Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1890-12-19

lifted aud their arms rightly muscled. anu
If there he any other way for developing
strong Christian character except by storms
of trouble, | never heard Of it. Call the roll
of martyrs, call the roll OF the prophets,
call the roll Of the apostles and see which OF
them had an easy time oft; When OF these
cedars grew in the warm valley2 Not one OF
them. Honeysucales thrive best on the south
side of the house, but cedars in n Syrian
whirlwnd.
Men aud women VINO hear this or read
this. in stead Of your grumbling because you
have it hard thank God that you IRE in lust
the best school for making heroes and hero
ines IL is true both for this world and the
next. Rock that babyin a cradle cushioned
and canopied: graduate him from that into
a costly high chair and give him a gold
spoon: send him to school wrapped in furs
enough Tor an Arctic explorer; send him
through college where he will not have to
st idy in order TO z I a diploma because his
father il rich: start him in a profession
where he begins with an Office, the floor COW
cred with Administer. and a library Of books
in Russia morocco. and an armed chair up
holstered 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 outside bis door
pranclng span that won the prize at the
horse fair, ann leave him estate enough in
dependent of all struggle, and what will be-
come Of him? II he do not die early o; imam.
ition or dissipation he will live useless life,
and die an unlamented death, and go into
iool's ernity.
A Lebanon cedar. John Milton on his
way up to the throne Of the worlds sacred
poesy must sell his copyright Of paradise
Lost for S72 in three payments. And
William Shakespeare on his way up to be
ockno wledged the greatest dramatist OF all
ages must hod horses at the door OF the
London theatre for n sixpence, and Homer
must struggle through total blindness to
immortality. and John Bunyan must cheer
himself on the way up by making a flute
out Of his prison stool, and CanOva, the
sculptor must toll on through orphanage
modelling n lion in butter before he could
cut his statues in marble. And the great
Stephenson must watch cows in the field
tor a few pennies and then become q stoker,
and a terward mend clocks before he puts
the locomo i've on its track and calls forth
paudits from parliam-nts and medals
from kings Abel Stevens is picked up a
neglected child OF tn street, and rises
through his consecrated genius to be one
or the most illustriOus clergymen and hiss
torians of the century. And Bishop James
o. the same church in boyhooi worked his
passage from Ireland to America, and up
to usefulness where. in the bishopric, he
was second to no one who ever adorned II.
While in Punishment Xenophon wrote his
"Anabasis" and Thucydides his History
of the Peoponnesiau War" and Victor
Hugo must be exiled 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 Eysees and the
adjoining boulevards with one million
niournera as his hearse rolls down to the
Church OF the Madeleiur. Oh it ia o tough
old world, and il will keep you back and
keep you down and keep you under ~ long
n it canl Hail sons and daughters OF the
fire.
Thirty years from now the foremost mea
in all occupations and professions will be
those who are this hour in aw nj struggle OF
early Ii e, many OF them without five dollars
to their name So in spiritual life it takes
conrse of hereavements. persecution. sick
nesses and losses to develop stalwart Chris
tian character. got letter a few days
ago saving: Il have hardly seen a'well day
since was born. and / could not write my
own name until was - years Of age, and
am very poor but | am, by the grace OF
God, the happiest man in Chicago.
The Bible speaks OF the SHOWS OF Lebanon,
and at this season Of the year the SHOWS
there must be tremendous. The deepesi
snow ever seen in America would beinslgnif-
cant compared with THE mildest winter OF
SHOWS on those Lebanon mountains. The
cedars catch that skyfu! Of crystals on their
brow and on their long arms Piled up in
great heaps are those SHOWS, enough to crush
other trees 10 the ground splitting the
branches from the trunk and leaving them
rent and torn, never 10 rise But what do
the cedars care for those SHOWS IN Lebanon?
They look 10 to the winter skies and say
Snow on Empty the white heavens unon
ia. aud when this storm is passed let other
professions Of tempest tFy TO bnry rs IN
their fury We have .or five hundred winters
been accustomed TO this, and for the next
five hundred winters we will cheeriuliy take
nil YOU have tosend. for hat is the way We
develoo our strength. and that is the wayw We
serve God AID teach all ages how 70 endure
and conquer" So say Good cheer to all
people who are showed unde'l Put your
faith in God and you will come out glori-
ously. Others may be stunted groTths, or
weak jumpers on the lower levels OF splnt'
uality. but YOU are going TO be Lebanon &C.
dars At last it will he said OF such
n. YOU These are they who came out OF
great trbulation and had their robes
washed and made white in the blood OF
the lamb
But while crossing over thess mountaius
of Lebanon ! bethink myself OF What an
exciting scene il must be when one oi The
cedars does iall. Il doe, not 20 down like
other trees with a slight crackic that
hardly makes the woodsman look up. or -
hawk hutter from neighbOring borgh.
When u cellar iails it IS the great event IN
the calendar of the mountains. he aXmen
fly. The wild beas stink 70 their dens.
The partridges swOop to te valley Tor cs-
cape The neighboring trees 20 down under
the AWFUL weight OF the descending monarch
The rocks are moved out Oi their places
and the earth trembles rs rom miles around
ali raVines send back their sympathetic
echoes Crash crash crash So wien The
great cedars nj the worldly or Chr stan
influence fall it il something terrific. Within
the past few years how many mighty and
overlapping men have gone down There
seems now to be- IAN epidemic o moral disaster.
The moral world, the religious world, the
political world. the commercial world, are
quakIng with the tall OF Lebanon eedars. 1t
is awful We are compelled to cry out with
Zachariah, the prophet Howl fir trees, for
the cedar is fallen Some OF the smaller
trees are glad oft When some great dealer
in stocks goes down the small dealers clap
their hands and say. Good for him.
When a great political leader goes down the
small politicians clap heir hands and say
Just as expected When great min
lister of religion falls msny little ministers
laugh up their sleeves and think themselves
somehow advantaged. All, beloved brethren,
no one makes anything out OF moral
shpwreck. Not "A willow by the rivers
Of Damascus, not sycamore N
the plains Of Jericho. not an olive
tree in al Palestine is helped by the fall OF
Lebanon cedar Better weep AID pray and
tremble and listen to Paul's advice to the
Galatians when he says, Considering Thy
self lest thou al . be tempted. No man Is
safe until he is dead unless he be divinely
protected A greater thinker than Lord
Francis Bacon the world never saw. and he
changed the worlds mode OF thinking for all
time-his "Novum Organum miracle at lit
erature With $3S,000 salary and estates
worth millions and from the highes; Judicial
bench of the world, he goes down under the
power of bribery and con 'essed his crime and
was sentenced to the Tower aud the seorh OF
centuries Howl, fir tree for the cedar Is
faleni