A CLOUDLESS sky, bright sunshine, with a temperature of 97° in the shade, all seem to suggest that we should wait till the shadows begin to lengthen, and the great heat of the day is over before we go for our ramble in woods or fields; let us gladly rest awhile in the rose-covered arbor. We will take our Bibles, for wonderful and beautiful as the works of God in Creation are, we need the Written Word before we can rightly understand their true meaning or beauty.
“All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small;
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.”
How lovely the roses are! The breeze is laden with their sweet scent, and every shade of color from the rich damask, as full of petals as of fragrance, to the pale blush rose, all seem to invite our notice. The moss rose has a grace and beauty all its own. Some of our friends say it is the queen of flowers; but it would be hard to find a fairer, or purer flower than the White Rose.
Its purity and perfume may well remind us of a Name, sweeter than all other names, and lead us to exclaim, with praise-filled hearts,
“How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds,
In a believer's ear;
It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,
And drives away his fear.”
The Rose, as we have already been reminded, does not, like other flowers, lose its perfume when dead. A vase, filled with dried rose-leaves, and placed in a room, will, if gently stirred from time to time, give out a sweet odor; and so a heart, filled with Christ, will shed fragrance all around. When Mary of Bethany, annointed the Feet of the Lord, “the house was filled with the odor of the ointment." (John 12:33Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. (John 12:3).) The costly ointment was poured forth upon the Lord Himself; but every one who was in the house shared in its fragrance all around.
You may know a great deal about a rose, but, if you had never seen one, you would only have a very poor idea either of its beauty, or its perfume. You may be able to answer questions in Old and New Testament history, to repeat whole chapters in the Bible, and even to tell others the way of salvation, and, yet, if you do not know Christ, as a real, living Person, you have NOTHING. Unsheltered by the precious Blood of Christ, You, who are, perhaps, the child of many prayers, stand in danger of eternal death. How very solemn!
The fruit of the rose is the hip, a tiny vase full of seeds. It forms part of God's provision for the birds during the cold days of winter, and, as we enjoy the loveliness of the wild rose and hawthorn, as they fling their garlands of beauty from spray to spray in the hedges, or intertwine with the bramble, we can hardly fail to be reminded of our Lord's words, "Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?" (Matt. 6:2626Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? (Matthew 6:26).) Do not be content with knowing about Christ; have personal dealing with Him. He is no longer on the Cross; though many who paint pictures, and make images, seem to think of the Lord of Glory as if He were still there. He is not in the grave:
“His wonderful work was finished,
No grave could hold Him then;
He had lived and died for sinners,
He must go to His Father again,”
He is in Heaven, in the place of power, “He is on the Right Hand of God” (Col. 3:11If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. (Colossians 3:1).). Just in the place where your cry of need; your prayer for pardon, can reach His ear.
But young believers have their difficulties as well as older people, and Nora says she has been thinking a great deal about a verse in one of the Gospels, “For many are called, but few are chosen."(Matt. 22:1414For many are called, but few are chosen. (Matthew 22:14).) and wants to know how she may be sure, quite sure, that she is one of God's "chosen" ones. His Own Word will answer her question much better than I can. Shall we open our Bibles at the first chapter of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians; there, by the pen of the Apostle, the Holy Ghost gives a description of those who are chosen “unto salvation,"and she will, I trust, find herself in the list. “Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised; hath God chosen; yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught the things that are. That no flesh should glory in His presence. He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord."(1 Cor. 1:26, 3126For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: (1 Corinthians 1:26)
31That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:31).) Who is willing to take his or her true place as “foolish,"“weak," and base? or to go lower still, as "nothing?" Then look up, into the very Face of your Savior and Lord, and whisper a glad thanksgiving, for YOU are “chosen" and precious in His sight.
And there is really nothing upon which our souls can find a solid resting-place, but the Written Word of God. A farmer's wife, whose name I do not remember, so we will call her Mrs. Green, had been attending some Gospel meetings held in a tent near her home. Night after night she stayed behind for conversation and prayer; she was really anxious to be saved, there was no doubt of that, and yet she did not seem to see clearly, God's way of peace.
One of the Lord's servants calling upon her, found her deeply convinced of sin. With fast falling tears, she said, “Oh, Mr. F—, if the Lord would only be pleased to give me a token that I am a child of God, I should be perfectly happy.”
You are waiting for a token, are you? Now, what kind of a token would set you at rest?”
