Myrrh

“ MYRRH.—Myrrh is an exudation from the tree Balsamodendron Myrrha; but the precious resin was held by the ancients to have been first produced by the tears of Myrrha, daughter of Cinyras, King of Cyprus, and mother of Adonis. ”

“ The wise men came to greet him with their gifts of myrrh and frankincense,—
Gold and myrrh and frankincense they brought to make him mirth;
And would you know the way to win to little brother Peterkin,
My childhood’s heart shall guide you through the glories of the earth. ”

“ I turn over the pages of my prayer-book, one after the other, and—I am not to blame for it—again I turn up the "Song of Songs," at the fifth chapter.
"I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse."
And again:
"I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk."
But what am I talking about? What am I saying? The garden is not mine. I shall not gather any myrrh, nor smell any spices. I shall eat no honey, and drink no wine. The garden is not my garden. Busie is not my betrothed. ”

“ Most interpreters, ignoring the lessons of botany, explain Sol 1:13 of a little bunch of myrrh; but whence could Shulamith obtain this? Myrrh, מר (מרר, to move oneself in a horizontal direction hither and thither, or gradually to advance; of a fluid, to flow over the plain) , [32] belongs, like the frankincense, to the amyrids, which are also exotics [33] in Palestine; and that which is aromatic in the Balsamodendron myrrha are the leaves and flowers, but the resin (Gummi myrrhae, or merely myrrha) cannot be tied in a bunch. ”

“ For no one pours any rich ointment or fine honey or any precious liquid into a dirty and stinking vessel. For a jar that has once been filled with foul odours spoils the sweetest myrrh more readily than it receives any sweetness or grace from it, for what is pure is corrupted much more quickly than what is corrupt is purified. ”

“ Myrrh to Christ as man, about to die and be buried for the redemption of the human race, and the third day to rise again to immortality and eternal glory. For the bodies of the dead are buried with myrrh, that they may remain incorrupt. Myrrh has the property of drying up moisture, and preventing the generation of worms. So S. Leo says, “Frankincense they offer to God, myrrh to man, gold to the king, wisely venerating the Divine and Human Nature joined in one. What they believe in their hearts they show forth by their gifts.” ”

“ Incense is the Divinity of the Son, and our prayers which rise up like vapours in the presence of the Most High, as the Psalmist says. Myrrh is repentance, the sufferings of Jesus, His death, the martyrs, and also, according to Monsieur Olier, the type of the Virgin who heals the souls of sinners as myrrh cauterizes the festering of wounds ”

“ III. They offer myrrh, as adapted to His human nature. On your part, you must offer Him the myrrh of mortification, by chastising your body, with St. Paul, and bringing it under obedience to the Spirit. Offer Him, also, in a particular manner, the myrrh of chastity; for as myrrh preserves dead bodies from corruption, so does chastity preserve the bodies and minds of the living from being defiled. In fine, consecrate your whole self to God: and offer Him whatever you are in possession of; for everything that you have is derived from Him.
Return of the Wise Men. ”

“ Some have supposed a half-hidden symbolism therein—gold a tribute to His royal estate, frankincense an offering in recognition of His priesthood, and myrrh for His burial. The sacred record offers no basis for such conjecture. Myrrh and frankincense are aromatic resins derived from plants indigenous to eastern lands, and they have been used from very early times in medicine and in the preparation of perfumes and incense mixtures. They were presumably among the natural productions of the lands from which the magi came, though probably even there they were costly and highly esteemed. ”

“ In the previous article we have pointed out (p. 137) several early references to myrrh in connection with olibanum, in which it is observable that the myrrh (when weights are mentioned) is always in the smaller quantity. Of the use of the drug in mediæval Europe there are few notices, but they tend to show that the commodity was rare and precious. This myrrh is recommended in the Anglo-Saxon Leech-books [556] to be used with frankincense in the superstitious medical practice of the 11th century. ”

“ It is a general custom in Masuah for people to burn myrrh and incense in their houses before they open the doors in the morning; and when they go out at night, or early in the day, they have always a small piece of rag highly fumigated with these two perfumes, which they stuff into each nostril to keep them from the unwholesome air. ”

