The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1890-12-25
THE TREES OF PALESTINE,
SUBLIME LANGUAGE OF THE SCRIPT
URES ON THE CEDARS.

DIR. Tnlmago Describes tho Scen.s on
Mount Lebanon and Deduccs Moral
Lcssens sTherofrom--Thc Pr-phsts Love q
to Gaze Upon the Mighty Forts..
BROOKLYN, Dec. 14.-To.day Dr..
Talmagc preached the twelfth sermon
Of his series on Palestine and the adj
joining countries. DR.. Talmage an
nounced as his text l'salm civ. 1G, "Thc
cedars Of Lebanon which he hath
planted" and preached tho 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
for the stage to start. a MOhammcdan
In high life IS putting his three wives
on board within an apartment by
themselves, and our party occupy the
main apartment Of one of the most un-
comfortable vehicles In which mortals
were ever jammed and half strangu-
Lated. But we must not let the dis
comforts anunl or disparage the op-
portunities. We are rolling out and
up the mountains of Lebanon. their
forehead under a crown Of snow. which
coronet the fingers of the hottest sum
mer cannot cast down.
CLIMBING UP LEBANON
We are ascending heights around
which Is garlanded much of the finest
poesy of the Scriptures, and are rising
toward the mightlest dominion that
botany ever recognized, rrigned over
by the most imperial tree that ever
swayed leafy scepter-the Lebanon
cellar; a tree ealogized in my text rs
ground by God himself, and no human
hand had anything to do with its
planting: "rhe trees of Lebanon
which he hath planted"
The average height of this noun
tain Is seven thousand feet, but in one
place 1t lifts It's 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 noun
tain Side with very carnage of color
and fill the air with arom#jics that
Hosea, the prophet, and Solomon, the
king, celebrated as "the smell of Lc-
feet is grove Of cedars, the only de-
scendants of those vast fort SITS from
which Solomon cut his timber for tho
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 l have no
doubt that some Of these were here
when Hiram. king OF Tyre, ordered the
assassination of those cedars Of Le-
banon which the Lord planted. From
the multitude OF uses to which it may
be put and the employment Of 1t in
the Scriptures, the cedar is the divine
favorite. When the plains to he seen
from the window of this stage in which
we ride to. day are parched under sum
mer heats, and not grass blade sur
wives the fervidity, this tree stands in
luxuriance, defying the summer sun.
And when the storms of winter territv
the earth and hurl the rocks in ava
lanche 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, u throne OF foliage on
which might and splendor and glory
sit. But 80 continuously has the cX-
termination of trees gone on that for
the most part the mountains Of Lee
banon are bare of foliage, while. am
sorry to sayfthe earth in all lands is
being likewise denuded
BE SPARtSG OF GODS TREES.
IL
round the he eartt "a stop tnS the ISrfIH saugh an
ter God opened the coal mines Of Eng
land and Scotland and America ana
the world, practically saving by tint
:"Here Is fuel; as far as possible let my
trees alone" And by opening for the
human race the great uuarrips of
granite and showing the human fami-
ly how to make brick. God is practi
cally saying, Here is building mate
rial; let my trees alone" We had bet
ter stop the axes among the Adiron-
dacks. We had better stop the axes in
all our forests. as it would have been
better for Syria If the axes. had long
ago beeh stopped among the moun-
tains Of Lebanon. To punish us for
our reckless assault on the forests we
have the disordered seasons, and now
the dr9ughts because the upliftrd AIMS
prescribe according to all scientists dis
posingS the descent Of the showers and
then Te have the cyclones and the
hurricents multiplied in number and
, velocity because there is nothing IL
pfeyentItheir awful sweep.
Plant the trees in your perks that
the weary may rest under them. liImt
them along your streets, that up
through the branches passcrS 10y may
see the God who first made the trees
and then made man to look at them.
Plant them along the brooks. that un-
der them the children may play. Plant
mem IN your gardens, that as in Eden
the Lord may walk there in the c0oI Of
the day. Plant them in cemcterjc,
their shade like mournet's veil. and
their leaves sounding like the rustic uf
the wings Of the departed. Let Arbor
Day. or tho day for the planting Of
trees, recognized by the legislatures OF
MANY 0f thp at aigS be ohe ~,