Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1890-12-26
REV. DR.. TAlMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIvINE'S SUM-
DAY SERMON.
SUBJECT, "MoUNT LEBANON"

TEXT: "The csddrs Of Lebanon vhich He
hath planted. civ, 16.
In our journey we change stirrup for
wheel. II 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 il
putting his thres wives on board within an
apartment by themselves, and our party oc-
cupy the main apartment of one Of the most
uncomfortable vehicles III which mortals
were ever jammed and half straugulated.
But we must not let the discomforts annul or
disparage the opportunities. We are rolling
out and up the mountains of Lebanon, THAR
forehead under a crown of snow, which coro-
net the fingers 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 over by the most imperial tree that
ever swayed leafy scepter-the Lebanon
cedar; a tree eulogized in my text as having
grown from a nut put into the ground by
God Himself, and no human hand had any
thing to do with i!s planting; ''rhe trees OF
Lebanon which He had planted"
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 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 a very carnage OF color and fill the air
with aromatics that Hosea the prophet and
Solomon, the king celebrated as ''the smell
OF Lebanon" At a height of six thousand feet
is grove Of cedars, the only descendants OF
those vast forests from which Solomon cut his
timber for the temple OF Jerusalem, and
where at 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
ASSASSINATION 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 i'll the Scriptures, the cedar in
| 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 grass blade survives the fer
vidity, this tree stands in luxuriance defying
| the summer sun. And when the storms
Of winter terrify 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
|
they, the horizontal branches of great
sweep, with their burden of leaves needle
| shaped, the top of the tree pyramidal, a
throne of foliage On which might and soen-
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, tho
earth in all lands is being likewise denuded.
| 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 tho world, prac-
tically saying by that, Here is fuel; as far
as possible let Ny trees alone" And by
opening for the human race the great
quarTies of granite and showing the human
family how to make brick, God is practi
cally saying, Here is building material; sct
My trees alone We had better stop the
axes among the Adirondacks, We had bet
ter stop the axes in all our forests, as 1t
would have been better for Syria II the axes
bad long ago been stopped among the
mountains Of Lebanon. To punish us for our
reckless assault on the forests We have the
disorderei seasons aud now the droughts
because the uplifted arms OF the trees do not
pray for rain, their presence according TO all
scientists disI 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 the
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 wall; there in the cool Of the
day. Plant them in cemeteries their shade
like a mourner's veil, and their leaves sound
ing 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 as the
last one hundred years have accomplished
in their destruction. When, not long before
his death, l saw on the banks Of the
Hudson in his glazed cap riding on horse
back, George P. Morris, the great song
emotional, and could understand how hs
wrote "Woodman, spare that treeln the
verses Of which many of us have felt like
quoting in bell gerent spirit when under
the stroke OF some one without sense oI
reason we saw a beautiful tree prostFated
AS We rode along on these the mountains
OF Lebanon. We bethink how its CEDAR
| UTedl IneT UTHnCneS anu DTeACne tneii
aroma and cast their shadows all through
the Bible. Solomon discoursed about then
in his botanical works, when he spoke o
, trees from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon
even unto the hyssop that springeth out o.
the wall" The Psalmist says, The right
eous shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon,
and in one his magnificent doxologies call
on the cedars to praise the Lord. And Solo
mon says the countenance OF Christ Is excel
laut M tho aalars nd Teaiah Hariarac 9Th,
day Of the Lord shall be upon all the cedar
of Lebanon" And jeremiah and Ezekie
and Amos and Zephaniah and Zechariat
weave its foliage into their. sublimest utter
ances.
AS we ride over Lebanon to-day there il
, howling wind sweeping past and dash o
rain, all the better enabling us to appreciate
. that description Of a tempest which NJ
doubt was suggested by what David had seer
with his own eyes among these heights, fo
as soldier he carried his wars clear up b
: Damascus and such poet as he, l warrant
spent many day on Lebanon. And perhap
while he was seated on this very rock agains
which our carriage iolts, he writes that won
q derful description of a thunder storm: "Th
D voice Of the Lord is powerful. The voice o
the Lord is full of ma jesty. The vpice OF tn
Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon. Yea
y the Lord breaketh the cedars Of Lebanon
U He maketh them also to skip like calf, Let
anon AMI Sirion like young unicorn. TIL
= voice OF tho Lord divideth the flames Q
n hre."
As the lion Is the monarch OF the fields an
> bchemoth the monarch OF the waters, th
: cedar is thu monarch of the trees. And
tnink one reason why IL rs 50 glorissd all u
= and down the Bibleis because we need moi
Of Its characteristics in our religious hf
l. Wehave too much Of the willow, and al
easily bent this way or that; too much {
Q the aspen, and we tremble under ever
% zephyr of assault; too much Of the bramb
tree, and our sharp points sting and woun'
- but not enough Of tho cedar, wide branche
y and heaven aspiring and tempest graz
pling But the reason these cedars stand |
we'll Is that they are deep rooted. They ~