260 THE OLIVE LEAF. CHAP. 



struggles are only for the strengthening and unfolding 

 of the spiritual and immortal. But, on the other hand, 

 God in Christ appeared to the beloved disciple in 

 Patmos in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks ; 

 and these candlesticks were the symbols of the Word 

 of the Lord which endureth for ever. The form and 

 substance of these candlesticks indicated the imperish- 

 able nature of the revelation which they symbolized. 

 They were all beaten out of solid gold the most 

 enduring of all earthly materials the very pavement 

 of heaven itself. They were carved with the figures 

 of flowers and fruits, preserving the exquisite loveliness 

 of the fading flowers and fruits of earth in an imperish- 

 able form. Thus they are appropriate emblems of the 

 beauty and glory of the new creation of God, a creation, 

 though new, yet founded as it were on the ruins of the 

 old, fashioned of lasting and unfading materials, and 

 yet combining all the beauty and glory of that which 

 shall pass away. The trees of nature speak of fading 

 leaves and falling blossoms and decaying fruits. The 

 candlesticks of grace made in the form of a tree, and 

 carved with blossoms and fruits, speak of leaves that 

 shall never fade, of flowers that shall never die, and 

 of fruits unto holiness, whose end is everlasting life. 

 And the fact that the candlesticks preserve the form 

 of the trees and the flowers of nature, indicates that 

 nothing good shall be lost, but only restored in a higher 

 form ; that the things of this world are all meant to 

 prepare for the new heavens and the new earth, wherein 

 ehvelleth righteousness. What is most precious and 



