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K\7.^^^ 




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THE DATE TALM^THKE --Page 85. 



AMERICAN TRACT SOCirTY, 



THE 



TREES, FRUITS, AND FLOWERS 



THE BIBLE. 



BI MRS. HARRIET N. COOK. 



He spake of trees, from the cedar- tree that is in Lebanon, eren onto tb* 
A.T«Bop that springeth out of the walL— 1 Kzxraa, 4 : 83. 



' ' PUBLISHED BY THE 

AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

160 NASSAU-STREET, NEW YORK. 



l\C\Mi^ 



HARVARD 

UNIVERSITY 

LIBRARY 



) 



Entezed tccorduig to Act of Congress, in tbe year 1846, by 
B. S. OooK, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the 
Sottthera District of New-York. 

Bi|^ of pablishing tranafezred to the American Tract Society. 



PREFACE. 



MY DEAR CHILDREN:' 

Perhaps you have read a little book published cot 
long since by the Ambbioan Tract Society, which 
tells you something about the Animab mentioned iu 
the Bible, and gives you more than a hundred texts 
which speaJc of the Camel, the Goat, the Peacock, 
the Tuiile-dove, and others. No^, would you like 
to. know what the Bible says abou^ Trees, and 
Fruits, and Flowers ? I have been looking, and I • 
find something about them in the very first chapter, 
and in the very last chapter, and in a great many 
chapters between. In the first chapter, I read that 
God made the grass, and "the fruit-tree yielding 
fruit ;" and in the last, I find something about " the 
tree of Jife^ which bare twelve manner of fruits, and 
yielded its fruit every month ; and the leaves of the 
tree were for the healing of the nations." 

You will see by a verse on the title-page that 
king Solomon, tha wisest of men, knew a great deal 
about trees, " from the cedar-tree that is in Leba- 



4 PBEFAOB. 

non, even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the 
wall ;" that is, from the largest trees to the smallest 
plants. Would it not be well for you to know some- 
thing about them ? God made many of them to be 
useful to man ; and if you have not done it before, 
it will interest you to ask how many of all the 
things we use every day are obtained from plants. 
Some plants, especially a great many beautiful 
flowers, seem to have been made chiefly to give us 
pleasure. Do they not seem to say, " God loves to 
have you happy?" I am sure he " has made every 
thing beautiful in its time.'' 



CONTENTS, 



4WMMIAMMMMM 



Almond-Tree, • • • 7 
Apple-'i'rec, .... 12 

Balm, 15 

Bay-Tree, .... 18 

Bulrush, 19 

Camphire, .... 22 
Cypress-Tree, ... 28 

Fig, 30 

Fir, 35 

Flax, 38 

Frankincense, ... 43 
Gourd, . . . \ . 49 

Hyssop, 51 

Juniper, . . • • • 53 ; 
LUy, .... \ . 55 
Mulberry* • • • • 68 



Myrrh, 64 

Myrtle, 68 

Nettle, 70 

Oak, 74 

Olive, 80 

Palm-Tree, ... 85 

Pine, 91 

Pomegranate, . • • 93 

Kose, ..... 96 

Spikenard, .... 98 

Tare, 104 

Vine, ...... 106 

Wheat, 112 

^TiBow, . . » . . 115 
Wormwgod, • .117 



'.m 



TREES, FRUITS AND FLOWERS. 

THE ALMOND-TEEE. 

The Almond-tree was probably first found 
in the western part of Asia, and in the coun- 
tries of which we read most in the Bible. Its 
fruit was reckoned among the best that grew 
in the land of Canaan, as we read in Gen. 
43 : 11. " And their father Israel said unto 
them. Take of the best fruits of the land in 
your vessels, and carry down the man a pre- 
sent, a little balm, and a little honey, spices 
and myrrh, nuts and atmondsy It was cus- 
tomary in those countries to send presents 
to distinguished men, particularly when one 
wished to ask a favor; and Jacob hoped 
that "the ruler" might thus be led to show 
kindness to his sons, especially to his belov 
ed Benjamin. 



8 TREES, FRUITS AND FLOWERS 

The Almond-tree is found -abundantly iu 
China and Barbary. It is also cultivated for 
its fruit in Italy, Spain, and the South of 
F;-ance ; and in England, ibr the beauty of 
its flowers. The blossoms resemble those of 
the peach-tree, but have more variety of co- 
lor, taking every shade from pure whjte to a 
deep pink. We sometimes see a beautiful 
shrub in this country called the "Double 
Flowering Almond," but it bears no fruit. 

The flowers of the Almond-triee, like those 
of the peach, appear before the leaves ; so a 
poet speaks of the "silvery almond-flower,^ 
that blooms on a leafless bough." In warm 
countries the blossom comes forth in January 
or February, and the fruit is ripe as early as 
March or April. It is perhaps in reference 
to its ripening so soon that we read in Jer. 
1 : 11, 12, " Moreover the word of the Lord I 
came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest ' 
thou ? And I said, I see a rod of an almond- 
tree. Then said the Lord unto me, Thou 
hast well seen ; for I will hasten my word to 
perform it." 



OF THE BIBLS. 9 

The leaves* resemble those of the peach- 
tree. The fruit, which is well known in this 
country, is a. nut enclosed in a shell, which 
is very soft in soma varieties, and in others 
quite hard- There are two principal species, 
the sweat and the bitter almond, from both 
of which an oil may be obtained. The oil 
extracred from the bitter almond is very poi- 
sonous, and the fruit is Said to be so also, to 
birds and some other animals. When Moses 
was about to make the "candlestick of purQ 
gold " to be placed in the tabernacle, God 
directecT that it should have six branches, 
with three bowls in each branch, made 
" after the fashion o# aioionds." 

Do you recollect the account of Aaron's 
rod that is given in the Bible? God had 
chosen Aaron and his sons to be priests, and 
they had been solemnly set apart for that 
office 5 but some of the princes, ** men of re- 
nown," were envious of the honor, and 
brought the complaint, " Ye take too much 
upon you, seeing all the congregation are 
holy ; wherefore lift ye up yourselves above 



s» 



10 TREES, PRUITS AND FLOWERS 

the congregation of the Lord V^ Then Moses 
directed them to come the next day with 
their censers, and God would show whom 
he had chosen. They did so ; and while 
they were impiously offering incense, which 
none but the priests were allowed to do, the 
earth opened beneath their feej and swal- 
lowed them up in an instant, with their 
v! wives and children, their tents, and all that 
belonged to them. Even this did not silence 
the Vickcd Israelites, and they complained 
to Moses and Aaron, " Te have killed the 
people of the Lord." God's anger was kin- 
dled against them for their continued rebel- 
lion, and he sent a qplague among them 
which destroyed fourteen thousand seven 
hundred men. After this God directed Mo- 
ses to take twelve rods, one for each of the 
tribes of Israel, and write upon each ro4 the 
name of the tribe to which it belonged. 
These were to be laid "together for a night in 
•the tabernacle ; and in the morning, the rod 
of the tribe which God had chosen would be 
found to have blossomed. The next day Mo- 



OF THE BIBLE. 11 

ses took out the rods, and it was found that 
" the rod of Aaron budded, and brought forth 
buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded al- 
monds," Then Ood commanded that the rod 
should be laid up and preserved, to show 
that God had chosen the house of Levi, to 
which Aaron belonged, to be priests forever. 
There is but one other place in the Bible 
in which the Almond is mentioned : it is in 
the twelfth chapter pf Ecclesiastes, and the 
verse is not very well understood. Solomon 
is speaking of the weakness, the trembling 
and the fears of the aged, and he says, 
" They shall be afraid of that which is high, 
and fears shall be in the way, and the 

^almond-tree shall flourish, and the grasshop- 
per shaU be a burden, and desire shall fail ; 
because man goeth to his long home, and the 
mourners go about the streets." He had just 
before given the direction, " Remember now 

■ ^thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while 

jiie evil days cOme not, nor the years draw 

nigh, when thou shalt day, I have no plea- 

*sure in them." Can there' d& any sight more 



12 TREES, FRUITS AND FLOWERS 

sad than an old person who has not God 
for his friend ? He may say, like one man 
in the Bible, "I am this day fourscore 
years old ; and can I discern between good 
and evil ? can I taste what I eat or what I 
drink? can I hear any more the voice of 
singing-men and singing-women ?" When 
his eye grows dim, and his ear heavy, and 
his limbs tremble with age, where can the 
aged man turn for comfort if he forgot 
God when he was young, and now "has no 
pleasure " in seeking him ? Oh ! if you would 
not have God forget you^ and " cast you off 
in time of old age," do not forget to seek 
him early. They that seek him early shall 
surely find him. 



THE APPLE-TEEE. 

It is supposed by many that the Apple- 
tree mentioned in the Bible wasf the same as 
the orangei lemon, or more probably the 




THE APPLE TREE, OR CITRON. 



OF THE BIBLE. 13 

cicron-tree. It it spoken of in Solomon's 
Song, chap. 2, verse 8. •' As the Apple-tree 
among the trees of the wood, so is my Be- 
loved among the sons. I sat down under his 
shadow with great delight, and his fruit was 
sweet to my taste." * ' 

The Citron-tree is not very large, but it is 
a beautiful object to the eye. The flowers 
are white, somewhat like the orange blos- 
som 5 the leaves are handsome, ^nd the ' 
fruit, * when ripe, has a rich golden coktf, 
and resembles the orange or lemon. T^^ 
flowers, the green fruit, and the yellow rip6 
fruit are often seen oh the tree at the same 
time ; it has then a very rich and beautiful 
appearance. The flowers, leaves and fruit 
are all fragrant, and tlje juice of the fruit 
is very refreshing to the weary in the hot 
climates where it grows: " Comfort me 
with apples " (or citrons) we read in Solo- 
mon's Song. We find this lamentation in 
Joel, 1 : 12. " The vine is dried up, and the 
fig-tree languisheth ; the pomegranate-tree, 
the pahnrtree also, and the apple-tree, even 



14 TREES, FRUITS AND FLOWERS . 

all the trees of the field are withered ; be 
cause joy is withered away from the sons of 
men." Here this tree' is reckoned among 
those which kre most . beautiful and most 
valuable to man. 

Solomon says, Pro v. 25:11, "A word 
fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures 
of silver." Instead of 4 'pictures," the word 
may mean lattice-^orh or basJcet-work ; and 
perhaps the king had in mind the silver 
baskets iu which the golden fruit was plac- 
ed when presented to him in hiai palace. 
Solomon seems to have thought very much 
of the gift of speech, and of the importance" 
of using it rightly ; he very often mentions 
it in his writings. In one place he says, 
" Every man shall J^iss the lips of him that 
giveth a right answer ;" and of a virtuous 
woman, " She openeth her mouth with wis- 
dom ; and in her tongue is the law of kind- 
ness." I hope you will remember this, for I 
think it may help you to speak wisely, sin- 
cerely and kindly. How much we love a * 
person that always does this; one who has 



OF THE BIBLE. 15 

respectful words for the aged and venera- 
ble; cheerful and leving words for children ; 
words of comfort for the poor, the sick and 
the sorrowful; kind and gentle words — 
words of truth, coming from the heart — for 
every body. Thesfe are indeed " golden ap- 
ples (or citrons) in baskets of silver ;" you 
cannot prize them too highly. 



BALM. 

If you look again at one of the verses 
which I mentioned in speaking of the al- 
mond, you will see that "a little balm" 
was among the valuable articles which Ja- 
cob's sons carried for a present to Joseph. 
It was obtained from the balsam-tree, and 
was sold for a great price; the merchants 
who bought Joseph from his brothers and 
took him away, were carrying " spicery and 
balm and myrrh" on their camels, to be 
sold in Egypt* It is said of the ancient and 



18 TEEES, FRUITS AND FLOWEES 

the health of the daughter bf my people re- 
covered V^'^^his precious balm is the blood 
of Christ, that ** balm for every wound " 
which sin makes in our hearts. When we 
feel that we have offended God, and are 
truly sorry that we have so grieved and dis- 
pleased him, nothing can comfort us but the 
assurance that there is a healing balm, even 
«* the blood of Jesus Christ his Son," which 
** cleanseth us from all sin." 



■=J»ee««i 



THE BAY-TREE. 

m 

Rev. Mr. Beadle, a missionary to Syria, 
says in his journal, " The Bay-tree spreads 
very much while growing, producing from 
five to twelve trees from a single root, which 
stand clustered together in singular beau- 
ty." ■ It is mentioned in but a single place in 
the Bible, Ps. 37 : 35, " I have seen the 
wicked in great power, and spreading him- 
self like a green bay-tree : yet he passed 



Y 



OF THE BIBLE. 19 

away, and lo, he was not: yea, I sought 
him, but he could not be found.'* This 
agrees well with many other passages in the 
Bible, such as these in the 18th and 20th 
chapters of Job. " The light of the wicked 
shall be put out, and the spark of his fire 
shall not shine. His remembrance shall pe- 
rish from the earth, and he shall have no re- 
membrance in the street. They who have 
seen him shall say, Where is he ? He shall 
fly away as a dream and be forgotten : yea, 
he shall be chased away as a vision of the 
night. This is the portion of a wicked man 
from God." But though the wicked is to be 
forgotten, as unworthy a name on earth, the 
word of God assures us that " th^ rigkteotu 
shall be in everlasting remembrance.'* 



THE BULEUSH. 

