Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1901-09-06
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the hills and fields and is n summer
sermon; text Nehemiah, will. -, SEQ
forth unto the mountain and fetch olive
branches aud pine branches and myr-
tie branches and palm branches ard
branches of thick trees to make booths"
1t seems rs If Mount Olivet were I'M
moored. The people have gone into the
mountain and have cut Off tree branches
and put them on their shoulders, and
they come forth now into the streets
of Jerusalem and on the housetops and
they twist these tree branches into ar
bors or booths. Then the people come
forth from their comfortable homes and
dwell for seven days in these booths or
arbors. Why do they do that2 Well,
it is a great festal time. 1t is the feast
of taberuacles, and these people are go
ing to celebrate the desert travel of
their fathers and their deliverance from
their troubles. the experience of their
fathers when, travelling in the desert,
they lived in booths on their way othe
land of Canaan. And so these booths
also became highly susgestive-I will
not say they are necessarily typical but
highly suggestive-of our march toward
heaven aud OF the fact that we are
only living temporarily here. as it were,
in booths or arbors. on our way TO the
Canaan OF eternal rest. And what was
said to the Jews literally may be said
figuratively to all this audience. Go
forth into the mountain and fetch olive
branches and pine branches and myr-
tie branches and palm branches and
branches OF thick trees TO make booths
Yes. we are only here in n temporary
residence. We are marching on. The
merchant princes who used TO live in
Bowling Green, New York, have pass
ed away, and their residences are now
the fields of cheap merchants. Where
are the men who 30 years ago owned
Washington and New York? Passed
on. There is no use in our driving our
stakes too deep into the earth; we are
on the march. The generations that
have preceded Us have gone so far on
that we cannot even hear the sound of
their footsteps. They have gone over
the hills. and we are to follow them.
But, blessed be God, we are not in this
world left out of doors and unshel-
tered There are gospel booths or Cos
pei arbors In which our souls are TO be
comforted. Go forth unto the noun
tain and fetch olive branches, aud pine
branches, and myrtle branches. and
palm branches aud branches of thick
trees and build booths.
Well, now, we are today TO construct
gospel arbor or gospel booth, and how
shall we construct IL? Well. we must
get all the tree branches and build.
According to my text, we must 60 up
into the mount and bring olive
branches. What does that mean? The
olive tree grows in warm climates and
1t reaches the height OF 20 or % feet.
straight stem, and then an offshoot
from that stem. And then people come
and they strip off these branches some
times, and when in time of war the
general of one army takes one of these
olive branches ana goes out TO the GEN
eral OF another army, what does that
meanr Why. 1t means unsaddle the
war chargers; It means hang up the
war knapsacks. 1t Is but a beautiful
way OF saying. Peace!
Peace with God, Peace With Man.
Now, IL we are today going to sue
coed In building this gospel arbor we
must 60 into the mount of Gods bless
ing and fetch the olive branches. and
whatever else we must have we must
lave ut least two olive branches
peace with God and peace with man
When ] say peace with God, / do not
mean TO represent God as an angry
chieftain having n grudge against us.
but do mean to affirm that there is
no more antagonism between n hound |
ana a hare, between hawk and n pul- |
let, between elephant and swine than |
there is hostility between holiness and
SIN And IL God Is all holiness and we
are all sin there must be n readlust-
ment, there must be n reconstruction.
there must be treaty, there must be n
stretching forth of olive branches.
There is great lawsuit going on
now, and ii is n lawsuit which man Ia
bringing against his Maker; that law
suit Is now on the calendar II Is the
human versus the divine; ii is iniGuitv
versus the immaculate; IL is weakness
versus onnipotence. Man began II:
GOD did not begin the lawsuit. We he
gan II; we assaulted our Maker. and
the sooner we end this part OF the
Struggle In which the finite attempts
10 overthrow the infinite and omnipo-
tent-the sooner we end 1t the better.
travellers tell us there is no such place
as Mount Calvary; that IL is only n Hill
only an insignificant hill, but persist
III calling 1t the mount OF Gods divine
mercy and love, far grander than snv
other place on earth, grander than tho
APPS or the Himalayas. and there are
no other hliis as compared with Ii; and
nave noticed in every sect where the
cross OF Christ is set forth 1t is planted
WIN olive f'a ches And all we have
TO 90 Is TO Sc. rid OF this war between
COG ana ourselves. of which we are
an tired We want 10 back out of the
war we want 10 get rid OF this hos .
unity. All we have to do is Just to get
up on The mount OF Gods blessing and ,
PLUCK these olive branches and wove {
them before the throne. Peace through
our Lord Jesus Christi I
On, II does not make much difference
what the world thinks of Won, Rut ]
come into the warm. intimate. glowing !
anu everlasting relationship with the =
Goo or the whole univsse; that Is tho {
JOY that makes halleIuiah seem stu
piu- why DO we want to have peace
through our Lord Jesus Christ? WHY. /.
ii we had gone on in 10000 years of
war against God we could not have
captured SO much as sword or a cav
airy stirrup or twisted off one of the
wheels or the chariot Of his omnipo- ,
tence. but the moment we bring this
Olive branch God and all heaven come
on our side. Peace through our Lord .
Jesus Christ and no other kind of ,,
peace Is worth anything.
GUnpowdery Christians. ,
But then we must have that other ,
owe branch-peace with man. Now,
lt Is very easy to get up quarrel. I
Ihere are gunpowdery Christians all :
around us, and one match of proyoca- /
ton viii set them OF. 1t is easy enough 5
TO get up quarrel But, my brother. .
do you not think you had better have r
your horns sawed off? Had not Won r