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 Cumæ, 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