This is a kind of reed, growing abun- 
dantly in marshy places on the banks of the 



20 TREES, FRUITS AND FLOWERS 

river Nile. An ancient writer in speaking ol 
this river thus alludes to the Bulrush : *' Here 
rises this forest without branches, this thick- 
et without leaves, this harvest of the waters, 
this ornament of the marshes." It has a tri- 
angular or three-sided stem, and is often 
more than twice as high as a man. There is 
at the top a bunch of long, fine threads, a 
little resembling the tassel of broom-corn. 
The root is thick and twisted, and has many 
fiibres, so that it stands firmly in the ground, 
but the top is often bent over. This is referred 
to in Is. 58: 5^ "Is it such a fast that I have 
chosen ? is it to bow downhishead as abulrush, 
and spread sackcloth and ashes under him?" 
The people of Egypt used in ancient 
times to make vessels for sailing by tying 
together bundles of Bulrushes. We read in 
Isaiah, IS ; 1, 2, "Wo to the land that send- 
eth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels 
of bulrushes upon the waters." It was in 
an ark or cradle made of such rushes that 
Moses was placed by his mother on the 
banks of the Nile. 



OF THE BIBL^. 31 

The Bulrush grows only in wet places, 
and soon dies if the waters are dried up : we 
read in Job, 8 : 11, " Can the rush grow up 
without mire? can the flag grow without 
water?" 

The most useful part of the Bulrush to 
the people in ancient times, was the outer 
delicate rind, which could be made into a 
kind of paper. It was carefully taken off 
from the stem, and several pieces were 
spread side by side upon a table ; they were 
then moistened with water from the Nile, 
and being a little sticky, they adhered to 
each other, and made sheets of sufficient 
size to write upon. The pen was a hollow 
reed ; the ink, a colored fluid of some kind. 
People had no better paper than this for a 
great many hundred years ; and the few 
books they had wer6 written upon it or upon 
parchment. They called it papyrus. A book 
cost a great deal of money in those days, 
because it required considerable labor to 
prepare a sufficient quantity of the papyrus; 
and when that was done, every letter must 



22 TREES, FEUITS AND FLOWEES 

be made with a pen, because they did not 
understand the art of printing. The children 
had no books then ; only the rich men could 
afford to buy books, and even they had 
very few. 



CAMPHTRE. 

This plant is twice mentioned in Solo- 
mon's Song: in chap. 1:14, "My beloved 
is unto me as a cluster of camphire in the 
vineyards of Engedi," and chap. 4 : 13, 
" Thy plants are an orchard of pomegra- 
nates with pleasant fruits; camphire, with 
spikenard." 

It is very fragrant, but is not the sub- 
stance known among us as camphor; the 
name is spelled differently. It is a tall, beau- 
tiful shrub, growing in Egypt and the island 
of Cyprus ; it is sometimes called cyprus- 
flower, but the Arabs call it henna. The 
color of the bark is deep grey ; the wood 



OF THE BIBLE. 23 

within is light yellow.^ The leaves are of a 
light green ; the flowers have each four pe^ 
talsy or leaves as you would perhaps call 
ihem, of a very delicate yellow color. They 
grow together in clusters, somewhat like the 
lilac, and the little stems which support 
them are red. The stamens and pistils^ by 
which I mean the thread-like substances 
which you generally see in the centre of a 
flower, are white ; and the mingling of light 
green, yellow, red and white in the leaves, 
stems and flowers, is very pleasant to the eye. 
V The Arab women prize this shrub very 
highly ; they are delighted with the beauty 
and fragrance of the flowers, which they 
often carry about with them as a houquety or 
wear as an ornament. They value it so 
much that they are scarcely willing to allow 
Christian or even Arab women to share it with 
them. A sort of orange-colored or reddish 
powder is prepared from the dried leaves ot 
the henna, with which they stain their feet 
and hands, especially the nails; imagining 
it an improvement to their beauty. 



S4 TREES, FRUITS AND FLOWERS 



THE CEDAR-TREE. 

ii This is a most noble and beautiful tree, 
mentioned forty or fifty times in the Bible. 
There were formerly great numbers of them, 
and they were used for timber in making 
large and handsome buildings* Kijig Solo- 
mon built "the house of the forest of Leba- 
non upon four rows of cedar pillars, with 
cedar beams upon the pillars." Afterwards 
he determined to build a beautiful temple 
for the worship of God. His father David 
had wished very much to do it before he 
died ; but he had been a great warrior and 
had fought many battles, and on that ac- 
count God preferred that he should leave 
the work for Solomon, who was a peaceful 
king. David in his last days did all he could 
to prepare for it, by collecting gold, and sil- 
ver, and brass and stone in great abundance* 
After Solomon came to the throne, he sent to 
king Hiram in whose country the cedars 
grew, telling him of his plan to build a tem- 



OF TH£ BIBLB. 25 

pie; and he added, "Now therefore com- 
mand that they hew ine cedar-trees out of 
Lebanon; and my servants shall be with 
thy servants ; and unto thee will I give hire 
for thy servants according to all that thou 
shalt appoint." King Hiram replied, ** I will 
do all thy desire concerning timber of cedar, 
' and concerning timber of fir. My servants 
shall bring them down from Lebanon unto 
the sea ; and I will convey them by sea in 
floats to the place that thou shalt appoint 
me." Solomon commenced building the 
Lord's house in the fourth year of his reign, 
and it required seven years to finish it. He 
"covered the house with beams and boards 
of cedar;" and the walls within were made 
of the same wood, beautifully carved to re- 
semble flowers. 

The Cedar-tree is used in building, not 
only because it is so large as to make good 
timber, but because it is so bitter that no in- 
sect will touch it, which is one reason that it 
lasts a great while.]^t has been found unde- 
cayed in a temple that had stood two thou- 



26 TREES, FRUITS AND FLOWERS 

sand years. It is of a reddish-brown color, 
and quite fragrant. 

The tree is an evergreen^ and has the ap- 
pearance of great firmness and strength. 
The branches are sent off with great regu- 
larity, and each" one by itself is perfect and 
beautiful, curving gracefully to the end, and 
having on the whole upper surface the ap- 
pearance of velvet. The leaves grow in 
beautiful tufts, and are of a rich green co- 
lor. A kind of fragrant gum distils from the 
trunk and cones of the tree, which perfumes 
the air around. 

The number of cedars on Mount Lebanon 
is small compared with what it once was ; 
in the year 1823 the missionary Fisk count- 
ed between three and four hundred of all 
sizes. Some of the trunks were so large as 
to require a cord thirteen yards long to reach 
around them ; but these seemed to be form- 
ed of three or four trees, which had grown 
together into one. Many of the trees are 
marked with the names of persons who have 
visited them ; some of them were cut nearlj- 
two hundred years ago. 



OF THE BIBLE. 27 

I think it will interest you if I tell you a 
few more places in the Bible where tlus tree 
is mentioned. In Psalm 92 : 12, we read, 
" The righteous shall flourish like the palm- 
tree ; he shall grow like a cedar in Leba- 
non." In Jer. 22d, we find these words in 
regard to one of the wicked kings of Judah. 
"Wo unto him that buildeth his house by 
unrighteousness and his chambers by wrong : 
that useth his neighbor*s service without 
wages, and giveth him not for his work: 
that saith I will build me a wide house and 
large chambers, and cutteth him out win- 
dows ; and it is ceiled with cedar and paint- 
ed with vermilion ! (a rich red color.) Shalt 
thou reign because thou closest thyself in 
cedar ? Thy father (the good king Josiah) 
judged the cause of the poor and needy ; 
then it was well with him." 

Chests made of cedar are mentioned, Ez. 
27 : 24, where it is said the merchants tra- 
ded "in blue clothes and broidered work 
and in chests of rich apparel, bound with 
cords and made of cedar." If you recollect 



28 TREES, FRUITS AND FLOWERS 

what I have said of the wood of this tree, 
you ^ill see that it was very suitable for 
chests which were to contain clothing. 

In Ezekiel 31st we read, ^* The Assyrian 
was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches 
and of a high stature. His height was exalt- 
ed above all the trees of the field, and his 
boughs were multiplied and his branches 
became long. The fir-trees were not like his 
boughs, and the chesnut-trees were not like 
his branches ; nor any tree in the garden of 
God was like unto him in beauty." 



^9##«^ 



THE CYPRESS-TREE. 

This tree i» mentioned but once in the 
Bible. It is an evergreen, and grows to a 
large size. The wood is very heavy and 
very handsome, and it may be used for fur- 
niture instead of mahogany. jUt is perhaps 
as durable as ce4ar, and when used in build- 




THE CYPRESS. 



OF THIS BIBLE. 29 

ing lasts almost as long as stone itself. In 
ancient times it was used for coffins ; and 
the mummies of Egypt — that is, the bodies of 
those who died there thousands of y^ars ago 
and have been kept till now — are often 
found in cases made of cypress-wood. The 
leaves of the tree have a dark and melan- 
choly appearance, and branches of it were 
formerly carried in funeral processions. 

It seems from Isaiah 44, that the idols of 
the heathen were sometime* made of this 
wood. We read, verses 14 to 17, " He hew* 
eth him down cedars and taketh the cypress 
and the oak, which he strengtheneth for him- 
self among the trees of the forest : he plant- 
^th an ash and the rain doth nourish it. 
Then shall it be for a man to burn : for he 
will take thereof and warm himself; yea, 
he kindleth it, and baketh bread ; yea, he 
maketh a god and worshippeth it : he nrak- 
eth it a graven image, and falleth down 
thereto. He bumeth part thereof in the fire : 
with part thereof he eateth flesh : he roast- 
eth roast, and is satisfied ; yea, he warmeth ^ 



30 TREES, FRUITS AND FLOWERS 

himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have 
seen the fire : and the residue thereof he 
maketh a god, even his graven image : he 
falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and 
prayeth unto it, and saith. Deliver me, for 
. thou art my god." Could any words show 
more plainly the folly of the poor heathen ? 
But there are millions and millions in the 
world now who worship just such idols as 
these ; and thousands die every day who 
have never heard of the true God and our 
Savior. What can you do to send to any of 
them the knowledge of Christ? Do you give 
any thing to help the kind missionaries who 
are trying to teach them the way to heaven ? 
Do you ever pray to God to make you a 
missionary ? 



■afr O ®^^ 



THE FIG. 

The Fig-tree grows abundantly in the land 
of Judea, where our Savior lived and died, 



OF THE BIBLE. 31 

and the inhabitants value its fruit as an im- 
portant article of food. When the spies 
were sent by Moses to search out the land of 
Canaan, the isame that was afterwards call- 
ed Judea, they cut down in one place "a 
^ branch with one cluster of grapes, and they 
boVe it between two upon a staff; and they 
brought of the pomegranates and of the 
figs," to show how fine were the fruits of 
the country. 

y The fruit of the Fig-tree appears before 
the leaves, shooting out from the joints of the 
tree. The leaves are large, and ;palmated or 
hand-shaped. The prophet Habbakuk ex- 
presses his confidence in God when he says, 
" Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, 
neither shall fruit be in the vines ; yet will I 
rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of 
my salvation." 

>J. The Fig-tree produces two or three crops 
of figs in the course of the year. The first 
are ripe in June, and are called hoccore. 
These are referred to in Solomon's Song, 
2 : 11, 13. " For lo, the winter is past, the 



32 TREES, FRUITS AND FLOWERS 

rain is over and gone ; the flowers appear on 
the earth ; the fig*tree putteth forth her green 
figs, and the vines with the tender grape 
give a good smell." Also in Nahum, 3 : 12, 
where it is said, " Thy strong-holds shall be 
like fig-trees with the first ripe figs ; if they 
be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth 
of the eater." The Tcermome or summer fig 
is ripe in August ; this is the kind that is 
usually dried for food. It is sometimes suc- 
ceeded by another crop of longer and darker 
figs, which hang and ripen even after the 
leaves fall, and may be gathered in the 
spring if the winter has been mild. 

In ancient times figs were sometimes 
pressed into cakes and partly dried for 
food. When Abigail, the wife of Nabalj 
went to meet king David, she took with her 
♦•two hundred loaves, and two bottles of 
wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and 
five measures of parched corn, and an hun- 
dred clusters of raisins, and two hundred 
cakes of figs." You will find the whole story 
in the 25th chapter of 1st Samuel. When 



OF THE BIBLS. 83 

David was oriqe pursuing his enemies, some 
of his men found an Egyptian, who had fall* 
en sick and been Left by his master, ready to 
die with hunger, and they brought him to 
the king. Then they " gave Tiim bread and 
be did eat, and they made liim drink water r 
and they gave him a piece of a cake of figs 
and two clusters of raisins ; and when he 
had eaten his spirit came again, for he had 
eaten no bread, nor drank any water, three 
days and three nights." In return for their 
kindness in saving his life, be promised to 
lead David to the place where his enemies 
were ; and David and his men came upon 
them unexpectedly while they were eating 
and drinking and dancing, and destroyed 
them all excepting four hundred young men 
whb rode on camels and escaped. 

The Fig-tree in eastern countries is large 
enough to give a pheasant shade in the heat 
of the day. A traveller speaks of resting in 
the shadow of one under which was a well 
where a shepherd had placed himself and 
gathered his flock about him. Another says, 

Trees, fto^ 3 



34 TBEES, PBTHTS AND FLOWERS 

•* Coming to a little shade of fig-trees, we 
rested there during the heat of the day, and 
fed upon such provisions as we had." We 
read in 1 Kings, 4 : 25, " And Judah and 
Israel dwelt safely, every man under his 
vine and under his fig-tree, all the days of 
Solomon." In Micah, 4 : 4, a time is spoken 
of when Christ §haU reign over the whole 
earth, and all the nations shall be at peace ; 
and it is said, ** They shfetll sit every man 
under his vine and under his^g-tree, and 
none shall make them afraid." 

