The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1890-12-17

CrashI Crasni CrashI SO whom tho
great cedars Of worldly or Christian In
fiuenco fall 1t is something terrific
Within the past few years how many
mighty and overtopping men have gone
down. There seems now to DO on cpl
demic Of moral disaster. The moral
world, the religious world, the political
world, the commercial world are quak-
ing with the fall Of Lebanon cedars. 1t
is awful. We are compelled to cry out
with Zachariah, the prophet, "Howl
Hr-trees for the cedar has fallenw Some
Of the smaller trees are glad of 1t. When
some great dealer in stocks goes down,
the small dealers clap their hands and
say, "Good for him" When great po-
litical leader goes down, the small poll
ticians clap their hands and say, "Just
as expectedp When great minister
Of religion falls, many little minis
ters laugh up their sleeves and
think themselves somehow advan-
tagged. Ah, beloved brethren, no one
makes any thing out Of moral
shipwreck. Not willow by the rivers
Of Damascus, not sycamore on the
plains Of Jericho, not an olive tree In all
Palestine is holped by the fall Of Q
Lebanon cedar. Better weep and pray
and tremble and listen to Paul's advice
to the Galatians when he says "Consid-
ering thyself lest thou also 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 0rganum, a miracle Of liter
ature. With sSs,o0O salary, and estates
worth millions, and from the highest
judicial bench Of the world, he goes
down under the power Of bribery and
confesses his crime and was sentenced
to the Tower, and the scorn Of centuries.
Howl fir-tree for the cedar is fallen.
Warren Hastings, rising until he be-
came Governor General OF India, and
the ervy OF the chief public men OF his
day, plunges into cruelties against the
barbaric people he has been sent to rule,
until his name is chiefly associated with
the criminal trial in Westminster Hall
where upon him came the anathemas Of
Sheridan, Fox, Edmund Burke, the En-
lish nation, and all time. Howl fr-tree
for the cedar is fallenl As eminent in
stances OF moral disaster are found in
our own land and our own time, instances
that do not recite lest wound the
feeling OF those now alive to mourn the
shipwreck. Lot your indignation against
the fallen turn to pity. A Judge in
one OF our American courts gives
this experience: In respectable but
poor family, daughter was getting a
musical education. She needed one
more course OF lessons to complete that
education. The fathers means we're
exhausted, and so great was his anxiety
to help his daughter that he feloniously
took some money from his employer,
and going home to his daughter said,
There is the money to complete your
musical education" The wife and
mother suspected something wrong, and
obtained from her husband the whole
story, and that night went around with
her husband TO the merchants house
and surrendered the whole amount OF
tho money and asked forgiveness. For.
giveness was denied, and tho man
was arrested The Judge, knowing
all the circumstances and that the
money had all been returned, sug'
gested to the merchant he had
better let the matter drop for
the sake OF the wife and daughter. No
no would not lot II drop, and he did all
he could to make the case conspicuous
and blasting The Judge says that after
ward that same inexorable merchant
was before him for breaking the law Of
the land. 1t is poor rule that will
not work both ways Let him that
standeth take heed lest he fall. Not
congratulation, but tears when a codar
Is fallenl
Yet thero is one cedar Of Lebanon
that always has and always will overtoI
all others. II is the Christ whom Eek
lei describes as q goodly cedar, and says
"Under II shall come all fowl Of every
wing" Make your nest in that great
cedar. Then let the storms boat and
the earth rock, and time end, and eter
nifty begin, all shall be well.
In my journey up and down Palestine
and Syria nothing more impressed me
than the trees-the torebinths. the
sycamores, the tamarisks, the oleanders
the mulberrys, the olives the myrtles
the palms the cedars-all OF. them ex
planatory OF 80 much OF the Scriptures
And the time is coming when, through
an improved arboriculture, the round
world shall be circumferenced, en-
girdled, embosomed. emparadised In
shade trees, and fruit trees and flower
trees. Isaiah declares in one place "Tht
glory Of Lebanon shall be given unto
It." and in another place, "All the treoI
OF the field shall clap their hands" In
stead OF the thorn shall come up the fl
tree. Instead OF the briar shall come
up the myrtle tree. o, grandest arbor
escence Of all time. Beginl Begin!
Oil am so glad that the Holy Land
o: Heaven, like the Holy Land OF Pales
tine and Syria, is great place for trees
an orchard Of them, a grove OF them, {
forest OF them. Saint John saw then
along the streets, and on both sides the
River, and every month they yielded 9
great crop Of fruit. You know what
an imposing appearance trees give
TO city on earth, but how II exaltt
my idea Of Heaven when Saint Johr
describes the city on high as having III
streets and It's rivers lined with them
o, the treesl the treesl The jasper walls
the fountains, the temples were no