174 
THE BEAUTIFUL LADDER. 
a whole, it is without competition, and even a 
few cut sprays and stray blossoms are worthy 
tokens of love, and are held as most acceptable 
expressions of affection. What, then, must 
have been the wonderful perfection and super¬ 
lative beauty of Eden as it first stood, fresh and 
complete from the hand of the Infinite One! 
Who can measure the fulness of the blessing 
conferred on Adam when God put him ‘ into 
the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it ’ ? 
So glorious was the place that the divine pres¬ 
ence seemed to linger in its delightful shades; 
for the ‘ voice of the Lord God walking in the 
garden in the cool of the day ’ was heard, hold¬ 
ing converse with the happy possessors of that 
bright abode. From that day to this a truly 
quickened soul can catch something of the 
same divine accents when meditating where 
flowers bloom and leaves murmur their soft 
cadences of praise. True, the site of the Heav¬ 
en-planted Eden has been hidden from human 
observation, and the visible presence and aud¬ 
ible voice of Jehovah are no longer recognized 
amid borders and bloom; but to a heart at all 
spiritualized such surroundings will ever bring 
thoughts of the lost Paradise and a sense of 
