News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-04-19
SUNDAYS SERMON.
ONE OF REV. DIR. TALMAGE'S
STERLING DISCOURSES.
Subject: THE Angels of the Grass.

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 6ve petals 1t was under the long
continued and intense gaze of the world that
| the rose biushed into its present beauty. In
| the Bible train, casSia and hyssop and frank
| incense and nryrrh and spikenard and cam
phlre and the rose follow the lily Fourteen
times in the Bible is the lily mentioned only
| 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
Cesar had his throne on the hills The
lily had her throne i'll the valley. In ths
| greatest sermon that ever preached,
| there was only one flower and that lily. The
| Bedford dreamer, John Bunyan, entered the
| house of the interpreter and was shown a
cluster of flowers, and was told to consider
the lilies"
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
| lilies" 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 Easte. n and of
| the rel 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 SerraS, the Golden Band
| lily, the Giant lily of NepauI, the Turks Cap
| lily, the African lily from the Cape of Good
| Hope. All these lilies have the royal blood
| in their veins. But l take the lilies of my
text this morning as typical of all flowers
| and this Easter day, garlanded with all this
opulance of floral beauty, seems to address US,
saying: "Consider the lilies, consider the
azalias, consider the fuchsias, consider the
| geraniunS, consider tho iyits consider the
Eyacinths, consider the heliotropes, consider
the oeanders." With differential and CRATE
| full and intelligent and worshipful souls, con-
| slider them. Not wish insipid sentimentalisIn,
or with sophomore vaporing, but for grand
and practical and everyday and, If neet 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 whirlwinds
| speak, they scream; when the cataracts
speak, they roar; but when the flowers speak,
they always whisper. l stand here to inter-
pret their message. What have you to say,
oh ye angels of the grass, to this worshipfuf
multitude? q, o.. -.-
This morning mean to discuss what flow
ers are good for That is my subject: What
are flowers good for!
L / 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 to-day, 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 slakes our thirst with the
dew, and God feeds us with the bread CT the
sunshine, and God has appareled US with
| more than Solomonic regality. We are
prophetesses of adequate wardrobe. If God
so clothed u.s. the grass of the field, Will he
not much more clothe you, oh ye of little
faithp
Men and women of worldly anxie:ies, take
| this message home with you. How long has
God taken care Of you' Quarter Ct the the
| Journey of life: half the journey OF life?
three-quarters the journey of life! Can you
not trust Him the rest of theway! God does
not promise ou anything like that which
the Ropsn Emperor had on his table at vast
expense-5OO nghtingales' tongues-but he
has promised to take care of you. He has
| promised you the necessities, not the luxureS
bread, not cake If God SO luxurlantly
clothes the grass of the field, will he not pro-
vide for you, his living and immortal chill
| dren? He will.
No wonder Martin Luther always had
| flower on his writing desk for inspira-
ton. Through the cracks of the prison
foor a flower grew up to cheer Flcci-
OLA Mungo Park, the great traveller and
explorer, had his life saved by flower
| He sank down in the desert to die, but seeing
a flower near by, it suggested Gods mercltui
| care, and he got up with new courage and
| Travelled on to safety. said the flowers are
| the angels of the grass. l add now that they
| are the evange's OF the sky.
IL. If you insist on asking me the question:
| What are flowers good forl | respond: They
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 we'd
| ding without music. AT such a time they are
for congratulaton and prophecies of gool
So much of the pathway of life is covered
up with thornS we ought to cover the Eegln-
ming with grange blossoms
Flowers are appropriate on such occasions,
| for in ninety-nine out of hundred cases IL is
| the very lest thing that could have happened.
| The world may critilise and pronounce 1t 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 wears of welded life hefore they
| have Iegun aTrangeS all for the best. SO
that flowers in almost all cases, are appro
| pirate for the marriage day. Ihe nlVerg' noes
| OF disposition will become correspondence,
| recklessness will become prudence, frivolity
will be turned to practicality.
| There has been many an aged widowed
| soul who had carefully locked bureau, and
| in the bureau box, and in the box folded
paper, and in the folded paper half blown
| rose. slightly fragrant, discolored, carefully
| pressed She put it there forty or fifty 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
ewes will be exposed the half blown bud, and
| tn memories of the past will rush upon her,
| and tear will drop upon the flower; and
| suddenly it is tranShgured, and there ls a
| 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 throbbng through the air; and van
iShed faces reappear, and right hands are
| join d, and manly voice promises: 81 will
for better or worse" and the wedding march
thunderS q salvo of Joy at the departing
crowd; but sigh on that anniversary day
scatters the scene. Under the deep fetched
breath, the altar, the flowers, the congratu-
lating groups are scattered, and there is
nothing left but a trembling hand holding a
faded rosebud, which is put into the paper,
and then into the box and the box carefully
placed in the bureau, and with a sharp, sud-
| den click of the lock the scene is over.
All. my friends, let not the prophecies of
the flowers on your wedding day be false
prophecies. Be blind to each others faults
Make the most of each others excellences.
Above all, do not boz b get mad at once! Re
member the VOWS, the ring on the third finger
of the left hand, and the benediction of the
cal a liles
III. If you insist on asking me the question:
What are flowers good for! | answer, thy
are good TO honor and comfort the obsequieS.
The worst cash ever made in the side of
our poor earth is the cash of the grave. 10
is so deep it is cruel, it is SO incurable that
| it needs something to cover it up Flowers
for the casket. flowers for the hearSe, flowers
for the cemetery.
What contrast between grave in a coun-
try churchyard, with the fence broken
down and the tombstone aslant, and the
neighhorng cattle browsing amid the null
Ien stalks and the Canada thistles, and n
Juna morning in Greenwood the waves of
rOseate bloom rolling to the top of the
mounds, a d then breaking into foaming
crests of white flowers all around the pillows
of dust 1t is the difference between sleeping
under rags and sleeping under an embroid-
cred blanket We want Old Mortality with
his chise to go through all the graveyards of
Christendom. and while he carries a chisel in
one hand we want Old Mortality to have
some flower seed in the palm of the other
hand.
ooh, y Won say, ''the dead don't know; it
makes no difference to them" | think you
are mistaken. There are not so many steam
ers and rail trains coming to any living city
es there are convovs coming from heaven TO
earth. and if there be instantaneous ana CON
Stont communication betwean this world and
the better world, do you not suppose your
dpnerted friends know what you do with
their bodiesl Why has God planted "goi len
rod,I and wild flowers in the forest ana on
the prairie where no human eye ever sees
them3 He planted them there for Invisible
intelligences to look at and admire, and when
invisible inteliigences come to look at the
wild flowers of the woods AMI the table
lands. will thev not make excursions and see
tine flowers which you have planted i'll atfec-
tiOnate remembrance OF them'
When | am dead | would like to have a
handful of violets-any one could pluck them
out of the grass, or some one could lift from
the edge of the pond water lilY-nothing