SERMONS. I. ROOT AND FLOWER. JHN xii. 20-25: "And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast. The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again, Andrew and Philip tell Jesus. And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but, if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal." I WENT once, in the last days of June, to see an old friend in the country, who has consecrated his life to trees and flowers. When I came away, he gave me something wrapped in a piece of paper, bidding me select the best spot in my garden, when I got home, and plant it. "For," he added, “that is a very choice flower, sir, — one of the most beautiful things you ever saw in your life." I left my friend, and started home; and, when I had got well out of his sight, of course I undid the paper, that I might look at ny treasure. It was as queer, unpromising a thing to look at, as I ever saw. At the first glance, you would take it for a poor, haggard old onion. There was not a speck of beauty about it, that I should desire it. Then I put my flower pack ́into the paper, brought it home, and planted it just as I was directed; and when I had done this, I began to ponder and wonder over this great mystery of planting and growing and flowering. I said to myself, "What are my conceptions of what is to come out of my dark, forbidding bulb? I never saw the flower, I suppose, in my life. I have no certain idea what it is like. It may resemble a sunflower or a peony or a daisy or a bluebell. If I carry a single tooth pried out of the limestone to Professor Owen, he will sketch me an outline of the animal that used it, though this be the first fragment ever seen of a thing that died out ten thousand years before the first man. But I may carry a fragment of this root to the Owen of plants, if there be one, and ask him to search in it for the flower; and I |