Sentence:  When we consider the era in which Plato lived, before the Revelation of Christ had shed the sunbeams of its life and light upon the world, seeing only a <WSD>foreshoot</WSD> of the glorious day about to open, and conjecturing obscurely as to the true relationship and destiny of men, we are astonished at the beauty and justice of his sentiments, and his deep devotion to the laws of Eternal Order and Duty. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  The leading shoot.