Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1901-09-06

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WASHINGTON. Sept. This discourse
Of DIR. Talmage is full Of the breath of
the hills and fields and is a summer ser
mon; text, Nehemiah viii, 10, "Go forth
unto the mount and fetch olive branches
and pine branches and myrtle branches
and palm branches and branches of thick
trees to make booths"
1t seems as If Mount Olivet were un-
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 house tops, 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 thatg Well, it is
great festal time. 1t is the feast of
tabernacles, and these people are going
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 to the land of
Capaan. And so these booths also be-
came highly suggestive will not say
they are necessarily typical but highly
| suggestive-Of our march toward heaven
and 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 fguratively to
all this audience Go forth unto the
/ mountain and fetch olive branches and
| pine branches and myrtle branches and
palm branches and 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
| fields Of cheap merchants. Where are
| the men who 80 years ago owned Wash
ington 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 hill, and we are to
| follow them. 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 and myrtle branches and
| palm branches and branches Of thick
trees and build booths.
Well, now we are ready to construct a
gospel arbOr or gospel booth, and how
shall we construct it? Well, we must
get all the tree branches and build. Ac-
cOrding to my text, we most go up into
The mount and bring olive branches.
What does that mean? The olive tree
grows in warm climates, and ii reaches
the height 0f 20 or % feet. a straight
stem and then an oGshOot from that
stem. And then people come, and they
strip off these branches sometimes, and
when in 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, il
means unsaddle the war chargers i
means hang up the war knapsacks. 1t i!
but a beautiful way of saying. Peace!
We Need olive branches.
Now. if we are today going to sue
coed in building this gospel arbor W,
must 20 into the mount of Gods bless
ing and fetch the olive branches, ant
whatever else we must have we mus
have at least two olive branches, peac
y with God and peace with man. Whe
+ | say peace with God, | do not mean t
: | represent God as an angry chieftaiT
Il having grudge against us, but | d
mean to affirm that there is no more al
tagonism between a hound and a har,
between hawk and Il pullet, betwee
elephant and swine, than there is hostil
; ty between holiness and sin. And il Go
n is all holiness and we are all sin thcI
d. must be Il treaty. there must be
stretching forth of olive branches.
There is a great lawsuit going on nov
and it is lawsuit which man is Drnfgh
Al. against his Maker. That lawsuit is no
ON the calendar II Is the human versl
the divine, it is iniluity versus the in
y, maculate, it is weakness versus omni
otence. Man began it. God did not
gin the lawsuit We began it. We a
saulted our Maker, and the sooner v
end this part of the struggle, in which Il
finite attempts to overthrow the infni
and omnipotent-the sooner we end it Il
te better. Travellers tell us there is no su,
place as Mount Calvary, that it is only
- hill, only an insignificant hill, but pc
sist in calling it the mount of GOD
~ divine mercy and love far grOnder tn;
o. any other place on earth, grander TIL
lei the Alps or the Himalayas, and there a
,SS no other hills as compared with it, and
rd have noticed in every sect where t
cross of Christ is set forth it is plant
with olive branches. And all we have
. do is to get rid of this war between G
= and ourselves, of which we are all tir,
We want to back out of the war,
want to get rid Of this hostility. All
have to DO is just to get up on the MOI
Of Gods blessing and pluck these oil
. branches and wave them before
throne. Peace through our Lord Je.
Christ!
vi Oh, it does not make much differel
we what the world thinks of you. but co
n into the warm, intimate glowing O
everlasting relationship with the God
the whole universe! That is the joy t
makes a hallIiJiah seem stupid. "
do We wans to have peace through
Lord Jesus Christ? Why, if we had e
on in 10000 years of war against {
we could not have captured so much
- a sword or a cavalry stirrup or twis
off one of the wheels of the chariot
low his omnipotpnce. But the moment
bring this olive branch God and
heaven come on our side. Peace thro
our Lord Jesus Christ. and no other /
Of peace is worth anything.
But then we must have that Of
olive branch, peace with man. Now.
very easy to get up a quarrel. There
and gunpowdery Christians all around us.
.oro one match of proyucation viii set I
off. 1t is easy enough to get up q
hlte rel. But, my brother, do you not 4
lbeH you had better have your horns sa
or, off? Had not you better make an al
gy? Had not you better submit
little humiliation? oh" you say,
til that man takes the first step 1
never be at peace with him. Nothing
be done until he is ready to take the
stepw You are a pretty Chris
When would this world be saved if c
\ had not taken the first step? We
10 in the wrong. Christ was in the RICH
right and forever right. And yet he
s, the first step. And instead of going
getting knotty scourge with whit
whip your antagonist, your enemy
had better get up on the radiant II
where Christ suffered for his enemie
York. just take an olive branch, not stri
off the soft, cool, fragrant leaves,
Ave. ing them all on, and then try on
that gospel switch. 1t will not
them, and it will save you. Peace
God, peace with man. If you c
take those two doctrines, you a