rious Being visited Gideon, “ he came and sat under 
an oak.” 
Trees have also been solemnized by funeral obse¬ 
quies. When " Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, she 
was buried beneath Bethel, under an oak; and the 
name of it was called Allon-bachuth, which signifies 
oak of weeping.” The bones of Saul and his sons had 
also a similar place of sepulchre. 
Such was the sanctity of trees and groves in the 
earlier ages of the world; and such it continues still in 
many places. Nor can we wonder at it, for their sha¬ 
dowy recesses seem made for meditation : — 
“ Still let me pierce into the midnight depth 
Of yonder grove, of wildest, largest growth : 
These are the haunts of meditation, —these 
The scenes where ancient bards the inspiring breath 
Ecstatic felt; and, from this world retir’d, 
Convers’d with angels and immortal forms. 
On gracious errands bent.” 
These “ angel visits,” always “ few and far between,” 
have long ceased visibly to bless our world; but he 
who has a mind attuned to devotion may, in these 
“ sweet retired solitudes,” enjoy yet higher and holier 
communion; he may, like our first parents — but with 
