The Penn's Grove record., 1901-09-06
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON
SUNDAY DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.
Subject Religion Is Evergreen-The inv
Branch of Peace, the Pine br"nen u
Consolation, the Palm Branch Oh
fitness and victory-The Gospel hroor

fuIness and yictory-The Gospel Aroor
copyright 1sOtl .
WASHINGTON. d. C.-This discourse OF
DR.. Talmage is full of the breath OF the
hills and fields and is a summer sermon
t,svt Nehemiah. viii, Is, Go forth unto
tba mountain and fetch olive branches
and palm branches and branches OF thicA
trees to make booths.
n seems as il Mount 0livet were IN
moored. The people have gone INTO tne
mountain and have cut off tree branches
and put them on their shoulders, ana tney
come forth now into the streets OF Jeru-
salem and on the housetops and they
twist these tree branches into ar6ors or
booths. Then the people come forth rom
tbe;r comfortable homes and dwell ior
seven DAYS in these booths or arbors.
WHY do they do that? Well, 1t is a great
fastal time. 1t is the feast OF t~aoernaelcs,
and these people are gong to ~celenrate
tbe desert travel Of their fathers aud their
daI;yerance from their troubles, the expe-
rience of their fathers when, travelling IN
tbe desert, they lived in booths, on their
way to the land Of Canaan. And So these
booths also became highly suggestiVe-oI
our march toward heaven and OF the, tact
that we are only living temporarily here,
as it we're, in booths or arhors, on our
way to the Canaan of eternal rest; ANA
what was said to the Jews hterally may
he said fpuratively to all this audience
% forth into the mountain and fetch
olive branches and pine branches and
myrtle branches and palm branches ana
branches of thick trees to make booths.
Yes. we are only here in a temporary
residence. We are marching on; The
merchant princes who used to live IN
Bowling Green. New York, have passed
away, and their residences are now the
. H. ..aoha,ta Whore nTp
the men who fifty years ago owned WASH
;noton 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. 49,.
But. blessed be God, we are not in this
world left out of doors and unsheltered.
There are gospel booths or gospel arbors
in which our souls are to be comforted.
Go forth unto the mountain and fetch
olive branches, and pine branches, ana
myrtle branches, and palm branches and
branches of thick trees and build booths.
Well. now, we are to-day to construct a
gospel arbor or gospel booth, and now
shall we construct 1t? Wen, we must
get all the tree branches and build. Ac-
cording to my text, we must go up into
the mount and bring olive branches. What
| does that mean? The olive tree grows in
warm climates and it reaches the height
of twenty or twenty-five feet, a straight
stem, and then an offshoot from that stem
And then people come and they strip OF
these branches sometimes, and when III
time of war the general of one army takes
one of these olive branches and goes out
to the general of another army, what does
that mean? Why. it means unsaddle the
war chargers; it means hang up the wal
knapsacks. It is but a beautiful way Of
saving peace!
Nov. if We are to-day going to succeed
in building this gospel arbor we must &c
| into the mount OF Gods blessing and fetcl
the olive branches, and whatever else We
must have we must have at least two ollvt
br~anches-peace with God and peace will
man. When 1 say. peace with God, l dc
not mean to represent God as an angry
Lk grrdge against us, but
/ do mean to affirm that there is no mort
a%ntaeonism between a hound and a hare
between a hawk and a pullet, between Gle
plant and swine than there is hostility
between holiness and sin.
And if God is all holiness and we are al
sin there must be a readlustment, ther'
must be a reconstruction, there must he
treaty, there must be n stretching tortl
of olive branches.
There is a great lawsuit going on now
and it is a lawsuit which man is bringing
against his Maker; that lawsuit is now OF
the calendar. 1t is the human versus tn
divine; it is ~iniquity versus the immacu
late; it is weakness versus omnipotence
Man began it; God did not begin the law
suit. We began it; we assaulted our Ma
ker, and the sooner we end this part o
the struggle in which the finite attempt
to overthrow the infinite and omnipoten
the sooner we end it the better. TRAY
ele-s tells as there is no such place a
Mount Calvary: that it is only a hill, onl
an insignificant hill, but / persist in calm
it the mount of Gods divine mercy an
love. far grauder than any other place o
earth, grander than the Alps or the Fl
malayas, and there are no other hills a
compared with it; and | have noticed i
every sect where the cross of Christ is sc
forth it is planted with olive branches.
And all we have to do is to get rid c
this war between God and ourselves, c
which we are all tired. We want to bac
out Of the war; we want to get rid of thi
hostility. All we have to do is just to &c
up on the mount of Gods blessing an
pluck these olive branches and wave thei
before the throne. Peace through OF
Lord Jesus Christi
Oh, it does not make much differenc
what The world thinks of you! But com
into the warm, intimate, glowing an
everlasting relationship with the God,
the Rvhole universe; that is the JOY thi
makes a halleluiah seem stupid. Why d
we want to have neace through our Lor
Jesus Christ? Why, ii we had gone on
10000 years of war against God we coul
not have captured so much as a sword {
a cavalry stirrup or twisted off one of II
wheels Of the chariot of His o%mnipotenc
but the moment we bring this olive branC
God and all heaven come on our sid
Peace through our Lord Jesus Christ, al
no other kind of peace is worth anythin
But then we must have that other oll'
branoh-peace with man. Now, it is veI
easy to get up a quarrel. There are gu
powdery Christians all around us, and OF
match of provocation will set them o
II is easy enough to get up a quarrel. Bu
my brother, do you not think YOU h;
better have YOU horns sawed off, III
not you better make an apology? Ill
not you better submit to a little humill
tom "0h," you say, until that mi
takes the first step | will never be
peace with him! Nothing will be do
, until he is ready to take the first step
You are a pretty Christian. When won
this world be saved if Christ had n
taken the first step? We were in t
wrong; Christ was in the right, all rig
and forever right, and yet He took t
l lrst Step. ana lnSiedu OIL going anu Y
t ting a knotty scourge with which to WI
your antagonist, your enemy, you had b
FER get up on the radiant mount whC
Christ suffered for His enemies and j
AXE AN olive branch, not stripping off t
? off, cool, fragrant leaves, leaving them
nj and then try on them that gosI
switch. 1t will not hurt them, and it "
, save you. Peace with God; peace W
: man. If you cannot take those two d
= trines, you are no Christian.
But my text goes further. 1t says, "
b up into the mountain and fetch oil
branches and pine branches" Now, wi
. is suggested by the pine branch? I
y pine tree is healthy; it is aromatic; it
evergreen. How often the physician 81
to his invalid patients, Go and have
II breath of the pines; that will invigor
C you" Why do such thousands OF peo
j. 90 South every year? II is not merely
get to a warmer climate, but to get the
huence OF the pine. There is health in
e and this pine branch of the text sugge
le tie h%elpfulness of our holy religion. II
l. full of health, health for all, health
the mind, health for the soul. ! knew
aged man who had no capital of phys
,e health. He had had all the diseases
could imagine. He did not eat enough
&c keep a child alive; he lived on a bever
of hosannas; he lived high, for he dir
nc every day with the King. he was k