THE BEAUTIFUL LADDER. 171 
“ That is the place I mean,” replied the doc¬ 
tor ; “ and so that matter is settled. And now 
we will turn to our lesson. The circumstances 
which have detained us will furnish inspiration 
for the theme which we shall discuss; for we 
have had a little relish of the moral beauty of 
the original Eden, which will give us clearer 
vision to see in Nature some intimations of 
its pristine beauty. 
” It is the natural order, stamped upon every¬ 
thing by Creative Wisdom, that the lower should 
minister to the higher, the material to the spir¬ 
itual. When man was created the first want 
to be supplied was physical nourishment, and 
hence the Great Provider said, ‘ Behold, I have 
given you every herb bearing seed, which is 
upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, 
in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; 
to you it shall be for meat.’ But the man nour¬ 
ished on this food was of the earth, earthy, and 
would be again resolved into dust, the substance 
from which he was taken, at once his tabernacle 
and his tomb. But the dissolving body was 
merely the dwelling-place of the soul, a God¬ 
like inbreathing that could be satisfied with no 
earthly pabulum; it must have angels’ food—a 
