372 THE OLIVE LEAF. CHAP. 



of the apple-blossom. And what a glory crowned the 

 brow of the Redeemer when His suffering life was 

 ended ; a glory different from and in some respects 

 higher than that which belonged to Him in virtue of 

 His essential Godhead ! The head that was covered 

 with ashes, the life that was one embodied mourning 

 and expiation for the sins of the world, is now anointed 

 with the oil of gladness, and clothed with the garment 

 of praise, girt about the paps with a golden girdle. 

 And for all His suffering ones He has henceforth broken 

 the connection of suffering with evil, as the work of an 

 enemy who seeks only to waste and destroy, and associ- 

 ated it with heaven as the discipline of a loving Father, 

 and the training of a nobler and more blessed life. 



And lastly, there are the ashes of the dead ! These 

 are the saddest of all. Even the ashes of the com- 

 monest household fire are melancholy things, for they 

 remind us of what was once bright, and suggest 

 thoughts of loss and ruin, with which our sad experi- 

 ence of life's changes enables us to sympathize. 

 More melancholy still are the brown withered leaves 

 of autumn, blown by the. chill November winds about 

 our path ; the ashes of Nature's gorgeous funeral pyre, 

 in which the pomp and glory of the summer burnt 

 itself out ; each of which tells us of a miracle of beauty 

 and design, and a life of gladness which have perished 

 for ever. We mourn the awful waste that goes on 

 in the world, the extinction of species, the myriads of 

 seeds that never germinate, of blossoms that fall in 

 their perfection, and of fruits that never set or ripen. 



