Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 July 1889 — THE TREE BRANCHES. [ARTICLE]

THE TREE BRANCHES.

Cardinal Manning Das just entered upon the twenty-fifth year of his episcopacy. He is now 81 years old. The Hon. E. J. Gay of Louisiana, who died the other day, was the richest man in the state. He was worth $10,000,000. It is said that John Bright's papers will be treated as Lord Beacon field's have been —withheld publication during the lifetime of the queen. After being blind for fifteen years Mrs. Todd Lattle of Bronson, Mich., was suddenly cured. The first person she saw was her daughter and her first remark was: “My, how you’vegrown!” The oldest living peer is Lord Teynfcam. who has just completed his 91st year. He entered the army only a few months after the battle of Waterloo and retired more than sixty years ago. Congressman Scott, the Pennsylvania democratic leader, is said to have spent SIOO,OOO during the last two racing seasons in endeavoring to force one of his horses to the front at the finish.

Walt Whitman writes a note ol thanks to the printers, foreman, and proof-readers of the New York World for naving brought out his last poem without allowing a single mistake to creep into it. President Harrison received a letter a few days ago in which he was urged to learn to play lawn tennis: The writer said that the exercise derived would fully atone for tho digni—ty sacrificed: : ~ " Adolphos Andreas, the inventor of the American jack-screw, died in New York a few days ago aged 90 years. He was the oldest Mason in tho state and one of the original founders of the Mechanics’ institute. M. Eiffel was born at Dijon in 1885. Hisfather, Francois Alexandre Bonickhausen, who altered his name to Eiffel, for what reason does not appear, was boro at Paris in 1795, was m business at Dijon, and died there in 1879. Sir Morell Magazine has instructed his attorney to begin proceedings against the London Times and against Mr. Steinkopff for the publication of the libel upon him contained in the * letters from Berlin which appeared in the Times. The venerable Churchill Julius, archdeacon of Ballarat, once a famous Oxford athlete and a hardworking Liverpool clergyman, recently caught a ruffin beating his wife. lie seized the brute, overpowered him after a struggle, and personally marched him off to the loek-up. The Bath (Me.) Times says that the Rev. John MePadden sixty years ago raisqd a barn withmit~4Featißff "-Mshelpers to liquor. The innovation made a great stir and the opposition was only quieted by enjoying an excellent dinner prepared by Mr. Mcpaddeu’s wife.

John Fiske, the historian, who now turns the scale at 248 pounds, was very slender as a youth, and at the time of his marriage had scarcely more than half his present girth. He studied law at Harvard, but did not like the prac-' tice of it and “commenced author.” The historical boom incidental to centennials of various kinds has created an excellent demand for Mr. Fiske’s volumes. For two years a man who said he ►as Edward Jones of company 12, First |laine regiment, has been an inmato pf the soldiers’ home at Togus. Some pionths ago he applied for a pension. A reply c.tme from tho pension office that Edward Jones, company E, First Maine regiment, was already receiving a pension. This led to an investigation by Criminal Examiner Jacobs, who found the true Jones in an obscure village in this state. Dr. Pinet, the celebrated doctor whose specialty was ins.inity, was once told by an Englishman that he pould detect an insane man at once. -A few days Inter thp Englishman was invited to dine at the asylum, and after dinner the doctor inquired if he knew which of the guests was insane. “Oh, yes," replied the Englishman, “the man who gesticulated and talked loud about inventions.” “You are mistaken, my friend,” said the doctor, “the man you designate is Honore de Balzac, the celebrated writer.” Kino Humbert is something of a wit His hair grew white almost of a sudden three years ago. He is a great smoker and fruit eater; hardly touches meat and drinks nothing but a little weak claret and water. Coffee and tea are forbidden beverages to him, as they excite his nervea When J»ut shooting or manuvenng with troops he seems to live mostly on bread, apples, and oranges. Ills favorite amusement' is billiards, but he like, chess and whist and plays a | vegy good rubber. . ,

PEACE 18 KHiD BY THE OLIVE I BRANCH. The Pine Tree, the Emblem of Health—Palm Denotes Victory Won, Etc.—Rev, Dr. Talmage's Sermon. Rev. Dr. T&lmage preached at the Hampton’s last Sunday, Subject: “The Bower of Tree-Branches. Text Jeremiah Tin., 15. He said:

