236 
therein is.” ‘Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it; 
then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord,” 
and in the 148th Psalm again occurs, “Praise the Lord upon 
earth ye dragons. Fire and hail, snow and vapour, wind and 
storm, fulfilling his word.” 
“Mountains and all hills, fruitful trees and all cedars, 
&e., &c.” 
In fact, not to needlessly multiply quotations, we may 
refer to portions of our own liturgy, adopted in the time of 
St. Athanasius, if not long before, as for example, the “ Bene- 
dicite omnia opera Dei,” otherwise known as the “‘ Song of the 
Three Children,” of the morning service, or the 98th Psalm, 
“Cantate Domino,” of the evening service, which contain 
invocations enough to various natural objects, to join in the 
praise and glorification of the Supreme Being, to satisfy the 
veriest Pantheit, and it is difficult to imagine, that such an 
offering of praise and thanksgiving, as the canticles named, 
could have been made to the purely spiritual God of Christians, 
by persons to whom the phraseology, if not the idea clothed in 
it, was not familiar. As these canticles are now very seldom 
used, it is not unreasonable to suppose that they have been 
practically withdrawn, from an intuitive sense of their want 
of harmony, with the feelings of enlightened and spiritual 
worshippers. 
If other members of the Club are acquainted with any 
superstitions, however apparently ridiculous, of similar char- 
acter to those which I have brought before them this day, by 
collecting and collating them in the same manner, I imagine 
that they may render good service. 
To those who have paid no attention to the subject, and 
have unthinkingly esteemed them to be merely fantastic in their 
origin, and unworthy of notice, I take the liberty of endeavour- 
ing to show that they are not so, but that they originated, in 
the highest feelings of veneration which could be inculcated, 
by the legitimate teachers of those religious systems, which 
once prevailed, in all those countries where the Christian faith 
now predominates ; systems of which the traces have been so 
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