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Loosestrife family, types of which we have in our cultivated and native Lythrums.

The BALM OF GILEAD and that rendered MYRRH, are the exuded sap from two species of Balsamodendron, i. e., the B. Gileadense and B. myrrha, belonging to the order Amyridace, the plants of which abound in balsamic juices and yield frankincense, olibanum, balsam copaiba and other fragrant resins and gums. This order belongs exclusively to tropical India, Africa and America. It has some alliance to the Orange tribe, but differing greatly in its dry nut-like fruits. The Balm of Gilead is believed to be one of the earliest articles of commerce known, even as far back as the time of the patriarch Jacob, as the Midianite merchantmen, to whom Joseph was sold, were then on their way to Gilead to complete their camel loads with a choice supply of that costly balsam for the Egyptian market. It often sold for twice its weight in silver. It was cultivated only in the King's garden in Judea, the revenue from which belonged exclusively to the Crown.

Strabo speaks of it. Titus carried some of it to Rome. Pompey exhibited one of the trees in a triumphal entry. When Alexander visited Judea, one teaspoonful per day and seven gallons per year was the entire product.

FRANKINCENSE, so often mentioned in Scripture, is a gum from a tree of this same order with the last. It has been used from the remotest times by the Hebrews and Egyptians in their sacrifices. It exudes from the straight trunk of the Boswellia-serrata, a lofty tree, native of the mountains of Central India. Frankincense is still used as incense in Catholic churches, and somewhat as a medicine.

The LIGN ALOE, Aquilaria Agallochum, or Eagle-wood, is found only in Asia. It grows sometimes to the height of one hundred and twenty feet. The heart wood is loaded with aromatic properties, and is one of the most grateful of perfumes. It has been held more precious than gold. "All thy garments shall smell of myrrh, aloes and cassia." This was one of the drugs, one hundred pounds of which Nicodemus brought after the Crucifixion, in which,

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with the linen clothes, was wrapped the body of our Lord; it was therefore a very costly preparation. We have no plant of more approximate affinity than our hedge buckthorn. The aloe of the apothecaries is an entirely different article, and obtained from a plant of the lily tribe.

SPIKENARD, of the Valerian family, has a most rare and agreeable perfume. Our garden Heliotrope and the Centranthus are of this order. Several of them yield a fragrance which intoxicates the cat tribe, and that from one of them is said to be sufficiently powerful to throw even man into convulsions.

The Nardostachys Jatamansi, of the mountains of upper India, seems conclusively proved by Sir William Jones and Dr. Royle, to be the plant which furnished the "Alabaster box of Spikenard very precious," with which Mary anointed the feet of Jesus, and which Judas declared might have been sold for three hundred pieces of silver; which price, among other unguents, is given by Pliny, who remarking on the extravagance of such preparations, says, "We have known the very soles of the feet sprinkled therewith." He also intimates the form of the alabaster ointment box.

"Spikenard and Saffron, Calamus and Cinnamon."-S. of S.

SAFFRON is the yellow stigma of the Crocus sativus, or fall Crocus, belonging to the well known Iris family, very common in cultivation among us. Saffron was and still is used as a perfume, spice, confection, dye and medicine. Its collection required great patience, four thousand flowers yielding but one ounce, and the entire product of an acre for the season averaged but about ten or twelve pounds. It was formerly extensively cultivated at Welden in Essex, England, which hence has borne the name of Saffron-Welden.

A totally different plant, the Carthamus tinctoria, once familiar under the name of Saffron in our gardens, has been successfully used to adulterate the true Saffron.

Calamus aromaticus, "the Sweet cane, from a far country,' is allied to our sweet vernal grass.

[In fragrance. ED.]
Cussia and Cinnamon, well known

spices, were in the time of Ezekiel common articles of trade with the merchants of Tyre. They belong to a family of which our Sassafras and Laurus benzoin are examples. Camphor of commerce is from a tree of the same tribe.

