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THE 
 
 BLOOD COVENANT 
 
 A PRIMITIVE RITE 
 
 AND ITS BEARINGS ON SCRIPTURE 
 
 > 3 J 
 
 ,'. T' > ' '^ ^'' 
 
 BY 
 
 H. CLAY TRUMBULL D.D. 
 
 Author of "Kadesh Barnea." 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 
 1885 
 
T7 
 
 . , , , COPYRIGHT, 1885 
 
 GIFT OP 
 QLADY5 rSAAOSON 
 
 GRANT & PAIKES 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 It was while engaged in the preparation of a book 
 — still unfinished — on the Sway of Friendship in the 
 World's Forces, that I came upon facts concerning 
 the primitive rite of covenanting by the inter-trans- 
 fusion of blood, which induced me to turn aside from 
 my other studies, in order to pursue investigations in 
 this direction. 
 
 Having an engagement to deliver a series of lectures 
 before the Summer School of Hebrew, under Professor 
 W. R. Harper, of Chicago, at the buildings of the 
 Episcopal Divinity School, in Philadelphia, I decided 
 to make this rite and its linkings the theme of that 
 series; and I delivered three lectures, accordingly, 
 June 16-18, 1885. 
 
 The interest manifested in the subject by those who 
 heard the Lectures, as well as the importance of the 
 theme itself, has seemed sufficient to warrant its 
 presentation to a larger public. In this publishing, 
 the form of the original Lectures has, for convenience 
 sake, been adhered to ; although some considerable 
 I additions to the text, in the way of illustrative facts, 
 
 NS7886 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 have been made, since the deliveiy of the Lectures ; 
 while other similar material is given in an Appendix. 
 
 From the very freshness of the subject itself, there 
 was added difficulty in gathering the material for its 
 iflustration and exposition. So far as I could learn, 
 no one had gone over the ground before me, in this 
 particular line of research; hence the various items 
 essential to a fair statement of the case must be 
 searched for through many diverse volumes of travel 
 and of history and of archaeological compilation, with 
 only here and there an incidental disclosure in return. 
 Yet, each new discovery opened the way for other 
 discoveries beyond; and even after the Lectures, in 
 their present form, were already in type, I gained 
 many fresh facts, which I wish had been earlier avail- 
 able to me. Indeed, I may say that no portion of the 
 volume is of more importance than the Appendix; 
 where are added facts and reasonings bearing directly 
 on well-nigh every main point of the original Lectures. 
 
 There is cause for just surprise that the chief facts 
 of this entire subject have been so generally over- 
 looked, in all the theological discussions, and in all 
 the physio-sociological researches, of the earlier and 
 the later times. Yet this only furnishes another illus- 
 tration of the inevitably cramping influence of a pre- 
 conceived fixed theory, — to which all the ascertained 
 facts must be conformed, — in any attempt at thorough 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 and impartial scientific investigation. It would seem 
 to be because of such cramping, that no one of the 
 modern students of myth and folk-lore, of primitive 
 ideas and customs, and of man's origin and history, 
 has brought into their true prominence, if indeed he 
 has even noticed them in passing, the universally dom- 
 inating primitive convictions : that the blood is the life ; 
 that the heart, as the blood-fountain, is the very soul of 
 every personality ; that blood-transfer is soul-transfer ; 
 that blood-sharing,, human, or divine-human, secures 
 an inter-union of natures; and that a union of the 
 human nature with the divine is the highest ultimate 
 attainment reached out after by the most primitive, as 
 well as by the most enlightened, mind of humanity. 
 
 Certainly, the collation of facts comprised in this 
 volume grew out of no pre-conceived theory on the 
 part of its author. Whatever theory shows itself in 
 their present arrangement, is simply that which the 
 facts themselves have seemed to enforce and establish, 
 in their consecutive disclosure. 
 
 I should have been glad to take much more time for 
 the study of this theme, and for the re-arranging of 
 its material, before its presentation to the public ; but, 
 with the pressure of other work upon- me, the choice 
 was between hurrying it out in its present shape, and 
 postponing it indefinitely. All things considered, I 
 \ chose the former alternative. 
 
vi PREFACE. 
 
 In the prosecution of my investigations, I acknowl- 
 edge kindly aid from Professor Dr. Georg Ebers, 
 Principal Sir William Muir, Dr. Yung Wing, Dean 
 E. T. Bartlett, Professors Doctors John P. Peters and 
 J. G. Lansing, the Rev. Dr. M. H. Bixby, Drs. D. G. 
 Brinton and Charles W. Dulles, the Rev. Messrs. R. M. 
 Luther and Chester Holcombe, and Mr. E. A. Barber ; 
 in addition to constant and valuable assistance from Mr. 
 John T. Napier, to whom I am particularly indebted 
 for the philological comparisons in the Oriental field, 
 including the Egyptian, the Arabic, and the Hebrew. 
 
 At the best, my work in this volume is only tentative 
 and suggestive. Its chief value is likely to be in its 
 stimulating of others to fuller and more satisfactory 
 research in the field here brought to notice. Suffi- 
 cient, however, is certainly shown, to indicate that the 
 realm of true Biblical theology is as yet by no means 
 thoroughly explored. 
 
 H. CLAY TRUMBULL. 
 
 Philadelphia, August 14, 1885. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Preface 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 THE PRIMITIVE RITE ITSELF. 
 
 (i.) Sources OF Bible Study, 3. (2.) An Ancient Semitic Rite, 
 4. (3.) The Primitive Rite in Africa, 12. (4.) Traces of the 
 Rite in Europe, 39. (5.) World-wide Sweep of the Rite, 43. 
 (6.) Light from the Classics, 58. (7.) The Bond of the Cove- 
 nant, 65. (8.) The Rite and its Token in Egypt, 77. (9.) Other 
 Gleams of the Rite, 85. 
 
 LECTURE 11. 
 
 SUGGESTIONS AND PERVERSIONS OF THE RITE. 
 
 (i.) Sacredness of Blood and of the Heart, 99. (2.) Vivify- 
 ing Power of Blood, 110. (3.) A New Nature through New 
 Blood, 126. (4.) Life from any Blood, and by a Touch, 134. 
 (5.) Inspiration through Blood, 139. (6.) Inter-Communion 
 through Blood, 147. (7.) Symbolic Substitutes for Blood, 191. 
 (8.) Blood Covenant Involvings, 202. 
 
 vii 
 
Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 LECTURE III. 
 
 INDICATIONS OF THE RITE IN THE BIBLE. 
 
 (i.) Limitations OF Inquiry, 209. (2.) Primitive Teachings of 
 Blood, 210. (3.) The Blood Covenant in Circumcision, 215. 
 (4.) The Blood Covenant Tested, 224. (5.) The Blood Cove- 
 nant and its Tokens in the Passover, 230. (6.) The Blood 
 Covenant at Sinai, 238. (7.) The Blood Covenant in the 
 Mosaic Ritual, 240. (8.) The Primitive Rite Illustrated, 263. 
 (9.) The Blood Covenant in the Gospels, 271. (10.) The Blood 
 Covenant Applied, 286. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Importance of this rite strangely undervalued, 297. Life 
 in the blood, in the heart, in the liver, 299. Transmigration 
 of souls, 305. The Blood-Rite in Burmah, 313. Blood-stained 
 tree of the covenant, 318. Blood-Drinking, 320. Covenant- 
 Cutting, 322. Blood-Bathing, 324. Blood-Ransoming, 324. 
 The Covenant-Reminder, 326. Hints of Blood Union, 332. 
 
 INDEXES. 
 
 Topical Index, 345. Scriptural Index, 349. 
 
LECTURE I. 
 
 THE PRIMITIVE RITE ITSELF. 
 
> 5 , 1 
 
 ^ , ' o > 5 :> 
 
 THE PRIMITIVE RITE ITSELF. 
 
 I. SOURCES OF BIBLE STUDY. 
 
 Those who are most familiar with the Bible, and 
 who have already given most time to its study, have 
 largest desire and largest expectation of more knowl- 
 edge through its farther study. And, more and more, 
 Bible study has come to include veiy much that is 
 outside of the Bible. 
 
 For a long time, the outside study of the Bible was 
 directed chiefly to the languages in which the Bible 
 was written, and to the archaeology and the manners 
 and customs of what are commonly known as the 
 Lands of the Bible. Nor are these well-worked fields, 
 by any means, yet exhausted. More still remains to 
 be gleaned from them, each and all, than has been 
 gathered thence by all searchers in their varied lore. 
 But, latterly, it has been realized, that, while the Bible 
 is an Oriental book, written primarily for Orientals, 
 and therefore to be understood only through an 
 
 3 
 
4 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 understanding of Oriental modes of thought and 
 ss^efech, it i^ Jalsc* :a: record of God's revelation to the 
 whole human race ; . hence, its inspired pages are to 
 receive i^lu>i;'.L^c<.tion from all disclosures of the primi- 
 tive characteristics and customs of that race, every- 
 where. Not alone those who insist on the belief that 
 there was a gradual development of the race from a 
 barbarous beginning, but those also who believe that 
 man started on a higher plane, and in his degrada- 
 tion retained. perverted vestiges of God's original reve- 
 lation to him, are finding profit in the study of primi- 
 tive myths, and of aboriginal religious rites and cere- 
 monies, all the world over. Here, also, what has been 
 already gained, is but an earnest of what will yet be 
 compassed in the realm of truest biblical research. 
 
 2. AN ANCIENT SEMITIC RITE. 
 
 One of these primitive rites, which is deserving of 
 more attention than it has yet received, as throwing 
 light on many important phases of Bible teaching, is 
 the rite of blood-covenanting: a form of mutual 
 covenanting, by which two persons enter into the 
 closest, the most enduring, and the most sacred of 
 compacts, as friends and brothers, or as more than 
 brothers, through the inter-commingling of their 
 blood, by means of its mutual tasting, or of its inter- 
 
THE TWO SYRIANS. 5 
 
 transfusion. This rite is still observed in the un- 
 changing East; and there are historic traces of it, 
 from time immemorial, in every quarter of the globe ; 
 yet it has been strangely overlooked by biblical 
 critics and biblical commentators generally, in these 
 later centuries. 
 
 In bringing this rite of the covenant of blood into 
 new prominence, it may be well for me to tell of it as 
 it was described to me by an intelligent native Syrian, 
 who saw it consummated in a village at the base of 
 the mountains of Lebanon ; and then to add evidences 
 of its wide-spread existence in the East and elsewhere, 
 in earlier and in later times. 
 
 It was two young men, who were to enter into this 
 covenant. They had known each other, and had been 
 intimate, for years ; but now they were to become 
 brother-friends, in the covenant of blood. Their rela- 
 tives and neighbors were called together, in the open 
 place before the village fountain, to witness the sealing 
 compact. The young men publicly announced their 
 purpose, and their reasons for it. Their declarations 
 were written down, in duplicate, — one paper for each 
 friend, — and signed by themselves and by several wit- 
 nesses. One of the friends took a sharp lancet, and 
 opened a vein in the other's arm. Into the opening 
 thus made, he inserted a quill, through which he 
 sucked the living blood. The lancet-blade was care- 
 
6 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 fully wiped on one of the duplicate covenant-papers, 
 and then it was taken by the other friend, who made 
 a like incision in its first user's arm, and drank his 
 blood through the quill, wiping the blade on the 
 duplicate covenant-record. The two friends declared 
 together : " We are brothers in a covenant made 
 before God : who deceiveth the other, him will God 
 deceive." Each blood-marked covenant-record, was 
 then folded carefully, to be sewed up in a small 
 leathern case, or amulet, about an inch square ; to be 
 worn thenceforward by one of the covenant-brothers, 
 suspended about the neck, or bound upon the arm, in 
 token of the indissoluble relation. 
 
 The compact thus made, is called, M'dhadat ed-Dant 
 ( J. jJ( H Jo^Ljlo ), the " Covenant of Blood." The two 
 persons thus conjoined, are, Akhwat el-M'dhadah 
 ( sJ^ljLjt iy^S ), " Brothers of the Covenant." The 
 rite itself is recognized, in Syria, as one of the very 
 old customs of the land, as 'ddah qadeemeh (iiU-JtXs 54>Ut) 
 "a primitive rite." There are many forms of cove- 
 nanting in Syria, but this is the extremest and most 
 sacred of them all. As it is the inter-commingling of 
 very lives, nothing can transcend it. It forms a tie, 
 or a union, which cannot be dissolved. In marriage, 
 divorce is a possibility: not so in the covenant of 
 blood. Although now comparatively rare, in view 
 of its responsibilities and of its indissolubleness, this 
 
HOUSE OF THE AMULET, 7 
 
 covenant is sometimes entered into by confidential 
 partners in business, or by fellow-travelers ; again, by 
 robbers on the road — who would themselves rest fear- 
 lessly on its obligations, and who could be rested on 
 within its limits, however untrustworthy they or their 
 fellows might be to any other compact. Yet, again, it 
 is the chosen compact of loving friends ; of those who 
 are drawn to it only by mutual love and trust. 
 
 This covenant is commonly between two persons of 
 the same religion — Muhammadans, Druzes, or Naza- 
 renes ; yet it has been known between two persons of 
 different religions;^ and in such a case it would be 
 held as a closer tie than that of birth ^ or sect. He 
 who has entered into this compact with another, counts 
 himself the possessor of a double life ; for his friend, 
 whose blood he has shared, is ready to lay down his 
 life with him, or for him.^ Hence the leathern case, 
 or Bayt hejdb ( '0L5V ^ ouo) " House of the amulet,'"* 
 
 1 Of the possibility of a covenant between those of different religions, 
 Lane says {Arab.-Eng. Lexicon^ s. v. "'Ahd): "Hence iX-^-t •<> 
 {dho ^ahd) an appellation given to a Christian and a Jew (and a Sabean, 
 who is a subject of a Muslim government) meaning one between whom 
 and the Muslims a compact, or covenant exists, whereby the latter are 
 responsible for his security and freedom and toleration as long as he 
 lives agreeably to the compact." And the Blood Covenant is more 
 sacred and more binding than any other compact. 
 
 "Prov. 18:24. 3johniS:i3. 
 
 * See Lane's Lex. s. v. " Hejab." 
 
8 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 containing the record of the covenant (^uhdah, 5<X^ ), 
 is counted a proud badge of honor, by one who 
 possesses it ; and he has an added sense of security, 
 because he will not be alone when he falleth.^ 
 
 I have received personal testimony from native 
 Syrians, concerning the observance of this rite in 
 Damascus, in Aleppo, in Hasbayya, in Abayh, along 
 the road between Tyre and Sidon, and among the 
 Koords resident in Salehayyah. All the Syrians who 
 have been my informants, are at one concerning the 
 traditional extreme antiquity of this rite, and its ex- 
 ceptional force and sacredness. 
 
 In view of the Oriental method of evidencing the 
 closest possible affection and confidence, by the suck- 
 ing of the loved one's blood, there would seem to be 
 more than a coincidence in the fact, that the Arabic 
 words for friendship, for affection, for blood, and for 
 leech, or blood-sucker, are but variations from a com- 
 mon root? 'Alaqa ( ^3-L^ ) means "to love," "to 
 adhere," " to feed." 'Alaq ( (3-Lft ), in the singular, 
 means "love," "friendship," "attachment," "blood." 
 As the plural of 'alaqa ( JuLL^ ), 'alaq means " leeches," 
 or " blood-suckers." The truest friend clings like a 
 leech, and draws blood in order to the sharing thereby 
 of his friend's life and nature. 
 
 A native Syrian, who had traveled extensively in 
 
 ^ Eccl. 4 : 9, lo, * See Freytag, and Catafago, s. v. 
 
BED' WEEN BRO THERHOOD. g 
 
 the East, and who was familiar with the covenant of 
 blood in its more common form, as already described, 
 told me of a practice somewhat akin to it, whereby a 
 bandit-chieftain would pledge his men to implicit and 
 unqualified, life-surrendering fidelity to himself; or, 
 whereby a conspirator against the government would 
 bind, in advance, to his plans, his fellow conspirators, — 
 by a ceremony known as Sharb el-ahd(^ tX.g-*Jt V/-^ ) 
 " Drinking the covenant" The methods of such cove- 
 nanting are various ; but they are all of the nature of 
 tests of obedience and of endurance. They some- 
 times include licking a heated iron with the tongue, 
 or gashing the tongue, or swallowing pounded glass or 
 other dangerous potions; but, in all cases, the idea 
 seems to be, that the life of the one covenanting is, by 
 this covenant, devoted — surrendered as it were — ^to 
 the one with whom he covenants; and the rite is 
 uniformly accompanied with a solemn and an im- 
 precatory appeal to God, as witnessing and guarding 
 the compact. 
 
 Dr. J. G. Wetzstein, a German scholar, diplomat, 
 and traveler, who has given much study to the peoples 
 east of the Jordan, makes reference to the binding 
 force and the profound obligation of the covenants of 
 brotherhood, in that portion of the East ; although 
 he gives no description of the methods of the cove- 
 nant-rite. Speaking of two Bed'ween — Habbas and 
 
lO THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 Hosayn — who had been " brothered " {verbt'udert), he 
 explains by saying : " We must by this [term] under- 
 stand the Covenant of Brotherhood (Chuwwat el-Ahed 
 [ lX-^I s^ ])/ which is in use to-day not only among 
 the Hadari [the Villagers], but also among the 
 Bed'ween ; and is indeed of pre-Muhammadan origin. 
 The brother [in such a covenant] must guard the 
 [other] brother from treachery, and [must] succor 
 him in peril. So far as may be necessary, the one 
 must provide for the wants of the other ; and the sur- 
 vivor has weighty obligations in behalf of the family 
 of the one deceased." Then, as showing how com- 
 pletely the idea of a common life in the lives of two 
 friends thus covenanted — if, indeed, they have become 
 sharers of the same blood — sways the Oriental mind, 
 Wetzstein adds : " The marriage of a man and woman 
 between whom this covenant exists, is held to be 
 incest'''^ 
 
 There are, indeed, various evidences that the tie of 
 blood-covenanting is reckoned, in the East, even a closer 
 tie than that of natural descent ; that a " friend " by this 
 tie is nearer and is dearer, " sticketh closer," than a 
 " brother " by birth. We, in the West, are accustomed 
 to say, that " blood is thicker than water " ; but the 
 Arabs have the idea that blood is thicker than milk, 
 
 ^ See " Brothers of the Covenant," p. 6, mpra. 
 
 2 Sprachliches aus den Zeltlagern der syrischen IVuste, p. 37. 
 
BLOOD IS THICKER THAN WATER. II 
 
 than a mother's milk. With them, any two children 
 nourished at the same breast are called " milk-broth- 
 ers," ^ or " sucking brothers " ; ^ and the tie between 
 such is very strong. A boy and a girl in this relation 
 cannot marry, even though by birth they had no family 
 relationship. Among even the more bigoted of the 
 Druzes, a Druze girl who is a " sucking sister " of a 
 Nazarene boy is allowed a sister's privileges with him. 
 He can see her uncovered face, even to the time of 
 her marriage. But, the Arabs hold that brothers in 
 the covenant of blood are closer than brothers at a 
 common breast; that those who have tasted each 
 other's blood are in a surer covenant than those who 
 have tasted the same milk together ; that " blood-lick- 
 ers," ^ as the blood-brothers are sometimes called, are 
 more truly one, than " milk-brothers," or " sucking 
 brothers " ; that, indeed, blood is thicker than milk, as 
 well as thicker than water. '^' 
 
 This distinction it is which seems to be referred to 
 in a citation from the Arabic poet El-A'asha, by the 
 Arabic lexicographer Qamus, which has been a puz- 
 zle to Lane, and Freytag, and others.'' Lane's transla- 
 
 ^ See Redhouse's Turkish and English Dictionary, s. w. sood and soot. 
 2 See Lane, and Freytag, s. vv. rada '«, and thady. 
 
 ^ See reference to Ibn Hisham, 125, in Prof. W. Robertson Smith's 
 Old Test, in Jewish Churchy Notes to Lect. XII. See, also, p. 59, infra. 
 
 * See Lane, and Freytag, s. v. sahama ; also Smith's Old Test, in 
 Jewish Churchy Notes to Lect. XII. 
 
12 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 tion of the passage is : " Two foster-brothers by the 
 sucking of the breast of one mother, swore together 
 by dark blood, into which they dipped their hands, 
 that they should not ever become separated." In other 
 words, two milk-brothers became blood-brothers, by 
 interlocking their hands under their own blood, in the 
 covenant of blood-friendship. They had been closely 
 inter-linked before ; now they were as one ; for blood is 
 thicker than milk. The oneness of nature which comes 
 of sharing the same blood, by its inter-transfusion, is 
 rightly deemed, by the Arabs, completer than the one- 
 ness of nature which comes of sharing the same milk ; 
 or even than that which comes through having blood 
 from a common source, by natural descent. 
 
 3. THE PRIMITIVE RITE IN AFRICA. 
 
 Travelers in the heart of Africa, also, report the 
 covenant of " blood-brotherhood," or of " strong-friend- 
 ship," as in vogue among various African tribes ; al- 
 though, naturally retaining less of primitive sacredness 
 there than among Semites. The rite is, in some cases, 
 observed after the manner of the Syrians, by the con- 
 tracting parties tasting each other's blood ; while, in 
 other cases, it is performed by the inter-transfusion of 
 blood between the two. 
 
 The first mention which I find of it, in the writings 
 of modern travelers in Africa, is by the lamented hero- 
 
BRO THERHOOD IN BLOOD AND BEER. 1 3 
 
 missionary, Dr. Livingstone. He calls the rite Kasendi. 
 It was in the region of Lake Dilolo, at the watershed 
 between the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic, in July, 
 1854, that he made blood-friendship, vicariously, with 
 Queen Manenko, of the Balonda tribes.^ She was 
 represented, in this ceremony, by her husband, the 
 ebony " Prince Consort " ; while Livingstone's repre- 
 sentative was one of his Makololo attendants. Wo- 
 man's right to rule — when she has the right — seems to 
 be as clearly recognized in Central Africa, to-day, as it 
 was in Ethiopia in the days of Candace, or in Sheba 
 in the days of Balkees. 
 
 Describing the ceremony, Livingstone says '? "It is 
 accomplished thus : The hands of the parties are 
 joined (in this case Pitsane and Sambanza were the 
 parties engaged). Small incisions are made on the 
 clasped hands, on the pits of the stomach of each, 
 and on the right cheeks and foreheads. A small 
 quantity of blood is taken off from these points, in 
 both parties, by means of a stalk of grass. The 
 blood from one person is put into a pot of beer, 
 and that of the second into another; each then 
 drinks the other's blood, and they are supposed to 
 become perpetual friends, or relations. During the 
 drinking of the beer, some of the party continue beat- 
 
 ^ See Livingstone's Travels and Res, in So. Africa^ pp. 290-296. 
 * 3id., p. 525. 
 
 2 
 
14 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 ing the ground with short clubs, and utter sentences 
 by way of ratifying the treaty. " The men belonging 
 to each [principal's party], then finish the beer. The 
 principals in the performance of * Kasendi ' are hence- 
 forth considered blood-relations, and are bound to dis- 
 close to each other any impending evil. If Sekeletu 
 [chief of Pitsane's tribe — the Makololo — ] should re- 
 solve to attack the Balonda [Sambanza's — or, more 
 properly, Manenko's — ^people], Pitsane would be under 
 obligation to give Sambanza warning to escape ; and so, 
 on the other side. [The ceremony concluded in this 
 case] they now presented each other with the most 
 valuable presents they had to bestow. Sambanza 
 walked off with Pitsane's suit of green baize faced 
 with red, which had been made in Loanda ; and Pit- 
 sane, besides abundant supplies of food, obtained two 
 shells [of as great value, in regions far from the sea, 
 * as the Lord Mayor's badge is in London,'] similar to 
 that [one, which] I had received from Shinte [the uncle 
 of Manenko]."^ 
 
 Of the binding force of this covenant, Livingstone 
 says farther : " On one occasion I became blood-rela- 
 tion to a young woman by accident. She had a large 
 cartilaginous tumor between the bones of the fore- 
 arm, which as it gradually enlarged, so distended the 
 muscles as to render her unable to work. She ap- 
 
 * See Livingstone's Travels and Res. in So. Afj-ica, p. 324 f. 
 
AN UNCHANGING PEOPLE. 1 5 
 
 plied to me to excise it. I requested her to bring her 
 husband, if he were willing to have the operation per- 
 formed ; and while removing the tumor, one of the 
 small arteries squirted some blood into my eye. She 
 remarked, when I was wiping the blood out of it, 
 * You were a friend before ; now you are a blood-rela- 
 tion ; and when you pass this way always send me word, 
 that I may cook food for you.' " ^ 
 
 Of the influence of these inter-tribal blood-friend- 
 ships, in Central Africa, Dr. Livingstone speaks most 
 favorably. Their primitive character is made the 
 more probable, in view of the fact that he first found 
 them existing in a region where, in his opinion, the 
 dress and household utensils of the people are identi- 
 cal with those which are represented on the monu- 
 ments of ancient Egypt.^ Although it is within our 
 own generation that this mode of covenanting in the 
 region referred to, has been made familiar to us, the 
 rite itself is of old, elsewhere if not, indeed, there ; as 
 other travelers following in the track of Livingstone 
 have noted and reported. 
 
 Commander Cameron, who, while in charge of the 
 Livingstone Search Expedition, was the first European 
 traveler to cross the whole breadth of the African 
 continent in its central latitudes, gives several illustra- 
 
 ^ See Livingstone's Travels and Res. in So. Africa^ p. 526. 
 '^Ibid.y p. 213. 
 
l6 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 tions of the observance of this rite. In June, 1874, at 
 the westward of Lake Tanganyika, Syde, a guide of 
 Cameron, entered into this covenant of blood with 
 Pakwanya, a local chief 
 
 " After a certain amount of palaver," says Cameron, 
 " Syde and Pakwanya exchanged presents, much to 
 the advantage of the former [for in the East, the 
 person of higher rank is supposed to give the more 
 costly gifts in any such exchange] ; more especially 
 [in this case] as he [Syde] borrowed the beads of me 
 and afterward forgot to repay me. Pakwanya then 
 performed a tune on his harmonium, or whatever the 
 instrument [which he had] might be called, and the 
 business of fraternizing was proceeded with. Pak- 
 wanya's head man acted as his sponsor, and one of my 
 askari assumed the Uke office for Syde. 
 
 " The first operation consisted of making an incision 
 on each of their right wrists, just sufficient to draw 
 blood ; a little of which was scraped off and smeared 
 on the other's cut; after which gunpowder was rubbed 
 in [thereby securing a permanent token on the arm]. 
 The concluding part of the ceremony was performed 
 by Pakwanya's sponsor holding a sword resting on 
 his shoulder, while he who acted [as sponsor] for 
 Syde went through the motions of sharpening a knife 
 upon it. Both sponsors meanwhile made a speech, 
 calling down imprecations on Pakwanya and all his 
 
DRINKING THE COVENANT, 17 
 
 relations, past, present, and future, and prayed that 
 their graves might be defiled by pigs if he broke the 
 brotherhood in word, thought, or deed. The same 
 form having been gone through with, [with] respect 
 to Syde, the sponsors changing duties, the brother- 
 making was complete."^ 
 
 Concerning the origin of this rite, in this region, 
 Cameron says : " This custom of * making brothers,' 
 I believe to be really of Semitic origin, and to have 
 been introduced into Africa by the heathen Arabs 
 before the days of Mohammed; and this idea is 
 strengthened by the fact that when the first traders 
 from Zanzibar crossed the Tanganyika, the ceremony 
 was unknown [so far as those traders knew] to the 
 westward of that lake."^ Cameron was, of course, 
 unaware of the world-wide prevalence of this rite; 
 but his suggestion that its particular form just here 
 had a Semitic origin, receives support in a peculiar 
 difference noted between the Asiatic and the African 
 ceremonies. 
 
 It will be remembered, that, among the Syrians, the 
 blood of the covenant is taken into the mouth, and 
 the record of the covenant is bound upon the arm. 
 The Africans, not fully appreciating the force of a 
 written record, are in the habit of reversing this order, 
 according to Cameron's account. Describing the rite 
 
 1 Cameron's Acroas Africa^ I., 333. ^ Ibid.y I., 333 f. 
 
 2* 
 
l8 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 as observed between his men and the natives, on the 
 Luama River, he says: "The brotherhood business 
 having been completed [by putting the blood from 
 one party on to the arm of the other], some pen and 
 ink marks were made on a piece of paper, which, 
 together with a charge of powder, was put into a 
 kettleful of water. All hands then drank of the 
 decoction, the natives being told that it was a very 
 great medicine." ^ That was " drinking the covenant " ^ 
 with a vengeance ; nor is it difficult to see how this 
 idea originated. 
 - The gallant and adventurous Henry M. Stanley 
 also reports this rite of "blood-brotherhood," or of 
 " strong friendship," in the story of his romantic expe- 
 riences in the wilds of Africa. On numerous occasions 
 the observance of this rite was a means of protection 
 and relief to Stanley. One of its more notable illus- 
 trations was in his compact with " Mirambo, the warrior 
 chief of Western Unyamwezi;"^ whose leadership in 
 warfare Stanley compares to that of both Frederick 
 the Great^ and Napoleon.® 
 
 It was during his first journey in pursuit of Living- 
 stone, in 1 87 1, that Stanley first encountered the forces 
 of Mirambo, and was worsted in the conflict.^ Writing 
 
 "^Across Africa, I., 369. 2 3ge page 9, supra. 
 
 ' Through the Dark Continent, I., 107, 130 f. * Ibid., I., 492. 
 
 '^ Ibid., I., 52, 492, ^ How I found Livingstone, pp. 267-304. 
 
THE MARS OF AFRICA. 1 9 
 
 of him, after his second expedition, Stanley describes 
 Mirambo, as " the 'Mars of Africa/ who since 1871 
 has made his name feared by both native and foreigner 
 from Usui to Urori, and from Uvinza to Ugogo, a 
 country embracing 90,000 square miles ; who, from 
 the village chieftainship over Uyoweh, has made for 
 himself a name as well known as that of Mtesa 
 throughout the eastern half of Equatorial Africa ; a 
 household word from Nyangwe to Zanzibar, and the 
 theme of many a song of the bards of Unyamwezi, 
 Ukimbu, Ukonongo, Uzinja, and Uvinza."^ For a 
 time, during his second exploring expedition, Stanley 
 was inclined to avoid Mirambo, but becoming " im- 
 pressed with his ubiquitous powers,"^ he decided to 
 meet him, and if possible make " strong friendship " 
 with him. They came together, first, at Serombo, 
 April 22, 1876. Mirambo "quite captivated" Stanley. 
 " He was a thorough African gentleman in appearance. 
 . A handsome, regular-featured, mild-voiced, 
 soft-spoken man, with what one might call a ' meek ' 
 demeanor ; very generous and open-handed ;" his eyes 
 having "the steady, calm gaze of a master."^ 
 
 The African hero and the heroic American agreed to 
 " make strong friendship " with each other. Stanley 
 thus describes the ceremony : " Manwa Sera [Stanley's 
 
 1 Thro. Dark Coni., I., 489 f. ? Ibid., I., 130. 
 
 3/<5/a'., I., 487-49?,. 
 
20 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 'chief captain'] was requested to seal our friendship 
 •by performing the ceremony of blood-brotherhood be- 
 tween Mirambo and myself Having caused us to sit 
 fronting each other on a straw-carpet, he made an in- 
 cision in each of our right legs, from which he extracted 
 blood, and inter-changing it, he exclaimed aloud : * If 
 either of you break this brotherhood now established 
 between you, may the lion devour him, the serpent 
 poison him, bitterness be in his food, his friends desert 
 him, his gun burst in his hands and wound him, and 
 everything that is bad do wrong to him until death.' " ^ 
 The same blood now flowed in the veins of both Stan- 
 ley and Mirambo. They were friends and brothers in 
 a sacred covenant ; life for life. At the conclusion of 
 the covenant, they exchanged gifts ; as the customary 
 ratification, or accompaniment, of the compact They 
 even vied with each other in proofs of their unselfish 
 fidelity, in this new covenant of friendship.^ 
 
 Again and again, before and after this incident, 
 Stanley entered into the covenant of blood-brother- 
 hood with representative Africans ; in some instances 
 by the opening of his own veins ; at other times by 
 allowing one of his personal escort to bleed for him. 
 In January, 1875, a "great magic doctor of Vinyata" 
 came to Stanley's tent to pay a friendly visit, " bring- 
 ing with him a fine, fat ox as a peace offering." After 
 
 1 Thro. Dark Cont., I., 493. ^ Ibid., I., 493 f. 
 
BLOOD-BROTHERHOOD REFUSED. 21 
 
 an exchange of gifts, says Stanley, "he entreated me to 
 go through the process of blood-brotherhood, which 
 I underwent with all the ceremonious gravity of a 
 pagan." ^ 
 
 Three months later, in April, 1875, when Stanley 
 found himself and his party in the treacherous toils 
 of Shekka, the King of Bumbireh, he made several 
 vain attempts to "induce Shekka, with gifts, to go 
 through the process of blood-brotherhood." Stanley's 
 second captain, Safeni, was the adroit, but unsuccessful, 
 agent in the negotiations. " Go frankly and smilingly, 
 Safeni, up to Shekka, on the top of that hill," said 
 Stanley, " and offer him these three fundo of beads, 
 and ask him to exchange blood with you." But the 
 wily king was not to be dissuaded from his warlike 
 purposes in that way. " Safeni returned. Shekka 
 had refused the pledge of peace." ^ His desire was to 
 take blood, if at all, without any exchange. 
 
 After still another three months, in July, 1875, Stan- 
 ley, at Refuge Island, reports better success in secur- 
 ing peace and friendship through blood-giving and 
 blood-receiving. "Through the influence of young 
 Lukanjah — the cousin of the King of Ukerewe " — he 
 says, " the natives of the mainland had been induced 
 to exchange their churlish disposition for one of cordial 
 welcome ; and the process of blood-brotherhood had 
 
 1 Thro. Dark ConL, I., 123. 2 /^/^.^ i,^ 227-237. 
 
22 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 been formally gone through [with], between Manwa 
 Sera, on my part, and Kijaju, King of Komeh, and the 
 King of Itawagumba, on the other part" ^ 
 
 It was at " Kampunzu, in the district of Uvinza, 
 where dwell the true aborigines of the forest country," 
 — a people whom Stanley afterwards found to be 
 cannibals — that this rite was once more observed be- 
 tween the explorers and the natives. " Blood-brother- 
 hood being considered as a pledge of good-will and 
 peace," says Stanley, " Frank Pocock [a young Eng- 
 lishman who was an attendant of Stanley] and the 
 chief [of Kampunzu] went through the ordeal ; and 
 we interchanged presents " — as is the custom in the 
 observance of this rite. ^ 
 
 At the island of Mpika, on the Livingstone River, 
 in December, 1876, there was another bright episode 
 in Stanley's course of travel, through this mode of 
 sealing friendship. Disease had been making sad 
 havoc in Stanley's party. He had been compelled to 
 fight his way along through a region of cannibals. 
 While he was halting for a breakfast on the river 
 bank over against Mpika, an attack on him was pre- 
 paring by the excited inhabitants of the island. Just 
 then his scouts captured a native trading party of men 
 and women who were returning to Mpika, from inland ; 
 and to them his interpreters made clear his pacific 
 
 1 Thro. Dark Cont., I., 268. ^ Ibid., II., 144-146. 
 
PEACE SEALED BY BLOOD. 23 
 
 intentions. " By means of these people," he says, " we 
 succeeded in checking the warhke demonstrations of 
 the islanders, and in finally persuading them to make 
 blood-brotherhood ; after which we invited canoes to 
 come and receive [these hostages] their friends. As 
 they hesitated to do so, we embarked them in our own 
 boat, and conveyed them across to the island. The 
 news then spread quickly along the whole length of 
 the island that we were friends, and as we resumed 
 our journey, crowds from the shore cried out to us, 
 ' Mwende Ki-vuke-vuke ' (' Go in peace ! ') " ^ 
 
 Once more it was at the conclusion of a bloody 
 conflict, in the district of Vinya-Njara, just below 
 Mpika Island, that peace was sealed by blood. When 
 practical victory was on Stanley's side, at the cost of 
 four of his men killed, and thirteen more of them 
 wounded, then he sought this means of amity. " With 
 the aid of our interpreters," he says, " we communi- 
 cated our terms, viz., that we would occupy Vinya- 
 Njara, and retain all the canoes unless they made 
 peace. We also informed them that we had one 
 prisoner, who would be surrendered to them if they 
 availed themselves of our offer of peace : that we had 
 suffered heavily, and they had also suffered ; that war 
 was an evil which wise men avoided ; that if they 
 came with two canoes with their chiefs, two canoes 
 
 1 Thro. Dark Cont., II., 177 f. 
 
24 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 with our chiefs should meet them in mid-stream, and 
 make blood-brotherhood; and that on that condition 
 some of their canoes should be restored, and we would 
 purchase the rest." The natives took time for the 
 considering of this proposition, and then accepted it. 
 " On the 22nd of December, the ceremony of blood- 
 brotherhood having been formally concluded, in mid- 
 river, between Safeni and the chief of Vinya-Njara," 
 continues Stanley, " our captive, and fifteen canoes, were 
 returned, and twenty-three canoes were retained by us 
 for a satisfactory equivalent; and thus our desperate 
 struggle terminated." ^ 
 
 On the Livingstone, just below the Equator, in 
 February, 1877, Stanley's party was facing starvation, 
 having been for some time " unable to purchase food, 
 or indeed [to] approach a settlement for any amicable 
 purpose." The explorers came to look at " each other 
 as fated victims of protracted famine, or [of] the rage 
 of savages, like those of Mangala." " We continued 
 our journey," goes on the record, " though grievously 
 hungry, past Bwena and Inguba, doing our utmost to 
 induce the staring fishermen to communicate with us; 
 without any success. They became at once officiously 
 busy with guns, and dangerously active. We arrived 
 at Ikengo, and as we were almost despairing, we pro- 
 ceeded to a small island opposite this settlement, and 
 
 1 Thro. Dark Cont., II., l88. 
 
BLOOD FOR BLOOD. 25 
 
 prepared to encamp. Soon a canoe with seven men 
 came dashing across, and we prepared our moneys for 
 exhibition. They unhesitatingly advanced, and ran 
 their canoe alongside of us. We were rapturously 
 joyful, and returned them a most cordial welcome, as 
 the act was a most auspicious sign of confidence. We 
 were liberal, and the natives fearlessly accepted our 
 presents ; and from this giving of gifts we proceeded 
 to seal this incipient friendship with our blood, with all 
 due ceremony."^ And by this transfusion of blood, 
 the starving were re-vivified, and the despairing were 
 given hope. 
 
 Twice, again, within a few weeks after this experi- 
 ence, there was a call on Stanley of blood for blood, 
 in friendship's compact. The people of Chumbiri wel- 
 comed the travelers. "They readily subscribed to 
 all the requirements of friendship, blood-brotherhood, 
 and an exchange of a few small gifts." ^ Itsi, the king 
 of Ntamo, with several of his elders and a showy 
 escort, came out to meet Stanley ; and there was a 
 friendly greeting on both sides. " They then broached 
 the subject of blood-brotherhood. We were willing," 
 says Stanley, " but they wished to defer the ceremony 
 until they had first shown their friendly feelings to 
 us." Thereupon gifts were exchanged, and the king 
 indicated his preference for a " big goat " of Stanley's, 
 
 1 Thro. Dark Cont., II., 305 f. 2 Ibid., II., 315. 
 
 3 
 
26 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 as his benefaction — which, after some parleying, was 
 transferred to him. Then caime the covenant-rite. 
 " The treaty with Itsi," says Stanley, " was exceed- 
 ingly ceremonious, and involved the exchange of 
 charms. Itsi transferred to me for my protection 
 through life, a small gourdful of a curious powder, 
 which had rather a saline taste ; and I delivered over 
 to him, as the white man's charm against all evil, a 
 half-ounce vial of magnesia; further, a small scratch 
 in Frank's arm, and another in Itsi's arm, supplied 
 blood sufficient to unite us in one, and [by an] indivisi- 
 ble bond of fraternity."^ 
 
 Four years after this experience of blood-covenant- 
 ing, by proxy, with young Itsi, Stanley found himself 
 again at Ntamo, or across the river from it ; this time 
 in the interest of the International Association of the 
 Congo. Being short of food, he had sent out a party 
 of foragers, and was waiting their return with interest. 
 " During the absence of the food-hunters," he says, 
 " we heard the drums of Ntamo, and [we] followed 
 with interested eyes the departure of two large ca- 
 noes from the landing-place, their ascent to the place 
 opposite, and their final crossing over towards us. 
 Then we knew that Ngalyema of Ntamo had condes- 
 cended to come and visit us. As soon as he arrived 
 I recognized him as the Itsi with whom, in 1877, I 
 
 1 Thro. Dark Cont., II., 330-332. 
 
A LONG LOST BROTHER. 27 
 
 had made blood-brotherhood [by proxy]. During 
 the four years that had elapsed, he had become a 
 great man. ... He was now about thirty-four 
 years old, of well-built form, proud in his bearing, 
 covetous and grasping in disposition, and, like all 
 other lawless barbarians, prone to be cruel and san- 
 guinary whenever he might safely vent his evil humor. 
 Superstition had found in him an apt and docile pupil, 
 and fetishism held him as one of its most abject 
 slaves. This was the man in whose hands the desti- 
 nies of the Association Internationale du Congo were 
 held, and upon whose graciousness depended our only 
 hope of being able to effect a peaceful lodgment on 
 the Upper Congo." A pagan African was an African 
 pagan, even while the blood-brother of a European 
 Christian. Yet, the tie of blood-covenanting was the 
 strongest tie known in Central Africa. Frank Pocock, 
 whose covenant-blood flowed in Itsi's veins, was 
 dead ; ^ yet for his sake his master, Stanley, was wel- 
 comed by Itsi as a brother; and in true Eastern 
 fashion he was invited to prove anew his continuing 
 faith by a fresh series of love-showing gifts. " My 
 brother being the supreme lord of Ntamo, as well as 
 the deepest-voiced and most arrogant rogue among 
 the whole tribe," says Stanley, " first demanded the 
 two asses [which Stanley had with him], then a large 
 
 1 Thro. Dark ConL, II., 402-408. 
 
28 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 mirror, which was succeeded by a splendid gold-em- 
 broidered coat, jewelry, glass clasps, long brass chains, 
 a figured table-cloth, fifteen other pieces of fine cloth, 
 and a japanned tin box with a * Chubb ' lock. Finally, 
 gratified by such liberality, Ngalyema surrendered to 
 me his sceptre, which consisted of a long staff, banded 
 profusely with brass, and decorated with coils of brass 
 wire, which was to be carried by me and shown to all 
 men that I was the brother of Ngalyema [or, Itsi] of 
 Ntamo ! " * Some time after this, when trouble arose 
 between Stanley and Ngalyema, the former suggested 
 that perhaps it would be better to cancel their brother- 
 hood. " ' No, no, no,' cried Ngalyema, anxiously; * our 
 brotherhood cannot be broken ; our blood is now 
 one.'" Yet at this time Stanley's brotherhood with 
 Ngalyema was only by the blood of his deceased 
 retainer, Frank Pocock. 
 
 More commonly, the rite of blood-friendship among 
 the African tribes seems to be by the inter-transfusion 
 of blood; but the ancient Syrian method is by no 
 
 / means unknown on that continent. Stanley tells of 
 
 / 
 
 , one crisis of hunger, among the cannibals of Rubunga, 
 when the hostility of the natives on the river bank 
 was averted by a shrewd display of proffered trinkets 
 from the boats of the expedition. "We raised our 
 anchor," he says, " and with two strokes of the oars 
 * The Congo ^ I., 304-312. 
 
A CANNIBALISTIC CEREMONY. 29 
 
 had run our boat ashore ; and, snatching a string or 
 two of cowries [or shell-money], I sprang on land, 
 followed by the coxswain Uledi, and in a second I had 
 seized the skinny hand of the old chief, and was 
 pressing it hard for joy. Warm-hearted Uledi, who 
 the moment before was breathing furious hate of all 
 savages, and of the procrastinating old chief in particu- 
 lar, embraced him with a filial warmth. Young Saywa, 
 and Murabo, and Shumari, prompt as tinder upon all 
 occasions, grasped the lesser chiefs' hands, and devoted 
 themselves with smiles and jovial frank bearing to 
 conquer the last remnants of savage sullenness, and 
 succeeded so well that, in an incredible short time, the 
 blood-brotherhood ceremony between the suddenly 
 formed friends was solemnly entered into, and the 
 irrevocable pact of peace and good will had been 
 accomplished." ^ 
 
 Apparently unaware of the method of the ancient 
 Semitic rite, here found in a degraded form, Stanley 
 seems surprised at the mutual tasting of blood between 
 the contracting friends, in this instance. He says : 
 " Blood-brotherhood was a beastly cannibalistic cere- 
 mony with these people, yet much sought after, — 
 whether for the satisfaction of their thirst for blood, or 
 that it involved an interchange of gifts, of which they 
 must needs reap the most benefit. After an incision 
 
 1 Thro. Dark ConL, II., 281-283. 
 
30 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 was made in each arm, both brothers bent their heads, 
 and the aborigine was observed to suck with the greatest 
 fervor ; whether for love of blood or excess of friend- 
 ^ ship, it would be difficult to say."^ 
 
 During his latest visit to Africa, in the Congo region, 
 Stanley had many another occasion to enter into the 
 covenant of blood with native chiefs, or to rest on that 
 covenant as before consummated. His every descrip- 
 tion of the rite itself has its value, as illustrating the 
 varying forms and the essential unity of the ceremony 
 of blood-covenanting, the world over. 
 
 A reference has already been made^ to Stanley's 
 meeting, on this expedition, with Ngalyema, who, 
 under the name of Itsi, had entered into blood-broth- 
 erhood with Frank Pocock, four years before. That 
 brotherhood by proxy had several severe strains, in 
 the progress of negotiations between Stanley and Ngal- 
 yema; and after some eight months of these varying 
 experiences, it was urgently pressed on Stanley by the 
 chiefs of Kintamo (which is another name for Ntamo), 
 that he should personally covenant by blood with 
 Ngalyema, and so put an end to all danger of conflict 
 between them. To this Stanley assented, and the 
 record of the transaction is given accordingly, under 
 date of April 9, 1882: "Brotherhood with Ngalye- 
 ma was performed. We crossed arms; an incision 
 
 * Thro. Dark Cont.y II., 286. 2 See pages 26-28, supra. 
 
THE VENICE OF THE CONGO. 3 1 
 
 was made in each arm ; some salt was placed on the 
 wound, and then a mutual rubbing took place, while 
 the great fetish man of Kintamo pronounced an incon- 
 ceivable number of curses on my head if ever I proved 
 false. Susi [Livingstone's head man, now with Stan- ^ 
 ley], not to be outdone by him, solicited the gods to 
 visit unheard-of atrocious vengeances on Ngalyema if 
 he dared to make the slighest breach in the sacred 
 brotherhood which made him and Bula Matari^ one 
 and indivisible for ever." ^ 
 
 In June, 1883, Stanley visited, by invitation, Man- 
 gombo, the chief of Irebu, on the Upper Congo, and 
 became his blood-brother. Describing his landing at 
 this "Venice of the Congo," he says: " Mangombo, 
 with a curious long staff, a fathom and a half in length, 
 having a small spade of brass at one end, much resem- 
 bling a baker's cake-spade, stood in front. He was a 
 man probably sixty years old, but active and by no 
 means aged-looking, and he waited to greet me. 
 . . . Generally the first day of acquaintance with 
 the Congo river tribes is devoted to chatting, sound- 
 ing one another's principles, and getting at one an- 
 other's ideas. The chief entertains his guest with gifts 
 of food, goats, beer, fish, &c. ; then, on the next day, 
 
 *"Bula Matari," or "Rock Breaker," or Road Maker, was a name 
 given to Stanley by the natives. 
 
 ^The Congo, I., 383-385. 
 
32 THE BLOOD COVENANT, 
 
 commences business and reciprocal exchange of gifts. 
 So it was at Irebu. Mangombo gave four hairy thin- 
 tailed sheep, ten glorious bunches of bananas, two 
 great pots of beer, and the usual accompaniments of 
 small stores. The next day we made blood-brother- 
 hood. The fetish-man pricked each of our right arms, 
 pressed the blood out ; then, with a pinch of scrapings 
 from my gun stock, a little salt, a few dusty scrapings 
 from a long pod, dropped over the wounded arms, 
 . . . the black and white arms were mutually rubbed 
 together [for the inter-transfusion of the flowing 
 blood]. The fetish-man took the long pod in his 
 hand, and slightly touched our necks, our heads, our 
 arms, and our legs, muttering rapidly his litany of 
 incantations. What was left of the medicine Man- 
 gombo and I carefully folded in a banana leaf [Was 
 this the * house of the amulet ? ' ^], and we bore it 
 reverently between us to a banana grove close by, and 
 buried the dust out of sight. Mangombo, now my 
 brother, by solemn interchange of blood, — consecrated 
 to my service, as I was devoted in the sacred fetish 
 bond to his service, — revealed his trouble, and im- 
 plored my aid." ^ 
 
 Yet again, Stanley "made friendship" with the 
 Bakuti, at Wangata, "after the customary forms of 
 blood-brotherhood " ; ^ similarly with two chiefs, luka 
 
 1 See page 7 f., supra. * The Congo, II., 21-24. « Ibid., II., 38. 
 
AN AFRICAN HERCULES. 33 
 
 and Mungawa, at Lukolela ; ^ with Miyongo of Usin- 
 di;^ and with the chiefs of Bolombo ;^ of Yambinga,'* 
 of Mokulu/ of Irungu,^ of Upoto/ of Uranga;^ and 
 so all along his course of travel. One of the fullest 
 and most picturesque of his descriptions of this 
 rite, is in connection with its observance with a son 
 of the great chief of the Bangala, at Iboko ; and the 
 main details of that description are worthy of repro- 
 duction here. 
 
 The Bangala, or " the Ashantees of the Livingstone 
 River," as Stanley characterizes them, are a strong 
 and a superior people, and they fought fiercely against 
 Stanley, when he was passing their country in 1877.^ 
 " The senior chief, Mata Bwyki (lord of many guns), 
 was [now, in October, 1883,] an old grey-haired man," 
 says Stanley, " of Herculean stature and breadth of 
 shoulder, with a large square face, and an altogether 
 massive head, out of which his solitary eye seemed to 
 glare with penetrative power. I should judge him to 
 be six feet, two inches, in height. He had a strong, 
 sonorous voice, which, when lifted to speak to his 
 tribe, was heard clearly several hundred yards off 
 He was now probably between seventy-five and eighty 
 
 "^ The Congo,!!., \%. ^ Ibid., 11., 6^. ^ Ibid.,\l.,^^. 
 
 ^Ibid., IL, 109. '^Ibid., II., 118. ^Ibid., II., 132. 
 
 "^Ibid., IL, 171. ^Ibid., IL, 177. 
 
 9 Thro. Dark Cont., IL, 297-302. 
 
34 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 years old. . . . He was not the tallest man, nor 
 the best looking, nor the sweetest-dispositioned man, I 
 had met in all Africa; but if the completeness and 
 perfection of the human figure, combining size with 
 strength, and proportion of body, limbs, and head, 
 with an expression of power in the face, be considered, 
 he must have been at one time the grandest type of 
 physical manhood to be found in Equatorial Africa. 
 As he stood before us on this day, we thought of him 
 as an ancient Milo, an aged Hercules, an old Samson — 
 a really grand looking old man. At his side were seven 
 tall sons, by different mothers, and although they were 
 stalwart men and boys, the whitened crown of Mata 
 Bwyki's head rose by a couple of inches above the 
 highest head." 
 
 Nearly two thousand persons assembled, at Iboko, 
 to witness the " palaver " that must precede a decision 
 to enter into " strong friendship." At the place of 
 meeting, " mats of split rattan were spread in a large 
 semicircle around a row of curved and box stools, for 
 the principal chiefs. In the centre of the line, opposite 
 this, was left a space for myself and people," continues 
 Stanley. "We had first to undergo the process of 
 steady and silent examination from nearly two thous- 
 and pairs of eyes. Then, after Yumbila, the guide, had 
 detailed in his own manner, who we were, and what was 
 our mission up the great river ; how we had built towns 
 
THE SEVERED BRANCH. 35 
 
 at many places, and made blood-brotherhood with the 
 chiefs of great districts, such as Irebu, Ukuti, Usindi, 
 Ngombe, Lukolela, Bolobo, Mswata, and Kintamo, he 
 urged upon them the pleasure it would be to me to 
 make a like compact, sealed with blood, with the great 
 chiefs of populous Iboko. He pictured the benefits 
 likely to accrue to Iboko, and Mata Bwyki in particu- 
 lar, if a bond of brotherhood was made between two 
 chiefs like Mata Bwyki and Tandelay, [Stanley,] or as 
 he was known, Bula Matari." 
 
 There was no prompt response to Stanley's request 
 for strong friendship with the Bangala. There were 
 prejudices to be removed, and old memories to be 
 overborne ; and Yumbila's eloquence and tact were 
 put to their severest test, in the endeavor to bring 
 about a state of feeling that would make the covenant 
 of blood a possibility here. But the triumph was won. 
 "A forked palm branch was brought," says Stanley. 
 " Kokoro, the heir [of Mata Bwyki], came forward, 
 seized it, and kneeled before me ; as, drawing out his 
 short falchion, he cried, * Hold the other branch, Bula 
 Matari !' I obeyed him, and lifting his hand he cleaved 
 the branch in two. * Thus,' he said, * I declare my 
 wish to be your brother.' 
 
 " Then a fetish-man came forward with his lancets, 
 long pod, pinch of salt, and fresh green banana leaf. 
 He held the staff of Kokoro's sword-bladed spear, 
 
36 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 while one of my rifles was brought from the steamer. 
 The shaft of the spear and the stock of the rifle were 
 then scraped on the leaf, a pinch of salt was dropped 
 on the wood, and finally a little dust from the long 
 pod was scraped on the curious mixture. Then, our 
 arms were crossed, — the white arm over the brown 
 arm, — and an incision was made in each ; and over the 
 blood was dropped a few grains of the dusty com- 
 pound ; and the white arm was rubbed over the brown 
 arm [in the intermingling of blood]." 
 
 " Now Mata Bwyki lifted his mighty form, and with 
 his long giant's staff drove back the compressed 
 crowd, clearing a wide circle, and then roaring out in 
 his most magnificent style, leonine in its lung-force, 
 kingly in its effect : * People of Iboko ! You by the 
 river side, and you of inland. Men of the Bangala, 
 listen to the words of Mata Bwyki. You see Tande- 
 lay before you. His other name is Bula Matari. He 
 is the man with the many canoes, and has brought 
 back strange smoke-boats. He has come to see Mata 
 Bwyki. He has asked Mata Bwyki to be his friend. 
 Mata Bwyki has taken him by the hand, and has be- 
 come his blood-brother. Tandelay belongs to Iboko 
 now. He has become this day one of the Bangala. 
 O, Iboko ! listen to the voice of Mata Bwyki.' (I 
 thought they must have been incurably deaf, not to 
 have heard that voice). 'Bula Matari and Mata Bwyki 
 
THE FIFTIETH BROTHER, 37 
 
 are one to-day. We have joined hands. Hurt not 
 Bula Matari's people ; steal not from them ; offend 
 them not. Bring food and sell to him at a fair price, 
 gently, kindly, and in peace ; for he is my brother. 
 Hear you, ye people of Iboko — ^you by the river 
 side, and you of the interior ?' 
 
 " ' We hear, Mata Bwyki I ' shouted the multitude."^ 
 And the ceremony was ended. 
 
 A little later than this, Stanley, or Tandelay, or 
 Bula Matari, as the natives called him, was at Bumba, 
 and there again he exchanged blood in friendship. 
 " Myombi, the chief," he says, " was easily persuaded 
 by Yumbila to make blood-brotherhood with me ; and 
 for the fiftieth time my poor arm was scarified, and 
 my blood shed for the cause of civilization. Probably 
 one thousand people of both sexes looked on the 
 scene, wonderingly and strangely. A young branch 
 of a palm was cut, twisted, and a knot tied at each 
 end ; the knots were dipped in wood ashes, and then 
 seized and held by each of us, while the medicine- 
 man practised his blood-letting art, and lanced us both, 
 until Myombi winced with pain ; after which the 
 knotted branch was severed ; and, in some incompre- 
 hensible manner, I had become united forever to my 
 fiftieth brother ; to whom I was under the obligation 
 of defending [him] against all foes until death." ^ 
 
 » The Congo, II., 79-90. « Ibid., II., 104 f. 
 
 4 
 
38 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 The blood of a fair proportion of all the first fami- 
 lies of Equatorial Africa now courses in Stanley's 
 veins ;. and if ever there was an American citizen who 
 could appropriate to himself preeminently the national 
 motto, "E pluribus unum/' Stanley is the man. 
 
 The root-idea of this rite of blood-friendship seems 
 to include the belief, that the blood is the life of a 
 Hving being ; not merely that the blood is essential to 
 life, but that, in a peculiar sense, it is life ; that it 
 actually vivifies by its presence ; and that by its pass- 
 ing from one organism to another it carries and 
 imparts life. The inter-commingling of the blood of 
 two organisms is, therefore, according to this view, 
 equivalent to the inter-commingling of the lives, of the 
 personalities, of the natures, thus brought together; 
 so that there is, thereby and thenceforward, one life in 
 the two bodies, a common life between the two friends : 
 a thought which Aristotle recognizes in his citation of 
 the ancient " proverb " : " One soul [in two bodies]," ^ 
 a proverb which has not lost its currency in any of the 
 centuries. 
 