“Oh, anything the Lord was pleased to give me.”
“Wait a moment, and we will see."Not far from where Mrs. Green lived there was a large stone quarry, so her visitor said," Suppose one of the men employed at the quarry were to call and tell you that while digging and blasting they had found a stone engraved with the words, 'Mrs. Green's sins are all forgiven.' Would that satisfy you?”
“I should think it would?”
“Or, if on your way home from the meeting tonight, you were to see a bright cloud, and on it was written in letters of light, 'you are a child of God,' would that make you happy?”
“If it would please the Lord to give me a token like that, I would never doubt again.”
“Listen to what the Lord Jesus Himself said: 'Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.' (Luke 21:3333Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. (Luke 21:33).) Now, don't you see? When the heavens pass away, your cloud would be gone; and the stone will one day crumble into dust. So, if you are not resting upon the Word of the One who said, 'Him that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out,' you will have nothing left.”
I do not know if Mrs. Green received in simple faith, the testimony of God concerning His Son, but this full, free salvation is to-day offered to you.
“I cannot work my soul to save,
For that my Lord has done;
But I would work like any slave,
From love to God's dear Son.”
The hum of insects reminds us that the bees are at work, diving into the cups of flowers in search not only of food for their nurselings, but of the honey they will lay up for winter store. In the common buttercup a tiny scale at the bottom of each flower covers a very small cell in which the honey or nectar is stored. The scent of many flowers seems to render them in a special way attractive to insects, while several members of the large family of the orchids are remarkably like insects in shape. Perhaps the best-known are the bee orchis, the fly orchis, the spider, and the butterfly.
Bees and other insects also carry the pollen, or yellow powder from one flowering plant to another, and so help to render the plants fruitful, for though when we speak of fruit, we generally mean apples, pears, cherries, or something of the kind, we must not forget that a seed, whether small or large, is really the fruit of a flowering plant.
Lucy says that to her the fruit-trees have lost much of their beauty. They were so lovely in the early spring, with their fair array of pink and white blossoms. Look again, dear one. There is something more lasting, and of greater value than the flowers. The fruit, though not yet ripe, is formed, and gives promise of an abundant crop. We shall find many Scriptures that speak of fruit, and fruit-bearing. God, when speaking by the prophet Hosea to His earthly people Israel, says, “From Me is thy fruit found."(Hosea 14:88Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found. (Hosea 14:8).) Millie, adds, and the Lord Himself said, “I am the true Vine, and My Father is the Husbandman. Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit." (John 15:1, 21I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. (John 15:1‑2).)
Let us remember that there can be no fruit-bearing apart from Christ. There may be the outward show of a fair profession, but apart from heart love to Christ, all is worthless.
Mary G—was the only child of a widowed mother. She was a bright, clever girl, about twelve years of age. She had a good memory, and a fair amount of Bible knowledge, but, though her mother, who was a devoted Christian, had often pressed her to yield herself to Christ, Mary would answer to her pleading: "Oh, mother, dear, please don't talk to me like that. I am not so bad as you think me; haven't I brought home the good conduct prize for two years running; and I heard the head-teacher tell a lady who was visiting the school that I was one of her best girls, and never gave her any trouble. I didn't mean to listen, but I think the lady was rather deaf, so Miss M—had to speak so loud that I could not help hearing what she said.”
Mrs. G—was silent, but continued to pray that the Holy Spirit would show Mary that she was really a lost sinner.
Mary's birthday was close at hand, the G—'s were in poor circumstances, and Mrs. G—said to her daughter, "I cannot afford to buy you a present this year, Mary, but you shall choose the kind of pudding you like best." “Oh, may I, mother! Well, I should like an apple pudding." Apples were scarce and dear, but Mrs. G—sent for a small quantity. There was one large apple, ripe and rosy. The others were small and did not look at all tempting.
Mary said, “Do give me that large apple, it looks so good."“There will not be enough for a pudding without it, and I cannot spare the money to buy more," the mother urged. “Never mind about the pudding, mother, do say I may have it."So Mary had the apple, but when cut open it proved to be worm-eaten and worthless. Tears filled Mary's eyes, but they were not tears of disappointment at the loss of her apple. The Holy Spirit had fulfilled His office as the convincer of sin. Turning to her mother, she said, “Mother, do pray for me. That apple was just like me; all right to look at, but all wrong inside.”