8 



THE OAK, 



same feelings the Oak which was by Shechem/' 

 as connecting their own history what God 



had done for their forefathers before the capti\ity 

 in Egypt ; more particularly as the Patriarchs, in 

 token of their faith, had not erected for them- 

 selves permanent habitations, but dwelt in tents, 

 of which no vestige could well remain. How 

 probable is it that the pious Israelites resorted to 

 this tree to talk over among themselves, and to 

 repeat to their children, the incidents of their 

 perilous wanderings in the wilderness, and the 

 wonders which the Lord had wrought for them ! 



And what tree could Joshua have had greater 

 reason to choose than this, when he gathered all 

 the tribes of Israel at Shechem," and set up 

 there under an Oak" a stone intended to comme- 

 morate the solemn renewal of their allegiance to 

 God ? These pious motives did not, however, 

 long continue in operation. Scarcely were the 

 elders dead who had '^outhved Joshua, and had 

 known all the works of the Lord that He had 

 done for Israel," when the groves v/ere resorted 

 to for the worship of false gods: under every 

 green tree, and under every thick Oak, they 

 did offer sweet savour to all their idols ;" they 

 •^burnt incense upon the hills under Oaks," choos- 

 ing the wood of the Cypress and Oak to make 

 a god." 



^^Itis natural," says Evelyn, ^^for man to feel 

 an awful and religious terror when placed in the 

 centre of a thick wood ; on which account, in all 

 ages, such places have been chosen for the cele- 

 bration of religious ceremonies." But, to trace 

 by what degrees this pious feeling degenerated 

 into dangerous superstition belongs rather to the 