“ The foliage, though more diminutive, resembles in form that of the pear-tree, but its verdure approaches the light colour of the rue. In smoothness the bark everywhere, both on trunk and branches, resembles that of the laurel. The myrrh-tree is still smaller, and more like a shrub. Its stem clothed with a smooth bark, and about the thickness of a man’s leg, is extremely tough and twisted towards the root. ”

“ Myrrh, as we have before said, acts so that dead flesh does not easily rot. Verily the dead flesh rots flagitiously, when the mortal body is subservient to overflowing lust, as the prophet said by one, "The beasts rotted in their dung." Then the beasts rot in their dung, when fleshly men end their days in the stench of their lust. But if we offer myrrh to God spiritually, then will our mortal body be preserved through continence from the stenches of lust. Sum ðing miccles gebícnodon þa tungel-witegan us mid þam þæt hi ðurh oðerne weg to heora earde gecyrdon. ”

“ Here herbalism and magic step very close to symbolism, for healing plants, or those which were useful as a charm against the devil, were good; those which were poisonous, or used for evil purpose, such as raising a spirit, were bad. Thus the nettle, which, when used with due ceremony, dissipates fear, becomes a symbol of courage, and myrrh, which is an antidote to love-philtres and drives away voluptuous thoughts, is held to be a plant of chastity. ”

“ Among these, frankincense, myrrh, and cinnamon grow, and in the coast that is about Saba the balsam also.” Among the myrrh-trees behind Azab 17 all along the coast to the Straits of Babelmandeb is its native country. It grows to a tree above fourteen feet high, spontaneously and without culture, like the myrrh, the coffee, and frankincense tree; they are all equally the wood of the country, and are occasionally cut down and used for fuel. ”

“ Beauty of color and of form is limited in its showing; it is a fixed quality of existence, whereas fragrance is volatile, ethereal as the breathing of life. So in all religious ceremonies frankincense and myrrh play a prominent part. ”

“ Presents as great, as splendid, offering.
My breast’s the mine whence golden precepts rise,
Myrrh drops in bitter tears from virgin eyes.
Frankincense, praise’s furnish’d with desert
Offered upon no altar but my heart,
This reinvites my God unto my breast
And spreads the table for the welcome guest. [Pg 87]
Tho’ gold, myrrh, frankincense, kings off’red Thee,
Thou’st frankincense, with gold and myrrh from me.
If these shrink in performance, at Thy eyes
I’ll trine my selfe and prove Thy sacrifice.
J. M. 49. THE SHEPHERDS
SWEET, harmless live{r}s! ”

“ When broken, they exhibit a rough or waxy fracture, having a moist and unctuous appearance, especially when pressed, and a rich brown hue. The fractured, translucent surface often displays characteristic whitish marks which the ancients compared to the light mark at the base of the finger-nails. Myrrh has a peculiar and agreeable fragrance with an aromatic, bitter, and acrid taste. It cannot be finely powdered until deprived by drying of some of its essential oil and water; nor when heated does it melt like colophony. ”

“ We offer God incense, "which signifies fervor in prayer, if our constant prayers mount up to God with an odor of sweetness"; and we offer myrrh, "which signifies mortification of the flesh, if we mortify the ill-deeds of the flesh by refraining from them." ”

“ The myrrh is compacted in the form of an egg, in which the dead Phoenix is enclosed. From the mouldering flesh of the dead bird a worm springs, and this worm, when grown large, is transformed into a bird. ”

“ They worshipped Rê at sunrise with resin, at mid-day with myrrh and at sunset with an elaborate confection called kuphi, compounded of no fewer than sixteen ingredients, among which were honey, wine, raisins, resin, myrrh and sweet calamus. ”

“ Myrrh, incense, gold, as to Man, God, a King.
Three holy gifts be likewise given by thee
To Christ, even such as acceptable be.
For myrrha tears; for frankincense, impart
Submissive prayers; for pure gold, a pure heart. [79]
Bede also describes their dresses, &c.; and in numerous old pictures and popular representations, for which the offering of the Wise Men has been a favourite subject, his account is followed. They had other names besides the above; as the “Golden Legend” says, their names in Hebrew were Appellys, Ameryus, and Damascus,—and in Greek, Galagaluth, Magalath, and Tharath ”