The Hyssop and Mustard of Scripture, around which many inquiries cluster, are not so satisfactorily identified by modern investigation as would seem reasonable to expect. The former is declared by the best authorities to be the Capparis Egyptica, or Caper plant, and not the officinal herb, Hyssop; the latter, the Salvadora Persica, a tree-like plant, sufficiently large for birds generally to lodge in its branches. Some still adhere to the common Mustard as that alluded to on two occasions by our Saviour. The uses of Mustard were well understood and described by Pliny, who was nearly contemporary. The FRUITS were identified and described. Among them the PALM tribe, a family acknowledged by botanists to be the princes of the vegetable kingdom, and to which, in Scripture, the righteous are most fitly compared. "They shall flourish like the Palm tree, they shall bring forth fruit in old age." The whole Palm tribe are of immense importance to the countries in which they grow. The Date Palm yields year by year, an even crop of perhaps three or four hundred pounds, and that for a century together, scarcely ever materially failing.

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The APPLE of Scripture is, without doubt, the Citron, Citrus medica. "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver," might be rendered, "like golden citrons in silver baskets," in allusion to a custom of the Jews of presenting that fruit in this manner at their sacred feasts.

The FIG, SYCAMORE-FIG and MULBERRY, of the Morads, a family peculiar for the manner in which their fruits are formed, being an aggregation of calices consolidated into round, succulent heads. The manner of the flowering of the fig, inside of the fruit, but having all the requisite organs of true flowers, was satisfactorily explained.

The OLIVE and VINE are among the most signal of the bountiful gifts of Providence, and would in their history and economy exhaust volumes, yielding

as they do such indispensable products, as fruits, wine, oil, molasses, &c.

The ALMOND and POMEGRANATE, with the numerous texts in which they are mentioned, received a share of attention, and were found full of interest and instruction.

The CRAB-TREE, Ceratonia siliqua, with its sweet pods or husks, furnished food for the poor; but the copious crops of the tree were generally fed out to mules, asses and swine. No doubt this fruit is referred to in the parable of the Prodigal Son, upon which he was obliged to feed, "the husks that the swine did eat."

CUCUMBERS and MELONS are invested with great historical interest on account of the extent of their ancient cultivation, and the great place they filled in the diet of the ancient Hebrews and Egyptians.

The LINTEL of Jacob and Esau; the PAPYRUS, from which paper was made, and which is alluded to in the Epistles of John; the Zysyphus, the plant from which the "Crown of Thorns was probably made, have each an interest peculiarly their own.

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The TIMBER TREES of the country, and such as were used in the building of Solomon's Temple, received a passing notice.

JONAH'S GOURD, ELIJAH'S JUNIPER, the mythical APPLES of SODOM, and the ROSE of JERICHO, received severally their share of explanation.

The foregoing plants were illustrated by colored representations, which served to fix their identification in the mind, and added greatly to the interest of the subject.

TAKE care that nothing comes between you and the hours devoted to God. Think of Daniel, Prime Minister of Persia, with the affairs of one hundred and thirty-seven provinces resting on his mind, yet finding time to go into his chamber three times a day, that he might pray and give thanks to God. Think of Alfred, with the cares of a monarchy; Luther, buffeted by the storms of Papal wrath; of Thornton, encompassed with a thousand mercantile engagements, yet never allowing the hurry of business to intrude on his regular hours of devotion.

Christ Among Little Children.-No. 3. felt that their infants needed it equally

Blessing Little Children.

BY REV. J. W. STEINMETZ.

None of the evangelists state definitely who brought the infants to the Saviour: but it is most likely that their mothers presented them. We infer this, not only from the fact, that mothers in the Orient have the almost exclusive care of children, but also that scarcely any but mothers would press through the multitudes that thronged Him to bring infants to His notice, when He was so unremittingly engaged with adults. Neither can we suppose that these were ordinary or indifferent mothers. Their station in life may have been lowly, and yet, they most likely were distinguished for their faith and piety. We infer this from the fact, that there is only one case recorded, of such a presentation of infants to the Saviour. We cannot conceive, that He would have so graciously received the mothers and their children, if only a superficial or momentary impulse had prompted the action, or if some blind superstitious notion had actuated them to make the singular request. The step taken was in itself certainly bold: yet the manner in which the request was made, is tender, touching and modest, in the highest degree. They request but the touching of His hand, and prayer over their children.

