14 LIKE A TREE 



ture's way of saying to you that heaven and earth 

 are not very far apart after all, and that the only 

 way we can come to understand heaven, that 

 which is above us and beyond us, is through the 

 medium of that which is near by, which we can 

 understand. 



You remember Browning in one of his poems 

 he is writing about the farmer, the man who lived 

 day after day by tilling the soil, hard-working, 

 unlearned man, dealing with the things beneath 

 his feet, yet this farmer says 



"There's heaven above, and night by night 



I look right through its gorgeous roof ; 



No suns and moons though e'er so bright 



Avail to stop me ; splendid proof 



I keep the broods of stars aloof; 



For I intend to get to God." 

 The man spent his days with the sod, but 

 knew the way from the sod to God. Toiling all 

 the day when the night came and the soul could 

 climb up the majestic pathway of the stars, he 

 cries, "I will find God." So can every man ! 

 But we find our way to God along the paths that 

 are very lonesome at first, that are very humble, 

 that lead right out from the place where we are 

 now, and the things that we know, up and 

 out, on and one forever, into the things that we 

 shall know by and by. The star and the tree 

 are not far apart, and heaven and earth are near 

 neighbors. 



