The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1892-04-21

TIC yfuullul CloSilS Va uCGiSc WOTk, ana
hat leaves only 40 little time between |
opening and stopping work that all G |
is so little an angel of God |
needs to exert himself to see it all.
Nearly everything L scs around, be.
Meath and above in the natural world |
suggests useful service. II there Is moth
ing in the Bible that inspires you to USE
60 out aud study the world
around you this springtime, and learn
the great lesson Of usefulness. "What
art thou doing up there, little star?
Why not shut thine eyes and sleep, Tor
who cares for thy shining?" mo"
saith the star, ~ will not sleep. | guide
the sailor on the sea. l cheer the trav-
clcr among the mountains. l help tip
the dew with light. Through the win
dow of the poor mans cabin L cast q
beam Of hope, and the child on her
mothers lap asks in glec whittier come
and what | do and whence | 90. To
CLEAN aud glitter, God set mo here.
Away! l have no time to sleep"
The snowflake comes struggling down.
"Frail, tickle wandercr, why comest
thou here" 81 am no idle wandcrer,n
responds the snowflake. "IIigh up in
the air was born, the child Of the rain
and the cold, and at the divine bchest
come, and l am no straggler, for God
tells me where to put my crystal heel.
To hcl lp cover the roots the grain and
grass, TO cleanse the air, to make sports
men more happy and the ingle fire more
bright, come. Though 80 light am
that you toss me from your mul1ier and
crush nc under you: foot, | am doing
my best to fulfill what | was made for.
Clothed in white | come on a heavenly
| mission, and, when my work is done
and God shall call, in morning vapor |
shall 20 back, drawn by the fiery
courses Of the sun"
"What docst thou, insignificant grass
blade under my fcct?" II am doing a
work." says The grass blade, 'as best |
can. | help to make up the soft beauty
OF field and lawn. | am satisfied, #,
with millions Of others no bigger than
!, VIC can give pasture to tlocks and
herds. | am wonderfully made. lie
who feeds the ravens gives nc substance
lrom the soil and breath from the air,
and he who clothes the lilies Of the field
rewards me with this coat of green"
''For what, lonely cloud, goest thou
across the heavens?" Through the
bright air a voice drops from altar, say
ny: "Up and down this sapphire floor
| pace to teach men that like me thew
are passing away. | gather up the
waters from lake and sea, and then,
when the thundcrs toll, | refresh the
earth, making the dry ground to laugh
with harvCsts of wheat and fields OfcOrn,
| al Of I,o "a
hues Of the rainbow. At evening tide
on the wcstorn slopes | will pitch my
tent, and over me shall dash the saffron,
and the purple, and the fire OF the sun
set. A pillar of cloud like me led the
chosen across the desert, and surrounded
bY such as L the Judge of Heaven and
Earth will at last descend, for Behold
he comcLh with clOudsnn
On, my friends. if everything in the
nanimatc world be useful, let us i'm
mortal men and women be useful, and
IN that respect be like the PLAN tree.
l'ut | must not be tempted by what
David says OF that green shalt of Pales-
tine, that living and glorious pillar in the
eastern gardens, as seen in Oldcn times
the palm tree; L must not be tempted
by what the Old Testament says OF 1t,
TO lessen emphasis of what John, the
| evangelist, says of it in my text.
Notice that it was a beautiful and
lawful robbery Of tho palm tree that
helped make up Christ's triumph on the
road to Jerusalem that Palm Sunday.
The long, broad, green leaves that were
slrcwn under the feet of the colt and in
the way of Christ were torn of from
the trees, What a pity, some one might
say, that those stately and graceful
trees should be despoiled. The sap
oozcd on: at the places where the bran.
chcs broke. The glory of the PLAN tree
was appropriately sacrificed for the
Slviout's triumphal procession. So it
always was, so it always will he in this
world-no worthy triumph of any sort
without the tearing down of something
else.
brooklyn bridge, the glory Of our con
tincnt, must have two architects pros.
trated, the one slain by his tolls and the
other for q lifetime invalided. The
greatest pictures of the world had, in
their richest coloring, the blood of the
artists who made them. The mightlesl
eratOrios that ever rolled through the
churches had, in their patbos, the sighs
and groans Of the composers, who wore
their lives out i'll writing the harmony.
American Independence was tlium-
phant, but it moved on over the lteless
forms of tens OF thousands of men who
tell at Bunker Hill and Yorktown and
the battles between which were the
hcmorrhages of the nation.
The kim dom Of God advances in all
The earth, but it must be over the lives
OF missionaries who die Of malaria in
The junglcs or Christian workers who
preach and pray and toll and die in the
service. The Saviour triumphs in all
dircctions-but beauty and strength
must DC torn dow from the palm tree OF
Christian hcroism and conservation and
thrown in his pathway.
10 what better use could those palm
trees on the southern shoulder Of Mount
Ollvet and clear down into the Valley
OF Gcthsemaue put their branches than
to surrender them for the making of
Chrisps journey toward Jerusalem the
more picturesque, the more memorable
and 1thc more triumphant? And 10
what better use could we put our lives
than into the sacrifice for Christ and his