Sherlock Holmes On the Goodness of God (What a Lovely Thing a Rose Is)

I've greatly enjoyed reading the original Sherlock Holmes books and when I came across this little gem of a passage I wanted to share it. 

"What a Lovely Thing a Rose Is."

Excerpt from The Naval Treaty by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle:

Sketch by Sidney Edward Paget 

"...the authorities are excellent on amassing facts, though they do not always use them to advantage (said Sherlock) What a lovely thing a rose is!"  

He walked past the couch to the open window, and held up the drooping stalk of a moss rose, looking down at the dainty blend of crimson and green. It was a new phase of his character to me, for I have never before seen him show any keen interest in natural objects.

"There is nothing in which deduction is so necessary as in religion," said he, leaning with his back against the shutters.  "It can be built up as an exact science by the reasoner. Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in flowers . 

All other things, our own powers, our desires, our food, are really necessary for our existence in the first instance. But this rose is an extra. Its smell and its colour are an embellishment of life , not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again that we have much to hope from the flowers." 


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"For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse..."  Romans 1:20