ORDER IN DUTY – its Beauty. – Charles Spurgeon

Linnaeus, the great Swedish botanist, observing the beautiful order which reigns among flowers, proposed the use of a floral clock, to be composed of plants which open and close their blossoms at particular hours ; as for instance the dandelion which opens its petals at six in the morning, the hawkweed at seven, the succory at eight, the celandine at nine, and so on ; the closing of the flowers being marked with an equal regularity so as to indicate the progress of the afternoon and the evening.

” Thus has each hour its own rich hue,
And its graceful cup or bell.
In whose coloured vase may sleep the dew,
Like a pearl in an ocean shell, “

Would it not be a lovely thing if thus with flowers of grace and blossoms of virtue we bedecked every passing hour ; fulfilling all the duties of each season and honouring him who maketh the outgoings of the morning and the evening to rejoice! Thus with undeviating regularity to obey the influence of the Sun of Righteousness, and give each following moment its due, were to begin the life of heaven beneath