“I saw in my dream that many thronged to the spot where the Sabbath-tree rose, like a beautiful green temple, in the midst of the plain; and I stood aside to mark the effect of its fruit on those who came to gather it. It strewed the ground in some places so thickly, that it shone like a carpet of gold.”
“I suppose,” said Bat Nayland, one of the boys, “that the fruits of the Sabbath-tree are,—going to church, praying, praising, and reading the Bible?”
Thorn smiled in assent, and continued: “I saw one haggard man come, faint with hunger, to the spot. He threw himself down on the soft grass, and fed eagerly on the nourishment freely provided. And I marked joy on his pale face as he ate of the fruit of the Sabbath-tree, and I remembered the holy words, Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.
“I saw an aged woman reach the tree. She was so feeble that she had hardly power to stoop to gather the fruit; but as she tasted it, her strength returned, her bent form became more erect, she walked with a firmer step, and I remembered that it is written, They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
“Next, a miserable sufferer approached; on his countenance was an expression of pain. He was sick—grievously sick of the malady of sin, fatal to all who cannot find a cure. But he knew the healing powers of the tree. He fed, and even as he fed health returned to his faded cheek, the anguish of his soul passed away, and the sufferer found himself whole.”
“I thought,” said the eldest of the boys, “that there was but one cure for sin!”
“True, most true,” replied Thorn, with an approving look; “but in due observance of Sabbath duties, we learn how to seek and where to find that cure.
“I had watched in my dream, with a rejoicing heart, thousands gathering the precious fruit, and receiving nourishment, strength, and healing; but now, alas! my attention was attracted by yet greater multitudes, who thronged to the spot only, as I became painfully aware, to break and injure the beautiful tree. Some enemy had hung up a hatchet on its trunk, with Disobedience marked on the handle, and of this numbers made very free use to cut down large boughs from the tree.
“‘I am going on a jovial merry-making in the country,’ cried one; ‘I and my family shall have a treat. I want some wood to mend up my broken car.’
“‘Hold!’ exclaimed the youth who had been healed, attempting to stay the hand of the Sabbath-breaker; ‘are there not six groves nigh at hand?—had you not better cut what you want from them?’