TIME AND THE FLOWERS. 187 
pure perfection; for here Love was ever in its infancy, 
chilled by the fear of Death, and nipped by the biting 
winds of many sorrows ; and that those who treasured 
a true, unchanged, and devoted heart through all 
these trials, should hereafter enjoy an unbroken eter¬ 
nity of Love. And Love pointed to the flowers, which 
the rains of Autumn beat down, and the bleak winds 
of Winter blew upon, showing how, from all these 
trials, they sprung up into a new life,—fairer than be¬ 
fore they faded, sweeter than when they perished ; and 
that such should be the reward hereafter, for those, 
who endured without repining, who waited and served 
in patience, whom neither prosperity nor adversity 
could change, but went on for ever loving unto the 
end, whose love was “love for evermore.” That for 
all such were immortal garlands woven in the gardens 
above,—over which neither Death nor Time had 
power: for they bore with them a divinity that never 
could be affected by Time, nor perish, even for a brief 
space, like the flowers. 