“Well, now we are to-day to construct a gospel arbor, or gospel booth; and how shall we construct it? Well, we mast get all the tree branches and build. According to my text, we most go np into the mount and bring olive brances. W hat dock that mean? The olive tree grows in warm climates, and it reaches height Of twenty or twenty-two feet, ’ a 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 ones of these olive branches and goes ont to the General of another army, what does that mean? Why, it means unsaddle the war chargers. It means hang np the knapsacks. It is but a beautiful way of saying, Peace! Now, if we are to-day going to succeed in building this gospel arbor, we must go into the Mount of God’s blessing, and fetch the olive branches, and whatever else we must have, we must have at least two olive branches—peace with God and peace with man. When I say peace with God, I do not mean to represent God as a bloody cbeiftain, having a grudge against us, but Ido mean to affirm there is no more antagonism between a hound and a hare, between a hawk and a pullet, between elephant andawine, than there is hostility between holiness and sin. And if God is ail holiness, and we are all sin, there must be a reconstruction, there must be a treaty, there must be a stretching forth 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 on the calendar. It ii the human versus the divine; it is iniquity versus the immaculate; it is weakness versus omnipotence. Man began it; God did not begin the lawsuit. We began it; we assaulted our Maker, and the sooner we end this part of the struggle in which the finite attempts to overthrow the infinite and omnipotent, the sooner we end it the better.

Travelers tell us that there is no such Elace as Mount Calvary, that it is only a ill, only an insignificant hill; but I persist in calling it the mount of God’s divine mercy and love, far grander than any other place on earth, grander than the Alps or Himalayas, and there are no other hi lls as compared with it; and I have no iced in every sect where the Cross of Christ is set forth it is planted with olive branches. And all we have to do is to get rid of this war between God and ourselves, of which we are all tired. We want to back out of the war, we want get rid of this hostility. All we have to do is just to get up on the mount of God’s blessing and pluck these olive branches and wave them before the throne. Peace through our Lord Jesus Christ! But then we must have that other olive branch, peace with man. Now it is very easy to get up a quarrel. There are gunpowderly Christians all around us, and one match of provocation will Bet them oft. It is easy enough to get up a quarrel. But, my brother, don’t you think yon had better have your horns sawed off.’ Had you not better make an apology? Had you not better submit to a little humiliation? Oh, von say, until that man takes the first step I will never be at peace with him; nothing will he done until he is ready to take the first step. You" wm w pretty. Christian. When would this world be saved if Christ had; not taken the first step? We are in the wrong, Christ was in the right—all right and forever right And yet he took the first step. And instead of going and getting a knotty scourge with which to whip your antagonist, your enemy, you had better get up on the radiant mount where Christ suffered for his enemies, and just take an olive branch, not stripping off the soft, cool, fragrant leaves but leaving them all on, and then try on them that gospel switch. It won’t hurt them, and it will savo yon. Peace with God, peace with man. If you can not take those two doctrines yon are no Christian. But my text goes further. It says: Go up into the mountain and fetch olive branches and pme branches, Now what is suggested by the pine branches? The pine tree is healthy; it is aromatic; it is evergreen. How often the physician says to his invalid patients: “Go and have a breath of the pines! That will invigorate you.” Why do such thousands of people go south every year? It is not merely to get to a warmer climate, bat it is to get the influence of the pines. There is health in it, and this pine branch of the text suggests the hesithfulness of our holy religion; it is full of health, health for all, health for the mind, health for the sonl. But this pine branch of my text also suggests the Bimple fact that it is an evergreen. Whit doss this pine branch care for the snow on its brow? It is only a crown of glory. The winter can not freeze it out. This evergreen tree branch is as beautiful in winter as it is in the so earner. And that is the characteristic of oar holy religion; in the sharpest, coldest winter of misfortune and disaster it is as good a religion as it is in the brightest sunshine. Well, now that is a practical truth. For if I should go ud and down these aisles I would not find in this house fiftv people who had had no trouble. But there are some of you who have especial trouble. God oniv knows what you go through with. Oh, how many bereavements, how many poverties, how many persecutions! How many misrepresentations! And now, my brother, yon have tried everything else, whv don’t you try this evergreen religion? It is just as good for you now as it was in the davs of your prosperity. You may have had accumulation cl sorrow and misfortune. They come in flocks, they come m herds upon you; soul; and yet I have to tell yon that this religion can console you. That it -can help you, that it can deliver yon if nothing else will. Do you tell me that thriches and the gain of this world can console you? How was it with the mai who had such a fondness fo* mone’ that when be was sick he ordered > oasin of gold pieces to be brought to him, ana he pat his goaty hand* dpa-i

