112 DR. G. BIRDWOOD ON THE GENUS BOSWELLIA. 
Neither was it lawful to offer burnt sacrifice or meat-offering, or to pour drink-offering 
thereon'; but the blood of the sin-offering of atonements was once in every year 
sprinkled upon the horns thereof’. ‘ Pure frankincense ” was put on each of the two 
rows in which the twelve baked cakes of fine flour were set on the Table of Shewbread? ; 
it was also put upon the meat-offering‘, and was expressly prohibited to be put upon the 
sin-offering of fine flour, “for it is a sin-offering ””, or on “the offering of jealousy" of 
barley meal, “ for it is an offering . . . bringing iniquity to remembrance "*. And in the 
service of the sanctuary, certain Levites were appointed to oversee “the frankincense 
and the spices ””, which were laid in “a great chamber ” “of the house of God ’*. 
Frankincense is often named in the poetical books of the Old Testament :—“ Who is 
this that cometh out of the wilderness, like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and 
frankincense, with all powders of the merchant ?”%—an image which those only can fully 
appreciate who have themselves been 
“Where through the sand of pene land 
The camel bears the spice." 
A garden” inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. Thy 
plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire [henna], with 
spikenard, spikenard and saffron ; calamus [Roosa of India] and cinnamon, with all trees 
of frankincense; myrrh and aloes [aloeswood], with all the chief spices. A fountain of 
gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon ”””. 
“ I have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense 
[frankincense]. Thou hast bought me no sweet cane [Roosa] with money ”". “The 
multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they 
from Sheba shall come ; they shall bring gold and incense ” [frankincense])”. 
*He that offereth an oblation is as if he offered swine's blood; he that burneth 
incense [frankincense], as if he blessed an idol "?. 
“To what purpose cometh there to me incense [frankincense] from Sheba, and the 
sweet cane [ Roosa] from a far country ?"^ ‘And they shall come from the cities . . - 
and from the plain, and from the mountains, and from the south [Arabia”], bringing 
: Exod. xxk. 9. 2 Exod. xxx. 10; Lev. iv. 7. * Lev. xxiv. 7. 
* Lev. ii. 1, 2, 15; 16 ; vi. 15. 5 Lov.v. 11: 
* Numb. v. 15. 7 1 Chron. ix. 29. * Nehemiah, xiii. 5-9. 
" Song of Songs, iii. 6. © Song of Songs, iv. 12-15, 11 Isaiah, xliii. 23, 24. 
” Isaiah, lx. 6. * See a long race thy spacious eourts adorn ; 
See future sons and daughters yet unborn, 
In erowding ranks on every side arise, 
Demanding life, impatient for the skies ! 
See barbarous nations at thy gates attend, 
Walk in thy light, and in thy temple bend! 
t See thy bright altars throng’d with prostrate kings, 
And heap’d with products-of Sabæan springs ! 
For thee Idume’s spicy forests blow, 
il ee seeds of gold in Ophir’s mountains glow !” L 
lah, XVI. 9. Jeremiah, vi. 20. 5 Matt. xii. 42; compare Gen. xxv. 6, and Matt. i. 
