The Rose and the Lily
A sermon
(No. 784)
Delivered on Lord's-day Morning, DECEMBER 8, 1867, by
C.H.SPURGEON,
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
"I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.."- Song of
Solomon 2:1.
HERE are sweet flowers blooming serenely in this wintry weather. In the
garden of the soul you may gather fragrant flowers at all seasons of
the year. And although the soul's garden, like every other, has its
winter, yet, strange to say, no sooner do the roses and the lilies
mentioned in the text begin to bloom than the winter flies and the
summer smiles! Outside, in your garden, the summer brings the roses,
but within the enclosure of the heart the roses and lilies create the
summer.
I trust that we, this morning, may have Divine Grace to walk abroad in
the fields of heavenly contemplation to admire the matchless charms of
Him whose cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers–whose lips
are like lilies dropping sweet smelling myrrh. May our hearts interpret
the language of our text and sing–
"Is He a rose? Not Sharon yields Such fragrance in all her fields: Or,
if the lily He assumes, The valleys bless the rich perfume."
It is our Lord who speaks: "I am the rose of Sharon." How is it that He
utters His own commendation, for it is an old and true adage, that
"self praise is no recommendation"? None but vain creatures ever praise
themselves, and yet Jesus often praises Himself! He says, "I am the
good Shepherd." "I am the Bread of Life." "I am meek and lowly of
heart." And in many speeches He is frequently declaring His own
excellencies, yet Jesus is not vain! Scorned be the thought!
I said if any creature praised itself it must be vain, and that, too,
is true. How then shall we solve the riddle? Is not this the answer,
that He is no creature at all, and therefore comes not beneath the
rule? For the creature to praise itself is vanity, but for the Creator
to praise Himself–for the Lord God to manifest and show forth His own
glory is becoming and proper. Hear how He extols His own wisdom and
power in the end of the book of Job and see if it is not most seemly as
the Lord Himself proclaims it!
Is not God constantly ruling both Providence and Grace for the
manifestation of His own glory, and do we not all freely consent that
no motive short of this would be worthy of the Divine mind? So, then,
because Christ talks thus of Himself, since no man dare call Him
vainglorious, I gather an indirect proof of His Deity and bow down
before Him! And I bless Him that He gives me this incidental evidence
of His being no creature, but the Uncreated One Himself. An old Scotch
woman once said, "He is never so bonnie as when He is commending
Himself." And we all feel it so–no words appear more suitable out of
His own lips than these, "I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the
valleys."
Our Lord, when He thus praises Himself, doubtless does so for an
excellent reason, namely, that no one can possibly reveal Him to the
sons of men but Himself. No lips can tell the love of Christ to the
heart till Jesus Himself shall speak within. Descriptions all fall flat
and tame unless the Holy Spirit fills them with life and power–till
our Immanuel reveals Himself within the recesses of the heart the soul
sees Him not. If you would see the sun, would you light your candles?
Would you gather together the common means of illumination and seek, in
that way, to behold the orb of day?
No, the wise man knows that the sun must reveal itself and only by its
own blaze can that mighty lamp be seen. It is so with Christ. Unless He
so manifest Himself to us as He does not unto the world, we cannot
behold Him. He must say to us, "I am the rose of Sharon," or else all
the declarations of man that He is the rose of Sharon will fall short
of the mark. "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona," said He to Peter, "for
flesh and blood have not revealed this unto you." Purify flesh and
blood by any educational process you may select. Elevate mental
faculties to the highest degree of intellectual power,
yet none of these can reveal Christ! The Spirit of God must come with
power and overshadow the man with His wings– and then in that mystic
Holy of Holies the Lord Jesus must display Himself to the sanctified
eye as He does not unto the purblind sons of men.
Christ must be His own mirror. As the diamond alone can cut the
diamond, so He alone can display Himself. Is it not clear enough to us
all that Jesus, being God, befittingly praises Himself? And we, being
frail creatures, He must necessarily commend Himself or we should never
be able to perceive His beauty at all! Each reason is sufficient. Both
are overwhelming. It is most suitable that Jesus should preach Jesus,
that Love should teach us love. Beloved, happy are those men to whom
our Lord familiarly unveils His beauties! He is the rose, but it is not
given unto all men to perceive His fragrance. He is the fairest of
lilies, but few are the eyes which have gazed upon His matchless
purity.
