The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1892-04-13


GUS shall flourish like palm tree" o,
Lord God, give us more palm trees
men and women made for nothing to
be useful; dispositions all abloom;
branches of influence laden with
fruit; people good for everything,
as the palm tree. If kind words
are wanted, they are ready to ut
ter them. If helpful deeds are needed,
they are ready to perform them. II
plans of usefulness are to be laid out,
they are ready to project them. II en-
terprises are to be forwarded, they are
ready to lift them. People who say,
"Yes! Yes!" when they are asked for as
sistance by word or deed, instead OF
"Nol mol" Most of the mysteries that
bother others, do not bother me, because
/ adjonrn them, but the mystery that
really bothers me is, why God made so
many people who amount to nothing so
far as the worlds betterment is con-
cerned. They stand in the way. They
object. They discuss hindrances. They
suggest possibilities 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 bramble
trees; they are willows, always mourn
ing, or wild cherry trees, yielding only
the bitter, or crab apple trees, produc-
ing only the sour, while God would
have us all flourish like the palm tree.
Planned 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 it all. Nearly everything
l see around, beneath and above in the
natural world, suggests useful service.
If there is nothing in the Bible that in
spires you to usefulness, go out and
study the world around you this spring
time, and learn the great lesson of use
fulness. "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, 81
will not sleep. l 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 in
glee, whittier come and what do and
whence / go. To CLEAN and glitter,
God set me here. Away have no time
to sleep" The snowflake comes strag
Cling down. "Frail, ficlxle wanderer
why comest thou here?" 81 am no idlC
wanderer," responds the snowflake
"High up in the air was born, the
child of the rain and the cold, anG
at the divine behest | come, ant
am no straggler, for God tell
me where to put my crystal heel
To help cover the roots of the grail
and grass, to cleanse the air, h
make Sportsmen more happy, and tn,
ingle fire more bright, come. Thougl
so light am that you toss me from you
muffier and crush me under your foot,
am doing my best to fulfill what wa
made for. Clothed in white / come on
heavenly mission, and, when my worl
Is done and God shall call, in morning
vapor shall go back, drawn by tn
fiery coursers of the sun" What does
thou, insignificant grass blade unde
my feet?" II am doing work" say
the grass blade, "as best can. hell
TO make up the soft beauty of field ant
lawn. am satisfied II, with millions o
. others no bigger than /, we can Civ
pasture to the focks and herds. an
wonderfully made. He who feeds tn
ravens gives me sustenance from tn
soil and breath from the air, and He VIII
clothes the lilies of the field rewards m
, with this coat OF green. '-For what
lonely cloud, goest thou. across tn
heavens?" Through the bright air voic
drops from afar, saying: up and dow
,, this sapphire floor pace TO teach me-
that, like me, they are passing away.
gather up the waters from lake and sea
and, then, when the thunders roll, re
fresh the earth, making the dry groun
TO laugh with harvests of wheat an
fields of corn. catch the frown Of tn
storm and the hues of the rainbow A
evening tide on the western slopes
will pitch my tent, and over me shaI
dash the saffron and the purple and tn
fire of the sunset A pillar of cloud lik
me led the chosen across the desert, an
, surrounded by such as | the Judge c
! heaven and earth will at last descend
y for "Behold He cometh in the clouds!
$ o, my friends, II everything in the II
animate world be useful let us immol
tai men and women be useful, and, /
thaerespect, be like the palm tree. Bu
must not be tempted by what Davi
: says of that green shaft OF Palestine
that living and glorious pillar in th
eastern gardens, as seen in the olde
: times-the palm tree; must not b
S tempted by what the Old Testamer
says of 1t, to lessen the emphasis of whs
John, the evangelist, says of it in m
4 text.
e Notice that IL was q beautiful an
, lawful robbery Of the palm tree tha
Q helped make up Cbrist's triumph on th
d road TO Jerusalem that Palm Sunday
i The long, broad, green leaves that wei
4 strewn under the feet Of the colt and 1
S the way of Christ were torn off from III
o trees What q pity, some one might sa!
+ that those stately and graceful tree
S should be despoiled. The sap oozed out q
Q places where the branches broke. Th
: glory Of the palm tree was appropriate