You have often read our Savior's parable 
of the barren fig-tree, which produced no 
fruit year after year, though much labor was 
bestowed upon it. I think that the child wha 
has been taught about Christ, atid has heard 
of all he did and suffered to save us from 
death eternal, and yet does not love hirii, is 
very-much like the fig-tree which bore no 
fruit. Do you remember what. was to bo 
done with such a tree ? 



OF THE BIBLE. Sf 



THE FIR, 

The Fir-tree is a species of pine, having 
the same slender, four-sided, needle-like 
leaves; but is distinguished from it by the 
circumstance that each leaf grows separate- 
ly, instead of in clusters of two, three or five. 
It is a beautiful evergreen, and this fact is 
alluded to in Hos. 14 : 8. " I am like a green 
fir-tree.'* It is often found growing near the 
cedar, and they are frequently mentioned 
together in the Bible, as in Isaiah, 14 : 8, 
•* The fir-trees rejoice at thee, and the ce- 
dars of Leibanon, saying. Since thou art laid 
down, no feller is come up against us." 

The wood of the fir-tree was used in an- 
cient times, as it still is, for finishing the in- 
terior of buildings. Solomon covered the 
floor of the temple with "planks of fir," and 
he ceiled one part of the house " with fir- 
tree, which he overlaid with fine gold." In 
Solomon's Song, 1 : 17, we read, "The 



86 TREES^ FRUITS AND FLOWERS 

beams of our house are cedar, and our raf- 
ters of fir." 

It was also used in ship-building, as we 
learn from Ezek. 27 : 5, <' They have made 
all thy ship-boards of fir-trees of Senir ; they 
have taken cedars from Lebanon to make 
ma^ts for thee." 

Musical instruments were made of it, 2 
Sam. 6:5," And David and all the house 
of Israel played before the Lord on all man- 
ner of instruments made of fir-wood, even 
on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, 
and on comets, and "on cymbals." It is still 
used in making violins, and for the sounding- ' 
boards of some other instruments of music. 

A peaceful and happy time is often spo- 
ken of in the Bible, when our Savior tTesus 
is to reign over the whole earth — a time 
when wars shall cease, and all men shall 
love God and each other. It would seem 
from some passages in the Bible that even 
wild beasts will become gentle and harmless, 
and the earth itself be more fertile and beau- 
tiful than now. We read in Isaiah, 41 : 19. 



OF THE BIBLE. 37 

*'I will plant iri the wilderness the cedar, 
and the myrtle, and the oil-tree ; I will set 
in the desert the fir-tree, and the pine, and 
the box-tree together ;'' and in chap. 55 : 13. 
'^^ Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir- 
tree, and instead of the brier shall come up 
the myrtle-tree." In Isaiah, 60 : 13, it is said 
*f the church of God, " The glory of Leba- 
non shall come unto thee, the fir-tree, the 
pine-tree and the box together, to beautify the 
place of my sanctuary; and I will make the 
place of my feet glorious." It is very de- 
lightful to one wio loves Christ, to know 
that he will not always be so much dis- 
honored as now, in 'the world for which he 
died ; and to believe that the day is hasten- 
ing on when all the heatl^pn and every na- 
tion on earth will deligUl to serve and obey 
him. 






38 TBEES, FRUITS AND YLOWBBS 



FLAX^ 

This is a very useful and valuable plants 
growing to the height of two or three feet, 
and having a delicate blue flower with five 
petals. The outer covering of the stalk, af- 
ter being exposed for a while- to dew an* 
sunshine,' is easily separated, into fibres,, from 
which linen is made ; ^nd the seed ftimishes 
linseed oil, so much used by painters.. - 

Egypt is still famous, as it was in fiible 
times, for its fields of flax, though it grows 
in many 'other countries* It was undoubted- 
ly a great disappointttient to t^e Egyptians, 
when their flax was destroyed bythe terrible 
hail which God^sent as the seventh plague 
upon Pharaoh, E:Mi. 9 : 31. "^A.nd the flax 
and the barley was smitten ; for the barley 
was in the ear and the flax was boiled.'* It 
was cultivated in Judea, as we learn from 
th^ 2d chancer of Joshua. Two spies had 
been sent secretly by Joshua into the city of 
Jericho, to find out whether it would be easy 




FLAX. 



/ 

9 



OF THE BIBLE. 39 

for the Israelites to taka it from the inhabi- 
tants. The king heard that they wexe there, 
and determined to take them, probably m- 
tending to put them to death ; but their lives 
iwere saved by^a woman, who hid them un- 
der the stalks of flax which she had laid to 
dry. on the flat roof of her house. For this 
kindness they promised to save her life and 
the lives of her family when they should come 
to take the city ; and she fastened a sca^rlet , 
cord in one of her windows, that they might 
know in which house she lived. You will find 
in the 6th chapter of Joshua an account of 
the singular manner in which the city of 
Jericho was taken, and the 25th verse will 
tell you whether the spies remembered their 
promise to Rahab, and kept it. 

It was common for females- in ancient 
times to employ themselves in spinning flax ; 
even the ladies of rich and noble families 
were often thus occupied. Solomon says in 
his beautiful description of a virtuous wo- 
man, Prov. 31, " She seeketh wool and flax 
and worketh willingly with her hands. She 



40 TREES, FRUITS AKD FLOWERS 

maketh fine linen and sdleth it, and deliver- 
eth girdles to the merchant." 

The " fine linen of Egypt " was very much 
eelebrated in ancient times because none 
equal to it was then made in any other coun- 
try ; but that which is found wrapped around 
the mummies, and which was made two or 
three thousand years ago, is not nearly as 
fine and handsome as that which is now made 
by the help of our almost perfect machinery. 
It is said of Egypt, Isaiah, 19 : 9, " More- 
over they that work in fine flax, and they that 
weave net-works shall be confounded." 

Linen is often mentioned in the Bible as 
the clothing of the rich and great. "And 
Pharaoh took off his ring firom his hand, and 
put it upon Joseph's hand, and arrayed him 
in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain ' 
about his neck." Gen. 41 : 42. " And Mor- 
decai went out from the presence of the king 
in royal apparel of blue and white, and with 
a great crown of gold, and with a garment 
of fine linen and purple." Esther, 8 : 15. 
The rich man mentioned in Luke, 16 : 19 



OF THE BIBLfi. 41 

was " clothed in purple and fine linen ;" yet 
this did not save him from death, or comfort 
him when " in hell he lifted up his eyes, be- 
ing in torments," and begged for one drop 
of water to cool his tongue. 

The angels who have appearAl on earth, 
and the happy beings who have gone from 
this world to heaven, are often represented 
as clothed in white linen, the emblem of 
purity. " Then I lifted up mine eyes, and 
looked, and behold a certain man clothed in 
linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold 
of Uphsiz. His body also was like the beryl, 
and his face as the appearance of lightning." 
Dan. 10 : 5, 6. " And the seven angels came 
out of the temple, clothed in pure and white 
linen, and having their breasts girded with 
golden girdles." In Rev. 19 : 8, it is said 
of the church, " And to her it was granted 
that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean 
and white ; for the fine linen is the righteous- 
ness of saints." In the same chapter our 
Savior is spoken of under tjtie name of ** the 
Word of God," as riding on a white horse, 



42 TREBS, FRUITS AND FLOWERS 

and clothed with a vesture dipped in blood ; 
" and the armies which were in heaven fol- 
lowed hira upon white horses, clothed in fine 
linen, white and clean." 

There is a beautiful verse in the 12th chap- 
ter of MattHew about our Savior, and you will 
find the same in Isaiah, 42 : 3, written long 
before he came into the world, " A bruised 
reed shall he not break, and the smoking 
flax shall he not quench." Flax was used 
by the Jews for the wicks of their lamps or 
torches, and by " smoking flax " they meant 
a lamp that was just ready to go out. So 
when it is said, "He will not quench the 
smoking flax," the expression beautifully re- 
presents his great gentleness and kindness 
towards the young and the weak. I am sure 
that even little children need not fear to go 
to this tender Saviof , lay their heads upon 
his bosom and ask him to love them. When 
they read such a verse as this, I should think 
they would say as a dear child did a few 
days ago, " It often seems to me as if I could 
run right into his arms." , 




FRANKINCENSE. 



OF THE BIBLE. 4$ 

FRANKINCENSE. 

This name was given to a very costly and 
fragrant gum, obtained by cutfing the bark 
of a certain tree which the ancients called 
thuriferaj or the inceTise-^yearing tree. It was of 
a whitish or light yellow color, and gave out 
a very sweet perfume while burning. It was 
among the precious gifts brought by the wise 
men to our infant Savior. Matt. 2 : 11. " And 
when they had opened their treasures they 
presented unto him. gifts ; gold, and frank • 
incense, and myrrh." 

It was formerly laid upon the sacrifices 
that were offered upon the altar, and was 
burnt at the same time. "And when any 
will offer a meat-offering unto the Lord, his 
offering shall be of fine flour ; and he shall 
pour oil upon it and put frankincense there- 
on." Then the priest was to take a hand- 
ful of tl^e flour, and a part of the oil, and all 
the frankincense, and bum them together, 
•* an offering made by fire of a sweet savor 



44 TREES, FRUITS AND FLOWERS 

unto the Lord ;" and the remainder of the 
flour belonged to the priest for his own use. 
Lev. 2:1. It was also placed upon the 
" shew-bread," which was always kept on a 
table in the fabernacle. This was'the direc- 
tion given to Moses : " Thou shalt take fine 
flour and bake twelve cakes thereof. And 
thou shalt set them in two rows, six in a row, 
upon the pure table before the Lord; and 
thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each 
row, that it may be upon the bread for a 
memorial." 

The " incense" so often mentioned in the 
Bible, was made in part of frankincense, 
with other rich spices. The direction is 
given in Exod. 30 : 34. " And the Lord said 
unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, 
stacte, and onycha, and galbanum; these 
sweet spices, with pure firankincense : of 
each there shall be a like weight." It was 
to be most holy unto the Lord^ and whoever 
should make any like it was to be " cut off 
from his people." The altar for incense was 
made of choice wood, and covered with 



OF THE BIBLIB. i5 

plates of fine gold. It was very small, being 
only eighteen inches each way, and about a 
yard high ; of course only a small quantity 
was burned at once. 

The time for burning incense was at morn- 
ing and evening. Exod. 30 : 7, 8. <*And 
Aaron shall bum sweet incense every mom 
ing: when he dresseth the lamps he shall 
burn incense. And when Aaron Ughteth the 
lamps at even* he shall burn incense." It 
was to be offered only by the priests, and 
lighted only with a coal from the fire which - 
was always burning on one of the altars, and 
which came at first from heaven. 

The incense was burnt in a very solemn 
manner on the great " day of atonement." 
The high priest then -went into the " holy of 
holies," and it was the only time he was al- 
lowed to enter during the whole year. Even 
then the mercy-seat must be partly hidden 
by the smoke of the incense which he car- 
ried, that he might not approach too near 
the Holy One. Lev. 16 : 12, 13. " And he 
(Aaron) shall take a censer full of burning 



46 TREES, PRUITS AND FLOWERS 

coals of fire from off the altar before the 
Lord, and his hands full of sweet incense 
beaten small, and bring it within the vail. 
And he shall put the incepse upon the fire 
before the Lord, that the cloud of the in- 
cense may cover the mercy-seat, that he die 
not." 

* These things will explain to you some of 
the terrible judgements which are mentioned 
in the Old Testament as having been sent by 
God upon those who disobeyed in regard to 
the holy offerings. In Lev. 10 : 1, 2, we read, 
*' And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, 
tpok each of them his censer, and put fire 
therein, and put incense thereon, and offered 
strange fire before the Lord, which he com- 
manded them not. And there went out a 
fire from the Lord and devoured them ; and 
they died before the Lord." In the 16th of 
Numbers we have a sad story of disobe- 
dience and its punishment ; a part of which 
you will find in the account of the Almond- 
tree. The sin of these men consisted in their 
offering incense although they were not 



OF THE BIBLE. 47 

priests; and it is probable that they used 
common fire instead of coals from the altar. 
You will find, m 2 Chron. 26 : 16-21, an 
account of a proi^d and self-willed king who 
went into the temple to -ofier incense, though 
the priests entreated him not to do it, and 
warned him that it " should not be for his 
honor from the Lord God." While the cen- 
ser was yet in his hand the leprosy began 
to appear on his forehead, and the priests 
were obliged to thrust him out of the temple, 
because no leper might remain within its sa- 
cred walls. The disease continued until the 
day of his death, so that he was obliged from 
that time to live in a house by himself. Sure- 
ly it is no trifling thing to disobey the in- 
finitely holy God, or to profane his house, 
or his Sabbath, or any thing that he has set 
apart for himself. 