He stands before the world without form or comeliness–a root out of a
dry ground–rejected by the vain, and despised by the proud. The great
mass of this bleary-eyed world can see nothing of the ineffable glories
of Immanuel. Only where the Spirit has touched the eyes with eye salve,
quickened the heart with Divine life, and educated the soul to a
heavenly taste–only there is that love word of my text heard and
understood, "I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys." "To
you that believe He is precious." To you He is the cornerstone. To you
He is the rock of your salvation, your All in All. But to others He is
"a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble
at the Word, being disobedient."
Let it be our prayer, before we advance a single foot further, that our
Redeemer would now reveal Himself to His own chosen people and favor
each one of us with at least a glimpse of His all-conquering charms!
May the King Himself draw near unto His guests this morning, and as of
old, when it was winter He walked in the temple in Solomon's porch, so
may He walk in the midst of this waiting assembly.
I. First, this morning, I shall speak with you a little, as I may be
helped by the Holy Spirit, upon THE MOTIVES OF OUR LORD IN THUS
COMMENDING HIMSELF. I take it that He has designs of love in this
speech. He would have all His people rich in high and happy thoughts
concerning His blessed Person. Jesus is not content that His brethren
should think meanly of Him. It is His pleasure that His espoused ones
should be delighted with His beauty, and that He should be the King and
Lord of their spirits. He would have us possess an adoring admiration
for Him joined with most cheerful and happy thoughts towards Him.
We are not to count Him as a bare necessity, like bread and water, but
we are to regard Him as a luxurious delicacy, as a rare and ravishing
delight, comparable to the rose and the lily. Our Lord, you observe,
expresses Himself here poetically, "I am the rose of Sharon." Dr.
Watts, when he had written his delightful hymns, was the subject of Dr.
Johnson's criticism. And that excellent lexicographer, who wrote with
great authority upon all literary matters, entirely missed his mark
when he said that the themes of religion were so few and so prosaic
that they were not adapted for the poet–they were not such as could
allow of the flight of wing which poetry required. Alas, Dr. Johnson!
How little could you have entered into the spirit of these things, for
if there is any place where poetry may indulge itself to the uttermost,
it is in the realm of the Infinite!
Jordan's streams are as pure as Helicon, and Siloa's brook as inspiring
as the Castilian fount! Heathen Parnassus has not half the elevation of
the Christian's Tabor, let critics judge as they may! This book of
Solomon's Song is poetry of the very highest kind to the spiritual
mind, and throughout Scripture the sublime and beautiful are as much at
home as the eagles in their nests of rock. Surely our Lord adopts that
form of speech in this song in order to show us that the highest degree
of poetical faculty is consecrated to Him, and that lofty thoughts and
soaring conceptions concerning Himself are no intruders, but are bound
to pay homage at His Cross! Jesus would have us enjoy the highest
thoughts of Him that the most sublime prose can possibly convey to us!
And His motives I shall labor to lay before you.
Doubtless, He commends Himself because high thoughts of Christ will
enable us to act consistently with our relations towards Him. The saved
soul is espoused to Christ. Now, in the marriage estate it is a great
assistance to happiness if the wife has high ideas of her husband. In
the marriage union between the soul and Christ, this is exceedingly
necessary. Listen to the words of the Psalm, "He is your Lord; and
worship you Him." Jesus is our Husband, and is no more to be named
Baal, that is your master. He is to be called Ishi, your Man, your
Husband. Yet at the same time He is our Lord, "For the husband is the
head of the wife, even as Christ is the Head of the Church: and He is
the savior of the body."
When the wife despises her husband and looks down upon him, the order
of nature is broken and the household is out of joint. And if our soul
should ever come to despise Christ, it can no longer stand in its true
relation to Him. But the more loftily we see Christ enthroned, and the
more lowly we are when bowing before the foot of the Throne, the more
truly shall we be prepared to act our part in the economy of Grace
towards our Lord Jesus. Brothers and Sisters, your Lord Christ desires
you to think well of Him that you may submit cheerfully to His
authority and so be a better spouse to this best of Husbands.
Moreover, our Master knows that high thoughts of Him increase our love.
