Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1885-05-01
ARBOR-DAY SERMONS.
REV. s. NJ. oBoTHEIs ILLUSTRATES THE CHRIS.
TIAH PRINCIPLE WHICH THE SUBJECT OF FOR
FsTRY INyoLvFs


REV. s. NJ oRoTHEHs ILLUSTRATES THE CHRIS
TIAH PRINCIPLE WHICH THE SUBJECT OF FOR
EsTRY INVOLVES.
The sermon at the Unitarian church last
Sunday morning had especial reference to
tie Governors arbor-day proclamation. The
principle involved in this proclamation, Mr.
Crothers said, is one that the Christian church
also aims 10 cultivate. 1t is that individual
ownership OF any Of the permanent resources
OF the earth is not absolute and irresponsible,
but that the whole community has rights and
interests which must be respected. To whom
does the earth belong? Different civiliza-
tons have given different answers TO the
question. Sometimes priesthood has claim
ed tithes of all sometimes the whole land
has been looked upon as the property OF the
king. As a nation we have denied the claims
both of the priests and the kings, but the
common theory that is acted upon by Amer
leans is, at present, q crude one. 1t is that
the earth and all its resources may be divid-
ed, like the spoil of a captured city, among
individuals, who are responsible to no one
for the use they make of what is their own.
The result OF this is seen in acts of legalized
vandalism all over our country. A large
class Of people seek only TO get all they can
out of the earth in the shortest space Of time
and with the least effort. They have no care
as TO what will be effect upon others Of their
work. 1t is time to recognize the limitations
to individual ownership. One limitation is
found 10 the rights belonging to the CON-
munity. One person owns few acres of
land but the landscape belongs to all who
look upon it. The individual holds in his
keeping part Of the landscape, and be has
no right ruthlessly to destroy its beauty.
Neither has he a right to faint the breezes
that blow over his land, nor to dry up the
streams that flow from it. One Of the de-
signs of arbor day is TO cultivate the upSelf-
ish desire for the common good. Another
limitation is found in the rights of posterity.
The earth is the Lords" and he has given
il to this generation only in trust to hand
down to those that come after. We have no
right, for the sake of present gain, to rob our
children of their rightful heritage. Our
pride should be to leave the world richer and
more beautiful than we found il. This is
the final motive that the Governor presents
in his proclamation, ito the end that the com
fort and happiness Of our people in the years
TO come may be measurably increased"
REv s. II. LEE on THE SANE TOPIC.
In the evening, at the Congregational
church, Mr.. Lee preached from Gen. 81 80
And Abraham planted grove in Beersheba,
and called on the name of the Lord, the ev-
erlAsting God"
Abraham, Mr.. Lee said, was a noble man,
and it Is pretty safe to do anything that be
did. Apparently here he planted an ever
green tree or grove in recognition of the
eternity Of God and his covenant. We have
in this transaction a glimpse of the truth
that the highest relation of trees, as of all
objects of nature, is spiritual The lowest
significance Of the tree is utility-its fuel for
warmth and power in industry. In the mass
trees are power on earth and air and water,
affecting widely manufactures and commerce,
and the conditions of human life The next
value Of trees is in their beauty-ther sum
mer verdure and bloom and shade their au-
tumnRl fruitage their superb structure and
shadow in the winter the life and animation
they give the earth and sky. They have
great power also in gathering associations
and come with warm friendliness into human
life. We see this on q broad scale in the
Cambridge elm and the tree of AppomattoX.
Because Of these various meanings the tree
Attains q spiritual significance to q spiritual
being like man. The tree in its use and
beauty unfods the heart and mind of God
and easily voices the feeling of man TO God.
So we find through all scripture, trees every.
where eloquent of God and TO God. Eden
was full of them. The word Paradise means
a park Of trees. 1t WAS beneath trees that
Abraham entertained the angels and pleaded
for SOdom, and we find from this beginning
that large number of the important events
in Israel's history we're in connection with
trees. Perhaps no object in nature is so
much used in figures of speech in the scrip
lures. THE righteous shall flourish like the
palm tree; he shall be like the cedars of
Lebanon"
The recent movements in the promotion of
forestry are the embodiment of the Christian
law, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy
self" The history of these is familiar. The
recognition of the need and the undertaking TO
meet it mostly in the last ten years, have arisen
and started in the west. Floods and drouth,
barrenness and deformity compel to action.
As to forests, the principal difficulty lies in
the haste of men to get money from their
woodlots and the regardlessness of those who
own the regions in which rivers have their
sources for the welfare OF those who live in
the valleys below. How shall this be met
Only by an enlightened public opinion and
larger public spirit. 'Look not every man
on his own things, but every man also on the
things of others" The men who own the
territory of the upper Connecticut do not
own the Connecticut at Brattleboro, and they
have no more right to destroy the manusac-
turing aud commercial value of the stream
than they have to poison it. The river can
be saved only by those in the higher terrific.
A'SoBhiAAhB hh1 AhIN Auhl ONnGThllD 10
qualified by their obligation TO consider the
interests of others, in obedience to the law
of love. Probably men will be slow to re-
gard this high principle until they are fur
Their enlightened 10 see that their own HIGH
est material interest is bound up in the high
est prosperity of those below them. Il is a
fundamental truth in economies that the
good of each tends TO the good of all; aud
the good of all tends to the good of each.
In the long run men who own forests will not
make the most money by cutting of their
woods.
Further, the proclamation of the Governor
embodies the New Testament law in calling
for the setting out of ornamental trees
for he who sets out tree does loving deed
for his neighbor and especially for posterity.
He joins hands with Abraham in the deed,
and it is his privilege to join him in spirit
also.