INTRODUCTION
THE STORY WHICH IS RELATED IN THE following little book happened long ago, in a country the manners and customs of which are in many respects different from ours. This will account for some things in it which might otherwise seem strange and improbable. Two things, however, will be found the same through every difference of time and place—two principles which have constantly been acting in opposition to each other from the earliest period of the world's history. On the one hand, we find the sinful human heart the same in all ages, producing what the Bible calls "the works of the flesh," and leading to misery unutterable; and, on the other hand, the remedy for this evil, in the work of the Holy Spirit of God, producing what the Bible calls the "fruit of the Spirit," and leading as surely to perfect happiness and peace. In this little story the working of these opposing principles, and the fruit brought forth by each, may be easily traced; and as we are all partakers of the same evil natures, to be sanctified and saved, if saved at all, by the same Holy Spirit, we may all profit by studying the working of these in the experience of others, however their outward circumstances may differ from ours.
In the little village of Eichbourg in Germany there lived, about a hundred years ago, a very worthy man whose name was James Rode. When James was quite young he was sent to learn to be a gardener in the beautiful gardens of the Castle of Eichbourg. He was a poor orphan, little cared for at that time by any one, poorly clothed and scantily fed, and obliged to work very hard; for the Count of Eichbourg's gardener was rather a hard taskmaster. Yet James was happy. Though poor, he was rich; he possessed a treasure more precious than gold or silver. He had been the child of many prayers, carefully instructed by a pious father and mother, and his heart had been early touched by God's grace. Piety is lovely in all, but more especially in the young, when the new nature is implanted in the heart before the evil passions have had time to grow strong, and the inward struggle becomes hard and difficult. The fruit of the Spirit was early seen in the character and conduct of James and attracted the notice and admiration even of those people who did not understand whence they proceeded. Gentle and obedient, always diligent at his work, ready to oblige, possessing the natural politeness that flows from a kindly heart, and the bright, sunny cheerfulness produced by a contented mind and a conscience at ease, James soon became a general favorite. He was often invited into the castle, and sometimes permitted to share in the instructions given to the children of the Count; and when the young Count, having finished his education, was sent to travel, James was chosen to accompany him as his attendant.
In this situation he diligently made use of all the means of improvement within his reach. By the grace of God in his heart, he was preserved amid the many temptations by which he was now surrounded, and he became daily more a favorite with his master, so that on his return to Eichbourg, after having fulfilled his engagement, the Count offered him an honorable and lucrative employment in his household in the magnificent palace which he possessed in Vienna.
James was now compelled to make a choice, something like that set before Lot when he chose to go and live in Sodom because it was in a well-watered and pleasant land. In the Count's household God was not honored, and James knew that he would there be required to do many things contrary to his conscience. He therefore declined the honorable and lucrative situation offered him and preferred returning to the humble labor from which he had been taken. The Count willingly gave him a lease on easy terms of a small piece of ground near Eichbourg. This little domain consisted of a pretty cottage, an orchard well planted with fruit trees, and a large kitchen garden.
Shortly after he took possession of it, James married a wife, whose principles, feelings, and tastes were like his own; and they lived comfortably in their pleasant cottage by the sale of their vegetables and fruit.
Many pleasant years passed smoothly and happily by. Children had been sent to enliven their cottage, and James and his wife for some time enjoyed the purest earthly happiness. But God, who chastens even His best loved children, will not suffer them to become too deeply attached to the things of earth. Afflictions are sent to remind them that this world is not their rest—to wean their affections from earth and fix them above. It pleased God to remove one after another of James's children, thus gradually loosening his earthly ties; and at last the severest blow of all was struck, and after a brief illness his wife followed her children. One only daughter was left, and in this beloved child he centered all his care and affection.
The little Mary was a beautiful child, and as she grew up she became daily more engaging. Her father's instructions and prayers seemed to have been blessed to her, for she appeared to grow in goodness as she grew in stature.
When she was only fifteen she was able to take the entire charge of her father's house. Never was there a more amiable or more useful girl. Their little dwelling was a pattern of neatness and order; not a trace of dust was to be seen in it, and the kitchen utensils shone as if they had just come from the shop. Her father's indoor comforts were all attended to, yet Mary found time to help him in his work in the garden. The hours thus spent were the happiest of her life.
She had grown up among the flowers, and she loved them as those only can who watch their growth and cultivate them with their own hands. Her father fostered and indulged this taste by procuring for her the rarest seeds and flower roots. These were well cared for and anxiously watched by Mary. Her flowers were her friends and companions; she waited impatiently for the opening of the first bud of every new kind, and if its beauty equaled her expectations, she eagerly flew to her father to tell him of her new treasure.
