229 
PURITY AND MODESTY. 
WHITE LILY. 
Ye loftier lilies, bathed in morning’s dew 
Of purity and innocence, renew 
Each lovely thought. 
BARTON. 
This delicate and beautiful flower has 
for centuries received its tribute of admira¬ 
tion from the lovers of nature. Who has 
not felt a glow of delight in perusing that 
gorgeous description of the lily which Christ 
himself gave to his disciples ? “ Of all the 
poetry ever drawn from flowers none is so 
beautiful, none is so sublime, none is so 
imbued with that very spirit in which they 
were made, as that of our Lord. ‘ And 
why take ye thought for raiment? Con¬ 
sider the lilies of the field, how they grow; 
they toil not, neither do they spin; and 
yet I say unto you, that even Solomon, in 
all his glory, was not arrayed like one of 
these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the 
grass of the field, which to-day is, and to¬ 
morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not 
much more clothe you, O ye of little faith! ’ 
The sentiment built upon this entire depen¬ 
dence on the goodness of the Creator is one 
of the lights of our existence, and could 
only have been uttered by Christ; but we 