 That the blood can retain its vivifying power whether 
 passing into another by way of the lips or by way of the 
 veins, is, on the face of it, no less plausible, than that 
 
 * Aristotle's Ethics^ IX., 8, 3. This is not made as an original state- 
 ment, by Aristotle, but as the citation of one of the well-known 
 *• proverbs " of friendship. 
 
LEGENDS OF THE NORSELAND. 39 
 
 the administering of stimulants, tonics, nutriments, 
 nervines, or anaesthetics, hypodermically, may be 
 equally potent, in certain cases, with the more common 
 and normal method of seeking assimilation by the 
 process of digestion. That the blood of the living has 
 a peculiar vivifying force, in its transference from one 
 organism to another, is one of the clearly proven re-dis- 
 closures of modern medical science ; and this transfer- 
 ence of blood has been made to advantage by way of 
 the veins, of the stomach, of the intestines, of the tissue, 
 and even of the lungs — through dry-spraying.-^ 
 
 4. TRACES OF THE RITE IN EUROPE.^ 
 
 Different methods of observing this primitive rite 
 of blood-covenanting are indicated in the legendary 
 lore of the Norseland peoples ; and these methods, in 
 all their variety, give added proof of the ever under- 
 lying idea of an inter-commingling of lives through 
 an inter-commingling of blood. Odin was the benefi- 
 cent god of light and knowledge, the promoter of 
 heroism, and the protector of sacred covenants, in the 
 mythology of the North. Loke, or Lok, on the other 
 hand, was the discordant and corrupting divinity; 
 
 1 See Nouveau Dictionnaire de Medecine et de Chirurgie Pratiques, 
 (ed. 1884) s. V. " Transfusion." ^ See Appendix, infra. 
 
40 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 symbolizing, in his personality, " sin, shrewdness, 
 deceitfulness, treachery, malice," and other phases of 
 evil.^ In the poetic myths of the Norseland, it is 
 claimed that at the beginning Odin and Loke were in 
 close union instead of being at variance;^ just as the 
 Egyptian cosmogony made Osiris and Set in original 
 accord, although in subsequent hostility;'^ and as the 
 Zoroastrians claimed that Ormuzd and Ahriman were 
 at one, before they were in conflict.* Odin and Loke 
 are, indeed, said to have been, at one time, in the close 
 and sacred union of blood-friendship ; having coven- 
 anted in that union by mingling their blood in a bowl, 
 and drinking therefrom together. 
 
 The Elder Edda,^ or the earliest collection of Scan- 
 dinavian songs, makes reference to this confraternity of 
 Odin and Loke. At a banquet of the gods, Loke, 
 who had not been invited, found an entrance, and 
 there reproached his fellow divinities for their hostility 
 to him. Recalling the indissoluble tie of blood-friend- 
 ship, he said : 
 
 ^ See Carlyle's Heroes and Hero- Worships Lect. I. ; also Anderson's 
 Norse Mythology^ pp . 2 1 5-2 20 ; 3 7 1 -3 74 . 
 
 ' See Anderson's Norse Mythol., pp. 372, 408 f. 
 
 ' See Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians^ III., 142 ; Renouf s The Religion 
 of Ancient Egypt, p. Ii8 f. ; Ebers's Picturesque Egypt, I,, lOO f. 
 
 * See De Wette's Biblische Dogmatik, \ 79. 
 
 6 See Carlyle's Hero Worship,\jtzi. I. 
 
THE BLOOD-BURIAL. 41 
 
 " Father of Slaughter,^ Odin, say, 
 Rememberest not the former day, 
 "When ruddy in the goblet stood, 
 For mutual drink, our blended blood? 
 Rememberest not, thou then didst swear, 
 The festive banquet ne'er to share, 
 Unless thy brother Lok was there?" 
 
 In citing this illustration of the ancient rite, a 
 modern historian of chivalry has said : " Among bar- 
 barous people [the barbarians of Europe] the fraternity 
 of arms [the sacred brotherhood of heroes] was estab- 
 lished by the horrid custom of the new brothers drink- 
 ing each other's blood ; but if this practice was barba- 
 rous, nothing was farther from barbarism than the 
 sentiment which inspired it"^ 
 
 Another of the methods by which the rite of blood- 
 friendship was observed in the Norseland, was by 
 causing the blood of the two covenanting persons to 
 inter-flow from their pierced hands, while they lay 
 together underneath a lifted sod. The idea involved 
 seems to have been, the burial of the two individuals, 
 in their separate personal lives, and the intermingling 
 of those lives — ^by the intermingling of their blood — 
 while in their temporary grave ; in order to their 
 
 * Odin " is the author of war." He is called " Valfather (Father of the 
 slain), because he chooses for his sons all who fall in combat." Ander- 
 son's Norse MythoL, p. 215 f. 
 
 ' Mills's History of Chivalry ^ chap. IV. 
 
42 THE BLOOD COVENANT, 
 
 rising again with a common life^ — one life, one soul, in 
 two bodies. Thus it is told, in one of the Icelandic 
 Sagas, of Thorstein, the heroic son of Viking, proffer- 
 ing " foster-brotherhood," or blood-friendship, to the 
 valiant Angantyr, Jarl of the Orkneys. " Then this 
 was resolved upon, and secured by firm pledges on 
 both sides. They opened a vein in the hollow of their 
 hands, crept beneath the sod, and there [with clasped 
 hands inter-blood-flowing] they solemnly swore that 
 each of them should avenge the other if any one 
 of them should be slain by weapons." This was, in 
 fact, a three-fold covenant of blood ; for King Bele, 
 who had just been in combat with Angantyr, was 
 already in blood-friendship with Thorstein.^ 
 
 The rite of blood-friendship, in one form and another 
 finds frequent mention in the Norseland Sagas. Thus, in 
 the Saga of Fridthjof the Bold, the son of Thorstein : 
 
 " Champions twelve, too, had he — gray -haired, and princes in exploits, — 
 Comrades his father had loved, steel-breasted and scarred o'er the 
 
 forehead. 
 Last on the champions' bench, equal- aged with Fridthjof, a stripling 
 Sat, like a rose among withered leaves; Bjorn called they the hero — 
 Glad as a child, but firm like a man, and yet wise as a graybeard; 
 Up with Fridthjof he'd grown ; they had mingled blood with each other, 
 Foster-brothers in Northman wise; and they swore to continue 
 Steadfast in weal and woe, each other revenging in battle." ' 
 
 1 Rom. 6 : 4-6; Col. 2 : 12 
 'Anderson's Viking Tales of the North, p. 59. ^ Ibid., p. 191 f. 
 
THE RITE IN CHINA. 43 
 
 A vestige of this primitive rite, coming down to us 
 through European channels, is found, as are so many 
 other traces of primitive rites, in the inherited folk-lore 
 of English-speaking children on both sides of the At- 
 lantic. An American clergyman's wife said recently, 
 on this point : " I remember, that while I was a school- 
 girl, it was the custom, when one of our companions 
 pricked her finger, so that the blood came, for one or 
 another of us to say *0h, let me suck the blood; then 
 we shall be friends.' " And that is but an illustration 
 of the outreaching after this indissoluble bond, on the 
 part of thirty generations of children of Norseland and 
 Anglo-Saxon stock, since the days of Fridthjof and 
 Bjorn ; as that same yearning had been felt by those 
 of a hundred generations before that time. 
 
 5. WORLD-WIDE SWEEP OF THE RITE. 
 
 Concerning traces of the rite of blood-covenanting in 
 China, where there are to be found fewest resemblances 
 to the primitive customs of the Asiatic Semites, Dr. 
 Yung Wing, the eminent Chinese educationalist and 
 diplomat, gives me the following illustration : " In the 
 year 1674, when KSnhi was Emperor, of the present 
 dynasty, we find that the Buddhist priests of Shanlin 
 Monastery in Fuhkin Province had rebelled against 
 the authorities on account of persecution. In their 
 encounters with the troops, they fought against great 
 
44 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 odds, and were finally defeated and scattered in differ- 
 ent provinces, where they organized centres of the 
 Triad Society, which claims an antiquity dated as far 
 back as the Freemasons of the West. Five of these 
 priests fled to the province of Hakwong, and there, 
 Chin Kinnan, a member of the Hanlin College, who 
 was degraded from office by his enemies, joined them; 
 and it is said that they drank blood, and took the 
 oath of brotherhood, to stand by each other in life 
 or death." 
 
 Along the southwestern border of the Chinese Em- 
 pire, in Burmah, this rite of blood-friendship is still 
 practiced; as may be seen from illustrations of it, which 
 are given in the Appendix of this work. 
 
 In his History of Madagascar, the Rev. William 
 Ellis, tells of this rite as he observed it in that island, 
 and as he learned of it from Borneo. He says : 
 
 "Another popular engagement in use among the Ma- 
 lagasy is that of forming brotherhoods, which though 
 not peculiar to them, is one of the most remarkable 
 usages of the country. . . . Its object is to cement 
 two individuals in the bonds of most sacred friend- 
 ship. . . . More than two may thus associate, if 
 they please ; but the practice is usually limited to that 
 number, and rarely embraces more than three or four 
 individuals. It is called fatriddy i. e., * dead blood,' 
 either because the oath is taken over the blood of a 
 
THE MOUTH OF THE HEART. 45 
 
 fowl killed for the occasion, or because a small portion 
 of blood is drawn from each individual, when thus 
 pledging friendship, and drunk by those to whom 
 friendship is pledged, with execrations of vengeance 
 on each other in case of violating the sacred oath. 
 To obtain the blood, a slight incision is made in the 
 skin covering the centre of the bosom, significantly 
 called ambavafo^ 'the mouth of the heart.' Allusion 
 is made to this, in the formula of this tragi-comical 
 ceremony. 
 
 " When two or more persons have agreed on form- 
 ing this bond of fraternity, a suitable place and hour 
 are determined upon, and some gunpowder and a ball 
 are brought, together with a small quantity of ginger, 
 a spear, and two particular kinds of grass. A fowl also 
 is procured ; its head is nearly cut off; and it is left in 
 this state to continue bleeding during the ceremony.^. 
 
 " The parties then pronounce a long form of im- 
 precation, and [a] mutual vow, to this effect : — ' Should 
 either of us prove disloyal to the sovereign, or un- 
 faithful to each other,^ then perish the day, and perish 
 
 ^ Apparently these articles form a " heap of witness," or are the aggre- 
 gated symbolic witnesses of the transaction ; as something answering to 
 this usage is found in connection with the rite in various parts of the 
 world. 
 
 ' He who would be true in friendship must be true in all things. The 
 good friend is a good citizen. See i Peter 2: 17. 
 
46 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 the night.^ Awful is that, solemn is that, which we are 
 now both about to perform ! O the mouth of the heart ! 
 — this is to be cut, and we shall drink each other's 
 blood. O this ball ! O this powder ! O this ginger ! 
 O this fowl weltering in its blood ! — it shall be killed, 
 it shall be put to excruciating agonies, — it shall be 
 killed by us, it shall be speared at this corner of the 
 hearth (Alakaforo or Adimizam, S. W.) And who- 
 ever would seek to kill or injure us, to injure our 
 wives, or our children, to waste our money or our 
 property ; or if either of us should seek to do what 
 would not be approved of by the king or by the 
 people ; should one of us deceive the other by making 
 that which is unjust appear just; should one accuse 
 the other falsely ; should either of us with our wives 
 and children be lost and reduced to slavery, (forbid 
 that such should be our lot !) — then, that good may 
 arise out of evil, we follow this custom of the people ; 
 and we do it for the purpose of assisting one another 
 with our families, if lost in slavery, by whatever prop- 
 erty either of us may possess; for our wives are as one 
 to us, and each other's children as his own,^ and our 
 riches as common property. O the mouth of the heart! 
 O the ball ! O the powder ! O the ginger ! O this 
 miserable fowl weltering in its blood ! — thy liver do we 
 
 1 See Job 3 : 2-9. 
 ' Here is the idea of an absolute inter-merging of natures, by this rite. 
 
OBJECTS OF DESIRE. 47 
 
 eat, thy liver do we eat. And should either of us 
 retract from the terms of this oath, let him instantly- 
 become a fool, let him instantly become blind, let this 
 covenant prove a curse to him: let him not be a 
 human being : let there be no heir to inherit after him, 
 but let him be reduced, and float with the water never to 
 see its source ; let him never obtain ; what is out of 
 doors, may it never enter ; and what is within may it 
 never go out ; the little obtained, may he be deprived 
 of it;^ and let him never obtain justice from the sove- 
 reign nor from the people ! But if we keep and observe 
 this covenant, let these things bear witness.^ O mouth 
 of the heart ! (repeating as before), — may this cause us 
 to live long and happy with our wives and our chil- 
 dren ; may we be approved by the sovereign, and 
 beloved by the people ; may we get money, may we 
 obtain property, cattle, &c. ; may we marry wives, 
 {vady kely) ; may we have good robes, and wear a 
 good piece of cloth on our bodies ;^ since, amidst our 
 toils and labor, these are the things we seek after.* 
 And this we do that we may with all fidelity assist 
 each other to the last.' 
 
 *SeeMatt. 13: 12; 25: 29. 
 ' Here is an indication of the witness-bearing nature of these acces- 
 sories of the rite. 
 
 ^ Compare these blessings and cursings with those under the Mosaic 
 laws : Deut. 27 : 9-26 ; 28 : 1-68. 
 
 *See Matt. 6: 31, 32. 
 
48 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 " The incision is then made, as already mentioned ; 
 a small quantity of blood [is] extracted and drank by 
 the covenanting parties respectively, [they] saying as 
 they take it, * These are our last words. We will 
 /be like rice and water ;^ in town they do not separate, 
 ' and in the fields they do not forsake one another ; we 
 will be as the right and left hand of the body ; if one 
 be injured, the other necessarily sympathizes and 
 suffers with it." ^ 
 
 Speaking of the terms and the influence of this cove- 
 nant, in Madagascar, Mr. Ellis says, that while absolute 
 community of all worldly possessions is not a literal 
 fact on the part of these blood-friends, " the engage- 
 ment involves a sort of moral obligation for one to 
 assist the other in every extremity." " However devoid 
 of meaning," he adds, " some part of the ceremony of 
 forming [this] brotherhood may appear, and whatever 
 indications of barbarity of feeling may appear in others, 
 it is less exceptionable than many [of the rites] that 
 prevail among the people. ... So far as those 
 who have resided in the country have observed its 
 effects, they appear almost invariably to have been safe 
 
 1 " This is a natural, simple, and beautiful allusion in common use 
 among the Malagasy, to denote an inseparable association. The rice is 
 planted in water, grows in water, is boiled in water, and water is the 
 universal beverage taken with it when eaten." 
 
 ' Ellis's Hist, of Madagascar t I., 187-190. 
 
BORNEO BLOOD-BROTHERHOOD. 49 
 
 to the community, and beneficial to the individuals by 
 whom the compact was formed." 
 
 Yet again, this covenant of blood-friendship is found 
 in different parts of Borneo. In the days of Mr. Ellis, 
 the Rev. W. Medhurst, a missionary of the London 
 Missionary Society, in Java, described it, in reporting 
 a visit made to the Dayaks of Borneo, by one of his 
 assistants together with a missionary of the Rhenish 
 Missionary Society.^ 
 
 Telling of the kindly greeting given to these visitors 
 at a place called Golong, he says that the natives 
 wished "to establish a fraternal agreement with the 
 missionaries, on condition that the latter should teach 
 them the ways of God. The travelers replied, that if 
 the Dayaks became the disciples of Christ, they would 
 be constituted the brethren of Christ without any 
 formal compact. The Dayaks, however, insisted that 
 the travelers should enter into a compact [with them], 
 according to the custom of the country, by means of 
 blood. The missionaries were startled at this, think- 
 ing that the Dayaks meant to murder them, and com- 
 mitted themselves to their Heavenly Father, praying 
 that, whether living or dying, they might lie at the 
 feet of their Saviour. It appears, however, that it is 
 the custom of the Dayaks, when they enter into a 
 covenant, to draw a little blood from the arms of the 
 
 1 Cited in Ellis's Hist, of Mad., I., I9I, note. 
 5 
 
50 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 covenanting parties, and, having mixed it with water, 
 each to drink, in this way, the blood of the other. 
 
 " Mr. Barenstein [one of the missionaries] having 
 consented [for both] to the ceremony, they all took off 
 their coats, and two officers came forward with small 
 knives, to take a little blood out of the arm of each 
 of them [the two missionaries and two Dayak chiefs]. 
 This being mixed together in four glasses of water, 
 they drank, severally, each from the glass of the other ; 
 after which they joined hands and kissed. The peo- 
 ple then came forward, and made obeisance to the 
 missionaries, as the friends of the Dayak King, crying 
 out with loud voices, ' Let us be friends and brethren 
 forever ; and may God help the Dayaks to obtain the 
 knowledge of God from the missionaries ! ' The two 
 chiefs then said, * Brethren, be not afraid to dwell with 
 us ; for we will do you no harm ; and if others wish 
 to hurt you, we will defend you with our life's blood, 
 and die ourselves ere you be slain. God be witness, 
 and this whole assembly be witness, that this is true.' 
 Whereupon the whole company shouted, Balaak ! or 
 ' Good,' ' Be it so.' " 
 
 Yet another method of observing this rite, is re- 
 ported from among the Kayans of Borneo ; quite a 
 different people from the Dayaks. Its description is 
 from the narrative of Mr. Spenser St. John, as follows : 
 .>* Sifigauding [a Kayan chief] sent on board to request 
 
THE CIGARETTE OF PEACE. 5 1 
 
 me to become his brother, by going through the 
 sacred custom of imbibing each other's blood. I say 
 imbibing, because it is either mixed with water and 
 drunk, or else is placed within a native cigar, and 
 drawn in with the smoke. I agreed to do so, and the 
 following day was fixed for the ceremony. It is called 
 Berbiang by the Kayans ; Bersabibah, by the Borneans 
 [the Dayaks]. I landed with our party of Malays, and 
 after a preliminary talk, to allow the population to 
 assemble, the affair commenced. . . . Stripping 
 my left arm, Kum Lia took a small piece of wood, 
 shaped like a knife -blade, and, slightly piercing the 
 skin, brought blood to the surface ; this he carefully 
 scraped off. Then one of my Malays drew blood in 
 the same way from Sifigauding ; and, a small cigarette 
 being produced, the blood on the wooden blade was 
 spread on the tobacco. A chief then arose, and, walk- 
 ing to an open place, looked forth upon the river, and 
 invoked their god and all the spirits of good and evil to 
 be witness of this tie of brotherhood. The cigarette 
 [blood-stained] was then lighted, and each of us took 
 several puffs [receiving each other's blood by inhalation], 
 and the ceremony was over." ^ This is a new method of 
 smoking the " pipe of peace " — or, the cigarette of inter- 
 union ! Borneo, indeed, furnishes many illustrations 
 of primitive customs, both social and religious. ^ 
 
 1 St. John's Life in the Forests of the Far East, I., I16 f. 
 
52 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 One of the latest and most venturesome explorers 
 of North Borneo was the gallant and lamented Frank 
 Hatton, a son of the widely known international jour- 
 nalist, Joseph Hatton. In a sketch of his son's life- 
 work, the father says^: " His was the first white foot 
 in many of the hitherto unknown villages of Borneo ; 
 in him many of the wild tribes saw the first white man. 
 . . . Speaking the language of the natives, and possess- 
 ing that special faculty of kindly firmness so necessary 
 to the efficient control of uncivilized peoples, he jour- 
 neyed through the strange land not only unmolested, 
 but frequently carrying away tokens of native affec- 
 tion. Several powerful chiefs made him their * blood- 
 brother'; and here and there the tribes prayed to him 
 as if he were a god." It would seem from the descrip- 
 tion of Mr. Hatton, that, in some instances, in Borneo, 
 the blood-covenanting is by the substitute blood of a 
 fowl held by the two parties to the covenant, while its 
 head is cut off by a third person ; without any drink- 
 ing of each other's blood by those who enter into the 
 covenant. Yet however this may be, the other method 
 still prevails there. 
 
 Another recent traveler in the Malay Archipelago, 
 who, also, is a trained and careful observer, tells of this 
 rite, as he found it in Timor, and other islands of that 
 region, among a people who represent the Malays, 
 
 iln "The Century Magazine " for July, 1885, p. 437. 
 
THE TREE OF THE COVENANT. 53 
 
 the Papuan, and the Polynesian races. His descrip- 
 tion is : " The ceremony of blood-brotherhood, . . . 
 or the swearing of eternal friendship, is of an interest- 
 ing nature, and is celebrated often by fearful orgies 
 [excesses of the communion idea], especially when 
 friendship is being made between families, or tribes, or 
 kingdoms. The ceremony is the same in substance 
 whether between two individuals, or [between] large 
 companies. The contracting parties slash their arms, 
 and collect the blood into a bamboo, into which kanipa 
 (coarse gin) or laru (palm wine) is poured. Having 
 provided themselves with a small fig-tree (halik) they 
 adjourn to some retired spot, taking with them the 
 sword and spear from the Luli chamber [the sacred 
 room] of* their own houses if between private individ- 
 uals, or from the Uma-Luli of their suku [the sacred 
 building of their village] if between large companies. 
 Planting there the fig-tree, flanked by the sacred sword 
 and spear, they hang on it a bamboo-receptacle, into 
 which — after pledging each other in a portion of the 
 mixed blood and gin — the remainder [of that mixture] 
 is poured. Then each swears, ' If I be false, and be not 
 a true friend, may my blood issue from my mouth, ears, 
 nose, as it does from this bamboo ! ' — the bottom of the 
 receptacle being pricked at the same moment, to allow 
 the blood and gin to escape. The [blood-stained] tree 
 remains and grows as a witness of their contract." 
 
 5* 
 
54 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 Of the close and binding nature of this blood-com- 
 pact, among the Timorese, the observer goes on to say : 
 /*f It is one of their most sacred oaths, and [is] almost 
 never, I am told, violated ; at least between individuals." 
 As to its limitless force and scope, he adds : " One 
 brother [one of these brother-friends in the covenant 
 of blood] coming to another brother's house, is in 
 every respect regarded as free [to do as he pleases], 
 and [is] as much at home as its owner. Nothing is 
 withheld from him ; even his friend's wife is not denied 
 him, and a child born of such a union would be recog- 
 nized by the husband as his ; [for are not — as they 
 reason — ^these brother-friends of one blood — of one and 
 N^ the same life ?] " ^ 
 
 The covenant of blood-friendship has been noted 
 also among the native races of both North and South 
 America. A writer of three centuries ago, told of it 
 as among the aborigines of Yucatan. " When the In- 
 dians of Pontonchan," he said, "receive new friends 
 [covenant in a new friendship]. . . as a proof of 
 [their] friendship, they [mutually, each], in the sight of 
 the friend, draw some blood . . . from the tongue, 
 hand, or arm, or from some other part [of the body] ."^ 
 
 ^ Forbes's A Naturalisf s Wanderings in the Eastern Archipelago^ 
 p. 452. 
 
 ' Peter Martyr's De Rebus Oceanicis et Novo Orbe, p. t,t,'& ; cited in 
 Spencer's Des. Soc. II., 34. 
 
AMERICAN BRO THERHOOD. 5 5 
 
 And this ceremony is said to have formed " a compact 
 forHfe/'i 
 
 In Brazil, the Indians were said to have a rite of 
 brotherhood so close and sacred that, as in the case of 
 the Bed'ween beyond the Jordan,^ its covenanting par- 
 ties were counted as of one blood ; so that marriage 
 between those thus linked would be deemed incestu- 
 ous. " There was a word in their language to express 
 a friend who was loved like a brother ; it is written 
 Atourrassap [* erroneously, beyond a doubt,' adds 
 Southey, ' because their speech is without the r '] . 
 They who called each other by this name, had all 
 things in common ; the tie was held to be as sacred as 
 that of consanguinity, and one could not marry the 
 daughter or sister of the other." ^ 
 
 A similar tie of adopted brotherhood, or of close 
 and sacred friendship, is recognized among the North 
 American Indians. Writing of the Dakotas, or the 
 Sioux, Dr. Riggs, the veteran missionary and scholar, 
 says : " Where one Dakota takes another as his koda^ 
 i. e., god, or friend, [Think of that, for sacredness of 
 union — ' god, or friend ' !] they become brothers in each 
 other's families, and are, as such, of course unable to 
 intermarry.'"* And Burton, the famous traveler, who 
 
 iSee Bancroft's Native Races of the Pacific Coast, I., 741. 
 
 ^ See page 10, supra. ^ Southey's Brazil, I., 2^0. 
 
 * Lynd's History of the DakotciSp p. 73, not?. 
 
56 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 made this same tribe a study, says of the Dakotas : 
 " They are fond of adoption, and of making brother- 
 hoods Hke the Africans [Burton is familiar with the 
 customs of African tribes] ; and so strong is the tie 
 that marriage with the sister of an adopted brother is 
 within the prohibited degree." ^ 
 
 Among the people of the Society Islands, and per- 
 haps also among those of other South Sea Islands, 
 the term tayo is applied to an attached personal 
 friend, in a peculiar relation of intimacy. The formal 
 ceremony of brotherhood, whereby one becomes the 
 tayo of another, in these islands, I have not found 
 described ; but the closeness and sacredness of the 
 relation, as it is held by many of the natives, would 
 seem to indicate the inter-mingling of blood in the 
 covenanting, now or in former times. The early 
 missionaries to those islands, speaking of the prevalent 
 unchastity there, make this exception : " If a person is 
 a tayo of the husband, he must indulge in no liberties 
 with the sisters or the daughters, because they are 
 considered as his own sisters or daughters ; and incest 
 is held in abhorrence by them; nor will any tempta- 
 tions engage them to violate this bond of purity. The 
 wife, however, is excepted, and C9nsidered as common 
 property for the tayo.^ Lieutenant Corner [a still 
 earlier voyager] also added, that a tayoship formed 
 
 * Burton's City of the Saints y p. 117. * See page 54, supra. 
 
ALL THE WORLD AKIN. 57 
 
 between different sexes put the most solemn barrier 
 against all personal liberties." ^ Here is evidenced that 
 same view of the absolute oneness of nature through 
 a oneness of blood, which shows itself among the 
 Semites of Syria,^ among the Malays of Timor/ and 
 among the Indians of America.'' 
 
 And so this close and sacred covenant relation, this^ 
 rite of blood-friendship, this inter-oneness of life by an 
 inter-oneness of blood, shows itself in the primitive 
 East, and in the wild and pre-historic West; in the 
 frozen North, as in the torrid South. Its traces are 
 everywhere. It is of old, and it is of to-day ; as uni- 
 versal and as full of meaning as life itself. 
 
 It will be observed that we have already noted 
 proofs of the independent existence of this rite of 
 blood-brotherhood, or blood-friendship, among the | 
 three great primitive divisions of the race — the Semit- 
 ic, the Hamitic, and the Japhetic; and this in Asia, / 
 Africa, Europe, America, and the Islands of the Sea ; 
 again, among the five modern and more popular divis- 
 ions of the human family: Caucasian, Mongolian, | 
 Ethiopian, Malay, and American. This fact in itself 
 would seem to point to a common origin of its various 
 manifestations, in the early Oriental home of the liow 1 
 scattered peoples of the world. Many references to ^ 
 
 ^ Miss. Vogage to So. Pacif. Ocean, p. 360 f. 
 * See page 10, j?//r«. ^ See page 54, w^/ra. ^See page 55 f., j^/ra. 
 
58 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 this rite, in the pages of classic literature, seem to 
 have the same indicative bearing, as to its nature and 
 primitive source. 
 
 6. LIGHT FROM THE CLASSICS. 
 
 Lucian, the bright Greek thinker, who was born and 
 trained in the East, writing in the middle of the second 
 century of our era, is explicit as to the nature and 
 method of this covenant as then practised in the East 
 In his " Toxaris or Friendship," ^ Mnesippus the Greek, 
 and Toxaris the Scythian, are discussing friendship. 
 Toxaris declares : " It can easily be shown that Scy- 
 thian friends are much more faithful than Greek 
 friends ; and that friendship is esteemed more highly 
 among us than among you." Then Toxaris goes on 
 to say^ : " But first I wish to tell you in what manner 
 we [in Scythia] make friends ; not in our drinking 
 bouts as you do, nor simply because a man is of the 
 same age [as ourselves], or because he is our neigh- 
 bor. But, on the contrary, when we see a good man, 
 and one capable of great deeds, to him we all hasten, 
 and (as you do in the case of marrying, so we think it 
 right to do in the case of our friends) we court him, 
 and we [who would be friends] do all things together, 
 so that we may not offend against friendship, or seem 
 
 ^Opera^ p. 545. ^ Toxaris ^ chap. 37. 
 
THE LEAGUE OF THE THUMB. 59 
 
 worthy to be rejected. And whenever one decides to 
 be a friend, we [who would join in the covenant] make 
 the greatest of all oaths, to live with one another, and 
 to die, if need be, the one for the other. And this is 
 the manner of it : Thereupon, cutting our fingers, all 
 simultaneously, we let the blood drop into a vessel, 
 and having dipped the points of our swords into it, 
 both [of us] holding them together,^ we drink it. 
 There is nothing which can loose us from one another 
 after that" 
 
 Yet a little earlier than Lucian, Tacitus, foremost 
 among Latin historians, gives record of this rite of 
 blood-brotherhood as practised in the East. He is tell- 
 ing, in his Annals, of Rhadamistus, leader of the Iber- 
 ians, who pretends to seek a covenant with Mithradates, 
 King of the Armenians (yet farther east than Scythia), 
 which should make firm the peace between the two 
 nations, '' diis testibus',' "the gods being witnesses." 
 Here Tacitus makes an explanation:^ " It is the custom 
 of [Oriental] kings, as often as they come together to 
 make covenant, to join right hands, to tie the thumbs 
 together, and to tighten them with a knot. Then, 
 when the blood is [thus] pressed to the finger tips, 
 they draw blood by a light stroke, and lick^ it in turn. 
 
 ^ See references to arms as accessories to the rite, in Africa, and in 
 Madagascar, and in Timor, at pages 16, 32, 35 f., 45 f, 53, supra. 
 ^ Annales, XII., 47. ^See page 11, supra. 
 
6o THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 This they regard as a divine ^ covenant, made sacred 
 as it were, by mutual blood [or blended lives] ." 
 
 There are several references, by classical writers, to 
 this blood-friendship, or to this blood-covenanting, in 
 connection with Catiline's conspiracy against the Ro- 
 man Republic. Sallust, the historian of that conspir- 
 acy, says : " There were those at that time who said 
 that Catiline, at this conference [with his accomplices] 
 when he inducted them into the oath of partnership in 
 crime, carried round in goblets human blood, mixed 
 with wine ; and that after all had tasted of it, with an 
 imprecatory oath, as is men's wont in solemn rites [in 
 " Sharb el 'Ahd" ^ as the Arabs would say] he opened 
 to them his plans ."^ Florus, a later Latin historian, 
 describing this conspiracy, says : " There was added 
 the pledge of the league, — human blood, — which 
 they drank as it was borne round to them in gob- 
 lets." * And yet later, TertuUian suggests that it was 
 their own blood, mingled with wine, of which the 
 fellow-conspirators drank together. " Concerning the 
 eating of blood and other such tragic dishes," he 
 says, "you read (I do not know where), that blood 
 drawn from the arms, and tasted by one another, 
 
 * Arcanum ; literally " mysterious," — not in the sense of secret, or 
 occult, but with reference to its sacred and supernatural origin and 
 sanction. 
 
 *See p. 9, supra. ^Catilinay cap. XXII. ^ Historic, IV., i, 4. 
 
THE COVENANT OF CATILINE. 6 1 
 
 was the method of making covenant among certain 
 nations. I know not but that under Catiline such 
 blood was tasted."^ 
 
 In the Pitti Palace, in Florence, there is a famous 
 painting of the conspiracy of Catiline, by Salvator 
 Rosa; it is, indeed, Salvator Rosa's masterpiece, in the 
 line of historical painting. This painting represents 
 the covenanting by blood. Two conspirators stand 
 face to face, their right hands clasped above a votive 
 altar. The bared right arm of each is incised, a little 
 below the elbow. The blood is streaming from the 
 arm of one, into a cup which he holds, with his left 
 hand, to receive it ; while the dripping arm of the 
 other conspirator shows that his blood has already 
 flowed into the commingling cup.^ The uplifted hand 
 of the daysman between the conspirators seems to in- 
 dicate the imprecatory vows which the two are assum- 
 ing, in the presence of the gods, and of the witnesses 
 who stand about the altar. This is a clear indication 
 of the traditional form of covenanting between Cati- 
 line and his fellow conspirators. 
 
 As far back, even, as the fifth century before Christ, 
 we find an explicit description of this Oriental rite of 
 blood-covenanting, in the writings of " the Father of 
 History." " Now the Scythians," says Herodotus,^ 
 " make covenants in the following manner, with whom- 
 
 '^Apologei.y cap. IX. ^ gee stamp on outside cover. ^ Hist.y IV., 70. 
 
 6 
 
62 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 soever they make them. Having poured out wine into 
 a great earthen drinking-bowl, they mingle with it the 
 blood of those cutting covenant, striking the body [of 
 each person having a part in it] with a small knife, or 
 cutting it slightly with a sword. Thereafter, they dip 
 into the bowl, sword, arrows, axe, and javelin.^ But 
 while they are doing this, they utter many invokings 
 [of curse upon a breach of this covenant] ;^ and, after- 
 wards, not only those who make the covenant, but 
 those of their followers who are of the highest rank, 
 drink off [the wine mingled with blood] ." 
 
 Again Herodotus says of this custom, in his day^: 
 " Now the Arabians reverence in a very high degree 
 pledges between man and man. They make these 
 pledges in the following way. When they wish to 
 make pledges to one another, a third man, standing in 
 the midst of the two, cuts with a sharp stone the inside 
 of the hands along the thumbs of the two making 
 the pledges. After that, plucking some woolen floss 
 from the garments of each of the two, he anoints with 
 the blood seven stones [as the " heap of witness " "*] 
 which are set in the midst. While he is doing this he 
 
 * See note, at page 59, supra. 
 
 ^ See the references to imprecatory invokings, in connection with the 
 observance of the rite in Syria, in Central Africa, in Madagascar, and in 
 Timor, at pages 9, 20, 31, 46 f., 53, supra, 
 
 ^ Hist., III., 8. *See page 45 supra, note. 
 
THE DRINK OF THE COVENANT. 6^^ 
 
 invokes Dionysus and Urania. When this rite is com- 
 pleted, he that has made the pledges [to one from 
 without] introduces the [former] stranger to his 
 friends ^ — or the fellow citizen [to his fellows] if the 
 rite was performed with a fellow-citizen." 
 
 Thus it is clear, that the rite of blood-brotherhood, 
 or of blood-friendship, which is to-day a revered form 
 of sacred covenanting in the unchangeable East, was 
 recognized as an established custom among Oriental 
 peoples twenty-three centuries ago. Its beginning 
 must certainly have been prior to that time ; if not 
 indeed long prior. 
 
 An indication of the extreme antiquity of this rite 
 would seem to be shown in a term employed in its 
 designation by the Romans, early in our Christian era ; 
 when both the meaning and the origin of the term 
 itself were already lost in the dim past. Festus,^ a 
 writer, of fifteen centuries or more ago, concerning 
 Latin antiquities, is reported^ as saying, of this drink 
 of the covenant of blood : ''A certain kind of drink, 
 of mingled wine and blood, was called assiratum by 
 
 ^ See references to the welcoming of new friends by the natives of Af- 
 rica and of Borneo, at the celebration of this rite, at pages 36 f., 51, supra. 
 
 ^ Sextus Pompeius Festus, whose chief work, in the third or fourth 
 Christian century, was an epitome, with added notes and criticisms, of 
 an unpreserved work of M. Verrius Flaccus, on the Latin language and 
 antiquities. 
 
 'See Rosenmuller's Scholia in Vet. Test.^ apud Psa. 16: 4. 
 
64 > THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 the ancients; for the ancient Latins called blood, 
 assirr Our modern lexicons give this isolated claim, 
 made by Festus, of the existence of any such word as 
 " assir " signifying " blood," in " the ancient Latin lan- 
 guage;"^ and some of them try to show the possibili- 
 ties of its origin ;^but no convincing proof of any such 
 word and meaning in the Latin can be found. 
 
 Turning, however, to the languages of the East, 
 where the binding vow of blood-friendship was pledged 
 in the drink of wine and blood, or of blood alone, 
 from time immemorial, we have no difficulty in find- 
 ing the meaning of " assir." Asar ("ion) is a common 
 Hebrew word, signifying "to bind together" — as in 
 a mutual covenant. Issar ("^D^), again, is a vow of 
 self-renunciation. Thus we have Asar issar 'al nephesh 
 {^^}, Sj; nDK np«) " To bind a self-devoting vow upon 
 one's life"^ — upon one's blood; "for the blood is 
 the life." ^ In the Arabic, also, asara ( r*^\ ) means 
 " to bind," or " to tie " ; while asar ( r**"^ ) is " a cove- 
 nant," or "a compact"; and aswdr ( ^y^\ ) is " a 
 bracelet" ; which in itself is "a band," and may be "a 
 fetter."^ So, again, in the Assyrian, esiru (-«iS) is 
 in its root form " to bind " ; and as a substantive it 
 
 * See Scheller's, and Harpers', Latin Dictionary, s. v. "Assiratum." 
 
 ^See Curtius's Griechische Etymologie, s. v., lap (ear). 
 
 *See Gesenius, and Fuerst, s. w. *Deut. 12 : 23. 
 
 * See Lane, and Freytag. s, w. 
 
THE BRACELET-BOND. 65 
 
 is "a bracelet," or "a fetter."^ The Syriac gives esar 
 ( Y^'\ )' "^ bond," or "a belt"^ All these, with the 
 root idea, " to bind " — as a covenant binds. In the light 
 of these disclosures, it is easy to see how the " issar" or 
 the " assar," when it was a covenant of blood, came to 
 be counted by the Latins the blood which was a cove- 
 nant. 
 
 7. THE BOND OF THE COVENANT. 
 
 Just here it may be well to emphasize the fact, that, 
 from time immemorial, and the world over, the armlet, 
 the bracelet, and the ring, have been counted the sym- 
 bols of a boundless bond between giver and receiver ; 
 the tokens of a mutual, unending covenant. Possibly, 
 — ^probably, as I think, — this is in consequence of the 
 primitive custom of binding, as an amulet, the enclosed 
 record — enclosed in the " house of the amulet " ^ — of 
 the covenant of blood on the arm of either participant 
 in that rite ; possibly, again, it is an outgrowth of the 
 common root idea of a covenant and a bracelet, as a 
 binding agency. 
 
 Blood-covenanting and bracelet-binding seem — as 
 already shown — to be intertwined in the languages of 
 the Oriental progenitors of the race. There are, like- 
 wise, indications of this intertwining in the customs of 
 
 1 See Delitzsch's Assyrische Lesestiicke, The Syllabary, p. 20 ; and 
 Sayce's Assyrian Grammar^ The Syllabary. 
 
 2 See Castellus's Lexicon Syriacum, s. v. ' See page 7, supra, 
 
 6* 
 
66 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 peoples, East and West. For example, in India, where 
 blood-shedding is peculiarly objectionable, the gift and 
 acceptance of a bracelet is an ancient covenant-tie, 
 seemingly akin to blood-brotherhood. Of this cus- 
 tom, an Indian authority says : "Amongst the raj put 
 races of India the women adopt a brother by the 
 gift of a bracelet. The intrinsic value of such pledges 
 is never looked to, nor is it necessary that it should 
 be costly, though it varies with the means and rank 
 of the donor, and may be of flock silk and span- 
 gles, or of gold chains and gems. The acceptance of 
 the pledge is by the * katchlV, or corset, of simple silk 
 or satin, or gold brocade and pearls. Colonel Tod 
 was the Rakhi-bund Bhai [the Bracelet-bound Bro- 
 ther] of the three queens of Oodipur, Bundi, and Kotch ; 
 as also of Chund-Bai, the maiden sister of the Rana, 
 and of many ladies of the chieftains of rank. Though 
 the bracelet may be sent by maidens, it is only on oc- 
 casions of urgent necessity and danger. The adopted 
 brother may hazard his life in his adopted sister's cause, 
 and yet never receive a mite in reward ; for he cannot 
 even see the fair object; who, as brother of her adop- 
 tion, has constituted him her defender."^ 
 
 "The . . . * Bracelet-bound Brother,' feels himself 
 called upon to espouse the cause of the lady from 
 
 * Cited from " Tod's Travels, Journal Indian Archipelago, Vol. V., 
 No. 12," in Balfour's Cycl. of India, s. v., "Brother." 
 
THE RING-OATH. 67 
 
 whom he has received the gift, and to defend her 
 against all her enemies, whenever she shall demand 
 his assistance." Thus, the Great Mogul, Hoomayoon, 
 father of the yet more celebrated Akbar, was in his 
 early life bound, and afterwards loyally recognized his 
 binding, as " the sworn knight of one of the princesses 
 of Rajasthan, who, according to the custom of her 
 country, secured the sword of the prince in her service 
 by the gift of a bracelet." When he had a throne of 
 his own to care for, this princess, Kurnivati, being be- 
 sieged at Cheetore, sent to Hoomayoon, then prosecu- 
 ting a vigorous campaign in Bengal ; and he, as in duty 
 bound, " instantly obeyed the summons " ; and 
 although he was not in season to rescue her, he 
 "evinced his fidelity by avenging the fall of the city."^ 
 It is noteworthy, just here, that the Oriental biogra- 
 pher of the Mogul Akbar calls attention to the fact, 
 that while the Persians describe close friendship as 
 chiefly subsisting between men, " in Hindostan it is 
 celebrated between man and woman ";^ as indeed, it 
 is among the Arab tribes East of the Jordan.^ 
 
 In the Norseland, an oath of fidelity was taken on a 
 ring, or a bracelet, kept in the temple of the gods ; 
 and the gift and acceptance of a bracelet, or a ring, 
 
 1 See Elliott and Roberts's Views in India, II., 64. 
 
 " Ayeen Akbery, II., 453. 
 
 * See citation from Wetzstein, at page 9 f., supra. 
 
68 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 was a common symbol of a covenant of fidelity. Thus, 
 in " Havamal," the high song of Odin, we find : 
 
 " Odin, I believe, 
 A ring-oath gave. 
 Who, in his faith will trust?" 
 
 And in " Viga Glum's Saga," it is related : " In the 
 midst of a wedding party. Glum calls upon Thorarin, 
 his accuser, to hear his oath, and taking in his hand a 
 silver ring which had been dipped in sacrificial blood, 
 he cites two witnesses to testify to his oath on the ring, 
 and to his having appealed to the gods in his denial 
 of the charge made against him." In the " Saga of 
 Fridthjof the Bold," when Fridthjof is bidding fare- 
 well to his beloved Ingeborg, he covenants fidelity to 
 her by the gift of 
 
 "An arm-ringy all over famous; 
 Forged by the halting Volund, 'twas, — ^the old North-story's Vul- 
 can . . . 
 Heaven was grav'd thereupon, with the twelve immortals' strong castles — 
 Signs of the changing months, but the skald had Sun-houses named 
 them." 
 
 As Fridthjof gave this pledge to Ingeborg, he said : 
 
 " Forget me never ; and. 
 In sweet remembrance of our youthful love, 
 This arm-ring take ; a fair Volunder-work, 
 With all heaven's wonders carved i' th' shining gold. 
 Ah ! the best wonder is a faithful heart . , . 
 How prettily becomes it thy white arm — 
 A glow-worm twining round a lily stem.'* 
 
BOND OF THE WEDDING-RING. 69 
 
 And the subsequent story of that covenanting arm- 
 ring, fills thrilling pages in Norseland lore.^ 
 
 Yet again, in the German cycle of the " Nibelungen 
 Lied," Gotelind, the wife of Sir Rudeger, gives brace- 
 lets to the warrior-bard Folker, to bind him as her 
 knightly champion in the court of King Etzel, to 
 which he goes. Her jewel casket is brought to her. 
 " From this she took twelve bracelets, and drew them o'er his hand ; 
 * These you must take, and with you bear hence to Etzel's land, 
 And for the sake of Gotelind the same at court must wear, 
 That I may learn, when hither again you all repair, 
 What service you have done me in yon assembly bright.' 
 The lady's wish thereafter full well perform'd the knight." 
 
 And when the fight waxed sore at the court of Etzel, 
 the daring and dying Folker called on Sir Rudeger, to 
 bear witness to his bracelet-bound fidelity : 
 
 " For me, most noble margrave ! you must a message bear ; 
 These bracelets red were given me late by your lady fair, 
 To wear at this high festal before the royal Hun, 
 View them thyself, and tell her that I've her bidding done." "^ 
 
 It would, indeed, seem, that from this root -idea of 
 the binding force of an endless covenant, symbolized 
 in the form, and in the primitive name, of the bracelet, 
 the armlet, the ring, — there has come down to us the 
 use of the wedding-ring, or the wedding-bracelet, and 
 
 ^See Anderson's Norse MythoL, p. 149; his Viking Tales ^ pp. 1 84, 
 237, 272 f.; Wood's Wedding Day in all Ages and Countries, p. 1 39. 
 ^Lettsom's Nibelungen Lied, pp. 299, 388. 
 
70 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 of the signet-ring as the seal of the most sacred cove- 
 nants. The signet-ring appears in earliest history. 
 When Pharaoh would exalt Joseph over all the land 
 of Egypt, " Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, 
 and put it upon Joseph's hand."^ Similarly with 
 Ahasuerus and Haman : " The king took his ring from 
 his hand, and gave it unto Haman ; " and the irrevoca- 
 ble decrees when written were " sealed with the king's 
 ring." When again Haman was deposed and Morde- 
 cai was exalted, " the king took off his ring, which he 
 had taken from Haman, and gave it unto Mordecai."^ 
 The re-instatement of the prodigal son, in the parable, 
 was by putting " a ring on his hand." ^ And these 
 illustrations out of ancient Egypt, Persia, and Syria, 
 indicate a world-wide custom, so far. One's signet- 
 ring stood for his very self, and represented, thus, his 
 blood, as his life. 
 
 The use of rings, or bracelets, or armlets, in the 
 covenant of betrothal, or of marriage, is from of old, 
 and it is of wide-spread acceptance.^ References to it 
 are cited from Pliny, Tertullian, Juvenal, Isidore ; and 
 traces of it are found, earlier or later, among the peo- 
 ples of Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Islands of the 
 Sea. In Iceland, the covenanting-ring was large 
 enough for the palm of the hand to be passed through ; 
 
 iGen. 41: 41, 42. 2 Esther 3: 10-12; 8: 2. ^Luke 15 : 22. 
 * See Wood's Wedding Day ; oH&o ^onts^s Finger Hing Lore. 
 
MARRIED TO A THUMB. 7 1 
 
 SO, in betrothal " the bridegroom passed four fingers 
 and his palm through one of these rings, and in this 
 manner he received the hand of the bride." In Ire- 
 land, long ago, " a usual gift from a woman to her be- 
 trothed husband was a pair of bracelets made of her 
 own hair " ; as if a portion of her very self — as in the 
 case of one's blood — entered into the covenant rite. 
 Again in Ireland, as also among the old Romans, the 
 wedding-ring was in the form of two hands clasped 
 (called a '' fede ") in token of union and fidelity. 
 
 Sometimes, in England, the wedding-ring was worn 
 upon the thumb, as extant portraits illustrate ; and as 
 suggested in Butler's Hudibras : 
 
 " Others were for abolishing 
 That tool of matrimony, a ring, 
 "With which the unsanctify'd bridegroom 
 Is marry'd only to a thumb." 
 
 In Southern's " Maid's Last Prayer," the heroine 
 says : " Marry him I must, and wear my wedding-ring 
 upon my thumb too, that I'm resolved." ^ These 
 thumb-weddings were said to be introduced from the 
 East^; and Chardin reports a form of marriage in 
 Ceylon, by the binding together of the thumbs of the 
 contracting parties ; ^ as, according to the classics, the 
 thumbs were bound together in the rite of blood-cov- 
 enanting.'* Indeed, the selection of the ring-finger for 
 
 ^ Cited in Jones's Finger Ring Lore, p. 289. ^ See Ibid., pp. 87-90. 
 ' Persian- und Ost- Indische Reise, 1 1 . , 1 96. * See pp. 5 9 f. , 62, supra. 
 
72 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 the wedding-covenant has commonly been attributed 
 to the relation of that finger to the heart as the blood- 
 centre, and as the seat of life. "Aulus GeUius tells us, 
 that Appianus asserts, in his Egyptian books, that a 
 very delicate nerve runs from the fourth finger of the 
 left hand to the heart, on which account this finger is 
 used for the marriage-ring." Macrobius says that in 
 Roman espousals the woman put the covenant ring " on 
 the third finger of her left hand [not counting the thumb], 
 because it was believed that a nerve ran from that finger 
 to the heart." And as to the significance of this point, 
 it has been said : " T\v^fact [of the nerve connection with 
 the heart] has nothing to do with the question : that the 
 ancients believed it, is all we require to know." ^ 
 
 Among the Copts of Egypt, both the blood and the 
 ring have their part in the covenant of marriage. 
 Two rings are employed, one for the bride and one for 
 the bridegroom. At the door of the bridegroom's 
 house, as the bride approaches it, a lamb or a sheep 
 is slaughtered ; and the bride must have a care to step 
 over the covenanting-blood as she enters the door, 
 to join the bridegroom. It is after this ceremony, 
 that the two contracting parties exchange the rings, 
 which are as the tokens of the covenant of blood.^ 
 
 *See Godwyn's Romance HistoHcr, p. 69; Brewer's Z>zV/. of Phrase and 
 Fabkj s. vv. " Ring," " Ring Finger " ; Jones's Finger Ring Lore, p. 275. 
 See also Appendix, infra. ^ Lane's Mod. Egypt., II., 293. 
 
THE RING IN THE CUP. 73 
 
 In Borneo, among the Tring Dayaks,the marriage cere- 
 mony includes the smearing with a bloody sword, the 
 clasped hands of the bride and groom, in conjunction 
 with an invoking of the protecting spirits.^ In this case, 
 the wedding-ring would seem to be a bond of blood. 
 
 Again, in Little Russia, the bride gives to the bride-' 
 groom a covenanting draught in "a cup of wine, in 
 which a ring has been put " ;^ as if in that case the wine 
 and the blood-bond of the covenant were commingled 
 in a true assiratum? That this latter custom is an 
 ancient one, would seem to be indicated by the indirect 
 reference to it in Sir Walter Scott's ballad of " The 
 Noble Moringer," a mediaeval lay; where the long 
 absent knight returns from the Holy Land, just in 
 time to be at the wedding-feast of his enticed wife. 
 He appears unrecognized at the feast, as a poor 
 palmer. A cup of wine is sent to him by the bride. 
 
 " It was the noble Moringer that dropped amid the wine 
 A bridal ring of burning gold so costly and so fine : 
 Now listen, gentles, to my song, it tells you but the sooth, 
 'Twas with that very ring of gold he pledged his bridal truth." 
 
 Clearly this was not the ring he gave at his bridal, 
 but the one which he accepted, inthecovenanting-cup, 
 from his bride. The cup was carried back from the 
 palmer to the bride, for her drinking. 
 
 ^See Bock's Head Hunters of Borneo, p. 221 f. 
 ^Finger Ring Lore, p. 174. 3 gee page 63 f., supra, 
 
 7 
 
74 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 " The ring hath caught the Lady's eye ; she views it close and near ; 
 Then might you hear her shriek aloud, • The Moringer is here ! ' 
 Then might you see her start from seat, while tears in torrents fell ; 
 But whether 'twas from joy or woe, the ladies best can tell." 
 
 To the present day, an important ceremony at the 
 coronation of a sovereign of Great Britain, is the 
 investiture of the sovereign per aymulum, or " by the 
 ring." The ring is placed on the fourth finger of the 
 j sovereign's right hand, by the Archbishop of Canter- 
 i bury ; and it is called " The Wedding Ring of Eng- 
 land," as it symbolizes the covenant union of the 
 / sovereign and his people. A similar practice prevails 
 at the coronation of European sovereigns generally. 
 It also runs back to the days of the early Roman 
 emperors, and of Alexander the Great^ 
 
 That a ring, or a circlet, worn around a thumb, or a 
 finger, or an arm, in token of an endless covenant 
 between its giver and receiver, has been looked upon, 
 in all ages, as the symbol of an inter-union of the lives 
 thereby brought together, is unmistakable; whether 
 the , covenanting life-blood be drawn for such inter- 
 commingling, directly fi*om the member so encircled, 
 or not. The very covenant itself, or its binding force, 
 has been sometimes thought to depend on the circlet 
 representing it; as if the life which was pledged 
 passed into the token of its pledging. Thus Lord 
 
 ^See Finger Ring Lorcy pp. 177-197. 
 
THE KING AND HIS GOD. 75 
 
 Bacon says : " It is supposed [to be] a help to the 
 continuance of love, to wear a ring or bracelet of the 
 person beloved ; " ^ and he suggests that " a trial 
 should be made by two persons, of the effect of com- 
 pact and agreement ; that a ring should be put on for 
 each other's sake, to try whether, if one should break 
 his promise the other would have any feeling of it in 
 his absence." In other words, that the test should be 
 made, to see whether the inter-union of lives symbol- 
 ized by the covenant-token be a reality. On this idea 
 it is, that many persons are unwilling to remove the 
 wedding-ring from the finger, while the compact holds? 
 It is not improbable, indeed, that the armlets, or 
 bracelets, which were found on the arms of Oriental 
 kings, and of Oriental divinities as well, were intended 
 to indicate, or to symbolize, the personal inter-union 
 claimed to exist between those kings and divinities. 
 Thus an armlet, worn by Thotmes III., is preserved 
 in the museum at Leyden. It bears the cartouche of 
 the King, having on it his sacred name, with its refer- 
 ence to his inter-union with his god. It was much the 
 same in Nineveh.^ Lane says, that upon the seal ring 
 commonly worn by the modern Egyptian " is engraved 
 the wearer's name," and that this name " is usually ac- 
 
 1 Cited in Jones's Credulities Past and Present^ p. 204 f. ^ See Appendix. 
 ' See Wilkinson's Anc. Egypt., II., 340-343 ; Layard's Nineveh and 
 its Remains, II., 250, 358 ; also 2 Sam. i : lo. 
 
^6 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 companied by the words 'His servant' (signifying 'the 
 servant, or worshiper of God'), and often by other 
 words expressive of the person's trust in God." ^ 
 
 As the token of the blood-covenant is sometimes 
 fastened about the arm, and sometimes about the neck; 
 so the encircling necklace, as well as the encircling 
 armlet, is sometimes counted the symbol of a covenant 
 of very Hfe. This is peculiarly the case in India; 
 where the bracelet-brotherhood has been shown to be 
 an apparent equivalent of the blood-brotherhood. 
 Among the folk-lore stories of India, it is a common 
 thing to hear of a necklace which holds the soul of the 
 wearer. That necklace removed, the wearer dies. 
 That necklace restored, the wearer lives again. " So- 
 dewa Bai was born with a golden necklace about her 
 neck, concerning which also her parents consulted as- 
 trologers, who said, * This is no common child ; the 
 necklace of gold about her neck contains your daugh- 
 ter's soul ; let it therefore be guarded with the utmost 
 care; for if it were taken off, and worn by another 
 person, she would die.' " On that necklace of life, the 
 story hangs. The necklace was stolen by a servant, 
 and Sodewa Bai died. Being placed in a canopied 
 tomb, she revived, night by night, when the servant 
 laid off the stolen necklace which contained the soul 
 of Sodewa Bai. The loss was at last discovered by 
 
 * Modern Egyptians^ I., 39. 
 
THE RITE IN ANCIENT EG YPT. 7 7 
 
 her husband ; the necklace was restored to her, and 
 she Hved again.^ And this is but one story of many. 
 
 In the Brahman marriage ceremony the bridegroom 
 receives his bride by binding a covenanting necklace 
 about her neck. " A small ornament of gold, called 
 tahly, which is the sign of their being actually in the 
 state of marriage, ... is fastened by a short 
 string dyed yellow with saffronr ^ And a Sanskrit 
 word for " saffron " is also a word for '' blood." ^ 
 
 The importance of this symbolism of the token of 
 the blood-covenant, in its bearing on the root-idea of 
 an inter-union of natures by an inter-commingling of 
 blood, will be more clearly shown, by and by. 
 
 8. THE RITE AND ITS TOKEN IN EGYPT. 
 
 Going back, now, to the world's most ancient 
 records, in the monuments of Egypt, we find evidence 
 of the existence of the covenant of blood, in those 
 early days. Even then, it seems to have been a custom 
 to covenant by tasting the blood from another's arm ; 
 and this inter-transference of blood was supposed to 
 carry an inter-commingling, or an inter-merging, of 
 natures. So far was this symbolic thought carried, 
 that the ancient Egyptians spoke of the departed 
 spirit, as having entered into the nature, and, indeed, 
 
 ^Frere's Old Deccan Days, pp. 225-245. 
 
 'Dubois Des. of Man. and Cust. of India, Part II., chap. 7. 
 
 ^ See p. 194, supra. 
 
78 THE BLOOD COVENANT, 
 
 into the very being, of the gods, by the rite of tasting 
 blood from the divine arm. 
 
