6 



THE OAK. 



shade from the heat, and a shelter from the 

 storm, here the Oak reigns paramount. In truth 

 he is a kingly tree, the emblem of majesty, 

 strength, and durabihty. To what remote ages 

 are we carried back — to what yarpng scenes are 

 we introduced, when we search for the first ap- 

 pearance of this patriarch in the pages of history ! 

 Under the oaks of Mamre,* according to Jewish 

 traditions, the father of the faitliful reared his 

 tabernacle, and meditated on another, that is a 

 heayenly, country, which God had prepared for 

 him. One of these yery trees was long looked 

 upon with yeneration by the Israelites, and (ac- 

 cording to St. Jerome) was in existence in the 

 reign of the Emperor Constantine, two thousand 

 years afterwards. f 



Near Shechem there stood also a tree of the 

 same species, which probably was remarkable for 

 its size, being called in Genesis xxxy. 4, The 

 Oak which was by Shechem." Thus early, too, 

 does it appear to have been marked with some 



* It should be home in mind that the Oak of the Holy Scriptures 

 is not identical with the British Oak, but, as will be seen hereafter, 

 is either the Evergreen Oak ( Quercus ilex), or neariy resembles it. 

 Celsius and other writers after him are of opinion that the tree alluded 

 to is the Terebinth, or Turpentine-tree. It is difficult, however, for 

 the reader of the English version of the Bible to connect the name 

 with any other notion than that of a tree agreeing closely in character 

 with the Oak of his own country. Whatever may be the botanical 

 diiference between the two, it is still '"' tlte Oak" of Palestine as much 

 as Quercus rohur is " the Oak" of Britain. 



Mature is remarkable in Sacred History for Abraham's enter- 

 taining there three angels under an Oak, which Oak also became very 

 famous in after ages ; insomuch that superstitious worship was per- 

 formed there. This the great Constantine. esteemed the first Chris- 

 tian emperor of Rome, put a stop to by a letter va'itten to Eusebius, 

 bishop of Cesarea, in Palestine, for that purpose. — Hemi?ig's Scripture 

 Geography. 



