"Here in distress the Italian nations come, Anxious, to clear their doubts, and learn their doom.

First, on the fleeces of the slaughtered sheep, By night the sacred priest dissolves in sleep: When in a train, before his slumbering eye, Thin airy forms and wondrous visions fly.

He calls the powers who guard the infernal floods, And talks inspired, familiar with the gods." PITT.

There was a practice exactly like this which prevailed among the Highlanders of Scotland; an authentic account of this is given by Sir Walter Scott, in a note on his poem called The Lady of the Lake. It is as follows:- "The Highlanders, like all rude people, had various superstitious modes of inquiring into futurity. One of the most noted was the Taghairm, mentioned in the text. A person was wrapped up in the skin of a newly-slaln bullock, and deposited beside a waterfall, or at the bottom of a precipice, or in some other strange, wild, and unusual situation, where the scenery around him suggested nothing but objects of horror. In this situation he revolved in his mind the question proposed; and whatever was impressed upon him by his exalted imagination passed for the inspiration of the disembodied spirits who haunt these desolate recesses. In some of the Hebrides, they attributed the same oracular power to a large black stone by the sea- shore, which they approached with certain solemnities; and considered the first fancy which came into their own minds after they did so, to be the undoubted dictate of the tutelar deity of the stone; and as such to be, if possible, punctually complied with. Martin has recorded the following curious modes of Highland augury, in which the Taghairm, and its effects upon the person who was subjected to it, may serve to illustrate the text.

"It was an ordinary thing among the over-curious to consult an invisible oracle concerning the fate of families and battles, &c. This was performed three different ways; the first was by a company of men, one of whom, being detached by lot, was afterwards carried to a river, which was the boundary between two villages. Four of the company laid hold on him; and, having shut his eyes, they took him by the legs and arms, and then, tossing him to and again, struck his hips with force against the bank. One of them cried out, What is it you have got here? Another answers, A log of birch-wood. The other cries again, Let his invisible friends appear from all quarters, and let them relieve him by giving an answer to our present demands; and in a few minutes after, a number of little creatures came from the sea, who answered the question, and disappeared suddenly. The man was then set at liberty; and they all returned home, to take their measures according to the prediction of their false prophets; but the poor deluded fools were abused, for the answer was still ambiguous. This was always practiced in the night, and may literally be called the works of darkness.

"I had an account from the most intelligent and judicious men in the Isle of Skie, that, about sixty-two years ago, the oracle was thus consulted only once, and that was in the parish of Kilmartin, on the east side, by a wicked and mischievous race of people, who are now extinguished, both root and branch.

"The second way of consulting the oracle was by a party of men, who first retired to solitary places, remote from any house; and there they singled out one of their number, and wrapt him in a big cow's hide, which they folded about him. His whole body was covered with it, except his head, and so left in this posture all night, until his invisible friends relieved him, by giving a proper answer to the question in hand; which he received, as he fancied, from several persons that he found about him all that time.

His consorts returned to him at the break of day, and then he communicated his news to them; which often proved fatal to those concerned in such unwarrantable inquiries.

"There was a third way of consulting, which was a confirmation of the second above mentioned. The same company who put the man into the hide took a live cat, and put him on a spit. One of the number was employed to turn the spit, and one of his consorts inquired of him, What are you doing? He answered, I roast this cat until his friends answer the question; which must be the same that was proposed by the man shut up in the hide. And afterwards, a very big cat (in allusion to the story of 'the King of the Cats,' in Lord Lyttleton's Letters, and well known in the Highlands as a nursery tale) comes, attended by a number of lesser cats, desiring to relieve the cat turned upon the spit, and then answers the question. If this answer proved the same that was given to the man in the hide, then it was taken as a confirmation of the other, which, in this case, was believed infallible.

"Mr. Alexander Cooper, present minister of North-Vist, told me that one John Erach, in the Isle of Lewis, assured him it was his fate to have been led by his curiosity with some who consulted this oracle, and that he was a night within the hide, as above-mentioned; during which time he felt and heard such terrible things, that he could not express them. The impression it made on him was such as could never go off; and he said for a thousand worlds he would never again be concerned in the like performance, for this had disordered him to a high degree. He confessed it ingenuously, and with an air of great remorse; and seemed to be very penitent under a just sense of so great a crime. He declared this about five years since, and is still living in the Lewis for any thing I know." -Description of the Western Isles p. 110. See also PENNANT'S Scottish Tour, vol. ii. p. 361.

Is. 65:1-7 The Gentiles came to seek God, and find him, because the were first sought and found of him. Often he meets some thoughtles trifler or profligate opposer, and says to him, Behold me; and a speed change takes place. All the gospel day, Christ waited to be gracious The Jews were bidden, but would not come. It is not without cause the are rejected of God. They would do what most pleased them. The grieved, they vexed the Holy Spirit. They forsook God's temple, an sacrificed in groves. They cared not for the distinction between clea and unclean meats, before it was taken away by the gospel. Perhaps thi is put for all forbidden pleasures, and all that is thought to be gotten by sin, that abominable thing which the Lord hates. Chris denounced many woes against the pride and hypocrisy of the Jews. The proof against them is plain. And let us watch against pride an self-preference, remembering that every sin, and the most secre thoughts of man's heart, are known and will be judged by God.

Is. 65:8-10 In the bunch of unripe grapes, at present of no value, the new wine is contained. The Jews have been kept a distinct people, tha all may witness the fulfilment of ancient prophecies and promises God's chosen, the spiritual seed of praying Jacob, shall inherit his mountains of bliss and joy, and be carried safe to them through the vale of tears. All things are for the display of God's glory in the redemption of sinners.

Is. 65:11-16 Here the different states of the godly and wicked, of the Jews who believed, and of those who persisted in unbelief, are se against one another. They prepared a table for that troop of deitie which the heathen worship, and poured out drink-offerings to tha countless number. Their worshippers spared no cost to honour them which should shame the worshippers of the true God. See the malignit of sin; it is doing by choice what we know will displease God. In ever age and nation, the Lord leaves those who persist in doing evil, an despise the call of the gospel. God's servants shall have the bread of life, and shall want nothing good for them. But those who forsake the Lord, shall be ashamed of vain confidence in their own righteousness and the hopes they built thereon. Wordly people bless themselves in the abundance of this world's goods; but God's servants bless themselves in him. He is their strength and portion. They shall honour him as the God of truth. And it was promised that in him should all the families of the earth be blessed. They shall think themselves happy in having his for their God, who made them forget their troubles.

Is. 65:17-25 In the grace and comfort believers have in and from Christ, we are to look for this new heaven and new earth. The forme confusions, sins and miseries of the human race, shall be no mor remembered or renewed. The approaching happy state of the church i described under a variety of images. He shall be thought to die in his youth, and for his sins, who only lives to the age of a hundred years The event alone can determine what is meant; but it is plain tha Christianity, if universal, would so do away violence and evil, a greatly to lengthen life. In those happy days, all God's people shal enjoy the fruit of their labours. Nor will children then be the troubl of their parents, or suffer trouble themselves. The evil disposition of sinners shall be completely moritified; all shall live in harmony Thus the church on earth shall be full of happiness, like heaven. Thi prophecy assures the servants of Christ, that the time approaches wherein they shall be blessed with the undisturbed enjoyment of all that is needful for their happiness. As workers together with God, le us attend his ordinances, and obey his commands __________________________________________________________________

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