The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-12-31
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN.
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "Mount Lebanon"
TEXT: "7he cedars of Lebanon auhich He
hath planted. civ, 1G.

TEXT: 1.-THE cedars of Lebanon aUhich He
hath planted. Psalm civ, lG.
In our journey we change stirrup TO,
wheel. 1t is + o'clock in the morning at Da-
mascus. Syria. and we are among the Ian
terms of the hostelry waiting for the stage
to start. A Mohammedan in high life is
putting his three wives on board within an
apartment by themselves, and our party oc-
cupy the main apartment Of one of the most
uncomfortable vehicles in which mortals
were ever jammel and half strangulated.
But we must not let the discomforts annul or
disparage the opportunities. We are rolling
out and up the mountains Of Lebanon, their
forehead under crown Of snow, which coro-
net the fnsors of the hottest summer cannot
cast down.
Weare ascending the heights around which
is garlanded much Of the finest poesy of the
Scriptures, and are rising toward the might
lest dominion that botany ever recognized,
reigned ovsr by the most imperial tres that
ever swayed leafy scepter--the Lebanon
cedar; tree eulogized in my text as having
grown from nut put into the ground by
God Himself, and no human hand had any
thing to do with its planting: "The trees of
Lebanon which He had planted"
seven thousand feet, but in one place it lifts
its head to an altitude Of ten thousand. No
higher than six thousand feet can vegetation
exist, but below that line at the right season
are vineyards and orchards and olive groves
and flowers that dash the mountain side
with q very carnage of color and fill the air
with aronatics that Hosea, the prophet, and
Solomon, the king, celebrated as 1.-The smell
OF Lebanon" Alta height Of six thousand feet
isa grove of cedars, the only descendants Of
those vast forests from which Solomon cut his
timber for the temple Of Jerusalem, and
where ut one time there were one hundred
thousand axmen hewing out the beams from
which great cities were constructed. But this
nation Of trees has by human iconoclasm
been massacred until only a 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
assassinatian of these cedars Of Lebanon
which the Lord planted. From the multitude
of uses to which it may be put and the en-
ployment 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 to-day are parched under summer
heats, and not grsss blade survives the fer
vidity, this tree stands in luxuriance defying
the summer sun. And when the storms
Of winter terrfy the earth and hurl the
rocks in avalanche down this mountain side,
this tree grapples the hurricane of snow in
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 pyramidal,
throne of foliage on which might and splen.
dor and glory sit. But so continuously has
the determination Of trees gone on that for
the most part the mountains of Lebanon are
bare of foliage, while, l am sorry to say, the
ie ho,,, lonrHQ1
The ak is Staying the forests all round
the earth. To stop the slaughter God
opened the coal mines of England and
Scotland and America and the world, prac-
tically saying by that, Here is fueS as far
as possible let My trees alone" And by
opening for the human race the great
uuarries Of granite and showing the human
family how to make brick, God is practi-
cally saying, Here is building material; let
NV trees alone" We had better stop the
axes among the Adirondacks. We had bet
ter stop the axes in oil our forests, as it
would 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 and now the droughts
because the uplifted arms Of the trees do not
pray for rain, their presence according to all
scientists disr osing the descent Of the show
ers, and then we have the cyclones and the
hurricanes multiplied in number and velocity
because there is nothing to prevent their aw-
full sweep.
Plant the trees in your parks that the
weary may rest under them. Plant them
along your streets, that up through me
branches passers by may see the God who
first made the trees and then made man to
look at them. Plant them along the brooks,
that under them the children may play.
Plant them in your gardens, that as in Eden
the Lord may walk there in the cool OF the
day. Plant them in cemeteries, their shade
like mourners VEIL and their leaves sound
inc like the rustic OF the wings of the de-
parted. Let Arbor Day, or the day for the
planting of trees, recognized by the
Legislatures of many of the States,
BE- observed by all our people, and the
next one hundred years do as much in
planting these leafy glories Of God rs the
last one hundred years have accomplished
in their destruction. When, notlong before
his death, I saw on the banks OF tho
Hudson in his glazed cap, riding on horse
back, George P. Morris, the great song
writer of America, found him grandly
emotional, and could understand how he
wrote 'Woodman, spare that tree" the
verses Of which many Of us have felt like
quoting in belligerent spirit, when under
reason we saw beautiful tree Frustrated.
AS we rode along on these the mountains
of Lebanon. we bethink how its cedars
spread their branches and breathe their
aroma and cast their shadows all through
the Bible. Solomon discoursed about them
in his botanical works, when he spoke Of
trees "from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon
even unto the hyssop that springeth out OF
the wall" The Psalnist says, 1.-The right
eous shall grow like cedar in Lebanon,
and in one his magnificent doxologies calls
on the cedars to praise the Lord. And Solo.
mon says the countenance Of Christ is excel
lent as the cedars, and Isaiah declares, "The
day of the Lord shall be upon all the cedars
of Lebanon" And Jeremiah and Ezekiel
and Amos and Zephaniah and Zechariah
weave its foliage into their sublimest utter
ances.
As we ride over Lebanon to-day there is
bowling wind sweeping past and a dash OF
rain, all the better enabling US to appreciate
that description of a tempest which no
doubt was suggested by what David had seen
with his own eyes among these heights, for
as soldier he carried his wars clear up to
Damascus, and such poet as he, warrant,
spent many day on Lebanon. And perhaps
while he was seated on this very rock against
which our carriage jolts, he writes that Won
derful description Of a thunder storm: 'The
voice Of the Lord is powerful. The voice of
the Lord is full Of majesty The voice OF the
Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon. Yea,
the Lord breaketh the cedars Of Lebanon.
He maketh them also to skip like calf, Let-
anon and Sirion like young unicorn. The
voice of the Lord divideth the fames' OF
fire."
As the lion is the monarch of the fields and
behemoth the monarch of the waters, the
sedar is the monarch of the trees. And /
think one reason why it is so glorified all up
and down the Bible is because we need more
of its characteristics in our religious life.
Wehave too much of the willow, and are
easily bent this way or that; too much OF
A. ,rIa