The Bossier banner., 1892-05-12
THE CEDAR OF LEBANON.
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage Likens
Jesus Unto It.
Ills Arms of Love, Like the Cedar's
Branches, are Spread Out to Enfold
and Shelter the Weary-Whoso-
ever Will May Come.


fowl of every wing.-Ezekiel xvii, %.
The cedar of Lebanon is royal tree.
1t stands six thousand feet above the
level of the sea. A missionary counted
the concentric circles and found one
tree three thousand five hundred years
old-long-rooted, oad-branched, all
the year in luxuriant foliage. The
same branches that bent in the hurri-
cane that David saw sweeping over
Lebanon, rock to-day over the head of
the American traveller. This monarch
of the forest, with it's leafy fingers,
plucks the honors of a thousand years
and sprinkles them upon it's own up
lifted brow, as though some great hal
lelujah 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 fine place for birds to nest
in! In hot days they come thither-the
eagle. the dove, the swallow, the spar
row and the raven.
There is to many of u.s. complete
fascination in the structure and habits
of birds. They seem not more of earth
than Heaven-ever vaciilating between
the two. No wonder that Audubon,
with his gun, tramped through all of
the American forests, in search of new
specimens. Biologists have spent years
in finding the track of birds claw in
the new red sandstone. There is
enough of Gods architecture in a
snipe's bill or grouse's foot to con-
found all the universities. Musicians
have, with clefs and bars, tried to
catch the sound of the nightingale and
robin. Among the first things that a
child notices, is a swallow at the caves;
and grandfather goes out with hand
full of crumbs to feed the snow-b birds
The Bible is full of ornithological al
lusions. The birds of the Bible are not
dead, and stuffed, like those of the
museum, but living birds, with fiutter-
ing wings and plumage. Behold the
fowls of the air." says Christ
Though thou exalt. thyself 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 de-
scribes his desolation by saying: 81
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 appointed time;
and the turtle and the crane and the
swallow observe the time of their COM
M my tlo
ment 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. 'It shall be a
goodly cedar, and under it shall dwell
all fowl of every wing" AS in Eze-
kieTs time, as nOw-Christ is a goodlv
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"
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 misdirected
effort. Until Robert Rail1es came
there was no organized effort for saw
ing the young. We spend all our
strength trying to bend trees, when a
little pressure would have been sufi-
cient for the sapling. We let men 90
down to the very bottom of sin before
we try to lift them up. 1t is a 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 momentu m
is Irresistible. 1t is said that the
young men must be allowed sow their
''wild oats" l have noticed that those
who SOW their wildcats seldom try to
raise any other kind of crop. There
are two opposite destinies If you are
going to Heaven you had better take
the straight road, and not try to go to
Boston by the way of New Orleans.
What is to be the history of this multi
tude of young people around me to-
day? l will take you by the hand and
show you glorious sunrise. / will not
whine about this thing, nor groan
about it; but come, young men and
maidens, Jesus wants you. His hand
is love; His voice is music; His smile is
Heaven. Religion will put no hand
cuffs on your wrist, no hopples on your
feet, no brand on yonr forehead.
| went through the heaviest snow
storm ! have ever known to see a diving
girl. Her cheek on the pillow was as
white as the snow on the easement.
Her round large eye had not lost anv
OF its luster. Loved ones stood all
around the bed, trying to hold her
back. Her mother could not give her
up; and one nearer to her than either
father or mother was frantic with
grief. l said: Fanny, how do YOU
feel?'' ''Ohr' she said, ''happy. happy,
Mr. Talmage, tell all the young folks
that religion will make them happy.
AS came out of the room, louder than
all of the sobs and wailings of grief.
heard the clear, sweet, glad voice of
the dying girl: Good night; we shall
meet again on the other side of the
river" The next Sabbath we buried