Connecticut western news., 1892-04-14
THE PALM BRANCHES.
SUBJECT OF DR. TALMAGE'S REGu-
 LAR SUNDAY SERMON.

A Discourse Based the Text, "They
 Took Branches of Palm Trees and
 Went Forth to Meet Him"-Text, John
 xii, IS.
 BROOKLYN, April 10.-This day is rec ognized as Palm Sunday throughout the world, and that fact gave direction to Dr. Talmage's sermon. Among the hymns sung was the hymn
 Clad in raiment pure and white, ..
 Victor palms in every hand.
 Text, John xii, 13, "They took branches of palm trees and went forth to meet him."
 How was that possible? How could palm branches be cast in the way of Christ as he approached Jerusalem? There are scarcely any palm trees in central Palestine. Even the one that was carefully guarded for many years at Jericho has gone. 1 went over the very road by which Christ approached Jerusalem, and there are plenty of olive trees and fig trees, but no palm trees that could see. You must remember that the climate has changed. The palm tree likes water, but by the cutting down of the forests, which are leafy prayers for rain, the land has become unfriendly to the palm tree. Jericho once stood in seven miles of palm grove. Ohvet was crowned with palms. The Dead sea has on it's banks the trunks of palm trees that foated down from some old time palm grove, and are preserved from de- cay by the salt which they received from the Dead sea. Let woodmen spare the trees of America, if they would not ruin- ously change the climate and bring to the soil barrenness instead of fertility. Thanks to God and the legislatures for Arbor Day, which plants trees. trying to atone for the ruthlessness which has de- stroyed them. Yes, my text is in har- mony with the condition of that country on the morning of Palm Sunday. About three million people have come to Jeru- salem to attend the religious festivities. Great news! Jesus will enter Jerusalem today. The sky is red with the morn ing, and the people are focking out to the foot of Olivet, and up and on over the southern shoulder of the mountain, and the procession coming out from the city meets the procession escorting Christ as he comes toward the city. There is a turn in the road, where Jerusalem sud denly bursts upon the vision. .
 We had ridden that day all the way from Jericho and had visited the ruins of the house of Mary and Martha and Lazarus, and were somewhat weary of sight seeing, when there suddenly arose before our vision Jerusalem, the reli- gious capital of all Christian ages. That was the point of observation where my text comes in. Alexander rode Buceph- alus, Duke Ellie rode his famous Marche- gay, Sir Henry Lawrence rode the high mettled Conrad, Wellington rode his proud Copenhagen, but the conqueror of earth and heaven rides 8 colt, one that had been tied at the roadside. 1t was unbroken, and I have no doubt fractious at the vociferation of the popu- lace. An extelnporized saddle made out of the garments of the people was put on the beast. While some people gripped the bridle of the colt, others reverently waited upon Christ at the mounting. The two processions of peo- pie now become one-those who came out of the city and those who came over the hill. The orientals arc more de- monstrative than we of the western world, their voices louder, their gesticu- lations more violent, and the symbols by which they express their emotions more significant. The people who left Phocea in the far east, wishing to make impressive that they would never re- turn, took a red hot ball of iron and threw it into the sea and said they would never return to Phocea until that ball rose and hoated on the surface. Be not surprised, therefore, at the demon stration in the text. As the colt with it's rider descends the slope of Olivet. the palm trees lining the road are called upon to render their contribution to the scene of welcome and rejoicing. The branches of these trees are high up, and some must needs climb the trees and tear of the leaves and throw them down, and others make of these leaves an em- erald pavement for the colt to tread on.
 THE PALM TYPICAL OF TRIUMPH.
 Long before that morning the palm tree had been typical of triumph. Herod- otus and Strabo had thus described it. Layard finds the palm leaf cut in the walls of Nineveh with the same signifi- canoe. In the Greek athletic games the victors carried palms. am very glad that our Lord, who five days after had thorns upon his brow, for little while, at least, had palms strewn under his feet. Oh, the glorious palm! Amarasinga, the Hindoo scholar, calls it "the king among the grasses" Linnaus calls it "the prince of vegetation" Among all the trees that ever cast a shadow or yielded fruit or lifted their arms toward heaven, it has no equal for multitudinous uses. Do you want flowers? One palm tree will put forth hanging garden of them -one cluster counted by a scientist con- taining POT ,000 blooms. Do you want food? It is the chief diet of whole na- tions. One palm in Chii will yield ninety gallons of honey. In Polynesia it is the chief food of the inhabitants. In India there are multitudes of people dependent upon it for sustenance. Do you want cable to hold ships or cords to hold wild beasts? It is wound into ropes unbreak- able. Do you want articles of house furniture? It is twisted into mats and woven into baskets and shaped into drinking cups and swung into ham, mocks? Do you want medicine? Its nut is the chief preventive of disease and the chief cure for vast populations. Do you want houses? Its wood furnishes the wall for the homes and its leaves thatch them. Do you need supply for the pantry? It yields sugar and starch and oil and sago and milk and salt and wax and vinegar and candles
 Oh, the palml It has variety of en- dowments such as no other growth that ever rooted the earth or kissed the heav- ems. To the willow God says, "Stand by the water courses and weep.r To the cedar he says, Gather the hurricanes | into your bosom" To the fig tree he