 " The Book of the Dead," as it is commonly called, 
 or " The Book of the Going Forth into Day," — (" The 
 path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth 
 more and more unto the perfect day," ^) — is a group, 
 or series, of ancient Egyptian writings, representing 
 the state and the needs and the progress of the soul 
 after death.^ A copy of this Funereal Ritual, as it is 
 sometimes called, " more or less complete, according 
 to the fortune of the deceased, was deposited in the 
 case of every mummy." ^ "As the Book of the Dead 
 is the most ancient, so it is undoubtedly the most 
 important of the sacred books of the Egyptians ; " ^ it 
 is, in fact, " according to Egyptian notions, essentially 
 an inspired work ; " ^ hence its contents have an excep- 
 tional dogmatic value. In this Book of the Dead, 
 there are several obvious references to the rite of blood- 
 covenanting. Some of these are in a chapter of the 
 Ritual which was found transcribed in a coffin of the 
 
 iProv. 4: i8. 
 'See Lepsius's Todtenbuch ; Bunsen's Egypfs Place in Universal 
 History^ V., 125-133; Renouf's The Religion of Ancient Egypty pp. 
 179-208. 
 • See Lenormant and Chevallier's Ancient History of the East, I., 308. 
 * Renouf's The Religion of Ancient Egypt, p. 208. 
 * Bunsen's Egypt's Place, V., 133. 
 
THE BLOOD OF THE GODS. 79 
 
 Eleventh Dynasty ; thus carrying it back to a period 
 prior to the days of Abraham,^ 
 
 " Give me your arm ; I am made as ye," says the 
 departed soul, speaking to the gods.^ Then, in explan- 
 ation of this statement, the pre-historic gloss of the 
 Ritual goes on to say : " The blood is that which 
 proceeds from the member of the Sun, after he goes 
 along cutting himself; " ^ the covenant blood which 
 unites the soul and the god is drawn from the flesh of 
 
 1 See Egypt's Place, V., 127. 2 /^^-^^^ y., 1 74 f. 
 
 'This is the rendering of Birch. Ebers has looked for an explana- 
 tion of this gloss, in the rite of circumcision {^Egypten u. d. Bilcher 
 Mose'Sy p. 284 f.) ; but the primary reference to the " arm " of the god, 
 and to the union secured through the interflowing blood, point to the 
 blood-covenant as the employed figure of speech ; although circumcision, 
 as will be seen presently, was likewise a symbol of the blood-covenant 
 — for one's self and for one's seed. Brugsch also sees a similar 
 meaning, to that suggested by Ebers, in this reference to the blood. 
 His rendering of the original text is : " Reach me your hands, I have 
 become that which ye are " [Religion u. Mythol. d. alt. jEgypt., I., 219). 
 Le Page Renouf, looking for the symbolisms of material nature in all 
 these statements, would find here "the crimson of a sunset" in the 
 " blood which flows from the Sun-god Ra, as he hastens to his suicide " 
 ( Trans, of Soc. of Bib. Arch., Vol. VIII., Part 2, p. 21 1). This, however, 
 does not conflict with the^^zW/^a/symbolismof oneness of nature through 
 oneness of blood. And no one of these last three suggested mean- 
 ings accounts for the oneness with the gods through blood, which the 
 deceased claims, unless the symbolism of blood-covenanting be recog- 
 nized in the terminology. That symbolism being recognized, the 
 precise source of the flowing blood becomes a minor matter. 
 
8o THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 Ra, when he has cut himself in the rite of that coven- 
 ant By this covenant-cutting, the deceased becomes 
 one with the covenanting gods. Again, the departed 
 soul, speaking as Osiris, — or as the Osirian, which 
 every mummy represents,^ — says : " I am the soul in 
 his two halves." Once more there follows the explana- 
 tion : " The soul in his two halves is the soul of the 
 Sun [of Ra], and the soul of Osiris [of the deceased]." 
 Here is substantially the proverb of friendship cited 
 by Aristotle, " One soul in two bodies," at least two 
 thousand years before the days of the Greek philoso- 
 pher. How much earlier it was recognized, does not 
 yet appear. 
 
 Again, when the deceased comes to the gateway 
 of light, he speaks of himself as linked with the 
 great god Seb ; as one " who loves his arm," ^ and 
 who is, therefore, sure of admittance to him, within 
 the gates. By the covenant of the blood-giving arm, 
 " the Osiris opens the turning door ; he has opened 
 the turning door." Through oneness of blood, he has 
 come into oneness of life, with the gods ; there is no 
 longer the barrier of a door between them. The 
 separating veil is rent 
 
 An added indication that the covenant of blood- 
 
 1 See Wilkinson's Anc. Egypt., III., 473 ; Renouf 's Relig. of Anc, 
 Egypt , pp. 1 91-193 ; Lenonnant's Chaldean Magic y p. ZZ. 
 
 2 See Todtenbuch, chap. LXVIIL; Egypt's Place, V., 211. 
 
THE COVENANT-AMULET. 8 1 
 
 friendship furnished the ancient Egyptians with their 
 highest conception of a union with the divine nature 
 through an interflowing of the divine blood — as the 
 divine Hfe — is found in the amulet of this covenant ; 
 corresponding with the token of the covenant of blood- 
 friendship, which, as fastened to the arm, or about the 
 neck, is deemed so sacred and so precious, in the 
 primitive East to-day. The hieroglyphic word, tat^ 
 tet, or toty ( "^ } ) translated " arm," is also translated 
 " bracelet," or " armlet," C ^ ! o) ^ as if in suggestion 
 of the truth, already referred to,^ that the blood-fur- 
 nishing arm was represented by the token of the arm- 
 encircling, or of the neck-encircling, bond, in the 
 covenant of blood. Moreover, a " red talisman," or 
 red amulet, stained with "the blood of Isis," and 
 containing a record of the covenant, was placed at the 
 neck of the mummy as an assurance of safety to his 
 soul,^ " When this book [this amulet-record] has 
 
 * See Pierret's Vocabulaire HUroglyphiqucy p. 721 f. ; also, Birch's 
 " Diet, of Hierog." in Egypt's Place, V., 519. 
 
 ' See page 65 f., supra. 
 
 8 See Todtenbuch, chap. CLVI.; Egypt's Place, V., 315 ; Trans, of 
 Soc. of Bib. Arch., VIII., 2, 211. 
 
 This amulet is also called tet ; a word of the same phonetic force as 
 tet, the " arm," or the " bracelet," but of different letters. This word 
 (\ T ^ seems to have the root-idea of " word ; " as if it were ap- 
 plied to the text of the blood-covenant. 
 
 The amulet as constructed for the mummy, was stained with the 
 
82 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 been made," says the Ritual, " it causes Isis to protect 
 him [the Osirian], and Horus he rejoices to see him." 
 " If this book [this covenant-token] is known," says 
 Horus, " he [the deceased] is in the service of Osiris. 
 . . . His name is Hke that of the gods." 
 
 There are various other references to this rite, or 
 other indications of its existence, than those already 
 cited, in the Book of the Dead. " I have welcomed 
 Thoth (or the king) with blood ; taking the gore from 
 the blessed of Seb," ^ is one of these gleams. Again, 
 
 water or liquid of the tree called ankh am ("f-'f' tt»)- The amulet itself, 
 according to Brugsch, was also called ankh merer ( "j" ^^5" ). But 
 ankh ( -T- ) means either to live (the ordinary meaning), or to szuear, 
 to make oath (more rarely), and merer ( ^^ ) is a reduplicated form 
 of mer ( "^^^ ) to love, love, friendship. The meaning of ankh merer^ 
 as applied to the blood-amulet may be, oath, or covenant, or pledge 
 of love or friendship. The word merer, in the compound ankh merer, 
 is followed with the determinative of the flying scarabasus (^^, 
 which was commonly placed {Anc. Egypt., III., 346) upon the breast, 
 in lieu of the heart of the dead {Ibid., III., 486). Seepage \oo,infra. 
 And here the inquiry is suggested. Was the ankh am the same as the 
 modern henneh ? Note the connection of henneh with the marriage 
 festivities in the East to-day. 
 
 " Paint one hand with henna, mother ; 
 Paint one hand and leave the other. 
 Bracelets on the right with henna; 
 On the left give drink to henna." 
 
 (Jessup's Syrian Home Life, p. 34.) 
 ^See Egypt's Place, V., 232. 
 
UNITED WITH THOTH. ^'^ 
 
 there are incidental mentions of the tasting of blood, 
 by gods and by men;^ and of the proffering, or the 
 uplifting, of the blood-filled arm, in covenant with the 
 gods.^ 
 
 On a recently deciphered stele of the days of Ram- 
 eses IV., of the Twentieth Dynasty, about twelve cen- 
 turies before Christ, there is an apparent reference to 
 this blood-covenanting, and to its amulet record. The 
 inscription is a specimen of a funereal ritual, not unlike 
 some portions of the Book of the Dead. The deceased 
 is represented as saying, according to the translation 
 of Piehl^: "I am become familiar with Thoth, by his 
 writings, on the day when he spat upon his arm." The 
 Egyptian word, khenmes, here translated "familiar," 
 means "united with," or "joined with." The word 
 here rendered "writings," is hetepoo ; which, in the 
 singular, hetep, in the Book of Dead, stands for the 
 record of the covenant on the blood-stained amulet.^ 
 The word peqas (-*+-/'<)), rendered "spat," by 
 Piehl, is an obscure term, variously rendered "moist- 
 ened," "washed," ''wiped," " healed." ^ It is clear 
 therefore that this passage may fairly be read : " I am 
 become united with Thoth, by the covenant-record, on 
 the day when he moistened, or healed his arm " ; and 
 
 * See Egypfs Place, V., 174, 254, 282. "^ Ibid., V., 323. 
 3 See Zeitschrift fiir ^gyptische Sprache, erstes Heft, 1885, p. 16. 
 
 * See page 81 f., supra. * See Pierret, Brugsch, Birch, s. v. 
 
84 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 if the arm were healed, it had been cut, and so moist- 
 ened. Indeed it is quite probable that this word peqas 
 has a root connection with peq, peqa, peqaUy " a gap," 
 "an opening," "to divide"; and even with penqu, 
 (a^'^/*^) "to bleed." Apparently, the unfamil- 
 iarity of Egyptologists with this rite of blood-cove- 
 nanting, by the cutting of the arm, has hindered 
 the recognition of the full force of many of the terms 
 involved. 
 
 Ebers, in his "Uarda," has incidentally given an 
 illustration of the custom of blood-covenanting in 
 ancient Egypt. It is when the surgeon Nebsecht has 
 saved the life of Uarda, and her soldier-father, Kaschta, 
 would show his gratitude, and would pledge his life- 
 long fidelity in return. 
 
 " ' If at any time thou dost want help, call me, and 
 I will protect thee against twenty enemies. Thou hast 
 saved my child — good ! Life for life. I sign myself 
 thy blood-ally — there ! ' 
 
 " With these words he drew his poniard, out of his 
 girdle. He scratched his arm, and let a few drops of 
 his blood run down on a stone at the feet of Nebsecht. 
 
 " * Look ! ' he said. ' There is my blood ! Kaschta 
 has signed himself thine; and thou canst dispose of 
 my life as of thine own. What I have said, I have 
 said.'"i 
 
 ^ Uarda, I., 192. 
 
LOVE-SHOWING BY BLOOD-LETTING. 8$ 
 9. OTHER GLEAMS OF THE RITE. 
 
 In this last cited illustration, from Uarda, there 
 would, at first glance, seem to be the covenant prof- 
 fered, rather than the covenant entered into ; the cove- 
 nant all on one side, instead of the mutual covenant. 
 But this is, if it were possible, only a more unselfish 
 and a more trustful mode than the other, of covenant- 
 ing by blood; of pledging the life, by pledging the 
 blood, to one who is already trusted absolutely. And 
 this mode of proffering the covenant of blood, or of 
 pledging one's self in devotedness by the ■ giving of 
 one's blood, is still a custom in the East ; as it has been 
 in both the East and the West, from time immemorial. 
 
 For example, in a series of illustrations of Oriental 
 manners, prepared under the direction of the French 
 ambassador to Turkey, at the beginning of the eigh- 
 teenth century, there appears a Turkish lover gashing 
 his arm in the presence of his lady-love, as a proof of 
 his loving attachment to her ; and the accompanying 
 statement is made, that the relative flow of blood thus 
 devoted indicates the measure of affection — or of af- 
 fectionate devotedness.^ ^ 
 
 A custom akin to this was found in Otaheite, when 
 the South Sea Islands were first visited by English 
 
 1 Ferriol's Recueil de cent Estampes representant differentes Nations 
 du Levant ^ Carte 43, and Explication, p. 16. 
 
 8 
 
86 THE BLOOD COVENANT, 
 
 missionaries. The measure of love, in time of joy or 
 in time of grief, was indicated by the measure of blood 
 drawn from the person of the loving one. Particularly 
 was this the case with the women ; perhaps because 
 they, in Otaheite as elsewhere, are more loving in their 
 nature, and readier to give of their very life in love. 
 
 " When a woman takes a husband," says a historian 
 of the first missionary work in Otaheite, " she imme- 
 diately provides herself with a shark's tooth, which is 
 fixed, with the bread-fruit gum, on an instrument that 
 leaves about a quarter of an inch of the tooth bare, 
 for the purpose of wounding the head, like a lancet. 
 Some of these have two or three teeth, and struck for- 
 cibly they bring blood in copious streams ; according 
 to the love they bear the party, and the violence of their 
 grief, the strokes are repeated on the head; and this 
 has been known to bring on fever, and terminate in 
 madness. If any accident happen to the husband, [to] 
 his relations, or friends, or their child, the shark's tooth 
 goes to work ; and even if the child only fall down 
 and hurt itself, the blood and tears mingle together. 
 . . . They have a very similar way of expressing 
 their joy as well as sorrow; for whether a relation dies, 
 or a dear friend returns from a journey, the shark's 
 tooth instrument ... is again employed, and the 
 blood streams down. . . . When a person of 
 eminence dies . . . the relatives and friends . . . 
 
A BLOODY GREETING. Sj 
 
 repeat before it [the corpse] some of the tender 
 scenes which happened during their Hfe time, and wip- 
 ing the blood which the shark's teeth has drawn, de- 
 posit the cloth on the tupapow as the proof of their 
 affection." ^ 
 
 In illustration of this custom, the same writer says, 
 in the course of his narrative : " When we had got 
 within a short mile of the Isthmus, in passing a few 
 houses, an aged woman, mother to the young man who 
 carried my linen, met us, and to express her joy at 
 seeing her son, struck herself several times on the head 
 with a shark's tooth, till the blood flowed plentifully 
 down her breast and shoulders, whilst the son beheld 
 it with entire insensibility [He saw in it only the com- 
 mon proof of his mother's devoted love]. . . . The 
 son seeing that I was not pleased with what was done, 
 observed coolly, that it was the custom of Otaheite."^ 
 
 This custom is again referred to by Mr. Ellis, as ob- 
 served by him in the Georgian and the Society Islands, 
 a generation later than the authority above cited. He 
 speaks of the shark's tooth blood-letter, as employed 
 by men, as well as by women ; although more com- 
 monly by the latter. He adds another illustration of 
 the truth, that it is the blood itself^ and not any suffer- 
 ing caused by its flowing, that is counted the proof of 
 
 "^ First Miss. Voyage to the So. Sea Islands^ pp. 352-363. 
 2 Ibid.^ p. 196. 
 
88 THE BLOOD COVENANT, 
 
 affection ; by its representing the outpoured life, in 
 pledge of covenant fidelity. 
 
 Describing the scenes of blood-giving grief, over 
 the dead bodies of the mourned loved ones, he says : 
 "The females on these occasions sometimes put on a 
 kind of short apron, of a particular sort of cloth; 
 which they held up with one hand, while they cut 
 themselves with the other. In this apron they caught 
 the blood that flowed from these grief-inflicted wounds, 
 until it [the apron] was almost saturated. It was then 
 dried in the sun, and given to the nearest surviving 
 relatives, as a proof of the affection of the donor, and 
 was preserved by the bereaved family as a token of 
 the estimation in which the departed had been held." ^ 
 There is even more of vividness in this memorial, than 
 in that suggested by the Psalmist, when he says : 
 
 " Put thou my tears into thy bottle." ^ 
 
 There would seem to be a suggestion of this same 
 idea in one of Grimm's folk-lore fairy tales of the 
 North. A queen's daughter is going away from her 
 home, attended by a single servant. Her loving 
 mother would fain watch and guard her in her absence. 
 Accordingly, "as soon as the hour of departure had 
 arrived, the mother took her daughter into a chamber, 
 and there, with a knife, she cut her [own] finger with 
 
 * Ellis's Polynesian Researches^ I., 529. 2 pg^, 56 : 8. 
 
BLEEDING FOR BAAL. 89 
 
 it, SO that it bled. Then, she held her napkin beneath, 
 and let three drops of blood fall into it; which she 
 gave to her daughter, saying : * Dear child, preserve 
 this well, and it will help you out of trouble.' " ^ That 
 blood represented the mother's very life. It was ac- 
 customed to speak out in words of counsel and warn- 
 ing to the daughter. But by and by the napkin which 
 held it was lost, and then the power of the young 
 princess over her mother's servant was gone, and the 
 poor princess was alone in the wide world, at the mercy 
 of strangers. 
 
 Acting on the symbolism of this covenanting with 
 another by the loving proffer of one's blood, men have 
 reached out toward God, or toward the gods, in 
 desire for a covenant of union, and in expression of 
 fidelity of devotedness, by the giving of their blood 
 God-ward. This, also, has been in the East and in 
 the West, in ancient days and until to-day. 
 
 There was a gleam of this, in the Canaanitish 
 worship of Baal, in the contest between his priests and 
 the prophet Elijah, before King Ahab, at Mount Car- 
 mel. First, those priests shed the blood of the substi- 
 tute bullock, at the altar of their god, and " called on 
 the name of Baal from morning even until noon, 
 saying, O Baal hear us ! But there was no voice, 
 nor any that answered." Then they grew more earnest 
 
 i«The Goose Girl," in Grimm's Household Tales. 
 8* 
 
90 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 in their supplications, and more demonstrative in their 
 proofs of devotedness. " They leaped [or, limped] 
 about the altar which was made. . . . And they 
 cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with 
 knives and lances, till the blood gushed out upon 
 them."^ Similar methods of showing love for God are 
 in vogue among the natives of Armenia, to-day. 
 Describing a scene of worship by religious devotees in 
 that region, Dr. Van Lennep says : " One of them cuts 
 his forehead with a sword, so that ' the blood gushes 
 out' He wears a sheet in front, to protect his clothes, 
 and his face is covered with clots of blood." ^ Clearly, 
 in this case, as in many others elsewhere, it is not as a 
 means of self-torture, but as a proof of self-devoted- 
 ness, that the blood is poured out — the life is proffered 
 — ^by the devotee, toward God. 
 
 Among the primitive peoples of North and of South 
 America, it was the custom of priests and people, to 
 draw blood from their own bodies, from their tongues, 
 their ears, their noses, their limbs and members, when 
 they went into their temples to worship, and to anoint 
 with that blood the images of their gods.^ The thorns 
 
 ^ I Kings 1 8 : 26-28. ' Van Lennep's Bible Lands, pp. 767-769. 
 
 ^ See Herrera's Gen. Hist, of Cont. and Isl. of America, III., 209, 
 211, 216, 3CX) f. ; Clavigero's Hist, of Mex., Bk. VI., chaps. 22, 38 ; Mon- 
 tolinia's Hist. Ind. de Nueva Espana, p. 22 ; Landa's Relat. Yucatan, 
 XXXV. J Ximenez's Hist. Ind. Gautem., pp. 171-181; Palacio's San 
 
FRESH BLOOD DAILY. 91 
 
 of the maguey — a species of aloe — were, in many re- 
 gions, kept ready at places of sacrifice, for convenient 
 use in this covenant blood-letting.^ A careful student 
 of these early American customs has said of the obvi- 
 ous purpose of this yielding of one's blood in worship, 
 that it " might be regarded as an act of individual 
 devotion, a gift made to the gods by the worshiper 
 himself, out of his own very substance [of his very 
 life, as in the blood-covenant]. . . . The priests in 
 particular owed it to their special character [in their 
 covenant relation to the divinities], to draw their blood 
 for the benefit of the gods [in renewed pledge to the 
 gods] ; and nothing could be stranger than the refined 
 methods they adopted to accomplish this end. For 
 instance, they would pass strings or splinters through 
 their lips or ears, and so draw a little blood. But then 
 a fresh string, or a fresh splinter, must be added every 
 day, and so it might go on indefinitely ; for the more 
 there were, the more meritorious was the act ; " ^ pre- 
 
 Salv. and Hond. (in Squier's Coll.y I.) 65 ff., 106, 116; Simon's Ter. 
 Not. Conq. Tier. Firm, en Nue Gran, (in Kingsborough's Antiq. of 
 Mex., VIII.) 208, 248; all cited in Spencer's Des. Soc. II., 20-26, 28, 33. 
 See, also, Bancroft's Native Faces of Pacif. Coasty I., 665, 723 ; II., 
 259» 306, 708, 710. 
 
 * Serving the purpose of the Otaheitan shark's-teeth. See page 86 f., 
 
 sup'a. 
 
 ^ R6ville's Native Religions of Mexico and Peru^ p. 84 f. 
 
92 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 cisely as is the standard of love-showing by blood-let- 
 ting among Turkish lovers and Otaheitan wives and 
 mothers, in modern times. 
 
 A similar giving of blood, in proof of devotedness, 
 and in outreaching for inter-communion with the gods 
 through blood, is reported in India, in recent times. 
 Bishop Caldwell, of Madras, referred to it, a genera- 
 tion ago, in his description of the " Devil Dance " 
 among the Tinnevelly Shawars.^ The devotee, in this 
 dance, " cuts and lacerates himself till the blood flows, 
 lashes himself with a huge whip, presses a burning 
 torch to his breast, drinks the blood which flows from 
 his own wounds, or drains the blood of the sacrifice ; 
 putting the throat of a decapitated goat to his mouth." 
 Hereby he has given of his own blood to the gods, or 
 to the devils, and has drunk of the substitute blood 
 of the divinities — in the consecrated sacrifice ; as if in 
 consummation of the blood-covenant with the supernal 
 powers. " Then as if he had acquired new life [through 
 inter-union with the object of his worship], he begins 
 to brandish his staff of bells, and to dance with a 
 quick but wild unsteady step. Suddenly the afflatus 
 descends; there is no mistaking that glare or those 
 frantic leaps. He snorts, he swears, he gyrates. 
 The demon has now taken bodily possession of him. 
 [The twain are one. The two natures are inter- 
 
 1 Cited in Adam's Curiosities of Superstition. 
 
SIGNING ONE'S SOUL AWAY. 93 
 
 mingled]. . . . The devil-dancer is now worshiped 
 as a present deity, and every bystander consults him 
 respecting his diseases, his wants, the welfare of his 
 absent relations, the offerings to be made for the 
 accomplishments of his wishes, and in short everything 
 for which superhuman knowledge is supposed to be 
 available." In this instance, the mutual covenant is 
 represented; the devotee both giving and receiving 
 blood, as a means of union. 
 
 On this idea of giving one's self to another, by giv- 
 ing of one's blood, it is, that the popular tradition was 
 based, that witches and sorcerers covenanted with Sa- 
 tan by signing a compact in their own blood. And 
 again it was in recognition of the idea that two natures 
 were inter-united in such a covenant, that the compact 
 was sometimes said to be signed in Satan's blood. 
 
 Among the many women charged with witchcraft in 
 England, by the famous Matthew Hopkins, the " witch- 
 finder " in the middle of the Seventeenth century, was 
 one, at Yarmouth, of whom it is reported, that her 
 first temptation came to her when she went home from 
 her place of employment, discouraged and exasperated 
 by her trials. " That night when she was in bed, she 
 heard a knock at the door, and going to her window, 
 she saw (it being moonlight) a tall black man there ; 
 and asked what he would have ? He told her that she 
 was discontented, because she could not get work ; and 
 
94 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 that he would put her into a way that she should 
 never want anything. On this she let him in, and 
 asked him what he had to say to her. He told her he 
 must first see her hand ; and taking out something like 
 a penknife, he gave it a little scratch, so that a little 
 blood followed ; a scar being still visible when she told 
 the story. Then he took some of the blood in a pen, 
 and pulling a book out of his pocket, bid her write 
 her name ; and when she said she could not, he said 
 he would guide her hand. When this was done, he 
 bid her now ask what she would have." ^ In signing 
 with her own blood, she had pledged her very life to 
 the "tall black man." 
 
 Cotton Mather, in his "Wonders of the Invisible 
 World," cites a Swedish trial for witchcraft, where the 
 possessed children, who were witnesses, said that the 
 witches, at the trysting-place where they were observed, 
 were compelled "to give themselves unto the devil, 
 and vow that they would serve him. Hereupon they 
 cut their fingers, and with blood writ their names in 
 his book." In some cases " the mark of the cut finger 
 was [still] to be found." Moreover the devil gave 
 meat and drink both to the witches and to the chil- 
 dren they brought with them. Again, Mather cites 
 the testimony of a witness who had been invited to 
 covenant with the Devil, by signing the Devil's book. 
 
 ^ Cited in Benson's Remarkable Trials and Notorious Characters^ p. II. 
 
THE COMPACT OF FAUST 95 
 
 "Once, with the book, there was a pen offered him, 
 and an inkhorn with Hquor in it that looked Hke 
 blood." ^ Another New England writer on witchcraft 
 says that " the witch as a slave binds herself by vow, 
 to believe in the Devil, and to give him either body or 
 soul, or both, under his handwriting, or some part of 
 to blood." ^ 
 
 It is, evidently, on this popular tradition, that Goethe's 
 Faust covenants in blood with Mephistopheles. 
 
 MEPHISTOPHELES. 
 
 " But one thing ! — accidents may happen ; hence 
 A line or two m writing grant, I pray." 
 
 FAUST. 
 
 ' Spirit of evil ! what dost thou require ? 
 Brass, marble, parchment, paper, dost desire ? 
 Shall I with chisel, pen, or graver, write ? 
 Thy choice is free; to me 'tis all the same." 
 
 MEPHISTOPHELES. 
 
 * A scrap is for our compact good. 
 Thou under-signest merely with a drop of blood." 
 
 " Blood is a juice of very special kind." * 
 
 Even " within modern memory in Europe," there 
 have been traces of the primitive rite of covenanting 
 
 * Cited in Drake's The Witchcraft Delusion in New England^ I., 
 7 > .. 2 4. 3 jj^^^^ j^ ^^... g^^^ ^^^ Appendix, infra. 
 
 ^ Faust, Swanwick's translation, Part I., lines 1 360-1 386. 
 
96 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 with God by the proffer of one's blood. In the Rus- 
 sian province of Esthonia, he who would observe this 
 rite, " had to draw drops of blood from his fore finger," 
 and at the same time to pledge himself in solemn cove- 
 nant with God. " I name thee [I invoke thee] with 
 my blood, and [I] betroth thee [I entrust myself to 
 thee] with my blood," — was the form of his covenant- 
 ing. Then he who had given of his blood in self-sur- 
 rendering devotedness, made his confident supplica- 
 tions to God with whom he had thus covenanted ; and 
 his prayer in behalf of all his possessions was : " Let 
 them be blessed through my blood and thy might." ^ 
 
 Thus, in ancient Egypt, in ancient Canaan, in an- 
 cient Mexico, in modern Turkey, in modern Russia, 
 in modern India, and in modern Otaheite ; in Africa, 
 in Asia, in America, in Europe, and in Oceanica: 
 Blood-giving was life-giving. Life-giving was love- 
 showing. Love-showing was a heart-yearning after 
 union in love and in life and in blood and in very being. 
 That was the primitive thought in the primitive relig- 
 ions of all the world. 
 
 ^ See Tylor's Primitive Culture, II., 402 ; citing Boeder's Ehsten 
 Aberglaubische Gebrauche, 4. 
 
LECTURE II. 
 
 SUGGESTIONS AND PERVERSIONS OF 
 THE RITE. 
 
II. 
 
 SUGGESTIONS AND PERVERSIONS OF 
 THE RITE. 
 
 I. SACREDNESS OF BLOOD AND OF THE HEART. 
 
 Apart from, and yet linked with, the expHcit proofs 
 of the rite of blood-covenanting throughout the prim- 
 itive world, there are many indications of the root- 
 idea of this form of covenanting ; in the popular esti- 
 mate of blood, and of all the marvelous possibilities 
 through blood-transference. These indications, also, 
 are of old, and from everywhere. 
 
 To go back again to the earlier written history of 
 the world ; it is evident that the ancient Egyptians 
 recognized blood as in a peculiar sense life itself; and 
 that they counted the heart, — as the blood-source and 
 the blood-centre, — the symbol and the substance of 
 life. In the Book of the Dead, the deceased speaks 
 of his heart, — or his blood-fountain, — as his life ; and 
 as giving him the right to appear in the presence of 
 the gods : " My heart was my mother ; my heart was 
 my mother ; my heart was my being on earth ; placed 
 
 99 
 
lOO THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 within me ; returned to me by the chief gods, placing 
 me before the gods "^ [in the presence of the gods]. 
 In the process of embalming, the heart was always 
 preserved with jealous care; ^ and sometimes it was 
 embalmed by itself in a sepulchral vase.^ It was the 
 heart — as the life, which is the blood — that seems to 
 have been put into the scales of the divine Judge for 
 the settling of the soul's destiny;'* according to all the 
 Egyptian pictures of the judgment. Throughout the 
 Book of the Dead, and in all the sacred teachings and 
 practices of the ancient Egyptians, with reference to 
 human life and human destiny, the heart is obviously 
 recognized as the analogon of blood, and blood as the 
 analogon of life. Moreover, the life, which is repre- 
 sented by the blood and by the heart, appears to be 
 counted peculiarly the gift and the guarded treasure 
 of Deity, and as being in itself a resemblance to, if 
 not actually a part of, the divine nature.^ 
 
 "^ Egypt's Place, V. i88. 
 
 * This is illustrated by Ebers, in his romance of "Uarda;" where 
 the surgeon, Nebsecht, finds such difficulty in obtaining a human heart, 
 in order to its anatomical study. See, also, Birch's statement, in Egypt's 
 Place, v., 135, and Pierret's Diet. d'Arch.^gypt., s.v. "Coeur." 
 
 ' Anc. Egypt., III., 472, note 6. * Ibid., III., 466, note 3. 
 
 * In the Book of the Dead, Chapter xxxvi. tells " How a Person has 
 his Heart made (or given) to him in the Hades." And in preparing 
 the mummy, a scarabaeus, — a symbol of the creative or life-giving god 
 — ^was put in the place of the heart. (See Rubric, chapter xxx., Book of 
 the Dead; Anc. Egypt., III., 346,486; also, note in Uarda,l.,y:>$ f.). 
 
GUARDING THE H^ARTy ' ^ ' 'lO'l' 
 
 Even of the lower animals, the heart and the heart's 
 blood were counted sacred to the gods, and were not 
 to be eaten by the Egyptians ; as if life belonged only 
 to the Giver of life, and, when passing out from a 
 lower organism, must return, or be returned, only to 
 its original Source. 
 
 When the soul stands before the forty-two judges, 
 in the Hall of the Two Truths, to give answer con- 
 cerning its sins, one of its protesting avowals, as 
 recorded in the Book of the Dead, is : " Oh Glowing 
 Feet, coming out of the darkness ! I have not eaten 
 the heart ; " ^ In my earthly life-course, I have not 
 committed the sacrilege of heart-eating. Yet, of the 
 sacrificial offering of " a red cow," as prescribed in the 
 Book of the Dead, " of the blood squeezed from the 
 heart, one hundred drops," ^ make a portion for the 
 gods. In one of the tombs of Memphis, there is 
 represented a scene of slaughtering animals. As the 
 heart of an animal is taken out, the butcher who holds 
 it says, — as shown by the accompanying hieroglyphics, 
 — " Take care of this heart ; " ^ as if that were a por- 
 tion to be guarded sacredly. " Keep thy heart with 
 all diligence [or, as the margin has it, " above all thou 
 guardest"]; for out of it are the issues of life."'' It 
 may, indeed, have been from the lore of Egypt that 
 
 1 Egyp^s Place, V., 14. 2 /^^-^.^ y., 283. 
 
 ^Anc. Egypt., II., 27, note. *Prov. 4: 23. 
 
 9* 
 
c etc 
 
 c c cj^^ c c c sj^j^^ BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 Solomon obtained this proverb of the ages, to pass it 
 onward to posterity with his stamp of inspiration. 
 
 It would even seem that the blood of animals was 
 not allowed to be eaten by the Egyptians ; although 
 there has been a question at that point, among 
 Egyptologists. Wilkinson thinks that they did em- 
 ploy it in cooking;^ but this is only his inference 
 from a pictured representation of the blood being 
 caught in a vessel, when an animal, is slaughtered for 
 the table. On the other hand, that same picture shows 
 the vessel of blood being borne away, afterwards, on 
 uplifted hands ;^ as it would have been if it were 
 designed for a sacred libation. Again, the other 
 picture, reported by Birch, as showing the butcher's 
 care of the heart, represents the blood as " collected 
 in a jar with a long spout " ; such as was used for 
 sacred libations.^ It is evident that blood was offered 
 to the gods of Egypt in libation, as was also wine.'* 
 Indeed the common Egyptian word for blood ( f^"^"^^*^ ^ 
 senf) is regularly followed by the determinative of 
 outpouring {/''^). The word tesher, " red," is some- 
 times used as a synonym for senf; in this case (and in 
 this only) the determinative of outpouring is added to 
 
 '^Anc. Egypt, II., 27, 31 ; III., 409. 
 
 « Ibid.t II., 32, Plate No. 300. ^ ^^-^^ ji^ 27 note I. 
 
 *Comp. Ibid.y III., 409, 416 f. 
 
THE TALE OF THE TWO BROTHERS. I03 
 
 the hieroglyphics for tesher. Moreover, among th^ 
 forty -two judges, before whom the dead appears, he 
 who is " Eater of Blood " comes next in order before 
 the " Eater of Hearts " ; ^ as if blood-eating, like 
 heart-eating, were a prerogative of the gods. 
 
 If proof were still wanting that, in ancient Egypt, it 
 was the heart which was deemed the epitome of life, 
 and that the heart had this pre-eminence because of its 
 being the fountain of blood — which is life — that proof 
 would be found in " The Tale of the Two Brothers " ; 
 a story that was prepared in its present form by a 
 tutor of the Pharaoh of the exodus, while the latter 
 was yet heir presumptive to the throne. This story 
 has been the subject of special study by De Rouge, 
 Chabas, Maspero, Brugsch, Birch, Goodwin, and Le 
 Page Renouf It is from the latter's translation, that 
 I draw my facts for this reference.^ 
 
 Anpu and Bata were brothers. Bata's experience 
 with the wife of Anpu was like that of Joseph in the 
 house of Potiphar. He was true, like Joseph. Like 
 Joseph, he was falsely accused, his life was sought, 
 and his innocence was vindicated. Then, for his 
 better protection, Bata took his heart out from his 
 body, and put that in a safe place, while he made his 
 home near it. To his brother he had said : 
 
 " I shall take my heart, and place it in the top of 
 
 1 See Egypt's Place, V., 254. 2 Rec. of Past, II., 137-152. 
 
I04 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 the flower of the cedar, and when the cedar is cut 
 down it will fall to the ground. Thou shalt come to 
 seek it. If thou art seven years in search of it, let not 
 thy heart be depressed, and when thou hast found it 
 thou shalt place it in a cup of cold water. Oh, then I 
 shall live (once more)." 
 
 After a time the cedar, through the treachery of 
 Bata's false wife, was cut down. As it fell, with the 
 heart of Bata, the latter dropped dead. For more 
 than three years Anpu sought his brother's heart; 
 then he found it. " He brought a vessel of cold water, 
 dropped the heart into it, and sat down according to 
 his daily wont. But when the night was come, the 
 heart absorbed the water. Bata [whose body seems 
 to have been preserved — like a mummy — all this time] 
 trembled in all his limbs, and continued looking at his 
 elder brother, but his heart was faint. Then Anpu 
 took the vessel of cold water which his brother's 
 heart was in. And when the latter [Bata] had drunk it 
 up, his heart rose in its place ; and he became as he had 
 been before. Each embraced the other, and each one 
 of them held conversation with his companion." 
 
 The revivified Bata was transformed into a sacred 
 bull, an Apis. That bull, by the treachery, again, of 
 Bata's wife, was killed. "And as they were killing 
 him, and he was in the hands of his attendants, he 
 shook his neck, and two drops of blood fell upon the 
 
THE HEART AS AN OFFERING. 105 
 
 two door-posts of His Majesty [in whose keeping was 
 the sacred bull] ; one was on the one side of the great 
 staircase of His Majesty, the other upon the other 
 side ; and they grew up into two mighty persea trees, 
 each of which stood alone." Thus the blood was 
 both life and life-giving, and the heart was as the 
 very soul of its possessor, in the estimation of the 
 ancient Egyptians. 
 
 In primitive America also, as in ancient Egypt, the 
 blood and the heart, were held pre-eminently sacred. 
 Among the Dakotas, in North America, the heart of 
 the deer and of other animals killed in hunting, was 
 offered to the spirits.^ In Central America and in South 
 America, it was the blood and the heart of the human 
 victims offered in sacrifice, which were counted the 
 peculiar portion of the gods.^ In description of a 
 human sacrifice among the Nahuas of Central Amer- 
 ica,^ a Mexican historian says : " The high priest then 
 approached, and with a heavy knife of obsidian cut 
 open the miserable man's breast. Then, with a dex- 
 terity acquired by long practice, the sacrificer tore 
 forth the yet palpitating heart, which he first offered 
 
 ' See Lynd's Hist, of Dakotas, p. 73. 
 
 2 See citations from various original sources, in Bancroft's Native 
 Races of Pacific Coast, IT,, 306-310, 707-709. 
 
 3 The Nahuas were " skilled ones," or "experts," who had emigrated 
 Northward from the Maya land (R6ville's Native Religions, p. 20). 
 
I06 THE BLOOD COVENANT, 
 
 to the sun, and then threw at the feet of the idol. 
 Taking it up, he again offered it to the god, and after- 
 wards burned it ; preserving the ashes with great care 
 and veneration. Sometimes the heart was placed in 
 the mouth [of the idol] with a golden spoon. It was 
 customary also to anoint the lips of the image, and 
 the cornices of the door with the victim's blood." ^ 
 
 Of the method among the Maya nations,^ south of 
 the Gulf of Mexico, a Spanish historian ^ says : " The 
 bleeding and quivering heart was held up to the sun, 
 and then thrown into a bowl prepared for its reception. 
 An assistant priest sucked the blood from the gash in 
 the chest, through a hollow cane ; the end of which 
 he elevated towards the sun, and then discharged its 
 contents into a plume-bordered cup held by the captor 
 of the prisoner just slain. This cup was carried 
 around to all the idols in the temples and chapels, be- 
 fore whom another blood-filled tube was held up, as 
 if to give them a taste of the contents. This cere- 
 mony performed, the cup was left at the palace." 
 
 Yet another record stands : " The guardian of the 
 temple . . . opened the left breast of the victim, 
 
 ^Clavigero's Anc. Hist, of Mex.y II., 45-49, cited in Bancroft's Na- 
 tive Races^ II., 307. 
 
 2 The proper centre of the Maya nations lay in Yucatan (R6ville's 
 Native Religions of Mexico and Peru^ p. 18). 
 
 8 Gomara, cited in Bancroft's Native Racesy II., 310 f. 
 
THE HEART OF BRUCE. 1 07 
 
 tore out the heart, and handed it to the high priest, 
 who placed it in a small embroidered purse which he 
 carried. The four [assisting] priests received the blood 
 of the victim in four jicaras or bowls, made from the 
 shell of a certain fruit ; and descending, one after the 
 other, to the court yard, [they] sprinkled the blood 
 with their right hand in the direction of the cardinal 
 points [of the compass]. If any blood remained over, 
 they returned it to the high priest, who placed it, with 
 the purse containing the heart, in the body of the vic- 
 tim, through the wound that had been made ; and the 
 body was interred in the temple."^ 
 
 Commenting on these customs in Central America, 
 Reville — the representative comparative-religionist of 
 France — says : " Here you will recognize that idea, so 
 widely spread in the two Americas, and indeed almost 
 everywhere amongst uncivilized peoples [nor is it 
 limited to the uncivilized], that the heart is the epi- 
 tome, so to speak, of the individual — his soul in some 
 sense — so that to appropriate his heart is to appropri- 
 ate his whole being." ^ What else than this gave rise 
 to the thought of preserving the heart of a hero, or 
 of a loved one, as a symbol of the living presence of 
 the dead? It was by his heart, that King Robert 
 
 * Herrera, cited in Bancroft's Native Racesy II., 706 f. 
 2 Native Religions of Mexico and Peru (Hibbert Lectures, 1884), 
 p. 43 f. See, also, pp. 45, 46, 82, 99. 
 
I08 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 Bruce was to lead his army to the Holy Land ; and 
 how many times, in history, have men bequeathed 
 their hearts to those dear to them, as the poet Shel- 
 ley's heart was preserved by his friends, and by them 
 given to Mrs. Shelley. 
 
 In the Greek and Roman sacrifices, it was the blood 
 of the victim, which, as the life of the victim, was 
 poured out unto the gods, as unto the Author of 
 life.^ Moreover, there is reason for supposing that the 
 heart was always given the chief place, as representing 
 the very life itself, in the examination and in the 
 tasting of the " entrails " (<r;rAa^;^va, splangkJmd) in 
 connection with the sacrifices of those classic peo- 
 ples.^ An indication of this truth is found in a 
 statement by Cicero, concerning the sacrifices at the 
 time of the inauguration of Caesar : " When he 
 [Caesar] was sacrificing on that day in which he first 
 sat in the golden chair, and made procession in the 
 purple garment, there was no heart among the entrails 
 of the sacrificial ox. (Do you think, therefore, that 
 any animal which has blood can exist without a heart ?) 
 Yet he [Caesar] was not terrified by the phenomenal 
 nature of the event, although Spurinna declared, that 
 
 *See Pindax's Olympian Odes, Ode i, line 146; Sophocles Txzx^xx^^ 
 line 766; Virgil's ^neid, Bk. XI., line 81 f. 
 
 2 Homer's Odyssey, Bk. III., lines II, 12, 461-463; Iliads Bk. II., 
 lines 427, 428. 
 
BLOOD LIBATIONS. 1 09 
 
 it was to be feared that both mind [literally ' counsel '] 
 and life were about to fail him [Caesar] ; for both of 
 these [mind and life] do issue from the heart." ^ 
 
 Similarly it has been, and to the present day it is, 
 with primitive peoples everywhere. Blood libations 
 were made a prominent feature in the offerings in 
 ancient Phoenicia,^ as in Egypt. In India, the Brah- 
 mans have a saying, in illustration of the claim that 
 Vishnu and Siva are of one and the same nature: 
 " The heart of Vishnu is Siva, and the heart of Siva 
 is Vishnu ; and those who think they differ, err." * 
 The Hindoo legends represent the victim's heart as be- 
 ing torn out and given to the one whom in life he has 
 wronged.^ In China, at the great Temple of Heaven, 
 in Peking, where the emperors of China are supposed 
 to have conducted worship without material change 
 in its main features for now nearly three thousand 
 years,^ the blood of the animal sacrifice is buried in 
 the earth ^ while the body of the sacrificial victim is 
 offered as a whole burnt offering.^ 
 
 1 Cicero's De Divinatione, Bk. I., chap. 52, \ 119. 
 * See Sanchoniathon's' references to blood libations, in Cory's Ancient 
 Fragments, pp. 7, ii, 16. 
 
 ^ See " The Hindu Pantheon," in Bird wood's Indian ArtSy p. 96. 
 
 * Frere's Old Deccan Days, p. 266. 
 
 ^Williams's Middle Kingdom, I., 194. 
 
 * Edkins's Religion in China, p. 22. 
 
 ' Williams's Mid. King., I., 76-78. 
 
no THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 The blood is the life ; the heart as the fountain of 
 blood is the fountain of life ; both blood and heart are 
 sacred to the Author of life. The possession, or the 
 gift, of the heart or of the blood, is the possession, or 
 the gift, of the very nature of its primal owner. That 
 has been the world's thought in all the ages. 
 
 2. VIVIFYING POWER OF BLOOD. 
 
 The belief seems to have been universal, not only 
 that the blood is the life of the organism in which it 
 originally flows, but that in its fransfer from one or- 
 ganism to another the blood retains its life, and so 
 • carries with it a vivifying power. There are traces of this 
 belief in the earliest legends of the Old World, and of 
 the New ; in classic story ; and in medical practices as 
 well, all the world over, from time immemorial until 
 the present day. 
 
 For example, in an inscription from the Egyptian 
 monuments, the original of which dates back to the 
 early days of Moses, there is a reference to a then an- 
 cient legend of the rebellion of mankind against the 
 gods ; of an edict of destruction against the human 
 race ; and of a divine interposition for the rescue of 
 the doomed peoples.^ In that legend, a prominent 
 
 1 The inscription was first found, in 1875, ^^ the tomb of Setee I., 
 the father of Rameses 11., the Pharaoh of the oppression. A transla- 
 tion of it appeared in the Transactions of the Society of Biblical Arch' 
 
MAN'S RE- ORE A TION. 1 1 1 
 
 part is given to human blood, mingled with the juice 
 of mandrakes^ — instead of wine — prepared as a drink 
 of the gods, and afterwards poured out again to over- 
 flow and to revivify all the earth. And the ancient 
 text which records this legend, affirms that it was va. 
 conjunction with these events, that there was the be- 
 ginning of sacrifices in the world. 
 
 An early American legend has points of remarka- 
 ble correspondence with this one from ancient Egypt. 
 It relates, as does that, to a pre-historic destruction of 
 the race, and to its re-creation, or its re-vivifying, by 
 means of transferred blood. Every Mexican province 
 
 aology^ Vol. 4, Part I. Again it has been found, in the tomb of Ra- 
 meses III. Its earliest and its latest translations were made by M. 
 Edouard Naville, the eminent Swiss Egyptologist. Meantime, Brugsch, 
 De Bergmann, Lauth, Lefebure, and others, have aided in its elucida- 
 tion (See Proceed, of Sac. of Bib. Arch., for March 3, 1885). 
 
 Is there not a reference to this legend in the Book of the Dead, chapter 
 xviii., sixth section ? , 
 
 * Mandrakes, or " love-apples," among the ancient Egyptians, as also 
 among the Orientals generally, from the days of Jacob (Gen. 30: 14-17) 
 until to-day, carried the idea of promoting a loving union ; and the 
 Egyptian name for mandrakes — tetmut — combined the root-word tet al- 
 ready referred to as meaning "arm," or "bracelet," and mut — with the 
 signification of " attesting," or " confirming." Thus the blood and the 
 mandrake juice would be a true assiratum. (See Pierret's Vocabulaire 
 HUroglyphique, p. 723.) " Belief in this plant [the mandrake] is as old 
 as history." (Napier's Folk-Lore, p. 90.) See, also, Lang's Custom 
 and Mythy pp. 143-155. 
 
112 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 told this story in its own way, says a historian ; but 
 the main features of it are alike in all its versions. 
 
 When there were no more men remaining on the 
 earth, some of the gods desired the re-creation of man- 
 kind ; and they asked help from the supreme deities 
 accordingly. They were then told, that if they were 
 to obtain the bones, or the ashes of the former race, 
 they could revivify those remains by their own blood. 
 Thereupon Xolotl, one of the gods, descended to the 
 place of the dead, and obtained a bone (whether a rib^ 
 or not, does not appear). Upon that vestige of hu- 
 manity, the gods dropped blood drawn from their own 
 bodies; and the result was a new vivifying of mankind.^ 
 
 An ancient Chaldean legend, as recorded by Berosus, 
 ascribes a new creation of mankind to the mixture by 
 the gods of the dust of the earth with the blood that 
 flowed from the severed head of the god Belus. " On 
 this account it is that men are rational, and partake of 
 divine knowledge," says Berosus.'^ The blood of the 
 god gives them the life and the nature of a god. Yet, 
 again, the early Phoenician, and the early Greek, the- 
 ogonies, as recorded by Sanchoniathon^ and by Hes- 
 iod,^ ascribe the vivifying of mankind to the outpoured 
 
 1 Mendieta's Hist. Ecd. Ind., 77 fF. ; cited in Spencer's Des. Soc, II., 
 38; also Brinton's Myths of the New World, p. 258. 
 
 * See Cory's Anc. Frag., p. 59 f, ' Ibid., p. 15. 
 
 *Comp. Fabri's Evagatorium, III., 218. 
 
LIFE TO THE DEAD. 1 13 
 
 blood of the gods. It was from the blood of Ouranos, 
 or of Saturn, dripping into the sea and mingling with 
 its foam, that Venus was formed, to become the mo- 
 ther of her heroic posterity. "The Orphics, which 
 have borrowed so largely from the East," says Len- 
 ormant,^ " said that the immaterial part of man, his 
 soul [his life], sprang from the blood of Dionysus 
 Zagreus, whom . . . Titans had torn to pieces, 
 partly devouring his members." 
 
 Homer explicitly recognizes this universal belief in 
 the power of blood to convey life, and to be a means 
 of revivifying the dead. When Circe sent Odysseus, 
 
 "To consult 
 The Theban seer, Tiresias, in the abode 
 Of Pluto and the dreaded Proserpine." 
 
 she directed him, in preparation, to 
 
 "Pour to all the dead 
 Libations, — milk and honey first, and next 
 Rich wine, and lastly water ; " 
 
 and after that to slay the sacrificial sheep. But Circe's 
 caution was : 
 
 " Draw then the sword upon thy thigh, and sit, 
 And suffer none of all those airy forms 
 To touch the blood, until thou first bespeak 
 Tiresias. He will come, and speedily, — 
 The leader of the people, — and will tell 
 What voyage thou must make." 
 
 * Beginnings of History ^ p. 52, note. 
 10* 
 
114 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 Odysseus did as he was directed. The bloodless 
 shades flocked about him, as he sat there guarding the 
 life-renewing blood ; but even those dearest to him, he 
 forbade to touch that consecrated draught. 
 
 " And then the soul of Anticleia came, — 
 My own dead mother, daughter of the king 
 Autolycus, large minded. Her I left 
 Alive, what time I sailed for Troy, and now 
 I wept to see her there, and pitied her, 
 And yet forbade her, though with grief, to come 
 Near to the blood till I should first accost 
 Tiresias. He too came, the Theban seer, 
 Tiresias, bearing in his hand a wand 
 Of gold ; he knew me and bespake me thus : — 
 
 * Why, O unhappy mortal, hast thou left 
 The light of day to come among the dead. 
 And to this joyless land ? Go from the trench 
 And turn thy sword away, that I may drink 
 The blood, and speak the word of prophecy.' 
 He spake ; withdrawing from the trench, I thrust 
 Into its sheath my silver-studded sword. 
 And, after drinking of the dark red blood. 
 The blameless prophet turned to me and said — " ^ 
 
 Then, came the prophecy, from the blood-revivified seer. 
 The wide-spread popular superstition of the vam- 
 pire and of the ghoul, seems to be an outgrowth of 
 this universal belief, that transfused blood is re-vivifica- 
 tion. The bloodless shades, leaving their graves at 
 night, seek renewed life, by drawing out the blood of 
 
 1 Bryant's Odyssey ^ Bks. x. and xi. 
 
BLOOD TRANSFUSION. 115 
 
 those who sleep ; taking of the life of the living, to 
 supply temporary life to the dead. This idea was 
 prevalent in ancient Babylon and Assyria.^ It has 
 shown itself in the Old World and in the New/ in all 
 the ages ; and even within a little more than a century, 
 it has caused an epidemic of fear in Hungary, "result- 
 ing in a general disinterment, and the burning or stak- 
 ing of the suspected bodies."^ 
 
 An added force is given to all these illustrations of 
 the universal belief that transferred blood has a vivify- 
 ing power, by the conclusions of modern medical 
 science, concerning the possible benefits of blood- 
 transfusion.* On this point, one of the foremost living 
 authorities in this department of practice. Dr. Roussel, 
 of Geneva, says : " The great vitality of the blood of 
 a vigorous and healthy man has the power of improv- 
 ing the quality of the patient's blood, and can restore 
 activity to the centres of nervous force, and the organs 
 of digestion. It would seem that health itself can be 
 
 * See Sayce's Anc. Emp. of East, p. 146. 
 
 ^ Among the ancient Peruvians, there was said to be a class of devil- 
 worshipers, known as canchus. or rumapjnicuc^ the members of which 
 sucked the blood from sleeping youth, to their own nourishing and to 
 the speedy dying away of the persons thus depleted. (See Arriaga's 
 Extirpacion de la Idolatria del Pirzc, p. 21 f.; cited in Spencer's Z>^j. 
 Soc, IL, 48.). See, also, Ralston's Russian Folk Tales, pp. 311-328. 
 
 * Farrer's Primitive Manners and Customs, p. 23 f. 
 *The primitive belief seems to have had a sound basis in scientific fact. 
 
Il6 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 transfused with the blood of a healthy man''' ;'^ death 
 itself being purged out of the veins by inflowing Hfe. 
 And in view of the possibiUties of new Hfe to a dying 
 one, through new blood from one full of life, this 
 writer insists, that " every adult and healthy man and 
 woman should be ready to offer an arm, as the natural 
 and mysteriously inexhaustible source of the wonder- 
 working elixir." ^ Blood-giving can be life-giving. 
 The measure of one's love may, indeed, in such a case, 
 be tested by the measure of his yielded blood.^ 
 
 Roussel says, that blood transfusion was practised 
 by the Egyptians, the Hebrews, and the Syrians, in 
 ancient times ;'' and he cites the legend, that before 
 Naaman came to Elisha to be healed of his leprosy,^ 
 his physicians, in their effort at his cure, took the blood 
 from his veins, and replaced it with other blood. 
 Whatever basis of truth there may be in this legend, it 
 clearly gained its currency through the prevailing con- 
 viction that new blood is new life. There certainly is 
 ample evidence that baths of human blood were an- 
 ciently prescribed as a cure for the death-representing 
 leprosy ; as if in recognition of this root idea of the 
 re-vivifying power of transferred blood. 
 
 Pliny, writing eighteen centuries ago, concerning 
 
 ^ Transfusion of Human Blood, pp. 2-4. ' Ibid., p. 5. 
 
 ^ See pages 85-88, supra. * Trans f of Blood, p. 5. 
 
 * 2 Kings 5 : 1-14. 
 
AMVS AND AMYLION. 1 17 
 
 leprosy, or elephantiasis, says^ : " This was the peculiar 
 disease of Egypt ; and when it fell upon princes, woe 
 to the people ; for, in the bathing chambers, tubs were 
 prepared, with human blood, for the cure of it." Nor 
 was this mode of life-seeking confined to the Egyptians. 
 It is said that the Emperor Constantine was restrained 
 from it, only in consequence of a vision from heaven.^ 
 
 In the early English romance of Amys and Amylion, 
 one of these knightly brothers-in-arms consents, with 
 his wife's full approbation, to yield the lives of his two 
 infant children, in order to supply their blood for a 
 bath, for the curing of his brother friend's leprosy.^ In 
 this instance, the leprosy is cured, and the children's 
 lives are miraculously restored to them ; as if in proof 
 of the divine approbation of the loving sacrifice. 
 
 It is shown, indeed, that this belief in the life-bring- 
 ing power of baths of blood, to the death-smitten 
 lepers, was continued into the Middle Ages; and that 
 it finally " received a check from an opinion gradually 
 gaining ground, that only the blood of those would 
 be efficacious, who offered themselves freely and vol- 
 untarily for a beloved sufferer."^ There is something 
 
 * Hist. Nat. xxvi., 5. 
 • See Notes and Queries^ for Feb. 28, 1857 ; with citation from Soane's 
 New Curiosities of Litey-ature, I., 72. 
 
 ^ Ibid. ; also Mills's History of Chivalry, chap. IV., note. 
 * See citation from Soane, in Notes and Queries, supra. 
 
Il8 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 very suggestive in this thought of the truest potency 
 of transferred hfe through transferred blood ! It is this 
 thought which finds expression and illustration in 
 Longfellow's Golden Legend. In the castle of Vauts- 
 berg on the Rhine, Prince Henry is sick with a strange 
 and hopeless malady. Lucifer appears to him in the 
 garb of a traveling physician, and tells him of the only 
 possible cure for his disease, as prescribed in a venera- 
 ble tome : 
 
 *• * The only remedy that remains 
 
 Is the blood that flows from a maiden's veins. 
 Who of her own free will shall die, 
 And give her life as the price of yours ! ' 
 That is the strangest of all cures. 
 And one, I think, you will never try ; 
 The prescription you may well put by, 
 As something impossible to find 
 Before the world itself shall end ! " 
 
 Elsie, the lovely daughter of a peasant in the Oden- 
 wald learns of the Prince's need, and declares she will 
 give her blood for his cure. In her chamber by night, 
 her self-surrendering prayer goes up : 
 
 ** « If my feeble prayer can reach thee, 
 O my Saviour, I beseech thee, 
 Even as thou hast died for me, 
 More sincerely 
 
 Let me follow where thou leadest, 
 Let me, bleeding as thou bleedest. 
 
