JERUSALEM. 
343 
Messiah, being, of all others, the least liable to injury, would re¬ 
main in spite of the devouring element. It is, perhaps, not impos¬ 
sible to develop the true cause of the selection made by Hele¬ 
na, in fixing upon that spot as the place of crucifixioo. Per¬ 
sons who have been accustomed to compare the manners of 
different countries, must be well aware how general the prac¬ 
tice is, among ail nations, of connecting with a Lusus Naiurce, 
or any extraordinary physical appearance, some wild and su¬ 
perstitious fantasy. Thus the similitude of a hand in the sur¬ 
face of a rock, as at JMazareth of nfoct, as, at the Mount of 
Oiives ;f any remarkable shape in a log of wood, as in the 
Palladium of ancieut lllium the places venerated by Lap- 
ladders';? and the idols worshipped by the Chinese ;!] in short, 
in every country of the earth where uncultivated man is found 9 
fear, the parent of superstition, has pointed out objects of ado¬ 
ration, 6r multiplied articles of faith. The state of human in¬ 
tellect is hot less degraded among Christians of the Holy Land, 
making prostrations and processions before stocks and roots, ## 
than among the forlorn worshippers of Thor,, i he loggerheaded 
idol of northern nations.ff Such superstitions disgraced both the 
Greek and the Catholic churches long posterior to the time 
of Constantine : and Helena, whether the daughter of a Bri- 
* See chap. XIII p.266 
.t “ There.standeth a little Chappel.paved with the natural’?; teche, which 
be&Veth -Uvc impression of a footstep: they say, of our Saviours.’ 1 Handy s'" Travels. 
p, 166- Londi 163-7. 
I The Palladium, like many other of the ancieut idols of Greece, was, according 
to some authors, nothing more than a piece of wood, of an extraordinary form. Hey he, 
in; pis Excursus, says, that the Palladium and the Penates were lignea. See also 
Ovid’s account of the preservation of the Palladium by Metelius, when the Capitol 
was on fire. 
| “ X'jpca, qtine Lapnonibus sancta erant et religiosa, singulari quadam et inusitata 
fornm el fig met a reliauis distinguebaiitur.” Lcemii Comment, tie Lappcn. Sec. p. 442. 
Hnfn. 1707. 
If “ In 'Cuchiung, near, to Rangam, there is a great stone, fee. which they cover 
yearly quite over with gold, and then "worship it,” ‘JMcukoff's Dutch Embassy t» 
China, F.figlish$(i,by: : Q-gitby,,p. 224. Lond 1669, 
See the account given by Quarestnius of a Lusus Natum found near Jerusalem, 
to which miraculqds powers w-ere ascribed in healing diseases. Also the engraving 
" Crucjfixi ex Lilh radi6e, prodigiosa et nova imago,” The representation 
really excites horror. Speaking'of it, be Says, “ Mirabllis est virtutis et efficacies : 
illo et eniip aqua heoedicitur, quae etiam posi annum, etis in parvo vase recondfta, 
incorruptaac velut rec.ehs e fonte hausta invenitur ; febricitantihtis feliciter propi- 
natur, qui et sanitatis inde heneftcium consequuntur. Id eura (i. e. possessbrerri) 
habenter stationes et processiones, et in qui busy is affiictioiiem et tribulation.um ne- 
c ess i tali bus, post Deurn, ad ilium con f! hunt fideles, ut ab animi et corporis adversitat® 
iberari, et necessariis bonis ditari mereantur.” Elucidai. T..S. lib. iv. c. 10. tovi. II. 
p. 18 Antv, 1639. 
ft Thor, or “ the Thunderer,” of Northern nations-, (See VersteganM “ Restitution 
of Decayed Intelligence,” p. 75. Lond. 1j 628.) from whom our Thor's Dan, or Thurs¬ 
day, ^ derived, is always an image of wood among the Laplanders. The account 
given Qf it by Scheffer proves it to have been the trunk of a tree, having at on® 
en<fan"accidental similitude of the human head. See Scheffer, 's Hist, of Lapl. p. IQs 
Loud. 1704, 
