THE OAK. 289 



*4J), is rendered by Dr. Geddes and some other critics, 'Naphtali is 

 a spreading terebinth producing beautiful branches.* The reasons 

 adduced against this interpretation may be seen in pages 110, 111, 

 ante. 



We have already noticed the religious veneration in which some 

 kind of trees were held, by the heathen nations of antiquity : among 

 these th eoak stood in a pre-eminent rank. * Ye shall be ashamed 

 of the oaks which ye have planted,' says Isaiah, to the idolatrous 

 Israelites, chap. i. 29. In Gaul and Britain we find that the highest 

 religious regard was paid to the same tree and its mistletoe, under 

 the directions of the Druids ; that is, the oak-prophets or priests. 

 Few are ignorant that the mistletoe, or missaldine, is indeed a very 

 extraordinary plant, not to be cultivated in the earth, but always grow- 

 ing upon some other tree, as upon the oak, apple, &c. The Druids 

 says Pliny, hold nothing more sacred than the mistletoe, and the 

 tree on which it is produced, provided it be the oak. They make 

 choice of groves of oak on their own account, nor do they perform 

 any of their sacred rites without the leaves of those trees, so that 

 one may suppose that they are for this reason called by a Greek 

 etymology, Druids. And whatever mistletoe grows on the oak, 

 they think it sent from Heaven, and as a sign of God himself hav- 

 ing chosen that tree. This, however, is very rarely found, but when 

 discovered is treated with great ceremony. They call it by a name 

 which in their language signifies the curerofall ills ; and having duly 

 prepared their feasts and sacrifices under the tree, they bring to it 

 two white bulls, whose horns are then for the first time tied. The 

 priest, dressed in a white robe, ascends the tree, and with a golden 

 pruning-hook cuts off the mistletoe, which is received in a white sagum 

 or sheet. Then they sacrifice the victims, praying that God would 

 bless his own gift to those on whom he has bestowed it. 



Is it possible for a Christian to read this account, says Parkhurst, 

 from whom we have transcribed the passages, without thinking of 

 Him who was the desire ofidl nations: of the man whose name was 

 the BRJ3NCH, who had indeed no father on eartli, but came down 

 from heaven ; was given to heal all our ills, and after being cut off 

 through the divine counsel, was wrapped in fine linen, and laid in the 

 sepulchre, for our sakes ! I cannot forbear adding, he continues, 

 that the mistletoe was a sacred emblem to other Celtic nations, as for 

 instance, to the ancient inhabitants of Italy. 