ELSIE'S OFFERING. II9 
 
 Die, if dying I may give 
 Life to one who asks to live. 
 And more nearly, 
 Dying thus, resemble thee !' " 
 
 Her father, Gottlieb, consents to her life-surrender, 
 saying to the Prince : 
 
 " 'As Abraham offered, long ago, 
 His son unto the Lord, and even 
 The Everlasting Father in heaven 
 Gave his, as a lamb unto the slaughter, 
 So do I offer up my daughter,' " 
 
 And Elsie adds : 
 
 « * My life is little, 
 Only a cup of water, 
 But pure and limpid. 
 Take it, O Prince ! 
 Let it refresh you. 
 Let it restore you. 
 It is given willingly 
 It is given freely ; 
 May God bless the gift !'" 
 
 The proffered sacrifice is interfered with before its con- 
 summation ; but its purposed method shows the esti- 
 mate which was put, from of old, on voluntarily yielded 
 life for life. 
 
 There is said to be an Eastern legend somewhat 
 like the story of Amys and Amylion ; with a touch 
 of the ancient Egyptian and Mexican legends already 
 cited. "The Arabian chronicler speaks of a king. 
 
I20 THE BLOOD COVENANT, 
 
 who, having lost a faithful servant by his transforma- 
 tion into stone, is told that he can call his friend back 
 to life, if he is willing to behead his two children, and 
 to sprinkle the ossified figure with their blood. He 
 makes up his mind to the sacrifice ; but as he ap- 
 proaches the children with his drawn sword, the will 
 is accepted by heaven for the deed, and he suddenly 
 sees the stone restored to animation." ^ This story, in 
 substance, (only with the slaying and the resuscitating 
 of the children, as in the English romance,) appears in 
 Grimm's folk-lore tales, under the title of " Faithful 
 John";^ but whether its origin was in the East or in 
 the North, or in both quarters, is not apparent. Its 
 reappearance East, North, and West, is all the more 
 noteworthy. 
 
 In the romances of King Arthur and his knights, 
 there is a story of a maiden daughter of King Pelli- 
 nore, a sister of Sir Percivale, who befriends the noble 
 Sir Galahad, and then accompanies him and his com- 
 panions on their way to the castle of Carteloise, and 
 beyond, in their search for the Holy Grail. 
 
 "And again they went on to another castle, from 
 which came a band of knights, who told them of the 
 custom of the place, that every maiden who passed by 
 
 1 Citation from " Saturday Review," for Feb. 14, 1857, in Notes and 
 
 Queries^ supra. 
 
 * See Grimm's Household Tales, I., 23-30. 
 
ANOTHER ELSIE. 121 
 
 must yield a dish full of her blood. ' That shall she 
 not do/ said Galahad, ' while I live ' ; and fierce was 
 the struggle that followed ; and the sword of Galahad, 
 which was the sword of King David, smote them down 
 on every side, until those who remained alive craved 
 peace, and bade Galahad and his fellows come into the 
 castle for the night; 'and on the morn,' they said, 'we 
 dare say ye will be of one accord with us, when ye 
 know the reason for our custom ? ' So awhile they 
 rested, and the knights told them that in the castle 
 there lay a lady sick to death, who might never gain 
 back her life, until she should be anointed with the 
 blood of a pure maiden who was a king's daughter. 
 Then said Percivale's sister, ' I will yield it, and so shall 
 I get health to my soul, and there shall be no battle' 
 on the morn.' And even so was it done ; but the blood 
 which she gave was so much that she might not live ; 
 and as her strength passed away, she said to Percivale, 
 * I die, brother, for the healing of this lady.' . . . Thus 
 was the lady of the castle healed ; and the gentle mai- 
 den, [Percivale's sister,] . . . died."^ 
 
 In the old Scandinavian legends, there are indica- 
 tions of the traditional belief in the power of trans- 
 ferred life through a bath of blood. Siegfried, or Sig- 
 urd, a descendant of Odin, slew Fafner, a dragon-shaped 
 guardian of ill-gotten treasure. In the hot blood of 
 
 * Cox and Jones's Popular Romances of the Middle Ages, pp. 85-87. 
 
122 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 that dragon, he bathed himself, and so took on, as it 
 were, an outer covering of new life, rendering himself 
 sword-proof, save at a single point where a leaf of the 
 linden-tree fell between his shoulders, and shielded the 
 flesh from the life-imparting blood.^ On this incident 
 it is, that the main tragedy in the Nibelungen Lied 
 pivots; where Siegfried's wife, Kriemhild, tells the 
 treacherous Hagan of her husband's one vulnerable 
 point : 
 
 " Said she, My husband 's daring, and thereto stout of limb ; 
 Of old, when on the mountain he slew the dragon grim, 
 In its blood he bathed him, and thence no more can feel, 
 In his charmed person, the deadly dint of steel. 
 
 " As from the dragon's death-wounds gushed out the crimson gore, 
 With the smoking torrent, the warrior washed him o'er. 
 A leaf then 'twixt his shoulders fell from the linden bough ; 
 There, only, steel can harm him ; for that I tremble now." "^ 
 
 Even among the blood-reverencing Brahmans of 
 India, there are traces of this idea, that life is to be 
 guarded by the outpoured blood of others. In the 
 famous old work, " Kalila wa-Dimna," there is the 
 story of .a king, named Beladh, who had a vision in 
 the night, which so troubled him that he sought coun- 
 sel of the Brahmans, Their advice was, that he 
 should sacrifice his favorite wife, his best loved son, 
 
 * Cox and Jones's Romances of the Middle Ages, p. 292. 
 2 Lettsom's Nibel. Lied, p. 158. 
 
BLOOD CURES IN INDIA AND CHINA. 1 23 
 
 his nephew, and his dearest friend, in conjunction 
 with other valued offerings to the gods. " It will be 
 necessary for you, O King," they said, "when you 
 have put to death the persons we have named to you, 
 to fill a cauldron with their blood, and sit upon it; 
 and when you get up from the cauldron, we, the 
 Brahmans, assembled from the four quarters of the 
 kingdom, will walk around you, and pronounce our 
 incantations over you, and we will spit upon you, and 
 wipe off from you the blood, and will wash you in 
 water and sweet-oil, and then you may return to the 
 palace, trusting in the protection of heaven against the 
 danger which threatens you." ^ 
 
 Here, the king's offering to the gods, was to be of 
 that which was dearest to him ; and the bath of blood 
 was to prove to him a cover of life. King Beladh 
 wisely said, that if that were the price of his safety he 
 was ready to die. He would not prolong his life at 
 such a cost. But the story shows the primitive 
 estimate of the life-giving power of blood, among the 
 Hindoos. 
 
 In China, also, blood has its place as a life-giving 
 agency. A Chinese woman, on the Kit-ie River, tells ' 
 a missionary, of her occasional seasons of frenzy, 
 under the control of spirits, and of her ministry of 
 blood, at such seasons, for the cure of disease. " Every 
 
 '^ Kalila wa-DimnUy p. 3 1 5-3 19. 
 
124 ^^^ BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 year when there is to be a pestilence, or when cholera 
 is to prevail, she goes into this frenzy, and cuts her 
 tongue with a knife, letting some drops of her blood 
 fall into a hogshead of water. This [homoeopathically- 
 treated] water, the people drink as a specific against 
 contagion." Its sacred blood is counted a shield of life. 
 " With the rest of the blood, she writes charms, which 
 the people paste [as words of life] upon their door- 
 posts, or wear upon their persons, as preventives of 
 evil."^ 
 
 Receiving new blood as a means of receiving new 
 life, seems to have been sought interchangeably, in 
 olden time, in various diseases, by blood lavations, by 
 blood drinking, and by blood transfusion. It is 
 recorded that, in 1483, King Louis XL, of France, 
 struggled for life by drinking the blood of young 
 children, as a means of his revivifying. " Every day 
 he grew worse," it is said ; " and the medicines profited 
 him nothing, though of a strange character ; for he 
 vehemently hoped to recover by the human blood 
 which he took and swallowed from certain children." ^ 
 Again there is a disputed claim, that, in 1492, a Jewish 
 physician endeavored to save the life of Pope Innocent 
 VIIL, by giving him in transfusion the blood of three 
 
 * Fielde's Pagoda Shadows^ p. 88. 
 * Croniques de France ^ 15 16, feuillet c c i j, cited from Soane, in Notes 
 and Queries, supra. 
 
BLOOD IN ZULU LAND. 125 
 
 young men successively. The Pope was not recov- 
 ered, but the three young men lost their lives in the 
 experiment.' Yet blood transfusion as a means of 
 new life to the dying was not always a failure, even in 
 former centuries ; for the record stands, that " at 
 Frankfort, on the Oder, the surgeons Balthazar, Kauf- 
 man, and Purmann, healed a leper, in 1683, bypassing 
 the blood of a lamb into his veins." ^ 
 
 Even to-day, in South Africa, " when the Zulu King 
 is sick, his immediate personal attendants, or valets^ 
 are obliged to allow themselves to be wounded ; that 
 a portion of their blood may be introduced into the 
 king's circulation, and a portion of his into theirs." ^ 
 In this plan, the idea seems to be, that health may 
 have power over disease, and that death may be 
 swallowed up in life, by equalizing the blood of the 
 one who is in danger, and of the many who are in 
 strength and safety. Moreover among the Kafirs 
 those who are still in health are sometimes " washed 
 in blood to protect them against wounds " ; ^ as if an 
 outer covering of life could be put on, for the protec- 
 
 1 Roussel's Trans, of Bloody p. 6. A different version of this story 
 is given in Bruy's Histoire des Fapes, IV., 278 ; but the other version is 
 supported by two independent sources, in Infessurce Diarium^ and 
 Burchardi Diarium. See Notes and Queries^ 5th Series, III., 496, 
 and IV., 38 ; also Hare's Walks in Rome^ p. 590. 
 
 2 Diet. Mtd. et Chirurg. Frat.y Art. " Transfusion." 
 
 « Shooter's Kafirs of Natal, p. 1 17. * Ibid., p. 216. 
 
 II* 
 
126 THE BLOOD COVENANT, 
 
 tion of their life within. Transfused human blood is 
 also said to be a common prescription of the medicine- 
 men of Tasmania, for the cure of disease.^ 
 
 And so it would appear, that, whatever may be its 
 basis in physiological science, the opinion has pre- 
 vailed, widely and always, that there is a vivifying 
 power in transferred blood ; and that blood not only 
 represents but carries life. 
 
 3. A NEW NATURE THROUGH NEW BLOOD. 
 
 It was a primeval idea, of universal sway, that the 
 / taking in of another's blood was the acquiring of 
 another's life, with all that was best in that other's 
 nature. It was not merely that the taking away 
 of blood was the taking away of life ; but that the 
 taking in of blood was the taking in of life, and of all 
 that that life represented. Here, again, the heart, as 
 the fountain of blood, and so, as the centre and source 
 of life, was preeminently the agency of transfer, in the 
 acquiring of a new nature. 
 
 Herodotus tells us of this idea in the far East, twenty- 
 four centuries ago. When a Scythian, he said, killed 
 his first man in open warfare, he drank in his blood, 
 as a means of absorbing his fairly acquired life ; and 
 the heads of as many as he slew, the Scythian carried 
 
 * Bonwick's Daily Life and Origin of Tasmanians, p. 89 ; cited in 
 Spencer's Des. Soc, III., 43. 
 
A JESUIT MAR TYR. I 2 7 
 
 in triumph to the king;^ as the American Indian 
 bears away the scalps of his slain, to-day. Modern 
 historians, indeed, show us other resemblances than 
 this, between the aboriginal American and the an- 
 cient Scythian. 
 
 The Jesuit founder of the Huron Mission to the 
 American Indians, " its truest hero, and its greatest 
 martyr," was Jean de Brebeuf After a heroic life 
 among a savage people, he was subjected to frightful 
 torture, and to the cruelest death. His character had 
 won the admiration of those who felt that duty to their 
 gods demanded his martyrdom ; and his bearing un- 
 der torture exalted him in their esteem, as heroic be- 
 yond compare. " He came of a noble race," says 
 Parkman,^ — "the same [race], it is said, from which 
 sprang the English Earls of Arundel ; but never had 
 the mailed barons of his line confronted a fate so ap- 
 palling, with so prodigious a constancy. To the last 
 he refused to flinch, and ' his death was an astonish- 
 ment to his murderers.' " " We saw no part of his 
 body," wrote an eye witness,^ "from head to foot, 
 which was not burned [while he was yet living], even 
 to his eyes, in the sockets of which these wretches 
 had placed live coals." Such manhood as he dis- 
 played under these tortures, the Indians could appre- 
 
 ^Hisi., IV., 64. ^Jesuits in No. A?n. in ijth Cent. p. 389 f. 
 
 ^ Ragueneau ; cited by Parkman. 
 
128 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 ciate. Such courage and constancy as his, they longed 
 to possess for themselves. When, therefore, they per- 
 ceived that the brave and faithful man of God was 
 finally sinking into death, they sprang toward him, 
 scalped him, "laid open his breast, and came in a 
 crowd to drink the blood of so valiant an enemy ; 
 thinking to imbibe with it some portion of his cour- 
 age. A chief then tore out his heart, and devoured it." 
 Not unlike this has been a common practice among 
 the American Indians, in the treatment of prisoners of 
 war. "If the victim had shown courage," again says 
 Parkman, concerning the Hurons, " the heart was first 
 roaste^, cut into small pieces, and given to the young 
 men and boys, who devoured it, to increase their own 
 courage." ^ So, similarly, with the Iroquois.^ And 
 Burton says of the Dakotas : ^ " They are not canni- 
 bals, except when a warrior, after slaying a foe, eats, 
 porcupine-like, the heart or liver, with the idea of in- 
 creasing his own courage." Schomburgk, writing 
 concerning the natives of British Guiana, says : " In 
 order to increase their courage, and [so their] con- 
 tempt of death, the Caribs were wont to cut out the 
 heart of a slain enemy, dry it on the fire, powder it, 
 and mix the powder in their drink." ^ 
 
 "^Jesuits in No. Am., Introduction, p. xxxix. ' Ibid.y p. 250. 
 
 » City of the Saints, p. 1 1 7. See also Appendix. 
 
 ^Reisen in Brit. Guian., II., 430; cited in Spencer's Des. Soc. VI., 36. 
 
ABSORBING AN ENEMY'S LIFE. 1 29 
 
 The native Australians find, it is said, an inducement 
 to bloodshed, in their belief — like that of the ancient 
 Scythians — that the life, or the spirit, of the first man 
 whom one slays, enters into the life of the slayer, and 
 remains as his helpful possession thereafter.^ The 
 Ashantee fetishmen, of West Africa, apparently acting 
 on a kindred thought, make a mixture of the hearts 
 of enemies, mingled with blood and consecrated herbs, 
 for the vivifying of the conquerors. "All who have 
 never before killed an enemy eat of the preparation ; 
 it being believed that if they did not, their energy would 
 be secretly wasted by the haunting spirits of their de- 
 ceased foes." ^ The underlying motive of the bloody 
 " head-hunttng " in Borneo, is the Dayak belief, that the 
 spirits of those whose heads are taken are to be subject 
 to him, who does the decapitating. The heads are pri- 
 marily simply the proof — like the Indian's scalps — that 
 their owner has so many lives absorbed in his own.^ . 
 
 A keen observer of Fellaheen life in Palestine has 
 reported : ^ " There is an ugly expression used among 
 
 1 Trans, of Ethn. Soc. new series, III., 240, cited in Spencer's Des. 
 Soc, III., 36. 
 
 2 Beecham's Ashantee and the Gold Coast^ p. 211 ; cited in Spencer's 
 Des Soc, IV., 33. 
 
 ^ See Tylor's Primitive Culture, I., 459 ; also Bock's Head Hunters 
 of Borneo, passim. 
 
 * Mrs. Finn's " Fellaheen of Palestine " in Surv. of West. Pal. 
 " Special Papei-s," p. 360. 
 
130 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 the fellaheen of South Palestine, in speaking of an 
 enemy slain in war — ' Dhabbahhtho bisndny ' (' I slew 
 him with my teeth ') ^ ; and it is said that there have 
 been instances of killing in battle in this fashion by 
 biting at the throat. In the Nablous district (Samaria), 
 where the people are much more ferocious, the expres- 
 sion is, ' I have drunk his blood ' ; but that is under- 
 stood figuratively." 
 
 An ancient Greek version of the story of Jason, 
 telling of that hero's treatment of the body of Apsyr- 
 tos — whom he had slain — says : " Thrice he tasted the 
 blood, thrice [he] spat it out between his teeth ; " and a 
 modern collator informs us, that the scholiast here finds 
 " the description of an archaic custom, popular among 
 murderers." ^ This certainly corresponds with the Sem- 
 itic phrases lingering among the Fellaheen of Palestine. 
 
 In the old German epic, the Nibelungen Lied, it is 
 told of the brave Burgundians, when they were fight- 
 ing desperately in the burning hall of the Huns, that 
 they were given new courage for the hopeless conflict, 
 by drinking the blood of their fallen comrades ; which 
 " quenched their thirst, and made them fierce." ^ With 
 
 ^ This is Mrs. Finn's rendering of it ; but it should be " I sacrificed 
 him with my teeth." The Arabic word is obviously dhabaha (^>Jt>), 
 identical with the Hebrew zabkakh (HDI) " to sacrifice." 
 
 2 Lang's Custom and Mythy p. 95 f. ; also Grimm's Household Tales, 
 p. Ixviii. 
 
 'Cox and Jones's Fop. Rom. of Mid. Ages, p. 310. 
 
VICARIOUS EXECUTION. 131 
 
 their added life, from the added blood of heroes, they 
 battled as never before. 
 
 " It strung again their sinews, and failing strength renewed. 
 This, in her lover's person, many a fair lady rued." ^ 
 
 Is there not, indeed, a trace of the primitive custom 
 — thus recognized in all quarters of the globe — of 
 absorbing the life of a slain one by drinking in his 
 blood, in our common phrase, " blood-thirstiness," 
 as descriptive of a life-seeker ? That phrase certainly 
 gains added force and appropriateness, in the light of 
 this universal idea. 
 
 It is evident that the wide-spread popular belief in 
 nature-absorption through blood-appropriation, has 
 included the idea of a tribal absorption of new life in 
 vicarious blood. Alcedo, a Spanish-American writer, 
 has illustrated this in his description of the native 
 Araucanians of South America. When they have 
 triumphed in war, they select a representative prisoner 
 for official and vicarious execution. After due prepar- 
 ation, they " give him a handful of small sticks and a 
 sharp stake, with which they oblige him to dig a hole 
 in the ground ; and in this they order him to cast the 
 sticks one by one, repeating the names of the principal 
 warriors of his country, while at the same time the 
 surrounding soldiers load these abhorred names with 
 the bitterest execrations. He is then ordered to cover 
 
 2 Lettsom's NibeL Lied^ p. 373. 
 
132 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 the hole, as if to bury therein the reputation and valor 
 of their enemies, whom he has named. After this 
 ceremony, the toqui, or one of his bravest companions 
 to whom he relinquishes the honor of the execution, 
 dashes out the brains of the prisoner with a club. 
 The heart is immediately taken out, and presented 
 palpitating to the general, who sucks a little of the 
 bloody and passes it to his officersy who repeat in suc- 
 cession the same ceremony." ^ And in this way the life 
 of the conquered tribe passes, symbolically, into the 
 tribal life of the conquerors. 
 
 Burckhardt was so surprised at a trace of this idea 
 in Nubia, that he could hardly credit the information 
 concerning it; "although several persons asserted it 
 to be a fact," he says ; " and he heard no one contra- 
 dict it." ^ As he learned it: "Among the Hallenga, 
 who draw their origin from Abyssinia, a horrible cus- 
 tom is said to attend the revenge of blood. When 
 the slayer has been seized by the relatives of the de- 
 ceased, a family feast is proclaimed, at which the mur- 
 derer is brought into the midst of them, bound upon 
 an angareyg ; and while his throat is slowly cut with 
 a razor, the blood is caught in a bowl, and handed 
 round amongst the guests ; every one of whom is 
 
 1 Thompson's Alcedd's Geog. and Hist. Diet, of America, I., 408 ; 
 cited in Spencer's Des. Soc, VI., 19. 
 
 ' Travels in Nubia, p. 356. 
 
LOST BLOOD RESTORED, 1 33 
 
 bound to drink of it, at the moment the victim breathes 
 his last." The forfeited life of the murderer here seems 
 to be surrendered to, and formally appropriated by, 
 the family, or clan, which he had, to the same extent, 
 depleted of character and life. 
 
 A practice not unlike this is reported of the Austra- 
 lians, in their avenging the blood of a murdered per- 
 son. They devour their victims ; who are selected 
 from the tribe of the murderer, although they may be 
 personally, innocent of the murder. The tribe de- 
 pleted by the murder, replaces its loss by blood — which 
 is life — from the tribe of the murderer. Indeed, " when 
 any one of a tribe [in New South Wales] dies a nat- 
 ural death, it is usual to avenge [or to cancel] the loss 
 of the deceased by taking blood from one or other of 
 his friends."^ In this way, the very Hfe and being of 
 those whose blood is taken, go to restore to the be- 
 reaved ones the loss that death has brought to them. 
 
 Strange as this idea may seem to us, its root-thought, 
 as a fact, is still an open question in the realm of phy- 
 siological science. The claim is positive, in medical 
 works, that insanity has been cured by the transfusion 
 of a sane man's blood ;^ that a normal mind has been 
 
 * Trans, of Ethn. Soc. IL, 246, and Angas's Austr. and New Zeal. I., 
 73, 227, 462, cited in Spencer's Des. Soc. III., 26. 
 
 2 See Diet. Mid. et Chir. Prat. Art. « Transfusion " ; also Roussel's 
 Transf. of Blood, pp. 78-88. 
 
134 T^HE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 restored, through a normal life gained in new blood. 
 Moreover, the question, how far the nature, or the char- 
 acteristics, of an organism, are affected, in blood trans- 
 fusion, by the nature, or the characteristics, of the 
 donor of the transfused blood, is by no means a set- 
 tled one among scientists. Referring to a series of 
 questions in this line, propounded by Robert Boyle, 
 more than two centuries ago, Roussel has said, within 
 the past decade : " No one has been able to give any 
 positive answers to them, based upon well-conducted 
 operations"; and, " they still await solution in 1877, 
 as in 1667."^ 
 
 4. LIFE FROM ANY BLOOD, AND BY A TOUCH. 
 
 Because blood is life, all blood, and any blood, has 
 been looked upon as a vehicle of transferred life. And 
 because blood is life, and the heart is a fountain of 
 blood, and so is a fountain of life, — a touch of blood, 
 or, again, the minutest portion of a vital and vivifying 
 heart, has been counted capable of transferring life, 
 with all that life includes and carries ; just as the merest 
 cutting of a vine, or the tiniest seed of the mightiest 
 tree, will suffice as the germ of that vine or that tree, 
 in a new planting. The blood, or the heart, of the 
 lower animals, has been deemed the vehicle of life 
 and strength, in its transference ; and a touch from 
 
 * Transf. of Bloody p. 19. 
 
THE COURAGE OF AN OX. 1 35 
 
 either has been counted potent in re-vivifying and in 
 improving the receiving organism. 
 
 Thus, for example, Stanley, in the interior of Africa, 
 having received " a fine, fat ox as a peace-offering," 
 from " the great magic doctor of Vinyata," when mak- 
 ing a covenant of blood with him,^ was requested to 
 return the heart of the ox to the donor ; and he ac- 
 ceded to this request. After this, Stanley's party was 
 several times assailed by the Wanyaturu, from the 
 neighborhood of Vinyata. Thereupon his ally Mgongo 
 Tembo explained, says Stanley : " That we ought not 
 to have bestowed the heart of the presented ox upon 
 the magic doctor of Vinyata ; as by the loss of that 
 diffuser of blood, the Wanyaturu believed we had left 
 our own bodies weakened, and would be an easy prey 
 to them." 2 
 
 Another modern traveler in Equatorial Africa finds 
 fresh bullock's blood counted a means of manhood. 
 While the young Masai man is passing his novitiate 
 into warrior life, he seeks new strength by taking in 
 new blood. Having employed medical means to rid 
 his system of the remains of all other diet, says 
 Thompson, the novice went to a lonely place with a 
 single attendant ; they taking with them a living bul- 
 lock. There " they killed the bullock, either with a 
 blow from a rungu, or by stabbing it in the back of 
 
 1 See page 20, supra. * Thro. Dark Cont.., I., 123-131. 
 
136 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 the neck. They then opened a vein and drank the 
 blood fresh from the animal." After this, the young 
 man gorged himself with the bullock's flesh.^ And 
 whenever the Masai warriors " go off on war-raids they 
 also contrive to eat a bullock [after this fashion], by 
 way of getting up their courage."^ 
 
 Again, it is said, that Arab women in North Africa 
 give their male children a piece of the lion's heart to 
 eat, to make them courageous.^ And an English 
 traveler in South Africa^ describing the death of a lion 
 shot by his party, says : " Scarcely was the breath out 
 of his body than the Caffres rushed up, and each took 
 a mouthful of the blood that was trickling from the 
 numerous wounds ; as they believe that it is a specific 
 which imparts strength and courage to those who par- 
 take of it." 
 
 That the transference of life, with all that life car- 
 ries, can be made by the simplest blood-anointing, as 
 surely as by blood absorption, is strikingly illustrated 
 by a custom still observed among the Hill Tribes of 
 India. The Bheels, are a brave and warlike race of 
 mountaineers, of Hindostan. They claim to have been, 
 formerly, the rulers of all their region ; but, whether 
 by defeat in war, or by voluntary concession, to have 
 
 1 Thompson's Thro. Masai Land, p. 430. * Ibid., p. 452. 
 
 ^ Shooter's Kafirs of Natal, notes, p. 399. 
 
 * H. A. L., in Sport in Many Lands, 
 
THE ROYAL BLOOD. 137 
 
 yielded their power to other peoples — whom they now 
 authorize to rule in their old domain. " The extraor- 
 dinary custom, common to almost all the countries [of 
 India] that have been mentioned," says Sir J. Malcolm,^ 
 "of the tika, or mark that is put upon the forehead of 
 the Rajput prince, or chief, when he succeeds to 
 power, being moistened with blood taken from the toe 
 or thumb of a Bhill, may be received as one among 
 many proofs of their having been formerly in posses- 
 sion of the principalities, where this usage prevails. 
 
 . . . The right of giving the blood for this cere- 
 mony, is claimed by particular families ; and the be- 
 lief, that the individual, from whose veins it is supplied, 
 never lives beyond a twelvemonth, in no degree oper- 
 ates to repress the zeal of the Bhills to perpetuate an 
 usage, which the Rajput princes are, without excep- 
 tion, desirous should cease." The Bheels claim that 
 the right to rule is vested in their race ; but they trans- 
 fer that right to the Rajpoot by a transfer of blood — 
 which is a transfer of life and of nature. Thus the 
 Bheels continue to rule — in the person of those who 
 have been vivified by their blood. 
 
 So, again, among the ancient Caribs, of South 
 America, " ' as soon as a male child was brought into 
 the world, he was sprinkled with some drops of his 
 
 * See Trans. Royal Asiat. Soc, I., 69 ; cited in Spencer's Des. Soc, 
 v., 26 f. 
 
 12* 
 
138 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 father's blood ' ; the father ' fondly believing, that the 
 same degree of courage which he had himself dis- 
 played, was by these means transmitted to his son.' "^ 
 Here it is evident, that the voluntary transfusion of 
 blood is deemed more potent to the strengthening of 
 personal character, than is the transmission of blood 
 by natural descent. 
 
 In South Africa, among the Amampondo, one of 
 the Kaffir tribes, it is customary for the chief, on his 
 accession to authority, " to be washed in the blood of 
 a near relative, generally a brother, who is put to 
 death on the occasion, and his skull used as a recep- 
 tacle for his blood." ^ In order to give more life and 
 more character than the ordinary possession to the 
 newly elevated chieftain, the family blood is withdrawn 
 from the veins of one having less need of it, that it 
 may be absorbed by him who can use it more impos- 
 ingly. 
 
 In the Yoruba country, in Central Africa, " when a 
 beast is sacrificed for a sick man, the blood is sprinkled 
 on the wall, and smeared on the patient's forehead, 
 with the idea, it is said, of thus transferring to him the 
 [divinely] accepted victim's life." Life is life, and 
 whether that life be in the blood of one organism or 
 
 * Edwards's Hist, of Brit. West Ind.y I., 47 ; cited in Spencer's Des. 
 
 Soc, VL, 36. 
 
 2 Shooter's Kafirs of Natal, p. 216. 
 
THE SOUL OF POETRY. 1 39 
 
 of another, of man or of an inferior animal, its trans- 
 ference carries with it all that life includes. That 
 seems to be the thought in Yoruba ; and, as all life is 
 of supernatural origin and preservation, its transference 
 can be by a touch as easily as by any other method.^ 
 
 5. INSPIRATION THROUGH BLOOD. 
 
 Because blood, as life, belongs to, and, in a peculiar 
 sense, represents, the Author of life, blood has been 
 counted a means of inspiration. The blood of the 
 gods, in myth and legend, and again the blood of 
 divinely accepted sacrifices, human and animal, in 
 ancient and modern religious rituals, has been relied 
 on as the agency whereby the Author of life speaks 
 in and through the possessor of that blood. 
 
 The inspiring power of blood, is a thought that runs 
 all through the early Norseland legends. Thus, Kvaser, 
 according to the Scandinavian mythology, was a being 
 created by the gods with preternatural intelligence. 
 Kvaser traversed the world, teaching men wisdom ; 
 but he was treacherously murdered by the dwarfs 
 Fjalar and Gala. The dwarfs let Kvaser's blood run 
 into two cups and a kettle. " The name of the kettle 
 is Odrcerer, and the names of the cups are Son and 
 Bodn. By mixing up his blood with honey, they 
 
 * See Tylor's Prim. Cult.^ II., 382, referring to Bastian's Psychologies 
 
I40 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 composed a drink of such surpassing excellence, that 
 whoever partakes of it acquires the gift of song."^ 
 And that was the origin of poetry in the world ; al- 
 though there have been a good many imitations of the 
 real article since that day. 
 
 So, again, in the Elder Edda, the hero Sigurd killed 
 Fafner, at the instigation of Fafner's brother Regin. 
 Regin cut out the heart of his brother, and gave it to 
 Sigurd to roast, while he drank the blood of the mur- 
 dered one. Touching the bleeding heart with his 
 fingers, and then putting his fingers into his mouth, 
 Sigurd found that he was now able to understand the 
 voice of birds; and thenceforward he was a hero 
 inspired.^ Afterwards he gave his bride, Gudrun, 
 " to eat of the remnant of Fafnir's heart ; so she grew 
 wise and great-hearted." ^ 
 
 Down to the present time, there are those in the 
 far East, and in the far West, who seek inspiration by 
 blood-drinking. All along the North Pacific coast, 
 the shamanism of tjie native tribes shows itself in a 
 craving for blood as a means and as an accompani- 
 ment of preternatural frenzy. The chief sorcerer, or 
 medicine-man, has his seasons of demoniacal posses- 
 
 * See Anderson's Norse Mythol., p. 247. 
 ^3id., p. 380; Lettsom's Nibel. Liedy Preface, p. ix. ; Cox and 
 Jones's Pop. Rom. of Mid. AgeSy p. 254 f. 
 
 * Pop. Rom. of Mid. AgeSy p. 260 ; also NiJ). Liedy p. x. 
 
AN INSPIRING DRAUGHT. 141 
 
 sion, when he can communicate with the powers of 
 the air. At such times he is accustomed to spring 
 upon the members of his tribe, and bite out from their 
 necks or bodies the bleeding flesh, as a help to inspi- 
 ration and debauch. None would venture to resist 
 these blood-thirsty assaults ; but the scars which result 
 are always borne with pride.^ 
 
 Another phase of this universal idea is reported by 
 a recent traveler in the Himalayan -districts of India; 
 where, as he thinks, the forms of religion ante-date in 
 their origin those of Hindooism, or of Brahmanism, 
 and " have descended from very early ages." When 
 a favor is sought from a local divinity, " it is the chela 
 [or primitive seer] who gasps out the commands of 
 the deoty [the * deity '], as he [the chela] shivers under 
 the divine afflatus, and [under] the vigorous applica- 
 tion of the soongul, or iron scourge." But before the 
 chela can have " the divine afflatus " he must drink-in 
 living blood. Thus, this traveler witnessed an appeal 
 to the snake-god, Kailung Nag, for fine weather for 
 the sowing of the crops. The sacrificial sheep was 
 procured by the people ; the ceremonies of wild wor- 
 ship, including music, dancing, incense-burning, and 
 bodily flagellations, proceeded. "At length, all being 
 ready, the head of the victim was struck off with an 
 
 *See Bancroft's Native Races, III., 150; Brinton's Myths of New 
 Worldy p. 274 f. ; Jackson's Alaska, p. 103 f. 
 
142 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 axe. The body was then lifted up by several men, 
 and the chela, seizing upon it like a tiger, drank the 
 blood as it spurted from the neck. When all the 
 blood had been sucked from the carcass, it was thrown 
 down upon the ground, amid yells and shouts of ' ir<3!z7- 
 ung Maharaj ki jai I ' [* Victory to the great king 
 Kailung ']. The dancing was then renewed, and be- 
 came more violent, until after many contortions, the 
 chela [now blood-filled] gasped out that the deota ac- 
 cepted the sacrifice, and that the season would be fa- 
 vorable. This was received with renewed shouts, and 
 the chela sank down upon the ground in a state of 
 exhaustion." ^ 
 
 In the folk-lore of Scotland, as representing the 
 primitive traditions of Western Europe, there are illus- 
 trations of the idea that the blood of the gods was 
 communicated to earthly organisms. Thus, a scientific 
 antiquarian of Scotland records in this line : " There 
 was a popular saying that the robin " — the robin red- 
 breast — " had a drop of God's blood in its veins, and 
 that therefore to kill or hurt it was a sin, and that 
 some evil would befall any one who did so ; and, con- 
 versely, any kindness done to poor robin would be 
 repaid in some fashion. Boys did not dare to harry a 
 robin's nest." On the other hand, the yellow-hammer 
 
 1 Charles F. Oldham's " Native Faiths in the Himalayah," in The 
 Contemporary Review for April, 1885. 
 
THE ORDEAL OF TOUCH. 1 43 
 
 and the swallow were said, each " to have a drop of 
 the Devil's blood in its veins " ; so the one of these 
 birds — the yellow-hammer — was " remorselessly har- 
 ried " ; and the other — the swallow — " was feared, and 
 therefore let alone." ^ A similar legendary fear of the 
 swallow, and the guarding of his nest, accordingly, 
 exists in Germany and in China? 
 
 Another indication of the belief, that human blood 
 has a vital connection with its divine source, and is 
 under the peculiar oversight of its divine Author, is 
 found in the wide-spread opinion that the blood of a 
 murdered man will bear witness against the murderer, 
 by flowing afresh at his touch ; the living blood cry- 
 ing out from the dead body, by divine consent, in tes- 
 timony of crime against the Author of life. Ancient 
 European literature teems with incidents in the line of 
 this " ordeal of touch." 
 
 Thus it was, according to the Nibelungen Lied, that 
 Kriemhild fastened upon Hagan the guilt of murder- 
 ing her husband Siegfried ; when Hagan and his asso- 
 ciates were gathered for the burial of the hero. 
 
 " Firmly they made denial ; Kriemhild at once replied, 
 
 * Whoe'er in this is guiltless, let him this proof abide. 
 In sight of all the people let him approach the bier, 
 And so to each beholder shall the plain truth appear.' 
 
 * Napier's Folk-Lore of the West of Scotland, p. ill f. 
 
 2 Farrer's Prim. Man. and Cust., p. 276 f. 
 
144 ^^^ BLOOD COVENANT, 
 
 " It is a mighty marvel, which oft e'en now we spy. 
 That, when the blood-stain'd murderer comes to the murder'd nigh. 
 The wounds break out a-bleeding ; then too the same befell. 
 And thus could each beholder the guilt of Hagan tell. 
 The wounds at once burst streaming, fast as they did before ; 
 Those who then sorrowed deeply, now yet lamented more." ^ 
 
 Under Christian IL, of Denmark, the " Nero of the 
 North," early in the sixteenth century, there was a 
 notable illustration of this confidence in the power of 
 blood to speak for itself. A number of gentlemen 
 being together in a tavern, one evening, they fell to 
 quarreling, and " one of them was stabbed with a 
 poniard. Now the murderer was unknown, by rea- 
 son of the number [present] ; although the person 
 stabbed accused a pursuivant of the king's who was 
 one of the company. The king, to find out the hom- 
 icide, caused them all to come together in the stove 
 [the tavern], and, standing round the corpse, he com- 
 manded that they should, one after another, lay their 
 right hand on the slain gentleman's naked breast, 
 swearing that they had not killed him. The gentle- 
 men did so, and no sign appeared against them. The 
 pursuivant only remained, who, condemned before in 
 his own conscience, went first of all and kissed the dead 
 man's feet. But, as soon as he had laid his hand upon 
 his breast, the blood gushed forth in abundance, both out 
 
 1 Lettsom's Nibel. Lied, p. 183 ; also Cox and Jones's Pop. Rom. of 
 Mid. Ages, p. 47 f. 
 
THE CRY OF LIFE IN THE DEAD. 145 
 
 of his wound and his nostrils ; so that, urged by this 
 evident accusation, he confessed the murder, and was by 
 the king's own sentence, immediately beheaded." ^ 
 
 A striking example of the high repute in which this 
 ordeal of touch was formerly held, and of the under- 
 lying idea on which its estimate was based, is reported 
 from the State Trials of Scotland. It was during the 
 trial of Philip Standsfield, in 1688, for the murder of 
 his father. Sir James. The testimony was explicit, 
 that when this son touched the body, the blood flowed 
 afresh, and the son started back in terror, crying out, 
 " Lord, have mercy upon me ! " wiping off the blood, 
 from his hand, on his clothes. Sir George M'Kenzie, 
 acting for the State, at the inquest, said concerning 
 this testimony and its teachings : " But they, fully 
 persuaded that Sir James was murdered by his own 
 son, sent out [with him] some surgeons and friends, 
 who having raised the body, did see it bleed miracu- 
 lously upon his touching it. In which, God Almighty 
 himself was pleased to bear a share in the testimonies 
 which we produce : that Divine Power which makes 
 the blood circulate during life, has oft times, in all 
 nations, opened a passage to it after death upon such 
 occasions, but most in this case." ^ 
 
 * Benson's Remarkable Trials, p. 94, note. 
 ^Cobbett's State Trials, XL, 137 1 ; cited in Anecdotes of Omens and 
 Superstitions, p. 47 f. 
 
 I '3 
 
146 THE BLOOD COVENANT, 
 
 Mr. Henry C. Lea, in his erudite work on Supersti- 
 tion and Force, has multiplied illustrations of the 
 ordeal of touch, or of ** bier-right," all along the 
 later centuries.^ He recalls that " Shakspeare intro- 
 duces it, in King Richard HI., where Gloster interrupts 
 the funeral of Henry VI.,. and Lady Anne exclaims : 
 
 * O gentlemen see, see ! dead Henry's wounds 
 Open their congealed mouths, and bleed afresh.' " 
 
 He refers to the fact that it was an old-time Jewish 
 custom to ask pardon of a corpse for any offences 
 committed against the living man, laying hold of the 
 great toe of the corpse while thus asking ; and if the 
 asker had really inflicted any grievous injury on the 
 deceased, the body was supposed to signify that fact 
 by a copious hemorrhage from the nose.^ " This, it 
 will be observed," he adds, " is almost identical with 
 the well-known story .which relates that, when Richard 
 Coeur-de-Lion hastened to the funeral of his father, 
 Henry IL, and met the procession at Fontevraud, the 
 blood poured from the nostrils of the dead king, 
 whose end he had hastened by his disobedience and 
 rebellion." Mr. Lea shows that in some instances the 
 bones of a murdered man are said to have given out 
 
 ^Superstition and Force^ pp., 315-323. 
 
 * Cited from Gamal. ben Pedahzur's Book of Jewish Ceremoniesy 
 p. II. 
 
INTER-COMMUNION THROUGH BLOOD. 147 
 
 fresh blood when handled by a murderer as long as 
 twenty years, or even fifty, after the murder ; and he 
 gives ample evidence that a belief in this power of 
 blood to speak for itself against the violator of God's 
 law, still exists among the English-speaking people, 
 and that it has manifested itself as a means of justice- 
 seeking, in the United States, within a few years past. 
 
 6. INTER-COMMUNION THROUGH BLOOD. 
 
 Beyond the idea of inspiration through an interflow 
 of God-representing blood, there has been in primitive j 
 man's mind (however it came there) the thought of a 
 possible inter-communion with God through an inter- 
 union with God by blood. God is life. All life is 
 from God, and belongs to God. Blood is life. Blood, 
 therefore, as life, may be a means of man's inter-union 
 with God. As the closest and most sacred of cove- 
 nants between man and man ; as, indeed, an absolute 
 merging of two human natures into one, — is a possi- 
 bility through an inter-flowing of a common blood ; 
 so the closest and most sacred of covenants between 
 man and God ; so the inter-union of the human nature 
 with the divine, — has been looked upon as a possibil- ' 
 ity, through the proffer and acceptance of a common 
 life in a common blood-flow. 
 
 Whatever has been man's view of sin and its pun- 
 ishment, and of his separation from God because of 
 
148 THE BLOOD COVENANT, 
 
 unforgiven sin (I speak now of man as he is found, 
 without the specific teachings of the Bible on this 
 /subject), he has counted blood — his own blood, in act- 
 uality or by substitute — a means of inter-union with 
 God, or with the gods. Blood is not death, but life. 
 The shedding of blood, Godward, is not the taking of 
 life, but the giving of life. The outflowing of blood 
 toward God is an act of gratitude or of affection, a 
 proof of loving confidence, a means of inter-union. 
 This seems to have been the universal primitive con- 
 ception of the race. And an evidence of man's trust 
 in the accomplished fact of his inter-union with God, 
 or with the gods, by blood, has been the also univer- 
 sal practice of man's inter-communion with God, or 
 with the gods, by his sharing, in food-partaking, of the " 
 body of the sacrificial offering, whose blood is the 
 means of the divine-human inter-union. 
 
 Perhaps the most ancient existing form of religious 
 worship, as also the simplest and most primitive form, 
 is to be found in China, in the state religion, repre- 
 sented by the Emperor's worship at the Temple of 
 Heaven, in Peking. And in that worship, the idea 
 of the worshiper's inter-communion with God, through 
 the body and blood of the sacrificial offering, is dis- 
 closed, even if not always recognized, by all the repre- 
 sentative Western authorities on the religions of China. 
 
 "The Chinese idea of a sacrifice to the supreme 
 
A BANQUET-SACRIFICE. 1 49 
 
 spirit of Heaven and of Earth is that of a banquet. 
 There is no trace of any other idea," says Dr. Edkins.* 
 Dr. Legge,^ citing this statement, expands its signifi- 
 cance by saying : " The notion of the whole service 
 [at the Temple of Heaven] might be that of a ban- 
 quet ; but a sacrifice and a banquet are incompatible 
 ideas." ^ He then shows that the Chinese character 
 tsi, signifying " sacrifice," " covers a much wider space 
 of meaning than our term sacrifice [as he seems to 
 view our use of that term]." Morrison gives as one 
 of the meanings of tsi^ " That which is the medium 
 between, or brings together, men and Gods " ; and 
 Hsii Shan " says, that tsl is made up of two ideo- 
 grams ; — one the primitive for spiritual beings, and the 
 other representing a right hand and a piece of flesh." 
 Legge adds : " The most general idea symbolized by 
 it is — an offering whereby communication and com- 
 munion with spiritual beings [God, or the gods] is 
 effected."* 
 
 Dr. S. Wells Williams says, that " no religious sys- 
 tem has been found among the Chinese which taught 
 
 ^ Religion in China, pp. 23, 32. ^ 7%^ Religions of China, p. 55. 
 
 * Dr. Legge here seems to use the word "sacrifice " in the light of a 
 single meaning which attaches to it. There is surely no incompatibil- 
 ity in the terms " banquet " and " sacrifice," as we find their two-fold 
 idea in the banquet-sacrifice of the Mosaic peace-offering (see Lev. 
 
 * The Relig. of China, Notes to Lect. I., p. 66. 
 13* 
 
150 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 the doctrine of the atonement by the shedding of 
 blood " ; and this he counts " an argument in favor of 
 their [the Chinese] antiquity " ;, adding that " the state 
 reUgion . . . has maintained its main features 
 during the past three thousand years." ^ WilUams 
 here, evidently, refers to an expiatory atonement for 
 sin ; and Legge has a similar view of the facts.^ The 
 idea of an approach to God through blood — ^blood as 
 a means of favor, even if not blood as a canceling of 
 guilt — is obvious, in the outpouring of blood by the 
 Emperor when he approaches God for his worship in 
 the Temple of Heaven. The symbolic sacrifice in 
 that worship, which precedes the communion, is of a 
 whole " burnt offering, of a bullock, entire and without 
 blemish";^ and the blood of that offering is rever- 
 ently poured out into the earth,^ to be buried there, 
 according to the thought of man and the teachings of 
 God in all the ages. It is even claimed that as early 
 as 2697 B. C, it was the blood of the first-born which 
 must be poured out toward God — as a means of favor 
 — in the Emperor's approach for communion with 
 
 * The Mid. King., II., 194. See also Martin's The Chinese, p. 258. 
 2 The Relig. of China, p. 53 f. Gray thinks differently ( China, I., 87.) 
 » The Mid. King., I., 76-78 ; The Chinese, p. 99 ; Relig. in China, 
 
 p. 21 ; The Relig. of China, p. 25 ; Confucianism and Taouism, p. 87. 
 
 * Relig. in China, p. 22. The same is true in sacrifices to Confucius 
 (Gray's China, I., 87). 
 
THE CUP AND MEAT OF BLESSING. 151 
 
 God ; " a first-born male," being offered up " as a 
 whole burnt sacrifice," in this worship.^ Surely, in this 
 surrender of the first-born, there must have been some 
 idea of an affectionate offering, in the gift of that which 
 was dearest, even if there was no idea of substitution 
 by way of expiation ; something in addition to the 
 simple idea of "a banquet"; something which was an 
 essential preliminary to the banquet 
 
 Access to God being attained by the Emperor, the 
 Emperor enjoys communion with God in the Temple 
 of Heaven. It is after the outpouring of blood, and 
 the offering of the holocaust, that — in a lull of the 
 orchestral music, in the great annual sacrifice — " a sin- 
 gle voice is heard, on the upper terrace of the altar, 
 chanting the words, ' Give the cup of blessing, and the 
 meat of blessing.' In response, the officer in charge 
 of the cushion advances and kneels, spreading the 
 cushion. Other officers present the cup of blessing 
 and the meat of blessing [which have already been 
 presented Godward] to the Emperor, who partakes of 
 the wine and returns them. The Emperor then again 
 prostrates himself, and knocks his forehead three 
 times against the ground, and then nine times more, 
 to represent his thankful reception of the wine and 
 meat [in communion]."^ 
 
 ^ Chow /<?, cited by Douglas in Confuc. and Taou.y p. 82 f. 
 ^ Edkins's Relig, in China, p. 27. 
 
152 THE BLOOD COVENANT, 
 
 The evidence is abundant, that the main idea of this 
 primitive and supreme service in the religions of China, 
 is the inter-communion of the Emperor with God. 
 And there is no lack of proof that in China, as else- 
 where all the world over, blood — as life — is the means 
 of covenanting in an indissoluble inter-union ; of 
 which inter-union, inter-communion is a result and a 
 proof 
 
 In China, as also in India,^ when the sacrifice of hu- 
 man beings was abolished, it was followed by the sac- 
 rifice of the horse. And the horse-sacrifice is still 
 practised in some parts of the Chinese Empire, on im- 
 portant occasions. A white horse is brought to the 
 brink of a stream, or a lake, and there sacrificed, by 
 decapitating it, "burying its head below low-water 
 mark, but reserving its carcase for food!' '^ In a descrip- 
 tion of this sacrifice, in honor of a certain goddess, 
 as witnessed by Archdeacon Gray,^ it is said : " Its 
 blood was received in a large earthenware jar, and a 
 portion carried to the temple of the aforesaid goddess ; 
 when all the villagers rushed tumultuously to secure 
 a sprinkling of blood on the charms which they had 
 
 1 See page 156 f., infra. 
 
 2 " The flesh of the horse is eaten both by the Chinese and the Mon- 
 golians." (Gray's China^ II., 174.) 
 
 ' See C. F. Gordon Cumming's article "A Visit to the Temple of 
 Heaven at Peking," in Lond. Quart. Rev., for July, 1885. 
 
BLOOD-SPRINKLING IN CHINA. 1 53 
 
 already purchased. The rest of the blood was min- 
 gled with sand," and taken with various accessories, 
 in a boat. "This boat headed a long procession of 
 richly carved and gilded boats, in which were priests, 
 both Buddhist and Taouists, and village warriors dis- 
 charging matchlocks to terrify the water-devils ; while 
 the men in the first boat sprinkle the waters, as they 
 advance, with blood-stained sand." 
 
 So, again, it is the blood of a cock, — not the body 
 but the blood, — which is made the propitiatory offering 
 to the goddess known as " Loong-moo, or the Dragon's 
 Mother," on the river junks of China. The blood is 
 sprinkled on the deck, near a temporary altar, where 
 libations of wine have already been poured out by 
 master of this junk, who is the sacrificer. Afterwards, 
 bits of silver paper are " sprinkled with the blood, and 
 then fastened to the door-posts and lintels of the 
 cabin " ;^ as if in token of the blood-covenant between 
 those who are within those doors and the goddess 
 whose substitute blood is there affixed. And this 
 precedes the feast of inter-communion.^ 
 
 Nor are indications wanting, that the idea of inter- 
 union with the gods by blood was originally linked 
 with, if it were not primarily based upon, the rite of 
 blood-covenanting between two human friends. Thus, 
 Archdeacon Gray unconsciously discloses traces of 
 
 ^See Exod. 12: 7-10. ^Qray's China^ II., 271 f. 
 
154 ^^^ BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 this rite, in his description of the exorcising of demons 
 from the body of a child, by a Taouist priest, in Can- 
 ton.^ • Certain preliminary ceremonies were concluded ; 
 which were supposed to drive out the demons. " The 
 priest then proceeded to uncover his [own] arm, and 
 made an incision with a lancet in the fleshy part. The 
 blood which flowed from the wound, was allowed to 
 mingle with a small quantity of water in a cup. The 
 seal of the temple, the impression of which was the 
 name of the idol, was then dipped into the blood, and 
 stamped upon the wrists, neck, back and forehead^ of 
 the poor heathen child." By this means, that child was 
 symbolically sealed in covenant relations with the god 
 of that temple, by the substitute blood of that god's 
 representative priest. 
 
 Thus, also, Dr. Legge, referring to old-time cove- 
 nantings in China, says : ^ " Many covenants were made 
 among the feudal princes, — made over the blood of a 
 victim, with which each covenanting party smeared the 
 corners of his mouth [which is one form of tasting];"* 
 while an appeal was addressed to the invisible powers 
 to inflict vengeance on all who should violate the con- 
 ditions agreed upon [the ordinary imprecatory prayers 
 in the rite of blood-covenanting] ." A symbolic inter- 
 
 ^ Gray's China, I., 1 02. 
 «See Rev. 7: 3; 9: 4; 13: 16; 14: i; 20: 4; 22: 4. 
 * The Relig. of China, p. 289. * See The Rite in Burmah, in Appendix. 
 
HUMAN SACRIFICES IN INDIA. 1 55 
 
 union of blood is a basis of inter-communion between 
 two human beings, as also between the human and 
 the divine beings even in China — where, perhaps, that 
 idea would be least likely to be looked for. 
 
 It is a common opinion, that in no part of the world 
 is there a more general prejudice against blood-shed- 
 ding, or the taking of animal life, than in India. And 
 it certainly is a fact, that the great religious systems, 
 of Brahmanism and of Booddhism, which have con- 
 trolled the moral sense of the peoples of India for a 
 score or two of centuries, have exerted themselves, 
 in the main, to the inculcation of these views as to the 
 sacredness of blood and of life — or of blood which is 
 life. Hence, we would naturally look, in India, only 
 for traces, or vestiges, of the primitive, world-wide 
 idea of inter-communion with God, or with the gods, 
 through a divine-human inter-union by blood. Nor 
 are such traces and vestiges lacking in the religious 
 customs of India. 
 
 In India, as in China, human sacrifices, especially 
 the sacrifice of the first-born son, were formerly made 
 freely, as a means of bringing the offerer into closer 
 relations with the gods, through the outpoured blood.^ 
 It was the blood, as the life, which was believed to be 
 the common possession of gods, men, and beasts ; 
 
 * See Dubois's Des. Man. and Gust, of People of India, Part III., 
 chap. 7 ; also Monier Williams's Hinduism, p. 36 f. 
 
156 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 hence the final substitution, in India, of beasts for 
 men, in the blood-covenanting with the gods. On 
 this point, the evidence seems clear. 
 
 The Vedas, or sacred books of the Brahmans, teach, 
 indeed, that the gods themselves were mere mortals, 
 until by repeated offerings of blood in sacrifice, to 
 the Supreme Being, they won immortality from him ; 
 which is only another way of making the claim, put 
 forward by the immortalized-mortal, in the Book of 
 the Dead, of ancient Egypt, that the mortal became 
 one with the gods through an interflow of a common 
 life in the common blood of the two. Mortals gave 
 the blood of their first-born sons in sacrifice to the 
 Supreme Being. Then the Supreme Being gave the 
 blood of his first-born male in sacrifice. Thus, the 
 nature of the favored mortals and the nature of the 
 Supreme Being became one and the same. Dr. Monier 
 Williams cites freely from the Vedas in the direction 
 of this great truth ; although he does not note its bear- 
 ing on the blood-covenant rite. Thus, in " the follow- 
 ing free translation of a passage of the Satapatha- 
 brahmana : 
 
 * The gods lived constantly in dread of Death — 
 The mighty Ender — so, with toilsome rites 
 They worshiped, and repeated sacrifices, 
 Till they became immortal.' " 
 
 "And again in the Taittiriya-brahmana : * By means of 
 
THE SACRIFICIAL PART OF ANIMALS. 1 57 
 
 the sacrifice the gods obtained heaven.' " In the Tan- 
 dya-brahmanas : " The lord of creatures offered him- 
 self a sacrifice for the gods." "And again, in the 
 Satapatha-brahmana : * He who, knowing this, sacri- 
 fices with the Purusha-medha, or sacrifice of the pri- 
 meval male, becomes everything.' " ^ 
 
 That it was the blood, which was the chief element 
 in the covenanting-sacrifice, is evident from all the 
 facts in the case. Thus, in the Aitareya-brahmana, it 
 is said: "The gous killed a man for their victim [of 
 sacrifice]. But from him thus killed, the part which 
 was fit for a sacrifice went out and entered a horse. 
 Thence, the horse became an animal fit for being sac- 
 rificed. The gods then killed the horse, but the part 
 of it fit for being sacrificed went out of it and entered an 
 ox. The gods then killed the ox, but the part of it fit 
 for being sacrificed went out of it and entered a 
 sheep. Thence it entered a goat. The sacrificial part 
 remained for the longest time in the goat ; thence it 
 [the goat] became preeminently fit for being sacri- 
 ficed ! " Indian history shows that this has been the pro- 
 gress of reform, from the days of human sacrifice down- 
 ward. " It is remarkable that in Vedic times, even a cow 
 . . . was sometimes killed ; and goats, as is well 
 known, are still sacrificed to the goddess Kali." ^ Kali, 
 also called Doorga, is the blood-craving goddess. The 
 
 1 Monier Williams's Hinduism, p. 35 f. ^ Ibid., p. 37 f. 
 
 14 
 
158 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 blood of one human victim, it is said, " gives her a 
 gleam of pleasure that endures a thousand years ; and 
 the sacrifice of three men together, would prolong her 
 ecstacy for a thousand centuries." ^ 
 
 Bishop Heber indicates the "sacrificial part " of the 
 goat as he saw it offered at a temple of Kali in Umeer. 
 He was being shown by his guide through that city, 
 on his first visit there, and the guide proposed a look 
 at the temple. " He turned short, and led us some 
 little distance up the citadel, then through a dark, low 
 arch into a small court, where, to my surprise, the first 
 object which met my eyes was a pool of blood on the 
 pavement, by which a naked man stood with a bloody 
 sword in his hand. . . . The guide . . . cau- 
 tioned me against treading in the blood, and told me 
 that a goat was sacrificed here every morning. In 
 fact a second glance showed me the headless body of 
 the poor animal lying before the steps of a small 
 shrine, apparently of Kali. The Brahman was ofificia- 
 ting and tinkling his bell. . . . The guide told 
 us, on our way back, that the tradition was, that, in 
 ancient times a man was sacrificed here every day ; 
 that the custom had been laid aside till Jye Singh [the 
 builder of Umeer] had a frightful dream, in which the 
 destroying power appeared to him, and asked why 
 her image was suffered to be dry [It is blood, not flesh, 
 
 ^ Dubois's Des. of Man. and Cust. in India, Part III., chap. vii. 
 
