PLANTS IX SCRIPTURE 139 



All which notwithstanding, since the same plant may 

 grow naturally and spontaneously in several countries, 

 and either from inward or outward causes be lost in 

 one region, while it continueth and subsisteth in another, 

 the balsam tree might possibly be a native of Judsea as 

 well as of Arabia ; which because de facto it cannot 

 be clearly made out, the ancient expressions of Scripture 

 become doubtful in this point. But since this plant 

 hath not for a long time grown in Judaea, and still 

 plentifully prospers in Arabia, that which now comes 

 in precious parcels to us, and still is called the balsam 

 of Judaea, many now surrender its name, and more 

 properly be called the balsam of Arabia. 



3-. When 'tis said that Elias lay and slept under a 

 juniper tree, some may wonder how that tree, which 

 in our parts groweth but low and shrubby, should afford 

 him shade and covering. But others know that there 

 is a lesser and a larger kind of that vegetable ; that it 

 makes a tree in its proper soil and region. And may 

 6nd in Pliny that in the temple of Diana Saguntina, in 

 Spain, the rafters were made of juniper. 



In that expression of David, 1 " Sharp arrows of the 



1 Psalm czxix. 7. 



