Surrounded with white Fleeces of Wool. He means, Fillets made of Wool, and with Garlands made with boughs. Vittis, Coronifque, as Tacitus fpeaks. Servius tells us, "that Wool is under the Protection of "Minerva, who is the great promoter "and encourager of Peace as well as "War." He enters into the nature and reason of the thing, when he adds, " that "a Sheep is a mild and quiet Animal, " and all thofe who enter into Covenants or Friendships fhould be as quiet and peaceable as Sheep." Pliny tells us, + "that the old Romans paid even a religious regard to Wool, commanding "the New married Woman to tye Wool "about the Pofts of their Houfes." alludes to its being the known Symbol of Peace and Quiet. Plutarch too mentions the fame Custom, and tells us that || " the He * Quæ Pacis Bellique fit cultrix. Aut quia mite et quietum Animal fit Ovis; cujus quietem habere debent, qui in foedus et Amicitiam coeunt. Servius. in Æneid. lib. v. iii. 1. 128. + Lanis Authoritatem veteres Romani etiam religiofam habuere. Poftes a Nubentibus attingi [1. accingi] jubenPlin. lib. xxix. c. 2. tes. || Ερίῳ τὴν θύραν περισέφειν τῶ ἀνδρὸς. Plut. Quaf. Roman. Necte coronam Poftibus, et denfos per limina tende corymbos. Juv. Sat. vi. 1. 52. "New "New married woman was to bind wool "about the Door of her Husband." This Custom is interpreted by fome as if it had been a Symbol of Industry, and as it were a Promise of the Care and Diligence she would use in her new Habitation. But it is much more likely that it fignified Peace, and the prefervation of Domeftic Quiet; it was a Sign or Symbol that the would observe and keep the Mildness and Innocence of the Lamb, and not that she would be conftantly Spinning, and at work in the house. Feftus tells us that this Custom was derived from an old one of another fort, viz. * "That the new "married woman was wont to fit down on a Skin with the Wool on, either for "the fake of an old Fashion that antiently Men were cloathed in Skin; or to affure her Husband, that she would "mind the work of carding and comb ing, and Spinning." Servius has another fancy which has as little foundation, * In pelle lanata nova nupta confidere folet, vel propter morem vetuftum, quia antiquitus homines pellibus erant induti, vel quod teftetur lanificii officium fe proeftiturum viro. Feftus. v. Lana. or or less than that of Feftus. He fays "that married Women as foon as they came to the Threshold of their Huf"band's House, before they enter'd it, "adorned the Pofts of it with woollen fillets, as a good omen of Chastity." And hence he accounts for that paffage in Virgil I juft now cited. White indeed may be the Symbol of Purity: But Wool was the Symbol of Peaceableness, of Quiet, of Mildness. And when a Temple or an Altar was furrounded with it, it was to fignify that there was to be all Peace and Friendship, and that no Force or Violence was to be used to that place, which was feparated, and as it were confecrated, by being furrounded with the Symbol of Peace. Enough has been said to fhew how the Moral Difpofition was defigned to be intimated by all the Sacrificial Rites and Ceremonies. I now proceed a Step further, and obferve Nubentes puellæ fimul cum veniffent ad limen mariti, Poftes, antequam ingrederentur, propter aufpicium caftitatis, ornarent laneis vittis. Unde ait, Velleribus niveis, &c. Servius in Virgil. Æn. iv. 1. 459 Fourthly, 1 Fourthly, That Sacrifices were not only attended with Repentance, and Confeffion, and Address to God by Prayer, as being in his prefence, but they were Federal Rites, and implied mens entering into Friendfhip with God; or if they had violated Friendship with God by violating the Stipulation entered into, then Sacrifice implied a Renewal of Friendship, or a Reconciliation with him, or a Return to that State from which the Offender had departed. As this is a point upon which much that follows will depend, I fhall endeavour to prove it more at large. When the men of old contracted Leagues, or engaged in Friendships with one another, they did it by Eating and Drinking together. This appears from the Inftances of Ifaac and Abimeleck, Jacob and Laban, the Hebrews and the Gibeonites, Gen. xxvi. 30, 31. — xxxi. 46. Job. ix. 14: And the Breach of Covenants thus confirmed was deemed as * grofs * Σχέτλιος, ἐδὲ θεῶν ὅπιν ἠδέσατ', ουδὲ TRA'ΠΕΖΑΝ Hom. Ody. 4. 1. 28. a Viola a Violation of Friendship as any one could. be guilty of. Thus David complains, that his own familiar Friend, in whom he trufted, which did eat of his Bread, bad lifted up his heel against him, Pfalm xli. 9. And our Saviour applied this paffage of the Pfalmift to the Traitor Judas,- He that eateth Bread with me hath lift up his Heel against me. When Ishmael the Son of Nethaniah, and the Ten men that were with Him, treacherously flew Gedaliah the Son of Abikam, to whom Nebuzaradan had committed the people that remained in Mifpah, it is faid that He and his Companions came to Mispah, and there they did eat bread together, i. e. There they bound themselves together in the strongest Band of Confederacy to murder Gedaliah, which they accordingly effected. Or if they did eat Bread together with Gedaliah, their Treachery was fo much the groffer, and their infamous Behaviour was fo much the more to be detefted. Vide Jerem. xli. 1. The Prophet Obadiah has alluded to the fame Custom, and made ufe of the very fame Expreffion with the Pfalmist, The men that were at Peace with thee have deceived |