INTER- COMMUNION IN INDIA. 1 5 9 
 
 that moistens]. The Rajah, afraid to disobey, and re- 
 luctant to fulfil the requisition to its ancient extent of 
 horror, took counsel and substituted a goat [in which 
 as well as in man there is blood — which is life — which 
 is the chief thing in a sacrifice Godward] for the 
 human victim ; with which the 
 
 *Dark goddess of the azure flood, 
 
 Whose robes are wet with infant tears, 
 SkuU-chaplet wearer, whom the blood 
 Of man delights three thousand years,' 
 
 was graciously pleased to be contented." ^ 
 
 " I had always heard, and fully believed till I came 
 to India," says Bishop Heber, " that it was a grievous 
 crime, in the opinion of the Brahmans, to eat the flesh 
 or shed the blood of any living creature whatever. I 
 have now myself seen Brahmans of the highest caste 
 cut off the heads of goats, as a sacrifice to Doorga ; 
 and I know from the testimony of Brahmans, as well 
 as from other sources, that not only hecatombs of 
 animals are often offered in this manner, as a most 
 meritorious act (a Rajah, about twenty-five years back 
 [say about a. d. 1800], offered sixty thousand in one 
 fortnight) ; but that any persons, Brahmans not ex- 
 cepted, eat readily [in inter-communion] of the flesh 
 which has been offered up to one of their divinities." ^ 
 Clearly, the idea of inter-communion with the gods, 
 
 1 Heber's Travels in India^ II., 13 f. ^ Ibid., II., 285. 
 
l6o THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 on the basis of the inter-flow of blood, exists in many 
 Brahmanic practices of to-day. It still finds its ex- 
 pression in the occasional "Sacrifice of the Yajna, at 
 which a ram is immolated." It is claimed by the 
 Brahmans that " this sacrifice is the most exalted and 
 the most meritorious of all that human beings can de- 
 vise. It is the most grateful to the gods. It calls 
 down all sorts of temporal blessings, and blots out all 
 the sins that can have been accumulated for four gen- 
 erations." The ram chosen for this sacrifice must be 
 " entirely white, and without blemish : of about three 
 years old." Only Brahmans who are free from physi- 
 cal infirmities and from ceremonial defects can have 
 a part in its offering, " at which no man of any other 
 caste can be present." Because of the Brahmanic 
 horror of the shedding of blood, the victim is 
 smothered, or " strangled " ; after which it is cut in 
 pieces, and burned as an oblation. "A part, however, 
 is preserved for him who presides at the sacrifice, and 
 part for him who is at the expense of it. These share 
 their portions with the Brahmans who are present ; 
 amongst whom a scuffle ensues, each striving for a 
 small bit of the flesh. Such morsels as they can catch 
 they tear with their hands, and devour as a sacred 
 viand [the meat of inter-communion with the gods]. 
 This practice is the more remarkable, as being the 
 only occasion in their [the Brahmans'] lives when they 
 
OCCULT SACRIFICES OF THE HINDOOS. l6l 
 
 can venture to touch animal food." "This most 
 renowned sacrifice ... is one of the six privileges 
 of the Brahmans " ; and it would seem that its offering 
 may now be directed to any one of the divinities, at 
 the preference of the offerer. Formerly there was also 
 the " Great Sacrifice of the Yajna," which is no longer 
 in use. "At this sacrifice," in its day, " every species 
 of victim was immolated ; and it is beyond doubt that 
 human beings even were offered up ; but the horse and 
 the elephant were the most common."^ So, there has 
 never been an entire absence from the Brahmanic 
 practices of an inter-communion with the gods through 
 an inter-union by blood. 
 
 Even more remarkable than this canonical sacrifice 
 of the Yajna, with its accompanying inter-communion, 
 are some of the occult sacrifices to the gods of the 
 Hindoo Pantheon, in which all the ordinaiy barriers 
 of caste are disregarded, in the un-canonical but greatly 
 prized services of inter-communion with the gods on 
 the basis of an inter-flow of blood. The offerinsfs of 
 blood-flowing sacrifices, including even the cow, are 
 made before the image of Vishnoo ; or, more probably 
 of Krishna as one of the forms of Vishnoo. The spirit- 
 uous liquors of the country are also presented as drink- 
 offerings. Then follows the inter-communion. " He 
 who administers [at the offering to the god] tastes 
 
 * Dubois's Des. of Man. and Cust. of India^ Part II., chap. xxxi. 
 14* 
 
1 62 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 each species of meat and of liquor ; after which he 
 gives permission to the worshipers to consume the 
 rest. Then may be seen men and women rushing 
 forward, tearing and devouring. One seizes a morsel, 
 and while he gnaws it, another snatches it out of his 
 hands, and thus it passes on from mouth to mouth till 
 it disappears, while fresh morsels, in succession, are 
 making the same disgusting round. The meat being 
 greedily eaten up, the strong liquors and the opium 
 [which have all been offered to the gods] are sent round. 
 All drink out of the same cup, one draining what 
 another leaves, in spite of their natural abhorrence 
 of such a practice. . . . All castes are confounded, 
 and the Brahman is not above the Pariah. . . . 
 Brahmans, Sudras, Pariahs, men and women, swill the 
 arrack which was the offering to the Saktis, regardless 
 of the same glass being used by them all, which in 
 ordinary cases would excite abhorrence. Here it is a 
 virtuous act to participate in the same morsel, and to 
 receive from each other's mouths the half-gnawn 
 flesh." 1 
 
 The fact that this service is of so disgusting a 
 character, does not lessen its importance as an illustra- 
 tion of a primitive custom degraded by successive 
 generations of defiling influences. It still stands as 
 one of the proofs of the universal custom of an 
 
 ^ Dubois's Des. of Man, and Cust. of India^ Part II., chap. xi. 
 
THE SA CRAMENT OF JUG GERNA UT. 1 63 
 
 attempted inter-communion with the gods through 
 an inter-union by blood. Indeed, there are many 
 traces, in India, of the survival of this primitive idea. 
 Referring to the worship of Krishna, under the form 
 of Jagan-natha (or Juggernaut, as the name is popu- 
 larly rendered) a recent writer on India says : " Be- 
 fore this monstrous shrine, all distinctions of caste 
 are forgotten, and even a Christian may sit down and 
 eat with a Brahman. In his work on Orissa, Dr. W. 
 W. Hunter, says, that at the ' Sacrament of the Holy 
 Food ' he has seen a Puri priest receive his food from a 
 Christian's hand. . . . This rite is evidently also a 
 survival of Buddhism [It goes a long way back of 
 that]. It is remarkable that at the shrine of Vyan- 
 koba, an obscure form of Siva, at Pandharpur, in the 
 Southern Maratha country, caste is also in abeyance, 
 all men being deemed equal in its presence. Food is 
 daily sent as a gift from the god to persons in all parts 
 of the surrounding country, and the proudest Brah- 
 man gladly will accept and partake of it from the 
 hands of the Sudra, or Mahar, who is usually its 
 bearer. There are two great annual festivals in 
 honor of Jagan-natha. . . . They are held every- 
 where ; but at Puri they are attended by pilgrims from 
 every part of India, as many as 200,ocxD often being 
 present. All the ground is holy within twenty miles 
 of the pagoda, and the establishment of priests 
 
1 64 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 amounts to 3000. The * Sacrament of the Holy Food* 
 is celebrated three times a day." ^ 
 
 Thus it is evident that the idea of inter-communion 
 with the gods has not been lost sight of in India, even 
 through the influence of Brahmanism and Booddhism 
 against the idea of divine-human inter-union by blood — 
 which is life. Indeed, this idea so pervades the relig- 
 ious thought of the Hindoos, that the commands are 
 specific in their sacred books, that a portion of all food 
 must be offered to the spirits, before any of it is 
 partaken of by the eater. " It is emphatically declared 
 that he who partakes of food before it has been offered 
 in sacrifice as above described, eats but to his own 
 damnation; "2 unless he discerns there the principle 
 of divine-human inter-communion, he eats to his own 
 spiritual destruction.^ 
 
 And just here it is well to notice an incidental item 
 of evidence that in India, as in the other lands of the 
 East, the sacrifices to the gods were in some way 
 linked with the primitive rite of human covenanting 
 by blood. An Oriental scholar has called attention to 
 the origin of the nose-ring, so commonly worn in In- 
 dia, as described in the Hindoo Paga-Vatham.* The 
 story runs, that at the incarnation of Vishnoo as 
 
 ^"The Hindu Pantheon," in Birdwood's Indian Arts^ p. 76 f. 
 
 ' Ibid.^ p. 42. 8 I Cor. 1 1 ; 29. 
 
 * See Roberts's Oriental Illus, of Scriptures^ pp. 484-489. 
 
SYMBOLISM OF THE NOSE-RING. 1 65 
 
 Krishna, the holy child's life was sought, and his 
 mother exchanged her infant for the child of another 
 woman, in order to his protection. In doing so, she 
 " bored a hole in the nose of her infant, and put a ring 
 into it as an impediment and a sign. The blood which 
 came from the wound was as a sacrifice to prevent him 
 from falling into the hand of his enemies." And, to 
 this day, the nose-ring has two names, indicative of its 
 two-fold purpose. "The first [name] is nate-kaddan, 
 which signifies * the obligation or debt a person is un- 
 der by a vow ' ; the second [name] is mooka-taddi, lit- 
 erally * nose-impediment or hindrance,' that is, to sick- 
 ness or death." The child's blood is given in cove- 
 nant obligation to the gods, and the nose-ring is the 
 token of the covenant-obligation, and a pledge of pro- 
 tected life. When a Hindoo youth who has worn a 
 nose-ring would remove it, on the occasion of his mar- 
 riage, he must do so with formal ceremonies at the 
 temple, and by the use of a liquid " which represents 
 blood," composed of saffron,^ of lime, and of water. A 
 young tree must also be planted in connection with 
 this ceremony, as in the ceremony of blood-covenant- 
 ing in some portions of the East.^ These symbolisms 
 can hardly fail to be recognized as based on the uni- 
 versal primitive rite of blood-covenanting.^ 
 
 The very earliest records of Babylon and Assyria, 
 * See page 77, j«/ra. 2Seepage53,j«/ra. 'See also page 1 94 Ej/w/^-a. 
 
1 66 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 indicate the outreaching of man for an inter-union 
 with God, or with the gods, by substitute blood, and 
 the confident inter-communion of man with God, or 
 with the gods, on the strength of this inter-union by 
 blood. There is an Akkadian poem which clearly 
 " goes back to pre-Semitic times," with its later As- 
 syrian translation, concerning the sacrifice to the gods, 
 of a first-born son.^ It says distinctly : " His offspring 
 for his life he gave." Here is obviously the idea of 
 vicarious substitution, of life for life, of the blood of 
 the son for the blood of the father, but this substitu- 
 tion does not necessarily involve the idea of an expia- 
 \ tory offering for sin ; even though it does include the 
 '■ idea of propitiation. Abraham's surrender of his 
 first-born son to God was in proof of his loving trust, 
 not of his sense of a penalty due for sin. Jephthah's 
 surrender of his daughter was on a vow of devotedness, 
 not as an exhibit of remorse, or of penitence, for unex- 
 piated guilt. In each instance, the outpouring of sub- 
 stitute blood was in evidence of a desire to be in new 
 covenant oneness with God. Thus Queen Manenko 
 and Dr. Livingstone made a covenant of blood vicar- 
 iously, by the substitution of her husband on the one 
 part, and of an attendant of Livingstone, on the other 
 part^ So, also the Akkadian king may have sought 
 
 *See Sayce's paper, in Ti-ans. Soc. Bib.Arch,,Yo\. I., Part i, pp. 25-31. 
 2 See page 13 f., supra. 
 
A TABLE OF COMMUNION, 1 67 
 
 a covenant union with his god — from whom sin had 
 separated him — by the substitute blood of his first- 
 born and best loved son. 
 
 Certain it is, that the early kings of Babylon and 
 Assyria were accustomed to make their grateful offer- 
 ings to the gods, and to share those offerings with the 
 gods, by way of inter-communion with the gods, apart 
 from any sense of sin and of its merited punishment 
 which they may have felt.^ Indeed, it is claimed, with 
 a show of reason, that the very word (surqinu) which 
 was used for " altar " in the Assyrian, was primarily 
 the word for " table " ; that, in fact, what was later 
 known as the " altar " to the gods, was originally the 
 table of communion between the gods and their wor- 
 shipers.^ There seems to be a reference to this 
 idea in the interchanged use of the words " altar " 
 and " table " by the Prophet Malachi : "And ye say, 
 Wherein have ye despised thy name ? Ye offer pol- 
 luted bread upon mine altar? And ye say, Wherein 
 have ye polluted thee? In that ye say, The table 
 of the Lord is contemptible."^ So again, in Isaiah 
 
 ^ " Whether he has overcome his enemies or the wild beasts, he 
 pours out a libation from the sacred cup," says Layard {^Nineveh 
 and its Remains, Vol. II., chap. 7) concerning the old-time King of 
 Nineveh. 
 
 2 See H. Fox Talbot's paper, in Trans. Soc. Bib^ Arch., Vol. IV., 
 
 Part I, p. 58 f. 
 
 3 Mai. 1 : 6, 7. See also Isa. 65 : n. 
 
1 68 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 65 : 1 1 : " But ye that forsake the Lord, that forget 
 my holy mountain, that prepare a table for Fortune, 
 and that fill up mingled wine unto Destiny; I will 
 destine you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down 
 to the slaughter." 
 
 See, in this connection, the Assyrian inscription of 
 Esarhaddon, the son of Sennacherib,^ in description of 
 his great palace at Nineveh : " I filled with beauties the 
 great palace of my empire, and I called it * The Palace 
 which Rivals the World.' Ashur, Ishtar of Nineveh, 
 and the gods of Assyria, all of them, I feasted within 
 it. Victims precious and beautiful I sacrificed before 
 them, and I caused them to receive my gifts. I did 
 for those gods whatever they wished."^ It is even 
 claimed by Assyrian scholars, that in this inter-com- 
 munion with the gods, worshipers might partake of 
 the flesh of animals which was forbidden to them at 
 all other times ^ — as among the Brahmans of India, 
 to-day. 
 
 In farther illustration of the truth, that inter-com- 
 munion with the gods was shown in partaking of 
 sacred food with the gods, H. Fox Talbot, the Assyri- 
 ologist, says of the ancient Assyrian inscription : 
 
 *2 Kings 19: 37; Ezra 4: 2; Isa. 37: 38. See also 1 Cor. 10: 21. 
 
 "^ Rec. of Past. III., 122 f. 
 ' Sayce's Anc. Emp. of East, p. 201 ; also, W. Robertson Smith's Old 
 Test, in Jew. Ch.y notes on Lect. xii. 
 
THE PAR SEE SACRAMENT. 1 69 
 
 "There is a fine inscription, not yet fully trans- 
 lated, describing the soul in heaven, clothed in a 
 white radiant garment, seated in the company of the 
 blessed, and fed by the gods themselves, with celestial 
 food."i 
 
 Among the Parsees, or the Zoroastrians, who inter- 
 vene, as it were, between the primitive peoples of 
 Assyria and India, and the later inhabitants of the 
 Persian empire, there prevailed the same idea of divine- 
 human inter-union through blood, and of divine-human 
 inter-communion through sharing the flesh of the prof- 
 fered and accepted sacrifice, at the altar, or at the 
 table, of the gods, Ormuzd and Ahriman. The horse 
 was a favorite substitute victim of sacrifice, among the 
 Parsees ; as also among the Hindoos and the Chinese. 
 Its blood was the means of divine-human inter-union. 
 " The flesh of the victim was eaten by the priest and 
 the worshipers ; the ' soul ' [the life, the blood], of it 
 only was enjoyed by Ormazd."^ The communion- 
 drink, in the Parsee sacrament, as still observed, is the 
 juice of the haoma, or horn. " Small bread [or wafers] 
 called Darun, of the size of a dollar, and covered with 
 a piece of meat, incense, and Haoma, or Hom," the 
 juice of the plant known in India as Soma, are used in 
 this sacrament. "The Darun and the Hom [having 
 been presented to the gods] are afterwards eaten by 
 
 ^Rec. of Past, III., 135. " Sayce's Anc. Emp. of East, p. 266. 
 
 15 
 
170 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 the priests," as in communion.^ This is sometimes 
 called the " Sacrament of the Haoma." ^ 
 
 In ancient Egypt, it seems to have been much as in 
 China, and India, and Assyria. Substitute blood was a 
 basis of inter-union between man and the gods ; and a 
 divine-human inter-communion was secured as a proof 
 and as a result of that inter-union. That it was human 
 blood which was, of old in Egypt, poured out as a 
 means of this inter-union (in some cases at least) seems 
 clear. It is declared by Manetho, and Diodorus, and 
 Athenseus, and Plutarch, and Porphyry.^ It is recog- 
 nized as proven, by Kenrick ^ and Ebers ^ and other 
 Egyptian scholars. Wilkinson, it is true, was unwill- 
 ing to accept its reality, because, in his opinion, "it is 
 quite incompatible with the character of a nation 
 whose artists thought acts of clemency towards a foe 
 worthy of record, and whose laws were distinguished 
 by that humanity which punished with death the mur- 
 der even of a slave " ; ^ and he prefers to rest on " the 
 improbability of such a custom among a civilized peo- 
 ple." Yet, a single item of proof from the monuments 
 I 
 
 * SchafF-Herzog's Encyc. of Relig. KnoivL, art. " Parseeism." 
 
 ^ Anc. Efnp. of East, p. 266. 
 
 *See Wilkinson's Anc. Egypt., III., 30, 400. 
 
 * Kenrick's Anc. Egypt, I., 369 ff. 
 
 ^ Ebers's ^Egypt. u. d. Buck. Mose's, p. 245 f. 
 
 * Wilkinson's Anc. Egypt., III., 402. 
 
COMMUNION IN EGYPT. I/I 
 
 would seem sufficient to settle this question, if it were 
 still deemed a question. The ideogram which was em- 
 ployed on the seal of the priests, authorizing the 
 slaying of an animal in sacrifice, " bore the figure of a 
 man on his knees, with his hands tied behind him, and 
 a sword pointed at his throat." ^ 
 
 Herodotus,^ describing the magnificent festival of 
 Isis, at Busiris, says that a bull was sacrificed on that 
 occasion ; and we know that in every such sacrifice 
 the blood of the victim was poured out as an oblation, 
 at the altar .^ When the duly prepared offering was 
 consumed upon the altar, those portions of the victim 
 which had been reserved were eaten by the priest and 
 others.* Herodotus says, moreover, that some of the 
 Greeks who were present at this festival, were in the 
 habit of causing their own blood to flow during the 
 consuming of the sacrifice, as if in proof of their 
 desire for inter-union with the goddess, as precedent 
 to their inter-communion with her. He says : " But 
 as many of the Karians as are dwelling in Egypt, do 
 yet more than these [native Egyptians], inasmuch as 
 
 ^ Cited from Castor, in Plutarch, in Wilkinson's Anc. Egypt., III., 407. 
 See also Ebers's ^gypt. u. d. Buck. Mose'Sy p. 246. 
 2 HisL, II., 59. 
 
 ' Wilkinson's Anc. Egypt., III., 409. See also page 102, supra. 
 
 * Wilkinson's Anc. Egypt., III., 109 ; 410 ; Kenrick's Anc. Egypt., I., 
 373. See Herodotus, Hist., II., 47. 
 
172 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 they cut their foreheads with swords ; ^ and so they 
 are shown to be foreigners and not Egyptians." ^ 
 
 It would even seem that in Egypt, as in other parts 
 of the primitive world, the prohibition of the eating 
 of many sacred animals applied to the eating of them 
 when not offered in sacrifice. Because those animals 
 became, as it were, on the altar, or on the table, of the 
 gods, a portion of the gods themselves, they must not 
 be eaten except by those who discerned in them the 
 body of the gods, and who were entitled to share 
 them in inter-communion with the gods.^ 
 
 The monumental representations of the other world 
 show the gods sharing food and drink with the souls 
 of the deceased.^ And the idea of a divine-human 
 inter-communion through the partaking by gods and 
 men of the food provided for, or accepted by, the for- 
 mer, runs all through the Egyptian record. A re- 
 markable illustration of this idea is found in an 
 extended inscription from the tomb of Setee I., whose 
 daughter is supposed to have been the finder of the 
 infant Moses. In this inscription, which is sometimes 
 called the Book of Hades, or more properly the Book 
 of Amenti, the Sun-god Ra is represented as passing 
 through Amenti — or the under world — on his noctur- 
 
 ^Hist.y II., 61. 2 See references to this custom at page 85 ff., szipra. 
 
 *See Wilkinson's Anc. Egypt.^ III., 404-406. 
 
 *Renoufs The Relig. of Anc. Egypt, pp. 138-147. 
 
HIS WORD IS BREAD. 1 73 
 
 nal circuit, and speaking words of approval to his 
 disembodied worshipers there.^ " These are they who 
 worshiped Ra on the earth, . . . who offered 
 their oblations. . . . They are [now] masters of 
 their refreshments ; they take their meat ; they seize 
 their offerings in the porch of him, whose being is 
 mysterious. . . . Ra says to them. Your offerings 
 are yours ; take your refreshment." Again and again 
 the declaration is made of "the elect," of those who are 
 greeted by Ra in Amenti : " Their food is (composed) 
 of Ra's bread ; their drink [is] of his liquor tesher [a 
 common word for " red," often standing for " blood " ^]. 
 And yet again : " Their food is to hear the word of 
 this god."^ "Their food is that of the veridical [the 
 truth-speaking] ones. Offerings are [now] made to 
 them on earth ; because the true word is in them."* 
 
 Thus there was inter-communion between man and 
 the gods in ancient Egypt, on the basis of a blood- 
 made inter-union between man and the gods ; as there 
 was also in primitive Assyria and Babylon, in primi- 
 tive India, and in primitive China. 
 
 Turning now from the far East to the far West, we 
 
 1 See Rec. of Past, X., 79-134. * See page 102 f., supra. 
 
 ' " Man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceed- 
 eth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live." (Deut. 8 : 3. See, 
 also, Matt. 4: 4; Job 23: 12; John 4: 34.) 
 
 * See John 8: 31,32; 16: 13; 17: 19. 
 
 15* 
 
174 ^^^ BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 find that Central American and South American his- 
 tory and legends tend to illustrate the same primitive 
 belief, that inter-communion with the gods was to be 
 secured by the hearty surrender of self — as evidenced 
 by the tender of personal, or of substitute blood. A 
 Guatemalan legend has its suggestion of that out- 
 reaching of man for fire from heaven, which is illus- 
 trated in the primitive and the classic myths of the 
 ages.^ The men of Guatemala were without the hea- 
 ven-born fire, and they turned, in their longing, to the 
 Quiche god, Tohil, seeking it from him, on such terms 
 as he might prescribe. " The condition finally named 
 by the god was, that they consent to * unite themselves 
 to me, under their armpit, and under their girdle, and 
 that they embrace me, Tohil ' ; a condition not very 
 clearly expressed [says a historian], but which, as 
 is shown by what follows, was an agreement to 
 worship the Quiche god, and sacrifice to him their 
 bloody and, if required, their children. They accepted 
 the condition, and received the fire."^ 
 
 In the light of the prevailing customs of the world, 
 concerning this rite of blood-covenanting, the require- 
 
 1 See R^ville's Native Relig. of Mex. and Peru, pp. 63, 163 ; Cory's 
 Anc, Frag., p. 5 ; Dubois's Des. Man. and Cust. of India, Part II., chap. 
 31 ; Tylor's Prim. Cult., II., 278 ff. ; Dorman's Orig. of Prim. Supers.^ 
 p. 1 50* Anderson's Lake Ngami, p. 220. 
 
 2 Bancroft's Native Races, V., 547 f. 
 
PARTAKING OF THE BODY AND BLOOD. 175 
 
 ments of the Quiche god were clearly based on the 
 symbolism of that rite ; as the historian did not per- 
 ceive, from his unfamiliarity with the rite. If men 
 would be in favor with that god, and would receive his 
 choicest gifts, they must unite themselves to him; 
 must enter into oneness of nature with him, by giving 
 of their blood, from " under their armpit, and under 
 their girdle " ; from the source of life, and at the issue 
 of life ; for themselves and for their seed ; and they 
 must lovingly embrace their covenant-god, accord- 
 ingly. And in the counsel given to those new 
 worshipers, it was said : " Make first your thanksgiv- 
 ing ; prepare the holes in your ears ; [blood was drawn 
 from the ears, as well as from other parts of the body, 
 in Central American worship ; indeed one of their 
 festivals was ' the feast of piercing the ears,' suggest- 
 ing a similar religious custom in India ;^] pierce 
 your elbows ; and offer sacrifice. This will be your 
 act of gratitude before God." ^ 
 
 Among all these aboriginal races of Central Amer- 
 ica, not only was the flesh of the sacrificial offerings 
 eaten as in communion with the gods ; but the blood 
 of the offerings, and also the blood of the offerers 
 themselves, was sometimes sprinkled upon, or com- 
 mingled with, those articles of food, which were made 
 
 * Monier Williams's Hinduism^ p. 60. 
 » Bancroft's Native Races, V., 548. 
 
176 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 a means of spiritual inter-communion with their deities. 
 Cakes of maize sprinkled with their own blood, drawn 
 from " uhder the girdle," during their religious wor- 
 ship, were " distributed and eaten as blessed bread." ^ 
 Moreover, an image of their god, made with certain 
 seeds from the first fruits of their temple gardens, with 
 a certain gum, and with the blood of human sacrifices, 
 was partaken of by them reverently, under the name, 
 " Food of our soul." ^ At the conclusion of one of 
 the great feasts of the year at Cuzco, in Peru, the wor- 
 shipers " received the loaves of maize and the sacrifi- 
 cial blood, which they ate as a symbol of brotherhood 
 with the Ynca " ^ — who claimed to be of divine blood 
 and of divine power. 
 
 Herrera describes one of these ceremonies of inter- 
 communion with the gods, by means of a blood-mois- 
 tened representation of a god. "An idol made of all 
 the varieties of the seeds and grain of the country, 
 was made, and moistened with the blood of children 
 and virgins. This idol was broken into small bits, 
 and given by way of communion to men and women 
 to eat ; who, to prepare for that festival, bathed, and 
 
 * Bancroft's Native Races, II., 710. 
 
 * Mendieta's Hist. Eccles. Ind., p. 108 f. ; cited in Spencer's Des. 
 Soc, II., 20. 
 
 ' Acosta's Jlist. Nat. Mor. Ind., Bk. V., chap. 27, cited in Spencer's 
 Des. Soc.f II., 26. 
 
A DEVICE OF SATAN. I 77 
 
 dressed their heads, and scarce slept all the night. 
 They prayed, and as soon as it was day [they ] were 
 all in the temple to receive that communion, with such 
 singular silence and devotion, that though there was 
 an infinite multitude, there seemed to be nobody. If 
 any of the idol was left, the priests ate it." ^ 
 
 So marked, indeed, was the sacramental character 
 of these Peruvian communion feasts, that a Spanish 
 Jesuit missionary to that country, three centuries ago, 
 was disposed to see in them an invention of Satan, 
 rather than a survival of a world-wide primitive cus- 
 tom. He said : '* That which is most admirable in the 
 hatred and presumption of Sathan is, that he not only 
 counterfeited in idolatry and sacrifices, but also in 
 certain ceremonies, our sacraments, which Jesus Christ 
 our Lord instituted, and the Holy Church uses; hav- 
 ing, especially, pretended to imitate, in some sort, the 
 sacrament of the communion, which is the most high 
 and divine of all others." ^ 
 
 Yet again, a prisoner of war would be selected to 
 represent one of the gods, and so to be partaken of, 
 in inter-communion through his blood. He would 
 receive the name of the god ; and for a longer or a 
 
 ^Herrera's Gen. Hist, of America,ll., 379; cited in Dorman's Orig. 
 of Prim. Supers. y p. 152 f. 
 
 2 Acosta's Hist. Nat. Mor. Ind., Bk. V., chap. 23 ; cited in Prescott's 
 Conquest of Feruy I., 108, note. 
 
178 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 shorter time, — " sometimes a year, sometimes six 
 months, and sometimes less," — he would be min- 
 istered to, and would receive honors and reverence as 
 a god. Then he would be offered in sacrifice. His 
 heart would be presented to the god. His blood 
 would be employed reverently — as was the case with 
 all sacrifices — in token of covenanting. His flesh 
 would be eaten by the worshipers of the god whom 
 he represented.^ This " rite of dressing and worship- 
 ing the sacrifices like the deities themselves, is related 
 as being performed at the festivals of many gods and 
 goddesses." ^ 
 
 A remarkable illustration of the unity of the race, 
 and of the universal sweep of these customs in con- 
 junction with the symbolism of the blood-covenant, 
 is found in the similarity of this last named Central 
 American practice, with a practice charged upon the 
 Jews by Apion, as replied to by Josephus. The charge 
 is, that "Antiochus found, upon entering the temple 
 [at Jerusalem], a man lying upon a bed, with a table 
 before him, set out with all the delicacies that either 
 sea or land could afford." This captive's story was : 
 " I am a Greek, and wandering up and down in quest 
 
 ^Herrera's Gen. Hist., III., 207 f. ; cited in Spencer's Des. Soc. 
 IL, 20. 
 
 2 Spencer's Des. Soc, IL, 20. See also Southey's Hist, of Bra- 
 zil, II., 370. 
 
SACRIFICING AND FEASTING. 1 79 
 
 of the means of subsistence, was taken up by some 
 foreigners, brought to this place, and shut up. . . . 
 They gave me to understand, that the Jews had a cus- 
 tom among them, once a year, upon a certain day pre- 
 fixed, to seize upon a Grecian stranger, and when they 
 had kept him fattening one whole year, to take him 
 into a wood, and offer him up for a sacrifice according 
 to their own form, taking a taste of his blood, with a 
 horrid oath to live and die sworn enemies to the 
 Greeks."^ Baseless as was this charge against the 
 Jews, its very framing indicates the existence in the 
 East, — ^possibly among the Phoenicians, — in days prior 
 to the Christian era, as well as in pre-historic times in 
 the West, of the custom of seeking inter-communion 
 with God, or with the gods, by the tasting of the blood 
 of a substitute human victim, offered in sacrifice to 
 God, or to the gods. 
 
 At the two extremes of the world, to-day, among 
 the primitive Bed'ween of the Desert of Arabia, and 
 among the primitive Indians of the prairies of North 
 America, there lingers a trace of this world-wide idea, 
 that the body of an offering covenanted to God by its 
 blood, can be a means of inter-communion with God 
 in its eating. Both the Bed'ween and the Indians con- 
 nect in their minds the fact of sacrificing and of feast- 
 ing ; and they speak of the two things interchangeably. 
 
 ^ Contra Apionem^ H-j 7- 
 
l8o THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 An Arab, when he makes a feast, speaks of sacri- 
 ficing the animal which is the main feature of that 
 feast. I saw an Arab wedding at Castle Nakhl, on 
 the Arabian Desert. The bridegroom sacrificed a 
 young dromedary in honor of the occasion, and to 
 furnish, as it were, the sacramental feast. The blood 
 of the victim was poured out unto the Lord, by being 
 buried in the earth — as the Chinese bury the blood of 
 their sacrifices in the Temple of Heaven. Portions 
 of the dromedary were eaten by all the guests, and a 
 portion was sent to the stranger encamping near them. 
 And that is the common method of Arab sacrificing 
 and feasting. 
 
 There is much of similarity in the ways of the Arabs 
 and of the Indians. The Indian feasts are largely 
 feasts of inter-communion with the gods. Whether it 
 were the human victim, of former times, whose blood 
 was drunk and whose heart was eaten, as preliminary 
 to the feasting on his entire remains ; ' or, whether it 
 be the preserved hearts and tongues of the buffaloes, 
 which now form the basis of some of the sacred feasts 
 of the Indians;^ — the idea of divine-human inter- 
 communion was and is inseparable from the idea of 
 the feast. The first portion of the feast is always 
 proffered to the spirits, in order to make it, in a pecu- 
 
 ^ See pages 105 f., 132, supra. 
 2 See Clark's Indian Sign Language^ s. v., "Feast." 
 
ONL Y EDIBLE ANIMALS SA CRIFICED. 1 8 1 
 
 liar sense, a sacred feast. Then, each person having 
 a part in the feast is expected to eat the full share 
 assigned to him/ unless indeed he be permitted to 
 carry a remainder of it away " as sacred food " for the 
 benefit of the others.^ 
 
 And so the common root-idea shows itself, in lesser 
 or in larger degree, all the world over, and in all the 
 ages. It is practically universal. 
 
 One of the many proofs that the idea of a blood- 
 covenanting sacrifice is that of a loving inter-commu- 
 nion between man and God, or the gods, is the fact 
 that the animals offered in sacrifice are always those 
 animals which are suitable for eating, whether their 
 eating is allowed at other times than when sacrificed, 
 or not "Animals offered in sacrifice [at the Temple 
 of Heaven, in China]," says Dr. Edkins, " must be 
 those in use for human food. There is no trace in 
 China of any distinction between clean and unclean 
 animals, as furnishing a principle in selecting them for 
 
 ^"Should he fail [to eat his portion], the host would be outraged, 
 the community shocked, and the spirits roused to vengeance. Disaster 
 would befall the nation — death, perhaps, the individual." "A feaster 
 unable to do his full part, might, if he could, hire another to aid him ; 
 otherwise he must remain in his place till the work was done." (Park- 
 man's Jesuits in No. Am., p. xxxviii.) 
 
 2 "At some feasts guests are permitted to take home some small por- 
 tions for their children as sacred food, especially good for them because it 
 came from a feast." (Clark's Ind. Sign Lang., p. i68.) 
 
 i6 
 
1 82 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 sacrifice. That which is good for food is good for 
 sacrifice, is the principle guiding in their selection." ^ 
 The same principle has been already noted as prevail- 
 ing in the sacrifices of India, Assyria, and Egypt; 
 although in these last named countries many animals 
 which are " good for food " are not " in use for human 
 food " except as they are served up at the table of the 
 gods.^ In the primitive New World it was the same as 
 in the primitive Old World. Referring to the sacrifices 
 in ancient Peru, Reville says, " It should be noted that 
 they only sacrificed edible animals, which [as he would 
 understand it] is a clear proof that the intention was 
 to feed the gods " ; ^ and it certainly seems a clear 
 proof that the intention was to feed the worshipers 
 who shared the sacred food. 
 
 That this sharing of the proffered and accepted sac- 
 rifice, in divine-human inter-communion, was counted 
 a sharing of the divine nature, by the communicant, 
 seems evident, as widely as the world-wide custom 
 extended. The inter-union was wrought by inter- 
 mingled blood ; the inter-communion gave a common 
 progress to the common nature. The blood gave com- 
 mon life ; the flesh gave common nourishment. " Al- 
 most everywhere," says Reville,"* "but especially 
 
 ^ Edkins's Relig. in China, p. 22, note. 
 
 ' See pages 159, 168, 172, supj-a. 
 
 ^ R6ville's Native Relig. of Mex. and Peru, p. 1 83. *• Bid., p. 76. 
 
THE BASIS OF CANNIBALISM. 1 83 
 
 among the Aztecs, we find the notion, that the victim 
 devoted to a deity, and therefore destined to pass into 
 his substance, and to become by assimilation an 
 integral part of him, is already co-substantial with 
 him, has already become part of him ; so that the 
 worshiper in his turn, by himself assimilating a part 
 of the victim's flesh, unites himself in substance 
 with the divine being. And now observe [continues 
 this student in the science of comparative religion] 
 that in all religions the longing, whether grossly 
 or spiritually apprehended, to enter into the closest 
 possible union with the adored being, is fundamental. 
 This longing is inseparable from the religious senti- 
 ment itself, and becomes imperious wherever that 
 sentiment is warm ; and this consideration is enough 
 to convince us that it is in harmony with the most 
 exalted tendencies of our nature, but may likewise, in 
 times of ignorance, give rise to the most deplorable 
 aberrations." This observation is the more note- 
 worthy, in that it is made by so pronounced a ration- 
 alist as Reville. 
 
 It would even seem to be indicated, by all the trend 
 of historic facts, that cannibalism — gross, repulsive, 
 inhuman cannibalism — had its basis in man's perver- 
 sion of this outreaching of his nature (whether that 
 outreaching were first directed by revelation, or by 
 divinely given innate promptings) after inter-union and 
 
184 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 inter-communion with God ; after life in God's life, and 
 after growth through the partaking of God's food, or 
 of that food which represents God. The studies of 
 many observers in widely different fields have led both 
 the rationalistic and the faith-filled student to conclude, 
 that in their sphere of observation it was a religious 
 sentiment, and not a mere animal craving, — either 
 through a scarcity of food, or from a spirit of malig- 
 nity, — that was at the bottom of cannibalistic practices 
 there; even if that field were an exception to the 
 world's fields generally. And now we have a glimpse 
 of the nature and workings of that religious sentiment 
 which prompted cannibalism wherever it has been 
 practised. 
 
 Man longed for oneness of life with God. Oneness 
 of life could come only through oneness of blood. 
 To secure such oneness of life, man would give of his 
 own blood, or of that substitute blood which could 
 best represent himself. Counting himself in oneness 
 of life with God, through the covenant of blood, man 
 has sought for nourishment and growth through par- 
 taking of that food which in a sense was life, and which 
 in a larger sense gave life, because it was the food of 
 God, and because it was. the food which stood for God. 
 In misdirected pursuance of this thought, men have 
 given the blood of a consecrated human victim to 
 bring themselves into union with God ; and then they 
 
SUBSTITUTES FOR HUMAN FLESH. 1 85 
 
 have eaten of the flesh of that victim which had sup- 
 plied the blood which made them one with God. This 
 seems to be the basis of fact in the premises ; what- 
 ever may be the understood philosophy of the facts. 
 Why men reasoned thus, may indeed be in question. 
 That they reasoned thus, seems evident. 
 
 Certain it is, that where cannibalism has been stud- 
 ied in modern times, it has commonly been found to 
 have had originally, a religious basis ; and the infer- 
 ence is a fair one, that it must have been the same 
 wherever cannibalism existed in earlier times. Even 
 in some regions where cannibalism has long since 
 been prohibited, there are traditions and traces of its 
 former existence as a purely religious rite. Thus, in 
 India, little images of flour paste or clay, are now 
 made for decapitation, or other mutilation, in the tem- 
 ples,^ in avowed imitation of human beings, who were 
 once offered and eaten there. Referring to the fre- 
 quency of human sacrifices in India, in earlier and in 
 later times, and to these emblematic substitutes for 
 them, now employed, the Abbe Dubois says : ^ "In 
 the kingdom of Tanjore there is a village called 
 Tirushankatam Kudi, where a solemn festival is cele- 
 brated every year, at which great multitudes of people 
 assemble , each votary bringing with him one of those 
 
 ^ See page 176 f., sup-a. 
 
 ^Pes. of Man, and Cust. of Indiay Part III., chap. 7. 
 16* 
 
1 86 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 little images of dough, into the temple, dedicated to 
 Vishnu, and there cutting off the head in honor of 
 that god. This ceremony, which is annually per- 
 formed with great solemnity, was instituted in com- 
 memoration of a famous event which happened in that 
 village. 
 
 " Two virtuous persons lived there, Sirutenden and 
 his wife Vanagata-ananga, whose faith and piety 
 Vishnu was desirous to prove. He appeared to them, 
 and demanded no other service of them but that of 
 sacrificing, with their own hands, their only and much 
 beloved son Siralen, and serving up his flesh for a 
 repast. The parents with heroic courage, surmounting 
 the sentiments and chidings of nature, obeyed without 
 hesitation, and submitted to the pleasure of the god. 
 So illustrious an act of devotion is held worthy of this 
 annual commemoration, at which the sacrifice is em- 
 blematically renewed. The same barbarous custom is 
 preserved in many parts of India ; and the ardor with 
 which the people engage in it leaves room to suspect 
 that they still regret the times when they would have 
 been at liberty to offer up to their sanguinary gods, 
 the reality, instead of the symbol." 
 
 Such a legend as this, taken in conjunction with the 
 custom which perpetuates it, and with all the known 
 history of human sacrifices, in India and elsewhere, 
 furnishes evidence that cannibalism as a religious rite 
 
FEEJEE AND MOHAWK CANNIBALISM. 1 87 
 
 was known to the ancestors of the present dwellers in 
 India. And as it is in the far East, so it is in the far 
 West ; and so, also, in mid-ocean. 
 
 Thus, for example, in the latter field, among the 
 degraded Feejee Islanders, where one would be least 
 likely to look for the sway of a religious sentiment 
 in the more barbarous customs of that barbarous 
 people, this truth has been recognized by Christian mis- 
 sionaries, who would view the relics of heathenism with 
 no undue favor. The Rev. Messrs. Williams and Cal- 
 vert, — the one after thirteen years, and the other after 
 seventeen years of missionary service there, — said on 
 this subject: "Cannibalism is a part of the Fijian re- 
 ligion, and the gods are described as delighting in 
 human flesh." And again : " Human flesh is still the 
 most valued offering [to the gods], and their * drink 
 offerings of blood ' are still the most acceptable [offer- 
 ings to the gods] in some parts of Fiji." ^ 
 
 It was the same among the several tribes of the North 
 American Indians, according to the most trustworthy 
 testimony. A Dutch clergyman. Dominie Megapolen- 
 sis, writing two centuries ago from near the present 
 site of Albany, "Ipears the strongest testimony to the 
 ferocity with which his friends, the Mohawks treated 
 their prisoners, . . . and is very explicit as to 
 
 1 See William and Calvert's Fiji and the Fijiansy pp. 35 f., 161- 
 166, 181 f. 
 
1 88 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 cannibalism. ' The common people/ he says ^ eat the 
 arms, buttocks, and trunk ; but the chiefs eat the head 
 and the heart' This feast was of a religious charac- 
 ter." ^ Parkman says, of the " hideous scene of feast- 
 ing [which] followed the torture of a prisoner," " it 
 was, among the Hurons, partly an act of vengeance, 
 and partly a religious rite." '^ He cites evidence, also, 
 that there was cannibalism among the Miamis, where 
 " the act had somewhat of a religious character [and], 
 was attended with ceremonial observances." ^ 
 
 Of the religious basis of cannibalism among the 
 primitive peoples of Central and South America, stu- 
 dents seem agreed. Dorman who has carefully col- 
 lated important facts on this subject from varied sources, 
 and has considered them in their scientific bearings, 
 is explicit in his conclusions at this point. Reviewing 
 all the American field, he says : " I have dwelt longer 
 upon the painful subject of cannibalism than might 
 seem desirable, in order to show its religious character 
 and prevalence everywhere. Instead of being confined 
 to savage peoples, as is generally supposed, it prevailed 
 to a greater extent and with more horrible rites among 
 the most civilized. Its religious inception was the 
 cause of this." ^ Again, he says, of the peoples of 
 
 ^ Cited in Parkman's Jesuits in No. Am., p. 228, note. 
 
 ' 3id.^ p. xxxix. 3 Ibid., p. xl., note. 
 
 ^Origin of Prim. Supers., p. 151 f. 
 
VICTIMS ON THE TABLES OF THE GODS. 1 89 
 
 Mexico and of the countries south of it: "All 
 the Nahua nations practised this religious canni- 
 balism. That cannibalism as a source of food, un- 
 connected with religious rites, was ever practised, 
 there is little evidence. Sahagun and Las Casas re- 
 gard the cannibalism of the Nahuas as an abhorrent 
 feature of their religion, and not as an unnatural ap- 
 petite." ^ 
 
 Reville, treating of the native religions of Mexico 
 and Peru comes to a similar conclusion with Dorman ; 
 and he argues that the state of things which was there 
 was the same the world over, so far as it related to 
 cannibalism. " Cannibalism," he says,^ "which is now 
 restricted to a few of the savage tribes who have re- 
 mained closest to the animal life, was once universal 
 to our race. For no one would ever have conceived 
 the idea of offering to the gods a kind of food which 
 excited nothing but disgust and horror." In this sug- 
 gestion, Reville indicates his conviction that the primal 
 idea of an altar was a table of blood-bought communion. 
 " Human sacrifices " however, he goes on to say, "pre- 
 vailed in many places when cannibalism had completely 
 disappeared from the habits and tastes of the popula- 
 tion. Thus the Semites of Western Asia, and the 
 f ivaite Hindus, the Celts, and some of the populations 
 
 ^ Origin of Prim, Supers.^ p. 150. 
 2 Native Relig. in Mex. and Ferti, p. 75 f. 
 
190 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 of Greece and Italy, long after they had renounced 
 cannibalism, still continued to sacrifice human beings 
 to their deities." And he might have added, that some 
 savage peoples continued cannibalism when the relig- 
 ious idea of its beginning had been almost swept away 
 entirely by the brutalism of its inhuman nature and 
 tendencies. Referring to the date of the conquest of 
 Mexico, he says ; " Cannibalism, in ordinary life, was 
 no longer practised. The city of Mexico underwent 
 all the horrors of famine during the siege conducted 
 by Fernando Cortes. When the Spaniards finally en- 
 tered the city, they found the streets strewn with 
 corpses, which is a sufficient proof that human flesh 
 was not eaten even in dire extremities. And, never- 
 theless, the Aztecs not only pushed human sacrifices 
 to a frantic extreme, but they were ritual cannibals^ 
 that is to say, there were certain occasions on which 
 they ate the flesh of the human victims they had 
 immolated." ^ 
 
 And as it was in India and in America and in the 
 Islands of the Sea ; so it seems to have been wherever 
 the primitive idea of cannibalism as a prevalent custom 
 has been intelligently sought out.^ 
 
 1 Native Relig. of Mex. and Peru, p. 76. 
 2 See references to cannibalism as a religious rite among the Khonds 
 of Orissa, the people of Sumatra, etc., in Adams's Curiosities of Super- 
 stition. 
 
DRINKING THE BLOOD OF GRAPES. 19I 
 7. SYMBOLIC SUBSTITUTES FOR BLOOD. 
 
 As the primitive and more natural method of com- 
 mingling bloods, in the blood-covenant, by sucking 
 each other's veins, or by an inter-transference of 
 blood from the mutually opened veins, was in many 
 regions superseded by the symbolic laving, or sprink- 
 ling, or anointing, with blood ; and as the blood of the 
 lower animals was often substituted, vicariously, for 
 human blood ; — so the blood and wine which were 
 commingled for mutual drinking in the covenant-rite, 
 or which were together poured out in libation, when 
 the covenant was between man and the Deity, came, it 
 would appear, to be represented, in many cases, by 
 the wine alone. First, we find men pledging each 
 other in a sacred covenant, in the inter-drinking of 
 each other's blood mingled with wine. They called 
 their covenant-draught, " assiratum," or " vinum assira- 
 tum " ; " wine, covenant-filled." By and by, appar- 
 ently, they came to count simple wine — " the blood of 
 grapes " ^ — as the representative of blood and wine, in 
 many forms of covenanting. 
 
 This mutual drinking, as a covenant-pledge, has been 
 continued as an element in the marriage ceremony, the 
 world over, down to the present time. It would even 
 
 ^Gen. 49: II; Deut. 32: 14; Ecclesiasticus 39: 26; 50: 15; 
 I Mace. 6 : 34. 
 
192 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 seem that the gradual changes in the methods of this 
 symboHc rite could be tracked, through its various 
 forms in this ceremony, in different portions of the 
 world. Among the wide-spreading 'Anazeh Bed'ween, 
 the pouring out of a blood libation is still the mode 
 of completing the marriage-covenant. "When the 
 marriage day is fixed," says Burckhardt,^ " the bride- 
 groom comes with a lamb in his arms to the tent of 
 the father of his bride, and then, before witnesses, he 
 cuts its throat. As soon as the blood falls upon the 
 earth, the marriage ceremony is regarded as com- 
 plete." Among the Bed'ween of Sinai, as Palmer tells 
 us,^ the bride is sprinkled with the blood of the lamb, 
 before she is surrendered to the bridegroom. Lane's 
 mention of the prominence of outpoured blood at the 
 weddings of the Copts in Cairo, has already been 
 cited.^ Among the Arabs, since the days of Muham- 
 mad, wine has been generally abjured, and coffee now 
 commonly takes its place as a drink, in all ordinary 
 conferences for covenanting. 
 
 In Borneo, among the Dayaks, the bride and the 
 bridegroom sit side by side, facing the rising sun. Their 
 parents then besprinkle them with the blood of some 
 animal, and also with water. " Each being next presented 
 with a cup of arrack, they mutually pour half into each 
 
 * In Beduinen und Wahaby, p. %b f. 
 ^Desert of the Exodus^ I., 90. ^ See page 72, supra. 
 
THE FIXING POINT OF THE COMPACT. 1 93 
 
 other's cup, take a draught, and exchange vessels." ^ 
 In Burmah, among the Karens, water is poured upon 
 the bride as she enters the bridegroom's house. When 
 she is received by the bridegroom, "each one then 
 gives the other to drink, and each says to the other, 
 * Be faithful to thy covenant.' This is the proper mar- 
 riage ceremony, and the parties are now married." ^ 
 
 The blood of an ox, or a cow, is caused to flow at 
 the door of the bride's house, as a part of the marriage 
 ceremony, in Namaqua Land.^ A similar custom 
 prevails among the Kafirs of Natal ; and an observer 
 has said of this blood-flowing, in the covenanting 
 rite: "This appears to be the fixing point of the 
 ceremony " ; this is " the real matrimonial tie." ^ 
 
 Again it is the sharing from the same dish in drink- 
 ing, as well as in eating, that the bride and the bride- 
 groom covenant in marriage, in the Feejee Islands.^ 
 The liquor that is made the common draught, as a 
 substitute for the primitive blood-potion, is commonly 
 the spirituous drink of the region ; whether that drink 
 be wine, or arrack, or whiskey, or beer. The symbol- 
 ism is the same in every case. 
 
 ^ Wood's Wedding Day, p. 144. 
 2 Mason, in Journ. of Asiat. Soc. of Bengal, Vol. XXXV., Part 11.^ 
 p. 17; cited in Spencer's Des. Soc, V,, 9. 
 
 ^ Andersson's Lake Ngami, p. 220 f. 
 
 * Shooter's Kafirs of Natal, p. 77. 
 
 ^Williams and Calvert's Fiji and the Fijians, p. 134. 
 
 17 
 
194 ^^^ BLOOD COVENANT, 
 
 In the Sanskrit, the word asrij signifies both "blood," 
 and "saffron."* In the Hindoo wedding ceremony, 
 in Malabar, " a dish of a liquid like blood, made of 
 saffron and lime," is held over the heads of the bride 
 and groom. When the ceremony is concluded, the 
 newly married couple sprinkle the spectators with this 
 blood-like mixture;^ which seems, indeed, not only 
 here but in many other cases, in India, to have be- 
 come a substitute for the covenanting blood. Refer- 
 ence has already been made to its use in connection 
 with the covenant of the nose-ring ; and the saffron 
 colored cord of the wedding necklace, among the Brah- 
 mans, has also been mentioned.^ 
 
 A still more remarkable illustration of this saffron 
 mixture in lieu of blood, in formal covenanting, in 
 India, is found in its use in the rite of " adoption." 
 In India, as elsewhere throughout the East, the desire 
 of every parent to have a son is very strong. A son 
 is longed for, to inherit the parental name and posses- 
 sions, to perform the funeral rites and the annual cere- 
 monies in honor of his parents ; and, indeed, " it is 
 said in the Dattaka-Mimansa, ' Heaven awaits not one 
 who is destitute of a son.' " When, therefore, parents 
 have not a son of their own, they often formally adopt 
 one; and, in this ceremony, saffron-water seems to 
 
 ^ See Monier Williams's Sanskrit Dictionary, s. v. 
 2 See Pike's Sub- Tropical Rambles^ p. 1 98. ' See pages 7 7, 1 65 , supra. 
 
WATER-OF-SAFFRON CHILDREN. 195 
 
 take the place of blood, in the sacred and indissoluble 
 covenant of transfer.^ So prominent indeed is this 
 element of the saffron-water drinking — ^as the substi- 
 tute for blood-drinking — in the covenant of adoption, 
 that the adopted children of parents are commonly- 
 spoken of as their " water-of-saffron children." " Is 
 it good to adopt the child, and ^\n^ it saffron-water ? " 
 is a question that " occurs eight times in the book of 
 fate called Saga-thevan-sasteram." Formal sacrifices 
 precede the ceremony of adoption, and mutual feast- 
 ing follows it. The natural mother of the child, in 
 his transfer to his new parents by adoption, hands 
 with him a dish of consecrated saffron-water; and 
 both the child and the blood-symbol are received by 
 the adopting father, with his declaration that the son is 
 now to enter into all that belongs to that father. 
 " Then he and his wife, pouring a little saffron water 
 into the hollow of their hands, and dropping a little 
 into that of the adoptive child, pronounce aloud be- 
 fore the assembly: *We have acquired this child to 
 our stem, and we incorporate him into it' Upon 
 which they drink the saffron-water, and rising up, 
 make a profound obeisance to the assembly ; to which 
 the officiating Brahmans reply by the word, ' Asirva- 
 
 ^This Oriental custom gives an added meaning to the suggestion, 
 that Christ was sent to bring us to his Father, " that we might receive 
 the adoption of sons " (Gal. 4:5). 
 
196 THE BLOOD COVENANT, 
 
 dam.' " * It seems to me in every way probable, that 
 in primitive times the blood of the child adopted, and 
 of the parents adopting him, was partaken of by the 
 three parties (as now throughout the East, in the case 
 of the blood-covenanting of friends), in order that the 
 child and his new parents might be literally of one 
 blood. But, with the prejudice which grew up against 
 blood-drinking, in India, the saffron-water came to be 
 used as a substitute for blood ; even as the blood of 
 the grape came to be used instead of human blood, in 
 many other portions of the world. 
 
 In China, an important rite in the marriage cere- 
 mony is the drinking of " the wedding wine," from 
 " two singularly shaped goblets, sometimes connected 
 together by a red silk, or red cotton, cord, several 
 feet long." After their worship of their ancestral 
 tablets, the bride and the bridegroom stand face to 
 face. " One of the female assistants takes the two 
 goblets . . . from the table, and having partially 
 filled them with a mixture of wine and honey, she 
 pours some of their contents from one [goblet] into 
 the other, back and forth several times. She then 
 holds one to the mouth of the groom, and the other to 
 
 * The citations above made are from Roberts's Oriental Jllttstrations 
 of the Scriptures f p. 574, and from Dubois's Des. of Man. and Cust. 
 of Indiay Part II., chap. 22 ; the latter being from the Directory or 
 Ritual of the Purohitas. 
 
A WELCOMING CUP. 1 97 
 
 the mouth of the bride ; who continue to face each 
 other, and who then sip a Httle of the wine. She 
 then changes the goblets, and the bride sips out of the 
 one just used by the groom, and the groom sips out 
 of the one just used by the bride, the goblets often- 
 times remaining tied together [by the red cord]. 
 Sometimes she uses one goblet [interchanging its use 
 between the two parties] in giving the wine."^ The 
 Rev. Chester Holcombe, who has been a missionary 
 in China for a dozen years or more, writes me explicitly : 
 " I have been told that in ancient times blood was act- 
 ually used instead of the wine now used as a substi- 
 tute," in this wedding-cup of covenanting. 
 
 Again, Professor Douglas says,^ that for a thousand 
 years or so, it has been claimed that, at the birth of 
 each two persons who are to be married, the red cord 
 invisibly binds their feet together; which is only another 
 way of saying that their lives are divinely inter-linked, 
 as by the covenant of blood. 
 
 In Central America, among the Chibchas, it was a 
 primitive custom for the bridegroom to present him- 
 self by night, after preliminary bargainings, at the 
 door of his intended father-in-law's home, and there 
 let his presence be known. Then the bride would 
 come out to him, bringing a large gourd of chica, a 
 fermented drink made from the juice of Indian corn; 
 
 1 Doolittle's Social Life of the ChinesCy I., 85-87. « China^ p. 72 f. 
 17* 
 
198 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 " and coming close to him, she first tasted it herself, 
 and then gave it to him. He drank as much as he 
 could; and thus the marriage was concluded."^ 
 Among the Bheels of India, the drinking of the cove- 
 nant is between the representatives of the bridegroom, 
 and the parents of the bride, at the time of the be- 
 trothal ; but this is quite consistent with the fact that 
 the bride herself is not supposed to have a primary 
 part in the covenant.^ It is much the same also among 
 the Laplanders.^ 
 
 Among the Georgians and Circassians,'' and also 
 among the Russians,^ the officiating priest, at a mar- 
 riage ceremony, drinks from a glass of wine, and then 
 the bride and the groom drink three times, each, from 
 the same glass. The Galatians wedded, with a pocu- 
 lum conjugii, " a wedding cup." ^ In Greece, the mar- 
 riage ceremony concludes by the bride and the groom 
 "drinking wine out of one cup." ^ In Switzerland^ 
 formerly, the clergymen " took two glasses of wine, 
 mixed their contents, and gave one glass to the bride, 
 
 ^ Piedrahita's Hist, New Granada, Bk. I., chap. 6; cited in Spencer's 
 Des. Soc, II., 34. 
 
 * Malcolm, in Trans. Royal Asiat. Soc, I., ^y, cited in Spencer's 
 Des. Soc, v., 8. 
 
 * Wood's Wedding Day, p. 142. * 3id., p. 66 f. 
 
 * Jbid., p. 124 f. ^ Rous and Bogan's Archceologice Attic ae, p. 1 67. 
 
 ' Wood's Wedding Day, pp. 36, 39. 
 
