WINTER MEETING. 175 



of men." These are the illustrations and comparisons of 800 and 1000 

 jears before the Christian era. 



The Eev. Richard Watson (1750) thinks "our translators must 

 have surely been mistaken," and that the words "apple" and "apple- 

 tree" in these Scriptures should have been translated citron and cit- 

 ron-tree; and that the citron tree is large and noble, affording "re- 

 freshing shade and exhilarating fruit ;" and that the 'Jews " used fruit 

 of this tree at yearly feasts. 



Encyclopedia of Rel. Knowl. says : " It ( the apple ) remains longer 

 in season and has more excellent varieties than all other fruits." Nine 

 hundred and fifty years B. C. Homer describes the apple as one of the 

 precious fruits of his time. 



American Ency. describes the citron as " belonging to the same 

 genus as the lime, lemon, shaddock and orange, attaining a height of 

 about eight feet, with long reclining branches, is fall of sharp spines, and 

 its fruit is kept for its fragrance in sitting-rooms; is somewhat acid, 

 rarely eaten raw, valued for its fragrance, and makes a delicate sweet- 

 meat." The olive could not have been meant, as "it rarely exceeds 20 

 feet in height, its fruit quite small, is too bitter to eat, unless pickled, 

 and is used rather as a condiment than food." 



Beautiful as these trees are, can it be that Solomon declares his 

 love (or beloved) is to the other people as this shrub (citron ) is to 

 other trees of the forest? 



Solomon had gathered every tree, shrub and flower from all the 

 nations with whom he had commercial relations, and planted them in 

 the royal gardens about Jerusalem. He had satiated every desire that 

 wisdom, wealth and ambition could satisfy. Refreshing himself within 

 the shade of the apple-tree, in ecstasy he declares the breath of his 

 beloved is like the perfume of its glorious fruit. Unlike Alexander, 

 who blubbered like a spoiled brat because there were no more worlds 

 to conquer, but like the rollicking boy the old man found up his apple- 

 tree, in the joy of his heart he exclaims: "Eureka! I have found 

 it! Stay me with flagons of wine and comfort me with big red apples." 

 Is it possible that the wise man, of whom God said none before had 

 equaled and none ever would excel him in wisdom, would swing his ham- 

 mock in the shadow of a crab-apple or citron tree eight or ten feet 

 high, and in ecstasy desire to be comforted with its fruit, which is unfit 

 for use in its raw state, and principally used in the" yearly feasts and 

 sacrifices of his people. 



'Tis said the apple tree never is handsome. Certainly these writers 

 had never seen a systematically cultivated orchard of properly trained 

 apple-trees in full bloom. They had certainly never stood beside a 



