Excerpts from a sermon preached by Loyal 
Morris Thompson at the First Methodist Episco¬ 
pal Church, Bloomington, Illinois, Sunday morn¬ 
ing, October 31, 1937. 
The first rays of the sun seemed to stand 
up on tiptoe Monday morning to peep into 
my window and say, "Get up! Another 
blue day is dawning." I dressed, tended 
the fire, and turned to the Book of Devo¬ 
tion, and my eyes fell upon the words, "Re¬ 
member now thy Creator." And as I re¬ 
membered, He said to me, "Arise, go to the 
south, for I would speak with thee." 
As I journeyed, I came to a crossroad 
and turned to the right leaving a busy, 
noisy, discordant road of prose for a wind¬ 
ing, mystic road of poetry. At a graceful 
turn I stopped, transfixed before a burning 
maple tree of crimson autum glory; and as 
the rays of the sun shone through the 
branches, it seemed to flame with even 
brighter glory. Then out of the tree, I heard 
a voice saying, "Put off thy shoes from thy 
feet, for the ground whereon thou standeth 
is holy ground." 
Then in a spirit of breathless awe I 
stepped into the great forest temple of oak 
and elm and ash and maple. At my ap¬ 
proach God's gentle breath was upon the 
trees and there came sailing down leaves 
of crimson and gold to lay an exquisite 
carpet for my feet. And God said, "Look 
to the autumn carpet, and let its beauty 
etch itself upon your memory, for winter 
cometh with ice and snow and barren 
ways your feet must trod. So, when such 
days come, let memory lay this carpet be¬ 
neath your feet." 
Then a voice said to me, "Seest thou 
these great oaks? They each from a tiny 
acorn grew, and yet not alone from an 
acorn was their life, but from the rich earth 
blest by the rain and the warmth and light 
of the sun. So 'tis not the size of the acorn 
that makes the great oak, but how largely 
it takes from the earth and the air." 
Then He showed me a great oak tree, 
and as I looked upward, lo, its top was 
gone. And as my eyes traveled earthward 
again, I saw its crowning branches a 
broken mass a few paces away. Then I 
looked more closely and saw that the dry 
rot had entered the top where it had 
A road through Funks Grove on the way to the 
church. One of the unsung, rustic beauty spots 
of Illinois. 
broken from the tree, and I also saw decay 
had made its inroads into the heart of the 
tree I knew not where this deterioration had 
first entered the tree, but I knew that rot in 
the heart or rot in the mind means death, 
and death had come to the great oak tree. 
As I wandered over the golden carpet, 
I came at last to a great ash tree lying 
prone upon the earth, and God said, "Be¬ 
hold the ash tree, and learn its parable. It 
grew in a favored place in the forest with 
the rich soil beneath it. The tree was shel¬ 
tered on every side from the winds that oft 
shook the forest. It grew tall and symmet¬ 
rical and great in size. It became the envy 
of the trees about it. It did not think that it 
needed to put down roots deep into the 
earth for the surface soil was rich. One day 
a tempest struck the forest. The rain fell in 
torrents and loosened the rich surface soil 
about the great ash tree; and, when a fu¬ 
rious blast struck the forest, the great tree 
went down with a crash." And God con¬ 
tinued, "Go tell my people the parable of 
the ash tree." Life hath its drought and its 
tempest: so let the roots of thy soul revel 
in the rich fertile soil of life, but do not 
fail to push down deeper until you find 
anchor in the rocks and refreshment for 
they soul in the hidden springs. So, when 
tempests rend the forest of life, thy soul 
shall not enter wither nor thy life be moved. 