The prayers of God's children are some- 
times compared in the Bible to sweet in- 
cense. David says, Psalm 141 : 2, " Let my 
prayer be set forth before thee as incense 
and the lifting up of my hands aa the even- 



48 TR^ES, FRUITS AND FLOWERS 

ing sacrifice/' It is. said in Mai. 1 : 11} 
'' From the rising of the sun even unto the 
going down of the same,, my name shall be 
great, among the Gentiles; and in every 
place incense shall be offered unto my name, 
and a pure offering." This doubtless has 
reference to the incense of prayer, which 
shall hereafter ascend from all lands. I trust 
you can sing the sweet words, 

"Lord, let my prayer like incensfe rise, 
"And when I lift my hands to thee, 

" As in the evening sacrifice, 
" Look down from heaven, well-pleased, on me/* 

Th§ apostle John says in the book of Re- 
velation, " I saw another angel, (in heaven,) 
having a golden censer; and there was given 
unto him much incense, that he should offer 
il with the prayers of all saints upon the gol- 
den altar which was before the throne. And 
the smoke of the incense, which came with 
the prayers of the saints, ascended before 
God out of the angel's hand." This incense 
re-presents the merits of our great Mediator, 



OF THE BIBLE. 



Jesus Christ, through which alone our pray 
era are accepted with God. 



THE GOURD. 

This is not mentioned in the Bible except- 
ing in the story of Jonah, and it is a little 
doubtful what plant is intended in that place. 
There are many shrubs in warm countries 
that grow very rapidly and wither very 
quickly ; but Jonah's gourd is said to have 
**cojgae up in a night, and perished in a 
night.'* "And the Lord God prepared a 
gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, 
that it might be a shadow over his head, to 
deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was 
exceeding glad of the gourd. But God pre- 
pared a worm when the morning rose the 
next day, and it smote the gourd that it 
withered." 

Wild gourds are mentioned in 2 Kings* 
6 : 39. They are the fruit of a plant similaf 

Tree*, fcc, ^ 



50 TREES, FRUITS AND FLOWERS 

tothe garden-cucumber, which creeps upon 
the ground. The gourd when ripe resembles 
what is sometimes called the mock-orange j 
it is smooth and yellow, has a hard rind, 
and is very bitter. The good Elisha was 
one day surrounded by the sons of the pro- 
phets ; it was a time of famine, and they 
had nothing for food. Elisha knew that 
God would enable him to provide for their 
wants, and he said to his servant, " Set on 
the great pot and seethe pottage (a thick 
soup) for the sons of the prophets." Some 
one went into the field to try to find vege* 
tables for the pottage, and brought in a quan- 
tity of poisonous wild gourds without know- 
ing what they were, and scattered them in- 
to the pot. At dinner-time they found that 
they were unable to eat of the pottage, and 
told Elisha that ** death " was in it. But he 
directed that meal should be brought and 
thrown in, and afterwards there was nothing 
hurtful in it ; of course the ipeal would not 
have done any good unless a miracle had 
been wrought. 



OF THE BIBL]^. 6l 

HYSSOP. 

This is an herb growing to the height of 
about a foot and a half. It has small leaves 
of a bitter taste, and the flowers grow in a 
circle around the top of the stems. There i^ 
said to be a very small kind, which is "re- 
ferred to in the passage, "And Solomon 
spake of trees, from the cedar-tree that is in 
Lebanon, even unto the hyssop that spring 
eth out of the wall." 

It was used in ancient times, to sprinkle 
for the purpose of purifying. When one who 
had been a leper was cleansed, the priest 
was directed to " take two birds alive and 
clean, and cedar-wood, and scarlet, and hys- 
sop." Then one of the living birds was to 
be killed in an earthen vessel over running 
water; and it was commanded, The priest 
shall take the other, " and the cedar-v^rood, 
and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall 
dip them and the living' bird in the blood of 
the bird that was killed over the running 



52 * TREES, FRUITS AND FLOWERS 

water : and he shall sprinkle upon him that 
is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven 
times, and shall pronounce him clean, and 
shall let the living bird loose into the open 
field." 

When God had determined to destroy all 
the first-bom of the Egyptians, he wished 
the Israelites to put some mark upon their 
doors, so that their houses might be known 
and their children be sayed aJive. He there- 
fore directed them, after the lamb for the 
passover had been killed, to " take a bunch 
of hyssop, and dip it in the blood,, and strike 
the lintel and the two side-posts" of the 
door ;■ and he promised that wherever this 
blood was seen he would pass by and leave 
the family in safety. 

David once ptayed for a pure heart in 
these words, " Purge me with hyssop, and I 
shall be clean ; wash me, and I shall be 
whiter than snow:" and it is a potion that 
we also need to ofier from the very heart 



OF THE BIBLE. 6$ 

THE JUNIPER. 

This IS an evergreen shrub or low tree, 
bearing cones like the pine. The leaves 
grow in threes; the flowers are yellowish, 
jand the berries are blue when ripe. It 
flourishes in a dry and sandy soil. 

An oil is obtained from Juniper berries 
which is used in medicine; and although 
very poisonous, it has often been employed 
to flavor ardent spirits, especially the kind 
known as Holland gin. A resin is obtained 
from the older shrubs, of which pounce is 
made : this is a delicate powder, which is 
put upon writing-paper after something has 
been erased with a knife, to prevent the ink 
from spreading. 

In Psalm 120 : 3, 4, we find the question, 
•'What shall be given unto thee, or what 
shall be done unto thee, thou fadse tongue ?" 
And the answer is, " Sharp arrows of the 
mighty, with coals of Juniper." It is said 
that branches of Juniper make a pecuharly 



54 TREES, FRUITS? AND FLOWER 

hot fire ; and it would aeem from these ver» 
ses that the lying' tongue is considered as de* 
serving of no light punishment. We know 
from many other passafl[es in the book of God 
how he regards it $ and if we had but this 
one, " And there shall in no wise enter into 
it (heaven) any tiyng that defileth, neither 
whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketb 
a he," it would seem fo be sufficient to make 
us constanUy watchful over ourselves, and 
fearful of the least departure from perfect 
truth. 

Job says of some poor peqple, "They cut 
up mallows by the bushes, and juniper-roots 
for their meat ;" this would not have been 
done excepting by those ready to die fiwr 
want of food. 

We are told, J. Kings, 19, that when the 
prophet Elijah was at one time fleeing from 
the cruel queen Jezebel, to save his life, " He 
weat a, day'* journey into the wilderness, 
aad came and sat down under a juniper- 
tree ; and he requested for himself that he 
might die. And aa he lay add slept un- 




THE LILY. 



OF THE BmjUE. 5$ 

^ der the juniper-tree, b^old, then an angel 
touched him, and said unto him, Arise and 
eat. And he looked, and behold there was 
a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of 
water 4at his headi And he did eat and 
drink, and Iscid him down again.** The an- 
gel allowed hinv t© sleep awhile that he plight 
be refreshed after his weary journey, and 
theq gently waking him, bade him eat again j 
«* because," said he, " the J€iurnejU«^oo great 
for thee." God never forgets his servants 
when they are in sorrow and suffering, but 

' pities and -carea^forthecQ, "like as a father 
pitieth his children." 

II ,; i9Q c i i- PI 



THE LILY. 

There are great numbers of beautiful 
flowers bearing this name. We have many 
in our own country, and in warmer climates 



6$ TREES, FKUITS AND PLOWBKS 

there is a still greater variety ; they often 
grow as wild flowers Jn the open plains. 
The most beautiful lily is of a pure white 
color, but there are others having a great 
variety of shades,-7-yeUo\y, ojrange-color and 
red, and some are spotted with black. They 
all have bulboua roots like the tulip; the 
leaves are long and narrow,, and seem as if 
folded through the middle. The flowers grow 
at the top of the stems, and they have all six 
petab. Many of them have a very sweet and 
fragrant smell. 

The lily is considered almost a sacred 
flower in eastern countries, and the temples 
are often ornamented with wood or stone 
sculptured in the form of lilies. So it was 
in Solomon's temple ; " upon the top of. the 
pillars was lily-work.'* The ** molten sea " 
which Solomon made for holding water, had 
^« the brim wrought like the brim of a cup 
with flowers of lilies." The lily was con- 
sidered an emblem of purity and love, and 
was classed with the rose for elegance and 
beauty. Our Savior is represented in Solo- 



OF THE BIBL£;« 57 

mon^s Song, 2:1, as " the Rose of Sharon, 
and the Lily of the valley." 

The beauty and freshness of the lily are 
referred to in Hosea, 14 : 6, where it is said 
of Israel, *' He shall grow^as the lily and cast 
forth his roots as Lebanon," (or as the cedars 
of Lebanon.) 

Our Sg-vior once taught his disciples a de- 
lightful lesson of confidence in God for the 
Supply of their daily wants. He was proba 
bly talking with -them as they walked oi 
stood in the open air ; and he may have 
pointed to the birds flying over their heads 
when he said, " Behold the fowls of the air : 
for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor 
gather into barns ; yet your heavenly Father 
fgodeth them. ' Are ye not better (or of more 
conseqiiesLce) than they?" This was to show 
them that they need not be anxious about 
their daily fobd ; for if God took care of the 
birds he would surely remember them. 

Then pointing to the flowers growing in 
beauty around them, he says, ** Consider the 
lilies of the field how they grow ; they toil 



58 TREES, FRTJITS AND FLOWERS 

not, neither do they spin ; and yet I say un* 
to you that Solomon in all his glory was not 
arrayed like one of these." 



j^^Qqh^ ■* 



THE MULBERRY, 

The two principal varieties of this tree are 
the black and the white. This distinction re- 
fers to the difference of color in the fruit of 
the two kinds. That which produces the 
most wholesome and agreeable fruit is the 
black. It is a hardy tree, flourishing in the 
coldest parts of the United States ; the leaves 
are large, rough, and notched at the edges j 
the berries very abundant and pleasant to 
the taste. Very few trees are so leafy and 
verdant, and afford so dense a. shade as this, 
so that it is a highly ornamental as well as 
useful tree. 

The Mulberry grew at a very early period 
in the western and central parts of Asia, and 



OF THE BIBLE. 69 

U is supposed that they received it from 
China, which lies on the eastern part of that 
continent* It was carried from Persia into 
Turkey, from whence it travelled westward 
over Europe, and then to America, until it 
has almost made the circuit of the globe. 
This is the case with several other fruit- 
trees as well as the Mulberry, and also with 
many of our choicest shrubs, plants and 
flowers. 

In this country we seldom see many of 
these trees growing together, but in some 
countries of Asia, in the neighborhood of 
towns or on the banks of rivers, there are 
large groves of ttem, which by their deep 
green color aflford a fine contrast to the bright- 
er foliage arotind them. In the gardens of 
Constantinople they are much prized for their 
fruit. Near Beirout and Damascus, towns 
in Syria, extensive plantations are cultivated, 
and the silk- worms that feed on them pro- 
duce a large quantity oi* silk. 

You doubtless know that the leaves, and 
young shoots of the mulberry are the favorite 



60 . TREES, FECJITS AND FLOWERS 

food of the silk-worm. They are so appro- 
priate for this purpose, that Providence 
seems to have designed that this use should 
be made of them. The Greeks and Romans, 
with all their improvements in the arts, 
knew nothing of this little insect or the use 
to which the mulberry leaf might be applied, 
The people of Europe obtained this know- 
ledge froili the Chinese about 550 years be- 
fore the christian era. Eastern nations have 
a beautiful proverb to this effect, 

" With time and patience the leaf of the mulberry 
becomes satin." 

How wonderful it is that so small a creattire 
can be made of such use to man, and that 
two things so different as balls of silk and 
green leaves should be manufactured one 
out of the other! In these things we see 
the wisdom and kindness of the great God 
who made all things, and designed before- 
hand the use for which they should serve. 
Man could never have taiight the silk-worm 
to work for him, or have changed the mul- 



OF THE BIBLE. 61 

berry leaf into a substance from which clothes 
could be made, had not God contrived at 
jfirst the plan and ordained the means by 
which it was to be brought about. 

The white mulberry is the kind which has 
been most cultivated for the food of the silk- 
worm. The leaves are about half as large 
as those of the black and more tender ; the 
fruit is smaller, not so pleasant to the taste 
and of a whitish color. 

From the allusions to this tree in the Bible, 
we should suppose it to have been common 
in Palestine. But it may be well for you to 
know that there is some doubt whether the 
mulberry of the Scriptures is like the tree 
which we know by that name. The Hebrew 
word is Baca^ and signifies weepings from 
which it is inferred that the tree thus named 
distilled a gum or resin from its trunk and 
branches. In Psalm ^4 : 6, you will find the 
word Baca retained ; and in Psalm 78 : 47, 
it is translated " Sycamore trees," but in the 
history of the wars between David and the 
Philistines, it is called the Mulberry, as you 



62 TREES, FRUITS AKD FLOWERS 

will see in 2 Sam. 5 : 22, 25, and 1 Chron. 
14:13, 16. 

The Mulberry has been called " the wisest 
of trees," and I will explain to you the rea- ' 
son. It does not put forth its leaves until 
the weather is quite warm, and there is little 
danger of its being injured by frost, and 
then it shoots forth rapidly and abundantly ; 
in a very short time all its boughs are cov- 
ered with foliage. Now I suppose you know 
that wisdom consists in saying Bnd doing 
things seasonably and well; or in other 
words, at the best time and in the best man- 
ner. Our Savior by calling our attention to 
the lilies of the field, teaches us that we 
should endeavor to draw some useful hints 
even from things without life. Happy will 
it be for you, if you learn a lesson of wis-' 
dom frojn the mulberry-tree. "Remember 
now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, 
while the evil days come not nor the years 
draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no 
pleasure in them." EccL 12 ^ 1. 

Do you wish to be wise ? ** The fear of 



OF THE BIBLE. 63 

the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from 
evil is understanding." Job, 28 : 28. 

