Blair Collection > Celtic researches, on the origin, traditions & language, of the ancient Britons

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*< iò7'Gt7 is the ?•0ί/ of his inheritance." Jer. li. 1.0.
" The rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the
righteous." Psalm cxxv. 3.
In allusion to this use of inscrlhed rods, whatever was
assigned by lot, or devised by compact, was represented as
passing under the rod. " And concerning the tithe of the
herd, or of the flock, even whatsoever passeth under the
rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord." Lev. xxvii. o1.
*' And I will cause you to pass under the rod ; and I will
bring you into the bond of the covenant." Ezek. xx. 27.
The same prophet (chap, xxxvii. l6 to 20) particularly
describes the use of such rods, or billets, in forming cove-
nants : he undoubtedly delineates the popular, and the esta-
blished mode of using them ; for the intention is, by fa-
miliar, and by intelligible signs, to represent, for instruc-
tion, to the Jewish people, the ceremony of making a
solemn covenant. " Take thou one stick, and write upon
it, f or Judah, and for the children of Israel, his compa/iions.
Then take another s^/cŵ, and write upon it, /or Joseph, the
stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, his com-
panions; and join them, one to another, into one stick, and
they shall become one, in thine hand. Say unto them. Thus
saith the Lord : Behold, I will take the stick of Ephraim,
&c. and Λνϋΐ put liim with the stick of Judah, and make
them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand : and
the sticks whereon thou Avritest, shall be oxe i>' thine
JIAND, BEFORE THEIR EYES,"
This usage was nearly the same as that of British Bards,
in the construction of their Peithi/nen, already described,
except that, upon solemn, and religious occasions, the la,t-