The Everlasting Covenant

Vicious Plants

Plants also suffer by the curse in the same way that the animal creation does, but to a less degree. Whereas in the beginning everything was “very good,” now many plants are decidedly vicious. The nettle is very “touchy,” distinctly saying to all comers, “Let me alone;” and there is a tree in India, with so vicious a sting that if an animal but touches it by accident, it can do nothing but roll on the ground, and howl in an agony of pain. Men who have been stung by it, say that the sensation of pain continues for months. There is also a plant in South America which attracts insects and kills them, for no perceptible reason, since it is not a carnivorous plant like the Venus Fly-trap. But aside from these, there are many plants, as belladonna, tobacco, etc., that are distinctly poisonous. Their poison is “deadly,” so that they may well be called “murderous.” They are wholly corrupt. Man can get nothing from them but death. EVCO 246.2