SECOND ANNUAL FLOWER SERMON. 29 
In the imagination of the poet, it was our first mother, 
who gave names to the flowers, classified them in families, 
and ranked their tribes. 
Having already quoted from the words of our Lord in 
His Sermon on the Mount, I cannot pass them without a few 
words of farther comment — 
«* Consider the lilies of the field how they grow.”’ 
The meaning in the original is intense. I give it from 
the Lexicon — ‘** Consider,’’ ‘* Note accurately,’’ ** Learn 
thoroughly.’? ‘*How,’’ ‘‘in what manner,”’ or in other 
words, by what law do they grow. 
Here, the great teacher calls the special attention of his 
hearers to the hidden mystery of their life and growth. 
These flowers were not senseless forms of dead matter. 
They were living things. Life was associated with their 
being, and what was characteristic of life, the mystery 
of growth. It was not enough that His hearers should 
indulge their taste for the beautiful, by a hasty glance, 
without discrimination as to the characteristics of each 
separate plant. The lilies in the fields of Palestine, are 
described as growing in rich profusion, and with a vivid 
golden brilliancy in autumn, aptly suggesting the compari- 
son of a fitting array, <¢ with Solomon in all his glory.”’ 
But this was not with the Great Teacher the point of 
attraction. He calls them to ‘ note accurately how they 
grow.’’? There was a hidden mystery in the growth of these 
living things, well deserving their careful study, and well 
fitted to illustrate the skill, wisdom, and goodness of 
Him, ‘* who maketh the grass to grow upon the mountains.’’ 
I could honestly, brethren, fairly interpreting to my own 
mind their meaning, make these words an authoritative text 
for commending the study of Botany. Nor do I know a 
branch of science which, to the devout student, is so full of 
startling and convincing demonstrations of the wisdom and 
goodness of the First Great Cause of All. I cannot con- 
ceive that a scientist in this branch of study can be an 
agnostic, when the marvelous wisdom of the Designer and 
