The Lily

" He shall grow as the Lily , and cast forth His roots as Lebanon . His branches shall spread and His beauty shall be as the olive tree , and his smell as Lebanon ."   This is the effect of the dew . It brings about a transformation so rich that it needs various figures to set forth its many -sided completeness .
 We have first the beauty of the lily . "He shall grow as the lily ." Various features of the growth of the lily might , no doubt , be mentioned by way of the comparison . The lily grows quickly ; it often flourishes in the lowly valley ; and sometimes it springs up in the midst of thorns . But the outstanding point of resemblance is the fact that the lily grows in the beauty of a stainless purity -
    " White , radiant , spotless , exquisitely pure ."
And the Lord will so heal His backsliding child that the whiteness of his soul will rival that lustrous beauty . "Wash me ," said David , " and I shall be whiter than the snow ."; and when God resstored David's soul He answered his prayer . This is a wonderful promise , and it is sometimes hard to realise that it can be true - that the man who fell by his iniquity , and thereby soiled the white robe of his profession and disfigured his comeliness , should be restored to shine with a purity whose fitting symbol is the immaculate whiteness of the lily . But this is the miracle effected by the restoring grace of God .  Alexander Stewart

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