There is another peculiarity of the mul- 
berry from which you may derive instruc- 
tion* Most of our fruit-trees begin to bear 
about the third year of their growth, and for 
a. few years produce abundantly; but as 
soon as they pass their prime the fruit di 
minishes in size and quantity. On the con- 
trary, the mulberry becomes more produc- 
tive as the tree gets older. May you in hke 
manner go on " from strength to strength ;" 
and every year bring forth abundantly " fruits 
meet for repentance ;*' for " every tree that 
bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down 
and cast into the fire." Mat. 3 : 8, 10. 



04v TEEBS, FRUITS AND FLOWERS 

MYRRH. 

The Myrrh-tree, that is to say, the tree 
which produced the myrrh so often mention- 
ed in the Holy Scriptures, is not very well 
known. Some describe it as a small tre^ 
that grows about eight feet high, with a thorny 
trunk, the wood of which is very hard. It is 
probable that both myrrh and frankincensie 
are the product of trees very nearly related 
to the balsam-tree which yields the balm of 
Gilead, of which you have already had an 
account. 

The substance known to us as myrrh, 
and used in medicine, is a gum brought 
from Western Asia, of a reddish-yellow 
color and very bitter taste. 

The ancients made use of myrrh as a per- 
fume, and in embalming the dead, as a 
means of preserving the body from decay. 
They also mingled it with wine to form a 
cordial which was very highly esteemed. 
s The Jews of old, like the inhabitants of 



OF THE BIBLB. 65 

the East at the j^-esent day, were very fond 
of strong perfumes. They sometimes carried 
myrrh in their bosoms, perfumed their gar* 
ments, and nibbed their hands and lips with 
it. This custom is alluded to in Psalm 45 : 9, 
where the flourishing state of Christ's king- 
dom is described under the similitude of a 
glorious queen, "All thy garments smell of 
myrrh and aloes and cassia.'* And in the 
Song of Solomon, " My hands dropped with 
myrrh, and my fingers with sweet-smell- 
ing myrrh :" and again, alluding to Christ, 
"His lips are like lilies, dropping sweet-* 
smelling myrrh." Sol. Song, 5 : 5, 13. 

Myrrh was an article of commerce at a 
very early period. You will find it mention* 
ed among the commodities that the Ishmael- 
ites were carrying to Egypt when Joseph 
was sold to them by his envious and cruel 
brethren. Gen. 37 : 25. It appears from 
Ex. 30 : 23, that it entered into the compo- 
sition of the holy anointing oil that was used 
in the service of the tabernacle. But it would 
make this account too long were I to point 

Trees, See.. 5 



66 TREES, FRUITS AND FLOWERS 

out all the places in wHich it is spoken of in 
the Bible. Yet I wish you to observe that it 
is mentioned in tl^e New Testament, in the 
narrative botb of the birth and death of our 
Lord Jesus Christ. Look at Mat. 2 : 11, and 
yon wiU see that the wise men who came 
from the East ijiquiring for the infant Savior, 
when they had found, him, worshipped him, 
and opening their treasures, *' presented unto 
him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh." 

This shows that these wise and good men 
were willing to give up to the. service of 
their Lord the ipost costly and precious 
things they possessed* Such is the temper 
of all true christians. They are ever ready 
to say, " All for Christ : all for Christ." 

We read also, Mark, 19:23, that when 
our Savior hung upon the cross they oflered 
him for drink " wine mingled with myrrh.' 
Strong drink of some kind was usually 
given to persons about to suffer death, in 
order to produce insensibility, and by that 
means lessen the sense of pain. But Christ 
refused to drink it, because he came to suf 



OF .THE BIBLE. 6} 

fer and make an atonement for, our sins, and 
would not set aside one pang that was ne- 
cessary to make the great work of redemp- 
tion complete. 

I have told you that .the ancients used 
myrrh for embalming the dead. It served 
that purpose at this time. After the cruci- 
fixion, Nicodemus, who at first visited Jesus 
by night, but had now become open and 
fearless in his attachment, " brought a mix- 
ture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred 
pound weight," with' which he and other 
friends of the Savior embalmed his body 
and laid it in the sepulchre. 

Why did the Savior endure such humilia- 
tion and distress ? What was the object of 
his sufferings and death ? Surely you know 
" that for your sakes he became poor, that 
ye through his poverty might be made rich," 
Are you truly grateful for it? Have you 
given him your heart ? 



68 TREES, f RUITS AND FLOWERS 

THE MYRTLE. 

This shrub is so beautiful that you will 
not be surprised to learn that the Jews some- 
times called #ieir daughters by its name, 
Hadassah^ the Hebrew name of Queen Es- 
ther, (Esther, 2 : 7,) signifies a myrtle. It 
grows plentifully in Judea and the south of 
Europe, often without being cultivated, and 
sometimes reaches the height of a small 
tree. It is usually from six to eight feet high, 
though iti Our climate it seldom attains more 
than half that height. 

The boughs are close and form a bushy 
head like the box. The leaves are of a vivid 
green, thickly set, small, and ending in a 
point. It bears a profusion of delicate white 
flowers, tinged with red, which appear beau- 
tiful to the eye amid the shining green leaves, 
and emit a perfume which some travellers 
say is sweeter than that of the rose itself. 
The flowers are succeeded by an oval berry 
of the size of a small pea, which contains the 



OF THE BIBLE. ' CS 

shed. The pimerUo or ^allspice sold in the 
shops and used in cookery is the seed of one 
species of the myrtle. * 

Those plants, which do not drop their 
leaves at the approach of winter, but rwastia 
clothed through the yeir; afe called evet'* 
green* The myrtle is an evergreen ; andion 
this account as well as for its singular beau- 
ty, some ancient nations used it as they did 
the laurel, to form wreaths with which to 
crown their heroes when they returned vic- 
torious from war. But it is a pity that this 
fragrant and beautiful shrub should remind 
us only of fighting and conquest ; we will 
therefore turn to the scriptural use of it, 
which is far more appropriate and interest- 
ing. It is there put for an emblem of peace 
and prosperity. 

The blessings which the world would en- 
joy under the peaceful reign of Christ were 
described by the prophet Isaiah (ch. 41 : 19) 
under the figure of planting the wilderness 
with the myrtle, the cedar, the box, and 
other useful and ornamental trees. In tbo 



70 TREES, FRUITS AND FLOWERS 

66th ch. and 13th verse, he says again, ** In- 
stead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, 
and instead of the brier shall come up the 
myrtle-tree : and it shall be to the Lord for 
a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not 
be cut off.'' This means that a time will 
come when truth and holiness will prevail 
where now only sin and misery are to be 
found. This happy time has been before 
alluded to in speaking of the fir. 

Whenever the heart of a sinner is touch- 
ed by the Holy Spirit, and he begins to 
love God and his fellow-creatures, a change 
equally great takes place. 



THE NETTLE. 

The Nettle is a rough-looking plant, or 

weed, only remarkable for having small 

stings upon its leaves, which on its being 

*liandled give out a poisonous juice, that 



OF THE BIBLE. 71 

produces a burning sensation accompanied 
with pain. 

In every place in the Bible where this 
plant is mentioned it is used to represent 
{extreme neglect and desolation. It is a 
striking emblem for this purpose, as nettles 
are not usually suffered to grow near the 
habitations of men ; they flourish only in 
the wildest and most uncultivated places. 
The prophet Isaiah, in depicting the terrible 
judgments that should fall upon the land 
where God's enemies dwelt, says, " Thorns 
shall cotne up in her palaces ; nettles and 
brambles in the fortresses thereof." Is. 34 : 13. 
Hosea uses similar language in showing what 
would be the condition of Judea when her 
people should be carried captive to Egypt. 
Hosea, 9:6. 

I have no doubt but many children can 
repeat without the book, the description 
which king Solomon gives of the slothful or 
idle man. It is so vivid, that as it is read 
you can see it in the mind's eye, and might 
draw a picture from it. ** I went by the field 



72 TREES, FEUIXS AND FLCfWERd 

of the slothful, apd by the vineyard of the 
man void of understanding ; and Ip, it w^s 
all grpwn over with thorns, .and netttes had 
covered the face thereof, and the stone wall 
thereof was broken down. Then I saw and 
considered it wfell: I looked upon it, and 
received instruction." Prov. 24 : 30-32. ^ 

What do you suppose WEfcs that "instruc- 
tion" which Solomon obtained from this sad 
example? It was doubtless this: that he 
who hates labor, neglects his proper busi- 
ness, and lives a life of indolence and folly, 
will.not only coijie to want and bring distress 
upoB his family, but is in danger of losing 
his soul. Read Mat. 25 : 26-30, and learn 
what became of the ** wicked and slothful 
servant." 

The earth, if left to itself, instead of pro- 
ducing an abundance of wholesome grain, 
fruits and vegetables for the food of man, 
would soon be overrun with thorns and this- 
tles and useless weeds. Gen. 3 : 18. You 
see by this how important industry is, and 
hpw necessary an^ honorable is the calling 



OF THE BIBLE. 73 

of the husb^-ndman. God intended man to 
live a life « of industry. Not only the earth 
but the Heart and mind will run to waste 
and become a wilderness without it. **Our* 
souls," says the good Dr. Henry, "are our 
fields aiid vineyards, which we are every 
one of us to take care of, to dress and to 
keep. We are charged with them, to occu- 
py them till our Lord come,, and a great 
deal of care and paiiis it is requisite that we 
should take about them." 

The nettle is also mentioned in Job, 30:7; 
referring to his enemies, the writer says, 
" under the nettles they were gathered to- 
gether." But the original Hebrew word is 
not the same in this case as in the former in- 
stances ; and it would ^eem that the com- 
mon nettle cannot lie intended, as that plant 
does not grow large enough to afibrd con- 
cealment or shelter to men. Perhaps the 
bramble or thorn-bush was meant. 



74 THEICS, FRUITS AND FLOWERS 



THE OAK. 

The oak is remarkable for its size, for its 
long life, and for the strength and durability 
of it^ wood. It is a spreading rather than 
a tall tree, shooting out its boughs hori- 
zontally, so as to form a shady and majestic 
bower. No other tree, except the cedar of 
Lebanon, has such strong diverging limbs: 
Its giant branches resist the shock of the 
winds, and it appears to become more firmly 
fixed in the earth, the more it is assailed by 
storms and tempests. 

Although so large a tree, its fruit is but a 
small acorn, of which no use is made in 
our country except ^to fatten swine. In the 
southern parts of Europe some people are so 
poor that acorns are gathered and used for 
human food. Savage nations eat them also. 
The oak-apples that are sometimes found 
under this tree, are not a fruit, but an acci- 
dental production. A small insect pierces a 
hole in the leaf and lays an egg in the place. 



OP THE BIBLE. 75 

This arrests the sap, which gathers at the 
spot and forms a round ball like an apple. 
After a while the egg becomes an insect 
which eats out of its habitation and the ball 
drops to the ground. 

The oak, on account of an important use 
to which its timber is applied, has been 
called " the father of ships." Its majestic 
size has caused it also to be styled "the 
king of the forest." The largest oak of which 
mention is made in history was one that 
stood in Dorsetshire, England, the last ves- 
tige of which has disappeared. It measured 
68 feet around the trunk. 

This tree is so long-lived that it is some- 
times 400 years old before it passes its 
prime. I have heard that there are in dif- 
ferent parts of England ancient oak trees, 
still so vigorous as to bear acorns, that are 
known to be more than 1,000 years old. 

It is very natural that a tree which lives so 
long and grows so large, should become a 
landmark, and an object of note, as we ac- 
tually find it to have been in Palestine. De- 



76 TREES, FRUITS AND FLOWERS 

borah, Rebekah's nurse, was buried under 
an oak, near Bethel ; whicfh from that cir- 
cumstance took the name of " the oak of 
weeping.'* Gen. 35 : 8. When the Israelites 
entered into a solemn agreement to give up 
their idols and worship God only, Joshua 
set up a " great stone," or pillar, as a wit- 
ness of it, " under an oak," in Shechem. 
Josh. 24 : 26. The angel that was sent from 
God with instructions to Gideon, " came and 
sat under an oak in Ophrah," that belonged 
to Joash the father of Gideon. Judges, 6 : 11* 
And it is said, 1 Chron. 10 : 12, that the 
bodies of Saul and his sons were buried 
" under the oak in Jabesh." These are but 
a few instances out of many that might be 
mentioned to show that a large spreading 
oak was highly valued among the Jews, and 
an object as well known as a hill, a river, or 
a village. 

The patriarch Abraham is supposed to 
have dwelt under an oak in M amre, or per- 
haps in a grove of oaks. Many persons who 
know the Hebrew language very well, are of 



OF THE BIBLE. 77 

opinion that " the jpZaww of Mamre," Gen. 18 : 
1, should be rendered, "the oaks of Mamre." 
In like manner " the plains of Moreh," Gen. 
12 : 6, Deut. 11 : 30, maybe read, " the oaks 
of Moreh." In Judges, 9 : 6, it is said that 
Abimelech was made king " by ihe plain of 
the pillar that was in Shechem :" but if you 
look at a Bible that has references in the 
margin, you will see that this is another in- 
stance in: which the word oak may be used 
instead oi plain. 

It was common for the ancients to meet 
under the boughs of some conspicuous oak to 
transact important public business, as in the 
case jus^mentioned to proclaim a new king. 
Nor is this custom without example in mo- 
dern times. It was beneath the shade of a 
venerable tree (not indeed an oak, but ail 
elm) which grew near Philadelphia, that in 
1682 the good William Penn entered in- 
to that celebrated treaty with the Indians, 
that has been well described in these few 
words, '* pledged without an oath, and never 
broken." 