THE AGREEMENT BOTTLE. 199 
 
 and the other to the bridegroom." ^ Among European 
 Jews in olden time, the officiating rabbi, having blessed 
 a glass of wine, tasted it himself, and then gave it first 
 to the one and then to the other of the parties cove- 
 nanting in marriage.^ 
 
 This custom of covenanting in the wine-cup, at a 
 wedding, is said to have come into England from the 
 ancient Goths.^ Its symbolical significance and its 
 exceptional importance, seems to have been generally- 
 recognized. Ben Jonson calls the wedding-wine a 
 " knitting cup " ^ — an inter-binding cup. And a later 
 poet asks, forcefully : 
 
 "What priest can join two lovers' hands. 
 But wine must seal the marriage bands ? " ^ 
 
 In Ireland, as in Lapland and in India, it was at the 
 betrothal, instead of at the wedding, that the covenant- 
 ing-cup — or the " agreement bottle " as it was called — 
 was shared ; and not unnaturally strong usquebaugh, 
 or " water of life," was there substituted for wine — as 
 the representative of life-blood.^ 
 
 In Scotland, as in Arabia and in Borneo, the use of 
 blood in conjunction with the use of a wedding-cup 
 has continued down to recent times. The " agree- 
 ment bottle," or " the bottling," as it was sometimes 
 called, preceded the wedding ceremony proper. At 
 
 1 Wood's Wedding Day, p. 151. ^ Ibid., pp. 22, 23. 
 
 » Ibid.y p. 247. * Ibid., p. 247. ^ Ibid., p. 248. « Ibid., p. 173. 
 
200 THE BLOOD COVENANT, 
 
 the wedding, the blood of a cock was shed at the 
 covenanting feast. A reference to this is found in 
 " The Wowing [the Wooing or the Vowing ?] of Jok 
 and Jynny," among the most ancient remains of Scot- 
 tish minstrelsy : 
 
 " Jok tuk Jynny be the hand, 
 
 And cryd ane feist, and slew ane cok, 
 And maid a brydell up alland ; 
 
 Now haif I gottin your Jynny, quoth Jok." ^ 
 
 Among the ancient Romans, as also among the 
 Greeks, the outpouring of sacrificial blood, and the 
 mutual drinking of wine, were closely linked, in the 
 marriage ceremony. When the substitute victim was 
 ready for slaying, " the soothsayer drank wine out of 
 an earthen, or wooden, chalice, called in Latin, simpu- 
 lum, or simpuvium. It was in fashion much like our 
 ewers, when we pour water into the basin. This cha- 
 lice was afterward carried about to all the people, that 
 they also might libare, that is, lightly taste thereof; 
 which rite hath been called libation." The remainder 
 of the wine from the chalice was poured on to the 
 victim, which was then slain ; its blood being carefully 
 preserved. And these ceremonies preceded the mar- 
 riage feast.^ The wedding wine-drinking is now, how- 
 ever, all that remains of them. 
 
 1 Ross's The Book of Scottish Poems j I., 2 1 8. 
 2 Godwyn's Rom. Historiae, p. 66 f. 
 
DRINKING HEALTHS. 20I 
 
 Indeed, it would seem that the common custom of 
 " drinking healths," or of persons " pledging " each 
 other in a glass of wine, is but a degenerate modifica- 
 tion, or a latest vestige, of the primitive rite of cove- 
 nanting in a sacred friendship, by means of commin- 
 gled bloods shared in a wine-cup. Certainly this cus- 
 tom prevailed among the old Norsemen, and among 
 the ancient Romans and Greeks. That it originally 
 included an idea of a possible covenant with Deity, 
 and of a spiritual fellowship, is indicated in the fact 
 that " the old Northmen drank the ' minni * [the loving 
 friendship] of Thor, Odin, and Freya ; and of kings, 
 likewise, at their funerals." So again there were 
 " such formulas as * God's minnie ! ' [and] ' A bowl to 
 God in heaven ! ' " ^ 
 
 The earlier method of this ceremony of pledging 
 each other in wine, was by all the participants drink- 
 ing, in turn, out of a common bowl ; as Catiline and 
 his fellow-conspirators drank their blood and wine in 
 mutual covenant ; and as the Romans drank at a wed- 
 ding service. In the Norseland, to-day, this custom 
 is continued by the use of a drinking-bowl, marked by 
 pegs for the individual potation ; each man as he re- 
 ceives it, on its round, being expected to " drink his 
 peg." And even among the English and the Ameri- 
 cans, as well as among the Germans, the touching of 
 
 1 Tylor's Prim. Cult.y I., 85-97. 
 
202 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 two glasses together, in this health-pledging, is a com- 
 mon custom ; as if in symbolism of a community in 
 the contents of the two cups. As often, then, as we 
 drink each other's healths, or as we respond to any 
 call for a common toast-drinking, we do show a ves- 
 tige of the primeval and the ever sacred mutual cove- 
 nanting in blood. 
 
 8. BLOOD-COVENANT INVOLVINGS. 
 
 And now that we have before us this extended array 
 of related facts, concerning the sacred uses and the 
 popular estimates of blood, in all the ages, it will be 
 well for us to consider what we have learned, in the 
 line of blood-rights and of blood-customs, and in 
 the direction of their religious involvings. Especially 
 is it important for us to see, where and how all this 
 bears on the primitive and the still extant ceremony 
 of covenanting by blood, with which we started in this 
 investigation. 
 
 From the beginning, and everywhere, blood seems 
 to have been looked upon as preeminently the repre- 
 sentative of life ; as, indeed, in a peculiar sense, life 
 itself. The transference of blood from one organism to 
 another, has been counted the transference of life, with 
 all that life includes. The inter-commingling of blood by 
 its inter-transference, has been understood as equivalent 
 to an inter-commingling of natures. Two natures thus 
 
THE TEACHINGS OF THIS RITE. 203 
 
 inter-commingled, by the inter-commingling of blood, 
 have been considered as forming, thenceforward, one 
 blood, one life, one nature, one soul — in two organisms. 
 The inter-commingling of natures, by the inter-com- 
 mingling of blood, has been deemed possible between 
 man and a lower organism ; and between man and a 
 higher organism, — even between man and Deity, act- 
 ually or by symbol ; — as well as between man and his 
 immediate fellow. 
 
 The mode of inter-transference of blood, with all 
 that this carries, has been deemed practicable, alike by 
 way of the lips, and by way of the opened and inter- 
 flowing veins. It has been also represented, by blood- 
 bathing, by blood-anointing, and by blood-sprinkling ; 
 or, again, by the inter-drinking of wine — which was 
 formerly commingled with blood itself in the drink- 
 ing. And the yielding of one's life by the yielding of 
 one's blood has often been represented by the yielding 
 of the blood of a chosen and a suitable substitute. 
 Similarly the blood, or the nature, of divinities, has 
 been represented, vicariously, in divine covenanting, 
 by the blood of a devoted and an accepted substitute. 
 Inter-communion between the parties in a blood-cove- 
 nant, has been a recognized privilege, in conjunction 
 with any and every observance of the rite of blood- 
 covenanting. And the body of the divinely accepted 
 offering, the blood of which is a means of divine-hu- 
 
204 THE BLOOD COVENANT, 
 
 man inter-union, has been counted a very part of the 
 divinity ; and to partake of that body as food has been 
 deemed equivalent to being nourished by the very 
 divinity himself 
 
 Blood, as life, has been looked upon as belonging, 
 in the highest sense, to the Author of all life. The 
 taking of life has been seen to be the prerogative of 
 its Author ; and only he who is duly empowered, for 
 a season and for a reason, by that Author, for blood- 
 taking in any case, has been supposed to have the 
 right to the temporary exercise of that prerogative. 
 Even then, the blood, as the life, must be employed 
 under the immediate direction and oversight of its 
 Author. The heart of any Hving organism, as the blood- 
 source and the blood-fountain, has been recognized as 
 the representative of its owner's highest personality ; 
 and as the dififuser of the issues of his life and nature. 
 
 A covenant of blood, a covenant made by the inter- 
 commingling of blood, has been recognized as the 
 closest, the holiest, and the most indissoluble, compact 
 conceivable. Such a covenant clearly involves an ab- 
 solute surrender of one's separate self, and an irrevo- 
 cable merging of one's individual nature into the dual, 
 or the multiplied, personality included in the compact. 
 Man's highest and noblest outreachings of soul have, 
 therefore, been for such a union with the divine nature, 
 as is typified in this human covenant of blood. 
 
ORIGIN OF RELIGIOUS SYMBOLS. 205 
 
 How it came to pass, that men everywhere were so 
 generally agreed on the main symbols of their religious 
 yearnings and their religious hopes, in this realm of 
 their aspirations, is a question which obviously admits 
 of two possible answers. A common revelation from 
 God, may have been given to primitive man ; and all 
 these varying yet related indications of religious striv- 
 ings and aim, may be but the perverted remains of the 
 lessons of that misused, or slighted, revelation. On 
 the other hand, God may originally have implanted 
 the germs of a common religious thought in the 
 mind of man, and then have adapted his successive 
 revelations to the outworking of those germs. Which 
 ever view of the probable origin of these common 
 symbolisms, all the world over, be adopted by any 
 Christian student, the importance of the symbolisms 
 themselves, in their relation to the truths of revelation, 
 is manifestly the same. 
 
 On this point, Kurtz has said, forcefully : "A com- 
 parison of the religious symbols of the Old Testament 
 with those of ancient heathendom, shows that the 
 ground and the starting point of those forms of relig- 
 ion which found their appropriate expressions in 
 symbols, was the same in all cases ; while the history 
 of civilization proves that on this point, priority cannot 
 be claimed by the Israelites. But when instituting 
 
 such an inquiry, we shall also find that the symbols 
 
 18 
 
2o6 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 which were transferred from the reHgions of nature to 
 that of the spirit, first passed through the fire of divine 
 purification, from which they issued as the distinctive 
 theology of the Jews ; the dross of a pantheistic deifi- 
 cation of nature having been consumed." ^ And as 
 to even the grosser errors, and the more pitiable per- 
 versions of the right, in the use of these world-wide 
 religious symbolisms, Kurtz says, again : " Every error, 
 however dangerous, is based on some truth misunder- 
 stood, and . . . every aberration, however grievous, 
 has started from a desire after real good, which had 
 not attained its goal, because the latter was sought 
 neither in the right way, nor by right means." ^ To 
 recognize these truths concerning the outside religions 
 of the world, gives us an added fitness for the com- 
 parison of the symbolisms we have just been consider- 
 ing, with the teachings of the sacred pages of revela- 
 tion, on the specific truths involved. 
 
 Proofs of the existence of this rite of blood-covenant- 
 ing, have been found among primitive peoples of all 
 quarters of the globe ; and its antiquity is carried back 
 to a date long prior to the days of Abraham. All this, 
 outside of any indications of the rite in the text of 
 Bible itself And now we are in a position to turn 
 intelligently to that text for fuller light on the subject. 
 
 1 Kurtz's History of the Old Covenanty I., 235. *7J«V/., I., 268. 
 
LECTURE III. 
 INDICATIONS OF THE RITE IN THE BIBLE. 
 
III. 
 
 INDICATIONS OF THE RITE IN THE BIBLE. 
 
 I. LIMITATIONS OF INQUIRY. 
 
 And now, before entering upon an examination of 
 the Bible text, in the light of these disclosures of 
 primitive and universal customs, it may be well for me 
 to say, that I purpose no attempt to include or to ex- 
 plain all the philosophy of sacrifice, and of the involved 
 atonement. All my thought is, to ascertain what new 
 meaning, if any, is found in the Bible teachings con- 
 cerning the uses and the symbolism of blood, through 
 our better understanding of the prevailing idea, among 
 the peoples of the ancient world, that blood represents 
 life ; that the giving of blood represents the giving of 
 life ; that the receiving of blood represents the receiv- 
 ing of life ; that the inter-commingling of blood rep- 
 resents the inter-commingling of natures ; and that 
 a divine-human inter-union through blood is the basis 
 of a divine-human inter-communion, in the sharing 
 
 of the flesh of the sacrificial offering as sacred food. 
 
 1 8* 209 
 
210 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 Whatever other Bible teachings there are, beyond 
 these, as to the meanings of sacrifice, or as to the 
 nature of the atonement, it is not my purpose, in this 
 investigation, to consider. 
 
 In the days of Moses, when the Pentateuch is sup- 
 posed to have been prepared, there were — as we have 
 already found — certain well-defined views, the world 
 over, concerning the sacredness of blood, and concern- 
 ing the methods, the involvings, and the symbolisms, 
 of the covenant of blood. This being so, we are not 
 to look to the Bible record, as it stands, for the orig- 
 inal institution of every rite and ceremony connected 
 with blood-shedding, blood-guarding, and blood-using ; 
 but we may fairly look at every Bible reference to 
 blood, in the light of the primitive customs known to 
 have prevailed in the days of the Bible writing. 
 
 2. PRIMITIVE TEACHINGS OF BLOOD. 
 
 The earliest implied reference to blood in the Bible 
 text, is the record of Abel's sacrifice. "And Abel was 
 a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 
 And in process of time it came to pass that Cain 
 brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto 
 the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings 
 of his flock and of the fat thereof And the Lord had 
 respect unto Abel and to his offering ; but unto Cain 
 
ABEUS PROFFER OF HIMSELF TO GOD. 2 1 1 
 
 and to his offering he had not respect." ^ An inspired 
 comment on this incident is : " By faith Abel offered 
 unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through 
 which he had witness borne to him that he was right- 
 eous, God bearing witness in respect of [or, over] his 
 gifts : and through it he [Abel] being dead yet speak- 
 eth."2 
 
 Now, on the face of it, in the light of all that we 
 know of primitive customs in this matter of the blood- 
 covenant, and apart from any added teachings in the 
 Bible concerning the nature and meanings of different 
 sacrifices, this narrative shows Abel, lovingly and 
 trustfully reaching out toward God with substitute 
 blood, in order to be in covenant oneness with God ; 
 while Cain merely proffers a gift from his earthly pos- 
 sessions. Abel so trusts God, that he gives himself 
 to him. Cain defers to God sufficiently to make a 
 present to him. The one shows unbounded faith ; the 
 other shows a measure of affectionate reverence. It is 
 the same practical difference as that which distinguished 
 Ruth from Orpah, when the testing time of their love 
 for their mother-in-law, Naomi, had come to them 
 alike. "And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law; but 
 Ruth clave unto her." ^ No wonder that God counted 
 Abel's unstinted proffer of himself, in faith, an accept- 
 able sacrifice, and received it, as in inter-communion 
 
 iGen. 4 : 2-5. « Heb. 11:4. «Ruth i : 14. 
 
212 777^ BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 on the basis of inter-union ; while Cain's paltry gift, 
 without any proffer of himself, won no approval from 
 the Lord. 
 
 Then there followed the unhallowed shedding of 
 Abel's blood by Cain, and the crying out, as it were, 
 of the spilled life of Abel unto its Divine Author.^ 
 " The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from 
 the ground," said the Lord, to the guilty spiller of 
 blood. "And now cursed art thou from the ground, 
 which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's 
 blood from thy hand." Here, as elsewhere, the blood 
 is preeminently the life ; and even when poured out 
 on the earth, the blood does not lose its vitality. It 
 still has its intelligent relations to its Author and 
 Guardian ; ^ as the world has been accustomed to 
 count a possibility, down to modern times.^ 
 
 After the destruction of mankind by the deluge, 
 when God would begin anew, as it were, by the re- 
 vivifying of the world, through the vestige of blood — 
 of life — ^preserved in the ark,^ he laid new emphasis 
 on the sacredness of blood, as the representative of 
 
 ^Gen. 4: 10, II. 
 
 ' " For it must be observed, that by the outpouring of the blood, the 
 life which was in it was not destroyed, though it was separated from 
 the organism which before it had quickened : Gen. 4 : 10 ; comp. Heb. 
 12: 24 (Trapa rhv 'A^eA) ; .Apoc. 6: lo" (Westcott's Epistles of St. 
 John, p. 34). 
 
 •See pages 143-147, supra. * See pages 110-113, supra. 
 
A NEW COVENANT WITH NOAH. 213 
 
 that life which is the essence of God himself Noah's 
 first act, on coming out from the ark, was to proffer 
 himself and all living flesh, in a fresh blood-covenant 
 with the Lord. "And Noah builded an altar unto the 
 Lord ; and took of every clean beast, and of every 
 clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar." ^ 
 From all that we know of the method of the burnt- 
 offering, either from the Bible-text or from outside 
 sources, it has, from the beginning, included the pre- 
 liminary offering of the blood — as the life — to Deity, 
 by its outpouring, around, or upon, the altar, with or 
 without the accompaniment of libations of wine ; or, 
 again, by its sprinkling upon the altar? 
 
 It was then, when the spirit of Noah, in this cove- 
 nant-seeking by blood, was recognized approvingly by 
 the Lord, that the Lord smelled the sweet savor of 
 the proffered offering, — " the savor of satisfaction, or de- 
 lectation," ^ to him, was in it, — and he established a new 
 covenant with Noah, giving commandment anew con- 
 cerning the never-failing sacredness of blood : " Every 
 moving thing that liveth shall be food for you ; as [freely 
 as] the green herb, have I given you all [flesh]. But 
 flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof 
 
 1 Gen. 8 : 20. 
 'Exod. 24: 5, 6; 29: 15-25; Lev. i: 1-6, ia-12, 14, 15; 8: 18, 
 19, etc. See also pages 102, 106-109, supra. 
 
 * See Speaker's Commentary ^ in loco. 
 
214 ^^^ BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 [flesh with the blood in it], shall ye not eat. And 
 surely your blood, the blood of your lives, will I re- 
 quire ; at the hand of every beast will I require it : 
 and at the hand of man, even at the hand of every 
 man's brother, will I require the life of man. Whoso 
 sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed : 
 for in the image of God made he man."^ Here, the 
 blood of even those animals whose flesh might be 
 eaten by man, is forbidden for food : because it is life 
 itself, and therefore sacred to the Author of life.^ And 
 the blood of man must not be shed by man, — except 
 where man is made God's minister of justice, — ^because 
 man is formed in the image of God, and only God has 
 a right to take away — directly or by his minister — the 
 life, from one bearing God's likeness. 
 
 And this injunction, together with this covenant, 
 preceded the ceremonial law of Moses; and it sur- 
 vived that law, as well. When the question came up 
 in the apostolic conference at Jerusalem, on the occa- 
 sion of the visit of Paul and Barnabas, concerning the 
 duty of Gentile Christians to the Mosaic ceremonial 
 law, the decision was explicit, that while nothing 
 which was of that ritual alone should be imposed as 
 obligatory on the new believers, those essential ele- 
 
 1 Gen. 9 : 3-6. 
 2 " A man might not use another's life for the support of his physical 
 life" (Westcott's Epistles of St. John, p. 34). 
 
A PERPETUAL OBLIGATION. 215 
 
 ments of religious observance which were prior to 
 Moses, and which were not done away with in Christ, 
 should be emphasized in all the extending domain of 
 Christianity. Spirituality in worship, personal purity, 
 and the holding sacred to God, all blood — or life — as 
 the gift of God, and as the means of communion with 
 God, must never be ignored in the realm of Christian 
 duty. *' Write unto them, that they abstain from the 
 pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from 
 what is strangled, and from blood," ^ said the Apostle 
 James, in announcing the decision of this conference ; 
 and the circular letter to the Gentile churches was 
 framed accordingly. Nor does this commandment seem 
 ever to have been abrogated, in letter or in spirit. How- 
 ever poorly observed by Christians, it stands to-day as it 
 stood in the days of Paul, and in the days of Noah, a per- 
 petual obligation, with all its manifold teachings of the 
 blessed benefits of the covenant of blood.^ 
 
 3. THE BLOOD COVENANT IN CIRCUMCISION. 
 
 Again the Lord made a new beginning for the race, 
 in his start with Abraham, as the father of a chosen 
 
 1 See Acts 15 : 2-29 ; also 21 : 18-25. 
 ' Those, indeed, who would put the dictum of the Church of Rome 
 above the explicit commands of the Bible, can claim that that Church 
 has affirmed the mere temporary nature of this obligation, which the 
 Bible makes perpetual. But apart from this, there seems to be no show 
 of justification for the abrogation, or the suspension, of the command. 
 
2l6 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 and peculiar people in the world. And again the 
 covenant of blood, or the covenant of strong-friend- 
 ship as it is still called in the East, was the prominent 
 feature in this beginning. The Apostle James says, 
 that "Abraham . . . was called the friend of 
 God." ^ God himself, speaking through Isaiah, refers 
 to Abraham, as " Abraham my friend " ; ^ and Jehosha- 
 phat, in his extremity, calling upon God for help, 
 speaks of " Abraham, thy friend." ^ And this applica- 
 tion of the term " friend " to any human being, in his 
 relations to God, is absolutely unique in the case of 
 Abraham, in all the Old Testament record. Abraham, 
 and only Abraham, was called " the friend of God." * 
 Yet the immediate narrative of Abraham's relations to 
 God, makes no specific mention of this unique term 
 " friend," as being then applied to Abraham. It is 
 only as we recognize the primitive rite of blood- 
 friendship in the incidents of that narrative, that we 
 perceive clearly why and how God's covenant with 
 Abraham was preeminently a covenant of friendship. 
 " I will make ^ my covenant between me and thee, 
 
 * James 2: 23. 2jsaiah4i: 8. '2Chron. 20: 7. 
 
 * The only instance in which it might seem that there was an excep- 
 tion to this statement, is Exodus 33 : 11, where it is said, " The Lord 
 spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend." 
 But here the Hebrew word is r^a (^1) with the idea of " a compan- 
 ion," or "a neighbor"; while the word applied to Abraham is ohebh 
 (3ni<J, " a loving one." * See Appendix, infra^ p. 322. 
 
THE FRIEND OF GOD. 2 I 7 
 
 and will multiply thee exceedingly," said the Lord to 
 Abraham.^ And again, " I will establish my covenant 
 between me and thee and thy seed after thee through- 
 out their generations for an everlasting covenant, to 
 be a God unto thee ; and to thy seed after thee . . . 
 And as for thee, thou shalt keep my covenant, thou, 
 and thy seed after thee throughout their genera- 
 tions." ^ And then there came the explanation, how 
 Abraham was to enter into the covenant of blood- 
 friendship with the Lord ; so that he might be called 
 " the friend of God." " This is my covenant, which 
 ye shall keep, between me and you, and thy seed 
 after thee ; every male among you shall be circum- 
 cised. And ye shall be circumcised in the flesh of 
 your foreskin ; and it shall be a token of a cove- 
 nant betwixt me and you."^ The blood-covenant 
 of friendship shall be consummated by your giving 
 to me of your personal blood at the very source of 
 paternity — "under your girdle";'* thereby pledging 
 yourself to me, and pledging, also, to me, those who 
 shall come after you in the line of natural descent. 
 "And my covenant [this covenant of blood-friendship] 
 shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant." ® 
 
 So, " in the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised," 
 and thenceforward he bore in his flesh the evidence 
 
 'Gen. 17: 2. 2Qen 17. y_^ s Gen. 17: 10, 11. 
 
 * See page 174 f., supra. * Gen. 17 : 13. 
 
 19 
 
2t8 the blood covenant, 
 
 that he had entered into the blood-covenant of friend- 
 ship with the Lord.^ To this day, indeed, Abraham is 
 designated in all the East, as distinctively, " Khaleel- 
 Allah, "the Friend of God," or " Ibraheem el-Khaleel," 
 " Abraham the Friend"^ — the one Friend, of God. 
 
 When a Jewish child is circumcised, it is commonly 
 said of him, that he is caused " to enter into the cove- 
 nant of Abraham " ; and, his god-father, or sponsor, is 
 called Baal-bereethf " Master of the covenant." ^ More- 
 
 ^ Bearing in the flesh the marks of one's devotedness to a divinity, is 
 a widely observed custom in the East. Burton tells of the habit, in 
 Mekkeh, of cutting three parallel gashes down the fleshy cheek of 
 every male child ; and of the claim by some that these gashes " were 
 signs that the scarred [one] was the servant of Allah's house " [^Pil- 
 grimage to Mecca and Medinah^ third ed., p. 456). In India, there 
 are various methods of receiving such flesh-marks of devotedness. 
 " One of the most common consists in stamping upon the shoulders, 
 chest, and other parts of the body, with a red-hot iron, certain marks, 
 to represent the armor [or livery] of their gods; the impressions of 
 which are never effaced, but are accounted sacred, and are ostenta- 
 tiously displayed as marks of distinctions" (Dubois's Des. of Man. 
 and Cust. in India^ Part III., chap. 3). " From henceforth let no man 
 trouble me," says Paul : " for I bear branded on my body the marks 
 of Jesus " (Gal. 6:17). 2 gg^ Price's Hist, of Arabia, p. 56. 
 
 ' It is certainly noteworthy, that the Canaanitish god " Baal-be- 
 reeth " (see Judges 8 : 33 ; 9:4) seems to have had its centre of wor- 
 ship at, or near, Shechem ; and there was where the Canaanites were 
 induced to seek, by circumcision, a part with the house of Jacob in the 
 blood-covenant of Abraham (see Gen. 34: 1-31). 
 
 * See Godwyn's Moses and Aaron, p. 216 f. 
 
THE BLOOD AND THE WINE. 219 
 
 over, even down to modern times, the rite of circum- 
 cision has included a recognition, however unconscious, 
 of the primitive blood-friendship rite, by the custom of 
 the ecclesiastical operator, as God's representative, re- 
 ceiving into his mouth, and thereby being made a par- 
 taker of, the blood mingled with wine, according to the 
 method described among the Orientals, in the rite of 
 blood-friendship, from the earliest days of history.^ 
 It is a peculiarity of the primitive compact of blood- 
 
 1 Buxtorf, who is a recognized authority, in the knowledge of Rabbini- 
 cal literature and of Jewish customs, says, on this point : " Cum deinde 
 compater infantulum in sinu habet jacentem, turn Mohel sive circum- 
 cisor eum h fasciis evolvit, pudendum ejus apprehendit, ejusque ante- 
 riorem partem per cuticulam prseputii comprehendit, granulumque 
 pudendi ejus retrorsum premit ; quo facto cuticulam prseputii fricat, ut ilia 
 per id emortua infantulus csesuram tanto minus sentiscat. Deinde cultel- 
 lum circumcisorium h pueri astantis manu capit, claraque voce, Benedictus 
 (inquit) esto tu Deus, Domine noster, Rex mundi, qui nos mandatis tuis 
 sanctificasti, nobisque pactum circumcisionis dedisti. Interim dum ille 
 loquitur sic, particulam prseputii antetiorem usque eo abscindit, ut capi- 
 tellum pudendi nudum conspici queat, illamque festinanter in patellam 
 arena ista plenam conjicit ; puero- quoque isti, §». quo acceperat, cultellum 
 reddit circumcisorium ; ab alio vero poculum vino rubro (ceu dictum fuit) 
 impletum, capit ; haurit ex eo quantum ore continere potest, quod mox 
 super infantulum expuit, eoque sanguinem ejus abluit: in faciem quoque 
 infantuli vini aliquid expuit, si eum viribus defici conspexerit. Mox pu- 
 dendum puelli ore comprehendit, et sanguinis ex eodem quantumcunque 
 potest, exugit, ut sanguis idem tanto citius se sistat ; sanguinem exuctum 
 in alterum poculorum vino rubro refertorum, vel in patellam arena abun- 
 dantem, expuit." {Synagoga Judaica^ Cap. II.) 
 
220 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 friendship, that he who would enter into it must be 
 ready to make a complete surrender of himself, in lov- 
 ing trust, to him with whom he covenants. He must, 
 in fact, so love and trust, as to be willing to merge 
 his separate individuality, in the dual personality of 
 which he becomes an integral part. Only he who be- 
 lieves in another unreservedly and fearlessly, can take 
 such a step intelligently. The record concerning 
 Abraham stands : " He believed in the Lord ; and He 
 counted it to him for righteousness."^ The Hebrew 
 word, heemeen {^P^^>) here translated " believed in," 
 carries the idea of an unqualified committal of self to 
 another. It is from the root aman (|^?) with the 
 two-fold idea of " to be faithful " and " to trust." ^ Its 
 correspondent in the Arabic, (amana, ^jjo\ ) carries 
 the same double idea, of a confident and an entire 
 committal of self to another, in trust and in trust- 
 worthiness.^ Lane's definition^ of the substantive 
 from this root is : " The becoming true to the trust, 
 with respect to which God has confided in one, by a 
 firm believing of the heart." ^ Abraham so trusted the 
 
 * Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:3; Gal. 3:6; James 2 : 23. 
 2 See Fuerst's Heb. Chald. Lex., s. v. 
 ^See Freytag's Lex. Arab. Lat., s. v. 
 * See Lane's Arab. Eng. Lex., s. v. 
 ^ In the Chinese language, likewise, " the word for faithfulness means 
 both to be trustworthy, and also to trust to, and refers chiefly to friend- 
 ship." (Edkins's Relig. in China^ p. ii8.) 
 
THE FIRST BORN OF MOSES. 221 
 
 Lord, that he was ready to commit himself to the 
 Lord, as in the rite of blood-friendship. Therefore 
 the Lord counted Abraham's spirit of loving and 
 longing trust, as the equivalent of a spiritual likeness 
 with himself; and the Lord received Abraham, by his 
 circumcision, into the covenant of blood-friendship.^ 
 Or, as the Apostle James states it: "Abraham be- 
 lieved [in] God, and it was reckoned unto him for 
 righteousness ; and he was called the friend of God." ^ 
 Here is the doctrine of " imputation," with real life in 
 it; in lieu of a hard commercial transaction, as some 
 have viewed it. 
 
 The recognition of the covenant of blood in the rite 
 of circumcision, throws light on an obscure passage 
 in the life of Moses, as recorded in Exodus 4 : 20-26. 
 Moses, himself a child of the covenant, had neglected 
 the circumcision of his own first-born ; and so he had 
 been unfaithful to the covenant of Abraham. While 
 on his way from the Wilderness of Sinai to Egypt, 
 
 1 The Rabbis give a preeminent place to circumcision as the rite by 
 which Abraham became the Friend of God. They say (see citations 
 from the Talmud, in Nethivoth Olam^ p. 367 ): " Abraham was not 
 called perfect before he was circumcised ; and because of the merit of 
 circumcision was the covenant made with him concerning the inherit- 
 ance of the Land. It [circumcision] also saves from the punishment 
 of hell ; for our sages have said, that Abraham sits at the gates of hell 
 and suffers no one to enter in there who is circumcised." 
 2 James 2 : 23. 
 
222 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 with a message from God to Pharaoh, concerning the ' 
 un-covenanted first-born of the Egyptians,^ Moses was 
 met by a startling providence, and came face to face 
 with death — ^possibly with a bloody death of some 
 sort. " The Lord met him, and sought to kill him," 
 it is said. It seems to have been perceived, both by 
 Moses and his wife, that they were being cut off 
 from a farther share in God's covenant-plans for 
 the descendants of Abraham, because of their failure 
 to conform to their obligations in the covenant of 
 Abraham. 
 
 " Then Zipporah took a flint, and cut off the fore- 
 skin of her son, and cast it at [made it touch] his 
 [Moses'] feet ; and she said. Surely a bridegroom of 
 blood [one newly bound through blood], art thou to 
 me. So He [the Lord] let him [Moses] alone [He 
 spared him, as one newly true to the covenant of 
 Abraham, and newly safe within its bounds]. Then 
 she [Zipporah] said [again], A bridegroom of blood 
 art thou, because of the circumcision ; " or, as the 
 margin renders it : "A bridegroom of blood [art thou] 
 in regard of the circumcision." ^ 
 
 The Hebrew word, khathan (|^n), here translated 
 " bridegroom," has, as its root idea, the binding through 
 severing, the covenanting by blood ; ^ an idea that is 
 
 ^Exod. 4: 21-23. ' Exod. 4 : 25, 26. 
 
 * See Fuerst's Heb. Chald. Lex., s. v. 
 
A BLOOD- WON RELATION. 223 
 
 in the marriage-rite, as the Orientals view it/ and that 
 is in the rite of circumcision, also. Indeed, in the 
 Arabic, the corresponding term (khatan, ^j-X^ ), is ap- 
 plied interchangeably to one who is a relation by the 
 way of one's wife, and to one who is circumcised.^ 
 Hence, the words of Zipporah would imply that, by 
 this rite of circumcision, she and her child were 
 brought into blood-covenant relations with the de- 
 scendants of Abraham, and her husband also was now 
 saved to that covenant ; whereas before they were in 
 danger of being covenanted with a bloody death. It 
 is this idea which seems to be in the Targum of Onke- 
 los, where it renders Zipporah's first words : " By the 
 blood of this circumcision, a khathna [a blood-won 
 relation] is given to us ;" and her second speech : " If 
 the blood of this circumcision had not been given [to 
 us; then we had had] a khathna [a blood-won rela- 
 tion] of slaughter [of death]." It is as though Zippo- 
 rah had said : " We are now newly covenanted to each 
 other, and to God, by blood ; whereas, but for this, we 
 should have been covenanted to slaughter [or death] 
 by blood." 
 
 * See Deut. 22 : 13-21. To this day, in the East, an exhibit of blood- 
 stains, as the indubitable proof of a consummated covenant of marriage, 
 is common. See Niebuhr's Beschreibung von Arabien, pp. 35-39; 
 Burckhardt's Arabic Proverbs, p. 140; Lane's Mod. Egypt., I., 221, note. 
 
 2 See Lane, and Freytag, s. vv., Khatan, Khatana. 
 
224 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 4. THE BLOOD COVENANT TESTED. 
 
 After the formal covenant of blood had been made be- 
 tween Abraham and Jehovah, there was a specific testing 
 of Abraham's fidelity to that covenant, as if in evidence 
 of the fact that it was no empty ceremony on his part, 
 whereby he pledged his blood, — his very life, in its suc- 
 cessive generations, — ^to Jehovah, in the rite of circum- 
 cision. The declaration of his " faith," and the promise 
 of his faithfulness, were to be justified, in their manifest 
 sincerity, by his explicit " works" in their direction. 
 
 All the world over, men who were in the covenant of 
 blood-friendship were ready, — or were supposed to be 
 ready, — to give not only their lives for each other, but 
 even to give, for each other, that which was dearer to 
 them than life itself And, all the world over, men who 
 pledged their devotedness to their gods were ready to 
 surrender to their gods that which they held as dearest 
 and most precious — even to the extent of their life, and 
 of that which was dearer than life. Would Abraham do 
 as much for his Divine Friend, as men would do for their 
 human friends ? Would Abraham surrender to his God 
 all that the worshipers of other gods were willing to 
 surrender in proof of their devotedness ? These were 
 questions yet to be answered before the world. 
 
 "And it came to pass after these things, that God 
 did prove Abraham [did put him to the test, or the 
 
ORIENTAL ESTIMATE OF A SON. 225 
 
 proof, of his friendship], and said unto him, Abraham ; 
 and he said, Here am I. And he said, Take now thy 
 son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, even Isaac, and 
 get thee unto the land of Moriah ; and offer him there 
 for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which 
 I will tell thee of"^ And Abraham rose up instantly 
 to respond to the call of his Divine Friend. 
 
 Just here it is important to consider two or three 
 points at which the Western mind has commonly failed 
 to recognize the Oriental thought, in connection with 
 such a transaction as this. 
 
 An Oriental father prizes an only son's life far more 
 than he prizes his own. He recognizes it, to be sure, 
 as at his own disposal ; but he would rather surrender 
 any other possession than that. For an Oriental to 
 die without a son, is a terrible thought.^ His life is a 
 failure. His future is blank. But with a son to take 
 his place, an Oriental is, in a sense, ready to die. 
 When therefore an Oriental has one son, if the choice 
 must be between the cutting short of the father's life, 
 or of the son's, the former would be the lesser surren- 
 
 ^Gen. 22: I, 2. 
 ' " Heaven awaits not one who is destitute of a son," say the Brah- 
 mans (See page 194, supra). See, also, e. g., Thomson's Land and 
 Book, I., 177 ; Roberts's Orient. ///., p. 53 f., Ginsburg's " Illustra- 
 tions," in Bible Educator, I., 30 ; Lane's Mod. Egypt., I., 68. Living- 
 stone's Trav. and Res. in So. A/., p. 140 ; Pierotti's Cmt. and Trad, 
 of Pal., pp. 177 f., 190 f. 
 
2 26 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 der; the latter would be far greater. Preeminently 
 did this truth have force in the case of Abraham, 
 whose pilgrim-life had been wholly with reference to 
 the future ; and whose earthly-joy and earthly-hopes 
 centered in Isaac, the son of his old age. For Abra- 
 ham to have surrendered his own toil-worn life, now that 
 a son of promise was born to him, would have been a 
 minor matter, at the call of God. But for Abraham to 
 surrender that son, and so to become again a child- 
 less, hopeless old man, was a very different matter. 
 Only a faith that would neither question nor reasoii, 
 only a love that would neither fail nor waver, could 
 meet an issue like that. The surrender of an only 
 son by an Oriental, was not, therefore, as it is often 
 deemed in the Western mind, a father's selfish yielding 
 of a lesser substitute for himself;^ but it was the giving 
 of the one thing which he had power to surrender, 
 which was more precious to him than himself. The 
 difference here is as great as that between the enforced 
 sending, by an able-bodied citizen, of a " substitute " 
 defender of the sender's country in a war-time draft, 
 and the willing sending to the front, by an aged 
 father, of his loved and only son, at the first signal of 
 his country's danger. The one case has in it more 
 than a suggestion of cowardly shirking; the other 
 shows only a loyal and self-forgetful love of country. 
 
 * See illustrations of this error in Tylor's Prim. Cult.^ II., 403. 
 
CHILDREN YIELDED IN FRIENDSHIP. 2 2/ 
 
 Again, we are liable to think of the surrender of a 
 life, as the dooming to death ; and of a sacrificial out- 
 pouring of blood, as necessarily an expiatory offering. 
 In the case of the only son sent into battle by his 
 patriotic father, death may be an incident to the trans- 
 action ; but the gift of the son is the gift of his lifey 
 whether he shall live or die. And although the war 
 itself be caused by sin, and be a result, and so a punish- 
 ment, of sin, the son is sent into it, not in order that he 
 may bear punishment, but that he may avert its disas- 
 trous consequences, even at the cost of his life — with 
 the necessity of his death. 
 
 This idea of the surrender of an only son, not in ex- 
 piation of guilt, but in proof of unselfish and limitless 
 affection, runs down through the ages, apart from any 
 apparent trace of connection with the tradition of 
 Abraham and Isaac. It is seen : — in India, in the story 
 of the sacrifice of Siralen, the only son of Sirutunden 
 and Vanagata-ananga, as a simple proof of their loving 
 devotedness to Vishnoo ; ^ in Arabia, in the story of 
 the proffered slaying of the two only children of a king, 
 in order to restore to life by their blood, his dearly loved 
 friend and servant, who had been turned to stone ; ^ in 
 the Norseland, in the similar story of the king and his 
 friend and servant " Faithful John ; " ^ in Great Britain, in 
 
 * See page 185 f., supra. 2 gee page 119 f., supra. 
 
 ' See page 120, supra. 
 
2 28 THE BLOOD COVENANT, 
 
 the story of Amy s and Amylion, the one of these friends 
 sacrificing his two only children for the purpose of 
 curing the other friend of the leprosy ;^ and so in many 
 another guise.^ Whatever other value attaches to these 
 legends, they show most clearly, that the conception of 
 such a surrender as that to which Abraham was called 
 in the sacrifice of Isaac, was not a mere outgrowth of the 
 customs of human sacrifices to malignant divinities, in 
 Phoenicia and Moab and the adjoining countries, in the 
 days of Abraham and earlier.^ There was a sentiment 
 involved, which is everywhere recognized as the noblest 
 and purest of which humanity is capable. 
 
 If, indeed, there were any reluctance to accept this 
 simple explanation of an obvious view of the test of 
 friendship to which God subjected Abraham, because 
 of its possible bearing on the recognized symbolism 
 of the transaction, then it would be sufficient to remem- 
 ber, that one view of such a transaction is not necessarily 
 its only view. Whatever other view be taken of the 
 fact and the symbolism of God's call on Abraham, to 
 surrender to him his only son, it is obvious that, as a 
 fact, God did test, or prove, Abraham his friend, by 
 asking of him the very evidence of his loving and un- 
 selfish devotedness to him, which has been, everywhere 
 
 ^ See page 117, supra, "* See page 118 f., 120 f,, supra, 
 
 ' See discussions of this point, by Hengstenberg, Kurtz, Oehler, 
 Ewald, Kuenen, Lange, Keil and Delitzsch, Stanley, Mozeley, etc. 
 
TRIED AND TRUE. 229 
 
 and always, reckoned the highest and surest evidence 
 possible of the truest and holiest friendship. And this 
 may well be looked at, also, as a symbol of God's 
 purpose of surrendering his only Son, in proof of 
 his fidelity to his blood-covenant of friendship with 
 Abraham and Abraham's true seed forever. 
 
 " Greater love [in friendship] hath no man than this, 
 that a man lay down his life for his friends;"^ and no 
 man, as the Oriental mind views it, can so utterly lay 
 down his life, as when he lays down the larger life of 
 his only son. Abraham showed himself capable of 
 even such friendship as this, in his blood-covenant with 
 Jehovah; and when he had manifested his spirit 
 of devotedness, he was told to stay his hand and 
 spare his son : the will was accepted for the deed. 
 " Yea, he that had gladly received the promises, was 
 offering up his only begotten son ; even he of whom 
 it was said, In Isaac shall thy seed be called : account- 
 ing that God is able to raise up even from the dead ; 
 from whence he did also in a parable receive him 
 back."^ Then it was, that " the Angel of the Lord 
 called unto Abraham a second time out of heaven and 
 said, By myself have I sworn [by my life], saith the 
 Lord, because thou hast done this thing, and hast not 
 withheld thy son, thine only son : that in blessing I 
 will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy 
 
 *John 15: 13. ^Heb. 11 : 17-19. 
 
 20 
 
230 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which 
 is upon the seashore; and thy seed shall possess the 
 gate of his enemies ; and in thy seed shall all the 
 nations of the earth be blessed : because thou hast 
 [even to this extent] obeyed my voice." ^ The blood- 
 covenant of friendship between Jehovah and Abraham 
 had more meaning in it than ever, through its testing 
 and its triumph, in this transaction. 
 
 And it is on this record, and apparently in this view 
 of the record, that the Apostle James says : " Was 
 not Abraham our father justified by works, in that he 
 offered up Isaac his son upon the altar ? Thou seest 
 that faith wrought with his works, and by works was 
 faith made perfect [consummated] ; and the Scripture 
 was fulfilled which saith, And Abraham believed God, 
 and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness ; and 
 he was called the friend of God." 
 
 5. THE BLOOD COVENANT AND ITS TOKENS IN THE 
 PASSOVER. 
 
 There came, again, a time when the Lord would 
 give fresh evidence of his fidelity to his covenant of 
 blood-friendship with Abraham. Again, a new start 
 was to be made in the history of redemption. The 
 seed of Abraham was in Egypt, and the Lord would 
 bring thence that seed, for its promised inheritance in 
 
 iGen. 22 : 15-18. 2jaines2: 21-23. 
 
THE PASSOVER SIGN. 23 1 
 
 Canaan. The Egyptians refused to let Israel go, at 
 the call of the Lord. The Lord sent a series of strokes, 
 or "plagues" upon the Egyptians, to enforce their 
 obedience to his summons. And first, he turned the 
 waters of Egypt into blood ; so that there was noth- 
 ing for the Egyptians to drink save that which, as the 
 representative of life, was sacred to their gods, and 
 must not be tasted.^ So on, from " plague" to " plague" 
 — from stroke to stroke ; until the Lord's sentence went 
 forth against all the uncovenanted first-born of Egypt. 
 Then it was, that the Lord gave another illustration of 
 the binding force of the unfailing covenant of blood. 
 
 In the original covenant of blood-friendship, between 
 Abraham and the Lord, it was Abraham who gave of 
 his blood in token of the covenant. Now, the Lord 
 was to give of his blood, by substitution, in re-affirma- 
 tion of that covenant, with the seed of Abraham his 
 friend. So the Lord commanded the choice of a lamb, 
 "without blemish, a male of the first year";^ typical 
 in its qualities, and representative in its selection. The 
 blood of that lamb was to be put " on the two side 
 posts and on the lintel " of every house of a descend- 
 ant of Abraham; above and along side of every 
 passer through the doorway.^ "And the blood shall 
 be to you for a token upon the houses where ye 
 
 ^SeeExod. 4: 9; 7: 17-21. 'geeExod. 12: 1-6. 
 
 * See a reference to a similar custom in China, at page 153, supra. 
 
232 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 are," said the Lord to this people : " and when I see 
 the blood [the token of my blood-covenant with Abra- 
 ham], I will pass over you, and there shall no plague 
 be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of 
 Egypt." 1 
 
 The flesh of the chosen lamb was to be eaten by 
 the Israelites, reverently, as an indication of that inter- 
 communion which the blood-friendship rite secures ; 
 and in accordance with a common custom of the 
 primitive blood-covenant rite, everywhere. 
 
 To this day, as I can testify from personal observa- 
 tion, the Samaritans on Mount Gerizim (where alone 
 in all the world the passover-blood is now shed, year 
 by year), bring to mind the blood-covenant aspects of 
 this rite, by their uses of that sacred blood. The 
 spurting life-blood of the consecrated lambs is caught 
 in basins, as it flows from their cut throats ; and not 
 only are all the tents promptly marked with the blood 
 as a covenant-token, but every child of the covenant 
 receives also a blood-mark, on his forehead, between 
 his eyes,^ in evidence of his relation to God in the 
 covenant of blood-friendship. 
 
 It will be remembered that in the primitive rite of 
 blood-friendship a blood-stained record of the cove- 
 nant is preserved in a small leathern case, to be worn 
 as an amulet upon the arm, or about the neck, by 
 
 ^Exod. 12: 7-13. 2 See, again, at pages 154, supra. 
 
THE PHYLACTERY-TOKEN. 233 
 
 him who has won a friend forever in this sacred rite.^ 
 It would even seem that this was the custom in ancient 
 Egypt, where the red amulet, which represented the 
 blood of Isis, was worn by those who claimed a blood- 
 friendship with the gods.^ It is a noteworthy fact, that 
 it was in conjunction with the institution of this pass- 
 over rite of the Lord's blood-friendship with Israel, as 
 a permanent ceremonial, that the Lord declared of this 
 rite and its token : " It shall be for a sign upon thine 
 hand, and for frontlets between thine eyes."^ And it is 
 on the strength of this injunction, that the Jews have, 
 to this day, been accustomed to wear upon their fore- 
 heads, and again upon their arm — as a crown and as 
 an armlet — a small leathern case, as a sacred amulet, 
 or as a " phylactery " ; containing a record of the pass- 
 over-covenant between the Lord and the seed of Abra- 
 ham his friend. Not the law itself, but the substance 
 of the covenant between the Lawgiver and his people, 
 was the text of this amulet record. It included 
 Exodus 13: 3-10, 11-16, with its reference to God's 
 deliverance of his people from bondage, to the institu- 
 tion of the passover feast, and to the consecration of 
 
 * See page 7 f., supra. 
 ' See page 81 f., supra. It is, indeed, by no means improbable, that the 
 Hebrew word tStaphdth (fllSDID), translated " frontlets," as applied to 
 the phylacteries was an Egyptian word. Its etymology has been a puz- 
 zJe to the critics. sseeExod.ij: 11-16. 
 
 20* 
 
234 ^^^ BLOOD COVENANT, 
 
 the redeemed first-born; also Deuteronomy 6: 4-9, 
 13—22, with its injunction to entire and unswerving 
 fidelity, in the covenant thus memoralized. 
 
 The incalculable importance of the symbolism of 
 the phylacteries, in the estimation of the Lord's peo- 
 ple, has been recognized, as a fact, by both Jewish and 
 Christian scholars, even after their primary meaning 
 has been lost sight of — through a strange dropping 
 out of sight of the primitive rite of blood-covenanting, 
 so familiar in the land of Egypt and in the earlier and 
 later homes of the Hebrews. The Rabbis even held 
 that God himself, as the other party in this blood- 
 covenant, wore the phylacteries, as its token and 
 memorial.^ Among other passages in support of this, 
 they cited Isaiah 49: 16: "Behold I have graven 
 thee upon the palms of my hands " ; and Isaiah 62 : 
 8 : "The Lord hath sworn by his right hand, and by 
 the arm of his strength." Farrar, referring to this 
 claim of the Rabbis, says, " it may have had some 
 mystic meaning " ; ^ and certainly the claim corres- 
 ponds singularly with the thought and with the cus- 
 toms of the rite of blood-covenanting. To this day 
 many of the Syrian Arabs swear, as a final and a 
 most sacred oath, by their own blood — as their own 
 
 ^ See references to Zohar, Pt. II., Fol. 2, by Farrar, in Smith- 
 Hackett's Bible Dictionary ^ Art. "Frontlets." 
 
 2 Smith-Hackett's Bib. Diet., Art. « Frontlets." 
 
THE UPLIFTED ARM. 235 
 
 life ; ^ and in making the covenant of blood-friendship 
 they draw the blood from the upper arm, because, as 
 they explain it, the arm is their strength.^ The cry 
 of the Egyptian soul to his god, in his resting on the 
 covenant of blood, was, " Give me your arm ; I am 
 made as ye." ^ It is not strange, therefore, that those 
 who had the combined traditions of Egypt and of 
 Syria, should see a suggestion of the covenant of 
 blood-friendship in the inspired assurance : " The 
 Lord hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm 
 of his strength." It is by no means improbable, 
 indeed, that the universal custom of lifting up the arm 
 to God in a solemn oath ^ was a suggestion of swear- 
 
 ^ On this point I have the emphatic testimony of intelligent native 
 Syrians. "As I live, saith the Lord" — or more literally, " I, living, 
 saith the Lord." " For when God made promise to Abraham, since 
 he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself" — by his life. 
 (Comp. Isa. 49 : 18; Jer. 22 : 24; Ezek. 5 : II ; Heb. 6: 13.) 
 
 2 This also I am assured of, by native Syrians. One who had resided 
 in both Syria and Upper Egypt told me, that in Syria, in the rite of 
 blood-friendship, the blood is taken from the arm as the symbol of 
 strength; while in portions of Africa where the legs are counted 
 stronger than the arms, through the training of the people as runners 
 rather than as burden-bearers, the leg supplies the blood for this rite 
 (See reference to Stanley and Mirambo's celebration of this rite at pages 
 18-20, supra). 3 See page 79, supra. 
 
 * See e. g. Gen. 14: 22; Dan. 12:7. "It is an interesting fact, that 
 many of the images of the gods of the heathen have the right hand 
 Med up." (Robert's Orient. III. of Scrip., p. 20.; 
 
236 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 ing by one's blood, by proffering it in its strength, as 
 in the inviolable covenant of sacred friendship with 
 God. So, again, in the "striking hands " as a form of 
 sacred covenanting ^ ; the clasping of hands, in blood. 
 The Egyptian amulet of blood-friendship was red, 
 as representing the blood of the gods. The Egyptian 
 word for " red," sometimes stood for " blood." ^ The 
 sacred directions in the Book of the Dead were written 
 in red ; ^ hence, follows our word " rubrics." The Rabbis 
 say, that when persecution forbade the wearing of the 
 phylacteries with safety, a red thread might be sub- 
 stituted for this token of the covenant with the Lord.* 
 It was a red thread which Joshua gave to Rahab as a 
 token of her covenant relations with the people of the 
 Lord.^ The red thread, in China, to-day, as has 
 been already shown, binds the double cup, from which 
 the bride and bridegroom drink their covenant draught 
 of " wedding wine " ; as if in symbolism of the coven- 
 ant of blood.^ And it is a red thread which in India, 
 to-day, is used to bind a sacred amulet around the 
 arm or the neckj Among the American Indians, 
 
 ^ See Prov. 6 : i ; 11:15 (margin) ; 22 : 24-26. 
 2 See page 47, supra. 
 ' See Lepsius's exemplar of the Todtenbuch ; also Birch, in Bunsen's 
 Egypt's Place, V., 125. 
 
 *See Farrar's article on " Frontlets," in Smith-Hackett's Bib. Die. 
 
 * Joshua 2 : 18-20. ^ See pages 93 f., supra. 
 
 ' See Robert's Orient. III. of Scrip., p. 20. 
 
SAUrS EMBLEMS OF ROYALTY. 237 
 
 "scarlet, or red," is the color which stands for sacri- 
 fices, or for sacrificial blood, in all their picture paint- 
 ing ; and the shrine, or tunkan^ which continues to 
 have its devotees, " is painted red, as a sign of active 
 [or living] worship."^ The same is true of the 
 shrines in India ; ^ the color red shows that worship is 
 still living there ; red continues to stand for blood. 
 
 The two covenant tokens of blood-friendship with 
 God — circumcision and the phylacteries — are, by the 
 Rabbis, closely linked in their relative importance. 
 ** Not every Israelite is a Jew," they say, " except he 
 has two witnesses — the sign of circumcision and phy- 
 lacteries " ; ^ the sign given to Abraham, and the sign 
 given to Moses. 
 
 In the narration of King Saul's death, as given in 
 2 Samuel i : 1-16, the young Amalekite, who reports 
 Saul's death to David, says : " I took the crown that 
 was upon his head, and the bracelet that was on his arm 
 [the emblems of his royalty], and have brought them 
 hither unto my lord." The Rabbis, in their paraphra- 
 sing of this passage,"* claim that it was the phylactery, 
 "the frontlet" {totephtd) rather than a "bracelet," which 
 was on the arm of King Saul ; as if the king of the 
 
 * Lynd's Hist, of Dakotasy p. 81. 
 
 2 Bayard Taylor's India^ China, and Japan, p. 52. 
 
 ' See Home and Syn. of Mod. Jew, p. 5. 
 
 * See Targum, in Buxtorf 's Biblia Rabbinica, in loco. 
 
238 THE BLOOD COVENANT, 
 
 covenant-people of Jehovah would not fail to be with- 
 out the token of Jehovah's covenant with that people. 
 So firmly fixed was the idea of the appropriateness 
 and the binding force of these tokens of the covenant, 
 that their use, in one form or another, was continued 
 by Christians, until the custom was denounced by 
 representative theologians and by a Church Council. 
 In the Catacombs of Rome, there have been found 
 " small caskets of gold, or other metal, for containing 
 a portion of the Gospels, generally part of the first 
 chapter of John [with its covenant promises to all who 
 believe on the true Paschal Lamb], which were worn 
 on the neck," as in imitation of the Jewish phylacter- 
 ies. These covenant tokens were condemned by Iren- 
 seus, Augustine, Chrysostom, and by the Council of 
 Laodicea, as a relic of heathenism. ^ 
 
 6. THE BLOOD COVENANT AT SINAI. 
 
 When rescued Israel had reached Mount Sinai, and 
 a new era for the descendants of Abraham was en- 
 tered upon, by the issue of the divinely given charter 
 of a separate nationality, the covenant of blood- 
 friendship between the Lord and the seed of the Lord's 
 friend, was once more recognized and celebrated. 
 "And Moses came and told the people all the words 
 of the Lord, and all the judgments : and all the peo- 
 
 ^ See Jones's Credulities Past and Present ^ p. 188. 
 
BEFORE MOUNT SINAI. 239 
 
 pie answered with one voice, and said, All the words 
 which the Lord hath spoken will we do. And Moses 
 wrote all the words of the Lord, and rose up early in 
 the morning [or, * prepared for a new start ' as that 
 phrase means] ,^ and builded an altar under the mount, 
 and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of 
 Israel. And he sent young men of the children of 
 Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed 
 peace offerings of oxen unto the Lord ; " not sin-offer- 
 ings are named, but burnt-offerings, of consecration, and 
 peace-offerings, of communion. And now observe the 
 celebration of the symbolic rite of the blood-covenant 
 between the Lord and the Lord's people, with the 
 substitute blood accepted on both sides, and with the 
 covenant record agreed upon. "And Moses took half 
 of the blood, and put it in basins ; and half of the 
 blood he sprinkled on the altar. And he took the 
 book [the record] of the covenant, and read in the audi- 
 ence of the people : and they said, All that the Lord 
 hath spoken will we do, and be obedient. And Moses 
 took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people [half 
 of it he sprinkled on the Lord's altar, and half of it 
 he sprinkled on the Lord's people. The writer of 
 Hebrews^ says that Moses sprinkled blood on the 
 book, also ; thus blood-staining the record of the cove- 
 nant, according to the custom in the East, to-day], 
 
 ^ See Kadesk Bamea, p. 382, note. 'Heb. 9 : 19. 
 
240 THE BLOOD COVENANT, 
 
 and [Moses] said, Behold the blood of the covenant, 
 which the Lord hath made with you concerning all 
 these words [or, as the margin renders it, * upon all 
 these conditions,' in the written compact]. Then 
 went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and 
 seventy of the elders of Israel. . . . And they 
 beheld God, and did eat and drink" ;^ as in the social 
 inter-communion, which commonly accompanies the 
 rite of blood-friendship. 
 
 When Abraham was brought into the covenant of 
 blood-friendship with Jehovah, it was his own blood 
 which Abraham devoted to Jehovah. When Jehovah 
 recognized anew this covenant of blood-friendship 
 in behalf of the seed of his friend, Jehovah provided 
 the substitute blood, for its symbolizing in thepassover. 
 When united Israel was to be inducted into the privi- 
 leges of this covenant of blood-friendship at Mount 
 Sinai, half of the blood came from the one party, and 
 half of the blood came from the other party, to the 
 sacred compact ; both portions being supplied from a 
 common and a mutually accepted symbolic substitute. 
 
 7. THE BLOOD COVENANT IN THE MOSAIC RITUAL. 
 
 With the establishment of the Mosaic law, there 
 was an added emphasis laid on the sacredness of 
 blood, which had been insisted on in the Noachic 
 ^See Exod. 24: i-ii. 
 