James smiled at her delight, and rejoiced to see her satisfied with such innocent pleasures. "How many men," said he, "lavish much more money in fancy dresses and ornaments for their children than I spend in flower seeds, without procuring for them half the enjoyment that Mary feels in her flowers! Then this enjoyment is of so much superior a kind. The love of dress and ornament degrades the taste and renders the character frivolous; but the love of flowers, rightly directed, enriches both the intellect and the heart."
James's garden became celebrated for its beauty in all the neighborhood. Few could pass that way without stopping to admire it; the village children, as they passed from school, peeped through the hedge or stood lingering by the little gate, and Mary seldom failed to give them some pretty nosegays to carry home, or a few seeds or roots to plant in their own little flower plots.
James took advantage of his daughter's love for flowers to give her many lessons of heavenly wisdom.
He... found Religious meanings in the forms of nature.
—Coleridge
"He knew," to use the words of an eloquent American author—Cheever—"that the beauties of nature are not given for our amusement or enjoyment merely, but for our education and instruction that 'ours is a disciplinary world, and that the lessons of nature are a part of God's own discipline with us.' He had the spiritual eye which can see the Creator in His works, and read the blessed messages He thus sends to His children, and the clear and enlightened faith which thus holds communion with God. He felt 'how near we are to God in every part of His creation, when alive unto Him through Jesus Christ our Lord.'"
One spirit, His
Who wore the plaited crown with bleeding brows,
Rules universal nature. Not a flower
But shows some touch, in freckle, streak, or stain,
Of His unrivaled pencil. He inspires
Their balmy odors, and imparts their hues,
And bathes their eyes with nectar, and includes
In grains as countless as the seaside sands
The forms with which He sprinkles all the earth.
Happy who walks with Him! whom what he finds
Of flavor or of scent in fruit or flower,
Or what he views of beautiful or grand
In nature, from the broad majestic oak
To the green blade that twinkles in the sun,
Prompts with remembrance of a present God.
-Cowper's Task
James was accustomed to devote the first morning hours of every day to meditation and prayer, and in order to save time for this he rose before the dawn.
He felt that no one can live as a Christian who does not endeavor to save the first hour, or even half hour, in the morning for communion with God. In the fine summer mornings Mary often accompanied him to a little arbor which commanded a beautiful view of the garden and of the rich and lovely country round. Here he taught his beloved child, and prayed with her, and here he found a text for his lessons in every surrounding object.
Pointing to the bright rays of the rising sun he spoke to her of the Son of Righteousness; he explained to her the darkness of her heart by nature, and the Source of light and life; he pointed out the lessons taught in Scripture from the rain and from the dew; he made her listen to the praises of God in the morning song of the birds. He endeavored to teach her trust in God, who clothes the lilies and feeds the birds, though they sow not, nor reap, nor gather into barns. He read with her the parables of the sower and the seed, the wheat and the tares, the small grain of mustard seed-emblem of the kingdom of heaven-the barren fig tree, and the vineyard.
He spoke to her of the first garden where man was placed, and of his sad expulsion from it; of the garden as the emblem of her own soul, given her to cultivate, and to bring forth fruit to God; of the garden as the emblem of the Church of God, in which Jesus Himself delights (Song of Sol. 4:12, 16; 5:1; 6:212A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. (Song of Solomon 4:12)
16Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits. (Song of Solomon 4:16)
1I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved. (Song of Solomon 5:1)
2My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies. (Song of Solomon 6:2)), where His people flourish as trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord; and of the glorious garden above, to which, in His own good time, God transplants His people, through which flows the river of the water of life, and in which is the tree which bears twelve manner of fruits, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations.
He explained to her the blessed hope of the resurrection of the body, taught to us by the springing of the seed (1 Cor. 15:35-3835But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? 36Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die: 37And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: 38But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body. (1 Corinthians 15:35‑38)). But above all, he loved to trace the Savior in the various emblems under which He is presented to us in Scripture-as the Root of David (Rev. 22:1616I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. (Revelation 22:16)), the Branch of Righteousness (Zech. 3:88Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH. (Zechariah 3:8)), the first fruits of them that sleep (1 Cor. 15:2020But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. (1 Corinthians 15:20)), the Plant of Renown (Ezek. 34:2929And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more. (Ezekiel 34:29)), the Rose of Sharon (Song of Sol. 2:11I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys. (Song of Solomon 2:1)), the Fountain, the Sun, the Bright and Morning Star.
