remark here, that the Eridanus, or river of Eden, flowing with blood through the Hades of antiquity, is a tradition of the same nature, as those wonderful trees in the midst of the Cades described by Philostratus, which were said “to "distil drops of blood, in the same manner as "the poplars on the banks of the Eridanus "distilled gold or amber." Before any one could enter upon the sacred enclosure in Campania, which we are now describing, or hold any intercourse with what was considered the invisible world, or at least extra orbem terrarum, a peculiar sacrifice was to be offered. The sybil in the Eneid commands her hero; Nunc grege de intacto septem mactare juvencos Here we have the sabbatic number, just as in the instances of the patriarch Abraham at Beershebah, and the prophet Balaam on the high-places of Moab. The latter, before he could seek for Balak the son of Zippor, the oracular answer he required, directed "seven "bullocks and seven rams" to be offered at each station. The blood of the sacrifices was then poured out; and in the Odyssey, the spirits of the departed are represented as flocking *Eneid vi. 38. + Numbers xxiii. round the trench which the hero had made to receive it, eager to have a part in the mystical offering, and thus enter through the blood of a victim into the bliss of Elysium.* Surely these awful ceremonies might have told the heathen clearly enough, that "without shedding of "blood there could be no remission of sin ;" and that as it was manifest there could be no atoning virtue in the mere animals themselves, so they were only types of a better sacrifice, "slain from the foundation of the world." But there was yet another requisite necessary, according to the author of the Æneid, before the transit of the rivers of death could be effected: Accipe quæ peragenda prius. Latet arbore opacâ Junoni infernæ dictus sacer: hunc tegit omnis * Odyss. xi. 25. The like is done by Tiresias in Statius; by Eson in Valerius Flaccus; and by Nero in Pliny. See also Seneca's Edipus, ver. 547, et al. passim. † Æneid vi. 136. Claudian de raptu Proserp. lib. ii. 290. Servius supposes that this singular fable of the golden branch We shall find, if I mistake not, that all this beautiful story of the branch had its source originally in several traditions relative to the expected Saviour of the world, of whom the Tree of Life in paradise was a striking emblem. The same type we find continually referred to in the descriptive visions, both of Ezekiel and the Apocalypse. It is, moreover, always represented as standing "in the midst," and as the prophet has declared of it, "by the branch "thereof shall not fail;" in other words, Primo avulso non deficit alter. Isaiah,† in referring to the future Messiah, declares; "there shall come forth a rod out of "the stem of Jesse, and a BRANCH shall grow 66 out of his roots; and the spirit of the Lord "shall rest upon him." This was literally ful alluded to a tree in the midst of the sacred grove near "Diana's temple; whither if a fugitive fled for safety, and "could gather a branch of it, he was safe." A golden bough formed a part in the sacred mysteries. Clemens Alexandrinus tells us, from Dionysius Thrax the grammarian, that it was an Egyptian custom to hold a branch in the act of adoration. Clem. Strom. lib. v. p. 568. Warburton's Div. Leg. lib. ii. pp. 208, 209. * Ezek. xlvii. 12. + Isaiah xi. 1. filled when St. John the Baptist,* afterwards, "saw the spirit descending from heaven like a “dove, and it abode upon him;” the same of whom Zechariaht had written by inspiration; "I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH;" and again in the same prophet, “Behold the "man, whose name is the BRANCH." The heathen, as will be demonstrated hereafter, were not without many traditions of the future sacrifice, which was to be no less a victim than the Son of the King of kings, by whom the power of the serpent was to be overthrown, and the happiness of mankind restored. Their own sybils had even prophesied of his coming ;§ and the daily offerings in their temples of the blood of beasts, were so many tacit acknowledgments of the idea they entertained of a propitiatory atonement to be made, in the fulness of time! One of the emblems under which they looked forward to this mighty Deli* John i. 32. i. 29. † Zech, iii. 8. Į Ib. vi. 12. § See this wonderfully illustrated in the work of that learned father Justin Martyr. Cohort. ad Græc. i. P. 35, The cave of the Cumaan sybil, whom he mentions as having more particularly prophesied of the Saviour's advent, still exists; and, in some respects, answers to his description of it, even at this day. verer, who was also to make expiation for sin, appears to have been the "Ramus or Branch" of the poet, without which they considered that no hope could be entertained of Elysium, or happiness in a future state:-and the primary source from whence they derived this tradition must, I think, have been the Tree of Life in the centre of paradise. There is a remarkable epithet bestowed by Virgil upon this wonderful Branch, which was necessary, as a munus or offering, to ensure an entrance into the happy region. He terms it "aureus," which is generally translated "golden," but may in this instance be more properly rendered "glorious;" and we may resolve it into an original root in the Hebrew language Aur,* which means "light and glory." Æneas is informed by the sybil, that he must search for it in the pathless forest, and well knowing that to find it without a guide was next to impossible, he earnestly implores the aid of heaven, which is presently granted; for scarcely has he finished his prayer, when sacred doves * Vere avpos ex Chaldaico Or, lux, lumen, sol; Vossius de Idol. ii. 27, and 64. Reines. 3 Varr. 13 p. 557. Faber Thesaur. vox. aurum. |