindred minds
Is like to that above.
From sorrow toll and pain,
And sin we shall be free;
And perfect love and friendship reign
Through all eternity.
But my text goes further 1t says: Go
up into the mountain aud fetch olive branches
and pine branches. Now what is suggested
by the pine branchesP The pine tree is
healthy; it is aromatic; it is evergreen. How
often tho physiciaa says to his invalid
patients: ''Go and have breath of the
pinesl That will invigorate you" Why do
such tn usands of people go South every year?
II is not merely to get to warmer climate
but to get to the influence of the pine. There
Is health in it, and this pine branch of the
text suggests the healthfulness of our holy
religion; it is full .as health, health for all,
health for the Mind health for the soul.
knew an aged MIR who had no capital
of physical health. lie had had all the dis
eases you could imagine; he did not eat
enough to keep child alive; he lived on a
beverage of hosannas. He lived high, for
he dined every day with the King. He was
kept alive simply by the force of our holy
religion. It is healthy religion; healthy
for the eye, healt6s-for the hand, healthy
for the feet, healthy for the heart healthy
for the liver, healthy for the spleen, healthy
for the whole man. It gives a man such peace,
such quietness such Independence of cir
such holy equipoise oh that
we all possessed it, that we possessed it now.
L mean that it is healthy if man gets
enough OF 1T. Now, there are some people
who get just enough religion to bother them,
just enough religion to make them sick; but
II man take full deep, round inhalation
Of these pine branches Of the gospel arbor,
he Will lind 1t buoyant, exuberant, undylng,
immortal health.
But this pine branch of my text also sug-
gests the simple fact that it is an evergreen.
What does this pine branch care for the
snow on its brow? 1t is only a crown of
glory. The winter cannot freeze 1t out.
This evergreen tree branch is as beautiful IN
winter as 1T is in the summer. And that is
the characteristic of our holy religion; in the
sharpest, coolest winter of misfortune aud
llCoC lie inf hn