472

FRIENDS’

REVIEW.

 

interpreters of nature? It is as the interpreter
Of man, the interpreter of man’s records, that
man stands distinguished. Herein reason tran-
scends instinct, that its gifts are transmissive and
cumulative. Mind does not stand supported by
the mind which exists around it, not simply, not
mainly. There is a higher and broadersupport.
The minds of the great of bygone ages live and
work in the breasts of their successors. The
old Greeks, I suppose, knew this, and embodied
it in the fable of Athene, the goddess of
knowledge, who sprang into existence not as a
naked, helpless child, but as a grown-up being,
clad in complete armor, from the head of Zeus.

 

THE MUSTARD-SEED PLANT OF PALESTINE.

In the parable of the mustard-seed, it is said
that this seed, although the smallest of all seeds
when cast into the earth, becomes, when grown
up, @ great tree (in a comparative sense, of
course), and puts forth branches, so that the
fowls of heaven come and lodge among them.
I was beginning to fear that I should leave the
country without having an opportunity to see
any example of this plant answering to the de-
scription of it in the parable. Of the various
persons of whom I had made inquiry at Jeru-
salem, no one was able to give me any certain
information. One said that probably this species
of the plant was now ‘extinct. Another said
that it was reputed to grow very large in Gali-
lee, but he could not vouch for it from personal
observation. I had observed, indeed, in crossing
the plain of Esdraelon, just before coming to
Nazareth, that the mustard-plant was by no
means uncommon there; but yet, though some
of the stalks which I took pains to measure were
quite large, they were still not so large as I had
expected to find them, and not large enough, as
it appeared to me, to suggest naturally the il-
lustration in the parable. I was, therefore, dis-
appointed.

Some days after this, as I was riding across
the plain of Akka, on the way to Carmel, I per-
ceived, at some distance from the path, what
seemed to be a little forest or nursery of trees.
I turned aside to examine them. On coming
nearer, they proved to be an extensive field of
the plant which I was so anxious to see. It was
then in blossom, full grown, in some cases six,
seven, and nine feet high, with a stem or trunk
an inch or more in thickness, throwing out
branches on every side. I was now satisfied in
part. I felt that such a plant might well be
called a tree, and, in comparison with the
seed producing it, a great tree. But still the
branches, or stems of the branches, were not
very large, or, apparently, very strong. Can
the birds, I said to myself, rest upon them?
Are they not tooslight and flexible? Will they
not bend or break beneath the superadded

 

weight ? At that very instant, as I stood and

revolved the thought, lo! one of the fowls: of of
heaven stopped in its flight through the air,
alighted down on one of the branches, which
hardly moved beneath the shock, and then be-
gan, perched there before my eyes, to warble
forth a strain of the richest music. All my
doubts were now charmed away. I was delighted
at the incident. It seemed to me at the moment
as if | enjoyed enough to repay me for I
trouble of the whole journey. iets

Such incidental illustrations of Serip
nish no small share of the gratification 3
the traveller receives from da :
wanders through the lands of the Bible.
finds that he ‘has a local commentary spre
everywhere around him, which brings home to
him the language and scenes of the Bible with a
freshness and power which no learning or skill
of commentators can supply.

Iam aware that some give to the original
word for “ mustard” a generic sense, so as to
understand a tree, properly so called. But, as
no necessity demands such an extension of the
term, it is more correct to adhere to the ordinary
meaning. Besides, the Evangelists include the
mustard-plant of which they speak among herbs
or vegetables, and thus indicate that when they
call it a “tree” they make use of a popular
hyperbole.— Hackett.

 
 
  

.

FRIENDS’

——-—

REVIEW. _

PHILADELPHIA, THIRD MO. 29, 1862.

 

 

 

 

Notices or DAvID Cooper.—We commence,
this week, the publication of a series of extracts
from the Diary of David Cooper, prepared by a
valued correspondent, and promising to possess
much interest with reference to the early his-
tory of New Jersey, and to the condition of our
religious Society during a period of great diff
culty and trial arising from political events. —

We trust that the letter and remarks of David
Cooper respecting the Meeting for Sufferings
and the Yearly Meeting of Ministers and
Elders, in this city, published in the Review
two weeks since, have received the serious con-
sideration of many of our readers; and if any
have overlooked them, we would call their atten-
tion to a careful perusal. They contain import-
ant principles and suggestions which are singu-
larly pertinent to the action of those meetings
for several years past, and to the efforts now
making to place the Yearly Meeting of Minis-
ss apa Elders in a position superior to that of
the Yearly Meeting, and to invest it with author-