News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1890-12-18
News and Citizen.
MORRISVILLE and HYDE PARK,
Thursday. Dec. 1S. 1890.
CEDARS OF LEBANON
DR.. TALMAGE'S TWELFTH SERMON
ON THE HOLY LAND.


brew Poets Often Referred to the Cedar.
BROOKLYN, Dec. 14.-Today DR.. Ia
mage preached the twelfth sermon O
his series on Palestine and the adjoin
ing countries. After delivering it il
the morning in the Academy of Nusi
in this city, he preached it again in tn
evening in New York, at the servic
held under the auspices of The Chris
tan Herald. Before commencing hi
sermon DR.. Talmage stated that il
spite of all the efforts that were bein:
put forth to hasten the completion o
his new Tabernacle, the work was Oh
so magnificent d scale, and the neces
sity for care in its construction so i'm
perative. that judging by present indi
cations it would not be ready for dedi
cation before Easter.
He was happy to say, however, thai
the hospitality of The Christian Herald
through which these Sunday evening
services in New York had been held
would be continued, and the publishes
of that journal had already secured al
extension of the lease of the Academy
of Music. He would therefore be able
to hold. services there every Sunday
evening until the new Tabernacle wa,
finished
Owing to the inclemency of the
weather he would discontinue the Gus
tom of giving an address out of doors
after the regular exercises to the crowd
of people who had been unable to gain
admission to the Academy, but the
publisher of The Christian Herald
was endeavoring to obtain the use OF
a church or public building in the
neighborhood in which an overflow ser
vice could be held. DR.. Talmage then
announced as his text Psalms civ, 16.
The cedars of Lebanon which he hath
planted" and preached the following
sermon:
In our journey we change stirrup for
wheel 1t is o'clock in the morning
at Damascus, Syria, and we are among
the lanterns of the hostelry waiting 70.
the stage to start \ Mohammedan in
high life is putting his three wives on
board within an apartment by them
selves. and our party occupy the main
apartment of one of the most uncom-
Portable vehicles in which mortals were
ever jarnmed and half strangulated.
But we must not let the discomforts
annul or disp2rage the opportunities.
We are rolling on and out and up the
mountains of Lebanon, their forehead
under crown of snow, which coronet
the fingers of the hottest summer can
not cast down.
We are ascending heights around
which is garlanded much of the finest
poesy of the Scriptures, and are rising
toward the mightiest dominion that
botany ever recognized, reigned over
by the most imperial tree that ever
swayed Il leafy scepter-the Lebanon
cedar; tree eulogized in my text as
having grown from n nut put into the
ground by God himself and no human
hand had anything to do with its
planting: ''The trees of Lebanon which
he hath planted"
THE ARBoRESCENT GIANTS.
The average height of this mountain
is seven thousand feet. but in one place
it lifts its head to an altitude of ten
thousand No higher than six thou
sand feet can vegetation exist, but be
low that line at the right season are
vineyards and orchards and olive
groves and hewcrs that dash the
mountain side WITH a very carnage of
solor, and fill the air with aromatics
that Hosea, the prophet, and Solomon,
the king, celebrated as the smell of
Lebanon" Alta height of six thousand
feet, is . grove of cedars, the only de-
scendants of those vast forests from
which Solomon cut his timber for the
temple at Jerusalem, and where at one
time there were one hundred thousand
axmen kewing out the beams from
which great cities were constructed.
But this nation of trees has by hui
man iconoclasm been massacred until
onlya small group is left. This race
of giants is nearly extinct, but | have
no doubt that some of these were here
when Hiram. king of Tyre, ordered the
assassination of those cedars of Leb-
anon which the Lord planted. From
the multitude of uses to which it may
be put and the employment of it in
the Scriptures the cedar is the divine
favorite. When the plains to be seen
from the window of this stage in which
we ride today are parched under sum
mer heats and not a grass blade sur
wives the fervidity, this tree stands in
luxurianco. deiying the summer sun.
And when the storms of winter ter
rify the earth. and hurl the rocks in
avalanche down this mountain side.
this tree grapples the hurricane of snow
il triumph. and leaves the spent fury
at its feet. From sixty to eighty feet
high are they, the horizontal branches
of great sweep with their burden of
leaves needle shaped, the top of the
tree pyTaInidal, n throne of foliage on
which might and splendor and glory
sit. But SO continuously has the ex-
termination of trees gone on, that for
the most part the mountains of Leb-
anon are bare of foliage, while, | am
sorry to say. the earth in all lands is
being likewise denuded.
The ak is Staying the forests all round
tie earth. To stop the slaughter God
opened the coal mines of England and
Scotland and America and the world,
practically saying by that, Here is
fuel; as far as possible let my trees
alone. And by opening for the human
race the great quarries of granite and
showing the human family how TO
make brick God is practically saying, |
Here is building material; let my
trees alone" We had better stop the |
axes among the Adirsndacks We had
better stop the axes in all our forests,
as it woald have been better for Syria
if the axes had long ago been stopped
among the mountains of Lebanon.
To punish us for our reckless assault
on the forests we have the disordered |
seasons: now the dreughts, because the
uplifteh apms of the trees do not pray !
fer rain, their presence according to all |
scientists disposing the descent of the |
showers; and then we have the cy- |
clones and the hurricanes multiplied |
in number and velocity, because there
is nothing to prevent their awful
sweep
GODS NATURAL TEMPLES.
Plant the trees in your parks that
the weary may rest under them. Plant
them along your streets, that up through
the branches passers by mag see the
God who first made the trees and then
made man to look at them. Plant them
along the brooks, that under them chill
dren may play. Plant them in your