TI-iE OLD MAN AND HIS GARDEN 273 
“These things may be/' I answered; “‘when the wil- 
derness shall rejoice and blossom as the rose/ when 
‘ instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and 
instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle-tree/ when 
only the ‘ ransomed of the Lord ' shall walk the earth ; 
but it is not essential to my ideas of the glories of heaven 
to believe that flowers are to be found there." 
“ But wherefore ? Are they not more beautiful than the 
gems, the silver and the gold, with which the celestial 
city is ‘adorned?' Besides, they who loved human be- 
ings may find happiness in a reunion with their lost ones 
in heaven; but flowers are to me friends, children, every- 
thing I How desolate would be my existence without 
them !" 
“But," said I, “far other enjoyments will be theirs 
who enter into those mansions of rest, even the ‘ making 
melody in their hearts and with their voices before the 
Lord.’ ‘And I heard the voice of harpers harping with 
their harps; and they sang a new song, to the praise of 
God and of the Lamb.’ " 
“ Music ! My music is the gentle shower, as it falls 
after the sultry day, for the reviving of my flowers; the 
song of the passing breeze which awakens them to life 
and vigour. What were heaven to me without these?" 
“Then, my friend," I answered, “heaven wall, I fear, 
be a dreary place to you. Have you laid up no treasure 
there which shall satisfy your soul when these lesser glories 
shall have passed away?" 
The old man shook his head impatiently. “ The tree 
of Life is there/' he said; “and flowers are there." 
I left him; and as I pursued my way homeward and 
laid me down that night to sleep, it was with the prayer 
that the leaves of that tree of Life might be for the heal- 
ing of this poor, mistaken soul. I thought of this feeble 
old man as soon to be cut down, soon to pass away, with 
the flowers of his idolatry ; but where, then, would hasten 
the immortal soul which rendered him superior to these, 
the ornaments and the smiles of our earth ? And I thought 
too of the multitudes who feel, if they dare not say, in 
relation to the idols of their heart-worship, “ What were 
heaven without these !" 
As I slept, after meditations such as these, T dreamed; 
