THE DEATH OF THE TREE. 239 
of aged wood shewn in our Frontispiece may 
stand, there are secret, and silent, but powerful 
influences at work, which will eventually sweep 
it from the scene it now solemnizes and adorns. 
In the beautiful scheme of the creation, as laid 
down and carried out by the all-wise and power- 
ful God, who has so clearly and graciously re- 
vealed Himself to us in His well-beloved Son, 
our Lord Jesus Christ, and in His holy word 
which He has given us, every created thing, 
after living out its time, dies, and after death 
the materials of which it was formed are re- 
turned either to the air as gas, or to the earth 
as water and dust. But with this difference: no 
resurrection morning will call together the lost 
particles of plants and animals,—but of man, the 
possessor of a never dying soul, it is written, 
while his flesh returns to dust, “his spirit shall 
return to God who gave it,” and that his body 
shall be raised again, never more to return to 
the grave. 
The hour, therefore, will certainly arrive when 
The Tree will be no longer seen, when the 
last work of decay and death will be done, and 