Such a request could only come from pious hearts. Hearts that had themselves come under the benign influence of the Son of Man. Hearts that had felt themselves powerless to improve their own spiritual condition, and had from Christ received what they had felt the want of before. And they earnestly desired, that their children should receive something more and higher than they had inherited from them, or than they were able to confer upon them. They, themselves, have received a blessing from the Saviour, by yielding obedience to His teaching and cherishing Him in faith and love; and so it became also their hearts' desire, that their infants who could not understand His teaching, should in some way become partakers of the same blessing. They

with themselves, and so desired earnestly that they should stand in the same relation to Christ. They no doubt realized the difficulty in the way of accomplishing the desired object, as their children were unable to understand Christ's teaching, and to exercise a conscious faith. But earnest souls full of faith and love think fast, so they must have noticed that Jesus healed the sick by His touch and word, and inferred that He was equally able to bless their infants. Trusting in His goodness, their loving mother hearts impelled them forward with their precious burdens to seek a blessing from the Blessed One. They came, carrying their babes, expecting virtue to pass from Christ upon them, if they could but bring them into contact with Him.

But the disciples rebuked them, perhaps saying, "Why trouble ye the Master with children? Is He not wearied enough with adults who come flocking in upon Him, with their sick, or to hear Him speak? Our communion with Him is almost continually interrupted by them, and if you come with the children also, so that He must fondle and pet each one, we will soon have no time with Him ourselves. Besides, what do you foolish mothers wish for your children from Him? They are entirely too young to derive any benefit from His teaching, as they cannot understand or remember a word He speaks, neither are they sick that they require healing." In some such way may they have addressed those pious women, while their countenances were knit with the furrows of their displeasure. They wished to decide the question of their approach themselves, without allowing the modest request to come to the Master's ears, and so crush this new movement and application for favor, at once and permanently.

No doubt the pious mothers keenly felt the rebuke, which the chosen and permanent followers of the Lord administered unto them. They may already have turned to depart, their hearts chiding them for their presumption. Deeply humbled, they, with burning cheeks and hearts, may have sadly repented of their forwardness in approaching the thronged Master, saying

to themselves, "Alas! that our mother's love misled us so far, and made us so adventurous for our children. But how could we help it? We only desired Him to breathe the sweetness of His love and truth into their tender hearts, and placing His hand upon their little heads, give them His favor and benediction. We but followed the faith of our hearts in Him, and the instincts of our love for our babes, and this is the sad end!"

The disciples followed the natural understanding in rejecting their application and dismissing them. Here we have a case where simple love and faith were right, as over against instructed reason. Alas! this has not been the last case of the kind, in the history of our Saviour's followers.

Jesus was much displeased when He noticed what the disciples were doing. So He is ever displeased with those who in various ways hinder children from coming unto Him. What a contrast between the disciples who with frowns rebuke the mothers for bringing their children, and the smiling Saviour who so tenderly invited the little ones to Himself!

The already retreating mothers were recalled with the words, "Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not." What encouragement this must have given to the mothers; but what a rebuke to the disciples, who had forbidden their approach. And how readily must they have shrunk back to make room for the mothers. who came eagerly forward to accept the invitation extended to their infants, bringing the lovely babes to the loving Saviour.

It appears that the disciples had almost forgotten, that they had been infants themselves, that infants needed the Saviour as much as adults, and that He had come into the world as an infant to save our entire humanity. The disciples failed to manifest true sympathy with humanity as such, in depreciating the children. Jesus' act shows that He stood in deepest sympathy with humanity as a whole, by fully appreciating childhood no less than age. His sympathy extended to all-fathers and mothers, youth and maidens, old men and infants. This is, moreover, what a proper consideration would lead us to

expect of Him who was born in a stable, and for whom so many children had unconsciously and innocently died.

"Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not," He would say, For I came as an infant into the world in order to save humanity in all states of life. I became an infant to ameliorate their temporal condition, to elevate the degree of regard due to them-to cultivate love in the hearts of adults for them, to show the importance of infants-to show how highly men ought to esteem them, and how tenderly women ought to love them, by showing how supremely they are regarded by my Father, and by the holy angels who hover as guardian spirits around them. "Suffer little children to come unto Me." They need not wait until they have become as old as you are. Nay, you who think you have the preference, and superior capacities to receive my instruction, my grace and my blessing, let me tell you, you must rather become little children in trust and humility, if you would enter the kingdom of God at all. To the extent that you have lost the childlike, you are unfitted for entering the kingdom of God-that you must regain if you would be admitted to its joy, and life, and blessing.

