As the lily among thorns,
so is my love among the daughters.

- Song of Solomon 2:2

The Lily among Thorns is one of the early symbols of the Dutch Reformed Church. It originated in the mid-16^th century as the rebellion of the Low Countries against Spain got underway. In 1905, John S. Bussing, an elder of the Collegiate Church of New York, saw the symbol in a 1566 printing of the Heidelberg Catechism. He commissioned an artist to copy the sketch.

The Lily among Thorns is now reproduced at the West End Collegiate Church in a small stained glass window leading from the Sanctuary to the Chapel. Another version is in the large rose window of Middle Collegiate Church. Jessie van Brunt, a well-known stained-glass artist, created this window in the 1940s. The lilies in the design are encircled by the passage from Song of Solomon in Dutch:

Gelijck een lelie onder de doornen
so is mine vriendinne onder de dochteren.