PROHIBITIONS OF BLOOD-EATING. 24I 
 
 covenant; and many new illustrations were divinely- 
 given of the 'possibilities of an ultimate union with 
 God through inter-flowing blood, and of present com- 
 munion with God through the sharing of the substi- 
 tute flesh of a sacrificial victim. 
 
 " Ye shall eat no manner of blood, whether it be of 
 fowl or beast, in any of your dwellings. Whosoever 
 it be that eateth any blood, that soul shall be cut off 
 from his people." ^ " Whatsoever man there be of the 
 house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among 
 them, that eateth any manner of blood ; I will set my 
 face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut 
 him off from among his people. For the life [the 
 soul] of the flesh is in the blood : and I have given it 
 to you upon the altar to make atonement for your 
 souls : for it is the blood that maketh atonement by 
 reason of the life [by reason of its being the life]. 
 Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul 
 of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that 
 is among you eat blood." ^ " For as to the life of all 
 flesh, the blood thereof is all one with the life thereof; 
 therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall 
 eat the blood of no manner of flesh : for the life of all 
 flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be 
 cut off." 3 
 
 Because of sin, death has passed upon man. Man 
 *Lev. 7: 26. 2i^y ly. i(>_i2. 'Lev. 17: 14. 
 
 21 
 
242 THE BLOOD COVENANT, 
 
 can have new life only from the Author of life. A 
 transfusion of life is, as it were, a transfusion of blood ; 
 for, " of all flesh, the blood thereof is all one with the 
 life thereof." If, indeed, the death-possessed man 
 could enter into a blood-covenant with the Author of 
 life, — could share the life of him who is Life, — then 
 the dead might have new life in a new nature ; and the 
 far separated sinner might be brought into oneness 
 with God ; finding atonement in the cleansing flow of 
 the new blood thus applied. So it pleased God to ap- 
 point substitute blood upon the altar of witness between 
 the sinner and Himself, as a symbol of that atonement 
 whereby the sinner might, through faith, become a 
 partaker of the divine nature. " The wages of sin is 
 death ; but the free gift of God is eternal life " ^ — in 
 that foreshadowed divine blood, which the blood of 
 beasts, offered on the altar, can, for a time, typify. 
 Blood — even the blood of beasts — thus made sacred, 
 as a holy symbol, must never be counted as a common 
 thing ; but it must be held, ever reverently, as a token 
 of that life which is the sinner's need ; and which is 
 God's grandest gift and God's highest prerogative. 
 
 In the line of this teaching, the command went 
 forth : " What man soever there be of the house of 
 Israel, that killeth an ox, or lamb, or goat in the 
 camp, or that killeth it without the camp, and hath 
 
 iRom.*6: 23. 
 
BURIAL OF BLOOD. 243 
 
 not brought it unto the door of the tent of meeting, to 
 offer it [with its blood] as an oblation unto the Lord 
 before the tabernacle of the Lord: blood shall be 
 imputed unto that man ; he hath shed blood [improp- 
 erly] ; and that man shall be cut off from among his 
 people : to the end that the children of Israel may- 
 bring their sacrifices, which they sacrifice in the open 
 field, even that they may bring them unto the Lord, 
 unto the door of the tent of meeting, unto the priest, 
 and sacrifice them for sacrifices of peace-offering unto 
 the Lord. And the priest shall sprinkle the blood 
 upon the altar of the Lord at the door of the tent of 
 meeting ; and burn the fat for a sweet savour unto the 
 Lord." ^ The children of Israel were, at all times and 
 everywhere, to reach out after communion and union 
 with God, through the surrender of their personal 
 selves in the surrender of their substitute blood — with 
 its divinely appointed symbolism of communion and 
 union with God " in the blood of the eternal coven- 
 ant " of divine friendship.^ 
 
 And again : " Whatsoever man there be of the 
 children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn 
 among them, which taketh in hunting any beast or 
 fowl that may be eaten ; he shall pour out the blood 
 thereof, and cover it with the dust."^ If he be at a 
 distance from the tabernacle, so that he cannot bring 
 
 ^Lev. 17: 3-6. 'Comp. Heb. 13: 20. *Lev. 17: 13. 
 
244 ^^^ BLOOD COVENANT, 
 
 the blood for an oblation at the altar, he must, at all 
 events, reverently pour out the blood as unto God, 
 and cover it as he would a human body in a grave. 
 And to this day this custom prevails, widely through- 
 out the East; not among Jews alone, but among 
 Christians and Muhammadans, as also among those 
 of other religions.^ 
 
 Under the Mosaic ritual, the forms and the symbol- 
 isms of sacrifice were various. But through them all, 
 where blood was an element, — in the sin-offering, in 
 the trespass-offering, in the burnt-offering, in the 
 peace-offering, — ^blood always represented life, never 
 death. Death was essential to its securing ; but, when 
 secured, blood was life. Death, as the inevitable 
 wages of sin, had already passed unto all men ; and 
 " death reigned from Adam to Moses " ; but, with the 
 full disclosure of the law, in Moses, which made sin 
 apparent, there came, also, a disclosure of an atone- 
 ment for sin, and of a cure for its consequences. 
 Death was already here ; now came the assurance of 
 an attainable life. The sinner, in the very article 
 of death, was shown that he might turn, in self-surren- 
 der and in loving trust, with a proffer of his own 
 
 * A traveler in Mauritius, describing a Hindoo sacrifice there, of a he- 
 goat, in fulfilment of a vow, says : " It was killed on soft ground, 
 where the blood would sink into the earth, and leave no trace" (Pike's 
 Sub-Tropical Rambles, p. 223). See also page 109, supra. 
 
LIFE IS MORE THAN DEATH. 245 
 
 life, by substitute blood, to God; and that he might 
 reach out hopefully after inter- union with God, by the 
 sharing of the divine-nature in the unfailing covenant 
 of divine-human blood-friendship. Thus "not as the 
 trespass [with its mere justice of punishment ; but] so 
 also [and ' much more,' of grace alone,] is the free gift 
 [of life to the justly dead]."^ 
 
 All the detailed requirements of the Mosaic ritual, 
 and all the specific teachings of the Rabbis, as well, 
 go to show the preeminence of the blood in the sacrifi- 
 cial offerings ; go to show, that it is the life (which the 
 blood is), and not the death (which is merely necessary 
 to the securing of the blood), of the victim, that is the 
 means of atonement ; that gives the hope of a sinner's 
 new inter-union with God. 
 
 In a commentary on a Talmudic tract, on The Day 
 of Atonement, Rabbi Obadiah of Barttenora, notes the 
 fact,^ that in the choice by lot, of the priests who were 
 to have a part in the daily sacrifice, the priest first 
 selected " obtained the right [of priority], and sprink- 
 led the blood upon the altar, after he had received it in 
 the vessel for the purpose ; for he who sprinkled the 
 blood [is the one who had] received the blood. The 
 next priest to him killed the sacrifice, and this notwith- 
 
 1 Rom. 5 : 12-21. 
 
 2 See Quarterly Statement ^ of Pales. Expl. Fund, for July 1885, pp. 
 197-207. 
 
 21* 
 
246 THE BLOOD COVENANT, 
 
 standing [the fact] that the slaying preceded the re- 
 ceiving of the blood ; because the office of sprinkling 
 was higher than that of slaying; for the slaying was law- 
 ful if done by a stranger ; which was not the case with 
 the sprinkling." The death of the victim was a minor 
 matter : it was the victim's life, — its blood which was 
 its life, — that had chief value and sacredness. 
 
 On this same point Dr. Edersheim says:^ "The 
 Talmud declares the offering of birds, so as to secure 
 the blood [so as to secure that which was preeminently 
 precious] to have been the most difficult part of a 
 priest's work. For the death of the [victim of the] 
 sacrifice was only a means towards an end ; that end 
 being the shedding and sprinkling of the blood, by 
 which the atonement was really made. The Rabbis 
 mention a variety of rules observed by the priest who 
 caught up the blood — all designed to make the best 
 provision for its proper sprinkling. Thus, the priest 
 was to catch up the blood in a silver vessel pointed at 
 the bottom, so that it could not be put down ; and to 
 keep it constantly stirred, to preserve the fluidity of 
 the blood. In the sacrifice of the red heifer, however, 
 the priest caught the blood directly in his left hand, 
 and sprinkled it with his right towards the Holy 
 Place : while in that of the leper, one of the two priests 
 received the blood in the vessel ; the other [received 
 
 ^ The Temple, Its Ministry and Services, p. 88, f. 
 
THE BLOODY HAND. 247 
 
 it] in his hand, from which he anointed the purified 
 leper." 
 
 Recognizing the truth that in the sacrifices of the 
 Mosaic ritual, " consecration by blood is consecration 
 in a living union with Jehovah," Professor W. Robert- 
 son Smith observes,^ that, " in the ordinary atoning 
 sacrifices, the blood is not applied to the people [it is 
 merely poured out Godward, as if in sign of life sur- 
 render] ; but in the higher forms, as in the sacrifice for 
 the whole congregation (Lev. 4 : 13 seq}), the priest at 
 least dips his hand in it, and so puts the bond of blood 
 between himself, as the people's representative, and the 
 altar, as the point of contact with God." ^ And so, on 
 the basis of the root-idea of the primitive rite of the 
 covenant of blood, an inter-union is symbolized be- 
 tween the returning sinner and his God. 
 
 The aim of all the Mosaic sacrifices was, a restored 
 communion with God ; and the hope which runs 
 through them all is of a divine-human inter-union 
 through blood. " The one purpose which is given after 
 every sacrifice in the first chapters of Leviticus,"^ says 
 Stanley,^ " is, that it * shall make a sweet savoui* unto the 
 Lord '." And Edersheim says,^ of all the various sacrir 
 
 1 The Old Test, in the Jewish Church, Notes on Lect. XII. 
 
 * See pages 11, 12, supra. ^ Lev. i: 13, 17 ; 2: 2, 12; 3 : 8, 26, 
 
 * Christian Institutions, Chap. 4. 
 
 6 The Temple, Its Min. and Serv., p. 82, 
 
248 777^ BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 fices of the ritual : " These, were, then, either sacrifices 
 of communion with God, or else [were] intended to re- 
 store that communion when it had been disturbed or 
 dimmed through sin and trespass : sacrifices in com- 
 munion, or [sacrifices] for communion, with God. To 
 the former class belong the burnt and the peace-offer- 
 ings ; to the latter, the sin and the trespass offerings." ^ 
 The sin-offering, of that ritual, was, in a sense, the 
 basis of the whole system of sacrifices. The chief 
 feature of that offering, was the out-flowing of its 
 blood Godward. The offering itself was a substitute- 
 offering, for an individual or for the entire people. Its 
 blood was sprinkled upon the horns of the altar of burnt- 
 offering, or poured out at the base of that altar,^ — the al- 
 tar of personal consecration ; or, it was sprinkled within 
 the Holy Place toward the Most Holy Place,' — the 
 symbolic dwelling-place of Jehovah : and again it was 
 made to touch the horns of the altar of incense, which 
 sent up its sweet savor to God : in every case, it was 
 the outreaching of the sinner toward inter-union with 
 God, in a covenant of blood. 
 
 r The whole burnt-offering, of the Mosaic ritual, 
 'symbolised the entire surrender to God, of the indi- 
 vidual or of the congregation, in covenant faithfulness ; 
 the giving of one's self in unreserved trust to Him 
 
 "^The Temple^ Its Min. and Serv.^ p. 82. 
 2 Lev. 4: 7, 18, 25, 30, 34. 8 Lev. 4: 6, 7, 17; 16: 14, 15. 
 
THE WHOLE BURNT OFFERING. 249 
 
 with whom the offerer desired to be in loving oneness. 
 It was an indication of a readiness to enter fully into 
 that inter-union, which the blood-covenant brought 
 about between two who had been separated, but who 
 were henceforth to be as one. This offering also must i 
 be made with blood ; for it is blood — which is the ' 
 life — ^that gives the possibility of inter-union. All the 
 outpoured blood of this offering, however, went directly 
 to the altar upon which the offering itself was laid ;^ not 
 toward the Most Holy Place, of the Lord's symbolic 
 presence. This offering was not, indeed, understood 
 as in itself compassing inter-union ; it indicated rather 
 a desire and a readiness for inter-union — anew or 
 renewed: so, both the substitute-body and the substitute- 
 blood were offered at the altar of typical surrender and 
 consecration. When other sacrifices were brought, the 
 burnt-offering followed the sin-offering, but preceded 
 the peace-offering ;^ again, it might be offered by itself. 
 He who was of the blood-covenant stock of Abraham, 
 thereby sought restoration to the full privileges of that 
 covenant, to which he had not been wholly true ; and 
 even he who was not of that stock might in this way 
 show his desire to share in its privileges ; " for the burnt 
 offering was the only sacrifice which non-Israelites were 
 permitted to bring" ^ to the altar of Jehovah. 
 
 iLev. 1 : 5,11,15. 2 Lev. 8: 14-22; 9: 8-22; 14: 19,20; 16: 3-25. 
 * Edersheim's The Tempky Its Min. and Serv., p. ICX). 
 
250 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 Following the communion-seeking, or the union- 
 seeking, sin-offering (with its connected, or related, 
 trespass-offering, or guilt-offering), and the self-sur- 
 rendering burnt-offering, there came the joyous com- 
 munion-symbolizing peace-offering, with its type of 
 completed union,^ in the sharing, by the sinner and his 
 God, of the flesh of the sacrificial victim at a common 
 feast. And this banquet-sacrifice^ corresponds with the 
 feast of inter-communion which commonly follows the 
 primitive rite of blood-covenanting, and which marks 
 the completion of the inter-union thereby sought after. 
 
 All the other sacrifices of the Mosaic ritual follow 
 in the line of these three classes. Even those which 
 are in themselves offered without blood, presuppose 
 the individual's share in the blood-covenant, by the rite 
 of circumcision, and through the high priest's sin- 
 offering for the entire congregation. ** The Rabbis 
 attach ten comparative degrees of sanctity to sacrifices ; 
 and it is interesting to mark, that of these the first be- 
 longed to the blood of the sin-offering ; the second to 
 the burnt-offering ; the third to the sin-offering itself; 
 and the fourth to the trespass-offering." ^ The blood 
 which is to secure the covenant-union — anew or re- 
 
 ^ " From its derivation it might also be rendered, the offering of com- 
 pletion" (Edersheim's The Temple^ Its Min., and Serv., p. 106). 
 * See page 149, supra. 
 * Edersheim's The Temple, Its Min. and Serv., p. 86. 
 
LIMITATIONS OF THE SYMBOLS. 25 1 
 
 newed — is of preeminent importance. Then comes the 
 symbol of self-surrendering devotedness. First, the 
 possibility of inter-union ; next, the expression of 
 readiness and desire for it. After this, the other sacri- 
 fices range themselves according to their signification, 
 until the culmination of the series is reached in the 
 joyous inter-communion feast of the peace-offering. 
 
 But, with all the suggestions of the rite of blood- 
 covenanting, in the sacrifices of the Mosaic ritual, there 
 were limitations in the correspondences of that rite in 
 those sacrifices, which mark the incompleteness of 
 their symbolism, and which point to better things to 
 come. In the primitive blood-covenant rite itself, both 
 parties receive, and partake of, the blood which be- 
 comes common to the two. In all the outside religions 
 of the world, where men reach out after a divine- 
 human inter-union through substitute-blood, the offerer 
 drinks of the sacrificial blood, or of something which 
 stands for it; and so he is supposed to share the nature 
 of the God with whom he thus covenants and inter- 
 unites. In the Mosaic ritual, however, all drink-offer- 
 ings of blood were forbidden to him who would enter 
 into covenant with God ; he might not taste of the 
 blood. He might, it is true, look forward, by faith, to 
 an ultimate sharing of the divine nature ; and in antici- 
 pation of that inter-union, he could enjoy a symbolic 
 inter-communion with God, by partaking of the peace- 
 
252 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 offerings at the table of his Lord ; but as yet the sacri- 
 ficial offering which could supply to his death-smitten 
 nature the vivifying blood of an everlasting covenant, 
 was not disclosed to him/ 
 
 Even the substitute blood which he presented at the 
 altar, as he came with his outreaching after a blood- 
 covenant union with the Lord, did not secure to him 
 direct personal access to the symbolic earthly dwelling- 
 place of the Lord. That blood could be poured out at 
 the base of the altar of consecration, or it could be 
 sprinkled upon its horns. That blood could, on occa- 
 sions be sprinkled before the veil of the Most Holy 
 Place ; or could touch the horns of the altar of sweet 
 incense. But that blood could never pass that veil 
 which guarded the place of the Lord's symbolic 
 presence, save once in a year when the high-priest, all 
 by himself, and that not without a show of his own 
 unfitness for the mission, went in thither, to sprinkle 
 the substitute blood before the mercy-seat; "the Holy 
 Ghost this signifying, that the way into the Holy Place 
 hath not yet been manifest^"; that the substitute 
 " blood of bulls and of goats " ^ cannot be a means of 
 man's inter-union with God. 
 
 Lest, indeed, the Israelite should believe that a blood- 
 covenant union was really secured with God, rather 
 than typified, through these prescribed symbolic sacri- 
 iPsa. 16: 4, 5. 3Heb. 9: 8. 'Heb. 10: 4. 
 
THE SPIRIT ABOVE THE LETTER. 253 
 
 fices and their sharing, he was repeatedly warned 
 against that fatal error, and was taught that his true 
 covenanting must be by a faith-filled recognition of the 
 symbolism of these substitute agencies ; and by the im- 
 plicit surrender of himself, in loving trust, to Him who 
 had ordained them as symbols. Thus in the Psalms : 
 
 " Hear, O my people, and I will speak ; 
 
 Israel, and I will testify unto thee : 
 
 1 am God, even thy God, 
 
 I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices ; 
 
 And thy burnt-offerings are continually before me. . • • 
 
 Will I eat the flesh of bulls. 
 
 Or drink the blood of goats? 
 
 Offer unto God the sacrifice of thanksgiving ; 
 
 And pay thy vows unto the Most High : 
 
 And call upon me in the day of trouble ; 
 
 I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. 
 
 " But unto the wicked, God saith : 
 What hast thou to do to declare my statutes. 
 And that thou hast taken my covenant in thy mouth ? 
 Seeing thou hatest instruction, 
 And castest my words behind thee." ^ 
 
 Again, in the prophecy of Isaiah : 
 " To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me ? 
 Saith the Lord: 
 I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed 
 
 beasts ; 
 And I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or 
 of he-goats. 
 
 iPsa. 50: 7-17. 
 
254 I^HE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 When ye come to appear before me, 
 
 Who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts ? 
 
 Bring no more vain oblations ; 
 
 Incense is an abomination unto me. 
 
 Wash you, make you clean ; 
 
 Put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes ; 
 
 Cease to do evil: 
 
 Learn to do well; 
 
 Seek judgment, relieve the oppressed; 
 
 Judge the fatherless, plead for the widow." ^ 
 
 And with this very warning against a false reliance on 
 the symbols themselves, the same prophet gives as- 
 surance of better things in store for all those who are 
 in true blood-covenant with God; even though they 
 be not of the peculiar people of Abraham's natural 
 descent. Foretelling the future, when the types of 
 the sacrifice shall be realized, he says : 
 
 "And in this mountain shall the Lord of Hosts make unto 
 all peoples 
 A feast of fat things, 
 A feast of wine on the lees ; 
 Of fat things full of marrow, 
 Of wines on the lees well refined." ' 
 
 The feast of inter-communion shall be sure, when the 
 blood-covenant of inter-union is complete. 
 Again, by Jeremiah : 
 
 " Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel : 
 Add your burnt-offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat ye flesh. 
 
 * Isaiah i : 1 1-17. 2 Isa. 25 : 6. 
 
THE TRUE LESSON OF THE ALTAR. 255 
 
 [But remember that that is not the completion of a 
 covenant with me]. 
 
 For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them, 
 In the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, 
 Concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. 
 
 [As if burnt offerings and sacrifices were the all im- 
 portant thing] ; 
 
 But this thing I commanded them, saying, 
 
 Hearken unto my voice. 
 
 And I will be your God, 
 
 And ye shall be my people; 
 
 And walk ye in all the way that I command you, 
 
 That it may be well with you." ^ 
 
 Once more, by Hosea : 
 
 " O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee ? 
 O Judah, what shall I do unto thee ? 
 For your goodness is as a morning cloud, 
 And as the dew that goeth early away. . . . 
 For I desire mercy and not sacrifice ; 
 And the knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings. 
 But they like Adam have transgressed the covenant ; 
 
 [or, as the Revisers' " margin" would render it, 
 
 "But they are as men that have transgressed a covenant" :] 
 There have they dealt treacherously against me " " 
 
 [Therein have they proved unfaithful to the require- 
 ments of the blood-covenant on which they assumed 
 to be resting, in their sacrifices]. 
 
 1 Jer. 7 : 21-23. ' Hosea 6 : 4-7. 
 
256 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 And so, all the way along through the prophets, in 
 repeated emphasis of the incompleteness of the blood- 
 covenanting symbols in the ritual sacrifices. 
 
 Concerning the very rite of circumcision, which was 
 the token of Abraham's covenant of blood-friendship 
 with the Lord, the Israelites were taught that its spir- 
 itual value was not in the formal surrender of a bit of 
 flesh, and a few drops of blood, in ceremonial devoted- 
 ness to God, but in its symbolism of the implicit 
 surrender of the whole life and being, in hearty cove- 
 nant with God. " Behold, unto the Lord thy God 
 belongeth the heaven, and the heaven of heavens, the 
 earth with all that therein is. Only the Lord had a 
 delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their 
 seed after them, even you above all peoples as at this 
 day. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, 
 and be no more stiff-necked." ^ "And it shall come to 
 pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the 
 blessings and the curse which I have set before thee, and 
 thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, 
 whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee, and shalt re- 
 turn unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey his voice 
 according to all that I command thee this day, thou 
 and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy 
 soul ; that then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, 
 and have compassion upon thee, and will return and 
 
 ^Deut. 10: 14-16. 
 
WRITTEN ON THE HEART. 257 
 
 gather thee from all the peoples, whither the Lord thy 
 God hath scattered thee. . . . And the Lord thy 
 God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy 
 seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, 
 and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live." ^ And 
 when this has come to pass, the true seed of Abra- 
 ham,^ circumcised in heart,^ shall be in the covenant 
 of blood-friendship with God. 
 
 So, also, with the phylacteries, as the record of the 
 blood-covenant of the passover, they had a value only 
 as they represented a heart-remembrance of that cove- 
 nant, by their wearers. Says Solomon, in the guise 
 of Wisdom. 
 
 ** My son, forget not my law ; 
 But let thine heart keep my commandments. . . . 
 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee : 
 Bind them about thy neck ; 
 Write them upon the table of thy heart ; 
 So shalt thou find favor and good understanding 
 In the sight of God and man." * 
 
 " Keep my commandments and live ; 
 And my law as the apple of thine eye. 
 Bind them upon thy fingers ; 
 Write them upon the table of thine heart." * 
 
 And the prophet Jeremiah foretells the recognition of 
 
 this truth in the coming day of better things : 
 
 1 Deut. 30 : 1-6. 2 Gal. 3 : 7-9 ; Rom. 4:11, 12. 
 
 * Rom. 2 : 26-29 J Phil. Z'' Z' * P^ov. 3 : 1-4. * Prov. 7 : 2, 3. 
 22* 
 
258 THE BLOOD COVENANT, 
 
 " Behold the days come, saith the Lord, 
 That I will make a new covenant 
 With the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: 
 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers. 
 In the day that I took them by the hand. 
 To bring them out of the land of Egypt 
 
 [That covenant was the blood-covenant of the pass- 
 over ; of which the phylacteries were a token.] 
 
 Which my covenant they brake, 
 
 Although I was an husband unto them [a lord over them] saith 
 
 the Lord; 
 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of 
 
 Israel, 
 After those days, saith the Lord ; 
 I will put my law in their inward parts, 
 And in their heart will I write it; 
 
 [Instead of its being written as now, outside of them, 
 on their hand and on their forehead.] 
 
 And I will be their God, 
 
 And they shall be my people. . . . 
 
 For I will forgive their iniquity. 
 
 And their sin will I remember no more." ^ 
 
 The blood-covenant symbols of the Mosaic law, all 
 pointed to the possibility of a union of man's spiritual 
 nature with God ; but they did not in themselves either 
 assure or indicate that union as already accomplished; 
 nor did they point the way to it, as yet made clear. 
 They were only " a shadow of the things to come." ^ 
 
 1 Jer. 31 : 31-34. ' Col. 2 : 17. 
 
BLOOD FOR BLOOD. 259 
 
 Another gleam of the primitive truth, that blood is 
 life and not death, and that the transference of blood 
 is the transference of life, is found in the various Mosaic 
 references to the goel (Sxi), the person who is autho- 
 rized to obtain blood for blood as an act of justice, in 
 the East. And another proof of the prevailing error 
 in the Western mind, through confounding blood with 
 death, and justice with punishment, is the commoji 
 rendering of the term goel, as " avenger," ^ or " re- 
 venger,"^ in our English Bible, wherever that term 
 applies to the balancing of a blood account ; although 
 the same Hebrew word is in other connections com- 
 monly translated "redeemer,"^ or "ransomer."* 
 
 Lexicographers are confused over the original im- 
 port of the word goel;^ all the more, because of this 
 confusion in their minds over the import of blood, in 
 its relation to death and to justice. But it is agreed 
 on all hands, that, as a term, the word was, in the East, 
 applied to that kinsman whose duty it was to secure 
 
 1 Num. 35 : 12 ; Deut. 19 : 6, 12 ; Josh. 20 : 3, 5, 9. 
 *Nuin. 35: 19, 21, 24, 25, 27; 2 Sam. 14: 11. 
 3 Job 19: 25; Psa. 19: 14; 78: 35; Prov. 23: II; Isa. 41 : 14; 
 43 : 14 ; 44 : 6, 24 ; 47 : 4 ; 48 : 17 ; 49 = 7, 26 ; 54 : 5, 8 ; 59 : 20; 
 60: 16; 63: 16; Jer. 50: 34. 
 
 *Comp. Isa. 51 : lo; Jer, 31 : II. 
 s "A term of which the original import is uncertain. The very 
 obscurity of its etymology testifies to the antiquity of the office which it 
 denotes." {Speaker's Com. at Num. 35 : 12.) 
 
26o THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 justice to the injured, and to restore, as it were, a nor- 
 mal balance to the disturbed family relations. Oehler 
 well defines the goel, as " that particular relative whose 
 special duty it was to restore the violated family integ- 
 rity, who had to redeem not only landed property that 
 had been alienated from the family (Lev. 25:25 ff), or a 
 member of the family that [who] had fallen into slavery 
 (Lev. 25 : 47 ff.), but also the blood that had been taken 
 away from the family by murder." ^ Hence, in the event 
 of a depletion of the family by the loss of blood — ^the loss 
 of a life — the goel had a responsibility of securing to the 
 family an equivalent of that loss, by other blood, or by 
 an agreed payment for its value. His mission was not 
 vengeance, but equity. He was not an avenger, but a 
 redeemer, a restorer, a balancer. And in that light, and 
 in that light alone, are all the Oriental customs in con- 
 nection with blood-cancelling seen to be consistent. 
 
 All through the East, there are regularly fixed tariffs 
 for blood-cancelling ; as if in recognition of the rela- 
 tive loss to a family, of one or another of its support- 
 ing members.^ This idea, of the differences in ran- 
 
 1 Cited from Herzog's B. Cycl., in Keil and Delitzsch's Bib. Com. on 
 the Pent., at Num. 35 : 9-34. 
 
 2 See Niebuhr's Beschreibung von Arabien, p. 32 f. ; Burckhardt's 
 Beduinen und Wahaby, pp. 1 19-127; Lane's Thousand and One 
 Nights, I., 431, note; Pierotti's Customs and Traditions of Palestine, 
 pp. 220-227 ; Mrs. Finn's «* The Fellaheen of Palestine," in Surv. of 
 
 West Pal., " Special Papers," pp. 342-346. 
 
BLOOD OR MILK. 261 
 
 soming-value between different members of the family, 
 is recognized, in the Mosaic standards of ritual-ran- 
 som;^ although the accepting of a ransom for the 
 blood of a blood-spiller was specifically forbidden in 
 the Mosaic law.^ This prohibition, in itself, however, 
 seems to be a limitation of the privileges of the goel, 
 as before understood in the East. The Quran, on the 
 other hand, formally authorizes the settlement of man- 
 slaughter damages by proper payments.^ 
 
 Throughout Arabia, and Syria, and in various parts 
 of Africa,'* the first question to be considered in any 
 case of unlawful blood-shedding is, whether the loss 
 life shall be restored — or balanced — by blood, or by 
 some equivalent of blood. Von Wrede, says of the 
 custom of the Arabs, in concluding a peace, after tribal 
 hostilities : " If one party has more slain than the other, 
 the shaykh on whose side the advantage lies, says [to 
 the other shaykh] : ' Choose between blood and milk ' 
 [between life, and the means of sustaining life] ; which 
 is as much as to say, that he may [either] avenge the 
 fallen [take life for life]; or accept blood-money."^ 
 Mrs. Finn says, similarly, of the close of a combat in 
 
 1 Comp. Exod. 21 : 18-27 5 22 : 14-17 ; Lev. 27 : 1-8. 
 
 'Num. 36: 30-34. 3 Sooras, 2 and 17. 
 
 * Livingstone and Stanley on several occasions, made payments, or had 
 
 them made, to avoid a conflict on a question of blood. See, e. g. Trav. and 
 
 Res. in So. Africa, pp. 390, 368-370, 482 f.. The Congo, I., 520-527. 
 
 ^ Reise in Hadhramaut, p. 199. 
 
262 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 Palestine : ''A computation is generally made of the 
 losses on either side by death, wounds, etc., and the 
 balance is paid to the victors."^ Burton describes simi- 
 larly the custom in Arabia,^ 
 
 It is the same in individual cases, as in tribal con- 
 flicts. An accepted payment for blood fully restores 
 the balance between the aggrieved parties and the 
 slayer. As Pierotti says : ** This charm will teach the 
 Arab to grasp readily the hands of the slayer of his 
 father or his son, saying, * Such an one has killed my 
 father, but he has paid me the price of his blood.' "^ 
 This in itself shows, that it is not revenge, but restitu- 
 tion, that is sought after by the goel ; that he is not 
 the blood-avenger, but the blood-balancer. 
 
 It is true that, still, in some instances, all money pay- 
 ment for blood is refused ; but the avowed motive in 
 such a case is the holding of life as above price — the 
 very idea which the Mosaic law emphasized. Thus 
 Burton tells of the excited Bed'ween mother who dashes 
 the proffered blood-money to the ground, swearing 
 " by Allah, that she will not eat her son's blood." ^ And 
 even where the blood of the slayer is insisted on, there 
 are often found indications that the purpose of this 
 choice rests on the primitive belief that the lost life is 
 
 1 Surv. of West. PaL, " Special Papers," p. 342. 
 
 2 A Pilgrimage to Alec, and Med., 357, 
 
 * Cmt. and Trad, of Pal., p. 221. ^'A Pilgrimage, p. 367. 
 
BIBLE ILLUSTRATIONS. 263 
 
 made good to the depleted family by the newly re- 
 ceived blood. ^ Thus, in the region of Abyssinia, the 
 blood of the slayer is drunk by the relatives of the one 
 first slain ; ^ and, in Palestine, when the goel has shed 
 the blood of an unlawful slayer, those who were the 
 losers of blood by that slayer dip their handkerchiefs 
 in his blood, and so obtain their portion of his life.^ 
 
 In short, apart from the specific guards thrown 
 around the mission of the goel, in the interests of jus- 
 tice, by the requirements of the Mosaic law, it is evi- 
 dent, that the primal idea of the goel's mission was to 
 restore life for life, or to secure the adjusted equivalent 
 of a lost life ; not to wreak vengeance, nor yet to mete 
 out punishment. The calling of the goel, in our Eng- 
 lish Bible, a " revenger " of blood, is a result of the 
 wide-spread and deep-rooted error concerning the 
 primitive and Oriental idea of blood and its value; 
 and that unfortunate translation tends to the perpetua- 
 tion of this error. 
 
 8. THE PRIMITIVE RITE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 Because the primitive rite of blood-covenanting was 
 well known in the Lands of the Bible, at the time of 
 the writing of the Bible, for that very reason, we are 
 not to look to the Bible for a specific explanation of 
 
 *See pages 126-133, supra. 2 See page 132 f., supra. 
 
 •Pierotti's Cust. and Trad, of Pal p. 216. 
 
264 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 the rite itself, even where there are incidental references 
 in the Bible to the rite and its observances ; but, on 
 the other hand, we are to find an explanation of the 
 biblical illustrations of the primitive rite, in the under- 
 standing of that rite which we gain from outside 
 sources. In this way, we are enabled to see in the 
 Bible much that otherwise would be lost sight of 
 
 The word for " covenant," in the Hebrew, bereeth 
 (^'1|), is commonly, so employed, in the sacred text, 
 as to have the apparent meaning of a thing " cut," as 
 apart from, or as in addition to, its primary meaning 
 of a thing " eaten." ^ This fact has been a source of 
 confusion to lexicographers.^ But, when we consider 
 that the primitive rite of blood-covenanting was by 
 cutting into the flesh in order to the tasting of the 
 blood, and that a feast was always an accompaniment 
 of the rite, if, indeed, it were not an integral portion 
 of it, the two-fold meaning of ** cutting" and "eating" 
 attaches obviously to the term " covenant " ; as the 
 terms " carving," and " giving to eat," are often used 
 interchangeably, with reference to dining; or as we 
 speak of a " cut of beef" as the portion for a table. 
 
 The earliest Bible reference to a specific covenant 
 between individuals, is in the mention, at Genesis 
 14: 13, of Mamre, Eshcol, and Aner, the Amorites, 
 
 *Comp. Gen. 15 : 18; Jer. 34: 18; 2 Sam. 12 : 17. 
 ' See Gesenius, Fuerst, Cocceius, s. v. 
 
AT THE WELLS OF BEER-SHEBA. 265 
 
 who were in covenant with — literally, were " masters 
 of the covenant of" — "Abram the Hebrew." After 
 this, comes the record of a covenant between Abraham 
 and Abimelech, at the wells of Beer-sheba. Abime- 
 lech sought that covenant ; he sought it because of his 
 faith in Abraham's God. "God is with thee in all that 
 thou doest," he said : " Now, therefore, swear unto me 
 here by God, that thou wilt not deal falsely with me, 
 nor with my son, nor with my son's son : but accord- 
 ing to the kindness that I have done unto thee, thou 
 shalt do unto me, and to the land wherein thou hast 
 sojourned. And Abraham said, I will swear." ^ Then 
 came the giving of gifts by Abraham, according to the 
 practice which seems universal in connection with this 
 rite, in our own day.^ "And Abraham took sheep 
 and oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech." And they 
 two " made a covenant," — or, as the Hebrew is, " they 
 two cut a covenant." This covenant, thus cut between 
 Abraham and Abimelech — patriarchs and sovereigns as 
 they were — was for themselves and for their posterity. 
 As to the manner of its making, we have a right to 
 infer, from all that we know of the manner of such 
 covenant-making among the people of their part of the 
 world, in the earliest days of recorded history. 
 
 Herodotus, who goes back more than two-thirds of 
 the way to Abraham, says, that when the Arabians 
 
 *Gen. 21 : 22-24. ^g^g pages 14, 16, 20, 22, 25, 27, etc., supra. 
 23 
 
266 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 would covenant together, a third man, standing be- 
 tween the two, cuts, with a sharp stone, the inside of 
 the hands of both, and lets the blood therefrom drop 
 on seven stones which are between the two parties.^ 
 Phicol, the captain of Abimelech's host, was present, 
 as a third man, when the covenant was cut between 
 Abimelech and Abraham ; at Beer-sheba — the Well 
 of the Seven, or the Well of the Oath.^ Instead of 
 seven stones as a "heap of witness"^ between the two 
 in this covenanting, " seven ewe lambs " were set apart 
 by Abraham, that they might " be a witness "^ — a sym- 
 bolic witness to this transaction. 
 
 In the primitive rite of blood-covenanting, as it is 
 practised in some parts of the East, to the present 
 time, in addition to other symbolic witnesses of the 
 rite, a tree is planted by the covenanting parties, "which 
 remains and grows as a witness of their contract."^ So 
 \ it was, in the days of Abraham. "And Abraham 
 planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba, and called 
 there on the name of the Everlasting God. And 
 Abraham sojourned [was a sojourner] in the land of 
 the Philistines many days " ^ — while that tree, doubt- 
 less, remained and grew as a witness of his blood- 
 covenant compact with Abimelech the ruler of the 
 
 1 See page 47, supra. 'Gen. 21 : 31. 
 
 ^Comp. Gen. 31 : 44-47. *Gen. 21 : 30. 
 
 ^See page 53, supra, 'Gen. 21 : 33. 
 
CUTTING AND STRIKING. 267 
 
 Philistines.^ Abimelech was, as it were, the first-fruits 
 of the " nations "^ who were to have a blessing through 
 the covenanted friend of God. 
 
 It is a noteworthy fact, that when Herodotus de- 
 scribes the Scythians* mode of drinking each other's 
 mingled blood, in their covenanting, he tells of their 
 " cutting covenant " by " striking the body " of the cove- 
 nanting party. In this case, he employs the words 
 tamnomenon (raiivoiiivwv) " cutting," and tupsantes (ry- 
 (pavTs<s) "striking," which are the correspondents, on 
 the one hand of the Hebrew karath (nn^) " to cut," 
 and on the other hand of the Latin /mr^, "to strike;" 
 as applied to covenant making.^ And this would 
 seem to make a tri-lingual " Rosetta Stone " of this 
 statement by Herodotus, as showing that the Hebrew 
 " cutting " of the covenant, and the Latin " striking " 
 of the covenant, is the Greek, the Arabian, the 
 Scythian, and the universal primitive, method of cove- 
 nanting, by cutting into, or by striking, the flesh of a 
 person covenanting ; in order that another may become 
 a possessor of his blood, and a partaker of his life. 
 
 Yet later, at the same Well of the Seven, another 
 Abimelech came down from Gerar, with " Ahuzzath 
 his friend, and Phicol the captain of his host," and, 
 
 *See references to the blood-stained covenant-tree, in Appendix, 
 infra. 
 ' Gen. 22 : 18. »See page 61 f., supra. 
 
268 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 prompted by faith, sought a renewal of the covenant 
 with the house of Abraham.^ It is not specifically 
 declared that Abimelech and Isaac cut a covenant to- 
 gether ; but it is said that " they did eat and drink" in 
 token of their covenant relations, and that they "sware 
 one to another."^ Apparently they either cut a new 
 covenant, or they confirmed one which their fathers 
 had cut.^ 
 
 When Jacob and Laban covenanted together, in " the 
 mountain [the hill-country] of Gilead," before their 
 final separation, they had their stone-heap of witness 
 between them ; such as Herodotus says the Arabs 
 were accustomed to anoint with their own blood, in 
 their covenanting by blood, in his day ; ^ for Jacob, per- 
 haps, had more tolerance than Abraham, for perverted 
 religious symbols.^ "And now let us cut a covenant, I 
 and thou," said Laban ; " and let it be for a witness 
 between me and thee. And Jacob took a stone, and 
 set it up for a pillar [a pillar instead of a tree]. And 
 Jacob said unto his brethren. Gather stones ; and they 
 took stones, and made an heap : and they did eat there 
 on the heap [the Revisers have translated this, by the 
 heap"].^ And Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha : but 
 
 * Gen. 26 : 25-29. ' Gen. 26 : 30, 31. ^See page 62, supra. 
 
 *Comp. Gen. 12: 6-8; 28: 18-22; 31 : 19-36. 
 *Mr. Forbes tells of a custom, in Sumatra, of taking a binding oath, 
 above the grave of the original patriarch of the Passumah. An animal 
 
DAVID AND JONATHAN. 269 
 
 Jacob called it Gilead. And Laban said, This heap is 
 witness between me and thee this day. . . . God 
 is witness betwixt me and thee. . . . The God of 
 Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their 
 father, judge betwixt us. And Jacob sware by the 
 Fear of his father Isaac. And Jacob offered a sacrifice 
 in the mountain, and called his brethren to eat bread : 
 and they did eat bread." ^ Here again, the cutting of 
 the covenant, and the sharing of a feast in connection 
 with the rite, — the " cutting" and the " eating" — are in 
 accordance with all that we know of the primitive rite, 
 of blood-covenanting in the East, in earlier and in 
 later times. 
 
 Yet more explicit is the description of the blood- 
 covenanting which brought into loving unity, David 
 and Jonathan. It was when the faith-filled heroism 
 of the stripling shepherd-boy was thrilling all Israel 
 with grateful admiration, that David was brought into 
 the royal presence of Saul, and of Saul's more than 
 royal hero-son, Jonathan, to receive the thanks of the 
 
 is sacrificed, cut into small pieces, and cooked in a pot. " Then he who 
 is to take the oath, holding his hand, or a long kriss-, of the finest sort, 
 over the grave-stone, and over the cooked animal, says : * If such and 
 such be not the case, may I be afflicted with the worst evils.' The 
 whole of the company then partake of the food " {^A Naturalises Wan- 
 derings, p. 198 f.). This seems to be a vestige of the primitive custom 
 of eating on the witness-heap of an oath. 
 
 1 Gen. 31 : 44-54. 
 23* 
 
270 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 king for the rescue of the tarnished honor of the 
 Israehtish host. Modestly, David gave answer to the 
 question of the king. "And it came to pass, when he 
 had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul 
 of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and 
 Jonathan loved him as his own soul." " Then Jona- 
 than and David cut a covenant, because he [Jonathan] 
 loved him [David] as his own soul [as his own life, his 
 own blood]." ^ Then followed that gift of raiment and 
 of arms which was a frequent accompaniment of blood- 
 covenanting.^ "And Jonathan stripped himself of the 
 robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his 
 apparel, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his 
 girdle."^ From that hour the hearts of David and 
 Jonathan were as one. Jonathan could turn away from 
 father and mother, and could repress all personal ambi- 
 tion, and all purely selfish longings, in proof of his 
 loving fidelity to him who was dear to him as his own 
 blood.* His love for David was " wonderful, passing 
 the love of women." ^ 
 
 Nor was this loving compact between Jonathan and 
 David for theipselves alone. It was for their posterity 
 as well.^ " The Lord be with thee, as he hath been 
 with my father," said Jonathan. " And thou shalt 
 
 *i Sam. 18 : 1-3. 2 Seepages 14, 24, 28, 35 f., 62, supra. 
 
 'i Sam. 18: 4; 20: I-13. *i Sam. 19: 1-7. 
 
 * 2 Sam. 1 : 26. « See pages 10, 53, supra. 
 
LEG A CIES OF FRIENDSHIP. 2 7 1 
 
 not only while yet I live shew me the kindness of the 
 Lord, that I die not : but also thou shalt not cut off 
 thy kindness from my house for ever : no, not [even] 
 when the Lord hath cut off the enemies of David every 
 one from the face of the earth. So Jonathan cut a 
 covenant with the house of David, saying [as in the 
 imprecations of a blood-covenant]. And the Lord shall 
 require it [fidelity to this covenant] at the hand of 
 David's enemies. And Jonathan caused David to 
 swear again, for the love he had to him : for he loved 
 him as he loved his own soul [his own life, his own 
 blood]." ^ And years afterward, when the Lord had 
 given David rest from all his enemies around about him, 
 the memory of that blood-covenant pledge came back 
 to him ; " and David said. Is there yet any that is left 
 of the house of Saul, that I may shew him kindness 
 for Jonathan's sake?"^ The seating of lame Mephi- 
 bosheth at David's royal table,^ was an illustration of 
 the unfailing obligation of the primitive covenant of 
 blood ; which had bound together David and Jona- 
 than, for themselves and for theirs forever. 
 
 9. THE BLOOD COVENANT IN THE GOSPELS. 
 
 And now from David, to David's greater Son ; from 
 type to anti-type ; from symbol and prophecy, to re- 
 ality and fruition. 
 
 il Sam. 20: 13-17. ^2 Sam. 7:159:1. '2 Sam. 9: 2-13. 
 
2 72 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 Death had passed upon all men. Yet in the hearts 
 of the death-smitten there was still a longing for life. 
 Sin-leprous souls yearned for that in-flow of new be- 
 ing, which could come only through inter-union with 
 the divine nature, in oneness of life with the Author 
 and Source of all life. Revelation and prophecy had 
 assured the possibility and the hope of such inter- 
 union. Rite and ceremony and symbol, the wide- 
 world over, signified man's desire, and man's expecta- 
 tion, of covenanted access to God, through personal 
 surrender, and through life-giving, life-representing 
 blood. 
 
 But, where- men yielded up unauthorized offerings, 
 even of their own blood, or of the very lives of their 
 first-born, they confessed themselves unsatisfied with 
 their attitude God- ward ; and, where men followed a 
 divinely prescribed ritual, they were taught by that 
 very ritual itself, that the outpoured blood and the par- 
 taken flesh of the sacrifices were, at the best, but mere 
 shadows of good things to come.^ The whole crea- 
 tion was groaning and travailing in pain together, until 
 the birth of the world's promised redemption.^ 
 
 The symbolic covenant of blood-friendship was be- 
 tween God and Abraham's seed ; and in that seed were 
 all the nations of the earth to have a blessing. God 
 had called on Abraham to surrender to him his only 
 1 Heb. lo : 1-4. « Rom. 8 : 22. 
 
THE DIVINE-HUMAN BLOOD. 273 
 
 son, in proof of his unfailing love ; and, when Abraham 
 had stood that test of his faith, God had spared to him 
 the proffered offering. It now remained for God to 
 transcend Abraham's proof of friendship, and to spare 
 not his own and only Son,^ but to make him a sacri- 
 ficial offering, by means of which the covenant of 
 blood-friendship, between God and the true seed of 
 Abraham, might become a reality instead of a symbol. 
 Abraham had given to God of his own blood, by the 
 rite of circumcision, in token of his desire for inter- 
 union with God. God was now to give of his blood, 
 in the blood of his Son, for the re-vivifying of the sons 
 of Abraham in " the blood of the eternal covenant"^ 
 Then, in the fullness of time, there came down into 
 this world He who from the beginning was one with 
 God, and who now became one with man. Becoming 
 a sharer of the nature of those who were subject to 
 death, and who longed for life, Jesus Christ was here 
 among men as the fulfillment of type and prophecy ; 
 to meet and to satisfy the holiest and the uttermost 
 yearnings of the human soul after eternal life, in com- 
 munion and union with God. " And the Word became 
 flesh, and dwelt among us, . . . full of grace and 
 truth." " In him was life [life that death could not 
 destroy; life that could destroy death], and the life 
 [which was in him] was the light [the guide and the 
 
 iRom. 8: 32. » Heb. 13: 20. 
 
274 ^^^ BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 hope] of men." " He came unto his own, and they 
 that were [called] his own received him not. But as 
 many as received him [whether, before, they had been 
 called his own, or not] to them gave he the right to 
 become children of God [by becoming partakers of his 
 Hfe], even to them that believe on his name : which 
 were [through faith] begotten, not of bloods [not by 
 ordinary generation], nor of the will of the flesh, nor 
 of the will of man, but of God."^ Having in his own 
 blood, the life of God and the life of man, Jesus Christ 
 / could make men sharers of the divine nature, by 
 \ making them sharers of his own nature ; and this was 
 i the truth of truths which he declared to those whom 
 he instructed. 
 
 In the primitive rite of blood-covenanting, men 
 drank of each other's blood, in order that they might 
 have a common life ; and they ate together of a 
 mutually prepared feast, in order that they might 
 evidence and nourish that common life. In the out- 
 reaching of men Godward, for the privileges of a 
 divine-human inter-union, they poured out the sub- 
 stitute blood of a chosen victim in sacrifice, and they 
 partook of the flesh of that sacrificial victim, in sym- 
 bolism of sharing the life and the nourishment of 
 Deity. This symbolism was made a reality in Jesus 
 Christ. He was the Seed of Abraham ; the fulfillment 
 
 ^Comp. Johni: 1-14; Heb. i: 1-3; 2: 14-16. 
 
THE PREPARED BODY, 275 
 
 of the promise, " In Isaac shall thy Seed be called." ^ 
 He was the true Paschal Lamb ; the " Lamb without 
 blemish and without spot " ; ^ " the Lamb that hath 
 been slain from the foundation of the world." ^ The 
 blood which he yielded, was Life itself The body 
 which he laid on the altar was the Peace Offering of 
 Completion.'* 
 
 " Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith : 
 
 Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, 
 
 But a body didst thou prepare for me ; 
 
 In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hadst no pleasure : 
 
 Then said I, Lo, I am come 
 
 (In the roll of the book it is written of me) 
 
 To do thy will, O God. 
 
 Saying above, [He here says.] Sacrifices and offerings 
 and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou 
 wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein [as if in 
 themselves sufficient] (the which are offered according 
 to the Law) ; then [also] hath he said, Lo I am come to 
 do thy will. He taketh away the first [the symbolic], 
 that he may establish the second [the real]." ^ 
 
 He was here, in the body of his blood and flesh, for 
 the yielding of his blood and the sharing of his flesh, 
 in order to make partakers of his nature, whosoever 
 would seek a divine-human inter-union and a divine- 
 
 * Gen. 21 : 12; Heb. 11 : 18. ^\ Pet. i : 20. 
 
 * Rev. 13:8. * See page 250, supra^ note. ^ Heb. 10 : 5-9. 
 
276 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 human inter-communion, through the sacrifice made 
 by him, " once for all." 
 
 "Jesus therefore said unto them. Verily, verily, I 
 say unto you. Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of 
 man and drink his blood, ye have not life in your- 
 selves. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my 
 blood hath eternal life ; and I will raise him up at the 
 last day. For my flesh is meat indeed [is true meat], 
 and my blood [my life] is drink indeed [is true drink]. 
 He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood 
 abideth in me, and I in him [Herein is communion 
 through union]. As the living Father sent me, and I 
 live because of the Father ; so he that eateth me, he 
 also shall live because of me. This is the bread 
 which came down out of heaven : not as the fathers 
 did eat, and died : he that eateth this bread shall live 
 forever." ^ 
 
 "These things said he in the synagogue, as he 
 taught in Capernaum " — toward the close of the second 
 year of his public ministry. The fact that he did 
 speak thus, so long before he had instituted the 
 Memorial Supper, has been a puzzle to many com- 
 mentators who were unfamiliar with the primitive rite 
 of blood-covenanting, and with the world-wide series 
 of substitute sacrifices and substitute forms of com- 
 munion, which had grown out of the suggestions, and 
 
 »John 6: 53-58. 
 
A SPIRITUAL TRUTH, 2JJ 
 
 out of the perversions, of the root symboHsms of that 
 rite. But, in the light of all these customs, the words 
 of Jesus have a clearer meaning. It was as though 
 he had said : " Men everywhere long for life. They 
 seek a share in the life of God. They give of their 
 own blood, or of substitute blood, and they taste of 
 substitute blood, or they receive its touch, in evidence 
 of their desire for oneness of nature with God. They 
 crave communion with God, and they eat of the flesh 
 of their sacrifices accordingly. All that they thus 
 reach out after, I supply. In me is life. If they will 
 become partakers of my life, of my nature, they shall 
 be sharers of the life of God." Then, he added, in 
 assurance of the fact, that it was a profound spiritual 
 truth which he was enunciating : " It is the spirit that 
 quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth nothing : the words 
 that I have spoken unto you are spirit, and are life." ^ 
 The divine-human inter-union and the divine-human \ { 
 inter-communion are spiritual, and they are spiritually I ' 
 wrought ; or they are nothing. 
 
 The words of Jesus on this subject, were not under- 
 stood by those who heard him. " The Jews therefore 
 strove one with another, saying. How can this man 
 give us his flesh to eat ?" ^ But this was not because 
 the Jews had never heard of eating the flesh of a sacrifi- 
 cial victim, and of drinking blood in a sacred covenant: 
 
 1 John 6: 63. » John 6: 60. 
 
 24 
 
278 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 it was, rather, because they did not reahze that Jesus 
 was to be the crowning sacrifice for the human race ; 
 nor did they comprehend his right and power to make 
 those who were one with him through faith, thereby 
 one with God in spiritual nature. " Many," even " of 
 his disciples, when they heard " these words of his, 
 " said, This is a hard saying ; who can hear it ? " ^ 
 Nor are questioners at this point, lacking among his 
 disciples to-day. 
 
 Before Jesus Christ was formally made an offering 
 in sacrifice, as a means of man's inter-union and inter- 
 communion with God, there were two illustrations of 
 his mission, in the giving of his blood for the bring- 
 ing of man into right relations with God. These were, 
 his circumcision, and his agony in Gethsemane. 
 
 By his circumcision, Jesus brought his humanity 
 into the blood-covenant which was between God and 
 the seed of God's friend, Abraham, of whose nature, 
 according to the flesh, Jesus had become a partaker ; ^ 
 Jesus thereby pledged his own blood in fidelity to that 
 covenant ; so that all who should thereafter become 
 his by their faith, might, through him, be heirs of faith- 
 ful Abraham.^ The sweet singer of the Christian 
 Year,^ seems to find this thought, in this incident in 
 the life of the Holy Child : 
 
 1 John 6 : 60. *Heb. l : 14-16. 
 
 »Gal. 3: 6-9,16,29. *Keble. 
 
THE BLOODY SWEAT, 279 
 
 «*Like sacrificial wine 
 
 Poured on a victim's head, 
 Are those few precious drops of thine, 
 Now first to offering led. 
 "They are the pledge and seal 
 
 Of Christ's unswerving faith, 
 Given to his Sire, our souls to heal. 
 Although it cost his death. 
 "They, to his Church of old, 
 To each true Jewish heart, 
 In gospel graces manifold, 
 Communion blest impart." 
 
 In Gethsemane, the sins and the needs of humanity 
 so pressed upon the burdened soul of Jesus, that his 
 very life was forced out, as it were, from his aching, 
 breaking heart, in his boundless sympathy with his 
 loved ones, and in his infinite longings for their union 
 with God, through their union with himself, in the 
 covenant of blood he was consummating in their be- 
 half ^ "And being in an agony, he prayed more earn- 
 
 1 " In the garden of Gethsemane, Christ endured mental agony so in- 
 tense that, had it not been limited by divine interposition, it would 
 probably have destroyed his life without the aid of any other sufferings ; 
 but having been thus mitigated, its effects were confined to violent | 
 palpitation of the heart accompanied with bloody sweat. . . . Dr. 
 Millingen's explanation of bloody sweat ... is judicious. * It is 
 probable,' says he, * that this strange disorder arises from a violent com- 
 motion of the nervous system, turning the streams of blood out of their 
 natural course, and forcing the red particles into the cutaneous excreto- 
 ries.' " (Stroud's Physical Cause of the Death of Christy pp. 74, 380}. 
 
28o THE BLOOD COVENANT, 
 
 estly : and his sweat became as it were great drops of 
 blood falling down to the ground."^ 
 
 Because of his God-ward purpose of bringing men 
 into a loving covenant with God, Jesus gave of his 
 blood in the covenant-rite of circumcision. Because 
 of his man-ward sympathy with the needs and the 
 trials of those whom he had come to save, and because 
 of the crushing burden of their death-bringing sins, 
 Jesus gave of his blood in an agony of intercessoiy suf- 
 fering. Therefore it is, that the Litany cry of the ages 
 goes up to him in fulness of meaning : " By the mys- 
 tery of thy holy incarnation ; by thy holy nativity and 
 circumcision ; ... by thine agony and bloody sweat, 
 . . . Good Lord, deliver us." 
 
 In process of time, the hour drew nigh that the true 
 covenant of blood between God and man should be 
 consummated finally, in its perfectness. The period 
 chosen was the passover-feast — the feast observed by 
 the Jews in commemoration of that blood-covenanting 
 occasion in Egypt, when God evidenced anew his 
 fidelity to his promises to the seed of Abraham, his 
 blood-covenanted friend. " Now before the feast of 
 the passover, Jesus knowing that his hour was come 
 that he should depart out of this world to the Father, 
 having loved his own which were in the world, he 
 loved them unto the end."^ "And when the hour 
 
 1 Luke 22 : 44. * John 13 : i. 
 
THE COMMUNION FEAST. 28 1 
 
 was come, he sat down, and the apostles with him. 
 And he said unto them. With desire I have desired to 
 eat this passover with you before I suffer." ^ Whether 
 he actually partook of the passover meal at that time, 
 or not is a point still in dispute ; ^ but as to that which 
 follows, there is no question. 
 
 "As they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, 
 and brake it ; and he gave to the disciples, and said, 
 Take, eat ; this is my body." ^ " This do in remem- 
 brance of me. And the cup in like manner after 
 supper ; " '^ " and when he had given thanks, he gave 
 [it] to them," ^ " saying, Drink ye all of it ; for this is 
 my blood of the covenant," ^ or, as another Evangelist 
 records, " this cup is the new covenant in my blood," ^ 
 "which is shed for many unto remission of sins"^ 
 [unto the putting away of sins]. " This do, as oft as 
 ye drink it, in remembrance of me."® "And they all 
 drank of it" ^« 
 
 Here was the covenant of blood; here was the 
 communion feast, in partaking of the flesh of the 
 fitting and accepted sacrifice ; — ^toward which all rite 
 and symbol, and all heart yearning and inspired 
 
 iLuke 22: 14, 15. 
 
 * As to the points in this dispute, see Andrews's Life of our Lord, 
 
 pp. 425-460, and Farrar's Life of Christy Excursus X., Appendix. 
 
