SECOND ANNUAL FLOWER SERMON. ry | 
fluences of which continued long after the barbaric wealth 
and wasteful superabundance begotten by their semi- 
enlightenment had passed away. That early in life, after 
his endowment with marvelous wisdom, Solomon’s attention 
was directed to the study of the vegetable kingdom, is 
altogether probable. 
The words of the text, critically examined, convey more 
than the idea, that trees and herbs were at times the topic 
of conversation. The better translation would be, ‘ he 
treated of plants,’’ extending his observation over external 
nature, involving the widest survey and the minutest dis- 
crimination. St. Ireneus, one of the earliest fathers of 
the Church, says: ‘* Solomon expounded physiologically, 
the wisdom that is apparent in the creation.’? The Koran 
asserts that Solomon understood the language of birds ; 
and there is a tradition, that many volumes now extant 
in the Turkish language are ascribed to him. But, Sol- 
omon was not the first student of this lovely page of 
external nature, wherein God’s wisdom and goodness is 
so marvelously revealed. From the dawn of creation, 
at the close of the first day’s work, there were won- 
ders over which the ‘Sons of God shouted for joy.” 
The Great Architect never called into being or shaped a 
creature of material mould, that did not challenge the 
strictest scrutiny of the highest intelligences. Doubtless, 
Adam and Eve in their innocency in the garden, must have 
found many an occasion for adoring wonder and many a 
stimulus to delightful converse in the mysterious putting 
forth of the plant, as its young life developed before their 
eyes. The love of flowers is a part of the esthetic nature 
of every individual of the race. It is born in the heart of 
the humblest peasant, in the wild children of the forest, 
as well as in the homes of taste and cultivation. It is 
characteristic of ‘‘ The Lord’s Prayer,’’ that it is adapted 
to all the varied circumstances of human life, and that 
there is no occasion when its words are not fitting, and its 
petitions becoming. So is it with the love and the presence 
of flowers everywhere. Can you imagine an occasion 
