'filled with wisdom and understanding' for his holy work. I suppose he would think a good deal as to what would be the most graceful, beautiful pattern for crnamenting the tops of the pillars, and the great brazen sea or bath; and he could imagine nothing more beautiful than a wreath of the lovely water-lilies. Let me hear the verses." "And the chapiters that were upon the top of the pillars were of lily-work in the porch, four cubits. And upon the top of the pillars was lily-work so was the work of the pillars finished. And he made a molten sea......and it was an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies it contained two thousand baths'"(1 Kings vii. 19, 22, 23, 26). "I think the water-lilies were most suitable to ornament the great bath," said Bessie. My dear, this Song of Solomon is a poetical book, full of figures and emblems, which you are too young to understand, but intended by the Holy Spirit to show us the love of our Saviour to all his true people, his Church on the earth, and their love for him. Turn to chapter ii. 1, 2. The Lord says of himself, 'I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys;' and then of his Church, 'As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.'" "Then, are all these verses only figures, manima ?” "Yes; and very beautiful and expressive as such. I like so much the idea of 'a lily among thorns'—a lovely, fragrant flower blooming in some marshy spot of the thorny wilderness, as an emblem of what a Christian ought to be in the midst of all the trials and temptations of the world. Christ 'feeding among the lilies' teaches us how he is ever present with his people, taking pleasure in their faith and holiness. And what do you think his coming to gather lilies' may mean?" "O mamma, I know. Mr. M'Cheyne writes the pretty story called 'Another Lily Gathered,' about the little boy who died." “Just so. When we read of our Lord gathering his lilies, we should think of his calling his children by death out of the garden on earth to be for ever with himself in the heavenly paradise." "Mamma," said Bessie, "here is another verse: 'I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily’” (Hosea xiv. 15). "That is a beautiful emblem of spiritual prosperity and progress. The lilies spring up rapidly at the right season; and so in times of revival, when sinners are brought to know and love the Saviour, how quickly the work of the Spirit seems to go on in their hearts! "That means much the same with the verse in Hosea; a time of delightful spiritual progress, when the blessings which the gospel brings, wherever it comes with power, are so evident, that all men must acknowledge the work to be of God. It is a favourite promise for missionaries among the heathen to get comfort from, and has been often wonderfully fulfilled. "Now, look at this drawing of what Bible students believe to be the lily of the New Testament." "That is something like our Guernsey lily. Is it white?" "No; a rich, fine scarlet, altogether a beautiful flower. It blossoms plentifully in the fields of Palestine at the season of the year when it is thought cur Lord gave the sermon on the mount; and we can imagine how naturally he pointed to the splendid flowers as he spoke. Let us read the verses." Bessie read in Matt. vi. 28-34: "And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider 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? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (for after all these things do the Gentiles seek :) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." " "What a beautiful passage," said Mrs. Douglas. "We read it over and over again, from childhood to old age, and always find it full of fresh loveliness. How many anxious, sorrowing hearts these words have comforted in the day of distress, helping them to trust a heavenly Father's care and love! They speak to the heart of man in all countries and climates; for we can think of other flowers while we read, as well as of the scarlet lilies of Palestine." "Mamma," said Bessie, "do you remember Bishop Heber's hymn about the lilies and the birds?" "Let me hear it, my dear." Bessie repeated,— "Lo, the lilies of the field, How their leaves instruction yield! By the blessed birds of heaven! “Very well remembered," said Mrs. Douglas. "Now, before we stop, you recollect, I am sure, what 'the flower of the grass,' and flowers in general, are emblems of ?" "Yes," said Bessie, looking grave; "I have verses about that. "As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more' (Ps. ciii. 15, 16). "Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down' (Job xiv. 1, 2). "Is that the reason, mamma, why flowers are so often planted in churchyards?" "One reason, certainly; but I like to think of another and a brighter. Can you tell me what that is?" "Is it that the flowers will come again in spring?" "Yes. When the sweet flowers fade and die, we know that they shall bloom afresh, after the cold dark winter days are past. And although we may not be on earth to see them then, we know (for the God of truth has told us so) that all who sleep in Jesus shall come again with him, and their bodies shall be raised in glory, to suffer pain, and sickness, and death no more. Thus the beautiful flowers are emblems of precious truths, and teach us precious lessons; and thus, in many countries, they are strewn on the coffin and the grave as freely as we use them for our days of gladness. Mrs. Hemans has written a fine poem on this subject. I may read you a few verses from it. She calls for flowers in the festal hall, on the conqueror's path, in the captive's cell; then continues,— 666 Bring flowers, fresh flowers, for the bride to wear! They were born to blush in her shining