have borders like the brims of a hat; hence called 
by the French, porte-chapeau. It is a native of the 
south of Europe, Caucasus, and Barbary, and is one 
of the most common shrubs in Judtea. This circum¬ 
stance, and the pliability of its branches, may account 
for the notion that of it the crown of thorns was com¬ 
posed : hence its name. Haselquist, however, contends 
for another plant, and states his reasons for the suppo¬ 
sition with some show of probability. 
But, after all, these learned disquisitions on such 
deeply affecting subjects have more the appearance of 
solemn trifling than of any useful tendency. 
The thorn is certainly more immediately connected 
with gloomy remembrances (gloomy, but salutary); yet 
we need not confine our view to sucb. Though it 
naturally leads us back to the Fall, it may also remind 
us of those happier times, when “ there shall be no 
more curse,” “ when the wilderness and the solitary 
place shall be glad, and the desert shall rejoice and 
blossom as the rose; when, instead of the thorn, shall 
come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier, shall come 
up the myrtle tree. For the earth shall be full of the 
knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” 
