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Show A Difcourfe of Foreft-Trees. Chap.XXXV, fo ply his Groves, Altart, and Sacrifices, and almoft all other Rites belonging to his Worfhip, that every Green Tree wasfull of his Abominations, and places devoted to his impure Service, Hz fuére (fays Pliny, {peaking of Groves) quondam Numinum templa,@-c. Thefe, were of old the Temples of the Gods , and after that fimple (but antient Cuftom) men at this day Confecrate the faireft and goodlieft Trees to fome Deity or other; nor do we more adore our glittering Shrines of Gold andIvory, than the Groves , in which with a profound and awful filence, we wor fhipthem.. Forintruth the very Tree it felf was fometimes De#fied, and that Celtic Statue of Jupiter no better thana prodigious tall Oak, whence'tis {aid the Chaldean Theologues deriv'd their fuperftition towards it; and the Perfiazs we read , us‘d that Tree inal] their myfterious ites 5 fo as to fome they proceeded to the offering even of humane Sacrifices, Fach ee befprinekled was with humane gore- Omnis & humanis luSrata eruoribus avbet. Lucan /, 33 Procopiws tells us plainly that the Sclavii worfhipped Trees and whole Forefts of them - See Fo. Dubravius |. 1. Hift. Bohem, and that formerly the Gandenfes did the like, Surivs the Legendary 6, Feb, reports inthe life of S$. Amadus : So did the Vandals fays Albert Crantz;, and even thofe of Perw,asI learn from Acofta I, 5.c.11.But one of thefirft Idols which procur’d particular veneyation in them was the Sidonian Afhtaroth who took her name 4 Lucis, asthe Jupiter td:rde@ amongft the Rhodians , the Nemo renfis Diana or Arduenna , and others who had peculiar Worfhip in the Groves}; fo foonhad Men degenérated into this irrational and ftupid Devotion, that Arch-Fanatic Sathax ( who began his pranks ina Tree) debauching the Contemplative ufe of Groves and other Solitudes.Nor were the Heathens alonein this crime,the Bafilidians and otherHeretics even amongft the Chriftiansdid cons fecrate to the Woods and the Trees their Serpent-footed and barbarous ABOPAZAS, asitisyet tobe feen in fome of their myfteri« ous Talifmans and Periapta’s which they carried about. But the Rowan madnefle (like that which the Prophet derides in the Jews) was well perftring’d by Sedulins and others for imploring thefe Stocksto be propitious tothem, as we learn in€ato deR. R. ¢.113. 134. @&c. And it was not long after, when they were generally Confecrated by Faunus, that they boldly {et up his Oracles and Refponfés in thefe nemorous places - Hence the Heathen Chappels had the name of Fama ,and from their wild and extravagant Religion, the Proféefors of it Phawatics 5 a name well becoming fome ofour late Enthufiafis amongft us 3 who, when their Quaking fits pofleflé them, reiemble the giddy motion of Trees 5 whofe heads are agitated with every wind of Do- rine. 7. Here Chap.XXXV. A Difcourfe of Forett-Trees, 7. Here we may not omit what Learned men have ob{ery'd concerning the Cuftome of Prophets and Perfonsinfpir'd of old, to fleep upon the Boughs and branches of Trees (I donot mean onthe tops of them, asthe Sa/yages fomewhere do in the Indies for fear of Wild Beafts in the night time) but on Matraffes and Beds made of their Leaves, ad Confulendum to ask advile of God. Naturalifts tellus, thatthe Laurus and Agnus Caftus were Trees which greatly compos'd the Phan/y, and did facilitate true Viftons; and that the /ir/? was {pecifically efficacious opt¥'s wdenacuss Cas my Authour exprefies it ) to Infpire a Poetical fury : Such a Tradition there goes of Rebecca the Wife of Haack, in imitatio n Ses. Hier. of her Father in Lam : The Inftanceis recited out of an ancj. #2744: Hebe ent Eccleftaftical Biftory by Abulenfis ; and (what I drive at) that — from hence the Delphic Tripos, the Dodonean Oraclein Epirzsy and others of that nature had their Originals - At this decubation upon Boughs the Satyrif? feems to hint where he introduces the Gypfies. ——with fear The poor fhe Few begs in my Ladies ear, ‘The Groves high Priefteff, Heavens true meffenger, Hicrufalem’s old Lawesexpoundstv her. Arcanam Fudea tremeus mendicat in auvem Tuterpres Legum Solymarum, & magna Sacerdos Arboris, ac [ammi fide internuncia Cali, Stapyltone Juv.Sat.6, For indeed the Delphic Oracle ( as Diodorus 1, 16.tells us ) was firft made é Lauri ramis of the Branches of Laurel transferr’d from Theffaly, bended, and arched over in form of a Bower or Summer- boufé, a very fimple Fabric you may befure: And Cardan I ree memberin his Book.de Fafo, infilts very mach onthe Dreams of Trees for portents and prefages, and that the ufe of fome of them do difpofe men to Vifions, 8. From hence then began Temples to be erected and fought to Vide Aaninm in fuch Places, andasthere washardly aGrove without its Teme Vi?™®:'17ple, fohad every Temple almoft, a Grove belonging to it, where fal. 158» they plac’d Idols, and Altars and Lights endow'd with fair Reve- nues which the devotion of Superftitious perfons continually aug- mented 5; and I rememberto have feen fomething very like this in Italy, and other Parts, namely, where the Images of the B, Virgin and other Sazxts have been enfhrin’d in hollow and umbragious Trees frequented with much veneration, which puts me in mind of what that great Traveller Pietro della Valla relates,where he {peaks of an extraordinary Cyprefe, yet extant, near the Tomb of Cyrus, to which at this day many Pilgrimages are made, and {peaks of a Gummy tranfudation whichit yields, that the Tarks affirm to turn every Friday into drops of Blood: The Tree is hallow within, adorn'd-with many Lamps, and fitted for an Oratory, and indeed fome would derive the name Lucus a Grove, as moreparticularly to fignifie fuch:enormous and cavernous Trees quod ibi'lumina accenderentur Religionis caja : But our Author adds, The Ethnics do {till repute all great Trees to be divine, and the habitation of Sox/s departed : Thefe the Perfians call Pir and Hh a |
