Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1890-12-18

And III protect il now
Twas my forefathers hand
That placed it near his cot;
There woodman. let it stand.
Thy AK shall harm il not
When but an idle boy,
sought its grateful shade;
In all their gushing joy
Here too my sisters playd
Ny mother Kiss d me here.
4 = father press my hand
Forgive this foolish tear
Bur let that old oak stand,
Ny heartstrDgs round thee cling.
Close as thy bark, old friend!
Here shall the wild bird sing
An stll thy branches bend
Old tree. the a.orIn still brave!
And woodinan leave the spot
While I'VE a iaal . save,
Thy AK shall harm j. OF
Aswe rode along on these the 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 his botanical works, when he spoke OF
trees from the cedar tree that is in Leb-
anon even unto the hyssop that springeth
out of the WALL The Psalmist says, The
righteous shall grow like u cedar in Leb-
anon,n and in one of his magnificent dox-
ologies calls on the cetlars to praise the
Lord. And Solomon says the countenance
of Christ is excellent as the cedars, and
Isaiah declares, ''The day OF the Lord shall
be upon all the cedars of Lebanon" And
jeremiah and Ezekiel and Amos and zeph-
aniah and Zecharah weave its foliage into
their subimest utterances.
,s-a t.f1a puar aigr non tO1uV there
Il bowling wind sweeping past and a dash
of rain. all the better enabling us 10 ap-
preciate that description Of tempest
which no doubt was suggested by what
David had seen with his own eyes among
these heights, for as d soldier he carried
his wars clear 40 to Damascus, and such
poet as he, warrant. spent many a day on
lebanon. And perhaps while lac was seated
on this very rock against which our car
riage iolts. he writes that wonderful de
scription OF thunder storm; "The voice Of
the Lord is powerful Theyoice Of the Lord
is full Of majesty The voice Of the Lord
breaketh the ceaars Of Lebanon. Yea, the
Lord breaketh he cclars Of Lebanon. He
maketh them also 70 skip like a calf, Leb
anon and Srion like q young unicorn.
The voice OF the Lord diyideth the flames
of fire"
As the lion is the monarch Of the Geld
and behemoth the monarch of the waters.
The cedar is he monarch Of the trees, And
think one reason why it is so glorillel all
up and down the Bible is because we need
more of its characteristics 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 tremble under every
zephyr OF ASSAULT too much Of the bramble
tree and our sharp points stingand wound.
but not enough Of the cedar, wide branched
and heaven aspiring ard tempest grap
ping 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 foun
dations Of the earth, end twist around and
clinch themselves on the other side of the
deepest layer Of rock they can reach. And
that is the difference between Christians
who stand and Christians who fall. 1t is
the difference between n superficial char
acter and one that has olutched its roots
deep down around and under the Rock OF
Ages
TIE ROCK ROOTED CHRISTIAN.
One Of the Lebanon cellars was examined
by a scientist, and from Its coacentric cir
cles it WAS found to be thirty-iye hundred
years old aud still standing. and there is
such thing as everlasting strength, and
such stanchness Of Christian character
thar all time and all eternity instead OF
being It's demolition shall be it's opportu
nifty Not such are those vaciliating Chris
tians who are so pious on Sunday that
they have no religion left for the week day
As the anaconda gorges itself with food
and chen seems for a long while TO lie
thoroughly insensibie, SO there are men
who will on Sunday gyt such "A religious
surfeit that the rest af the week they seem
thoroughly dead to n religious emotion
They weep in church 1nder q charity ser
mon, but ii on Monday a subject Of want
presents itself II the door the beggar's
safety will depenl entirely on quick limbs
and an unobstructcd stairway. 1t takes
all the grace they can get % keep them
from committing assault and battery on
those intrudcrs who come with pale faces
and stories OF distress and subscription
papers. The reason that Cod planted
these cedars in the Bible was TO suggest TO
rs that we ought, in our religious char
acter. to be deep like the cedar high like
the cedar. broad branched A. the cedar
A traveller measured the spread Of the
boughs OF one OF these trees aud found il
one hundred and eleven feet from branch
tip 60 branch tip, aud have seen cedars
OF Christian character that through their
prayers aud charities put out one branch
to the utternost paris Of America, and
another branch 70 the uttermosJ parts Of
Asia. aud these wide bran he'd Christians
will keep on Multiplying until all the
earth Is uversh.: lowed VITA mercy
But mark YOU, these celars Of Lebanon
could not grow il planted in rlill ciiunates
and in soft AR ana in carefully watered
gardens They must have tire gymnasium
Of the midnight hurricane 70 develop
their arms. They mast Play the athlete
with a THOUSAND winters before their feet
are rightly planted and their foreheads
rightly lifted and their arms rightly
muscle,l. And IL there be any other way
for developing ro8g Christian character
except by storms Of troable. | never heard
OF IT, Call iAe roll cf martyrs. call the
roll 81 the prophets. call the roll Of the
apostles aud see which OF them had an
easy time Of it, Which 1t these cedars
grew ia the warm yalleys Not one Of
them. Honeysuckles thrive best on the
south side Of the house. but cetlars in