Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1881-02-05
THE DIFFERENCE IN TREES.
A Ten-M,nute sermon TO Children.

A Ten-Minute Sermon 10 Children.
THE Bible compares men to trees:
good men to good trees and bad men to
corrupt trees. David says that a good
man is like a fruit-tree, planted by the
channels of water, and yielding fruit in
its season. In the ninety-second Psalm
it is said that the righteous shall flour
ish like the palm tree, and shall grow
like cedar in Lebanon. Isaiah speaks
of those whom the Lord has redeemed
as "trees of Righteousness; the plant
ing of The Lord In the Sermon on
the Mount Jesus likens bad men to COR
rupt trees that bear evil fruit. And
Jude compares the wicked to trees that
have been plucked up by the roots and
the fruit of which has withered. If you
have ever walked through a large for
est, you have discovered that there are
a great many different kinds of trees.
And these different kinds of trees sug-
gest the differences we see in men.
They may be said to represent charac-
ter.
There is the elder, for example. You
see it growing along the fences. 1t
loch.s like quite strong tree when it
grows large; but when you cut through
the trunk or stalk you find that it is
hollow. You would hardly want to
take it for cane and lean your weight
upon it if you were lame. 1t would be
very apt to break and give you a fall.
Now, men or boys who are not con-
trolled by principle are like these elder
trees. You can't depend upon them.
They are unreliable. They may look
well, but it will not do to trust them.
There is hollow spot in their charac-
ter, like the hollow heart of the elder
tree.
Sometimes, when you 60 out for a
walks in the country, you come to lit
tie stream of water; and along its banks
you find perhaps great many bushes
or trees with slender yellow twigs. We
call them willows. If you take one OF
these twigs in your hand, even quite a
large one, you find that ityields to your
slightest touch. You can bend and
twist it with perfect ease. And some
boys are like these willow twigs. They
are plant. They are easily turned
aside from the right path. They yield
to very slight temptation. 1t is hard
for them to say No! when sinners en-
tice them, and to stand up for the truth
in the face of opposition. We say OF
such boys that they have no moral
strength, no backbone. They are like
willow twigs.
One variety of the trees that line the
sidewalks in some of our cities is called
the ailanthus. 1t is a native of China,
| believe, but has been transplanted
from its far-off Eastern home into En-.
gland and Scotland and America. Some
people admire it; but if the blossoms oi
the ailanthus are as disagreeable to you
as they are to me, you would rather &C
out of your way block or two than tc
get the strong, sickening odor. Let me
tell you who these ailanthus trees in the
time of blossoms remind me of. They
make me think of boys who have
formed filthy and disgusting habits; Of
those who deiile their mouths and sol
their lips with the juice of tobacco, Of
with strong drink; or who smoke poo
cigars or dirty pipes until they become
offensive to people who are neat ant
clean; or who use foul and profan'
words, the unmistakable index of ba(
heart. hope that no lad who read
this will consent to become a mora
ailanthus.
Then, away off in that Eastern worlC
from which the ailanthus comes, ther
grows another tree of which you hav,
all read, of which you may have rea,
some things that are not true. 1t doe
not grow in China, but to the south o
it, in the Sunda and Philippine Isl
ands. 1t is called the upas-tree. Upa
is the Malay word for poison. From
the juice of this tree the Malays pre-
pare poison in which they dip tn
points of their arrows. A wound inflict
ed by one of these poisoned arrows i
generally fatal.
The story of poison valley in tn
Island of Java, into which it is danger
Gus to venture because of the odor O
the upas-tree, is mere fable. Their
is a narrow valley in Java in whic
neither animal nor vegetable life ca
subsist; but this is owing to great guam
titles of carbonic acid gas CONSTANT
escaping from the earth, the presenc
of which is as fatal to the upas-tree q
to any other. The real upas, with it
poisonous juice, may be said to repre-
sent evil men and bad boys, whose in
fuence is hurtful and poisonous. Sol
omon warns us against them in tn
Book of Proverbs. He says: "Wal
not thou in the way with them. Refrai
thy foot from their path" We ough
to avoid them as we would the upa'
trees if they really gave out a poisonou
and deadly odor.
But there Are other trees which rel
resent characters of nobler sort.
want to speak of two or three of thest
Did you ever sail up the Hudson
the day timeP If so you may have nj
ticed, at many points, dark evergree
tree with handsome, cone-shaped toI
1t is commonly called the cedal
though l believe its right name is th
fir. Now these fir trees often grow
clusters, sometimes many acres in e.
tent. And one popularity that the
have is that of growing on rough an
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