■ 28-1 
CHRIST’S THORN. 
RHAMNUS PALIURUS. 
“ ’T was sin inair’d all; and the revolt of man, 
That source of evils not exhausted yet. 
Garden of God, how terrible the change 
Thy groves and lawns then witness’d!” 
When Nature “ lectures man in heavenly truth,” how 
wise, how various are her lessons ! If the mind needs 
soothing and encouraging, she leads us to those objects 
which afford pure proofs of the wisdom and goodness 
of the great Creator; if elevating, she bids us look on 
“ the heavens, the work of His fingers; ” if warning, 
she tells us of the earthquake and the tempest, or, per¬ 
haps, with more of pathos, she points to the thorns 
and the thistles, which beset our every-day path, thence 
taking occasion to remind us, for whose offence “ the 
prickly curse” was inflicted. “ Cursed is the ground 
for thy sake; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth 
to thee.” Such was a part of the doom denounced 
against man when he eat of the forbidden tree. 
