254 TIIE OLIVE LEAF. CHAP. 



is to the same Church the Church of Ephesus that 

 Christ manifests Himself as " He that walketh in the 

 midst of the seven golden candlesticks," and gives the 

 promise, " To him that overcometh will I give to eat 

 of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the para- 

 dise of God," thus showing the intimate connection 

 between the candlesticks of Patmos and the tree of 

 life of Eden; how the latter is gained through the 

 pains and toils and sacrifices indicated by the former. 

 3. Another point of contrast between the revelation 

 of Patmos and the revelation of Eden is the clearness 

 and fulness of the one, in comparison with the dimness 

 and obscurity of the other. God talked with Adam not 

 only among but through the medium of the trees of the 

 garden, conveyed to him spiritual instruction by the 

 objects and processes of nature around him. But what- 

 ever knowledge of spiritual truth he could thus glean 

 from the hieroglyphics of the natural world, there was 

 much- in the character and relations of God which of 

 necessity was unknown to him ; there was much in the 

 constitution of the world, in the wildernesses and deaths 

 of nature, in the whole physical order of the earth 

 which was set to the keynote of struggle, toil, and 

 suffering, which, because of his childlike innocence, he 

 could not understand. The revelation among the trees 

 was therefore supplemented when he fell by the revela- 

 tion among the candlesticks. Sin brought a terrible 

 darkness upon the world and upon man, but the Divine 

 light shone in the darkness. Man's eyes were opened 

 .to know good and evil. The darkness of sin brought 



