Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-12-15

horseback, George p. Morris, the crea
song writer OF America, 1 found hin
grandly emotional, and could under
stand how he wrote: "Woodman, Spar
that Tree!' the verses of which man
of us have felt like quoting IN Lelliseren
spirit, when under the stroke of som
one without sense or reason We saw
beautiful tree Frustrated.
| Woodman, spare that tree!
| Touch not single bought
| In youth 1t sheltered me,
| And L II protect ii now.
| Twas my torefather's hand
| That placed it near his cot;
| There, woodman. let II stand,
! Thy AK snail harm il not.
| My 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 bravei
| And woodman. leave spot;
| While I've nand 10 save,
| Thy AZ shall harm it not.
AS we ride along on these mountains
OF Lebanon We bethink how its cedars
spread their branches and breathe their
uToiDa, and cast their shadows all
through the Bible. Solomon discoursed
about them in his 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: ''The righteous shall
grow like q cedar of Lebanon, - and in
! one OF his magnificent doxologies calls on
the cellars to praise the Lord. And Sol
oInon says the counttnGuce OF Christ IS
excellent rs the cedars, and Isaiah de-
clures: 'The day of the Lord shall: be
upon all the cellars of Lebanon.'' And
| Jeremiah and Ezekiel. and Amos and
IpphanIad, md Zrchariah weave its
| foliaee into their sublimest utterances.
As We ride over Lebanon to-day. there
Ia howiing wind sweeping past and n
dash of rain, all the better enabling US
TO appreciate that description of tenn
pest, which, no doubt, was suggested by
what David had seen with his own eyes
| among these heights, for, as soldier,
| he carried his wars clear up to Damascus,
| and such poet rs 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 thunderstorm: 1.-The voice of the
Lord is powerful. The voice OF fhe Lord
is full: of majesty. The voice OF the Lord
brenketh the cedars of Lebanon. Yea,
the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon.
He maketh them also TO skip like n calf
Lebanon aud Sirion like u young unicorn.
The voice of the Lord divideth the fumes
of fire.
As the lion is the monarch of the
fields, aud behemoth the monarch of the
waters, aud cedar is the mouarch of the
trees. And think one reason why il is
so glortied ali up und down tho Bible. is
because we need more of its chnracteris-
ties in our religious life. We have too
much of the willow, aud are easily bent
this way or that; too much OF the aspen,
aud 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 branrhed,
and heaven-nspiring, 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 deep
est layer of rock they can reach. And
that is the difference between Christians
who stand and Christians who fall. II Is
the difference between superficial
character and one that has clutched Its
UNDER THE ROCK OF AGES.
One OF the Lebanon cednrs was exam
ined by a scientist, and from its coucen-
trIc circles. IL was found to be $500 wears
old and still standing. and there is such
thing as everlasting strength, and such
a stnncbness of Christian character that
all time and all eternity instead of being
its demolition shall be Its opportunity.
Not sucn are those Facilitating Christians
who are so pious on Sunday that they
have no religion left for the week dsy.
As the unRcoEda gurges itself with food
and then seems for long while to lie
thoroughly iusensibls, so there are men
who will on Sunday get such religious
surfeit that the rest of the week they |
seem thoroughly dead TO all religious
They weep in church under a |
charity sermon, but if or Monday O sub |
jpCt of want presents itself at the door
the heggar S safety will depend entirely |
on QUICK limbs and an unobstructed stair.
way. 1t takes ali the grace they eau /
get 10 keep them from committing |
assault and battery on those intruders,
W TO come with pale faces and stories of
distress and subscription papers. The
reason that God planted these cedars in
the Bible was to suggest 10 US that We
ouRnt. III our religious character, to be
deep Ike the cedar, high like the cedar,
broad branched as the cedar. A trav-
slier measured tie sps-=-, sc the boughs
Of one OF these trees and found
ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN FEET
from branch tip 10 branch tip, and l
have seen cedars OF Christian character
hat through their prayers and charities
put out one branch to the uttermost
Parts of America. and another branch
% the uttermost parts of Asia, aud these
v ide- branched Christians will keep on
II multiplying until all the earth is over
hadowed with mercy.
But mark you, these cedars of Leba-
non could not grow If planted IN mild
climates and in soft air, and in carefully
xu;ered gardens. They must have the
gymnasium of the midnight hurricane to
develop their arms. They must play the
athlete with thousand winters before
heir feet are rightly planted, aud their
oreheads rightly lifted, and their arms
agility muscled. And IL there he auy !
ther way for developing strong Chrstiun
huracier except by storms of trouble. l
lever heard of II. Call the roll of mar
yrs, call the roll of prophets, call the
oil OF the Apostles, and see which Of |