78 TREBS, FKUITS AND FLOWERS 

So far I have told you only what is pleas- 
ing about the oak ; but men are so * inclined 
by nature to do evil, that unless they live 
nigh to God and are kept by the Holy Spirit 
from yielding to temptation, they soon abuse 
the gifts of Providence and make them serve, 
the purposes of sin. Before churches and 
temples were built, no more solemn place 
could be selected for the public worship of 
God than groves of oaks, and accordingly 
good men assembled there to perform reli- 
gious services. But very soon the evil of the 
heart began to show itself, and the trees 
themselves were regarded with veneration. 
The oak was considered sacred, and the 
superstitious regard paid to it was trans- 
ferred from the nations of the East to the 
Greeks, and from them to the Druids, or 
priests, of Gaul and Britain. The prophet 
Isaiah reproves the Jews for this, and says, 
chapter 1 : 29, " ye shall be ashamed of the 
oaks ye have desired." 

It was not long before another step in 
idolatry was taken. False gods or idols. 



OF THE BIBLE. 7^ 

were fashioned out of wood and stone;, and 
sot up in these groves to be worshipped in- 
stead of the true God. " Under every green 
tree aoad under every thick oak," says the 
prophet Ezekiel, " they did offer sweet sa- 
vor to all their idols." These idolatrous 
groves are often, mentioned in the history of 
the kings of Judah and Israel. They, were 
30 profaned by these uses that God com- 
manded them all to be cut down and de- 
stroyed. 

I have not pointed out half of the places 
m which the oak is mentioned in Scripture. 
It is supposed that more than one kind of 
tree is included under that name. In particu- 
lar, the terebinth or turpentine-tree is thought 
to be referred to in some of these passages 
This tree is peculiar to the Eastern world, 
out like the oak, is remarkable for its lofty 
size, its luxuriant boughs, and for the great 
age to which it attains. 



80 VREB3, FRUITS AND FLOWB^S 



THE OLIVE< 

• 

Every childt who has read the Bible wIU 
doubtless remember the story of Noah's dove 
returning to the ark with an olive-leaf in her 
mouth. God made use of the olive M that 
time as a sign of mercy and comfort to 
Noah, showing him that the waters had 
abated and that he might soon go forth again 
upon the dry land. Almost every nation 
upon the earth has regarded the olive-branch 
as an emblem of peace, and the custom is 
probably derived from this incident of the • 
dove that came back to the* ark with the 
olive-leaf. 

The Jewish people took a great deal ot 
pains to cultivate the olive. They admired 
its pale, silvery-green leaves, resembling the 
willow, and its clusters of beautiful white 
flowers, somewhat like the lilach in form 
and mode of growth. They were also very 
fond of its fruit, which is about the size 
of a plum and nearly black when ripe. 




OLIVE FRUIT. 



OF THE BIBLB. 81 

Those which you may have seen brought to 
this country in jars, are green^ because they 
were gathered in an unripe state, and put 
into some liquid to preserve them and take 
away a porfion of their rough and bitter 
taste. 

But the chief value of the otve consists m 

m 

the oil which is pressed from the fruit in 
great abundance, and is an important article 
. of food to the natives of warm climates. 
They use it as freely as we do butter. They 
also burn it in their lamps, and it appears 
from Ex. 27 : 20, that it was employed for 
this purpose in the service of the tabernacle. 
This explains what is meant in Jotham's 
parable. Judges, 9 : 9, where the olive-tree 
is represented as saying, " Should I leave 
my fatnesg, wherewith by me they honor 
God and man, and go to be promoted over 
the trees?'* 

Olive-oil is of use also in medicine, to 
soothe pain, and heal the wounds made by 
poisonous insects aod reptiles. On all these 
accounts the anoints highly esteemed the 

Trees, &c^ Q 



« 



82 TREES, FRUITS AND FLOWERS 

olive, and in the Bible there is more honor 
put upon it than on any other tree. When 
any thing is compared to the olive, it is for 
the purpose of setting forth its excellence, 
its beauty, or its usefulness. 

In Ps. 62 : 8, where the good man and 
the wicked are placed in strong contrast to 
each other, the former is said to be " like a 
green olive-tree in the house of God :" and 
again in Ps. 128 : 3, among the blessings 
promised to those who live in the fear of 
God, is this, *« Thy children shall be like 
olive-plants round about thy table." In the 
flourishing days of Judea, when her people 
kept the precepts of the Lord, she was com- 
pared to ** a green olive-tree, fair, and of 
goodly fruit." Jer. 11 : 16. And the prophet 
Hosea, when foretelling the glory of the Jew- 
,ish church yet to come, uses this figure, 
" His branches shall spread, and his beauty 
shall be as the olive-tree." 

In the 4th chapter of Zechariah there is a 
very remarkable vision described of two 
olive-trees standing on each side of a golden 



OF THE BIBLE. 83 

candlestick, and pouring oil into it. This is 
thought to represent Christ and the Holy- 
Spirit supplying the church with those gifts 
of divine grace which will make her a light 
to the whole earth. 

I will refer you to only one more place in 
the Bible where the olive is used in an em** 
blematical sense, but that is a very remark- 
able one, and contains a warning to which 
we shall all do well to take heed. The 
apostle Paul in the 11th chapter of Ro-r 
mans speaks of the Jews under the figure of 
the cultivated olive, and the Gentiles under 
that of the wild olive, which was less beauti- 
ful, and bore a meaner fruit than the other. 
But the Jews were separated from God on 
account of their rejection of Christ, and the 
Gentiles, or nations then Heathen, were con- 
verted and received in their stead. In speak- . 
ing of this the apostle says, " And if some 
of the branches be broken off,' and thou, 
being a wild olive-tree, wert grafted in 
among them, and with them partakest of the 
root and fatness of the' olive-tree, boast not 



S4 TKBES, rmti rs axb wlowikms 

against tbe braDcbes: because of uobelief 
tbev were broken oft, and tboa standest by 
^ih. Be not bigfaminded, but fear ; for if 
God spared doc the natoial branches, take 
heed lest he also spare not thee." This 
shows ns that unless we believe in Christ, 
and like him are meek and lowly in heart, 
we shall be cut off firom the favor of God. 
Yon doobdess recollect the* Mount of 
Olives f BO often mentioned in the New Tes- 
tament. It lies east of Jcrosalem, and so 
near that you can look down firom it upon all 
the streets and buildings of the city. Our 
Savior often went there, to spend some time 
in retirement nnder the shade of the trees 
from which it received its name. There are 
still some large and ancient olives growing 
npon this mountain, and it is very likely, if 
not quite certain, that they sprang from the 
same roots as those standing there before our 
Savior sufiered for sinners on the cross. We 
know that they cannot be the very same, for 
it is related in history, that during the siege 
of Jerusalem, which took place thirty or forty 



OF THE BIBLE. 85 

years after the death of Christ, all the trees 
in the neighborhood of the city were cut 
down. 

It was from the Mount of Olives that our 
Savior beholding Jerusalem, wept over it. 
Here was the garden of Gethsemane, where 
he prayed in such agony, and on one side of 
the mountain was Bethany, from whence he 
ascended into heaven. 



THE PALM-TREE. 

As there is no tree growing in our country 
which at all resembles the palm, it will be 
necessary to give a particular description of 
it. The stem is tall and straight, resembling 
a pillar, and nearly of the same thickness 
from bottom to top. It has no branches, but 
all the leaves grow in a tuft upon the sum- 
mit, apreading out like rays and bending in 
a graceful curve towards the earth. Some 
times the leaves are as much as eight feet in 



86 TREES, FRUITS AND FLOWERS 

length, and so strong and tough as to be used 
to make bags, mats, fans, baskets, and even 
to cover tents and houses. They are pin- 
natpd, that is, in the form of feathera, each 
leaf being composed of a great number of 
long narrow leaflets, with a ridge in the mid- 
dle like the keel of a boat. The trunk of the 
tree is not solid wood, but has a pith in the 
centre, as you may have seen in a stalk of 
Indian corn. The outside is very rugged, 
being full of notches all the way to the 
top; theae are the vestiges of old leaves 
which die ' away as the tree advances in 
height. ■ 

The fruit of the palm grows in large clus- 
ters below the leaves, -and is called dates, 
A single cluster will sometimes weigh 15 or 
20 pounds, and there are frequently more 
than a dozen of these clusters upon a tree in 
one season, so that a date-palm is in some 
countries considered very valuable property, 
and is bought and sold like any other goods. 
It wLU live and bear fruit when more than a 
hundred years old, and is often found in 



OP THE BIBLE. 87 

countries where it is almost the only tree. 
It flourishes also on those small fruitful spots 
in sandy deserts which are called oases^ and 
in such situations it points out where water 
can be obtained. Elitti, to which the Israel- 
ites came soon after crossing the Red Sea, 
was one of these isles of verdure in the midst 
of a sandy wilderness. It is recorded, Exod. 
15 : 27, that they found there 12 wells of 
water and 70 palm-trees. With what-delight 
must a wanderer upon the desert hail the ap- 
pearance of a palm-tree, since it is an unfail- 
ing sign that a stream or fountain of water 
exists in the neighborhood. 

The palm isx>ne of the trees most useful 
to man, and a proof of the wisdom of its 
Creator, and of the kindness with which he 
has provided for the wants of hie creatures. 
In those countries where it most abounds, 
-there ig scarcely any other wholesome vege- 
table to be found. Many persons in Egypt, 
Arabia and. Persia. have hardly any food 
but dates. During that part of the year 
when they cannot procure -them fresh, they 



88 TREES, FEUITS ANIT FLOWERS 

subsist upon them dried, or pressed into 
cakes, forming a kiud of date paste. 

The Romans, \frhen they wished to repre- 
sent Judea upon their pictures and coins, 
drew the figure of a woman sitting under a 
palm-tree ;- from which we infer Aat this 
tree was formerly very common in Palestine, 
although now -quite! rare. It is often men- 
tioned by the sacred writers, and in such a 
way as to show that they regarded it with 
admiration. Jericho^ you will remember, 
was called " the city of palm-trees',^' in Deut, 
34 : 3, and elsewhere. - Deborah the pro- 
phetess dwelt under a palm-tree ; or, as some 
think, in a grove of palm-trees, " between Ra- 
mah and Bethel." Judges, 4 : 5. One of the 
cities built by Solomoii was " Tadmor in the 
wilderness." 1 Kings, 9 : 18. Tadmor sig- 
nifies a palm ; and the place was afterwards 
called Palmyra by the Greeks, which has 
the same meaning. Both names were pro- 
bably given on account of the numerous 
palm-trees that surrounded it. Tamar^ which 
4s substantially the same word, was a favor- 



OF THE BIBLE. 89 

ite female name among the Jews, and pro- 
bably derived from the straight and graceful 
form of this tree. 

In the most Holy Place, ' or Sanctuary of 
the temple built by Solompn, the walls and 
doors were covered "with carved figures of 
cherubims, and palm-trees, and open flowers, 
within and without." 1 King*, 6 : 29, 32, 36* 
This seems to^how that tbe Jews attached 
some peculiar sacr.ed meaning to this em- 
blem, and it is thought that they intended 
to express by it, the divine light which illumi- 
nates the -souls of devout worshippers ; for 
the palm tree has been used not only by the 
Jews, but by many other nations, as a symbol 
of light, on account of the tufted leaves which 
radiate from its head, like the beams of the 
sun. The royal poet of Israel used the palm- 
tree, as well as the olive and cedar, to illus- 
trate the majesty atid beauty of a good man. 
" The righteous shall flourish like the palm- 
tree." Psalm 92 : 12. 

In festivals and seasons of rejoicing after 
a victory, the ancients carried branches of 



90 TREES, FRUITS AND FLOWERS 

palm through the streets. When it was 
known that the Savior was on his way to 
Jerusalem to keep the feast of the passover, 
. a great multitude " took branches of palm- 
trees and went forth to meet him, and cried, 
Hosanna : Blessed is the King of Israel that 
Cometh in the name of the Lord." John, 
12 : 13. . 

The same apostle that records this scene 
of triumph, after his risen Lord had ascended 
to heaven, beheld in vision another glorious 
throng bearing in their hands the same sym- 
bols of everlasting joy. " Lo, a great multi- 
tude which no man could number, of all na- 
tions, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, 
stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, 
clothed with white robes and palms in their 
hands; and cried with a loud voic^, saying. 
Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the 
throne, and unto the Lamb." Rev. 7 : 9, 10. 
If we, as the .righteous man described by 
David, "flourish like the palm-tree" in a 
life of jasefulness and piety; and magnify the 
Lord our King and our Redeemer like the 



OF THE BIBLE. 91 

people that hailed "his approach to Jerusa- 
lem, we shall at last join the happy host de- 
scribed by John in such lofty and beautiful 
terms, and worship God and the Lamb for 
ever and ever. 



^•09^ 



THE PINE. 

This tree belongs to the same iamily as 
the Cedar and the Fir. The wise and good 
Creator of all things, who has so liberally en- 
dowed the trees of the earth with grace, 
beauty and utility, has made the pine tall 
and stately, and peculiarly fitted it to serve 
for the masts of large ships. It combines all 
the qualities necessary for this purpose, the 
stem being straight and of sufficient length ; 
strong, yet at the same time light and elastic. 

