The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-06-07 00:00:00

A FLOWER SERMON.

A crowded congregation assembled in the old
church of St. Catherine Cree, Leadenhall•street,
London, on Tuesday night, to hear the Rector (Rev.
Dr. Whittemore) preach his annual flower sermon.
The fine interior of the church which is believed to
J have been designed by Inigo ones, was rendered
additionally attractive by large numbers of the
"quaint enanaell'd eyes that on the green turf suck
the honied showers," for most of the persons present
had complied with a request to bring flowers.

Dr. Whittemore gave his first flower sermon in 1853.
He claims that be thus began the practice, which is
now followed not only in England but also in Aus-
tralia, Africa, and other parts of the world. Taking
as his text last evening Isaiah xxxv., 1 ver., "The de-
sert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose," he re-
marked that children were often likened to rosebuds in
their freshness and beauty, and they were also like
them in being susceptible of blight. But what could
not be true of a blighted rosebud might be true of a
bighted human life, for it was capable of a better and
brighter growth in God's great garden of heaven. No
gardener's skill could restore a blighted rosebud, but
even on earth the grace of God could restorea blighted
life in either man or woman. One reason why the
rose should be regarded as possessing special excel-
lence was that it showed that our common daily life
might be fragrant and beautiful. It was found in
the palace, in the rich man's garden, in the
roadside hedge, and M the poor man's cottage,
thus illustrating the fact that it was not neces.
sary to step out of the beaten track of life
in order to make ourselves beautiful and sweet.
The fragrance of the rose did not perish when the
flower was torn to pieces, and in this also human
beings should try to be like it. "The memory of the
just," it had been said, "is blessed ;" and who did not
know of many long parted from earth, but whose
memory was still fragrant in the recollection of their
friends. He wanted to inculcate three lessons. In the
first place, it was possible to have the fragrance of
the rose without its beauty, as in the case of the
rose root growing on the moorlands in the country;
and therefore girls and women with plain features
should remember that they might make themselves
fragrant of spirit. In the second place, people
should consider that success often depended upon early
trials, the seed of the rose of Jericho, for example,
bring blown from place to place by the wind simply
that it might at last find the moisture necessary to its
development. In the third place, those who wished to
lead the best possible life must like the roses be
grafted. They must be grafted into the Lord
Jesus Christ until their union of faith with Him
became so strong that they derived all their
nourishment from Him. His text contained a pro-
mise, which all his hearers could help to fulfil. If they
would be charitable in small and great matters, if they
would enoourage and support Christian missions, if
they would give their flowers to the inmates of the
children's hospitals, if they would alwajs try t 3 love
their neighbour they would do much to make the
desert rejoice and blossom as the rose.
After the service a collection was made in aid of the,
fund for obtaining a " flower-eormon window" to re-
place the present stained-glass window at the east end
of the church.—Daily News.