The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1892-03-11
A GUUDLY CEDAR.
CHRIST THE ONLY REFUGE FOR
PEOPLE OF EVERY SORT.

-
Brooklyn on Sunday. March 6-Text
Ezekiel xvii, e3.
BROOKLYN, March 6.-The congre
cation at the Brooklyn Tabernacle
this morning sang with fervor the
hymn beginning
My faith looks up to thee.
Thou Lamb Of Calvary
DIR. Talmages 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, 90, "A goodly cedar, and
under it shall dwell all fowl of every
wing"
The cedar of Lebanon is a royal
tree It stands six thousand feet
above the level of the sea. A mis-
sionary counte$ the concentric cir
cles, and found one tree thirty five
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-
day over the, head of the American
traveller
This monarch of the forest, with
its leafy fingers, plucks the honors of
thousand years and sprinkles them
upon it's own uplifted brow, as though
some great hallelujah of heaven had
been planted upon Lebanon and it
were rising up with all its 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 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 a 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
are not dead and stuffed, like those
of the museum but living birds, with
ffuttering wings and plumage. BE
hold the fowls of the air." says
Christ. Though thou exalt myself
as the eagle, and though thou set thy
nest among the stars, thence will /
. bring thee down" exclaims Obadiah
''Gavest thou the goodly wings unto
the peacocks?" says Job.
David describes his desolation by
saying, Il am like a pelican of the
wilderness; | am like an owl of the
desert; watch, and am as sparrow
alone upon the housetop." Yea, the
gtork 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-"All
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" l
have noticed that those who sow
their wild oats seldom try to raise
any other kind of crop. There are
two opposite destinies. If you are
going to heaven, you had better take