CHAPTER III

THE CUMAEAN SIBYL

A part of the monotonous coast-line of Palestine extends into the Mediterranean considerably beyond the rest at Carmel.  In this bluff promontory the Holy Land reaches out, as it were, towards the Western World; and like a tie-stone that projects from the gable of the first of a row of houses, indicating that other buildings are to be added, it shows that the inheritance of Israel was not meant to be always exclusive, but was destined to comprehend all the countries which its faith should annex.  The remarkable geographical position of this long projecting ridge by the sea—­itself a symbol and prophecy—­and its peculiar physical features, differing from those of the rest of Palestine, and approximating to a European type of scenery, early marked it out as a religious spot.  It was held sacred from time immemorial; an altar existed there long before Elijah’s discomfiture of the priests of Baal; the people were accustomed to resort to the sanctuary of its “high place” during new moons and Sabbaths; and to its haunted strand came pilgrims from distant regions, to which the fame of its sanctity had spread.  One of the great schools of the prophets of Israel, superintended by Elisha, was planted on one of its mountain prominences.  The solitary Elijah found a refuge in its bosom, and came and went from it to the haunts of men like one of its own sudden storms; and in its rocky dells and dense thickets of oaks and evergreens were uttered prophecies of a larger history and a grander salvation, which transcended the narrow circle of Jewish ideas as much as the excellency of Carmel transcended the other landscapes of Palestine.

To this instance of striking correspondence between the peculiar nature of a spot and its peculiar religious history in Asia, a parallel may be found in Europe.  A part of the long uniform western coast-line of Italy stretches out into the Mediterranean at Cumae, near the city of Naples.  Early colonists from Greece, in search of a new home, found in its bays, islands, and promontories a touching resemblance to the intricate coast scenery of their own country.  On a solitary rock overlooking the sea they built their citadel and established their worship.  In this rock was the traditional cave of the Cumaean Sibyl, where she gave utterance to the inspirations of pagan prophecy a thousand years before St. John received the visions of the Apocalypse on the lone heights of the AEgean isle.  The promontory of Cumae, like that of Carmel, typified the onward course of history and religion—­a great advance in men’s ideas upon those of the past.  The western sea-board is the historic side of Italy.  All its great cities and renowned sites are on the western side of the Apennines; the other side, looking eastward, with the exception of Venice and Ravenna, containing hardly any place that stands out prominently in the history of the world.