In ancient pagan religions there was a peculiar sacredness attached
to running water in springs or rivers. The famous oracle of Delphi
was beside the Castalian spring; and in the haunted grotto of Egeria,
inspired by the murmurs of its beautiful fountain, the first king of
Rome received from the celestial nymph the laws and the religious rites
which he imparted to the primitive community. Rivers in prehistoric
times were everywhere worshiped; shrines were erected on their banks,
and they had priests of their own. Men swore by them, for the spirit of
the waters could drown those who proved false to their word; and the
most awful form of oath is that which the Hindu still takes who swears
by a divine river more sacred even than the Ganges--of which the Ganges
is only an earthly manifestation. The office of the Hebrew prophets
received its name in the original from a root signifying the bursting
forth and the overflowing of a copious fountain. As the spring bursts
forth from the heart of the rock in full flood, so the inspiration of
God bursts forth from the heart of the prophet. This origin of the name
would indicate that springs and rivers were at first chosen as the
medium of a divine revelation--_The Quiver._
(3050)
=Spurious Virtue=--See PRETENSE.
=Stage to Pulpit=--See EVANGELISM, UNUSUAL.