50 FLORAL SYMBOLISM 



' The wilderness and the soHtary places shall 

 be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice 

 and blossom as the rose.' ' 



And in a copy of the Bihlia Pauperum ^ of the 

 fifteenth century we find a branch of roses so 

 placed as to balance the sword, both set diago- 

 nally like rays, one on each side of the head of 

 Christ. The rose was placed on Christ's right 

 hand above the forgiven souls, and clearly 

 typified divine love and mercy ; the sword on the 

 left was above the damned, and typified divine 

 condemnation. 



But almost immediately the rose was re- 

 placed by the lily. The lily was, in the fifteenth 

 century, the one distinctly sacred flower. Its 

 lance-like habit of growth made it a most sym- 

 metrical pendant to the sword, and possibly, too, 

 the Church of the North, stern both in religious 

 sentiment and in its pictorial expression, pre- 

 ferred the lily, which typified the integrity of the 

 judging God, to the rose, symbol of His mercy. 



The Netherlands adopted the symbol. It 

 appears in Memling's most impressive Last 



' Isaiah xxxv. i. 



^ Wolfenbiittel Copy, Biblioth^que IS ationale. 