Kneeling by her father's side, Mary learned to pray-no formal prayer, but as she heard her father pray, from the very depths of his heart. The first hours of the morning, thus spent, were very profitable to the little girl, and contributed much, by the blessing of God, to the education both of her mind and of her heart.
Mary's favorite flowers were the violet, the lily, and the rose, and James loved to find in them emblems of the graces of the mind, which he wished her to cultivate. When she brought him her first spring violet, he said to her, "Let this flower, my dear Mary, be the emblem of humility, and of that quiet benevolence which does good in secret. In its quiet dress of deep blue, decked by no gaudy color, it modestly hides under the green leaves and is scarcely seen, while shedding around it the richest perfume. Try to resemble it, dear Mary; care not for fancy ornaments and vain display, but strive to obtain that 'ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price."
In the season of roses and lilies, James said one morning, pointing to the spotless white of a beautiful lily, rendered still more dazzling by the rays of the sun shining full upon it, "This lily, my dear child, is the emblem of purity. How easily its bright leaves are stained! Scarcely can they be touched when they are injured. Thus the very least approach of vice pollutes and corrupts the soul. Pray, dear Mary, for purity of heart. Remember that though polluted by nature, we may nevertheless be washed free from stain in the Fountain opened for sin and for uncleanliness; and that God has promised that though 'our sins are red as crimson, they shall be white as snow.' None but the pure in heart shall see God; none but those washed and clothed in the spotless white robe of Christ's righteousness shall ever sit down at the marriage supper of the Lamb.
"Let the rose," he said, "be the emblem of modesty, as it resembles the blush which rises to the cheek of a modest girl. But there is another lesson to be learned from the rose: after its beautiful color has faded, it still retains its fragrance; when its leaves are brown and withered, they are even sweeter than in their fresh and lovely youth. Thus is it, dear Mary, with a true Christian. Thus let it be with you. The cheek of youth will fade, outward beauty will decay; but strive to acquire those graces of the mind which are unfading and imperishable."
Among the many beautiful trees which adorned James's garden there was one especially prized. It was a dwarf apple tree, scarcely higher than a rose bush, which had been planted by James on the very day of his daughter's birth. Small as it was, it bore every year a number of beautiful apples. One early spring it blossomed with peculiar beauty. The tree was one mass of flowers.
"Oh, how lovely my apple tree is this year!" said Mary. "How brilliant its colors are-how pure the white, how bright the rose color! It is like one large bouquet."
But, alas! next morning, on entering the garden, Mary found all the lovely flowers nipped by the frost; they were brown or yellow, and when the sun rose they withered and shriveled. Mary was in tears at the sight.
"See," said her father, "an emblem of the effect of sinful pleasures on the soul. They blight and wither the fair promise of youth, and bright as may have been the blossom, it produces no fruit. O my dear Mary, if this should ever be the case with you, if the hopes that I cherish of your future should be thus blasted, I too would shed tears—tears far more bitter than you have ever shed. It would bring my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave."
These words made a deep impression on Mary.
Thus did Mary day by day learn from her good old father to use the eyes of her mind, as well as her bodily eyes, and to see in the beautiful things around her the lessons they were intended to teach.
Have you who read this little book thus learned to use your eyes? Do you know that the eyes of your mind are naturally darkened, so that you can neither read with understanding the book of nature nor the book of God's Word. When David prays, "Open mine eyes, that I may see wonderful things out of thy law," he speaks of the eyes of the mind, which must be opened before the Bible can be rightly understood; and in the same way we must pray to God to open our eyes before we can see Him in His works and learn the lessons He has inscribed upon them. If your eyes are not yet opened, young readers, you are losing a rich source of pleasure as well as profit. Pray to God to open them, and then go into the free air, with the Bible for your interpreter, and read the lessons that Mary read. Listen to hear the still small voice that speaks from among the birds and the flowers, and if you once hear it, you will find the enjoyment so sweet you will ever wish to hear it again; you will love it more than can be told; you will wonder at your former blindness.
Here he might lie on fern or withered heath,
While from the singing lark, that sings unseen
The minstrelsy that solitude loves best,
And from the sun, and from the breezy air,
Sweet influences trembled o'er his frame;
And he, with many feelings, many thoughts,
Made up a meditative joy, and found
Religious meanings in the forms of nature.
And so, his senses gradually wrapt
In a half sleep, he dreams of better worlds
And dreaming hears thee still, O singing lark,
That singest like an angel in the clouds.
—Coldridge, Tears in Solitude