Let them come to me and obtain the grace and the life that shall admit them into the presence of my Father, and into heaven, my home. The greater number of the human citizens of heaven enter it as children, so let children come. Do not forbid them, or hinder them in any way; but help them to come to me-carry and bring them unto me, for heaven is full of little children, and childlike men and women.

"And He took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them." St. Mark 10: 16.

In this entire transaction of the Saviour was fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 40: 11, "He shall feed his flock like a shepherd, He shall gather the lambs in His arms, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young."

Behold the great tenderness of the Saviour. He took them up in His arms-into His embrace, put His hands upon them, and blessed them. This was much more than the mothers

had asked, or even hoped for. They had only asked the touch of His hand, whereas He embraced and pressed them to His loving heart, where, of all the disciples, only John, the beloved, was privileged to lie. In all this Jesus manifested the heartiness with which He loved children. Our spiritual consciousness shrinks with horror from the thought, that He did this simply to satisfy the mothers. Jesus was incapable of any such deception. His embrace was the token of His unutterable love for them. It speaks more loudly and clearly than any words.

own person upon their persons. They received something in that blessing which they had not beforehand. This we believe to have been of a gracious and benign spiritual character.

When He embraced them, He took them into His kingdom; and when He placed His hands on them, He gave them the protection of His kingdom; and so when He blessed them, He imparted unto them in an incipient way, His own divine-human life-which is the grace and blessing of the kingdom.

This He could impart unto them only in an intuitive way, as He was Himself not yet glorified-the full blessing of the kingdom could only come. with its full establishment, and that only with the coronation of the King, viz., Christ's ascension into Heaven and sitting on the right hand of God.

So also in laying His hands upon them and blessing them, He did it not as a simple matter of form. He was far too noble and true to be guilty of such hypocrisy. And His blessing was more than a simple worldly wish of "good luck" in temporal things. The blessing of Jesus is more than an ordinary vain wish. Men wish for that which they have not, and cannot obtain. Jesus wished nothing. He had the power to obtain and confer what was worth wishing for. So also here, if He wished anything for the children, He had the power to confer it upon them. And this is just what St. Mark says He did, viz., He blessed them. And while earthly prosperity was not necessarily excluded from the blessing, we have no doubt but that the main feature of the blessing was of a spiritual character. He blessed the children-their per sons, and not only their surroundings. And this blessing, as already intimated, was more positive and grace bearing than a pious wish, nay even more so than a prayer in their behalf. As the embracing of their bodies was a gracious act, so also, and much more was His blessing them something real and effec-ceive the contents of Christ's blessing to tual.

When He blessed the loaves and fishes in the desert, there was an immediate effect in the increase of the quantity, and the intensification of the properties. The infants were not less capable to receive His spiritual blessing, inasmuch as sin lay as yet dormant in their natures, and had not broken out into acts of rebellion against Him, and did not then offer any opposition of will rejecting the proffered blessing. With His blessing virtue passed out of His

This incipient blessing He could however communicate unto them. We all receive life unconsciously. He taught His disciples and the Church of all ages, that children need not wait until they can understand the sermon of the minister in the church, or even the simplest word in the sanctuary of home. Nay, infants can be brought into living contact with the Saviour before their minds can understand the Word. Even the most intelligent Christian receives more than he can understand. Regeneration is one of the profoundest acts of the Spirit; and does not depend upon our thorough comprehension of it; for if it did, none would ever be regenerated. Conversion follows the change of lifechange of life, union with Christ, is a deeper fact than change of mind. And the former is never in Scripture made to depend on the latter, but the latter on the former. It is only when we con

have been the communication of His life and grace, that His blessing of them is real and substantial. Without this there was no blessing imparted unto them from Christ as Saviour. The blessing of Peter, James or John would, without Christ's official benediction, have been equally good. In a word, we hold that Jesus really blessed the children-blessed them as SAVIOUR.

Lange on Mark says: "The older Church rightly appealed to this passage as over against the Anabaptists: For

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