The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1890-12-26

i Struggle Oh early lle, many VI tucui
without five dollars to their name 60
in spiritual life it takes a course of be-
reavements, prosecutions, sickness and
losses to develope stalwart Christian
character.
| The Bible speaks of the SHOWS Of
Lebanon, and at this season Of the year
| the SHOWS there must be Tremendous
The deepest snow ever seen in America
would be insignificant compared with
the mildest winter of SHOWS on those
| Lebanon mountains The cedars catch
that skyfull of crystals on their brow
and on their long arms Piled up in
great hefts are those SHOWS, enough to
crush other trees to the ground, split
ting the branches from the trunk and
leaving them rent and torn never to
rise But they Withstand all SHOWS
So 1 say: Good cheer to all who are
showed under. Put your faith in God
and you will come out gloriously.
Others may be stunted growths or weak
jumpers on the lower levels of spirit
uality, but you are going TO be Lebanon
cedars At last it will be said of such
as you: These are they who came out
of great tribulation and had their robes
washed and made white in the blood of
| the Lamb"
But while crossing over these noun
tains of Lebanon l bethink myself Of
what an exciting scene it must be when
one of the cedars does fall 1t does not
GO down like other trees, with slight
crackle that hardly makes the woods
man look up, or hawk hutter from a
neigh boring bough. When cedar falls
it is the great event in the calendar Of
the mountains So when the great
cedars of worldly or Christian influence
fall it is something terrific Within
the past few years how many mighty
and overlapping men have gone
down. There seems now to be an 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-
We are compelled to cry out with
Zachariah, the prophet: Howl fir
trees, for the cedar is fallenr Some of
the smaller trees are glad of it 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 their hands and say:
Just as 1 expectedw When a great
minister of religion falls, many little
ministers laugh up their sleeves and
think themselves somehow advantaged.
All, beloved brethren, no one makes
any thing cut of moral shipwreck. Not
willow by the rivers of Damascus, not
a sycamore on the plains of Jericho, not
an olive tree in all Palestine is helped
by the fall of Lebanon dedar. Better
weep and pray and tremble and listen to
Paurs advice to the Galatians when he
says: Consider myself lest thou also
be tempted"
Warren Hastings, rising until he be-
came Govepnor-General of India and
the envy of the chief public men of his
day, plunges into cruelties against the
barbaric people he had 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 English nation and all time.
Howl fir tree for the cedar is fallen! As
eminent instances of moral disaster
may be found in our own land and our
own time, instances that do not recite
lest wound the feelings of those now
alive to mourn the shipwreck Let
your Indignation against the fallen
turn to pity.
| A Judge in one of our American courts
| gives this experience: In a respec ia BILE
but poor family daughter was getting
a musical education. The fathers means
were exhausted and so great was his
anxiety to help hisdaughter that he fe-
loniously took some money from his en-
ployer, 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 the money and asked for
giveness. Forgiveness was denied and
the 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 the daughter No! he would
not let it drop. and he did all he could
to make the case conspicuous and blast
ing. The Judge says that afterward
that same memorable merchant was be-
fore him for breaking the law of the
land. 1t is a poor rule that will not
work both ways. Let him that standeth
take heed lest he fall. Not congrstula-
ton, but tears when a cedar is fallen!
Yet there is one cedar of Lebanon
that always has and always will over
top all others. 1t is the Christ whom
Ezekiel describes as goodly cedar,
and says: Under it shall come all
fowl of every wing" Make your nest
in that great cedar. Then let the
storms beat and the earth rock, and
time end, and eternity begin, all shall
be we'll
In my journey up and down Palestine
and Syria nothing more impressed me
than the trees-the terebinths, the
sycamores, the tamarisks, the oleanders,
the mulberrys, the olives, the myrtles,
the palms, the cedars-all of them ex-
planatory of so much of the Scriptures
And the time is coming when, through
an improved arboriculture, the round
world shall be circumference. engir-
died, embosomed, emparadised in shade
trees, and fruit trees, and flower trees
o! am so glad that the Holy Land
OF Heaven like the Holy Land of Pales-
tine and Syria, is great place for trees,
an orchard of them, grave Of them. a
forest of them. Saint John saw them
along the streets, and on both sides the