Men will not readily love that which they do not highly esteem. Love
and esteem go together. There is a love of pity but that would be far
out of place in reference to our exalted Head. If we are to love Him at
all it must be with the love of admiration–and the higher that
admiration shall rise, the more vehemently will our love flame forth.
My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I beseech you think much of your
Master's excellencies. Study Him in His primeval Glory, before He took
upon Himself your nature! Think of the mighty love which drew Him from
His starry throne to die upon the Cross of shame! Consider well the
Omnipotent affection which made Him stretch His hands to the nails and
yield His heart to the spear! Admire Him as you see Him conquering, in
His weakness, over all the powers of Hell, and by His suffering
overthrowing all the hosts of your sins so that they cannot rise
against you any more forever!
See Him now risen, no more to die! Crowned, no more to be dishonored!
Glorified, no more to suffer! Bow before Him, hail Him in the halls of
your inner nature as the Wonderful, the Counselor, the mighty God
within your spirits, for only thus will your love to Him be what it
should. A high esteem of Christ, moreover, as He well knows, is very
necessary to our comfort. Beloved, when you esteem Christ very highly,
the things of this world become of small account with you and their
loss is not so heavily felt. If you feel your losses and crosses to be
such ponderous weights that the wings of Christ's love cannot lift you
up from the dust, surely you have made too much of the world and too
little of Him!
I see a pair of balances. I see in this one the death of a child, or
the loss of a beloved relative. But I perceive in the other scale the
great love of Christ! Now we shall see which will weigh the more with
the man–if Jesus throws the light affliction up aloft, it is well–but
if the trouble outweighs Jesus, then it is ill with us, indeed. If you
are so depressed by your trials that you can by no means rejoice
knowing your name is written in Heaven, then I think you do not love
Jesus as you should. Get but delightful thoughts of Him and you will
feel like a man who has lost a pebble but has preserved his
diamond–like the man who has seen a few cast clouts and rotten rags
consumed in the flames, but has saved his children from the
conflagration. You will rejoice in your deepest distress because Christ
is yours if you have a high sense of the preciousness of your Master!
Talk not of plasters that will draw out all pain from a wound! Speak
not of medicines which will extirpate disease! The sweet love of Christ
once clapped on to the deepest wound which the soul can ever know would
heal it at once! A drop of the precious medicine of Jesus' love tasted
in the soul would chase away all heart pains forever. Jesus, Jesus,
Jesus, be within us and we make no choice of situations! Put us in
Nebuchadnezzar's furnace–if You will walk the glowing coals as our
Companion, we will fear no evil!
Further, our Lord would have us entertain great thoughts of Himself
because this will quicken all the powers of our soul. I spoke to you
just now of love receiving force from an esteem of Jesus. I might say
the same of faith, or patience, or humility. Wherever Christ is highly
esteemed all the faculties of the spiritual man exercise themselves
with energy. I will judge your piety by this barometer–does Christ
stand high or low with you? If you have thought little of Christ, if
you have been content to live without His Presence–if you have cared
little for His honor or if you have been neglectful of His Laws–then I
know that your soul is sick! God grant that it may not be sick unto
death!
But if the first thought of your spirit has been, "How can I honor
Jesus?" If the daily desire of your soul has been, "O that I knew where
I might find Him!" I tell you that you may have a thousand infirmities
and may even scarcely know whether you are a child of God at all, and
yet I am persuaded, beyond a doubt, that you are safe since Jesus is
great in your esteem. I care not for your rags, what do you think of
his royal apparel? I care not for your wounds, though they bleed in
torrents–what do you think of His wounds? Are they like glittering
rubies in your esteem? I think nothing the less of you, though you lie
like Lazarus on the dunghill, and the dogs lick you! I judge you not by
your poverty–what do you think of the King in His beauty?
Has He a glorious high throne in your heart? Would you set Him higher
if you could? Would you be willing to die if you could but add another
trumpet to the strain which proclaims His praise? Ah, then, it is well
with you. Whatever you may think of yourself, if Christ is great to
you, you shall be with Him before long. High thoughts of Jesus will set
us upon high attempts for His honor. What will men not do when they are
possessed with the passion of love? When once some master thought gets
hold of the mind, others who have never felt the power of it think the
man to be insane! They laugh at him and ridicule him. When the grand
thought of love to God has gained full possession of the soul, men have
been able to actually accomplish what other men have not even thought
of doing. Love has laughed at impossibilities and proved that she is
not to be quenched by many waters, nor drowned by floods.
