The author just named, describes the "balsam of Aaron" as a very fine oil, which emits no scent or smell, and is very proper for preparing odoriferous ointments. It is obtained from a tree called behen, which grows in Mount Sinai and Upper Egypt, and, it is presumed, in certain parts of the Holy Land. Travellers assert that it is the very perfume with which the ancient high-priest of the Jews, with whose name it is connected, was wont to anoint his beard, and which the Psalmist extols so much on account of its rich odour and mollifying qualities,--the emblem of domestic harmony and brotherly love. There still exists a thorn in Palestine known among botanists by the name of the "spina Christi," or thorn of Christ, and supposed to be the shrub which afforded the crown worn by our Saviour before his crucifixion. It must have been very fit for the purpose, for it has many small sharp prickles, well adapted to give pain; and as the leaves greatly resemble those of ivy, it is not improbable that the enemies of the Messiah chose it from its similarity to the plant with which emperors and generals were accustomed to be crowned; and hence that there might be calumny, insult, and derision, meditated in the very act of punishment.[208] THE END. [1] No. XXIII. of this Family Library. [2] See Dialogues on Natural and Revealed Religion. By the Rev. Robert Morehead, D.D., p. 241,--an able and interesting work. [3] Shakspeare, Henry IV. Part I. Act I. [4] Chateaubriand Itinéraire, tome i. p. 48, &c. Sozom. lib. iii. c. i. Euseb. Hist. Eccl. lib. vi. S. Cyril, Cat. xvi. [5] Deuteronomy viii. 7, 8, 9. [6] Terra finesque, qua ad Orientem vergunt, Arabia terminantur; a meridie Aegyptus objacet; ab occasu Phoenices et mare; septemtrionem a latere Syriae longe prospectant. Corpora hominum salubria et ferentia laborom: rari imbres, uber solum: fruges nostrum ad morem; preterque eas balsamum et palmae. Hist. lib. v. c. 6. [7] Belon. Observations de Singularités, p. 140. Hasselquist's Travels, p.56. Korte's Travels in Palestine. Chateaubriand, les Martyrs, vol. iii. p. 99. Schultze's Travels, vol. ii p. 85. [8] Seetzen, in Annales des Voyages, i. 398; and Correspondance de M. Zach. 425. [9] Maundrell, p. 60. [10] Chateaubriand Itinérarie, ii. 123. Malte Brun, vol. ii. 150-160. Edin. Edition. [11] Judges i. 3. [12] Joseph. contra Apion. cap. 1. 2 Kings xvii. 24. [13] Reland, Palestina Illustrata, lib. ii. c. 5. Spanheim, Charta terris Israelis. Lowman on the Civil Government of the Hebrews. [14] Lev. xxv. 23. [15] Lev. xxv. 24-28. [16] Judges xxi. 8-13. [17] Numbers xxvi. 02. [18] Joshua vii. 16, 17, 18. [19] I Chron. ii. 10, 11. [20] Deut. iv. 1, 2; xii. 32. "Hoc igitur argumento maximo est; juris illius majestatis quod in legibus ferendis est positum, nihil quicquam penes hominem fuisse."--_Conringius de Repub. Heb_. [21] Livii. Hist. lib. xxviii. 37; lib. xxx. 7. Bochart, Geog. Sacra, part ii. lib. ii. 24.