It is supposed that there are more pine- 
trees in the world than of any other sort. 
They will grow upon very barren land, and 



92 TREES, PKUITS AND FLOWERS 

in very cold climates ; upon high, mountains^ 
and among rocky clifis, where there is very 
little earth to nourish them. 

** Where summer ever smiles witlj verdure cxawned, 
** Wliere wm^et, flings Iiis storms, the pine is found ; 
" With heftven-aspiring Tiead ejrect it grows 
• " Mid burning suns and eveflasting snows." 

The pine occurs only three times in the 
Bible. In Nehemiab, 8 ^15, it is enumerated 
among the trees whose branches were used 
to make the booths, or tents, of boughs, in 
which the Israelites resided for a short pe- 
riod every year, in memory of their ha;ving 
dwelt in such rude habitations when they 
were first delivered from the bondage of 
Egypt, and had tiot yet built them houses in 
the land of Canaan. The prophet Isaiah al- 
so twice mentions the pine : he uses it in 
connection with the fir, box, and other ever- 
green trees to represent the floarrsbing state 
of the church ; and its upright form and ma- 
jestic stature make jthe comparison striking 
and appropriate* 




THE POMEGRANATE 



eP THE BIBLE. ^ 93 

THE POMEGKANATE. 

The Pomegranate was very early culti- 
vated in Egypt and Syria. It abounds in the 
south of Europe and the north of Africa. 
There is one species which grows in the 
southern part of the United States. The 
fruit is very grateful in hot countries, being 
a mild, agreeable acid, blended with sweet- 
ness. This is considered the peculiarity of 
the pomegranate, that it is " sour yet sweet." 

It is a small tree, but very beautiful ; va- 
lued for ornament as well as for use. The 
branches are thick, the leaves spear-shaped 
and of a polished green, the flowers large 
^nd of a brilliant scarlet color. It continues 
blossoming and bearing fruit for several 
months, making a very splendid appear- 
ance. The birds that warble among its 
boughs add another charm to the scene. 
Travellers say that in the East ** the night- 
ingale sings from the pomegranate groves in 
the day^-time.'* 



94 l^^EES, FRUITS AND FLOWERS 

The fruit varies from the size of a lemon 
to that of an orange. The outside is rough 
and tawny } within it contains a great num- 
ber of reddish purple seeds, mingled with 
juicy pulp. In Barbary they sometimes grow 
so large as to weigh a pound. 

We will now see what is said about it in 
the Holy Scriptures. The Pomegranate was 
one of the fruits to which the children of Is- 
rael were accustomed in the land of Egypt, 
as appears by their complaining of the want 
of it in the desert. Numb. 20 : 5. It was 
mentioned by Moses as one of the valuable 
productions of the promised land, Deut. 
8 : 8, and the spies brought a specimen of it 
from Eshcol, at the same time that they cut 
down that wonderful cluster of grapes which 
was so large that two men carried it be- 
tween them on a, staff. Num. 13 : 23. 

The figure of the pomegranate was em- 
broidered upon the hem of the robe of the 
high-priest alternately with the golden bells 
that were fastened to it. Ex. 28 : 33, 34. 
We do not know whether this was done 



OP THE BIBLE. 95 

merely for beauty, or whether there was 
some emblematic meaning conveyed in it. 
Some suppose that the pomegranates and 
bells joined together intimate both the sweet 
savor and joyful sound of the tidings of sal- 
vation which the high-priest was commis- 
sioned to announce. For the Gospel is a 
" savor of life " unto them that hear the 
sound and believe and obey it. You should 
never forget in reading the Old Testament 
that all the observances of the law of Moses 
were types or emblems of Christ and the 
blessings which he procures for man. 

The pomegranate was used also on an- 
other sacred occasion. When Solomon built 
the temple at Jerusalem for the worship of 
the true God, he had two very large brazen 
pillars set up in the porch, to which he gave 
the names of Jachin and Boaz, or Stability 
and Strength. The tops of these pillars 
were ornamented with wreaths of pomegra- 
nates in two rows, wrought in brass, one 
hundred in each row, making 400 on the 
two pillars^ 1 Kings, 7 : 18 ; 2 Ch. 4 : X3. 



#6 TREES, FEUITS AND FLOWERS 

This must have been very beautiful, but as 
in the case of the high-priest's garment we 
cannot certainly determine that any particu- 
lar sentiment wa^ expressed by it. 

The pomegranate Is mentioned several 
times in the Song of Solomon, and by the 
prophets, and always in a manner that 
shows a high value was set upon it. This 
was probably before the orange, the lemon, 
peach and some other delicious fruits were 
introduced into Palestine, which have since 
in some measure taken the place o£ the 
pomegranate, and it is not therefore so much 
cultivated for its fruit as formerly. 



^•^#^=- 



THE ROSE. 

This Queen of the Garden is so well 
known that no particular description of it 
need be given. Yet we must not suppose 
that the rose-bearing shrubs of our coun- 



C31F THE BIBLE. 99 

try, beautiful as they are, can vie with the 
rose-tree of the East, which is sometimes 
twelve and even fourteen feet high, and has 
wide-spreading branches laden with thou- 
sands of buds and blossoms, in every degree 
of expansion, filling the air around, with fra- 
grance. Neither have we any nightingales 
to sing all night long among their boughs. 
But we have blessings enough to increase 
our gratitude and love to the Father of 
mercies 

** Who spreads the earth with fragrant flowers, "^ 
** And bids the lofty cedars grow." 

Let US be careful to make a right use of 
the gifts that the providence of God so libe- 
rally bestows on us, and not repine that 
others are in some respects more favored 
than we are. 

The prophet Isaiah, to describe the spread 
of the glorious Gospel of Christ, uses this 
beautiful illustration : " The desert shall re- 
joice and blossom as the rose. It shall blos- 
som abundantly, and rejoice even with joy 

Tnm, ho^ 7 



98 TEEES, FRUITS AND FLOWERS 

and singing : the glory of Lebainon shall be 
given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and 
Sharon." Is. 35 : 1, 2. Carmel and Sharon 
were districts of Palestine remarkable for 
fertility, and the trees and flowers -which 
they produced were doubtless more perfect 
than elsewhere. 

" I am the Rose of Sharon and the Lily 
of the valleys." Sol. Song, 2:1. How beau^ 
tiful is this emblem of Christ ! Who will 
not give their hearts to a Savior that ap- 
pears before them in a form so lovely and 
attractive. 



SPIKENAED. 

Many aromatic or strong-scented plants 
have been called by this name. There is 
one in this country sometimes cultivated in 
gardens as a medicinal herb. But the true 
nard or spike-nardj seems to have been pro- 
duced in its perfection only in India. It is 



OF THE BIBIiE. '99 

ftill found in that country, and is described 
as a grass-like plant which grows in tufts, 
the stalks being three or four feet high- 
When rubbed or bruised it gives forth a 
delightful fragrance. 

An ointment was prepared from this plant 
which the ancients very highly esteemed. 
They used it to soften and perfume the skin. 
It was brought from India in small sealed 
boxes, and the Romans as well as the na- 
tions farther east paid a high price for it. 
* We read, Mark, 14 : 3, that while our Sa- 
vior was reclining at supper in the house of 
Simon at Bethany, " there came a woman 
having an alabaster box of ointment of spike- 
nard very precious ; and she brake the box, 
[probably it means the wax that sealed the 
box,] and poured it on his head.*' In verse 
6 the value of this ointment is stated, — "it 
might have been sold for more than three 
hundred. pence," — ^that is, about forty dol- 
lars of our money. From this we conclude 
that it was the Indian spikenard which the 
woman used, that being the most rare and 



100 TREES, FEUITS AND FLOWERS 

costly perfume of ^taJL age. We learn from 
John, 12 : 3, that this woman wa« Mary, the 
sister of Lazarus. By this act she obtained 
that "good name which is better than pre- 
cious ointment ;" for Christ commended her 
for thus showing her faith and love, and 
added, " Wheresoever thi» Gospel shall be 
preached throughout the whole world, this 
also that she hath done shall be spoken of 
for a memorial of her." 

The circumstances of this scene remind 
us of a text in the Song of Solomon, ** While 
the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard 
sendeth fcnrth the smell thereof.'* Ch. 1 : 12. 
Christ is the King : and the faith, love, zeal, 
and other fruits of the Spirit exhibited by 
those who trust in him, are " aa ointment 
poured fftrth.'* 



OF THE BIBL£. 101 



THE SYCAMORE. 

In this country the button-wood or plane- 
tree is frequently called the sycamore ; but 
the sycamore of the East, so often mentioned 
in the Bible, is a. very diflferent tree. It is 
the same as the Egyptian fig-tree ; and fre- 
quently grows so large that three men, .with 
their arms stretched out, can Scarcely reach 
around the trunk. Its shade covers a large 
extent of ground, and groups of people oft- 
en gather under it to be screened from the 
fierce rays of the sun. 

Zaccheus, you wiU remember, climbed up 
into a sycamore-tree that he might see the 
fiavior as he entered Jericho. He was a 
small man and unable to see for tjn crowd, 
and he therefore ran before and climbed a 
sycamore, which was probably a noted tree 
on the road along which Jesus was to pass, 
and under which it was natural to suppose 
he would rest awhile. " And when Jesus 
came to the place, he looked up and saw 



102 TREES, FRUITS AND FLOWERS 

him, and said unto him, ZaccheHGidf make 
haste and come down ; for to-day I must 
abide at thy house." Luke, 19 : 5. The Sa- 
vior saw him before he climbed the tree, and 
he now invited himself to his house. Happy 
Zaccheus ! he saw Jesus on earth and " re- 
ceived him joyfully" into Ips dwelling. We 
|tldD may see him with the eye of faith, and 
receive him by love into our hearts. We 
shall then hereafter behold him in his glory, 
and dwell with him for ever in that house 
"not made with hands, eternal in the hea- 
vens, whose builder and maker is God." 

The name sycamore is composed of two 
words sukos and morusy one of which in the 
Greek language signifies a fig-tree and the 
other signifies a mulberry ; and it was thus 
named because the leaf of this tree is like 
that of a mulberry and the fruit very nearly 
resembles a fig. It is sometimes called the 
wild Jig'tree. The fruit grows upon short 
stalks around the trunk and larger branches 
of the tree, and though inferior to the real 
^, it is the common food of the inhabitant^ 



OF THE BIBLB. 103 

of Egypt and of some other countries. It is 
therefore a very valuable tree, especially as 
it bears fruit two or three times every year. 
^This will explain to you why it was reckon- 
ed among the judgments of the Egyptians 
in the time of Pharaoh, that the Lord " de- 
stroyed their sycamore-trees with frost." Ps. 
78 : 47. 

We learn from 1 Ch. 27 : 28, that David 
appointed a particular person to take care 
" of the olive-trees and the sycamore-trees," 
which shows that the fruit was of consider- 
able importance. The prophet Amos, when 
the Lord called him to deliver his message 
to the people of Israel, " was a herdman> 
and a gatherer of sycamore fruit." Amos, 
7:14. 

While we reflect on the goodness of God 
in bestowing the various fruits, of the earth 
in such abundance upon man, let us tako 
heed that we be not ourselves barren and 
unfruitful, but that we abound in every good 
word and work, and bring forth fruit to the 
glory of our Father and Redeemer. 



104 TKBBS FRUITS AND FLOWSRS 



TARE. 

This plant is not mentioned in the Bible 
except in the parable of the wheat and the 
tares in the 13th chapter of Matthew. It is 
supposed to mean what in this country is 
called damely which is a grass-like weed 
that grows very tall and rank. In the East it 
is very apt to come up among the wheat, and 
at first very nearly resembles it ; for it has 
sitnilar stems and leaves and grows as high, 
but it either produces no fruit or none that 
is good for food. This makes the Savior's 
comparison of it to ** the children of the 
wicked one " very striking. 

It is especially an apt illustration of the 
hypocrite, that is of the person who pretends 
to be good, and keeps a fair outside, but who 
does not in his heart repent of sin and fo]> 
sake it. 

In this world the good and the bad often 
grow together, and we cannot look into their 
hearts and discern their characters. Bui 



OF THE BIBLfi. 105 

from the parable of the tares we learn, that 
at the great day of judgment, when the se- 
crets of all hearts shall be revealed, it will 
be discovered who was sincere and who 
was not ; the good and bad will then be se- 
parated. "The Son of man shall send forth 
his angels, and they shall gather out of his 
Mngdom all things that ofiend, and them 
which do iniquity ; and shall cast them into 
a furnace of fire ; there shall be wailing and 
gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous 
shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their 
Fa4;her.** 

Thus w-e see that everlasting sorrow and 
misery will be the portion of those who, liv- 
ing in a christian land, do not show the fruits 
,of Christianity in their temper and conduct. 
It is good for us to be often reminded of this 
bumbling and alarming truth. 



106 TREES, FRUITS AND FLOWERS 

THE VINE. 

" And Noah began to be a husbandman^ 
and he planted a vineyard." Gen. 9 : 20. 
This carries us back to the first mention 
made of the vine in history. Thus early was 
its cultivation made a branch of industry. 

The vine is one of the choicest gifts of 
Providence to the inhabitants of warm cli- 
mates. It spreads its branches far and wide, 
shooting out its tendrils towards every neigh- 
boring object, and fornung abower-like shade 
from the sultry sun, while its goodly clus- 
ters of fruit please the taste and satisfy the 
hungry appetite. What then can be more 
sinful than to abuse this good gift of the 
Creator by making it serve for the purposes 
of noisy mirth and drunkenness ! 

