Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1905-04-29
Calnna9e
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmade. ID. d.


theme Of this sermon, and from them
Hhe preacher draws a lesson Of divine
encouragement for the human race.
The text is Matt. vi, %, Consider the
lilies of the field"
Lilies! Consider the lilies Of the
6eldp No one can understand what
that command means unless that per-
son has attended an Easter service In
southern California, as | have done,
said a dear friend to me many years
ago. "Why, in Los Angeles and Pase-
lena they do not grow the spring lilies
as hothouse plants, as they do In Chica-
go or New York. They do not look
upon the pistil of a Gala lily as though
It were pencil of solid gold and charge
eight or ten, or twelve, or even fifteen
dollars per dozen for their ascension
lilies. But there the lilies grow almost
as plentifully as do the thistles on
| Scottish mOors or the shamr0cks on
Ireland's hills. There all the ministers
have to do TO insure Easter decoration
for their churches Is to ask the men,
bers Of their congregations to bring in
their lilies the Saturday before Easter
Sunday. And what Is the result? The
lilies are brought by the armful and
In carriage loads The only way
can describe their abundance is to COM
pare them to the goldeDrods, and the
bluebells, and the daisies. and the dan
delions growing In eastern fields In the
summer time. The Easter pulpits are
crowded with them. The organ lofts
are crowded with them. They hang
over the galleries. They entwlne them
selves about the church columns. The
Sunday school rooms as well as the
main auditorIums are filed with them.
Lilies, lilies, lilies everywhere! Oh,
you ought to 90 to southern California
to see the churches decorated with
lilies on Easter Sunday! Nowhere Is
another sight like it!'
When my friend spoke thus l was
not a skeptic. l did not ridicule her
statements. l had never been in south
ern California at that time, but had
Travelled around the world, and l had
seen the almost limitless wealth of the
Wild fora of the tropics. In Honolulu
we were welcomed by friends who
came down to greet us with thousands
upon thousands Of flowers. They en-
fuyirad than, In nt,r horcaa, hair and
harness. They covered our carriages
with them. They placed them In gar
isnus ABDUL our neeks,-e luey--tosseu
them under our feet In the streets.
But notwithstanding my experience In
the east | was unable to realize the
beauty Of an Easter Sunday IN south
ern California until l myself had par
ticipated in such a service. No man
can appreciate the beauty of Los
Angeles church until he sees there
church building literally covered with
pure white lilies. Not 4 red leaf there,
only the white leaf and the green leaf
side by side The lilies seemed not to
be lilies, but great curtains and crosses
and columns Of white. On my first
Easter service the people brought so
many lilies for decorating purposes
that the ladies could not use them all.
Great piles Of these white lilies had
been thrown away as useless. why
did we not send some Of these lilies to
other churches? That would have been
a foolish waste of time. All the other
churches had just as many lilies on
hand as we had.
The Lily of Christ's Time.
Beautiful and abundant as are the
lilies of southern California, appropri-
ate as they are as symbols of Christs
resurrection, l would not limit our
thoughts to them on this Easter morn
ing. 1t was not Of such flowers as these
alone that Christ referred to when he
bade us consider the lilies. The lily OF
Christ's time was not, as many sup
pose, like the lily of the western world.
It was not the Gala lily, with Its cor
nucopla leaf and long plstll of gold; not
the lily of the valley, which looks like
string of bells, ready to ring out the
Easter chimes; not the Bermuda lily,
with its clapper Of white, nor the water
lily, lifting its head above the river
Nile to be decapitated and pounded into
-four as the modern husbandman
makes his wheat. Nor was 1t the hulch
lily, which DR.. Thomson, the oriental
traveller, describes as of such velyety
Boftness that the finest silk could not
be softer. The New Testament lily was
a name given comprehensively to all
the wild flowers of Palestine, as the
name sparrow" embraced all the small
birds that winged their way above the
Judean hills. Thus, as my Easter text,
Consider the lilies," embraces all wild
flowers, shall not hem in and circum-
scribe my subject by the beautiful
lilies which we find decorating our
churches this Easter day. In the SYM
Dol of the growth Of the wild flower l
shall try to find some practical gospel
lesson appropriate for this glorious
service Of Easter morn.
The wild flowers of Palestine In the
first place, teach US that man, insig-
nidcant though he is, is nurtured and
protected by a divine Fathers care, no
matter where he may be. They teach
us that if God takes the trouble to
plant and develop little wild flower
God is certainly willing to care for and
does care for u.s. One day the great
"wizard Of Abbotsford" was found in
Scottish ravine, down on his knees,
with paper and pencil, drawing the
construction Of the leaf Of wild
flower. Some one said to him, "Sir
Walter, why are you spending your
time thusY "Ah," answered Sir Wal
ter Scott, II am studying the love Of
my Maker for me In his care for this
little wild flower. If God is willing to
take the time to color this little Leaf
and place it in veins and arteries as
perfect in construction as are the veins
of my own body, if he is at pains to