“ Myrrhina. What is the voice that speaks to him at night time in his cave?
First Man. We do not know whose voice it is. We think it is the voice of his God. For we have seen no man enter his cavern nor any come forth from it.
. . . . .
Myrrhina. Honorius.
Honorius (from within) . Who calls Honorius?
Myrrhina. Come forth, Honorius.
. . . . .
My chamber is ceiled with cedar and odorous with myrrh. The pillars of my bed are of cedar and the hangings are of purple. My bed is strewn with purple and the steps are of silver. ”

“ Some of them are interpreted in other senses, as spikenard, cassia, and cinnamon. The first represents strength of soul; the second, sound doctrine; and the third, the sweet savour of virtue. Then there is the essence of cedar, which in the thirteenth century symbolized the Doctors of the Church; and there are three specifically liturgical perfumes: incense, balm, and myrrh; besides the odour of sanctity, which in the case of some saints could be analyzed; and the demoniacal stench, from a mere animal smell to the horrible nastiness of rotten eggs and sulphur. ”

“ Under your foot the sweet-fern breathes a resin that is “like pious incense from a censer old,” the bayberry [Pg 34] sniffs of the wax of altar candles lighted at high mass in fairy land, and over by the brook the sweet-gale gives a finer fragrance even than these. There are but three members of this family,—the Myrica or Sweet-Gale family,—yet it is one that the pasture could least afford to miss. The fragrance of their spirits descends like a benediction on all about them, and I have a fancy that it is steadily influencing the lives of the other pasture folk. ”

“ The scented myrtle is knee-deep. The rosemary and marjoram root themselves in every cleft, and a thousand other herbs growing rank along the mountain-side catch every breeze that blows and fill the air, especially in the morning when the shadows are still wet and the day has not yet grown languorous, with thymy fragrances blown out of every hollow and ravine. Meantime among the grass and herbage of the cliffs the flowers glow like an Eastern carpet. ”

“ We now met with a new kind of bush covered with small white berries about the size of a pea. On pressing these berries, which adhered to my fingers, I discovered that this plant was the Myrica cerifera, or candle-berry myrtle, from which a wax is obtained that maybe made into candles. With great pleasure I gathered a bag of these berries, knowing how my wife would appreciate this acquisition; for she often lamented that we were compelled to go to bed with the birds, as soon as the sun set. ”

“ The very bees that distil the wax are sacred. They range in gardens planted with sweet flowers for their use alone. The wax is gathered by consecrated hands, and the shaping of the candles is a holy task performed in holy places, with the singing of hymns, and in an atmosphere of prayer. ”

“ Then, as they say love has quick wings where there is a shady grove in prospect—not always of sweet myrtle—not seldom of common pine firs, with a good many nettles and thistles growing about the temple—so they were speedily under the auspices of the decent priestess. ”

“ Each myrtle is loaded with them, and they emit perfumes more exquisite than those of the rose itself. They enchant every one, and the soul is filled with the softest sensations.” The myrtle is mentioned in Scripture among lofty trees, not as comparing with them in size, but as contributing with them to the beauty and richness of the scenery. Thus Isaiah, xii, 19, intending to describe a scene of varied excellence: I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, and the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree ”

“ I noticed among other things, rice, fruit, vegetables, flowers of the Bel-tree, tin boxes filled with sardines, Huntley and Palmer’s biscuits, bottles of the genuine Maria Farina’s Eau de Cologne for watering the sacred-trees, and a large number of packets of gold-leaf. I left the shrine for two or three hours, and on returning found that the pilgrims had crowned their act of worship by gilding the image with the contents of these packets, reserving a supply for covering the other images in the vicinity of the temple. The cost of the whole process must have been considerable. ”

“ At present great variety is observed in decorating our houses and buildings, and many flowers are introduced that were unknown to our ancestors, but whose varied colours add to the cheerful effect, as the chrysanthemum, satin flower, &c. mingling with the red berry of the holly and the mystic misletoe. In the West of England the myrtle and laurustinum form a pleasing addition. In many parts of Germany, and in Sicily, a large bough is set up in the principal room at Christmas time, the smaller branches of which are hung with little presents suitable to the different members of the household. ”