Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1888-04-06
CONSIDER THE LILIES.
DR.. TALMAeE's EASTER SERMON AT
THE TABERNACLE.

the Lessons Taught by Ihem-Orange
blossoms for the Bride, Handful of
vioIets for the Tomb.
Brooklyn, April 1.-The platform and
galleries Of the Tabernacle were this morn
ing profusely decorated with flowers. On
the previous evening the church had been
open to prepare the decorations, for which
the congregation had been invited to bring
flowers
The immense audience room is not large
enough to contain the people on ordinary
occasions; it must be left to the Imagination
to suggest the thTongs, both inside and out
side the church, on this great festai day.
The Rev T. De Witt Talmage, d. D., took
for his text Luke xii, 2S: IF then God so
clothe the grass, which is today in the field,
and tomorrow is cast into the oven; how
much more will he clothe you" He said:
The lily is the queen of Bible flowers. The
rose may have disputed her throne in modern
times, and won it; but the rose originally
had only five petals. 1t was under the long
continued and intense gaze Of the world that
the rose blushed into its present beauty. In
the Bible train, cassia and hyssop and frank
incense and myrrh and spikenard and cam
phire and the rose follow the lily. Fourteen
twice the rose. The rose may now have
wider empire, but the lily reigned in the time
of Esther, in the time Of Solomon, in the
time of Christ.
Caesar had his throne on the hills. The
lilv had her throne in the valley. In the
greatest sermon that was ever preached,
there was only one flower, and that a lily. The
Bedford dreamer, John Bunyan, entered the
house of the interpreter, and was shown
cluster of flowers, and was told to consider
the liliesn
We may study or reject other sciences at
our option. 1t is so with astronomy, it is so
with chemistry, it is so with Jurisprudence,
it is so with physiology, it is so with geology;
but the science of botany Christ commands
us to study when he says: "Consider the
liliesn Measure them from root TO tip of
petal. Inhale their breath. Notice the
gracefulness of their poise. Hear the whis-
per of the white lips Of the Eastern and Of
the red lips of the American lily.
Belonging to this royal family of lilies is
the lily of the Nile, the Japan lily, the Lady
Washington Of the Sierras, the Golden Band
lily, the Giant lily of Nepaul, the Turks Cap
lily, the African lily from the Cape of Good
Hope. All these lilies have the royal blood
in their veins. But 1 take the lilies Of my
text this morning as typical of ell flowers,
and this Easter day, garlaHded with all this
opulence Of floral beauty, seems to address us,
saying: "Consider the lilies, consider the
azalias, consider the fuchsias, consider the
geraniums, consider the ivies, consider the
hyacinths, consider the heiotropes, consider
the oleanders.n With differential and CRATE
full and intelligent and worshipful souls, con-
slder them. Not with insipid sentimentalisln,
or with sophomore vaporing, but for grand
and practical and everyday and, if need be,
homely uses, consider them.
The flowers are the angels of the grass.
They all have voices. When the clouds
speak. they thunder; when the whirlwiDds
speak, they scream; when the cataracts
speak they roar; but when the flowers speak,
they always whisper l stand here to inter
pref their message. What have you to say,
Oh We angels of the grass, to this wOrshipful
multitude!
This morning mean to discuss what flow
ers are good for That is my subject: What
are flowers good fors
L I remark, in the first place, they are
good for lessons of Gods providential care.
That was Christ's first thought. All these
flowers seem to address us today, saying:
''God will give you apparel and food We
have no wheel with which to spin, no loom
with which to weave, no sickle with which
to harvest, no well sweep with which to draw
water but God stakes our thirst with the
dew, and God feeds us with the bread of the
sunshine, and God has appareled US with
more than Solomonic regality. We are
prophetesses of adequate wardrobe. If God
SO clothed US, the grass Of the field, will no
not much more clOthe you. oh ye of little
faith"
Men and women Of worldly anxieties, take
this message home with you How long has
God taken care of youl Quarter of the
journey of lifel half the journey of life!
three-quarters the journey of life! Can you
not trust him the rest Of the ways God does
not promise YOU anything like that which
the Roman emperor had on his table at vast
expense-500 nightingales tongues-but he
has promised to take care of you. He has
promised YOU the necessities, not the lux
uries-bread, not cake. If God so luxuri-
antly clothes the grass of the field, will he
not provide for you, his living and immortal
children. He will
10 wonder Martin Luther always had
flower on his writing desk for inspira-
ton. Through the cracks Of the prison
floor a flower grew up to cheer Picci-
3
explorer, had his life saved by a flower.
He sank down in the desert to die,
but seeing a flower near by it suggested
Gods merciful care, and he got up with new
courage and Travelled on to safety said
the flowers are the angels of the grass. add
now they are the evangels Of the sky.
II. If you insist on asking me the questions
What are flowers good fors respond, they
are good for the bridal day. The bride must
have them on her brow, and she must have
them in her hand The marriage altar must
be covered with them. A wedding without
flowers would be as inappropriate as a we'd
ding without music. Atsuch time they are
for. reorganization and prophecies Of good.
So much of the pathway of life is covered
up with thorns, we ought to cover the begin
ming with orange blossoms.
Flowers are appropriate on such occasions,
for in ninety-nine out Of a hundred cases it is
the very best thing that could have happened
The world may criticise and pronounce it an
inaptitude, and may lift its eyebrows in sur
prise and think it might suggest something
better; but the God who sees the twenty,
forty, fifty years of welded life before they
have begun arranges all for the best. So
that flowers, in almost all cases, are appro-
pirate for the marriage day. The divergences
of disposition will become correspondence,
recklessness will become prudence, frivolity
will be turned into practically
There has been many an aged widowed
soul N.ao had carefully locked bureau, and
in the bureau box, and in the box folded
paper and in tho folded paper half blown
rose, slightly fragrant, discolored, carefully
pressed. She put it there forty or City years
ago. On the anniversary day of her wedding
she will go to the bureau, she will lift the
box, she will unfold the paper and to her
eyes will be exposed the half blown bud, and
the memories of tho past will rush upon her,
and tear will drop upon the flower; and
suddenly it is TRANSPORTED, and there is a
stir in the dust Of the anther, and it rounds
out, and it is full of life, and it begins to
tremble in the procession up the church aisle,
and the dead music of a half century ago
comes throbbing through the air; and van
ished faces reappear, and right hands are
Joined, and a manly voice promises: Il will
for better or worse, and the wedding march
thunders salvo of joy at the departing
crowd but sigh on that anniversary day
scatters the scene. Under the deep fetched