The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1890-12-24
cellars snread their branches and

! tanical works, when he spoke of trees
"from the cedar that is in Lebanon
even unto the hyssop that springeth
out of the wall" The Psalmist says,
ssThe righteous shall grow like a cedar
in Labanon," and in one of his magnl-
fcent doxologies calls on the cedars 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 Zephanlah
and Zechariah weave its foliage into
their subIimest utterances.
AS we ride over Lebanon to-day there
! is a bowling wind sweeping past and
dash of rain, all the better enabling
us to appreciate that description of a
tempest which no doubt was suggested
by what David had seen with his own
eyes among these heights, for as SOL
dier he carried his wars clear uE to
Damascus, and such a poet as he, l
warrant, spent many day on the LIE
banon. And perhaps while he was
seated on this very rock against which
our carriage jolts, ne writes that won
derful description of a thunder storm
"The voice of the Lord is powerful.
The voice of the Lord is full of maJes-
ty. The voice of the Lord breaketh
the cedars of Lebanon. Yea, the Lord
breaketh the cedarS of Lebanon, He
maketh them also to skip like calf,
Lebanon and Sirion like young uni
corn. The voice of the Lord divideth
the flames of fire"
AS the lion is the monarch of the
fields and behemoth the monarch OF
the waters, the cedar is the monarch of
the trees. And I think one reason why
it is so glorifed 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 un-
der 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 clinch themselves on the
other side of the deepest layer of rock
they can reach. And that is the differ
ence between Christians who stand and
Christians who fall. It is the differ
ence between superficial character
and one that has clutched its roots
deep down around and under the Rock
Of Ages.
THE ROCK ROOTED CHRISTIAN.
One of the Lebanon cedarS was ex-
amined by a scientist, and from its
concentric circles it was found to be
thirty-five hundred years old and still
standing, and there is such thing as
everlasting strength, and such stanch-
ness of Christian character that all
time and all eternity instead OF being
| its demolition shall be its opportunity.
| Not such are those vacillating 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 then seems for long
while to lie thoroughly lnsensible, so
there are nlea who will on Sunday get
| such religious surfeit that the rest of
the week they seem thoroughly dead to
all religious emotion. They weep in
church under charity sermon, but If
on Monday subject of want presents
itself at the door the beggar's safety
will depend entirely on quick limbs
and an unobstructed stairway. Il
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 reason
that God planted these cedars in the
Bible was to suggest to US that we
ought, in our religious character, to be
deep like the cedar, high like the cedar,
broad branched as the cedar. a trav-
eler measured the spread Of the boughs
of one of these trees and found it one
hundred and eleven feet from branch
tip to branch tip, and have seen ce-
dars of Christian charities put out one
branch to the uttermost parts OF Ame-
RIGA, and another branch to the utter
most parts of Asia, and these wide
branched Christians will keep on mul-
tiplying until all the earth is oversha-
dowed with mercv.
But mark you, these ceda-s of Leba-
non could not grow if planted in mild
climates and in soft air and in care
fully watered gardens. They must
have the gymnasium Of the midnight
hurricane to develop their arms. They
must play the athlete with thousand
winters before their feet are rightly
planted and their foreheads rightly
lifted and their arms rightly muscled.
And if there be any other way for de-
yeloping strong Christian characters
except by storms of trouble, I 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 OF it. Which OF these
cedars grew in the warm valley? Not
one of them. Hnneysuckles thrive
best on the south side Of the house,
but cedars in Syrian whirlwiEd.
THE SCHOOL FOR HEROES.
4 Lebanon cedar! John Milton on
his way up to the throne OF the world $
sacred poesy must sell his copyright OF
paradise Lost for $I2 in three pay
ments. And William Shakespeare on
his way up to be acknowledged the
greatest dramatiSt of all ages must
hold horses at the door of the London
theatre for sixpence, and Homer
! must struggle through total blindness
to Immortality, and John Bunyan must
cheer himself on the way up by max,
I ing a flute out uf his prison stool, and
Canoya, the sculptor, must toll on
through orphanage modelling lion II
butter before he could cut his statues
in marble. And the great Stephenson
must watch COWS in the field for few
pennies and then become stoker, and
afterward mend clocks before he puts
the locomotive on its track and calls
forth plaudits from parliaments ano
medals from kings. Abel Stevens l:
picked up a neglected child OF the
Street, and rises through his consecra
ted genius to be one of the most illus
trious clergymen and historians Of the
century. And Bishop James of the