Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1905-04-27

for you, though q widow. ana seeming
y facing q life Of financial struggle,
With q large brood Of little ones at
your back. He cares for you. though
you seem at this moment not 70 have
friend In oil the wide, wide world. He
cares for you, I know II. This Easter
day Christ says: Consider the wild
flowers Of the nelds. Az have cared
for the lilies. % am caring for you,
oh, ~ Of little faith!"
0ea Lovss the Flowers.
Christ loves the Master lilies. There.
fore be respects the work which these
Easter lilies are doing. A. he comes
out,of.the tombstoday, he.does not bend
ovsr Q HUE daisy or q forgetmenot
and Say, "Oh.s inslsuihcant flower. why
arc you not a chrysanthemum among
the flowers or . cedar Of Lebanon
among the treesf Then the birds Of the
cir could come and build their nests
among your great branches. Then the
great beams Of my cross could have
been cut out Of the trunk Of your tree.
Then q house could have been erected
from your wood near to my carpenter
shop in Naxareth." oh. no. Christ
would not speak thus ON this Easter
day.to daisy. For II. f1erdid. theidaisy
would look up and say: "0h. risen
Lord, why art thou rehuking me7 II
thou didst want me to do the work Of
q cedar Of Lebanon. why didst thou not
make it possible for me to grow into q
great tree?" Is a tortoise to be con.
demned because 1t has to crawl and
has not the wings Of dove? Shall the
blind fish Of the Mammoth cave Of
Kentucky be upbraided because thou
hast put out their eyes with centuries
upon centuries Of darkness? Shall the
bat be slain because it,has nosears with
which TO hear or trout be excommu.
uicatet from thy iove,andlcare because
It has no-feet with which to climb the
river bank antawaIki dryshod eipon- the
land?
No. no. Christ honore, the wild flower
becauss'ity1s Wiling To- do the work Of
a wild flower, as We should be willing
to do the work for which we were Gro
ated. and not for our attempting TO do
the work which is impossible Tor US
to do. And yet as Twander In and out
among these Easter iilies how often do
I find men trying to win the divine
commentator. "Weli- done. thou good
and faithful servant" when they have
neglected the work which GOO has
given them to do and'have been trying
ten, twenty, thirty years to do some
work for which they were never fitted.
They are not willing to do simple
work like that Of the WILD aowers-the
simple, beautifully colored. sweet
scented wild flowers. They are always
trying for some position they cannot
attain. They are always dissatisfied
with what they are. Here, forinstance.
Is a young woman. She has a good.
ordinary. everyday brain. She is a
wife and a mother. But instead Of
staying at home and looking after the
children and sharing her husbands
sorrows and cares che feels she must
be a Joan Of Arc or Frances n. VIII
lard or Jenny Lind. She Is persuaded
she has talents. She has had visions in
reference to her true career" No one
can dnsuade her from this idea. So
she runs around hither and thither and
absolutely critters away her life In try.
ing to be o cedar Of Lebanon when
God wanted her to be wild flower.
Here is a man who il q good. ordi.
nary, everyday simple preacher. II he
would only be satisfied IN the position
God had assigned him he would be
nightly blessed. But he wants to be
q cedar Of Lebanon. He wants to be
Savonaroia, Q Thomas Chalmers OF
a John Knox, or he hears some OF the
great evangelists Of the world. and i'm
mediately he decides on going over In
to Macedonia to help the English, OF
the Scotch, or the Welsh, or the Aus
tralians. Ana what is the result? He
ruins his life for good because he Is
not willing to be simple wild flower
In Gods service.
Never DesDlse HsAble Position.
Never despise your humble position
in life. because you are like the sim
pie Wild flowers. When the second
advent comes and Jesus. as the Divine
Bridegroom. goes down among the
. 0oot0T uuoo OF inc WIIo uOWeGS tut
Lord viii not say unto the multitude
Of his children: Ibid you occupy Z
|. great position in life? Were you Z
| noted general. or king, or statesman
Like Hannah More, did you WELD Z
.. brilliant pen? Like Nine. do Recamier
. did you have salon ilIled with thu
,, leading thinkers Of your land" H
will say. however: did you nestle, Of
clover top. among the green grasses
a. l. commended you? DID you lighter
the sickroom Of some invalid when. q
my command. the messenger plucket
your DID you breathe out your fra
GRANGE upon the coffin lid while tn
minister uttered the committal. 'Ashe
to ashes. dust to dustT Did you max
|. the marriage altar sweeter and hole
when the young girl piucked you In tn
fields and with your bright faces dec
grated the village church on the wed
ding day? Did you carry the messag
Of love between the angry brothers AM
: sisters and friends who had quarreled
3 I made You wild flowers. loved yov
because you we're wild flowers. A
j Easter lilies. did you loYs and homo