IN CHRIST ~ we be the Fragrance of Life unto Life!

"I AM the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys." -Solomon 2:1 [KJV]

Yes! dearest Lord Jesus, Thou art all this, and infinitely more to my soul; more fragrant than both, and more precious than all the flowers of the field. Help me, this evening, to contemplate my Lord under those sweet similitudes. Do I not, and shall I not henceforth, in the red blushing beauty of the rose, behold Thy human nature, which Thou hast assumed for the redemption of Thy people?  

Are not Thy bloody sufferings, and Thy red apparel, strikingly set forth by the image of the rose; as Thy spotless purity is shewn under the loveliness of the white lily? Can the sweet-scented rose, even of Sharon, vie with the perfume of the incense of Thy righteousness, to a poor sinner's soul? Or can the beauty of the lily be as grateful to the eye, as the purity of Jesus to a mind conscious of its own pollution, and beholding itself complete in His salvation, Who is "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens?"  

But wherefore Sharon's rose, and the valley's lily, unless it be to speak Thine infinite greatness in the excellency of Sharon, and Thine infinite humbleness, in the lowest part of the earth, as the valley. And indeed, Lord, in Thine own wonderful person, Thou comprehendest all things, in the length, and breadth, and depth, and height! Thou art both "Alpha and Omega; the first and the last." And though Lord of all, Thou didst condescend to become servant of all; be Thou to me, my Lord, every thing that is precious and lovely, as the rose of Sharon, and as the lily of the valley.  

And Oh! give a sweet conformity to Thyself, and Thy loveliness. And though my sins be red as scarlet, do Thou make them whiter than the snow; though they be as the crimson, do Thou make them as the wool! Cause me to be washed in that fountain, which Thou hast opened for sin and for uncleanness; and bring me to join that happy multitude, before Thy throne, "who have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb!” 

-Robert Hawker (1753-1827 A.D.)