Democratic messenger., 1892-04-16

when they are asked for assistance by
word or deed, instead of mo. No.
Most of the mysteries that bother other.
do not bother me because | adjourn
them. but the mystery that really both
ers me is why God made so many Feo
pie who amount 10 nothing SO far as the
worlds betterment is concerned. They
stand in the way. They object. They
discuss hindrances. They suggest pos
sibilities of failure. Over the road OF
life instead of pulling in the traces they
are lying back in the breechings. They
are the everlasting No. They are BRAN.
bic trees: they are willows always
mourning, or wild cherry trees yielding
only the bitter, or crab apple trees pro.
ducing only the sour. while God would
have us all flourish Like the palm tree.
Planted in the Bible that tree always
means usefulness. But. how little any
of us or all of us accomplish in that di-
rection. We take twenty or thirty
years To get fully ready for Christian
work. and in the after part of life we
take ten or twenty years for the gradual
closing of active work, and that leaves
only SO little time between opening and
stopping work that all we accomplish is
so little an angel of God needs to exert
himself to see il at all
ALL THINGS ARE OF USE
Nearly everything | SEQ around. be-
meath and above. in the natural world
suggests useful service. If there is moth
ing in the Bible that inspires you to use
fulness, go out and 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 eye and sleep. for
who cares for thy shining" No" saith
the star, Il will not sleep guide the
sailor ON the sea. | cheer the traveller
among the mountains. help tip the
dew with light. Through the window
of the poor mans cabin cast beam of
hope. and the child on her mothers lap
asks i'll glee whittier come and what !
do and whence ! 90. To gleam and
glitter. God set me here. Away. have
no time TO sleep" The snowflake comes
struggling down. "Frail. tickle wan
derer, why comest thou here" Il am
no idle wanderer, responds the snow
flake. High up III the air was born.
the child of the rain and the cold, and
at the divine behest come. and am no
straggler. for God tells me where to put
my crystal heel. To help cover the
roots of the grain and grass. to cleanse
the air, TO make sportsmen more happy
and the ingle fire more bright, | come.
Though So light am that you toss me
from Your muller and crush me under
your foot. | am doing my best TO fulfill
what was made for. Clothed in white
| come on IA heavenly mission, and
when my work is done and God shall
call in morning vapor ! shall go back.
drawn by the fiery courses of the sun. "
What doest thou. insignificant grass
blade under my feet" Il am doing a
work" says the grass blade. las best ]
can. | help To make up the soft beauty
of field and lawn. am satisfied if.
with millions of others no bigger than l..
we can give pasture to the fiocks and
herds. | am wonderfully made. He
who feeds the ravens gives me susie.
nance from 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 voice drops from afar, say
ing: Up and down this sapphire floor !
pace To teach men that, like me, they
are passing away. gather up tine
waters from lake and sea and then,
when the thunders toll, refresh the
earth. making the dry ground to laugh
with harvests of wheat and fields of
corn. catch the frown of the storm
and the hues of the rainbow At even
tide on the western slopes will
pitch my tent. and over me shall dash
the saffron and the purple and the fire
of the sunset. y pillar of cloud like me
led the chosen across the desert. and sur
rounded 10y such as | the judge of
heaven and earth will at last descend.
for Behold he cometh with clouds" :"
Oh. my friends. if everything in the in
animate world bc useful. let us immor-
tai men and women be useful. and in
that respect be like .he palm tree. But
must not be tempted by what David
says of that green shaft of Palestine.
that living and glorious pillar i'll the
eastern gardens. rs seen i'll olden times
the palm tree; must not be tempted
by what the Old Testament SAYS of it to
lessen my emphasis of what John the
Evangelist says OF it in my text.
\ LAWFUL. ROBBERY
Notice that it was beautiful and
lawful robbery of the palm tree that
helped make up Christs triumph on the
road to Jerusalem that Palm Sunday
The long. broad, green leaves that were
strewn under the feet of the colt. and in
the way of Christ were torn off from the
trees. What pity, some one might
say. that those stately and graceful trees
should be despoiled. The sap oozed ont
AT the places where the branches broke.
The glory of the palm tree was appro-
priately sacrificed for the Saviour's tri-
umphal procession. So il always was,
SO it always will be in this world-no
worthy triumph of any sort without the
tearing down Of something else. Brook
lyn bridge. the glory of our continent,
must have two architects prostrated.
the one slain by his tolls and the other
for lifetime invalided. The greatest
pictures of the world had, in their rich
est coloring. the blood of the artists who
made them. The mightiest oratori0s
that ever rolled through the churches
had. in their pathos. the signs and groans
of the composers, who wore their lives
out i'll writing the harmony. American
Independence was triumphant. but it
moved on over the lifelcss forms of tens
of thousands of men who fell at Bunker
Hill and Yorktown and the battles be-
tween. which were the hemorrhages of
the nation. The kingdom of God adj
vances in all the earth, but it must be
over the lives Of missionaries who die of
malaria in the jungles or Christian
workers who preach and pray and toll
and die i'll the service. The Saviour tri-
umphs in all dircctions-but beauty and
strength must he torn down from the