p. 4 | The Power of Nature

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Dec 2, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 46.

The Power of Nature

A CENTURY ago an infidel German countess, dying, ordered that her grave be covered with a solid granite slab; that around it should be placed solid blocks of stone, and the whole be fastened together by strong iron clamps, and that on the stone be cut these words: "This burial place, purchased to all eternity, must never be opened." But a little seed sprouted under the covering, and the tiny shoot found its way through between two of the slabs, and grew there slowly and surely until it burst the clamps asunder, and, lifting the immense block, the structure erelong became a confused mass of rock, among which in verdure and beauty grew the great oak which had caused the destruction. And thus work the silent forces of nature, bringing to naught the vain imaginations of man.—Ex.