THE THORN. 255 



which suckers and young plants are continually springing up, which 

 produce others in their turn. Where it is permitted to grow, it soon 

 overspreads whole tracts of ground, and it is extremely difficult to 

 clear the land of its roots where once it has got proper footing. 

 Such provision has the just God made to fulfil the curse which he 

 has pronounced on the earth, because of the crimes of its inhabi- 

 tants. 



THE THORN. 



OF the Thorn there are several sorts, and to designate them the 

 sacred writers employ different terms, which it is by no means easy 

 to discriminate with accuracy and confidence. The late editor of 

 Calmel has enumerated eight different words in the original, ren- 

 dered ' thorns' or ' briers' in our version, and Dr. Harris has extend- 

 ed the list. 



The first time that this description of plants is mentioned, is in 

 the denunciation of punishment on the human race, in Gen. iii. 18, 

 'thorns and thistles;' Paul uses the same words, in Heb. vi. 8, 

 where the last is rendered * briers ; ' they are also found in Hos. x. 8. 

 The word occurs in other places (Exod. xxii. 6; Judges viii. 6; 

 xxviii. 24) ; but whether it denotes a specific kind of thorn, or is a 

 generic name for all kinds of thorny plants, is uncertain. There is 

 a beautiful apothegm in Prov. xv. J9: 'The way of the slothful is 

 as a hedge of thorns: but the way of the righteous is plain.' The 

 beautiful opposition in the original is not discoverable in the Eng- 

 lish version : ' The narrow way of the slothful is like perplexed 

 pathways among sharp thorns: whereas, the broad road of the right- 

 eous is a high bank' (a causeway); that is, straight-forward, free 

 from obstructions ; the direct, conspicuous, open path. Upon this 

 passage Mr. Taylor remarks, 1. The common course of life of these 

 two characters answers to this comparison. 2. Their manner of 

 going about business, or of transacting it, answers to this : an idle 

 man always prefers the most intricate, the most oblique, and event- 

 ually, the most thorny measures, to accomplish his purpose : the 

 honest man prefers the most liberal, and straight-forward. 



We have already remarked that the word employed in the New 

 Testament for thorns, is akantha. There has been some variety of 

 opinion among critics, as to the nature of the thorn of which our 

 Lord's crown was composed, Matt, xxvii. 29. It was without doubt 

 of some kind of prickly shrub, though what it was cannot now be 

 ascertained. 



