1859.] THORNS NOT THISTLES. 115 



"THOENS" NOT "THISTLES." 



By Rev. W. Hind. 



Your correspondent S. B. asks me how Thorns (such as Pru- 

 nus spinosa) could spring up in one season so as to choke the 

 good seed. I can only answer^ I doubt if they could. Nor is it 

 needful that they should, to suit the requirements of the Parable 

 of the Sower. The parable is related by three of the Evangelists, 

 with a slight variety of expression in each case, as regards the 

 point before us, but with the most perfect agreement of mean- 

 ing. St. Matthew says, some fell eVl ra? aKavOaq, — 'among 

 thorns,' or rather, ' on the thorns ;' St. Mark, eh Ta<i aKavOa^;, — 

 ' among' or ' into the thorns ;' St. Luke, eV /jueo-o) ratv aKavOwv, — 

 ' among' or ' in midst of the thorns.' The language in each case 

 evidently implies that the thorns were already in existence, and 

 the ground preoccupied with them before the seed fell ; and that 

 consequently the increase of the thorns, which were already rooted 

 in the soil, gave no opportunity for the grain sown among them 

 to come to perfection. I trust this explanation will be deemed 

 sufficient to show that the Translators of our Bible were per- 

 fectly justified in retaining the usual signification of the term in 

 the original, instead of supplying its place by an unusual if not 

 wholly unauthorized meaning. It has the further recommenda- 

 tion of being in strict keeping with the other figures of the para- 

 ble, as the wayside and stony ground were then actually in be- 

 ing when the seed was sown ; and so in like manner the thorns. 

 It gives greater force of spiritual application j telling us that if the 

 heart be preoccupied with worldly cares, the Gospel cannot flou- 

 rish there ; and that it is necessary that the love of the world, 

 and earthly anxieties, should first be rooted up, to make room for 

 the good seed to grow and flourish. While writing on this sub- 

 ject, I may remark that I do not suppose that any particular 

 plant is pointed at in the parable, but that the reference is to 

 thorny plants in general, be they of what genus or species they 

 may; just as all manner of worldly cares are to be understood 

 in the spiritual application. Were there any difficulty in under- 

 standing the parable as at present translated (which I maintain 

 there is not), I doubt much whether the translation 'thistles' 

 would much tend to simplify it. Thistles as a rule are not (at 



