Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1890-12-26

anu uuueT tue INOCk OI ages.
One ofthe Lebanon cedars vas examined
by a scientist, and from it's concentric cir
cles it was found to be thirty-nve hundred
| years old and still standing, and thereissue
! thing as everlasting strength, and such
stanchness OF Christian character that NIL
time ond all eternity instead OF being it's
| demolition shall he its opportunity. Not
| such are those vncillating Christians who are
| so pious on Sunday that they have no Telig-
| ion left for tue week day. As the anaconda
gorges itself with food, and then seems for n
| long while to lie thoroughly insensible, so
there are men who will on Sunday get such
a religious surfeit that the rest Of the week
| they seem thoroughly dead TO nll religious
emotion. They weep in church under
cnarty sermon. nut u on Monday subject
OF want presents itself at the door the beg.
gar's SAFETY will depend entirely on quick
limbs and IN unobstructed stairway. Ii
takes all the grace they can get to keep them
from committing assault and battery on
those intruders who come with pale faces
and stories of distress and subscription
papers. The reasonthat God planted these co.
darsiu the Bible was TO suggest to US that We
ought, in our religious character to be deep
Ike the cedar, high like the cedar,
traveller measured the spread ofthe boughs
OF one ofthese trees and found it one hun
dred and sleyen feet from branch tip to
branch tip, and have seen cedars of Chris
tian character that through their PRAYERS
and charities put out one branch to the ut
ermost PARTS Of America, and another
branch to the uttermost parts OF Asia, and
these wide branched Christians will keep on
multiplying until all the earth is oyershad.
owed with mercy.
But marx you. these cedars OF Lebanon
al ~. = 4 IL
and in so't air and In carefully watered gar
dens They must have the gymnasium of
the midnight hurricane to develop their
arms They must play the athlete with q
thousand winters before their feet are right
ly planted and their foreheads rightly
lifted and their arms rightly muscied. And
II there he any other way for developing
strong Christian character except by storms
OF trouble. never heard Of Ii. Call the roll
OF martyrs, cnll the roll OF the prophets,
call the roll of the apostles and see which OF
them had an easy time of it. Which OF these
cedars grew in the warm vallev2 Not one OF
them HoneysucSles thrive best on the south
side of the house, but cedars in q Syrian
whirlwind.
Men and women who hear this or read
this. instead OF your grumbling because you
have it hard, thank God that you are in Just
the best school for making heroes and hero
next Rock that babyin a cradle cushioned
and canopied; graduate him from that into
costly high chair and give him u gold
| spoon; send him to school wrapped in furs
enough for an Arctic explorer; send him
through college where he will not have to
study in order To get q diploma because his
father ia rich; start him in q profession
where he begins with an Office, the floor GOV
erod with Administer, and library OF books
in Russia morocco. and an armed chair up
| hoIstered like throne, and an embroidered
| ottoman upon which to put his twelve dollar
CATERS, and then lay upon his table the best
| ivory cigarholder you can import from
Brussels and have standing obtside his door
| prnncing span that won the prize ut the
horse fair, ann leave him estate enough in
dependent of all struggle, and what will be-
| come of him? VI he do not die early OF inan-
iton or dissipation he will live useless lie,
and die an unlamented death, and 60 into
a FOOLS eternity
A Lebanon cedari John Milton on his
way up to the throne Of the world sacred
poesy must sell his copyright Of paradise
Lost" for $T2 in three payments. And
William Shakespeare on his way up to be
acknowledged the greatest dramatist OF all
| ages must ho'd horses at the door of the
| London theatre for a sixpeuce, aud Homer
must struggle through total blindness to
Immortality. and John Bunyan must cheer
himself on the way up by making a fute
out OF his prison stool, and Canova, tho
sculptor, must toll on through orphanags
modelling lion in butter before he could
cut his statues in marble. And the great
Stephenson must watch cows in the field
for a few pennies and then become O stoker,
and a!terward mend clocks before he puts
the locomo i've on its track aud calls forth
plaudits from parliaments and medals
from kings. Abel Stevens 10 picked up q
| Tod 81, of n utr nd rta
through his consccrated genius to be one
OF the most illustrious clergymen and his
toTians of the century. And Bishop James
of the same church in boyhood worked his
passage from Ireland to America, and up
to usefulness where, in the bishopric, he
was second to no one who ever adorned it.
While in banishment Xenophon wrote his
"Anabasis" and Thucydides his History
of the Peloponnesian War" and Victor
Hugo must be exied for many years to the
island OF Guernsey before he can come to
that height in the affections of his country.
men that crowds Champs Elysees and the
adjoining boulevards with one million
mourners as his hearse rolls down to the
Church of the Madeleine. oh, it ia tough
old world, and il will keep you back and
keep you down and keep you under as long
as it canl Hail sons and daughters of thu
frcl
in all occupations and professions will b,
those who are this hour in awful struggle O
early life, many OF them without FIVE dollar
to their name. So in spiritual life il takes
course of bereavements, persecution, sick
nesses and losses to develop stalvart Chris
tiau character. | got a letter a few day
ago saying: "Ihave hardly seen vel! day
since l was born, and could not write ny
own name until was DO years of age, and
am very poor; but am, by the gracs o
God. the happiest man in Chicago"
The Bible speaks OF the SHOWS OF Lebanon
aud at this season of the year the snow
there must be tremendous. The deepes
snow ever seen In America would beinsignifi
cant compared with the mildest winter o
SHOWS on those Lebanon mountains. Tn
cedars catch that skyful Of crystals on thei
brow and on their long arms Piled up II
great heaps are those SHOWS, enough to crus
other trees to tho ground, splitting tn
branches from the trunk and leaving then
rent and torn, never to rise. But what d.
the cedars care for these snowson Lebanon
They look up TO the winter skies and say
Snow onl Empty the white heaven. ugo
us, and when this storm is passed let othe
! professions of tempest try to bury us
their fury We have for Ave hundred winter
been accustomed TO this, and for the mex
Ave hundred winters we will cheerfuily TAX
all you have to send. for that is the way "
develop our strength. and that Is the way "
serve God and teach all ages how to endur
aud conquer" So say; Good cheer TO q
, people who are showed underl Put you
, faith In God and you will come out glor
ously. Others may be stunted growths, {
weak jumpers on the lower levels OF spiri
= ualtty, but you are going to be Lebanon C
dars. At last ID viii be said of sue
as you: "These are they who came out
great tribulstion aud had their rob
washed and made white in the blood
the lamb"
: But while crossing over these mountsIl
7 of Lebanon bethink myself Of what .