The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1892-04-27
fREV. DR.. TALMAGE.
TIE BROOKLYN DiVINE'S SUN.
DAY SERMON.
Subject: The Glorious Palm"

TEXT: "Theu took branches of palm trees
Gnd rent forth to meet m"-John xii, IL.
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 Jer-
1saiem, and there arc 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 be-
come unfriendlv to the palm tree. Jericho
once stood in seven miles Of palm grove.
O,ivst was crowned with palirs. The Dead
Sea has on its banks thu trunks Of palm
trees that hoated down from some oldtime
palm grove and are preserved from decay
by the salt which they received from tho
Deaf Sea.
Let woodmen spare the trees OF America,
II they would not ruinously change the eli.
mate and bring to the soil barrenneSS instead
of fertility. Thanks to God and the legisla.
lures for Arbor Day, which plants trees Try
ing to atone for the ruthlessness 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
ia red with the morning, and the people are
docking out to the foot of Oivet 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 turn in the road where Jerusalem sud-
denly bursts upon the vision.
- - @hak do oil 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 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 couqueror OF earth and heaven r!des
q colt one tnat had been tied at the roadside.
It was unbroken. and have no doubt frac-
tious at the vociferation OF the populace. 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
one-those who came out OF the city ana
those who came over the hill. The orteneais
are more demonstrative than we OF tne
western world. their voices louder, their
gesticulations more violent and the sy mbols
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 return, took q red not
ball Of iron and threw 1t into the sea, and
said they would never return to Phocea until
that ball rose and foated on the surface. Be
not surprised, therefore, at the demonstra-
tion in the text.
As the colt with its rider descsnds the
slope of Olivet, the palm trees lining the
road are called upon to render their contri-
button to the scene OF welcome and reJolc-
ing. The branches Of these trees are high up.
and some must needs climb the trees and tear
Off 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
Strabo 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 palm! Amarasinga,
the Hindoo scholar, calls 1t 'the king among
the grasses" Linneus calls it "the prince OF
vegetation"
Among all the trees thst ever cast
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 scientist
containing 2O7, 100 blooms. Dc you want
food. It's the chief diet Of the whole nations.
One palm in Chile will yield ninety gallons
Of honey. In Polynesia it is the chief food
Of the inhabitants. In India there are mul.
titu les of people dependent upon it for sus-
tepance.
Do YOU want cable to hold ships or cords
to hold wild beasts? 1t is wound into ropes
unbreakable. Do you want articles Of house
furniture? 1t is twisted into mats and woven
into baskets and shaped into drinking cups
and swung into hammocks. Do you want
medicines Its nut is the chief preventive Of
disease and the chief cure for vast popula-
tions. DO you want houses? Its wood turn-
ishes the wall for the homes and its leaves
thatch them. DO You need supply for the
and sago and milk and salt and wax and
vinegar and candles.
Oh, the palm! 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. 'tStand by the water
courses ana weep" 10 the cedar He says
''Gatber the hurricanes into your bosom"
To the fig tree He says "Bear fruit and put
it within reach Of all the people," But to
the palm tree He says "Be garden and
storehouse and wardrobe and ropewalk and
ufactory, and then be type Of what I I.eant
when inspired David, My servant, to say,
The righteous shall flourish like 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 for
everything, as the palm tree. Ifkind words
y are wanted they are ready to utter them.
| II helpful deeds are needed they are ready
to perform them. If plans Of usefulness are
Ito be laid out they are ready to project
them. II enterprises are to be forwarded
they are ready to Lift them. People who
shy "Yesi Yesr when they are asked for
assistance by word or deed, instead Of "No!
Nor
Most Of the mysteries that bother others
do not bother me, because I adjourn them;
but The mystery that really bothers me is
why God made 50 many people who amount
to nothing so Tar as the worlds betterment
is concerned. They stand in the way. They
object. They discuss hindrances. They
suggest possibilities Of failure. Over the
road Of life, instead Of pulling in the traces,
they are lying back in the breechings. They
are the everlasting No. They are bramble
trees they are Willows always mourning;
or wild cherry trees, yielding only the bit
ter :,or crab apple trees, producing only the
sour, while God would have us all flourish
like the palm tree Planted in the Bible tina,
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
tian 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