Impassable woods have been made a footway for the Christian missionary.
Through the dense jungle, steaming with malaria, men have passed
bearing the message of the Truth of God. Into the midst of hostile and
savage tribes, weak and trembling women, even, have forced their way to
tell of Jesus. No sea has been so stormy, no mountains have been so
elevated that they could shut out the earnest spirit. No long nights of
winter in Labrador or in Iceland have been able to freeze up the love
of Christ in the Moravian's heart–it has not been possible for the
zeal of the heir of Heaven to be overcome, though all the elements have
combined with the cruelty of wicked men and with the malice of Hell
itself.
Christ's people have been more than conquerors through Him that has
loved them when His love has been shed abroad in their hearts by the
Holy Spirit and they have had elevated thoughts of their Lord. I wish
it were in my power to put this matter more forcibly, but I am
persuaded, Brethren, that our Lord, in commending Himself to us this
morning in the words of our text, does so with this as His motive–that
by the power of His Spirit we may be led to esteem Him very highly in
the inmost secret of our heart. And shall He speak to us in vain? Shall
He stand in this pulpit, this morning, as He does in spirit, and shall
He say, "I am the rose of Sharon"? And shall we reply, "But we see not
Your beauty"? Shall He add a double commendation, "I am the lily of the
valley"? And shall our cold hearts reply, "But we admire not Your
spotless purity"?
I trust we are not so utterly abandoned to spiritual blindness and
ingratitude! Far rather, although we confess before Him that we do not
admire Him as we should, we will add humbly, and with the tear of
repentance in our eyes–
"Yes we love You and adore– O for Grace to love You more.'
II. Whatever may be the commendable motive for any statement, yet it
must not be made if it is not accurate, and
therefore, in the second place, I come to observe OUR LORD'S
JUSTIFICATION FOR THIS COMMENDATION,
which is abundantly satisfactory to all who know Him. What our Lord
says of Himself is strictly true. It falls short of the mark, it is no
exaggeration. Observe each one of the words. He begins, "I am." Those
two little words I would not insist upon, but it is no straining of
language to say that even here we have a great deep. What creature can,
with exact truthfulness, say, "I am"?
As for man, whose breath is in his nostrils, he may rather say, "I am
not," than "I am." We are so short a time here, and so quickly gone,
that the ephemera which is born and dies under the light of one day's
sun is our brother. Poor short-lived creatures, we change with every
moon and are inconsistent as the wave, frail as the dust, feeble as a
worm and fickle as the wind. Jesus says, "I Am," and, blessed be His
name, He can fairly claim the attributes of self-existence and
immutability. He said, "I Am," in the days of His flesh. He says, "I
Am," at this hour–whatever He was He is! Whatever He has been to any
of His saints at any time, He is to us this day.
Come, my Soul, rejoice in your unchangeable Christ, and if you get no
further than the first two words of the text, you have a meal to stay
your hunger, like Elijah's cakes in the strength of which he went for
forty days. "I Am" has revealed Himself unto you in a more glorious
manner than He did unto Moses at the burning bush! The great "I AM" in
human flesh has become your Savior and your Lord!
"I am the rose." We understand from this that Christ is lovely. He
selects one of the most charming of flowers to set forth Himself. All
the beauties of all the creatures are to be found in Christ in greater
perfection than in the creatures themselves–
"White and ruddy is my Beloved, All His heavenly beauties shine. Nature
can't produce an object, Nor so glorious, so Divine.
He has wholly
Won my soul to realms abo ve."
"Whatever things are true, whatever things are honest, whatever things
are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely,
whatever things are of good report," all are to be found stored up in
our Well-Beloved. Whatever there may be of beauty in the material
world, Jesus Christ possesses all that in the spiritual world, only in
a tenfold multiplication He is infinitely more beautiful in the garden
of the soul and in the Paradise of God than the rose can be in the
gardens of earth, though it is the universally acknowledged queen of
flowers.