The juice of the grape, when first pressed 
out and before any fermentation has taken 
place, is sweet, and does not possess any of 
that fiery, injurious quality which produces 
intoxication. It was in this unfermented 



OF THE BIBLE. 107 

State, probably, that it was used in those in- 
stances in the Bible where its use is spoken 
of with approbation. After fermentation has 
taken place, and it has become an intoxi- 
cating liquor, all unnecessary use of it should 
be most carefully avoided. To drink wine 
as a beverage out of compliment to others, 
or to please one's own taste, if not positively 
forbidden in Scripture as sinful, is a danger- 
ous practice both to soul and body, and as 
an example is injurious in its influence. 

Let this be your decision and abide firm- 
ly by it : " Entire abstinence is safe ; but 
even a moderate and occasional use is be- 
set with temptation and danger to myself 
and to others ; therefore on no pretence or 
consideration whatever will I drink wine 
imnecessarily." 

In some parts of Palestine the vine grew 
in great beauty and luxuriance. Clusters of 
grapes might be found that weighed ten and 
twelye pounds. The one cut down at Eshcol, 
as related Numb. 13 : 23, has already been 
mentioned. A choice vineyard contained as 



108 TREES, FRUITS AND FLOWERS 

many as a thousand vines, and rented yeaiS 
ly for a thousand pieces of silver. Isaiah, 
7 : 2S. Solomon had a vineyard of this size 
at Baal-hamon, as we learn from Sol. Song, 
8 : 12, 13. But when vines are cultivated 
for the purpose of making wine they are 
usually planted in rows, clipt very short and 
fastened .to poles. This to the eye of taste 
robs them of all their beauty. We love to 
think of a vine as spreading over a tree or a 
portico, trailing along walls or adorning the 
poor man's cottage. It is an excellent cus- 
tbm in hot climates to plant a vine by the 
side of a well. This is trained over a frame 
of net-work, and forms an arbor which af- 
fords a cool retreat even at mid-day. The 
patriarch Jacob had perhaps such an image 
as this in his mind when he said, " Joseph is 
a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a 
well, whose branches run over the wall." 
Gen. 49 : 22. From vines trained in this 
way near dwellings, for their shade and 
fruit, was derived the expression used by 
Micah and others of the prophets, ^*they 



OF THE BIBLE. 109 

shall sit every man under his vine and un- 
der his fig-tree/' Mic. 4:4. It became a 
proverbial phrase to indicate a state of en- 
joyment, repose and security. 

The Jews had so high an esteem for the 
vine that it was often used as the symbol of 
their nation. " Thou hast brought a vine out 
of Egypt : thou hast cast out the heathen 
and planted it. Thou preparedst room be- 
fore it, and didst cause it to take deep root 
and it filled the land. The hills were cover- 
ed with the shadow of it, and the boughs 
thereof were like goodly cedars." Ps. 80 : 
8, 9. The prophet Isaiah pursues the same 
beautiful allegory : " My well-beloved hath 
a vineyard in a very fruitful hill." He repre- 
sents this vineyard as planted, watered and 
guarded by the Lord of Hosts, and in con- 
clusion explains his meaning thus, '< For the 
vineyard of the hord of Hosts is the house 
of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant 
plant." Is. 5: 1-7. 

Were we to collect all the passages in the 
Bible which refer to the vine, and say but a 



110 TREES, FRUITS AND FLOWERS 

few words about each, it would of itself 
more than fill a small vcdume like ^is ; but 
there is one place in the New Testament 
where it forms an illustration too striking 
and important to be passed over. It is used 
to show the intimate relation which exists 
between the Lord Jesus Christ and all his 
true followers, and is thus expressed in the 
Savior*s own beautiful words : " I am the 
true Vine and my Father is the Husband 
man. Every branch in me that beareth not 
fruit he taketh away ; and every branch that 
beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring 
forth more fruit. As the branch cannot bear 
fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine ; no 
^ more can ye, except ye alnde in me. I am 
the Vine, ye are the branches : he that abid- 
eth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth 
forth much fruit : for without me ye can do 
nothing." John, 15 : 1-6, 

There is also another passage which I 
should like to explain to you. When the 
grapes were gathered apd thrown into the 
wine-pres3« thpy wete fir^t trodden down by 



OF THE BIBLE. Ill 

men, and afterwards the juice was pressed 
out. Isaiah represents the Savior as saying, 
"I have trodden the wine-press alone, and 
of the people there was none with me." 
63 : 3. Our Lord Jesus accomplished the 
whole work of our redemption without any 
aid from man or angel ; he triumphed over 
sin and death, and as it were trod them 
down, so that they will never be able to 
overcome any of his true followers again. It 
is said. Rev. 19 : 15, 16, " he treadeth the 
wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of 
Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture 
and on his thigh a name written, KliNa of 
KINGS AND Lord of lords." How dread- 
ful it is to be an enemy of God and exposed 
to the wrath of the great Head of the church, 
who will come forth at the day of judgment 
to receive the good into everlasting happi- 
ness, but to tread down and destroy the 
wicked for ever. 

The law of Moses contained many wise 
regulations respecting the vine. The owners 
were commanded when tliey gathered their 



112 TREES, FRUITS AND FLOWERS 

grapes to leave some haogii^ for the poor. 
" Thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither 
ghalt thou gather every grape of thy vine- 
yard ; thou shalt leave them for the poor and 
the stranger." Lev. 19 : 10. Every seventh 
year the whole produce was to be left for 
the poor. A traveller was permitted to eat 
grapes from another man's vines as he pass- 
ed along, but not to carry any away. Deut. 
23 :^4. These laws show that God is a God 
of mercy, manifesting a tender compassion 
and care for the destitute and the stranger* 



WHEAT. 

Wheat is a plant of the grass kind ;* it 
has hollow jointed stalks, long and narrow 
leaves, and dry, husky flowers growing close 
together in what is called an ear. The flow- 
ers enclose the seed or grain, which when 
ripe is threshed out and ground into flour to 
make bread. The stalks when dry are call- 



OF TH£ BIBLE. 113 

ed straw, and when the grain is separated 
all the refuse part is chaff. 

When the soil is fertile several ears will 
be produced by one stalk. In the dream of 
Pharaoh, it is said, " behold seven ears of 
corn came up upon one stalk rank and good.'* 
Gen* 41 : 5. This represented a very luxuri- 
ant growth. You observe that in the text just 
quoted corn is the word used, though wheat 
is what is meant. In the Old Testament all 
kinds of grain are included in the term 
corn ; you must not therefore suppose when 
the word is used that it alludes to the maize 
or Indian corn, which in the United States is 
exclusively called corn, and which is a kind 
of grain not known in ancient times. 

The English translation of the Bible which 
we use was made more than two centuries 
ago, and since that time the meaning of some 
words has considerably changed. The word 
meat is another instance. We now under- 
stand by it the flesh of animals, but in the 
Bible it never has that meaning ; it signifies 
either food of all kinds, or some kind of 

Trees, &c., g 



114 TREBS, FEUITS AND FLOIITEBS 

grain. The meat-ofiering that was preseat- 
ed in the temple worship, Lev. ch. 2, was 
composed of fine wheat, either in the simple 
state of flour or baked into cakes, and would 
now perhaps be called a bread-offering. 

The two most important grains for the 
service of man are wheat and rice. The lat- 
ter is the chief article of subsistence to many 
millions of people in the hottest climates of 
the globe ; but it was not cultivated for food 
in Palestine, and is not any where mentioned 
in the Bible. Wheat, on the contrary, wa^ 
one of the main articles of produce. Moseg 
calk Canaan '<a land of wheat,'* Deut. 
8:8; and it was in that land that Isaac 
sowed " and received in the same year a 
hundred fold." Gen. 26 : 12. 

Grain is often used in Scripture as an 
emblem of a future state, and if you will 
consider the subject attentively, you will 
find the compa.rison very striking. A graia 
of wheat is sown in the ground, where it lief 
and apparently decays ; but when spring re- 
turns, it revives, shoots up into light, fleu- 



OF THS BIBLBi. 115 

rishes and produces fruit. This is an ex- 
pressive symbol and almost a pledge of the 
resurrection of the body. Christ said, in re- 
ference to his own approaching death, ** Ex- 
cept a com of wheat fall into the ground and 
die, it abideth alone ; but if it die, it bring- 
eth forth much fruit." John, 12 : 24. 

Wheat is also used to represent the cha- 
racter and future condition of the righteous, 
in contrast with the wicked, who are regard- 
ed as the chaffi" He will gather his wheat 
into the garner; but he will burn up the 
chaff with unquenchable fire." Mat. 3 : 12. 
" The ungodly are like the chaff which the 
wind driveth away." Ps. 1 : 4. 

-^•##«- 



THE WILLOW, 

There are several different kinds of tnis 
tree knowivin our country, but they all de- 
light in a wet soil, and grow best by the 
water-side. The various allusions to the 



116 TREES, FRUITS AND FLOWERS 

willow in the Bible have a reference to this 
peculiarity of their growth. Among " the 
bcQghs of goodly trees," to be used at the 
feast of tabernacles, " the willows of the 
brook" were not to be neglected. Lev. 23 : 
40. The prophet Isaiah speaks of "tbe 
brook of the willows," 15 : 7 ; and of " wil* 
lows by the water-courses," 44 : 4. Ezekiel 
compares the flourishing colony of Jews left 
by Nebuchadnezzar in Judea to the planting 
of a willow tree "by great waters." 17 : 5. 

The osier is a small species of willow, 
which grows in swamps and fenny places, 
and is used in basket-work* The yellow wil- 
low is also employed for the same purpose. 

The white willow often attains a large 
size and is valuable for timber; it is also 
graceful in its form and foliage. But the 
most ornamental of this family is the weep- 
ing or Babylonian wiUow, which bends down 
its long leaves and branches so as to touch 
the ground or trail on the waters. This is 
supposed to be the willow referred to in tke 
plaintive song of the Jewish captives at 



OF THE BIBLE. 117 

Babylon, Ps. 137. " By the rivers of Baby- 
lon there we sat down ; yea, we wept when 
we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps 
upon the willows in the midst thereof." 



WOKMWOOD. 

Wormwood in Scripture is always used 
to denote something peculiarly offensive. 
An Israelite turning to idolatry is said to be 
"a root that beareth gall and wormwood." 
Deut« 29 : 18. The consequences of a wick- 
ed life are declared by Solomon to be " bit- 
ter as wormwood." Prov. 5 : 4. When the 
Lord of Hosts denounces heavy judgments 
upon idolaters, he says, ** Behold, I will feed 
them with wormwood, and give them water 
of gall to drink." Jer. 9 : 15. 

The same figurative language is used in 
other places to express extreme misery, — 
'* Remembering mine afBiction and my 



118 TREES, FRUITS AND PLOWERS 

misery, the wormwood and tibe gall." 
Lam. 3 : 19. 

The plant which we call Wormwood, 
though intensely bitter, has some medicinal 
properties, and is on the whole of a salutary 
rather than of a hurtful nature. This has led 
some to infer that the plant mentioned in 
Scripture is not the same, but some unknown 
nerb, perhaps possessing poisonous quahties. 
It is probable, however, that it is of the same 
family as the common wormwood, though it 
may be a more noxious species. 

Perhaps the most striking passage in the 
Bible relating to wormwood is Rev. 8 : 10, 
11, when at the sounding of an angel's 
trumpet " there fell a great star from heaven, 
burning as it were a lamp, and^it fell upon 
the third part of the rivers, and upon the 
fountains of waters } and the name of the 
star is called Wormwood ; and the third part 
of the waters became wormwood ; and ma- 
ny men died of the waters because they 
were made bitter." 

Learned men have not been abl^ to de* 



OF THE BIBLE. 119 

cide what is. signified by this remarkable 
scene, but many suppose that it refers to 
the destruction of the Roman empire. 

It is of less consequence to us to find out 
the precise meaning. rf obscure prophecieB 
than it is to believe ou the Lord Jesus Christ 
and obey his precepts* Any other course 
will lead to that end which is bitter as "the 
wormwood and the gall.'* 

" Know, therefore, and see that it is an evil 
thing and bitter, that thou hadt forsaken the 
Lord thy God." Jer. 2 : 19. 



=^«094»i 



The plan proposed in this little work has 
been completed, the articles written, the 
end reached ; but she who formed the plan, 
who wrote the address to the young with 
which it commences, and had in part accom- 
plished her task, did not live to complete it. 
She was advancing in the work when her 
hand ceased to write, her mind to conceive, 
hei heart to beat. She loved the young; 
her life had been in a great measure devoted 



120 TREES, FEUIT6 AND FLOWERS. 

to their instruction, and this her last effort 
was designed to do them good. But God 
called her away, and another hand follows 
in her course and fills up the outline that 
she had left unfinished. 
. What an affecting lesson is here! — the 
young author laying down her pen in the 
midst of her work to drop into the grave ! 

" How many fall as sudden, not as safe T* 

O ye who read, take this admonition to 
your heart. "We all do fede as a leaf." 
Is. 64 : 6. Therefore be wise, and improve 
the days that are given. " Fight the good 
fight of faith ; lay hold on eternal life." 

1 Tim. 6 : 12. 

" Wilt thou not from this time cry unto 
me. My Father, thou art the guide of my 
youth ?" Jer. 3 : 4. 

<* I will receive you, and will be a Fa- 
ther unto you, kad ye shall be my sons 
and daughter, saith the Lord Almighty." 

2 Cor. 6 : 17, 18. 

THB END. 



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