among the gold pieces, cooling his hand A off in them, and the rattle And ro'lingof these gold pieces were his amusement and entertainment. An, the gold and silver, the honors, the emoluments of this world are a poor solace for a perturbed spirit. But my text takes, a further step and it says: “Go into the mountain, *nd fetch olive branches and pine branches and palm branches.’’ Now. the palmtree was very much honored by the ancients. It had 360 different uses. The fruit was conserved; the sap was a beverage; the stems were ground np for food for camels; the base was turned into hats and mats and baskets, and the leaves were carried in victorious pro-' cessions, and from the root to the top of the highest leaf there was usefulness. The tree grew eighty-five feet in height sometimes, and it spread broad leaves fonr and fl«e yards long; it meant usefulness, and it meant vfctoiy—usefulness for what it produced, victory because it was brought into celebrations of triumph. And, ho. how much we want the palm branches in the Chnrches of Jeans Christ at this time! A great many Christain’s don’t amount to anything. You have to shove them out of the way when the Lord’s chariots come along. We don’t want any more of that kind of Chrtßtains in the church. Usefulness is typified by the palmtree. Ah, we don’t want in the church any more people that are merely weeping willows, sighing into the water, standing'and admiring their lone lashes in theuifiassy spring. No wild cherry, dropping bitter fruit. We want palmtrees, boldine something for God, something for angels, something for man. I am tired and sick of this fiat, tame, ininsipid, satin-slippered, namby-parhby, religion! It is wortn nothing for this world, and it is destruction for eternity. Give me 500 men and women fully consecrated to Christ, and we will take any city for God in three years. Give me 10,000 men and women fully up to theChristain standard; in ten years 10,000 of them would take the whole.earth for God. But when are we going to begin? Ob, that you have the decision, to say “To-day, now!’’ Go now into the mount and gather the palm branches. But the palm branches also means victory. We are by nature the servants of Satan, .tie stole us. he has his eye on us, he wants to keep us. The words comes trom our Father that if we will try to break loose from this doing of wrong, our Father will help us, and some day we rouse up, and we look the black tyrant in the face,and we fly at him, and we wrestle him down, and we put our heel on his neck, and we grind him in the dust, and we say, Victory, victory,through our Lord Jems Christ! Oh, what a grand thing it is to have sin under foot and a waisted life behind our back.

Don’t you think we had better begin now to celebrate the coming victory? in the oid meeting house at Summerville, my father used to lead the singing, and he had the old fashioned tuning fork, and he Would strike it upon his knee, and then put the tuning fork to his ear to catch the right pitch and startthe hymn. But, friend, don’t you think we had -etter be catching the pitch of the everlasting song, the Bong of victory when we shall be more than conquerors? Had we not better begin the rehearsal on earth? My text brings up one step further. It says, go forth into the mount and fetch olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees. Nov, you know verv well that a booth or arbor made of light branches would not Btand. The first blast of the tempest would prostrate it. So then the booth or tfrbor must have four stout poles to hold up the arbor or booth; and hence for the building of the aruor for this world we must have stout branches of thick trees, And so it is in the gospel arbor. Blessed be God that we have. a brawny Christianity, not one easily upset. The storm of life will come upon us, and we want strong doctrine; not only love, but justice; not only invitation but waraim. it is a mightv gospel; it is an omnipotent gospel. There are the stout branches of thiik trees. Oh, it is a mighty gospel; not only an invitation, but a warning, an omnipotent truth, stoat branches of thick trees. Well, my friends, I have shown you here is the olive branch of peace, here is the pine branch of evergreen gospel como’.ation, here the palm tree branch of usefulness and victory, and here are the stout branches of thick trees. The goat el arbor is done. The air is aromatic of heaven. The leaves rustle with the gladness of God. Come into the arbor, j ~ •'•