The Penn's Grove record., 1892-04-15
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIvINE-s SUN
DAY SERMON.
Subject: The GiorioIs Palm

TEXT: "They took branches of paIm ire.
and 'oent forth to meet Him."--John xii, IS
How was that possibles How could palm
branches be cast in the way of CHRIST as Fl,
approached Jerusalem? There are scarcely
any palm trees in Central Ps,estine. Even
the one that was carefully guarded for many
years at Jericho has gone. | went over thu
very road by which Christ approached Jer.
usalem, and there are plenty of olive trees
and fig trees, but no palm srees that I could
see. You must remember that the climate
has changed. The palm tree likes water, bu,
by the cutting down OF the forests, which
are leafy prayers for rain, the land has be-
come unfriendlv to the palm tree. Jericho
once stood in seven miles of palm grove.
Olivet was crowned with palms. The Dead
Sea has on its banks the trunks of palm
trees that foated down from some oldtims
palm grove and are preserved from decay
by the salt which they received from the
Dead Sea.
Let woodmen spare the trees of America
II they would not r%uinously change the eli.
mate and briny to the soil barrsnness instead
Of fertility. Thanks to God and the legisla
lures for Arbor Day, which plants trees, try
ing to atone for the ruthlessnsss which has
destroyed 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 Jerusalem TO
attend the religious festivities. Great news
Jesus will enter Jerusalem to-day. The sky
is red with the morning, 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 hous.
of Mary and Martha aud Lazarus, and were
somewhat weary Of sight seeing, when there
suddenly arose before our vision Jerusalem,
the religious capital of all Christian ages.
That was the point of observation where my
text comes in. Alexander rode Bucephalus,
Duke Ellie rode his famous Merchegay, Sir
Henry Lawrence rode the high mettled Con-
rad, Wellington rode his proud Copenhagen,
but the conqueror Of earth and heaven rides
| o colt, one that had been tied at the roadside.
1t was unbroken. and l have no doubt frac-
tious at the vociferstion Of the popuiace. An
extemporized saddle made ont of the gar
ments OF the people was put On the beast.
While some people griped the bride of the
colt. others reverently waited upon Christ at
the mountain.
The two professions of people now become
)ne-those who came out of the city and
those who came over the hill. The orientals
are more demonstrative than we of the
western world, their voices louder, their
gesticulations more violent and the symbols
by which they express their emotions more
significant. Tn people who left Phocea, in
the far east, wishing to make impressive
that they would never return, took red hot
ball of iron and threw 1t into the sea, and
said they would never return to Phocea until
that ball rose nd foated on the surface. Be
not surprised, therefore, at the demonstra-
ton in tine text.
As the colt with It's rider desc.nds the
slope Of Olivet, the palm trees lining the
road are called upon to render their contri-
button to the scene OF welcome and rejoic-
ing. The branches of these trees are high up
of the leaves and throw them down, and
others make Of these leaves an emerald pave
ment for the colt to trod on.
Long before that morning the palm tree
had been typical OF triumph. Herodotus and
6trabo had thus described it. Lsyard finds
the palm leaf cut in the walls of Nineveh,
with the same significance. 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 a little
while at least had palms strewn under His
feet. Oh, the glorious palml Amarzsinga,
the Hindoo scholar, calls it ''the king among
the grasses" Linneus 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 multi
tudinous uses. Do you want nowerss One
palm tree will put forth . hanging garden
Of them, one cluster counted by a scientist
containing 2O7, 900 blooms. Do you want
foods 1t Is the chief diet Of the whole nations.
One palm in Chile will yield ninety gallons
of honey. In Polynesia it is the chief food
- tho inho httonta In India fhafsa ara n1n1.
tituiss Of people dependent upon it for sus
.epance.
Do you want cable to hold ships or cords
to hold wild beastsf IL Is wound into ropes
unbreakable. Do you wan articles of house
furnituref 1t is twisted into mats and woven
into baskets and shaped into drinking cups
and swung into hammocks. Do you raj
medicine2 Its nut is the chief preventive of
disease and the chief cure for vast populs-
tons. Do you want housesf Its wood Turn
lshes the wall for the homes, and its leaves
thatch them. do you need a supply for the
'pantryS 1t yields sugar and starch and oil
and sago and milk and salt and wax and
vinegar and candles.
oh, the paint 1t has a variety of endow
ments, such as no Other growth that ever
rooted the earth or kissed the heavens. To
the willow, God says, Stand by the water
courses and weep" To the cedar He says,
Gather the hurricanes into your bosom"
To the fig tree He says, Bear fruit and put
IL within reach of all the people" But to
the palm tree He says, "Be garden and
storehouse and wardrobe and ropewaik and
ufactory, and then be type of what l meant
when I inspired David, My servant, to say,
The righteous shall flourish like a palm
tree"
oh, Lord God, give us more palm trees
men and women made for nothing but to be
useful; dispositions all abloom; branches OF
influence laden with fruit; people good Tor
are wanted they are ready to utter them.
II helpful deeds are needed they are ready
to perform them. II plans Of usefulness are
to be laid out they are ready to project
them. II enterprises are to be forwarded
they are ready to lift them. People who
say "Yesi YesF' when they are asked for
assistance by word or deed, instead OF moi
Mop
Most of the mysteries that bother Others
do not bother me, because l adjourn them;
but the mystery that really bothers me is
why God made so many people who amount
to nothing 80 far as the worlds betterment
is concerned. They stand in the way. They
object. They discuss hindrances. Ihey
suggest possibilities of failure. Over the
road of life, instead of pulling in the traces,
they are lying back in the b~reechings. They
are the everlasting No. They are bramble
trees, they are willows, always mourning;
or wild cherry trees, yielding only the bit
ter; OF crab apple trees, producing only the
sour, while God would have us al flourish
like the palm tree. Planted in the Bible that
tree always means usefulness.
But how little any of us or all of us &C
complish in that direction. We take twenty
or thirty years to get fully ready for Chris
tan work, and in the after part of life we
take ten or twenty years for the gradual
closing Of active work, and that leaves only
SO little time between opening AMI stopping
work s.at all we accomplish is so little an
angel Of Godnesds to exert himself to see II
all.
Nearly everything I see around, beneath
and above in the natural world suggests
useful service. II there is nothing in the
Bible that inspires you to usefulness, go out
and study the world around you this spring
time, and learn the great lesson Of useful
ness. What art thou doing up there, little
StArf Why not shut thine eyes and sleep
for who cares Tor Tor thy shiningr' NO.
saith the star, 81 will not sleep. I guild,
the sailor on the sea. I cheer the travelsi
among the mountains. l help tip the dew
with light. Through the window Of tn,
poor mans cabin l cast a beam OF hop., and
the child on her mothers lap asks in gleS