The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1936-03-06
"Like a tree"


mense size and longevity of the trees.
Some of the magnificent specimens,
towering hundreds of feet above the
observer, are estimated to be from
three to five thousand years old.
With their gnarled branches and
roughened bark they give evidence
of having had many struggles against
the elements, while yet maintaining
persistent growth. The heart OF some
of the trees has been cut or burned
out, and yet, surrounding the resist
ance of destructiveness, they con-
tinue to grow, sending out new
shoots from the burned or cut stumps
or exposed roots, and in some IN
stances gradually repairing, partly at
least, some of the injuries.
According to their estimated an
tiquity, some of them were sapllngs
when AbIam began his journeying
forth from Ur of the Chaldees and
when he listened to the divine COM
mand Genesis 17:1), walk before
me, and be thou perfect" Contem-
plating their endurance, one is i'm
pressed by the fact that during the
same centuries in which the trees
have been attaining their great
growth, the ideal revealed to Abra.
ham, and later to others, has con-
tinued to unfold in human conscious
ness despite the obstructive resist
ance of materialism; for the truth is
he enduring actually whose seed
was in ITSELF Genesis 1:12D, and
whose embodiment can never cease.
Many a time it may have seemed
that the heart of the individual mas
been broken or his hope consumed
by loss or opposition, or the welfare
of nations reduced by Overwhelming
evils; and yet the truth of the SUI
premacy of good, revealed in various
ways to patriarch and prophet, has
continued to unfold in human con-
seriousness.
The beauty and grandeur of nature
illustrate the continuity and endur
ance of good; and lessons drawn
from them point to the embodiment
of the ideal and real which to human
sense seem obscured by the belief
that life is material and finite. AS
the sunlight Sits through the trees,
and as in the tender green light OF
the grove one looks up to the lofty
crown of these venerable monarchs,
marveling at their endurance, ones
thought is lifted in grateful contem-
nlation of the precious growth of the
spiritual idea in human conscious
ness through the ages of unfolding
monotheism. This growth has been
forwarded by multitudes of Truth
seekers and lovers who have chung to
what they have known of the spirit
ual facts. Though mortal mind may
have tried to break their hearts and
consume their hopes, they have
pressed onward and have let the
truth heal their wounds, thereby
helping to preserve for all mankind
the good which has been revealed,
and to prepare the way for still fur
Their growth in spiritual understand
ing.
In Scriptural metaphor both the
good and the wicked are compared
to trees. The righteous "shail be
like tree planted by the rivers of
water, that bringeth forth his fruit
in his season; his leaf also shall not
wither" psalms 1872; while the
withereth" Jude 1:12). And in
Revelation (2:7) is the promise to
him that overcometh, that he shall
be given "to eat of the tree of life,
which is in the midst of the paradise
of God" 1t is the continual partak
ing of the truth that life is spiritual
which enables us to endure the SEEM
ing resistance of evil, and to main
tain and manifest the freshness and
strength which come from the one
divine Mind Through the use of the
truth which is already known are
spread out new branches of spiritual
confidence and fresh leaves of hope
and faith and love.
Truth endures; and growth is the
eternal mandate of Mind" Mary
Baker Eddy declares on page $50 of
Science and Health with Key to the
Scriptures. Despite the wounds
that come from the world of sense,
the trusting heart looks up to God,
and as its hope is renewed, further
growth out of the material sense of
existence results; for thought which
turns to God partakes of immortal
sustenance. The truth which has
been unfolding through the ages,
must ever continue to unfold until
all true existence is seen to be spirit
ual and to be made manifest through
constant abidance within its laws.
Whatever difficulties arise through
the temporal storms of sense, we can
look away from the material evil
dence and know that "the tree of
life" never fades, but endures, fer its
roots are in divine Principle. and its
branches outspread in the sunlight
of reality. Thought which is rooted
and grounded in Love cannot be
made weary of the struggle to resist
material sense. Strength is gained
by overcoming the senses resistance
to Spirit, for spiritual strength in
creases and endures.-The Christian
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