Wayside Weeds and Garden Flowers

The land of Palestine, in which Jesus lived, has always been noted for its flowers. They grow everywhere in great abundance, and oftentimes in very great perfection and beauty. One time, when Jesus was preaching on the mountain, He used the flowers which were growing on the side of the mountain, to preach an object sermon to the multitudes about Him.

He said, “Consider the lilies of the field; how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin, and yet I say unto you that Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these.” (Matt. vi: 28, 29). Let us this morning take the same object lesson, to set forth to our minds a clearer understanding of some truths, which are very important to every father and mother, as well as every boy and girl present. As you see, I have here two bouquets.

This, which I now hold in my hand, is indeed very beautiful. Here are some lovely roses, some tulips, some peonies. Here is a dahlia and heliotrope. Here are some tube roses, and a great variety of other flowers, which together constitute a very beautiful bouquet.

Now, here is another bouquet. I see you smile, but indeed it is a bouquet.

I spent a great deal of time gathering these flowers, at which you laugh. I sought them in such places as would afford the best varieties of these several kinds. Now, boys and girls, I want to ask you where these flowers grew? I will hold up this beautiful bouquet and ask the question.

I know what will be your answer; you will say that I bought it from a man who keeps a hot-house, or that I gathered them in some flower garden which was very carefully tended; and such, indeed, is the case. Now, I will hold up this other bouquet. Can you tell me where I gathered these? I did not think that you would have much difficulty in determining.

I gathered them along the roadside, in the flelds and in the woods. These flowers are what the farmer calls “weeds.” Here is a rose with a single leaf that grew in a neglected corner, along the outskirts of a woods. It is a genuine rose, but it is by no means pretty, or at all to be compared with those in the other bouquet.

I will tell you why there is such a difference in the appearance of these two bouquets. One grew in the garden, where it was protected by a fence from being trampled upon. The weeds that grew about it were all pulled out of the ground, and the stalk upon which this flower grew was given a fair chance, so that it might grow successfully. The roots of the plants were carefully nourished, and whenever there was not sufficient rain the flowers were all watered, and thus the plants and flowers grew to their greatest perfection and beauty.

Now, these other flowers which I gathered in the fields and along the roadside and in the woods, have had a hard time of it. In their growth they had to contend with other weeds. They have been trampled upon by the cattle. They have been scorched by the sun.

And year after year they have grown in these neglected quarters with great difficulty, consequently they are stunted and have never attained any perfection or beauty. Do you know that these very beautiful flowers in this bouquet at one time grew just the same as the flowers in the other bouquet? But they were removed from the roadside, and from the fields and from the woods, and placed by themselves where they could be properly cared for and cultivated, and they grew more beautiful from year to year, until we have this present satisfactory result.

Boys and girls are very much like flowers. Those who are neglected, who are permitted to walk the streets, to stroll along the roads and over the fields, to go along the streams fishing on Sunday, instead of being in Sunday-school and in church, those who are permitted to run out at nights and play with all kinds of company—these are the boys and girls who are like the flowers which grow by the roadside. Nothing very beautiful, or very good, or very perfect can reasonably be expected from them.

This beautiful bouquet represents those boys and girls who have Christian fathers and mothers, who surround them by influences which are well calculated to make them pure in thought and upright in life, so that they may grow up to be good Christian men and women. These flowers represent the boys and girls who grow up in the Sunday-school and in the Church, who give their hearts to the Lord Jesus Christ, and grow up into His likeness, and into His image, and into His stature, and become noble Christian men and women.

When parents permit their children to run wild, they cannot expect them to grow up Christians. It is only by culture and education and Christian influences that they can be improved, so as to become honorable and upright. Nearly all the products of the field have been improved by cultivation, just the same as these flowers have been improved. Wheat in its native state, as it may still be found in France and Italy along the shores of the Mediterranean, was a stunted and straggling plant, with a small and inferior seed, but after long years of patient and continued cultivation, it has grown to its present plump and prolific proportions.

All the beautiful fruits which now grow in our orchards were at one time unsightly and undesirable. The apple was small and sour, and unpalatable; but by pruning and grafting and fertilizing, it has grown to be not only beautiful to the eye, but delicious to the taste.

The acrid and unwholesome berries, which formerly grew on the mountain ash, have been developed into the sweet and juicy pear. By cultivation, the acrid and bitter sloe has grown into the beautiful plum. The same is also true of the potato, the turnip and the cabbage. Boys and girls can only be developed into useful men and women by the influence of the week-day and Sunday-school, the Christian home and the Church, by reading and studying the Bible and other good books.