Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1892-03-07
A GOODLY CEDAR.
CHRIST THE ONLY REFUGE FOR
PEOPLE OF EVERY SORT.

Sermon Preached by the Rev. t. De Witt
Talmagc, ID. d., at the Tabernacle in
brooklyn on Sunday. March c-Teze,
Ezekiel xvii. 23.
BROOKLYN March 6.-The congre-
cation at the Brooklyn Tabernacle
this morning sang with fervor the
hymn beginning
Ny faith looks up to thee.
Thou Lamb of Calvary.
DIR. Talmage's subject was the ref
uge offered by the Christian religion
to the people of all ages and every
variety of character. His text was
Ezekiel xvii, %. "A goodly cedar, and
under it shall dwell all fowl of every
wing"
The cedar of Lebanon is a royal
tree 1t stands six thousand feet
above the level of the sea- A mis-
Sionary counted the cOncentric cir
cles. and found one tree thirty-fve
hundred years old-long rooted,
broad branches. all the year in luxu-
RANT foliage The same branches
that bent in the hurricane that David
saw sweeping over Lebanon rock, to-
uIlf ONcI IIlc lcdO vi llle
traveller.
This monarch of the forest, with
It's leafy fingers, pluclls the hOnOrs of
thousand years and sprinkles them
upon its own uplifted brow, as though
some great hallelujah of heaven had
been planted upon Lebanon and it
were rising up with all it's long armed
strength to take hold of the hills
whence it came. Oh, what a fine
place for birds to nest in In hot
days they come thither-the eagle,
the dove. the swallow. the sparrow,
and the raven.
There is to many of us a complete
fascination in the structure and habits
of birds. They seem not more of
earth than heaven-ever vacillating
between the two. No wonder that
Audubon, with his gun, tramped
through all of the American forests
In search of new specimens. Geol-
ogists have spent years in finding
the track of a birds claw in the new
red sandstone. There is enough of
Gods architecture in snipe's bill or
a grouse's foot to confound all the
universities. Musicians have, with
clefs and bars, tried to catch the
sound of the nightingale and robin
Among the first things that child
notices is a swallow at the caves;
and grandfather goes out with a
handful of crumbs to feed the snow
birds The Bible is full of ornitholog-
ical illusions The birds of the Bible
-,
of the museum, but living BIRDS with
fiuttering wings and plumage. BE
hold the fowls of the air. says
Christ. Though thou exalt myself
rs the eagle. and though thou set thy
nest among the stars. thence will I
bring thee down, eXclaims Obadiah
''Gavest thou the goodly wings unto
the peacocks?' says Job
David describes his desolation by
saying Il am like pelican of the
wilderness: am like an owl of the
desert; | watch, and am as a sparrow
alone upon the housetop. Yea, the
stOrk in the heaven knoweth her ap-
pointed time; and the turtle and the
crane and the swallow observe the
time of their coming: but my people
know not the Judgment of the Lord
so says Jeremiah.
Ezekiel in my text intimates that
Christ Is the cedar. and the people
from all quarters are the birds that
lodge among the branches 1t shall
be goodly cedar, and under it shall
dwell all fowl of every wing" AS in
Ezekiel's time. SO now-Christ is a
goodly cedar. and to him are flying
all kinds of people, young and old,
rich and poor; men high soaring as
the eagle, those fierce as the raven
and those gentle as the dove-''Au
fowl of every wing
THE YOUNG MAY COME
First, the young may come. Of
the eighteen hundred and ninety
two years that have passed since
Christ came, about sixteen hundred
have been wasted by the good in mis-
directed efforts. Until Robert Raikes
came there was no organized effort
for saving the young. We spend all
our strength trying to bend old trees,
when little pressure would have
been sufficient for the sapling We
let men go down to the very bottom
of sin before we try to lift them up.
1t is great deal easier to keep train
on the track than to get it on when
it is off. The experienced reinsman
checks the fiery steed at the first
jump, for when he gets in full swing,
the swift hoofs clicking fire from the
pavement, and the bit between his
teeth his momentum is irresistible.
1t is said that the young must be
allowed to SOW their wild oats" I