TIME, LOVE, AND THE FLOWERS 275 
Oh; for showerS; that I may be cleansed from my im- 
purity ' 
Then I heard the dropping of a gentle shower. Clouds 
and thick darkness hid her for a season from my sight ; 
but when anon they fled away^ I saw" what wonders had 
been wrought. Adorned with glossy and shining fruit, her 
thorns gradually wearing away, her flower smiling in the 
sunlight, how beautiful seemed the new" creature 1 But 
again I heard her cries. She was seeking deliverance 
from the poisonous juice which ran through every limb. 
Yet she perceived not that her prayer was answered. 
Only new fruit began to appear; it put on the tempting 
hue which made it “pleasant to the eye.” They who 
passed by tasted thereof ; and when I looked that they 
should have fallen down dead, they went on their way 
rejoicing in their strength. Then I knew that the restor- 
ation of the defiled was complete; and amid the tones of 
joy and praise which came from the heart of the renewed, 
I awoke, and behold, it was a dream. 
I said, the deformed plant is a type of the soul. Once 
upright and beautiful, but, through sin, fallen and defiled, 
it lies in helplessness and sloth, till Christ comes to bid 
it arise. Then He commences the work of grace, reveals 
to the mind a true knowledge of its wants, and leads it 
to ask that it may receive freedom from its deformities. 
And alas I "the wounded hand” alone can avail for the 
healing of the lost 1 
THE STORY OF TIME, LOVE, AND THE 
FLOWERS. 
Said Time, “ I cannot bear the flowers. 
They spoil the look of old decay ; 
They cover all my ruined towers. 
My fallen shrines, and abbeys grey : 
I’ll cut them down — why should they grow'? 
I marvel Death upon his graves 
Allows so many buds to blow ! 
O’er all my works the Wall-flower waves!” — 
His scythe he sharpened as he spoke, 
And deeply frowned at every stroke. 
