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The branches spread wide, and afford a grateful shade; but it is neither for its leaves, its flowers, nor its branches, that this tree is so much valued its bark is more valuable than all. You must frequently have seen Cinnamon at the grocer's, where it is sold to give a flavour to cakes, puddings, and custards. The Scriptures say, when speaking of the fall of Babylon, "The merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more: the merchandise of gold, and silver; her cinnamon, and odours, and ointments and frankincense," Rev. xviii. 11-13. Not all the spices, and riches, and power, and glory of mighty Babylon, could stay the judgment of Almighty God. A lesson for the high and the low, for princes and people, for others, and for ourselves.

THE BALM TREE.

THE Balm, or Balsam tree, flourishes without culture, in the country of Arabia, and along the coast of Babelmandel. It grows about fourteen feet high, and is an evergreen, bearing leaves narrow and pointed.

The valuable gum procured from this tree, by wounding its trunk and branches, which some believe to be the "Balm of Gilead" spoken of in the Scriptures, is at first of a white colour, having a sweet, but very pungent scent; this is very costly, as so little of it can be procured from one tree. Balm is mentioned in many parts of the Old Testament, and among them in that where Israel sends his sons into Egypt, to their brother Joseph : "And their father Israel said unto them, If it must be so now, do this; take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a

present, a little balm and a little honey," Gen. xlviii. 11. And the exclamation of Jeremiah is very striking, when alluding to the hard-heartedness and immorality of the Jews: "Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?" The balm obtained from the balsam tree, is, no doubt, costly, and excellent in healing the injuries of the body; but the balm of the precious gospel of the Redeemer, is the only balsam to cure the diseases of the soul.

MYRRH.

THE Jews of old, and the inhabitants of the East at the present time, are alike in their attachment to perfumes. It is not certain which is the Myrrh tree, or the tree which produced the Myrrh, mentioned in the Holy Scriptures; more than one description of myrrh being alluded to. Balm, and frankincense, and myrrh were, for the most part, very costly; the latter was used in embalming the dead, as well as in perfuming the body and vestments. One sort of myrrh flows spontaneously from the tree which produces it, while another is obtained by brushing with a leathern strap the heads of the plants or shrubs, during the heat of summer. Myrrh was employed by the ancients in embalming the dead. We read, that at the entombment of Christ, "Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight," John xix. 39.

FRANKINCENSE.

As with the Myrrh tree, so also with the tree yielding Frankincense, a great deal of uncertainty prevails. Some describe it as a kind of laurel, while others say its leaves resemble those of the pear tree. There seems now, however, reason to think that the frankincense and myrrh are produced by trees very nearly related to the tree that yields the Balm of Gilead. The better kind of frankincense is white in colour, very inflammable, and strongly odoriferous; it is brought from Syria and Arabia. This incense is much used in popish ceremonies; let us, when we approach the house of God, offer up the incense of the heart, a lively sense of God's mercy through Christ Jesus our Lord. At the birth of Christ, the wise men of the east offered "gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh," Matt. ii. 11. It was customary to offer these to royal personages.