A Glance of Heaven

THE MACHINE IN THE GARDEN -- The Separatists of Zoar in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, chose their own metaphor in the magnificent garden which was the focal point of the community. Designed in the shape of a wheel, it represented the New Jerusalem mentioned in the Book of Revelation. A tall Norway spruce in the center stood for Christ and life everlasting. It was encircled by a hedge of arbor vitae, around which ran a green path which symbolized the Kingdom of God. Twelve Irish juniper trees, one for each apostle, stood just outside the path, and twelve paths radiated out from the center path to the edges of the garden like spokes. These represented the many different walks of life leading to Heaven. But there was more to Zoar than met the eye. It was a many faceted organization whose separate paths had to intermesh in an orderly manner if it were to perform the job for which it was created. The society was a machine - a machine in a garden. Just beyond the hedge rows, surrounded by the flower beds, shaded by the apple trees, almost hidden from view, it sat and quietly ran for nearly eighty years.