220 THE RANUNCULUS. 



then probably, you can, through grace, bear testi- 

 mony that my experience is no chimera. You 

 have surely sought the healing leaf; and if so, un 

 questionably you have obtained it. You have 

 extracted the honey from your nettle, as Sampson 

 from his lion, and you may be well content to 

 leave it where you found it, knowing that there 

 shall be " a gathering out of all things. that offend" 

 without your putting yourself forward in the work 

 of judgment. Rather bear in mind the humbling 

 truth, that such a nettle once were you ; stinging, 

 by your vile aggressions, the hand that was 

 stretched out on the cross to save you : and if the 

 mighty working of unlimited power has changed 

 your nature, why despair of its operation upon 

 others ? Point out your enemy to the Lord, but 

 as an object for converting and sanctifying grace, 

 remembering that Saul of Tarsus was the first 

 fruits of Stephen's dying prayer. 



I have mentioned the Ranunculus, as the prize 

 in pursuit of which I made my first acquaintance 

 with the stinging nettle. That flower has been a 

 choice favourite from my very early years. I re- 

 member accompanying a party to a horticultural 

 exhibition on a small scale, where a country gar- 

 dener had made the most of his ground, for a dis- 

 play of flowers. He had retarded his hyacinths, 

 and hastened his tulips, and disposed as they were, 

 on distinct beds, in masses, the effect was splendid. 