But the Spouse adds, "I am the rose of Sharon." This was the best and
rarest of roses. Jesus is not "the rose" alone, but "the rose of
Sharon," just as He calls His righteousness, "gold," and then adds,
"the gold of Ophir"–the best of the best! Jesus, then, is not only
positively lovely, but superlatively the loveliest–
"None among the sons of men, None among the heavenly train, Can with
Sharon's rose compare. None so sweet and none so fair." The Son of
David takes the first place as the fairest among ten thousand. He is
the sun, and all others are the stars. In His Presence all the feebler
lights are hidden, for they are nothing and He is All in All. Blush for
your deformities, you beauties of earth, when His perfection's eclipse
you! Away, you pageants, and you pompous triumphs of men! The King in
His beauty transcends you all! Black are the heavens and dark is the
day in comparison with Him!
Oh, to see Him face to face! This would be a vision for which life
would be a glad exchange! For a vision of His face we could gladly be
blind forever to all joys beside. Our Lord adds, "I am the lily," thus
giving Himself a double commendation. Indeed, Jesus Christ deserves not
to be praised doubly, but sevenfold. Yes, and unto seven times seven!
Heap up all the metaphors that express loveliness. Bring together all
the adjectives which describe delight and all human speech and all
earth-born things shall fail to tell of Him. The rose with all its
redness is not complete till the lily adds its purity and the two
together are but dim reflections of our glorious Lord!
I learn from the text that in Christ Jesus you have a combination of
contrasted excellencies. If He is red with the flush of courageous
zeal, or red with triumph as He returns from Edom, He is the rose. But
He is a warrior without sinful anger or cruel vengeance–He is as pure
and spotless as the timid virgin who toys with the dove–He is
therefore our snow-white lily. I see Him red as the rose in His
sacrifice, as–
"From His head, His hands, His feet, Sorrow and love bow mingled down,"
but I see Him white as the lily as He ascends on high in His perfect
righteousness clothed in His white robe of victory to receive gifts for
men. Our Beloved is a mingling of all perfections to make up one
Perfection, and of all manner of sweetness to compose one complete
Sweetness. Earth's choicest charms commingled feebly picture His
abounding preciousness. He is the "lily of the valleys."
Does He intend, by that, to hint to us that He is a lily in His lowest
estate, a lily of the valley? The carpenter's Son, living in poverty,
wearing the common garb of the poor–is He the lily of the valleys?
Yes, He is a lily to you and to me, poor dwellers in the lowlands. Up
yonder He is a lily on the hilltops where all celestial eyes admire
Him. Down here, in these valleys of fears and cares, He is a lily,
still, as fair as in Heaven. Our eyes can see His beauty, can see His
beauty now, a lily to us this very day! Though we have not seen the
King in His beauty, yet I say unto you that Solomon in all his glory
was not arrayed like Jesus Christ in our eyes–as we see Him by faith
in a glass darkly.
The words, having been opened up one by one, teach us that Christ is
lovely to all our spiritual senses. The rose is delightful to the eyes,
but it is also refreshing to the nostril, and the lily the same. So is
Jesus. All the senses of the soul are ravished and satisfied with Him,
whether it is the taste or feeling, the hearing, the sight, or the
spiritual smell–all charms are in Jesus. Often when we have not seen
the Anointed, we have perceived His Presence. Traveling on the Lake
Lugano one morning, we heard the swell of the song of the nightingale,
and the oars were stilled on the blue lake as we listened to the silver
sounds. We could not see a single bird, nor do I know that we wished
to–we were so content with the sweetness of the music.
Even so it is with our Lord. We may enter a house where He is loved and
we may hear nothing concerning Christ and yet we may perceive clearly
enough that He is there. A holy influence streams through the actions
of the household, so
that if Jesus is unseen, it is clear that He is not unknown. Go
anywhere where Jesus is, and though you do not actually hear His name,
yet the sweet influence which flows from His love will be plainly
enough discernible. Our Lord is so lovely that even the recollection of
His love is sweet. Take the rose of Sharon and pull it leaf from leaf,
and lay the leaves in the jar of memory and you shall find each leaf
most fragrant long afterwards, filling the house with perfume.
