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LILIES "

CHAPTER XXVII.

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LILY OF THE FIELD "LILIACEOUS PLANTS OF EQUINOCTIAL COUNTRIES LILY OF THE VALLEY

WATER-LILY

EASTERN LOTUS

GARDEN LILY

ORANGE LILY-TURK'S-CAP LILY-KAMSCHATKA LILY

-ITS USE AS FOOD-MODE OF COLLECTING IT.

Queen lilies, and ye painted populace

That dwell in fields, and lead ambrosial lives,
In morn and evening dews your beauties bathe,
And drink the sun, which gives your cheeks to glow,
And outblush, mine excepted, every fair;

Ye gladlier grew, ambitious of her hand

Which often cropt your odours, incense meet
To thought so pure! Ye lovely fugitives,
Coeval race with man, for man ye smile,
Why not smile at him too? Ye share indeed
His sudden pass, but not his constant pain!

Young.

LILIES, lilies of the field! shall we hear their names uttered without being carried back in

thought to the group once assembled on the plains of Judea. There the Saviour of the world, foreseeing the ills which should on a future day befal those who were now listening to his address, stored their minds with consolations adapted to their coming sorrows, and pointing to some of the lovely blossoms which sprung up before them, and directing their attention to a glory, with which the splendour of Solomon could not compare, he bade them take no thought for the morrow, since He who thus arrayed the lilies, should much rather protect and clothe them.

Surely when, in after days of sorrow, these lonely men again traversed these plains, as, destitute of food, and 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.

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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 amounting to worship, and the pilgrim who journeyed to Jerusalem to set his footstep on her sacred ground, would 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 conjectures 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 flower 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 commentator on the Pictorial Bible,' whose footsteps have often trodden among the flowers of Judæa. In remarking upon the word lily, this gentleman observes, "The Hebrew word seems to indicate that the lily was one of those plants wherein the number six predominates in the distribution of their parts; such as the crocus, asphodel, daffodil, lily, etc. We once felt inclined to think that a species of asphodel was 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 prefer to concur with those who think that the Amaryllis lutea, or yellow amaryllis, may be here intended. The yellow amaryllis bears some resemblance to our yellow crocus, but with a larger flower and broader leaves.

The blossom emerges from an undivided spathe, or sheath, and is of a bell-shaped contour, with six divisions, and six stamens, which are alternately shorter. The flower seldom rises above three or four inches above the soil, accompanied by green leaves; which, after the flowering has passed, continue to wear their freshness through the winter. Many acres are often covered with this pretty flower, which is in its prime in September and October. It is a hardy plant, and was introduced into the English gardens by Gerarde, in 1596, where it is seen flowering nearly at the same time as the saffron crocus and the colchicum (meadow saffron) with which it harmonizes greatly in appearance."

The lily of the Scriptures seems to have been a flower which excited much admiration, as it was the subject of many beautiful comparisons. It is often spoken of in the Song of Solomon, and "He shall grow as the lily. He shall be as the dew upon the lily," were figures employed by the inspired writers to convey ideas of purity and loveliness.

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