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Show 226 Chap,.XXXV, A Difcourfe of Forelt- Trees. 2, Though Sylva was the more general Name, denoting a Jarge Tract of Wood, or Trees, the incidue and cadue ; yet there were feveral other Titles attributed to greaterorlefler aflemblies of them : As when they Planted them for Pleafure, and fhade onely; they had their Nemora 5 and as we our Parks, for the pre- fervation of Game, and particularly Verizon, vc. their Saltus , and Sylva invia , fecluded for the moft part from the reft, @e, But among 4athours, we meet with nothing more frequent, and indeed more celebrated, than thofe Arborcows amenities and Plan. tations of Woods, whichthey call’d Lucé; and which thoughfometimes we confefle,were reftrain’d to certain peculiar places: Yet were theyalfo promifcuoufly both ufed, and taken for all that the wide Foreft comprehends, orcan fignifie, To dilmifs a numbet of (Critics, The name ‘Lucwsis derived by Quintilian and others & minime Lucendo becaufe ofits denfitie ; nullo penetrabilis aftro. whence Apuleius us'd Lucum fublucidum 5 and the Poets, Sublufiris umbra : Others (onthe contrary) have takén it for Light in the AMafculine; becaufe there they kindled Fires , by what accident unknown —— Whetherit were By Lightning fent from Heaven, orelfe there The Salvage-men in mutual Wars and Fight, —— Seu Cali fulmine miffo Sive quod inter fe bellam Sylvesbria gentes HoStibus imtulerantignem , formidinws ergo, Sc. Had fet the Trees onFire, their Foes t’ affright. Lucret. 1. $e Or whether the Trees fet Fire on themfelves When clafhing boughs thwarting , ¢ach other fret. Mutua duminter fe rami Hirpe(que terantyre For fuch Accidents, and even the very heat of the S¢zalone has kindled wonderful conflagrations:or happly to confume their Sacrdficesy we will not muchinfift : The Poets it feems, {peaking of Juno, would give it quite anotheroriginal , and tune it totheir Songs invoking Lucina , whilft the main and principal difference confifted not fo much in the Name, as the Ue and Dedication, which was for filent, awful and more folemn Religion, to which purpofe they were chiefly anuconfit, fuch as we have beentreat ing of i#tire, and never violated withthe 4x : Fabius calls them Sacros ex Vetuflate venerable for their Age 5 and certain it: is, they had of very great Antiquity been Confecrated to Holy ufes, not onely by Superftitious Perfozs tothe Gentile Deities and Heroes ; butthe true God, bythe Patriarchs themfelves » who ab initio (as is prefum’d) did frequently retire to fuch places to ferve himin, Compofe their Aseditations , and celebrate Sacred Mfleries, Prayers, and Cblations following the Tradition of the Gomerites or Defcendants of Noah whofirft Peopl'd Galata after the univerfal Deluge. From hence fome pre{ume that even the antient Druids had their origin : Butthat Abraham might imitate what the moft Religious of that Age had pradtis'd before him may not Chap.XXXV, A Difcourfe of Foret-Trees, not beunlikely; for we read he foon Planted him@elf and Family at the Quercetum of Mambre, Gen. 13. where as Exjfebius , Eve Hit 1.1. ¢, 18.-givesus the account, He fpread his Pavilions, erected an Altar, Offer'd and perform’dall the Prieftly Rites 5 and there tothe immortal glory of the Oak, or rather Arboreous Temple he entertained God himfelf. Ifidor, St. Hierom,and Sozomenus re 0 t confidently, that one of the moft eminent of thofe Trees ent edtill the Reign of the great Conftantine, who Founde d a ve ‘ rable Chappel under it;and that both the Chriftia ns Jews,and Ar bs, held a folemn Anniverfarie or Station there.and believedthat ai the verytime ofNoah it had been a Confecrated place :fure we a : it was aboutfome fuch affembly of Frees, that God was lea “4 firft of allto appear to the Father of the Faithful when he ft blifhed the Covenant withhim, and more exprellly, when bade ving thence ( upon confirming the League with Abincelech Gen 21. and fettling at Berfheba) he defign’d an exprefl e place fox Gods Divine Service : For there, fays the facred Text, He llanted 4 Grove, and called upon the Name of the Lord. Such another tuft weread of ( for we muft not alwayesreftrain it to ome fingle Tree) when the Putriarch came to NO IR Elon Aoreh,ad Convallens ' illufirium : But whether that were the fame in which the High. Prief? repofited the famous Stone after the Exhortation mention’d jofua 24. 26. we do not contend; under an Oak fayes the Scri. pture, and it grew near the Santtuary, and probably might be that which his Grand child Confecrated with the Funeral of his beloved Rebecca,Gen, 35. Fortis apparent by the Context > that There, God appeared to himagain : So Grotius upon the words ( Subter quercum) Ilan ipfam (fayes he) cujus mentio, Gen. 35.4 in hiftoria Jacobi C Jude and adds, Is locus in honorem Jacobi dit pro lemplo fuit. Thatthe very /pot was long after us'd for a Tem. ¢/e inhonour of him. 3. If we wouldtrack the Religious efteem of Trees and Woods yet farther in Holy Writ, we have that glorious Vifion of Mofes in the frery Thicket , and it isnot to abufe or violate the Text > that Atoncéus and others, interpret itto have been anintire Grove and not a fingle Bufh onely, which he faw as burning, yet uncon- fum’d. Pxto ego ( fayesmy Authour ) rubi vocabulo non quidem rubum aliquem unicum & folitarium fignificari , verum rubetumto- tum, aut potins fruticetum, quomodo de Quercu Mambre pro Quer ceto toto Dodi intelligunt.Nowthat they Worthipped in that Place foon after their coming out ofZgypt,the following {tory fhews;and the F eaft of Tabernacles had fomerefemblance of PatriarchalDe- votion under Trees, though but intemporary Groves and Shades in manner of Booths, yet Celebrated with all the refrefhings of the Foref?; and from the veryInfancy of the World in which Adam was entertain‘d in Paradife, and Abraham (as we noted) receiv'd his Divine Guefts, not in his Text, but under a Tree , an Oak , Triclinium Angelicum the Antients Dining-Room ; all intelligent perfons have imbrac’d the folace of fhady Arbours, and all devout Perfons |