herself to 'a flower of the brook side' (Cant. ii. 1); not of a cultivated garden. The white lily is a flower of the field, in Persia; and some of its species may be field-flowers in Judea. Besides this, there is the martagon, crown imperial, and other colored lilies. If the comparison of our Saviour be to the whiteness of Solomon's raiment, then, certainly, it never equalled the brilliant whiteness of a lily-if it be to the resplendence of colors, then the mixture, the relief, the glow of colors, in some kinds of lilies, exceeds whatever the manufacturers of stuffs for Solomon's wardrobe could compose. The lily of the field was perhaps present and pointed at, when our Divine Master suggested this simile: if so, it was certainly a wild lily that was intended. Among the ornaments of the temple furniture, the lily occupied a conspicuous place. The brim of the molten sea was wrought with flowers of lilies (1 Kings vii. 26); the chapiters that were upon the tops of the pillars were of lily work, (ver. 19) and the tops of the pillars were ornamented in the same manner, ver. 22. Sir Robert Ker Porter, describing a piece of sculpture, which he discovered among the ruins of the palace of forty pillars, at Persepolis, remarks, Almost every one in this procession holds in his hand a figure like the lotos. This flower was full of meaning among the ancients, and occurs all over the East. Egypt, Persia, Palestine, and India, present it every where over their architecture, in the hands and on the heads of their sculptured figures, whether in statue or in bas relief. We also find it in the sacred vestments and architecture of the tabernacle and temple of the Israelites, and see it mentioned by our Saviour, as an image of peculiar beauty and glory, when comparing the works of nature with the decorations of art. It is also represented in all pictures of the salutation of Gabriel to the Virgin Mary; and, in fact, has been held in mysterious veneration by people of all nations and times. 'It is the symbol of divinity, of purity, and abundance, and of a love most complete in perfection, charity, and benediction; as in holy scripture, that mirror of purity, Susanna is defined Susa, which signifieth the lily flower, the chief city of the Persians bearing that name for excellency. Hence the lily's three leaves in the arms of France, meaneth Piety, Justice, and Charity. So far the general impression of a peculiar regard to this beautiful and fragrant flower; but the early Persians attached to it a peculiar sanctity.' CUMMIN. THIS is an umbelliferous plant, resembling fennel in its appearance and growing plentifully in Lesser Asia, Egypt, Syria, Spain, Italy, and other hot countries. It produces a seed which has a bitterish warm taste, accompanied with an aromatic flavor, not of the most agreeable kind. The Jews sowed it in their fields, and when ripe, thrashed out the seeds with a rod, Isaiah xxviii. 25, 27. The Maltese sow it, and collect the seeds in the same manner. Our Lord reproved the Scribes and Pharisees for so scrupulously paying the tithe of mint, anise and cummin, while they neglected good works, and more essential obedience to God's law, Matt. xxiii. 23. ANISE. PROFESSOR CAMPBELL has pointed out the mistake into which our translators have fallen, by confounding two words which have no connexion-anethon and anison; the former is that used in the text, and signifies, not anise, but dill: the latter denotes anise, but it does not occur in the sacred writings. HYSSOP. THIS vegetable receives its name from its detersive and cleansing qualities, whence it was used in sprinkling the blood of the paschal lamb (Exod. xii. 22;) in cleansing the leprosy (Lev. xiv. 4, 6, 51, 52;) in composing the water of purification (Numb. xix. 6,) and also in sprinkling it, ver. 18. It was typical of the purifying virtue of the bitter sufferings of Christ, and it is plain, from Ps. li. 9, that the Psalmist understood its import. The hyssop is an herb of a bitter taste, and grows on the mountains near Jerusalem, as well as on the walls of the city. Hasselquist speaks of some which was a very diminutive moss-a striking contrast to the tall and majestic cedar. See 1 Kings iv. 33. Bochart, Scheuchzer, Parkhurst, and other critics, to get rid of a supposed discrepancy between the evangelists, have conceived that the hyssop of John xix. 29 must be considered as synonymous with the reed or cane of Matt. xxvii, 48, and Mark xv. 36; and hence Wolfius has taken some pains to show that there was a species of hyssop whose stalk was sometimes two feet long, and therefore sufficient to reach a person on a cross, that was by no means so lofty as some have erroneously conceived. But the difficulty, as Dr. Harris has shown, is not in the text itself, which is sufficiently intelligible, and clearly compatible with the statement of the other evangelists. John does not mention the reed; but says, that when they had put the sponge upon hyssop; that is, when they had added bitter to the sour, or gall to the vinegar, they advance it to our Saviour's mouth, no doubt, with the reed. THE JUNIPER. It is very questionable whether this shrub is mentioned in scripture, though it is found in our translation. In 1 Kings xix. 4, we read of the prophet sheltering himself under a retem, [Eng. Tr. juniper-tree,] as Jonah was glad to avail himself of the frail covert of a gourd from the oppressive heat of the sun, Jonah iv. 8. In Job xxx. 3, 4, the afflicted