The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1881-02-19
THE DIFFERENCE IN TREES.


A Ten-Minute Sermon to 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 fruit-tree, planted by the
channels of water. and yielding fruit in
its season. In the ninety-second Psalm
1t is said that the righteous shall flour
ish like the palm tree, and shall grow
hike 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
looks 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 a cane and lean your weight
upon it if you were lame. 1t would be
very apt to break and give you 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 90 out for q
walks in the country, you come to a 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
thess twigs in your hand, even quite a
large one, you find that it yields 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 es-
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. It's native of China,
l believe, but has been tranSplanted
from its far-otf Eastern home into En-
gland and Scotland and America. Some
people admire it; but if the blossoms of
the ailanthus are as disagreeable to you
as they are to me, you would rather 90
out of your way block or two than to
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 deile their mouths and soil
their lips with the juice of tobacco, or
with strong drink; or who smoke poor
cigars or dirty pipes until they become
offensive to people who are neat and
clean; or who use foul and profane
words, the unmistakable index of bad
heart. l hope that no lad who reads
this will consent to become moral
atanthus.
Then, away off in that Eastern worl d
from which the ailanthus comes, there
grows another tree of which you have
all read, of which you may have read
some things that are not true. 1t does
not grow in China, but to the south of
it, in the Sunda and Philippine Isl
ands. 1t is called the upas-tree. Upas
is the Malay word for poison. From
the juice of this tree the Malays pre-
pare a poison in which they dip the
points of their arrows. A wound inflict-
ed by one of these poisoned arrows is
generally fatal.
The story of a poison valley in the
Island of Java, into which it is danger
GUS to venture because of the odor of
the upas-tree, is mere fable. There
is narrow valley in Java in which
neither animal nor vegetable life can
subsist; but this is owing to great guam
titles of carbonic acid gas constantly
escaping from the earth, the presence
Of which is as fatal to the upas-tree as
to any other. The real upas, with its
poisonous juice, may be said to repre- |
sent evil men and bad boys. whose in
fluence is hurtful and poisonous. Sol
ONION warns us against them in the
Book of Proverbs. He says: "Walk
not thou in the way with them. Refrain
thy foot from their path" We ought
to avoid them as we would the upas-
trees if they really gave out poisonous
and deadly odor.
But there ARE other trees which rep.
resent characters of q nobler sort. | |
want to speak of two or three of these.
Did you ever sail up the Hudson in
the day timer If SO you may have no.
ticed, at many points, dark evergreen
tree with handsome, cone-shaped top.
1t is commonly called the cedar,
though l believe its right name is the
fir. Now these fir trees often grow in
clusters, sometimes many acres in ex-
tent. And one popularity that they |
have is that of growing on rough and |
rocky lodges where there is very little
soil. One would think that the barren
ness of many Of these places would dis
courage any tree. But it is just here |