This very day we remember times of refreshing enjoyed at the Lord's
Table still delightful as we reflect upon them. Jesus is lovely in the
bud as well as when full blown. You admire the rose quite as much when
it is but a bud as when it bursts forth into perfect development. And I
think Christ, to you, my Beloved, in the first blush of your piety, was
not one whit less sweet than He is now. Jesus full blown, in our riper
experience, has lost none of His excellence. When we shall see Him
fully blown in the garden of Paradise, shall we not count it to be our
highest Heaven to gaze upon Him forever? Christ is so lovely that He
needs no beautifying.
When I hear men trying to speak of Him with polished sentences which
have been revised, and re-revised upon their manuscripts, I would ask
them why they need to paint the rose of Sharon and what they think they
are doing in seeking to enamel the lily of the valleys? Hold up Christ
Crucified, and He Himself is beautiful enough without our paint and
tinsel! Let the roughest tongue speak sincerely of Him in the most
broken but honest accents and Jesus Himself is such a radiant jewel
that the setting will be of small consequence! He is so glorious that
He is "Most adorned when unadorned the most." May we ever feel thus
concerning Him, and if we are tempted to display our powers of oratory
when we have to speak of Him, let us say, "Down, busy Pride, and let
Christ rule, and let Christ be seen." He needs no help from you.
He is so lovely, again, that He satisfies the highest taste of the most
educated spirit to the fullest. The greatest amateur in perfumes is
quite satisfied with the rose, and I should think that no man of taste
will ever be able to criticize the lily and laugh at its form. Now,
when the soul has arrived at her highest pitch of true taste she shall
still be content with Christ. No, she shall be the better able to
appreciate Him! In the world's history we are supposed to have arrived
at an age of taste, when color and form are much regarded. I must
confess I think it a gaudy, tasteless age, and the fashion of the day
is staring, vulgar, childish, and depraved.
Bright and glittering colors, antique, grotesque forms are much sought
after–and men must introduce their chosen fineries and fopperies into
their worship–supposing that it is comely to worship God with silks,
and laces, and ribbons, and gilt, and tinsel, and I know not what of
trumpery besides. Just as the harlot of Babylon arrayed herself in
pearls and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, even so do
her imitators adorn themselves! As for us, my Brothers and Sisters, the
beauty of Christ is such that if we go into a barn to worship, we are
quite as satisfied as though it were a cathedral with grand arches and
glowing windows!
Such is the beauty of Christ in our eyes, that we are quite content to
hear of Him without the pealing organ and the swell of Gregorian
chants! And we are even satisfied though there should be no display of
taste, nothing sensuous and scenic, nothing to please the eye or charm
the ear. Jesus alone affords our mind all that delightful architecture,
poetry, and music could profess to give! And when our soul gets near to
Him, she looks upon all outward adornments as mere child's toys fit to
amuse the rattle-brains of this poor idiot world–vain trinkets to men
in Christ Jesus, who by reason of use have had their senses exercised
and learned to delight in nobler things than those in which the swine
of this earth delight themselves! God give you to know that if you want
beauty, Jesus is Sharon's rose! If you want spotless charms to delight
your true taste, He is the lily of the valleys.
Dwelling for another minute on this subject, let me remark that our
Lord Jesus Christ deserves all that He has said of Himself. First, in
His Divine Glory. The Glory of Christ as God–who shall write about it?
The first-born sons of light desire to gaze into this vision but feel
that their eyes are unable to endure the excess of light. He is God
over all, blessed forever. Concerning Christ I may say that the heavens
are not pure in His sight, and He charged His angels with folly.
Nothing is great, nothing is excellent but God, and Christ is God! O
roses and lilies, where are you now?
Our Lord deserves these praises, again, in His perfection of Manhood.
He is like ourselves, but in Him was no sin. "The prince of this world
comes, but has nothing in Me." Throughout the whole of His biography,
there is not a fault. Let us write as carefully as we will after the
copy, we still blot and blur the pages–but in Him there is no mistake.
His life is so wonderfully perfect that even those who have denied His
Deity have been astounded at it–and have bowed down before the majesty
of His holiness. You roses of ardent love, and you lilies of purest
holiness, where are you now when we compare you with this perfect Man?
He deserves this commendation, too, in His editorial qualifications.