hair. She is leaving the home of her childhood's mirth, She hath bid farewell to her father's hearth; Her place is now by another's sideBring flowers for the locks of the fair young bride! "Bring flowers, pale flowers, o'er the bier to shed A crown for the brow of the early dead! For this through its leaves hath the white rose burst, For this in the woods was the violet nursed! Though they smile in vain for what once was ours, They are love's last gift-bring ye flowers, pale flowers! WALKING DDIE had some odd fancies about his garden certainly. Sometimes he would have all vegetables, and then again nothing but flowers; one season he planted it with tiny sapling trees, which he brought from the woods, and said he meant to grow a forest, but he forgot to plant any patience with them, and so he got tired of waiting, and very soon rooted them up. Last spring he would have flowers, but they must be all yellow; and though he did very well in April and May with the primroses and cowslips, he got disgusted with marigolds and sunflowers long before the summer was over. "I say, Eddie," cried his brother Arthur, one bright morning in the following April," what flowers do you mean to show us this year; white or black?" Arthur looked rather contemptuously on his little brother's whims; but though Eddie thought, and thought truly, that he had a right to enjoy his garden | in his own way, he did not say so, for he was learning to control his temper, and to be meek and gentle. 'Oh, Arthur, I wonder where we should get the black flowers from! James the gardener would indeed be at his wits' end; all he could do would be to give me some beans to plant, and then, when they came up, we should see a black spot on the white flower, real black; and that is the only English flower that has such a thing-he told me so one day. But I don't want beans, or what's black; suppose, though, I was to do as you say, and have white flowers this year: let me see, it is too late for snow-drops, but then there are pinks, and lilies, and jessamine, and roses; oh, heaps of white flowers, if I could only get them to blossom altogether. I shall go and talk to mother about it." Mrs. Groves was sitting in the arbour with Jessie, their little sister. Jessie was saying her "lessons," as she called them; but they only consisted of a verse out of the Bible and four words of spelling, and she was just saying her verse when Eddie rushed in to interrupt the proceedings. though his little mind could only catch a dim shadow of | he has put so kindly into everything around us. To the truth that was in them. "Well," said his mother, "let us all sit down and talk about the garden and the white flowers. Can you tell me of anything that is white, Jessie?" trace it out is one of the happiest employments we can have here, and I quite believe it will be also one of the pleasures of heaven. So don't be afraid, Arthur, that heaven will be all white, or that you will want there Jessie was a very little girl, and she thought a good something which you enjoyed here." while before she said “a pocket-handkerchief.” Her brothers both laughed. "Oh, Jessie," said Arthur, "why did you not think of something prettier than that? you might have said the snow, which was so bright and so crisp last December, or the lambs in the field there below the garden." Jessie's memory hardly reached back as far as the Christmas snow, but the idea of the lambs commended itself to her, and she nodded her approval, and added, as the result of further thought, "A sheet of paper." "And then," suggested Eddie, "there's the clouds in the sky, and all the white flowers." "I think we all find it pleasant to look at what is white" continued Mrs. Groves. "We should not care for the little lambs if they were black; and our eyes like to follow the white fleecy clouds as they float across the soft blue summer sky. So many things in this world are dark and soiled, it is nice to look at what is fair and clean. And everything in the world is sinful, but white is an emblem of what is pure and holy. And this is the reason why God has put so much white into all the pictures he has given us of heaven." 66 "Oh yes, mother, I know," interrupted Arthur; the angels have white shining wings, have they not? and besides that, the saints have white robes, and God sits upon a great white throne. But somehow I always feel glad that God put that in about the precious stones, because I hope it is not wrong to say so!-but I can't help thinking it would be rather dull if it was all white and nothing else." "You need not be afraid, my child," replied Mrs. Groves. "God has given us so much variety here, we are quite sure we shall not be worse off there. We shall still have the bright colours strewn so thickly around us now, and which he has taught us to love." "And then, mother," said Eddie, "you know there is a great deal about glory in the Bible, and though plain simple white is very pretty, it must mean something more than that, I am sure." "Quite true, Eddie; and remember that though we may make things over and over again after the same pattern, yet God never does. Every one of the countless forest leaves are a little different one from the other. We may paint two pictures just alike, but he puts fresh colours on the sky for us every day. No two summer mornings break alike, and the gold and the purple of the setting sun to-night will not be the same as they were yesterday. He even takes the trouble to paint a different pattern on the two sides of a butterfly's wing. If our lives were ever so long, we should never find out all the variety and all the separate little bits of beauty, each different from everything else, which "And you often tell us heaven is home, mother," said