Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-12-18

horseback, George P. Morris, the grea
song writer OF America, L found hin!
Rrandly emotional, and I could under.
stand how he wrote: tWoodman, Spar
that Tree!' the verses of which man!
OF us have felt like quoting IN belligeren
spirit, when under the stroke Of som
one without sense or reason we saw {
beautiful tree Frustrated.
Woodman. spare that tree.
Touch not single bough.
In youth il sheltered me.
And i II protect II now.
Twas my fore.ather's hand
| That placed it near his cot;
There, woodman, let It stand,
! Thy az shall harm il not.
Ny heart-strings round thee cling,
! Close as thy bark. old friend
Here shall the wild bird sing.
And still thy branches bend,
Old tree! The storm still brave.
And woodmgn leave the spot;
While I've a hand TO save.
Thy az shall harm II not.
| AS we ride along on these mountains
| of Lebanon We bethink how its cedars
| spread their branches and breathe their
! aroma, and cast their shadows all
| through the Bible. Solomon discoursed
| about them In hls botanical works, when
! he spoke of trees '.from the ced ar
| tree that is IN Lebanon even unto the
| hyssop that springeth out OF the wall. -
! The psalmist Gays: 1.-The righteous shall
| grow like a cedar Of Lebanon and III
| one OF his magnificent doxologies calls on
| the cedars 10 praise the Lord. And SOL
| onion says the counteuance of Christ is
| excellent as the cedars, and Isaiah de-
| clares: ''The day of the Lord shall be
upon ell the cellars of Lebanon.' And
| jeremiah and Ezekiel, and Amos, and
| IephanIad, and ZecharIah weave its
! foliage into their sublimest utterances.
| AS we ride over Lebanon to-day. there
| is bowling wind sweeping past and a
| dash of rain, all the better enabling us
| to appreciate that description of a tenn
pest, which, no doubt, was suggested by
| what David had seen with his own eyes
| among these heights, for, as a soldier.
he carried his wars clear up to Damascus,
and such poet as he, | warrant, spent
many day on Lebanon. And perhaps
while he vas seated on this very rock
against which our carriage jolts, he
writes that
WONDERFUL DESCRIPTION
of q thunderstorm: 1.-The voice of the
Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord
is full of majesty. The voice OF the Lord
breaketh the cedars Of Lebanon. Yea,
the Lord breGketh the cedars Of Lebanon.
He maketh them also TO skip like calf,
Lebanon and Sirion like young unicorn.
The voice OF the Lord diyIdeth the flames
of fire,
As the lion ID the monarch of the
fields, and behenoth the monarch of the
waters, and cedar is the mouarch of the
trees. Aud l think one reason why IL il
so gloriied ali up and down the Bible. is
because we need more of its characteris-
tics in our religious life. We have too
much of the willow, and are easily bent
this way or that; too much OF the aspen,
and We trembie under every zephyr OF
assault; too much OF the bramble-tree,
and our sharp points sting and wound ;but
not enough OF the cedar, wide branched,
and heaven-aspiring, and tempest
graphing. But the reason these cedars
stand so well is that they are deep
rooted They run their anchors down
into the caverns Of the mountain and
fasten to the very foundations Of the
earth. and twist around and eiinch
themselves ON the other side of the deep
est layer of rock they can reach. And
that is the difference between Christians
who stand and Christians who fall. IL is
the difference between a superficial
character and one that has clutched Its
roofs Oeep uOWu AROUND anu
UNDER THE ROCK OF AGES.
One OF the Lebanon cedars was exam
med by scientist, and from its concen-
trio circles, it was found to be $500 years
old and still standing, and there is such
q thing as everlasting strength, and such
a stauchness of Christian character that
all time and all eternity instead of being
its demolition shall be Its opportunity.
Not such are those Facilitating Christians
who are so pious on Sunday that they
have no religion left for the week dav.
As the anaconda gorges itself with food,
and then seems for long while to lie
thoroughly iDsensible. so there are men
who will on Sunday get such q religious
surfeit that the rest OF the week they
seem thoroughly dead to all religious
emotion. They weep in church under a
charity sermon, but if on Monday sub
ject of want presents itself at the door,
the beggar's safety will depend entirely
on quick limbs and an unobstructed stair
way. Ii takes all the grace they can
get TO keep them from committing
assault and battery on those iutruders,
who come with pale faces and stories OF
distress and subscription papers. The
reason that God planted these csdars in
the Bible was 10 suggest 10 us that We
ought. III our religious character. to be
deep like the cedar, high like the cedar,
broad brancbed as the cedar. A trsv-
cler measured the spread of the boughs
of one of these trees and found
one HUNDRED AND ELEVEN FEET
from branch tip to branch tip, and I
have seen cedars of Christian character
that through their prayers aud charities
put out one branch to the uttermost
parts of America. and another branch
to the uttermost parts of Asia, and these |
wide brauched Christians VIII keep on !
multiplying until ell the earth is over (,
Swallowed with mercy.
But mark you, these cedars of Le5a- |
non ceuld not grow if planted IN mild |
climates snd in soft air, and in carefully |
watere6 gardens. They Inust have the |
gymnasium of the midnight hurricane TO |
lie velop their arms. They must play the |
athlete with thousand winters before |
their feet are rightly planted, and their |
foreheads rightly lifted, aud their arms
rightly muscled. And if there DE any |
other way for developing strong Christian
character except by storms of trouble. |
never heard OF 1t. Call the roll OF mar
tyrs, call the roll of prophets. call the
Of tha ;ah