THE VINE. 95 



of grapes," Palestine has long been under the dominion of Mahomedan rulers, 

 whose faith forbids the use of wine, and therefore cannot now boast of its luxu- 

 riant vineyards, which for ages had been the admiration of surrounding nations. 

 It must be remembered that the Vine of Sodom, which is found growing in 

 great abundance not far distant from Jericho and the Dead Sea, and, according 

 to Bishop Lowth, produces fruit as bitter as gall, and as deadly as the poison 

 of a serpent, alluded to by Moses, is not the Vitis vinifera, or the V. Lahrusca 

 of botanists; "For their Vine is of the Vine of Sodom, and of the fields of 

 Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter, their wine 

 is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps." In contradistinction 

 to this plant our Saviour says, in the Gospel of St. John, ''1 am the true 

 Vine, and my Father is the husbandman." And in the triumphal song 

 of David, on the plagues which desolated Egypt, he says, "He destroyed 

 their Vines with hail, and their Sycamore trees with frost." And in Deuter- 

 onomy, xxii., "Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds, lest the fruit 

 of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard be defiled." 

 The Vine is found growing spontaneously on the far-ftimed mountain of 

 Lebanon, and its astonishing fruitfulness is employed as a figure to illustrate 

 the fruitfulness of the graces of the saints; hence, says Hosea, xiv., "His 

 branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell 

 as Lebanon. They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive 

 as the corn, and grow as the Vine, and the scent shall be as the wine in 

 Lebanon." Dandini, an Italian traveller, was surprised at the extraordinary 

 size of those produced in the vineyards of Lebanon, which he describes as the 

 size of prunes, and of a most delicious flavour; and Doubdon met with very 

 extraordinary Vines near Bethlehem, Of the size of bunches and berries 

 produced in ancient days, we have frequent mention in Scripture. — In the 

 13th. Chapter of the Book of Numbers, we find it written, "And they came 

 unto the brook Eschol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster 

 of grapes, and they bore it between two upon a staff." It is the opinion of 

 some Scriptural writers that the brook or river Eschol flowed through the 

 valley of Sorek, which place of all others in the Holy Land produced grapes 

 the largest and most valuable. In 1633, Eugene Koger states that he found 

 in this valley a bunch of white grapes weighing twenty-four pounds, and 

 observes that it was a common occurrence to find them from six to twelve 

 pounds weight. The valley of Eschol, till within a recent date, was well 

 cultivated as arable land and as vineyards; we are also informed that the 

 wine given to visitors at the convent of St. John is produced from these 

 grapes. The traveller Morrison says, ^^It is a white wine, and was so delicious, 

 that on tasting it, my conscience secretly reproached me for so badly imitating 

 the great Baptist, who in this very place, now called the valley of St. John, 

 abstained from wine and all strong drink." In the Old Testament days it 

 was used as a drink offering poured out before God; and, as is well known, 

 in the New Testament days, it is used at the Lord's Supper as an emblem 



