36 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN. 



from the dead? Then is man the servant and subject of 



ruler whose nowpr is limiWl onr\ rm +iiia f^or^r™/^™* +u. 



m 



from 



one feature of the Creator's character is the will and pur- 

 pose to provide satisfaction of every 



human 



He has implanted? How then, if the flowers speak true, 

 shall there be no answer to the universal longing for life, 

 life unending, life full and free and boundless ? 



Hast thou not learned from 



d 



man 



e bringing to perfection of this last supreme 

 development of life ? And shall the most successful pur- 

 suit of this ideal end in darkness and nothingness, when 

 the little path of three score years and ten shall have been 



traversed ? 



illuminated 



garden through all the summer time is withered and dead 

 when the winter comes, and its shriveled leaves lie in a 

 mouldering heap about the place over which its beauty 



d 



and stem 



time comes 



shall 

 make 



Creator did give " which 



Why 



blossom shall again 



? 



speak true, why shall not man die and yet live again? 

 Why shall the unchanging law here find violation, even the 

 law of the flowers, the law of progress, unending progress 



Nay, man hath not seen his brother arise from the grave, 

 and the stories ye tell of this Jesus who was crucified, are 

 but the legendary halo which His followers have painted 

 above His head ; are but the answer of ignorant desire to 

 the longings, natural and universal, for immortality. 



But hear again the word of the Lord God among the 

 flowers,— " First the blade, then the ear, and afterward 

 the full corn in the ear.'* We know not yet the law of 

 this human revival and reflowering. But a man might 

 grow old waiting for the blossom to form upon his century- 