patriarch speaks of those having him in derision, Who were, yesterday, gnawcrs of the desert, Of the waste and the wilderness; Plucking nettles from the bushes, Or Juniper- [retem] roots for their food. But this passage will not help us to determine whether the retem be the juniper or the broom; for the roots of neither the one nor the other, nor, indeed, of any other plants in those arid deserts, could furnish a nutritive article of food. The circumstance is mentioned as a proof of their utter destitution, and Parkhurst has shown, from several writers, that the most innutritive substances have been eaten among many people in times and places of scarcity and famine. Dr. Good quotes the following passage in Lucan, as bearing a striking resemblance to the description of Job: He marks the wretched throng, Seize food for cattle, crop the prickly brier, The Psalmist (cxx. 4,) mentions the coals of the juniper as affording the fiercest fire of any combustible matter that he found in the desert, and therefore the fittest punishment for a deceitful tongue : 'What shall be given unto thee, or what shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue? Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper.' That is, The wrath of God, like a keen and barbed arrow from the bow of the mighty, shall pierce the strongest armor, and strike deep into the hardest heart, and, like the fierce and protracted flame of the juniper, shall torment the liar with unutterable anguish. SECTION II. THE CUCUMBER. THIS is very common fruit amongst us, but is much more so in Egypt, where it is also more agreeable to the taste, and more easy of digestion. Hasselquist supposes the cucumber mentioned in Nunb. xi. 5, to be the queen of cucumbers,' which he thus describes: It grows in the fertile earth round Cairo, after the inundation of the Nile, and not in any other place in Egypt, nor in any other soil. It ripens with water-melons; its flesh is almost of the same substance, but is not near so cool. The grandees eat it as the most pleasant food they find, and that from which they have least to apprehend. It is the most excellent of this tribe of any yet known.' Mr. Jowett has the following passage in his Christian Researches.' 'Extensive fields of ripe melons and cucumbers adorned the sides of the river [Nile]; they grew in such abundance, that the sailors freely helped themselves. Some guard, however, is placed upon them. Occasionally, but at long and desolate intervals, we may observe a little hut, made of reeds, just capable of containing one man; being, in fact, little more than a fence against a north wind. In these I have observed, sometimes, a poor old man, perhaps lame, feebly protecting the property. It exactly illustrates Isaiah i. 8: And the daughter of Zion is left, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers.' The numbers of these most necessary vegetables bring to mind the murmurs of the Israelites: We remember the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic: but now our soul is dried away.' THE MELON. MELONS are in the Hebrew scriptures named from the verb which signifies to hang close, cling, &c.; and they are no doubt so named from the manner in which their tendrils cling to whatever they can lay hold on, in order to support themselves. Hasselquist says, the melon is cultivated on the banks of the Nile, in the rich clayey earth, which subsides during the inundation; and in the Island Delta, especially at Burlos, whence the largest and best are brought. This serves the Egyptians for meat, drink, and physic. The flesh of it is eaten with bread; the juice of it is collected in a hole made in the melon, and is a most refreshing, but sometimes dangerous drink; and the same juice, mixed with rose-water and a little sugar, is the only medicine used by the common people in burning fevers. This is very comfortable to the patient, for it cools and refreshes him. See Numb. xi. 5. THE MANDRAKE. THERE are two sorts of Mandrakes :—the female, which is black, having leaves not unlike lettuce, though smaller and narrower, which spread on the ground, and have a disagreeable smell. It bears berries something like services, pale, of a strong smell, having kernels within, like those of pears. It has two or three very large roots, twisted together, white within, black without, and covered with a thick rind. The other kind, or male mandrake, is called morion, or folly, because it suspends the use of the senses. It produces berries twice the size of those of the female, of a good scent, and of a color approaching towards saffron. Its leaves are white, large, broad, and smooth, like the leaves of the beech tree. Its root resembles that of the female, but is thicker and bigger. This plant stupifies those who use it; sometimes depriving them of understanding; and often causes such vertigoes and lethargies, that, if those who have taken it have not present assistance, they die in convulsions. From Cant. vii. 13, it appears that the mandrake yielded a remarkable smell at the time when the vines and pomegranates flowered, which in Judea is about the end of April, or beginning of May. It is probable, therefore, that this circumstance of their smell is to be referred to the fruit rather than to the flower, especially as Brookes, who has given a particular description and a print of the plant, expressly observes that the fruit has a strong, nauseous smell, though he says nothing about the scent of a flow er. 22 |