Since His blood has washed us from all our sins, we talk no more of the
red roses, for what can they do to purify the soul? Since His
righteousness has made us accepted in the Beloved, we will speak no
more of spotless lilies, for what are these? He deserves all this
praise, too, in his reigning Glory. He has a Glory which His Father has
given Him as a reward in the power of which He sits down at the right
hand of God forever and ever, and shall soon come to judge the world in
righteousness, and the people with equity. Beloved, when I think of the
pompous appearance when He shall descend a second time in splendor upon
the earth, I say again, you roses, your radiant beauties are utterly
eclipsed, and you lilies, your snow-white purity is forgotten, I can
scarcely discern you!
O fair flowers of earth, you are lost in the blaze of the Great White
Throne, and in the flames of fire that shall go before the Judge of All
to prepare His way! View the Lord Jesus in any way you please–all that
He Himself can say concerning Himself He richly deserves–and therefore
glory be unto His name forever and ever, and let the whole earth say,
Amen.
III. I shall now conduct you to a third consideration, namely, THE
INFLUENCE OF THIS COMMENDATION
UPON US. Christ desires our loftiest thoughts of Himself and His
desires are for our good. O my Beloved, I wish time would stay its wing
a moment or two so that I might urge upon you that with all your hearts
you would second the endeavors of Christ to labor after holy elevated
thoughts concerning Himself since he desires them for you.
And if you ask me how you are to attain them, let me aid you a minute.
Think of the ruin of this world till Christ came into it! I think I see
in vision a howling wilderness, a great and terrible desert like the
Sahara. I perceive nothing in it to relieve the eyes. All around I am
wearied with a vision of hot and arid sand strewn with thousands of
bleaching skeletons of wretched men who have expired in anguish, having
lost their way in the pitiless waste. O God, what a sight! How
horrible! A sea of sand without a boundary and without an oasis–a
cheerless graveyard for a race forlorn!
But what is that I see? All of a sudden, upspringing from the scorching
sand I see a root, a branch, a plant of renown! And as it grows, it
buds! The bud expands–it is a rose, and at its side a lily bows its
modest head–and miracle of mira-cles–as the fragrance of those
flowers is diffused in the desert air I perceive that wilderness is
transformed into a fruitful field, and all around it blossoms
unlimited! The glory of Lebanon is given unto it! The excellency of
Carmel and Sharon! Call it not Sahara, call it Paradise! Speak not of
it any longer as the valley of death, for where I saw the skeletons
bleaching in the sun, I see a resurrection–and up spring the dead, a
mighty army, full of life immortal! You can understand the vision.
Christ is the Rose which has changed the scene.
If you would have great thoughts of Christ think of your own ruin.
Yonder I behold you cast out an infant, unwashed, defiled with your own
blood, too foul to be looked upon except by beasts of prey! And what is
this that has been cast into your bosom, and which lying there has
suddenly made you fair and lovely? A rose has been thrown into your
bosom by a Divine hand, and for its sake you have been pitied and cared
for by Divine Providence. You are washed and cleaned from your
defilement, you are adopted into Heaven's family, the fair seal of love
is upon your forehead and the ring of faithfulness is on your hand. You
are a prince unto God–though just now you were a castaway orphan.
O prize the rose, the putting of which into your bosom has made you
what you are! Consider your daily need of this rose. You live in the
pestilential air of this earth–take Christ away–you die. Christ is
the daily food of your spirit. You know, Believer, that you are utterly
powerless without your Lord. O prize Him, then, in proportion to the
necessities you receive from Him! As you cannot even pray or think an
acceptable thought apart from His Presence, I beseech you press Him to
your bosom as the Beloved of your soul. You are like a branch cut off
and withered–thrown outside the garden gate to be burnt as are the
noxious weeds–apart from Him. But when you are near Him you bring
forth fruit unto the glory of God. Praise Christ, I say, then, after
the rate of the needs that you have received from Him.
Think, Beloved, of the estimation of Christ beyond the skies, in the
land where things are measured by the right standard, where men are no
longer deceived by the delusions of earth. Think how God esteems the
Only Begotten, His unspeakable gift to us. Consider what the angels
think of Him as they count it their highest honor to veil their faces
at His feet. Consider what the blood-washed think of Him as day without
night they sing His well-deserved praises with glad voices. Remember
how you yourself have sometimes esteemed Him! There have been happy
hours when you would freely have given your eyes and felt you cared no
longer for the light of earth's brightest days, for your soul's eyes
would serve you well enough if you could forever be favored with the
same clear sight of Christ!
