THE OAK. 93 



nity, holding the same place among trees that the lion 

 does among animals, and the eagle among birds. 

 Hence we find it many times referred to in Scripture, 

 and always in connection with what is understood to 

 be permanent and enduring, as when the tables of 

 the law are described as having been set up against 

 an oak, to signify that the law was given to last 

 forever. It would be a very trifling piece of informa- 

 tion for the dignity of Scripture to communicate, if it 

 were no more than the bare physical fact that the 

 tables were placed against an oak. Scripture always 

 means something, it does not simply speak. It is 

 not a book of words, but of ideas, speaking for all 

 time ; which kind of language comes of the facts that 

 it records being not simply literal but representative. 

 It is literally true, without doubt, that the tables were 

 placed against an oak ; it is no less true that an oak 

 was chosen because of its symbolic meaning for all 

 ages. The poetical character of the oak is beautifully 

 acknowledged again in the time-honored allusion to 

 the defenders of our country as " hearts-of-oak." No 

 one disputes the fact that our sailors are made of this 

 capital material ; yet how absurd the statement, if 

 taken in any other light than that of poetry ! This 

 shows that although much that holds the form and 

 outward show of poetry may be unmeaning and silly, 

 the inmost and true spirit of poetry finds a response 

 in universal human nature, and that its genuine lan- 

 guage never needs interpreting. 



