Summer Meeting. 33 



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sepulcher of the countless dead. "Wc all do fade, as a leaf." The 

 generations of men appear and pass away like the foliage of each suc- 

 cessive year. Everything that lives and dies in the whole kingdom of 

 nature is appointed to teach us that we, too, must die. "Man goeth forth 

 as a flower and is cut down." Every fading leaf, every drooping flower, 

 every withered grass blade, every naked branch, every ripened cluster 

 of fruits, repeat to man the sentence pronounced at the gate of for- 

 feited Paradise, "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." We 

 stand beside the casket, which holds the form of a stalwart man and re- 

 peat the wail, which rings throughout the corridors of time, "As a flower 

 of the grass, he passeth away." We go out into the silent city of the 

 dead, and as with bowed heads we pace along its shaded walks, the pity- 

 ing grasses and flowers look up from every mound to remind us how 

 soon we ourselves shall lie as low as those who sleep beneath the sod. 

 Child of mortality, behold yourself in the decaying fruits, the blighted 

 , orchards, the withering vines, all about you. Bend your ear to the 

 gentle whisper of nature. It is the voice of God. Let no earthly pur- 

 suit, hope or ambition be so firmly grounded here that it can not be 

 transplanted in Paradise. 



But nature does not speak to us of death alone. It speaks of life, as 

 well. Especially is this lesson taught in the abounding life of the trees. 

 We read of the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and of a tree on 

 the banks of the river of life, whose leaves shall be for the healing of 

 the nations. You who are here are much among the trees, in orchard, 

 lawn or forest, these companionable and almost human gifts of nature. 

 Many of us can count some venerable or beautiful tree among the re- 

 membered companions of childhood, and the still cherished friend of 

 maturer years. Many a man's heart throbs with unusual emotion when 

 he comes back, after long absence, to the home of his fathers, and sits 

 again beneath the shade of the same old tree which extended its shelter- 

 ing arms over him in childhood. Paradise itself signifies a garden or 

 park of trees, wild and cultured, stately and graceful, to please the eye 

 with their beauty and to support life with their fruit : 



Father, thy hand 

 Hath reared these venerable columns, thou 

 Didst weave tlils verdant roof; thou didst look down 

 Upon the naked earth, and forthwith rose 

 All these fair ranks of trees. They, in thy sun. 

 Budded, and shook tlieir green leaves in thy breeze. 

 And shot toward heaven. 



"They climb over the ridges of hills in glittering troops to catch the 

 first light of the morning, and to wave their green banners in the glow 



H— 3 



