rOURTH ANNUAL FLOWER SERMON* 



25 



plain by the fair beauty of the Garden. To-day we may 

 listen only to the gentle voices of the green herb, and the 

 unfolding flower. Perhaps it is less difficult to see the 

 right hand of Omnipotence in the destroying thunder-bolt 

 than in the decorated petals of the lily; perhaps His voice 

 is more easily discernible in the roar of the whirlwind than 

 in the whispering of the waving wheatstalks as they praise 

 their Maker. Yes, doubtless the angry frown of the storm- 

 king commands attention and audience from men who 

 never see His smile amid the valleys laughing and singing 

 because they stand so thick with corn. And therefore the 

 more necessary that the preacher shall strive to point out 

 that in these, too, are clearly seen " the eternal power and 

 godhead; " that His gentler utterances in the garden, as 

 really as His angry voice in the fiercest conflict of furious 

 elements, alike declare the glory of God. 



Mark then, first, that "eternal power and Godhead" 

 are witnessed unto as perfectly and as incontestibly by the 

 tiniest floweret that gems the sward to-day, as by the 

 orderly procession of the stars about their central sun. 

 Alas ! to man in general, like the potter in Wordsworth's 

 poem, 



u A primrose by a river's brim 

 A yellow primrose was to him, 

 And it was nothing more." 



■ 



But to the thoughtful student of the mysteries of nature, 

 here is wonder as great, and problem as insoluble, as in the 

 wild rush of the Borean cohorts, and just as sufficient evi- 

 dence of infinite power and Godhead. 



Ah! my brother-man, come explain for us the germina- 

 tion of the dead seed which for so long has lain concealed 

 in the sepulchre of the earth. The cerements of death 

 have been broken, thou canst not tell how, and beauty has 

 come from ashes, life from death, arrayed in splendid gar- 

 ment of praise to the life-giver, and the spirit of heaviness 

 is no more. The yellow primrose is banner of victory, 