Arthur, thoughtfully, "so where should we have all we want if not at home?” "But now we must go back to Jessie's text, 'They shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy.' It would be no good for the inhabitants of heaven to wear white robes unless they had white hearts too. There is no sin in heaven, it is all pure, and that is why we read of the white raiment and the white throne. Jessie spoke of a sheet of paper; do you know what a sheet of paper is made from? Rags, nothing but rags-dark, dirty rags; and yet it comes out as pure and clean as if it had never known a stain. Well, of all black things our hearts are the blackest; sin has soiled them, wicked thoughts and wicked words stain them darker every day; one thing only can make them white. My children know what that one thing is?" "The blood of Jesus Christ, our Saviour, mother," said Eddie softly. Yes, my love," continued Mrs. Groves, "that can make your heart and mind as white as the lily's petals; yes, whiter even than the fresh - fallen snow. We can hardly fancy how that can be, but David says, you know, 'Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.' Then only can we hope to walk in white with our Saviour in that sinless world; then only can we be worthy, not for our own sakes, but for his. One thing more, my children; then we must begin now, we must try and walk as his little followers now. When you give way to angry tempers, oh, you are making your hearts blacker; when Satan has tempted you to tell a lie, what a black, black stain where it should be white. But every day there is the Fountain springing up afresh to wash it all away, if we will only go to it. Every day the Holy Spirit is waiting to give a new clean heart, if we will only ask for it. And every day we may take the promise like a kind, happy message sent to us direct from our Lord Jesus Christ, And they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy.' relatives; she was half blind, quite lame, and very crooked. There was no comeliness in her; and yet there, in that homely, deformed body, the great God, who loves to bring strength out of weakness, had set his royal seat. "Well, Nancy, singing again!" would the chance visitor say, as he stopped at her door. "Why, yes, I'm for ever at it. I don't know what people will think," she would say, with her sunny smile. "Why, they'll think what, I guess, is true, that you are very happy." "Well, that's a fact. I'm just as happy as the day while many of us, with all our worldly wisdom, will is long." "I wish you'd tell me your secret, Nancy. You are all alone, you work hard, you have nothing very pleasant surrounding you-what is the reason you're so happy?" have to stay out." "There, you are at it again," said Nancy, shaking her head; "always looking out for some black cloud. Why, if I was you, I'd keep the devil at arm's length, instead of taking him right into my heart. He'll do you a great deal of mischief." 66 It will be well for us to imitate Happy Nancy, and never suppose." If you see a cloud, don't suppose it's going to rain; if you see a frown, don't suppose a scolding will follow. Do whatever your hand finds to do, and then leave it. Be more childlike towards the great Father who created us; learn to confide in his wisdom, and not in your own; and, above all," wait till the suppose' comes, and then make the best of it." "Perhaps it's because I haven't got anybody but God," replied the good creature, looking up. "You see, rich folks, like you, depend upon their families and their houses; they've got to keep thinking of their business, of their wives and children; and then they're always mighty afraid of trouble ahead. I ain't got anything to trouble niyself about, you see, 'cause I leave it all to the Lord. I think, Well, if he can keep this great world in such good order-the sun rolling day after day, and the stars a-shining night after night-Depend upon it, Earth would seem an Eden if you make my garden things come up just the same, season would follow Happy Nancy's rule, and never give place after season he can sartainly take care of such a poor, in your bosoms to imaginary evils. MONTHLY-PRICE SIXPENCE. THE FAMILY TREASURY FOR 1871. REV. WILLIAM ARNOT, EDITOR, AUTHOR OF "LAWS FROM HEAVEN for Life ON EARTH,' "LIFE OF DR. JAMES HAMILTON," ETC. ETC. Rev. W. ARNOT, Editor. CONTRI IBUTORS. The Author of "CHRONICLES OF THE SCHÖN- Rev. 7. C. RYLE. Rev. PROFESSOR CALDERWOOD. NOTE. As the Rev. ANDREW CAMERON, Editor of the Family Treasury" from its commencement, lately left this country to occupy an important position in the city of Melbourne, it became necessary to find a successor who might take up and continue his work. The Publishers have pleasure in announcing, that they have secured for this purpose the services of the Rev. WILLIAM ARNOT of Edinburgh, and that the Magazine will in future be under his care. Mr. ARNOT is well known to the public as an author in several departments of Sacred Literature; and he has for many years been accustomed to deal with social questions as they arise, through the Periodical Press. The Publishers trust that, through the experience of its new Editor, the "Family Treasury" will keep that high place in the esteem of the Christian community which it has already attained. It will be conducted on the same principles and with the same views as heretofore. Besides retaining all the features that it now possesses, it will endeavour still more directly to deal with those social, moral, and religious questions which press most heavily at the present day on all who intelligently fear God and charitably regard man. Subscribers Names received by all Booksellers. THOMAS NELSON AND SONS, LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK. |