242 THE OLIVE LEAF. . CHAP. 



i. Between the two revelations of God to man which 

 meet us respectively at the commencement and at the 

 close of the sacred Scriptures, we find the closest con- 

 nection. He who appeared to our first parents walking 

 among the trees of the garden, appeared in vision to 

 the beloved disciple in the midst of the seven golden 

 candlesticks in the Isle of Patmos. The two Divine 

 manifestations were essentially the same, although they 

 differed in outward form and circumstances. Between 

 them there were connecting links. The experience of 

 the exile on Horeb, for instance, was repeated in the 

 case of the exile in Patmos. The same vision of the 

 burning bush which appeared to Moses appeared to 

 John in the vision of the seven golden candlesticks. 

 The Son of Man associated Himself with the one symbol 

 in the same way that He had associated Himself with 

 the other. The occasion in both cases was similar. 

 The Hebrew race and the Divine purpose contained in 

 its history seemed on the eve of extinction under the 

 severe pressure of the bondage in Egypt The same 

 race was threatened with dispersion over the face of 

 the earth, and its civil and religious polity with destruc- 

 tion by the Roman power. And as the vision of the 

 burning bush assured Moses that no fire of persecution 

 could destroy His people, or prevent His purpose of 

 mercy in their education and discipline from being 

 carried out ; so the vision of the golden candlesticks 

 assured John that He who was in the midst of them 

 would never suffer the light which they were privileged 

 to hold forth among the nations to be extinguished. 



