I90O-I90I.] ;^3 



"At that time will I cause the branch of righteousness to 

 grow up unto David." (Jermh. xxxiii. 15.) 



"It must be allowed" the writer continues "that these 

 passages and expressions in which our Saviour is represented 

 under the type of a branch, a righteous branch, a bough, the 

 branch of righteousness who will reign for ever, &c, in the 

 above mentioned clear and eminent prophecies of His first 

 appearance in the flesh upon earth, are in a most lively 

 manner, brought to the memories and strongly alluded to by 

 those branches and boughs of evergreens, &c, with which our 

 churches and houses are adorned in commemoration of that 

 Holy Festival." 



Of the trees and plants mentioned in Scriptures I need not 

 enlarge, but will merely glance at some of those of classical 

 and mediaeval times. 



Of all the trees of the ancients none appear to have so much 

 written about them as the Laurel or Bay tree, the Oak, the 

 Olive, and the Palm, and many delightful stories are told 

 concerning them, certainly they have served poets and historians 

 with a wealth of imagery and symbolism of every kind down 

 to the present day, and not only that, but the ideas associated 

 in ancient times with particular trees rendered them sacred 

 and their influence over the lives and actions of men, ev_n of 

 whole nations, is something remarkable. For instance take 

 the Laurel or Bay tree. Sacred to Apollo. Daphne, daughter 

 of a River Deity flying from the pursuit of the amorous sun 

 god, escaped by being changed into a Laurel tree, whereupon 

 Apollo declared that 



because thou canst not be 



My mistress, I espouse thee for my tree ; 



Be thou the prize of honour and renown, 



The deathless poet and the poem crown ; 



Thou shalt the Roman Festivals adorn, 



And, after poets, be by victors worn. 

 Tasso thus eulogises the Laurel, as the victor's crown. 



" O glad triumphant bough 



