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THE

ROSE OF SHARON:

A

RELIGIOUS SOUVENIR,

FOR 1840.

EDITED BY

MISS SARAH C. EDGARTON.

"In the folds of this consummate rose,

I read bright prophecies."

BOSTON:

A. TOMPKINS AND B. B. MUSSEY.

1840.

KD 55922 (18+10)

AL 343.72

HARVARD

COLLEGE

NOV 7 1916

LIBRARY

Sever fund

Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1839,

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in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts.

WM. A. HALL & CO. PRINTERS.

PREFACE.

IN presenting the "ROSE OF SHARON to the friends of Floral Literature, we deem any explanation of its character or design scarcely requisite. The very name has, through long ages, been emblematic of all that is holy, pure, and sweet; and associated with our modest offering, we believe it will continue "a word of magic" to all who love moral and religious literature, imbodied in a form of elegance and beauty.

While we most gratefully acknowledge the

kindness of those who have assisted us in our cares, unfolding leaf after leaf of our holy flower, till its consummation, we believe, is beautiful and without moral blemish, we also crave for it the sunshine of public favor, the approbation of the

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good, the pious, and the wise.

To our Christian friends, we confidently look

for patronage. Very proud are we, that we can offer them such a precious store of sweetness and moral purity; and we assure them, that upon their generosity depends the present and future prosperity, ay, even the very existence, of our "ROSE,"—whether it be merely an annual, blossoming once in delicate loveliness, then dying of neglect, and becoming extinct ere half its latent sweets are unfolded, or whether it flourish in continuous and increasing beauty, a perennial, whose leaves have a spirit of holy virtue, welcome alike to the young and the aged, to the happy and the afflicted, to the confirmed and the doubting, to the faithful and the penitent.

Having thus introduced our work to the reading religious community, we take a respectful leave, earnestly hoping to meet our patrons in coming years, bringing to them an annual Souvenir more beautiful and precious each succeeding season; thus expressing, in the most convincing manner, our gratitude for their favor, and our active desire for their happiness and moral improvement.

THE ROSE OF SHARON.

"I am the Rose of Sharon."

Do not all pure things meet
In the soft name of ROSE?

The bright, the fair, the sweet,
The wild spot where it grows?

The melody of leaves,

Soft thrilling on the wind?

The beauty it receives

From emblems in the mind?

O, gentle flower! bright, fragrant flower! Thy very name is fraught with power!

There was a holy Rose,

Which, by its sweetness, drew All hearts, bowed down with woes,

To the fountain where it grew,—

A fountain filled with love,

A balm for every grief,

Where peace, the gentle dove,

Drops in the olive-leaf.

O, holy Rose! celestial Rose!

What hidden sweets didst thou disclose!

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