Have there not been moments when the chariots of Amminadib seemed but
poor dragging things compared with the wheels of your soul when Jesus
ravished your heart with His celestial embrace? Estimate Him today as
you did then, for He is the same, though you are not. Think of Him
today as you will think of Him in the hour of death, and in the day of
judgment when none but Jesus can help to keep your soul alive. The
great King has made a banquet and He has proclaimed to all the world
that none shall enter but those who bring with them the fairest flower
that blooms. The spirits of men advance to the gate by the thousands
and they bring, each one, the flower which they think the best.
But in droves they are driven from His Presence and enter not into the
banquet! Some bear in their hand the deadly nightshade of superstition,
or carry the flaunting poppies of Rome–but these are not dear to the
King–the bearers are shut out of the pearly gates. My Soul, have you
gathered the Rose of Sharon? Do you wear the Lily of the Valley in your
bosom constantly? If so, when you come up to the gates of Heaven you
will know its value, for you have only to show this and the porter will
open the gate! Not for a moment will he deny the admission, for to that
Rose the porter opens.
You shall find your way, with this Rose in your hand, up to the Throne
of God Himself, for Heaven itself possesses nothing which excels the
Rose of Sharon! And of all the flowers that bloom in Paradise there is
none that can rival the Lily of the Valleys. Get Calvary's blood-red
Rose into your hand by faith and wear it. By communion preserve it. By
daily watchfulness make it your All in All and you shall be blessed
beyond all bliss–happy beyond a dream! So be it yours forever.
IV. Lastly, I shall close by asking you to make CONFESSIONS SUGGESTED
BY MY TEXT. I will not make them for you, and therefore need not detain
you from your homes. I will utter my own lamentation and leave you,
every one apart, to do the same. I stand before this text of mine to
blush, this morning, and to weep while I acknowledge my ungrateful
behavior.
"My Lord, I am truly ashamed to think that I have not gazed more upon
You. I know, and in my heart believe that You are the sum total of all
beauty. Yet must I sorrowfully lament that my eyes have been gadding
abroad to look after other beauties. My thoughts have been deluded with
imaginary excellencies in the creatures, and I have meditated but
little upon Yourself. Alas, my Lord, I confess still further that I
have not possessed and enjoyed You as I ought. When I might have been
with You all day and all night, I have been roving here and there, and
forgetting my resting place. I have not been careful to welcome my
Beloved and to retain His company. I have stirred Him up by my sins,
and have driven Him away by my lukewarm-ness.
"I have given Him cold lodgings and slender hospitality within the
chambers of my heart. I have not held Him fast, neither have I pressed
Him to abide with me as I ought to have done. All this I must confess
and mourn that I am not more ashamed while confessing it. Moreover, my
good Lord, although I know Your great sacrifice for me might well have
chained my heart forever to your altar (and O that You had done so!) I
must acknowledge that I have not been a living sacrifice as I should
have been. I have not been so fascinated by the luster of Your beauty
as I should have been. O that all my heart's rooms had been occupied by
You, and by You alone!
"Would God my soul were as the coals in the furnace, all ablaze, and
not a single particle of me left unconsumed by the delightful flames of
Your love! I must also confess, my Lord, that I have not spoken of You
as I should have done. Albeit I have had many opportunities, yet I have
not praised You at the rate which You deserve. I have given You at best
but a poor, stammering, chilly tongue when I should have spoken with
the fiery zeal of a seraph."
These are my confessions. Brothers and Sisters, what are yours? If you
have none to make, if you can justly claim to have done all that you
should have done to your Beloved, I envy you! But I think there is not
a man here who will dare to say this. I am sure you have all had falls,
and slips, and shortcomings, with regard to Him. Well, then, come
humbly to Jesus at once! He will forgive you readily, for He does not
soon take offense at His spouse. He may sometimes speak sharp words to
her because He loves her, but His heart is always true, and faithful,
and tender. He will forgive the past! He will receive you at this
moment! Yes, this moment He will display Himself to you!
If you will but open the door, He will enter into immediate fellowship
with you, for He says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any
man hears My voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him, and sup
with him, and he with Me." O Christ, our Lord, our heart is open! Come
in, and go out no more forever. "Whoever believes on the Son has
everlasting life." Sinner, believe and live!
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