236 TRE ASSOCIATIONS OF FLOWERS 
provided with raiment sufficient only for the present day^ 
if their hearts failed them on thoughts of the morrow, 
surely they paused to “consider the lilies!'' Many a tear 
may have been dropped upon the lily, many a song of 
gratitude uttered above its blossoms; and often may the 
simple flower have stayed the faith which else should have 
fainted. 
If we could have ascertained exactly which is the lily of 
the field, connected with circumstances so fitted to interest 
the imagination and affect the feelings, this flower would 
have been an object of general care and love. In some 
periods less enlightened than the present, how would the 
lily of Palestine have been cherished among those relics 
which have been the objects of a reverence almost amount- 
ing to worship, and the pilgrim who journeyed to Jeru- 
salem to set his footstep on her sacred ground, w^ould have 
borne thence the lily honoured by so memorable a notice. 
Sir James Smith, speaking of the lily of the Scripture 
writers, terms it the golden lily. Various are the conjec- 
tures which have been offered as to the precise plant 
alluded to. Nothing can be certainly known upon this 
point, as many flowers were once called by the English 
word lily which are now known to us by different names. 
Some writers have supposed it to be the narcissus, which 
is a favourite flow^er in the East; some have considered it 
referred to the stately crinum; others have felt persuaded 
that the amaryllis, which is abundant in the fields of 
Palestine, is the flower around which the disciples stood. 
An interesting note is given on this subject by the com- 
mentator on the “ Pictorial Bible, ' ' whose footsteps have 
often trodden among the flowers of Judea. In remarking 
upon the word lily, this gentleman observes : “ The He- 
brew word seems to indicate that the lily was one of those 
plants wherein the number six predominates in the distri- 
bution of their parts, such as the crocus, asphodel, daffo- 
dil, lily, etc. We once felt inclined to think that a species 
of asphodel w^as the plant alluded to, since the Asphodel 
ramosus covers immense tracts of land in the south, and 
is said to be good fodder for sheep : — • he feedeth among 
the lilies.' But in a matter of so much obscurity, we pre- 
fer to concur with those who think that the Am^aryllis 
lutea, or yellow amaryllis, may be here intended. The 
