438 
ON THE MUSTARD PLANT 
branches, covered with leaves, hide the feathered tribes 
from observation ; and afford sheher to the people of the 
house, if they choose to sit down under its shade, during 
the heat. 
The words of Mark iv. 30, 31, 32, do not carry us be- 
yond this idea of the mustard plant. " The kingdom of 
God is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown 
in the earth, is less than all herbs, and shooteth out great 
luranches, so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the 
shade of it." 
This passage^of Mark deserves the careful study of those, 
who wish to come to a positive determination about the 
mustard plant of the Gospels. Matthew and Luke wrote 
their Gospels chiefly for the use of their own countrymen ; 
but Mark for the use of foreigners, as well as natives ; and 
when civil institutions are mentioned, or articles of natural 
history alluded to, he is rather more distinct and correct 
than Matthew and Luke. 
Of course, whoever judges of the mustard plant of the 
Gospels, ought to take the account of Mark for the test, 
by which he is to judge of the accounts of Matthew and 
Luke. If this be the rule which he follows, he will con- 
clude the mustard plant to be one of those vegetables com- 
monly called an herb, though of large dimensions, and pos- 
sessed of branches, capable of lodging and sheltering the 
fowls of the air. 
We are to bring down our ideas a little, therefore, when 
we think or speak of the mustard tree of the Gospels. We 
are not to imagine that it resembles an oak or an ash, when 
they are full grown ; but be persuaded that it is a herba- 
ceous plant, favoured by climate and soil, and finishing its 
growth in one, or at the most, in two years. 
If these remarks be not kept in view by those who in- 
quire into the mustard plant of the Gospels, they will be 