 2 Matt. 26 : 26. * Luke 22 : 19, 20. * Mark 14 : 23. 
 
 •Matt. 26: 27, 28. 'Luke 22: 20. ^^att. 26: 28. 
 
 » I Cor. II : 25. »o Mark 14 : 23. 
 
 24* 
 
282 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 prophecy, had pointed, in all the ages. Here was the 
 realization of promise and hope and longing, in man's 
 possibility of inter-union with God through a common 
 life — which is oneness of blood ; and in man's inter- 
 communion with God, through participation in the 
 blessings of a common table. He who could speak 
 for God, here proffered of his owa blood, to make 
 those whom he loved, of the same nature with himself, 
 and so of the same nature with his God; to bring them 
 into blood-friendship with their God ; and he proffered 
 of his own body, to supply them with soul nourish- 
 ment, in that Bread which came down from God, 
 
 Then it was, while they were there together in that 
 upper room, for the consummating of that blood- 
 covenant of friendship, that Jesus said to his disciples : 
 " Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay 
 down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye 
 do the things which I command you. No longer do I 
 call you servants ; for the servant knoweth not what 
 his lord doeth : but I have called you friends [friends 
 in the covenant of blood-friendship now] ; for all 
 things that I heard from my Father, I have made 
 known unto you." * A common life, through oneness 
 of blood, secures an absolute unreserve of intimacy ; 
 so that neither friend has aught to conceal from his 
 other self. "Abide in me, and I in you; ... for 
 ijohn 15: 13-15. 
 
THE PRAYER OF FRIENDSHIP, 283 
 
 apart from me ye can do nothing," was the injunction 
 of Jesus to his blood-covenant friends, at this hour of 
 his covenant pledging. " If ye abide in me, and my 
 words abide in you, ask whatsoever ye will, and it 
 shall be done unto you."^ 
 
 Then it was, also, that the prayer of Jesus for his 
 new blood-covenant friends went up : " Father, the 
 hour is come; glorify thy Son, that the Son may 
 glorify thee : even as thou gavest him authority over 
 all flesh, that whatsoever [whomsoever] thou hast 
 given him, to them he should give eternal life [in an 
 eternal covenant of blood]. And this is life eternal, 
 that they should know thee the only true God, and 
 him whom thou didst send [as the means of life], even 
 Jesus Christ. . . . Holy Father, keep them in thy 
 name which thou hast given me, that they may be one, 
 even as we are. . . . Neither for these [here pres- 
 ent] only do I pray, but for them also that believe on me 
 through their word ; that they may all be one ; even 
 as thou. Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they 
 also may be in us : that the world may believe that 
 thou didst send me. And the glory which thou hast 
 given me I have given unto them ; that they may be 
 one, even as we are one ; I in them, and thou in me, 
 that they may be perfected into one ; that the world 
 may know that thou didst send me, and lovedst them, 
 1 John 15 : 4-7- 
 
284 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 even as thou lovedst me."^ Here was declared the 
 scope of this blood-covenant, and here was unfolded 
 its doctrine. 
 
 It was not an utterly new symbolism that Jesus was 
 introducing into the religious thought of the world : it 
 was rather a new meaning that he was introducing 
 into, or that he was disclosing in, an already widely 
 recognized symbolism. The world was familiar with 
 the shadow of truth; Jesus now made clear to the 
 world, the truth's substance. Man's longing to be a 
 partaker of the divine nature, had manifested itself, 
 through all the ages and everywhere. Jesus now 
 showed how that longing of death-smitten man could 
 be realized. "The appearing of our Saviour Jesus 
 Christ . . . abolished death, and brought life and 
 immortality to light through the gospel " ^ of his blood- 
 covenant. 
 
 But a covenant of blood, a covenant to give one's 
 blood, one's life, for the saving of another, cannot be 
 consummated without the death of the covenanter. 
 " For where [such] a covenant is, there must of neces- 
 sity be [be brought] the death of him that made it. 
 For [such] a covenant is of force [becomes a reality] 
 where there hath been death [or, over the dead] : for 
 doth it [such a covenant] ever avail [can it be effi- 
 cient] while he that made it liveth?"^ Jesus had said, 
 
 ijohn 17: 1-24. 2 2 Tim. i : 10. *Heb. 9: 16, if. 
 
THE BREAKING HEART. 285 
 
 " Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay- 
 down his lite for his friends." ^ Of his readiness to 
 show this measure of love for those who were as the 
 sheep of his fold, he had declared : " I came that they 
 may have life, and may have it abundantly. . . . 
 I lay down my life for the sheep. . . . Therefore 
 doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, 
 that I may take it again. No one taketh it away from 
 me, but I lay it down of myself."^ And again: "I 
 am the living bread which came down out of heaven : 
 if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever : 
 yea, and the bread which Iwill give is my flesh, for 
 the life of the world." ^ " For my flesh is meat indeed, 
 and my blood is drink indeed." ^ Such a covenant as 
 this, could be of force only through the death of him 
 who pledges it. 
 
 The promise of the covenanting-cup, at the cove- 
 nanting-feast, was made good on Calvary.^ The pierced 
 hands and feet of the Divine Friend yielded their life- 
 giving streams. Then, with the final cry, " It is finished," 
 the very heart of the self-surrendered sacrificial victim 
 was broken,^ and the life of the Son of God and of the 
 
 ' John 15 : 13. 2 John 10 : 10, 18. 'John 6: 51. * John 6: 55. 
 
 ^See Matt. 27: 33-54; Mark 15: 22-39; Luke 23: 33-47; John 
 19: 17-37. 
 
 * " He was ultimately • slain,' not by the effects of the anguish of his 
 corporeal frame, but by the effects of the mightier anguish of his mind ; 
 
286 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 Seedof Abraham, was poured out unto death/ in order 
 that all who would, might become sharers in its re-vivi- 
 fying and saving power. He who was without sin, had 
 received the wages of sin ; because, that, only through 
 dying was it possible for him to supply that life which 
 would redeem from the penalty of sin those who had 
 earned death, as sin's wages.^ He who, in himself, had 
 life, had laid down his life, so that those who were with- 
 out life might become its partakers, through faith, in the 
 bonds and blessings of an everlasting covenant. So, 
 the long symbolized covenant of blood was made a 
 reality. "And the witness is this, that God gave unto 
 us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath 
 the Son hath the life ; he that hath not the Son of God 
 hath not the life." * 
 
 lO. THE BLOOD COVENANT APPLIED. 
 
 Under the symbolic sacrifices of the Old Covenant, 
 it was the blood which made atonement for the soul. 
 It was not the death of the victim, nor yet its broken 
 body, but it was the blood, the life, the soul, that was 
 
 the fleshy walls of his heart — ^like the veil, as it were, in the temple of 
 his human body — ^becoming rent and riven, as, for us, * he poured out 
 his soul unto death.' " (Sir James Y. Simpson, cited in Appendix to 
 Stroud's Physical Cause of Death of Christ.) 
 
 iJsa. 53: 12. 2Comp. Rom.6: 23; i Pet. 3 : 18; Isa. 53 : 4-6. 
 'l John 5 : II, 12. 
 
OLD LIFE PURGED OUT BY NEW. 287 
 
 made the means of a soul's ransom, of its rescue, of its 
 redemption. " The Hfe [the soul] of the flesh is in the 
 blood," said the Lord : " and I have given it to you 
 upon the altar to make atonement [to be a cover, to 
 be a propitiation] for your souls [for your lives] : for it 
 is the blood that maketh atonement by reason [of its 
 being] the life [the soul]." ^ " For as to the life [the 
 soul] of all flesh, the blood thereof is all one with the 
 life [the soul] thereof."^ And so, all through the 
 record of the Old Covenant. 
 
 It is the same in the New Covenant, as it was in the 
 Old. Atonement, salvation, rescue, redemption, is by M 
 the blood, the life, of Christ; not by his death as such; 
 not by his broken body in itself; but by that blood 
 which was given at the inevitable cost of his broken 
 body and of his death. The figure of leprosy and its 
 attempted cure by blood, may tend to make this truth 
 the clearer. In the leper, the very blood itself— the 
 life — was death smitten. The only hope of a cure was 
 by purging out the old blood, by means of an inflow- 
 ing current of new blood, which was new life. ^ To 
 give this blood, the giver himself must die ; but it was 
 his blood, his life, not his death, which was to be the 
 means of cure. So, also, with the sin-leprous nature. 
 His old life must be purged out, by the incoming of a 
 new life ; of such a life as only the Son of God can supply, 
 
 ^Lev.i7:ii. *Lev. 17:14. 'See pages 11 6-1 25. 
 
288 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 In order to supply that blood, its Giver must himself 
 die, and so be a sharer of the punishment of sin, al- 
 though he was himself without sin. Thus was the new 
 life made a possibility to all, by faith. 
 
 So it is, that " we have redemption [rescue from 
 death] through [by means of] his blood" ;^ and that 
 " the blood of Jesus . . . cleanseth us [by its purg- 
 ing inflow] from all sin." ^ So it is, that he " loosed us 
 [freed us] from our sins by his [cleansing, his re-vivi- 
 fying] blood." ^ So it is, that " if any man is in Christ 
 [is one in nature with Christ, through sharing, by faith, 
 the blood of Christ], he is a new creature [Of course 
 he is] : the old things are passed away ; behold they 
 are become new." ^ So it is, also, that it can be said 
 of those whose old lives were purged away by the in- 
 flowing redeeming life of Christ : " Ye died, and your 
 life is hid with Christ in God."^ And "this is the true 
 God and eternal life." ^ 
 
 " These things have I written unto you," says the 
 best loved of the disciples of Jesus, "that ye may know 
 that ye have eternal life ; even unto you that believe on 
 the name of the Son of God";^ "that ye may beHeve 
 that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God ; and that, be- 
 lieving, ye may have life in his name."® For "God 
 commendeth his own love toward us, in that, while we 
 
 lEph. 1:7. 2i John I: 7. ^Rev. 1:5. ^2 Cor. 5:17. 
 
 ^ Col. 2^'- Z' * ' Jo^" 5 : 20. ^ I John 5: 13. ^ John 20 : 31. 
 
ONENESS WITH CHRIST. 289 
 
 were yet sinners, Christ died for us [while we were 
 separated from God by sin, God yielded his only Son, 
 to give his blood, at the cost of his death, as a means 
 of our inter-union with God]. Much more then, being 
 now justified by [or, in] his blood [being brought into 
 inter-union with God by that blood], shall we be saved 
 from the wrath of God [against sin] through him [in 
 whom we have life]. For if, while we were enemies, 
 we were reconciled to God [restored to union with 
 God] through the [blood-giving] death of his Son, 
 much more, being [thus] reconciled, shall we be saved 
 by [or, in] his life."^ 
 
 All who will, may, now, " be partakers of the divine 
 nature,"^ through becoming one with Christ, by sharing 
 his blood, and by being nourished with his body. 
 Entering into the divine-human covenant of blood- 
 friendship, which Christ's death has made possible, 
 the believer can be so incorporated with Christ, by 
 faith, as to identify himself with the experience and 
 the hopes of the world's Redeemer ; and even to say, 
 in all confidence : '' I have been crucified with Christ ; 
 yet I live ; and yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in 
 me ; and that life which I now live in the flesh, I live 
 in faith, the faith which is in [which centres in] the Son 
 of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me." "* 
 " For as the Father hath life in himself, even so gave 
 
 1 Rom. S : 8-12. 2 2 Pet. 1:4. a Gal. 2 : 20. 
 
 25 
 
290 THE BLOOD COVENANT. 
 
 he to the Son also to have life in himself." ^ And " it 
 was the good pleasure of the Father that in him [the 
 Son] should all the fulness dwell ; and through him 
 to reconcile all things unto himself, having made 
 peace [having completed union] through the blood of 
 his cross " ^ — in the bonds of an everlasting covenant 
 — ^between those who before were separated by sin. 
 
 " Remember, that aforetime ye, the Gentiles in the 
 flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that [people] 
 which is called Circumcision, in the flesh, made by 
 hands, — that ye were at that time separate from Christ, 
 alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and 
 strangers from the covenants of the promise, having 
 no hope and without God in the world. But now in 
 Christ Jesus ye that once were far off are made nigh 
 in the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who 
 made both [Jew and Gentile] one, and broke down the 
 middle wall of partition, having abolished in his flesh 
 the enmity, even the law of commandments contained 
 in ordinances ; that he might create in himself of the 
 twain one new man, so making peace ; and might 
 reconcile them both in one body unto God through 
 the cross, having slain the enmity thereby : and he 
 came and preached peace to you that were far off, and 
 peace to them that were nigh : for through them we 
 both have our access in one Spirit unto the Father " ^ 
 
 ijohn 5: 26. 2 Col. I : 19, 20. ^Eph. 2: ii-i6. 
 
THE VEIL REMOVED. 29 1 
 
 " For in him [Christ] dwelleth all the fulness of the 
 Godhead bodily, and in him ye are made full, who is 
 the head of all principality and power : in whom ye 
 were also circumcised with a circumcision not made 
 with hands, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, 
 in the circumcision of Christ." ^ " For ye all are one 
 man in Christ Jesus. And if ye are Christ's, then are 
 ye Abraham's seed, heirs according to promise"^ — 
 inheritors of the blood-covenant promises of God to 
 Abraham his friend. 
 
 No longer is there a barrier between the yearning, 
 loving, trusting heart, and the mercy-seat of reconcilia- 
 tion in the very presence of God. We who share the 
 body and the blood of Christ, by faith, are one with 
 him in all the privileges of his Sonship. "For by one 
 offering he hath perfected [hath completed in their 
 right to be sharers with him] for ever, them that are 
 sanctified [that are devoted, that are consecrated, to 
 him]. And the Holy Ghost also beareth witness to 
 us : for after he hath said, 
 
 This is the covenant that I will make with them 
 
 After those days, saith the Lord ; 
 
 I will put my laws on their heart, 
 
 And upon their mind also will I write them ; 
 
 then saith he. 
 
 And their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. 
 ^Col. 2 : 9-1 1. *Gal. 3: 28, 29. 
 
292 THE BLOOD COVENANT, 
 
 Now where remission of these [of sins and iniquities] 
 is, there is no more offering [no more need of offering] 
 for sin. Having, therefore, brethren, boldness [the 
 right of boldness] to enter into the Holy Place [the 
 Holy of Holies] by the blood of Jesus, by the way 
 which he dedicated for us, a new and living way, 
 through the veil, that is to say his flesh ; and having 
 a Great Priest over the house of God ; let us draw near 
 with a true heart in fulness of faith, having our hearts 
 sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our body 
 washed, with pure water [there being no longer need 
 of blood-sprinkling or blood-laving, to those who are 
 sharers of the divine nature — the divine blood]." ^ 
 ^ No more an altar of sacrifice, but a table of commu- 
 nion,^ is where we share the presence of Him in whom 
 we have life, by the blood of the everlasting covenant. 
 To question the sufficiency of the " one sacrifice " 
 which Christ made, " once for all," ^ of his body and 
 his blood, as a means of the believer's inter-union with 
 God, is to count the blood of the covenant an unholy, 
 or a common, thing, and is to do despite unto the Spirit 
 of grace.'* "Wherefore, my beloved, flee from idola- 
 try. I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say. 
 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a commu- 
 nion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we 
 
 * Heb. 10 : 14-22. 2 See page 167 fF., supra. 
 
 * Comp. Heb. 9 : 24-28 ; 10 : 10. * Heb. 10 : 28, 29. 
 
THE ETERNAL COVENANT. 293 
 
 break, is it not a communion of the body of Christ?^ 
 Seeing that we [beHevers together in Christ], who are 
 many, are one bread, one body : for we all partake of 
 the one bread." ^ 
 
 " Now the God of peace, who brought again from 
 the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep with [or, by ; 
 or, by means of] the blood of the eternal covenant, 
 even our Lord Jesus, make you perfect [complete] to 
 do his will, working in us that which is well pleasing 
 in his sight, through Jesus Christ ; to whom be the 
 glory for ever and ever. Amen." ^ 
 
 1 The Covenant of Bread and the Covenant of Blood are two disthict 
 covenants, in Oriental practice as well as in biblical teaching ; although 
 this difference has been strangely overlooked by biblical students in the 
 realm of Orientalisms. The Covenant of Bread is temporary; the 
 Covenant of Blood is permanent. The one secures a tinice ; the other 
 secures a vital union. Symbolically, the one gives nourishment ; the 
 other gives life. The Covenant of Bread is an exhibit and a pledge of 
 hospitality, and it brings one into family or tribal relations with those 
 proffering it. The Covenant of Blood is immediately personal and 
 individual. There seems to be an unconscious trace of this distinction 
 in the refusal of the Romish Church to include the laity in the symboliz- 
 ing of the Covenant of Blood, at the Lord's table. 
 
 2 I Cor. 10: 14-17. 'Heb. 13: 20, 21. 
 
 25* 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 IMPORTANCE OF THIS RITE STRANGELY UNDERVALUED. 
 
 It seems strange that a primitive rite like the blood-covenant, with its 
 worid-wide sweep, and its manifold applications to the history of sacrifice, 
 should have received so little attention from students of the latter theme. 
 Nor has it been entirely ignored by them ; although its illustrations have, 
 in this connection, been drawn almost entirely from the field of the 
 classic writers, where its religious aspects have a minor prominence ; 
 and, as a result, the suggestion of any real importance in the religious 
 symbolism of this rite has been, generally, brushed aside without its 
 receiving due consideration. 
 
 Thus, in The Speaker's Commentary, — which is one of the more 
 recent, and more valuable, scholarly and sensible conipends of sound 
 and thorough biblical criticism, — there are references to the rite of 
 human blood-covenanting in its possible bearing on the blood-cove- 
 nanting of God with Israel before Mount Sinai,i ^fter this sort : " The 
 instances from classical antiquity, adduced, as parallels to this sacrifice 
 of Moses, by Bahr, Knobel, and Kalisch, in which animals were 
 slaughtered on the making of covenants, are either, those in which the 
 animal was slain to signify the punishment due to the paity that might 
 break the covenant (Hom. //., III., 298; XIX., 252; Uv.Hist.,!., 
 24; XXI., 45); those in which confederates dipped their hands, or 
 their weapons, in the same blood (.^ch. Sept. c. Theb., 43 ; Xenoph. 
 Anab.y II., 2, § 9) ; or those in which the contracting parties tasted 
 
 1 See pages 238-240, su^ra. 
 
 297 
 
298 APPENDIX. 
 
 each other's blood (Herodot. \^Hist.'\ I., 74; IV,, 74; Tac. Annal, 
 XII., 47). All these usages are based upon ideas which are but veiy 
 superficially related to the subject; they have indeed no true connection 
 whatever with the idea of sacrifice as the seal of a covenant between 
 God and man." ^ 
 
 When the entire history of man's outreaching after an inter-union of 
 natures with his fellow-man and with his God, is fairly studied, in the 
 light thrown on it by the teachings of the divine-human Being, who gave 
 of his own blood for the consummation of the longed-for divine-human 
 inter-union, it will be more clearly seen, whether it were the relation of 
 the primitive rite itself to the idea of sacrifice, or the study of that relation, 
 which was " very superficial," as a cause of its popular overlooking. 
 
 The closest and most sacred form of covenant ever known in the 
 primitive world, was that whereby two persons covenanted to become 
 one, through being partakers of the same blood. At Sinai, when Je- 
 hovah would covenant with Israel, a common supply of substitute blood 
 — proffered by Israel and accepted by Jehovah— was taken; and one- 
 half of it was cast upon the altar, Godward, while the other half of it 
 was cast Israelward, upon the people.^ The declaration of Moses to 
 Israel, then, was : " Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord 
 hath made with you ; " or, as that declaration is repeated, in Hebrews : 
 " This is the blood of the covenant which God covenanted to you- 
 ward." 3 And from that time forward, the most sacred possession of 
 Israel, — above which hovered the visible sign of the presence of Je- 
 hovah, — was the casket which contained the record of that blood-made 
 covenant ; and it was toward the mercy-seat cover of that Covenant 
 Casket, that House of the Covenant, that the symbolic blood of atone- 
 ment through new life was sprinkled, in the supreme renewals of that 
 covenant by Israel's representative year by year. 
 
 Even the Speaker's Commentaiy says, of this mutual blood-sharing 
 by Israel and Jehovah at Sinai : " The blood thus divided between the 
 "^Speaker's Comm., at Exod. 24: 8. 2Exod. 24: 3-8. 3Heb. 9: 20, 
 
APPENDIX. 299 
 
 two parties to the covenant signified the sacramental union between the 
 Lord and his people." ^ Of the blood which was to be poured out on 
 Calvary, Jesus said : " This is my blood of the [new] covenant, which 
 is shed for many." ^ And of the sacramental union which could be 
 secured, between his trustful disciples and himself, by tasting his blood, 
 and by being nourished on his flesh, he said : " Except ye eat the flesh 
 of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye have not life in yourselves. 
 He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life." ' It 
 really looks as if there were more than a superficial relation between 
 the fact of an absolute inter-union of two natures through an inter-flow 
 of a common life, in the rite of blood-covenanting, and the sacramental 
 union between the Lord and his people, which was typified in the 
 blood-covenant at Sinai, and which was consummated in the blood- 
 covenant at Calvary. 
 
 Herbert Spencer, indeed, seems to have a clearer conception than the 
 Speaker's Commentary, of the relation of human blood-covenanting, to 
 the inter-union of those in the flesh, with spiritual beings. He perceives 
 that the primitive ofierings of blood over the dead, from the living person, 
 are, in some cases, " explicable as arising from the practice of establishing 
 a sacred bond between living persons by partaking of each other's blood : 
 the derived conception being, that those who give some of their blood to 
 the ghost of a man just dead and lingering near [and of course, the princi- 
 ple is the same when the offering of blood is to the gods, thereby] effect 
 with it a union, which on the one side implies submission, and on the 
 other side friendliness." * This admission by Mr. Spencer covers the 
 essential point in the argument of this entire volume. 
 
 LIFE IN THE BLOOD, IN THE HEART, IN THE LIVER. 
 
 Among all primitive peoples, the blood has been deemed the repre- 
 sentative of life. The giving of blood has been counted the giving of 
 
 ^Speaker's Com., at Exod. 24; 8, SMark 14 : 24. 
 
 • John 6 ; 53, 54. ^ Principles 0/ Sociology , II., § 364. 
 
300 APPENDIX. 
 
 life. The receiving of blood has been counted the receiving of life. 
 The sharing of blood has been counted the sharing of life. Hence, the 
 blood has always been counted the chief thing in any sacrificial victim 
 proffered to the gods ; and whatever was sought through sacrifice, was 
 to be obtained by means of the blood of the offering. Even though no 
 specific reference to the blood be found in the preserved descriptions of 
 one of the earlier sacrifices, — as, for example, the Akkadian sacrifice of the 
 first-born (page i66, supra), the very fact that the offering made was of a 
 life, and that blood was recognized as life, is in itself the proof that it was 
 the blood which gave the offering its value. 
 
 Sir Gardiner Wilkinson, who was thoroughly familiar with both 
 Egyptian and biblical antiquities, was impressed by the "striking re- 
 semblance " of many of the religious rites of the Jews to those of Egypt, 
 " particularly the manner in which the sacrifices were performed;"* 
 and he points out the Egyptian method of so slaying the sacrificial ox, 
 that its blood should be fully discharged from the body ; a point which 
 was deemed of such importance in the Jewish ritual.^ Of the illus- 
 tration of this ceremony given by Wilkinson from an ancient Egyptian 
 painting,^ the Speaker's Commentary says : " There is no reason to 
 doubt that this picture accurately represents the mode pursued in the 
 court of the [Jewish] Tabernacle." * 
 
 Almost as universal as the recognition of the life in the blood, has 
 been the identification of the heart as the blood-centre and the blood- 
 fountain, and so as the epitome of the life itself. Says Pierret," the 
 French Egyptologist, concerning the preeminence given to the heart, 
 by the ancient Egyptians : " The heart was embalmed separately in a 
 vase placed under the guardianship of the genius Duaoumautew 
 [rather, Tuau-mut-ef, or, Reverencer of his Mother. * My heart was 
 my mother.' See page 99, supra^ without doubt because this organ, 
 
 "^Anc. Egypt., III., 411. "See pages 245 f., supra. 
 
 ^Anc. Egypt., II., 32. 4 Note on Lev. chap. 17. 
 
 ^ Diciionnaire d' Archiologie Mgyptienne , s. v. " Coeur." 
 
APPENDIX. 301 
 
 indispensable to the resurrection, could not be replaced in the body of a 
 man, until it had been weighed in the scale of the balance of the 
 Osirian judgment ( Todtenbuch cxxv.) ; where representing the acts of 
 the dead, it ought to make equilibrium with the statue of the goddess 
 Truth [Maat]. (See the framed papyri in the funereal hall of the 
 Museum of the Louvre.) Indeed the favorable sentence is thus formu- 
 lated : * It is permitted that his heart be in its place.' It is said to 
 Setee I., in the temple of Abydos : ' I bring thee thy heart to thy 
 breast; I put it in its place.' The heart, principle of existence and of 
 regeneration, was symbolized by the scarabaeus : it is for this reason that 
 the texts relative to the heart were inscribed upon the funereal scara- 
 basuses, which at a certain epoch were introduced into the body of the 
 mummy itself, to replace the absent organ." 
 
 The idea that the heart is in itself life, and that it can even live 
 apart from the body, is found all the world over. References to it in 
 ancient Egypt, in India, and in primitive America, have already been 
 pointed out (pages \oo-\io, supra). It shows itself, likewise, in the 
 folk-lore of the Arctic regions, and of South Africa, as well as of the 
 Norseland. In a Samoyed tale, " seven brothers are in the habit of 
 taking out their hearts and sleeping without them. A captive damsel, 
 whose mother they have killed, receives the extracted hearts, and hangs 
 them on the tent-pole, where they remain till the following morning. 
 One night her brother contrives to get the hearts into his possession. 
 Next morning, he takes them into the tent, where he finds the brothers 
 at the point of death. In vain do they beg for their hearts, which he 
 flings on the floor. * And as he flings down the hearts, the brothers 
 die.' " ^ According to a Hottentot story, " the heart of a girl, whom a 
 lion has killed and eaten, is extracted from the lion, and placed in a 
 calabash filled with milk [the * heart ' and * milk ' ; or blood and bread, 
 life and its nourishment (See pages 10-12, 261 f., supra)\ 'The cala- 
 
 1 In substance from Castren's Ethnologische Vorlesungen iiber die Altaischen 
 Volker, p. 174, as cited in Ralston's Russian Folk Tales, p. 122. 
 
 26 
 
302 APPENDIX. 
 
 bash increased in size ; and, in proportion to this, the girl grew again 
 inside [of] it.' " ^ "In a Norse story, a giant's heart lies in an egg, 
 inside a duck, which swims in a well, in a church, on an island ; " ^ and 
 this story is found in variations in other lands.^ So, again, in a " Rus- 
 sian story, a prince is grievously tormented by a witch who has got 
 hold of his heart, and keeps it pei^petually seething in a magic cauld- 
 ron." * 
 
 This same idea is found in the nomenclature of the Bible, and in the 
 every day speech of the civilized world of the present age. In more 
 than nine hundred instances, in our common English Bible, the Hebrew 
 or the Greek word for "heart," as a physical organ, is applied to man's 
 personality ; as if it were, m a sense, synonymous with his life, his self, 
 his soul, his nature. In every phase of man's character, of man's 
 needs, or of man's experiences, " heart " is employed by us as signifi- 
 cant of his innermost and realest self. He is " hard-hearted," " tender- 
 hearted," "warm-hearted," "cold-hearted," "hearty," or "heartless." 
 His words and his conduct are "heart-touching," "heart-cheering," 
 "heart-searching," "heart-piercing," "heart-thrilling," " heart -sooth- 
 ing," or "heart-rending;" and they are a cause, in others, of " heart- 
 burning," "heart-aching," "heart-easing," or "heart-expanding." At 
 times, his "heart is set upon" an object of longing, or again "his 
 heart is in his mouth " because of his excited anxiety. It may be, that 
 he shows that " his heart is in the right place," or that " his heart is at 
 rest " at all times. The truest union of two young lives, is where " the 
 heart goes with the hand " in the marriage covenant. 
 
 And so, all the world over, from the beginning, primitive man, in the 
 lowest state of savagery and in the highest stage of civilization, has 
 
 1 From Bleek's Reynard the Fox in South Africa, p. 55 ; as cited Ibid., p. 123, 
 note. 
 
 2 From Asbj'ornsen and Moe, No. 36, Dasent, No. 9, p. 71, as cited Ibid., p. 120. 
 8 See references to Kohler's Orient und Occident, II., 99-103, Ibid., p. 123, note. 
 
 * From Khudyakof, No. no, as cited Ibid., p. 124. 
 
APPENDIX. 303 
 
 been accustomed to recognize the truth, and to employ the symbolisms 
 of speech, which are in accordance with the latest advances of physio- 
 logical and psychological science, and with the highest spiritual con- 
 ceptions of biblical truth, in our nineteenth Christian century, concern- 
 ing the mental, the moral, and the religious needs and possibilities of 
 the human race. Man as he is needs a " new heart," a new nature, a 
 new life ; and that need can be supplied by the Author of life, through 
 that regeneration which is indicated, and which, in a sense, is realized 
 in new blood which is pure at the start, and which purifies by its purg- 
 ing inflow. The recognition of this truth, and the outreaching of man 
 in its direction, are at the basis of all forms of sacrifice in all the ages. 
 And this wonderful attainment of primitive man everywhere, we are 
 asked to accept as man's mere natural inheritance from the sensory 
 quiverings of his ancestral tadpole ! 
 
 " The knowledge of the ancients on the subject [of blood as the 
 synonym of life] may, indeed, have been based on the mere observation 
 that an animal loses its life when it loses its blood," says the Speaker's 
 Commentary. But it does seem a little strange, that none of the 
 ancients ever observed that man is very liable to lose his life when he 
 loses his brains, and that few animals are actively efficient for practi- 
 cal service without a head ; whereas both men and the lower animals 
 do lose blood freely without death resulting. 
 
 It is true that in many paits of the world the liver was made promi- 
 nent as seemingly a synonym of life ; but this was obviously because 
 of the popular belief that the liver was itself a mass of coagulated 
 blood. The idea seems to have been that as the heart was the blood- 
 fountain, the liver was the blood-cistern ; and that, as the source of life 
 (or of blood, which life is,) was at the heart ; so, the great receptacle of 
 life, or of blood, was the liver. Thus, in the classic myth of Pro- 
 metheus, the avenging eagle of Jupiter is not permitted to gnaw upon 
 the life-giving heart itself of the tortured victim, but upon the com- 
 pacted body of life in the captive's liver; the fountain of life is not to 
 
304 APPENDIX. 
 
 be destroyed, but the cistern of life is to be emptied daily of all that it 
 had received from the out-flowing heart during the preceding night. 
 And in the symbolism of these two organs, the ancients seem to have 
 been agreed, that " The heai't is the seat of the soul [thumos (dv^oq) 
 the nobler passions] ; the liver [is the seat] of desire ; " ^ or, as again it 
 is phrased, " The seat of the soul is unquestionably the heart, even as the 
 liver is the seat of emotion." 2 
 
 Burton has called attention to the fact that among the Arabs, " the 
 liver and the spleen are both supposed to be ' congealed blood,' " and 
 that the Bed^ween of the Hejaz justify their eating of locusts, which 
 belong to an " unclean " class of animals, and of liver which represents 
 forbidden blood, by this couplet : 
 
 " We are allowed two carrions, and two bloods, 
 The fish and locust, the liver and the spleen." 3 
 
 He has also noted that the American Indian partakes of the liver, as well 
 as of the heart of a fallen enemy, in order to the assimilating of the enemy's 
 life ; * and he finds many correspondences between the desert dwellers 
 of America and of Arabia. " The [American] * brave,' " he says, 
 " stamps a red hand upon his mouth to show that he has drunk the 
 blood of a foe. Of the Utaybah * Harami,' it is similarly related, that 
 after mortal combat, he tastes the dead man's gore." ^ 
 
 Even in modern English, the word " liver " has been thought by 
 many to represent " life " or "blood." Thus, in one of our dictionaries 
 we are told that the word is derived from the Anglo-Saxon and the 
 Scandinavian verb "to live," "because [the liver is] of so great import- 
 ance to lifcy or animal vitality." ^ In another, its derivation is ascribed 
 
 ITimaeus of Locri, cited in Liddell and Scott's Greek Eng. Lex., s. v., 
 
 " Hepar." See also page 108 f, supra. 
 
 2 Pollux's Onomasticon, II., 4, 226. '^Pilgrim, to Mec. and Med., p. 376. 
 
 4 See page 128, supra. 
 
 ^ Pilgrim, to Mec. and Med., p. 378. See also page 129 f., supra. 
 
 •Richardson's Eng. Diet., s. v., "Liver." 
 
APPENDIX, 305 
 
 to loJ)per, and lapper, "to coagulate," " from its resemblance to a mass 
 of clotted blood." 1 
 
 Among the aborigines of America the prominence given to the blood 
 and to the heart was as great, and as distinctly marked, as among the 
 peoples of ancient Egypt, or any other portion of the far East. This 
 truth has been brought out most fully by the valuable personal researches 
 of Mr. Frank H. Gushing, of the Smithsonian Institution, into the 
 mythology and sociology of the Zunis of New Mexico. From his re- 
 ports it would appear that, according to the priests of that people, " all 
 true fetiches [or, material symbols of spiritual existences] are either 
 actual petrifactions of the animals they represent, or were such origin- 
 ally" — according as the present form of the fetish is natural, or is 
 mechanically fashioned. These rude stone images of the animals of 
 prey, " which are of course mere concretions or strangely eroded rock 
 forms," are supposed to be the shriveled and distorted remains of beings 
 which were long ago turned to stone. Within these fetishes the heart 
 of the original animal still exists ; (" his heart still lives, even though his 
 person be changed to stone " ;) and it needs for its sustenance the 
 blood, or the " life fluid," of the game which was, from the beginning, 
 the ordinary prey of that animal. Hence each fetish is pleased to hear 
 the prayers and to give success to the hunting of its present possessor, 
 in order to the obtaining of the life fluid which is essential to its nour- 
 ishing. 
 
 These prey fetishes of the Zuiiis belong to the Prey-God Brotherhood, 
 and when not in use they are guarded by the " Keeper of the Medicine 
 of the Deer." Before they are employed in a hunt, there is an assem- 
 bly for their worship ; and, after ceremonial prayer to them for their 
 assistance, they are taken out for service by members of the Brother- 
 hood to which they belong. " The fetich is then placed in a little cres- 
 cent-shaped bag of buckskin which the hunter wears suspended over the 
 left breast (or, heart) by a buckskin thong, which is tied above the right 
 
 1 Annandale's Ogilvie's Imperial Diet., s. v., " Liver." 
 26* 
 
3o6 APPENDIX. 
 
 shoulder." When the trail of the animal hunted is discovered by the 
 hunter, he finds a place ^where the animal has lain down, and there he 
 makes an oblation by depositing his offering " in exactly the spot over 
 w^hich the heart of the animal is supposed to have rested." Then he 
 brings out his fetish and with certain ceremonies and invocations he puts 
 it on the track of the prey. 
 
 "As soon as the animal is dead, he [the hunter] lays open its viscera, 
 cuts through the diaphragm, and makes an incision in the aorta, or in 
 the sac which incloses the heart. He then takes out [of its bag] the prey 
 fetich, breathes on it, and addresses it thus : . . . * Si ! My father, 
 this day of the blood [literally of the ' life fluid '] of a game-being, thou 
 shalt drink, ([shalt] water thyself). With it thou shalt enlarge (add 
 unto) thy heart.' He then dips the fetich into the blood which the sac 
 still contains, continuing meanwhile the prayer, as follows : . . . 
 Likewise, I, a "done" being [a living human being], with the blood 
 [the "life-fluid," which is] the flesh of a raw being (game animal), 
 shall enlarge (add unto) my heart.' Which [prayer] finished, he scoops 
 up, with his hand, some of the blood and sips it ; then tearing forth the 
 liver, ravenously devours a part of it [as the blood-flesh, or, the blood 
 which is the flesh], and exclaims, ' A-lak-kwd P (Thanks)." After 
 all this, he deposits a portion of the clot of blood from within the 
 heart, commingled with vaiious articles, in a grave digged on the spot 
 where the animal has died ; repeating, as he does this, a prayer which 
 seems to show his belief that the slain animal still lives in this buried 
 heart-blood. Again, when the game is at the hunter's home, the 
 women " lay on either side of its body, next to the heart, an ear of corn 
 (significant of renewed life), and say prayers " over it. Finally " the 
 fetich is returned to the Keeper of the Deer Medicine, with thanksgiv- 
 ing and a prayer, not unlike that uttered on taking it forth." i 
 
 In these ceremonies, it is evident that the Zunis, like the Orientals, 
 
 1 See Cushing's paper on " Zuiii Fetiches," in Second Annual Report of the 
 Bureau of Ethnology , pp. 3-43. 
 
APPENDIX, 307 
 
 recognize the blood as the life, the heart as the epitome of life, the liver 
 as a congealed mass of blood, and the transference of blood as the trans- 
 ference of life. Moreover, there is here a trace of that idea of the re- 
 vivifying, by blood-bathing, of a being that had turned into stone ; which 
 is found in the legends of Arabia, and of the Norseland (See page 119 f., 
 supra). Is there not, indeed, a reference to this world-wide figure of 
 the living stone, in the Apostle's suggestion, that those who were counted 
 as worthless stones by an ignorant world are vivified by the renewing 
 blood of Christ, and so are shown to be a holy people ? " As new born 
 babes [renewed by the blood of Christ], long for the spiritual milk [the 
 means of sacred nourishment] which is without guile, that ye may grow 
 thereby unto salvation ; if ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious [if, 
 indeed, ye have been made alive by the touch of his blood] : unto whom 
 coming, [unto Him who is] a Living Stone rejected indeed of men, but 
 with God [who knows the possibilities of that Stone], precious, — ye 
 also, as living stones [as new blood-vivified petrifactions], are built up 
 a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up holy sacrifices, 
 acceptable to God through Jesus Chiist." ^ 
 
 There is another gleam of this idea of the stones vivified by blood, in 
 a custom reported from among the Indians of British Columbia, in a 
 private letter written by a careful observer of Indian habits and cere- 
 monies. When the Indian girls arrived at the years of womanhood 
 they were accustomed, there as in many other parts of the world, to 
 pass through a formal initiation into a new stage of existence. Going 
 apart by themselves, at some distance from their settlements, they 
 would lacerate their bodies, in order that blood might flow freely ; and, 
 laying a series of stones in a row, they would walk over them, allowing 
 their blood to fall upon them. The young woman who could cover the 
 largest number of stones with her blood, had the fairest prospect in 
 life, in the line of a woman's peculiar mission. This certainly would 
 be a not unnatural thought as an outgrowth of the belief that stones 
 1 1 Peter 2 : 2-5. 
 
308 APPENDIX. 
 
 anointed with freely surrendered blood, can be made to have life in 
 themselves. 
 
 It is much the same in war as in the hunt, among the Zunis. " As 
 with the hunter, so with the warrior ; the fetich is fed on the life-blood 
 of the slain." ^ And here, again, is a link of connection between can- 
 nibalism and religious worship. Another illustration of the preeminence 
 given to the heart, as the epitome of the veiy being itself, is the fact 
 that the animals pictured on the pottery of these people, and of neigh- 
 boring peoples, commonly had the rude conventional figure of a heart 
 represented in its place on each animal ; as if to show that the animal 
 was living, and that it had a living soul. ^ 
 
 At the other side of the world, as it were, in Borneo, there is given 
 similar preeminence, as among the Zunis, to the blood as the life, to the 
 liver as a representative of blood, and to the heart as the epitome of the 
 life. " The principal sacrifice of the Sakarang Dayaks," says Mr. St. 
 John, " is killing a pig and examining its hearty which is supposed to 
 foretell events with the utmost certainty." This custom seems to have 
 grown out of the idea that the heart of any God devoted organism, as 
 the embodiment of its life is closely linked with the Author of all life ; 
 who is the Disposer of all events. A human heart is naturally deemed 
 preferable to a pig's ; but the latter is the common substitute for the 
 former. Yet, " not many years ago," one of the Sakarang chiefs put 
 to death a lad " of his own race," remarking, as he did so : " It has 
 been our custom heretofore to examine the heart of a pig, but now we 
 will examine a human one." ' The Kayans, again, examine " the 
 heart and liver ," as preliminary to covenant-making.* Among the 
 Dayaks, the blood of a fowl sacrificed by one who is supposed to be in 
 
 1 Cushing's " Zuni Fetiches," p. 43. 
 
 2 See " Illustrated Catalogue of Collections from Indians of New Mexico and 
 Arizona," 1879, '" Second Annual Report of Bureau 0/ Ethnology, Figures 361- 
 387; 421-430. 
 
 8 St. John's Life in Far East, I., 74 f. 4 Ibid., I., 115 f. 
 
APPENDIX. 309 
 
 favor with the gods, has peculiar potency when sprinkled upon " the 
 lintels of the doors." ^ And a house will be deserted by its Dayak 
 inhabitants, ** if a drop of blood be seen sprinkled on the floor, unless 
 they can prove whence it came." ^ 
 
 An incidental connection of this recognition of the blood as the life, 
 with the primitive rite of blood covenanting, is seen in one form of the 
 maiTiage rite among the Dayaks.^ — In the rite of blood-covenanting 
 itself, as consummated between Mr. St. John and Singauding, a cigarette 
 stained with the blood of the covenanting parties was smoked by them 
 mutually (See page 51, supra). In the marriage covenant, a cigar and 
 betel leaf prepared with the areca nut are put first into the mouth of the 
 bride by the bridegroom, and then into the mouth of the bridegroom 
 by the bride ; while two fowls are waved over their heads by a priest, 
 and then killed ; their blood being " caught in two cups " for examina- 
 tion, instead of for drinking.* 
 
 So, whether it be the heart as the primal fountain of blood, or 
 the liver as the great receptacle of blood, or the blood, itself in its 
 supposed outflowing from the heart through the liver, that is made 
 prominent in the rites and teachings of primitive peoples, the root- 
 idea is still the same, — that " as to the life of all flesh, the blood 
 thereof is all one with the life thereof; " ^ and that as a man is in 
 his blood, so he is in his nature ; that his " good blood " or " his 
 bad blood," his "hot blood" or his "cold blood," will be evidenced 
 in his daily walk ; for that which shows out in his outer life is " in 
 the blood " which is his inner life ; and that in order to a change of 
 his nature there must in some way be a change of his blood. Hence, 
 the universal outreaching of the race after new blood which is new life. 
 Hence, the provisions of God for new life through that blood which is 
 the Life. 
 
 1 St. John's Life in Far East, T., 160. * Hid., I., 187. 
 
 8 This is a different form from that reported at page 192 f., supra. 
 4 St. John's Life in Far East, I., 61. ^ Lev. 17 : 14. 
 
3IO APPENDIX, 
 
 TRANSMIGRATION OF SOULS. 
 
 A belief in the tiansmigration of souls, from man to the lower 
 animals, and vice versa, has been found among various peoples, in all 
 the historic ages. The origin of this belief has been a puzzling question 
 to rationalistic myth-students. Starting out, as do most of these students, 
 with the rigid theory that man worked himself slowly upward from 
 the lowest savagery, without any external revelation, they are confronted 
 with primitive customs on every side which go to show a popular belief 
 in soul-transmigration, and which they must try to account for within 
 the limits of their unproven theory. The result is, that they first pre- 
 suppose some conception in the primitive man's mind of spiritual 
 things, and then they conveniently refer all confusing facts to that pre- 
 supposed conception. "Animism" is one of the pet names for this re- 
 solvent of grave difficulties. And when " Animism " is supplemented by 
 "Fetishism," "Zoolatry," and " Totemism," the requisite number of 
 changes is secured for the meeting of any number of perplexing facts in 
 the religious belief of primitive man everywhere. 
 
 As a matter of simple fact, man's conception of spiritual existences is 
 not accounted for by the "scientists." And the claim that such a con- 
 ception was innate in primitive man, or that it was a natural growth in 
 man's unaided progress, is at the best but an unproved theory. In the 
 early part of this centuiy, there were thousands of deaf-mutes in the 
 United States, who had never been educated by the system which is 
 now so effective for that class in the community. This gave a rare op- 
 portunity of learning the normal spiritual attainments of unsophisticated 
 man ; of man uninfluenced by external revelation or traditions. Nor 
 was this opportunity unimproved for a good purpose. When the Rev. 
 Thomas H. Gallaudet (himself a philosophical scientist) introduced the 
 system of deaf-mute instruction into this country, he made a careful 
 examination into the intelligence of all the deaf mutes brought under 
 
APPENDIX. 311 
 
 his care, on this point of spiritual conceptions. His declaration was, 
 that he never found a person who, prior to specific instruction, had any 
 conception of the nature or the existence of God. A single illustra- 
 tion of Mr. Gallaudet's experiences in this line will suffice for the entire 
 series of them. A young girl of sixteen years of age, or so, who proved 
 to be of far more than ordinary intelligence and mental capacity, had 
 been brought up in a New England Christian home. She had been 
 accustomed to bow her head when grace was said at the daily meals, 
 to kneel in family prayer, and to attend church regularly, from early 
 childhood ; yet she had no idea of God, no thought of spiritual ex- 
 istences of any sort whatsoever, until she was instructed in those things, 
 in the line of her new education.^ A writer on this subject, who differed 
 with Mr. Gallaudet in his conclusions from these facts, added : " This 
 testimony is confirmed by that of all the teachers of the deaf and dumb, 
 and the fact must be admitted." ^ Until some human being can be found 
 with a conception of spiritual existences, without his having received 
 instruction on that point from those who went before him, the claim — 
 in the face of such facts as these — that primitive man ever obtained his 
 spiritual knowledge or his spiritual conceptions from within himself 
 alone, or without an external revelation to him, is an unscientific assump- 
 tion, in the investigation of the origin of religions in the world. 
 
 But, with man's conception of spiritual things, already existing* 
 (however he came by it), and with the existing belief that the blood is 
 the life, or the soul, or the nature, of an organism, the idea of the trans- 
 migration of souls as identical with the transference of blood, is a very 
 natural corollary. The blood being the life, or the soul, of man and of 
 
 1 As to this specific instance, I can bear personal testimony, from my frequent 
 communications on the subject, with the person whose experience is here recited. 
 ^Atn. Annals of Deaf and Dumb, Vol. VI., p. 134 
 
 8 Paul's claim, in Romans i : 18-23, is not that man knows God intuitively ; 
 but that, having the knowledge of God, which he does have by tradition, man 
 ought not to liken God to ** four-footed beasts and creeping things." 
 
312 APPENDIX. 
 
 beast, if the blood of man passes into the body of a beast, or the blood 
 of a beast passes into the body of a man, why should it not be inferred 
 that the soul of the man, or of the beast, transmigrated accordingly ? 
 If the Hindoo, believing that the blood of man is the soul of man, 
 sees the blood of a man drunk up by a tiger, is it strange that he should 
 look upon that tiger as having within him the soul of the Hindoo, 
 which has been thus appropriated ? If the South African supposes that, 
 by his drinking the blood or eating the heart of a lion, he appropriates 
 the lion's courage,^ is it to be wondered at that when he sees a lion lick- 
 ing the blood and eating the heart of a South African, he should infer 
 that the lion is thereby the possessor of whatever was distinctive in the 
 Zulu, or the Hottentot, personality ? 
 
 Indeed, as has been already stated, in the body of this work, there is 
 still a question among physiologists, how far the transference of blood 
 from one organism to another carries a transmigration of soul (of the 
 psyche, not of \}s\& pneuma)? However this may be, the popular belief 
 in such transmigration is fully accounted for, by the recognized convic- 
 tion that the blood is the soul. 
 
 In this view of the case, there is an added force in the Mosaic pro- 
 hibition — repeated as it is in the Apostolic Encyclical — of the eating, or 
 drinking, of the blood of the lower animals ; with the possibility of 
 thereby being made a partaker of the lower animal nature. And what 
 fresh potency is given to Elijah's prophecy against Ahab and Jezebel, 
 by this conception of the transference of nature by the transference of 
 blood ! « Thus saith the Lord [to Ahab] Hast thou killed [Hast thou 
 taken the blood of Naboth ?], and also taken possesion [of Naboth's 
 vineyard] ? . . . Thus saith the Lord, In the place where dogs 
 licked the blood of Naboth, shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine. 
 . . . And of Jezebel also spake the Lord, saying. The dogs shall 
 eat Jezebel by the ramparts of Jezreel." The blood, the life, the 
 soul of royalty, shall become a portion of the very life of the prowl- 
 
 » See page 136, supra. ^ See page 133 f. , supra. 
 
APPENDIX. 313 
 
 ing scavenger dogs of the royal city. And it came to pass accord- 
 ingly, to both Ahab and Jezebel.^ 
 
 THE BLOOD-RITE IN BURMAH. 
 
 Mention is made, in the text of this volume,^ of the fact that the 
 primitive rite of blood-covenanting is in practice all along the Chinese 
 border of the Burman Empire. In illustration of this truth, the following 
 description of the rite and its linkings, is given by the Rev. R. M. Luther, 
 of Philadelphia, formerly a missionary among the Karens, in Burmah. 
 This interesting sketch was received, in its present form, at too late a 
 date for insertion in its place in the text; hence its appearance here. 
 
 " The blood-covenant is well known, and commonly practised among 
 the Karens of Burmah, There are three methods of making brother- 
 hood, or truce, between members of one tribe and those of another. 
 
 " The first is the common method of eating together. This, how- 
 ever, is of but little binding force, being a mere agreement to refrain 
 from hostilities for a limited time, and the truce thus made is liable to 
 be broken at the briefest notice. 
 
 " The second method is that of planting a tree. The parties to this 
 covenant select a young and vigorous sapling, plant it with certain 
 ceremonies, and covenant with each other to keep peace so long as the 
 tree lives. A covenant thus made is regarded as of greater force than 
 that effected or sealed by the first method. 
 
 " The third method is that of the blood-covenant, properly so-called. 
 
 In this covenant the chief stands as the representative of the tribe, if it 
 
 be a tribal agreement ; or, the father as the representative of the family, 
 
 if it be a more limited covenant. The ceremonies are public and 
 
 solemn. The most important act is, of course, the mingling of the 
 
 blood. Blood is drawn from the thigh of each of the covenanting 
 
 parties, and mingled together. Then each dips his finger into the blood 
 
 and applies it to his lips. In some cases, it is said that the blood is 
 
 1 1 Kings 21 : 17-23 ; 22 : 35-38 ; 2 Kings 9 : 30-37. « At page 44, supra. 
 
 27 
 
314 APPENDIX. 
 
 actually drunk ; but the more common method is that of touching the 
 lips with the blood-stained finger.^ 
 
 " This covenant is of the utmost force. It covers not merely an 
 agreement of peace, or truce, but also a promise of mutual assistance 
 in peace and in M^ar. It also conveys to the covenanting parties mutual 
 tribal rites. If they are chiefs, the covenant embraces their entire 
 tribes. If one is a private individual, his immediate family and direct 
 descendants are included in the agreement. 
 
 " I never heard of the blood-covenant being broken. I do not 
 remember to have inquired particularly on this point, because the w^ay 
 in which the blood-covenant was spoken of, always implied that its rup- 
 ture was an unheard-of thing. It is regarded as a perfectly valid excuse 
 for any amount of reckless devotion, or of unreasoning sacrifice on be- 
 half of another, for a Karen to say: * Thui faw tJi' coh it;'' literally, 
 * The blood, — we have drunk it together.' An appeal for help on the 
 basis of the blood-covenant is never disregarded. 
 
 " A few of our missionaries have entered into the blood-covenant 
 with Karen tribes ; though most have been deterred, either from never 
 having visited the * debatable land ' where the strong arm of British 
 rule does not reach, or else, as in most instances, from a repugnance to 
 the act by which the covenant is sealed. In one instance, at least, 
 where a missionary did enter into covenant with one of these tribes, 
 the agreement has been interpreted as covering not only his children, 
 but one who was so happy as to marry his daughter. In an enforced 
 absence of fifteen years from the scene of his early missionary labors 
 nothing has been at once so touching and so painful to the writer, as the 
 frequent messages and letters asking * When will you come back to 
 yottr people f Yet, mine is only the inherited right above mentioned. 
 
 " The blood-covenant gives even a foreigner every right which he 
 would have, if bom a member of the tribe. As an instance, the writer 
 once shot a hawk in a Karen village, just as it was swooping down 
 1 See page 154, supra. 
 
APPENDIX. 3 1 5 
 
 upon a chicken. He was surjDiised to find, an half-hour afterward, 
 that his personal attendant, a straightforward Mountain Karen, had 
 gone through the village and * collected ' a fat hen from each house. 
 When remonstrated with, the mountaineer replied, * Why, Teacher, it 
 is your right, — that is our custom, — ^you are one of us. These people 
 wouldn't undei-stand it if I did not ask for a chicken from each house, 
 when you killed the hawk.' 
 
 " In the wilder Karen regions, it is almost impossible to travel unless 
 one is in blood-covenant with the chiefs, while on the other hand one 
 is perfecdy safe, if in that covenant. The disregard of this fact has 
 cost valuable lives. When a stranger enters Karen territory, the chiefs 
 order the paths closed. This is done by tying the long elephant grass 
 across the paths. On reaching such a signal, the usual inquiry in the 
 traveling party is, * Who is in blood-covenant with this tribe ? ' If one 
 is found, even among the lowest servants, his covenant covers the 
 party, on the way, as far as to the principal village or hill fortress. 
 The party goes into camp, and sends this man on as an ambassador. 
 Usually, guides are sent back to conduct the party at once to the chief's 
 house. If no one is in covenant with the tribe, and the wisp of grass 
 is broken and the party passes on, the lives of the trespassers are for- 
 feited. A sudden attack in some defile, or a night surprise, scatters the 
 party and drives the survivors back the way they came. It is said by 
 the Karens that Mr. Cooper, the famous English explorer of China and 
 Thibet, was killed 'because he had broken the grass.' A day's delay 
 for the blood-covenant would have saved his life, and given him time 
 to complete his most important labors. The men who killed him would 
 have been his devoted body-guard, ready and willing to give their lives 
 in defence of his. If the Karen account of his death is true, it is most 
 unfortunate that he entered the Karen country from China (where the 
 blood-covenant does not now prevail), and so was ignorant of the fact 
 that by so slight a concession to Karen custom he could obtain a guar- 
 antee of safe conduct for at least a thousand miles." 
 
3l6 APPENDIX. 
 
 Another account of the blood-covenant rite in Burmah is kindly 
 furnished to me, by the Rev. Dr. M. H. Bixby, of Providence, Rhode 
 Island ; who was also for some years a missionary among the Karens. 
 He says : 
 
 " In my first journey over the mountains of Burmah, into Shanland, 
 toward Western China, I passed through several tribes of wild Karens 
 among whom the practice of * covenanting by blood ' prevailed. 
 
 " ' If you mean what you say,' said the old chief of the Gecho tribe 
 to me, referring to my professions of friendship, ' You will drink truth 
 with me.' * Well, what is drinking truth ? ' I said. In reply, he said : 
 * This is our custom. Each chief pierces his arm — draws blood — 
 mingles it in a vessel with whisky, and drinks of it; both promising 
 to be true and faithful to each other, down to the seventh generation.' 
 
 ** After the chiefs had drunk of the mingled blood and whisky, each 
 one of their followers drunk of it also, and were thereby included in 
 the covenant of friendship. 
 
 " A company of Shans laid a plot to kill me and my company in 
 Shanland, for the purpose of plunder. They entered into covenant 
 with each other by drinking the blood of their leader mingled with 
 whisky, or a kind of beer made from rice. 
 
 " Those wild mountain tribes have strange traditions which indicate 
 that they once had the Old Testament Scriptures, although now they 
 have no written language. Some of the Karen tribes have a written 
 language, given them by the missionaries. 
 
 " The covenant, also, exists in modified forms, in which the blood is 
 omitted." 
 
 BLOOD-STAINED TREE OF THE COVENANT.% 
 
 In various parts of the East, a tree is given prominence in the rite of 
 blood-covenanting. In Burmah, as above shown, one mode of cove- 
 nanting is by the mutual planting of a tree.^ In Timor, a newly planted 
 * See page 313, supra. 
 
APPENDIX. 3 1 7 
 
 fig-tree is made to bear a portion of the blood of the covenant, and to 
 remain as a witness to the sacred rite itself.^ In one portion of Central 
 Africa, a forked pahn branch is held by the two parties, at their entering 
 into blood-friendship ; ''■ and, in another region, the ashes of a burned 
 tree and the blood of the covenanting brothers are brought into combi- 
 nation, in the use of a knotted palm branch which the brothers together 
 hold.3 And, again, in Canaan, in the days of Abraham, the planting of 
 a tree was an element in covenant making ; as shown in the narrative 
 of the covenant which Abraham cut with Abimelech, at Beer-sheba.* 
 
 It may, indeed, be fair to suppose that the trees at Hebron, which 
 marked the dwelling-place of Abraham were covenant-trees, witnessing 
 the covenant between Abraham and the three Amorite chiefs ; and that 
 therefore they have prominence in the sacred story. " Now he [Abram] 
 dwelt by [or, in : Hebrew, beelonay ^ J'7X3)] ; the [four] oaks [or, 
 terebinths], of Mamre, the Amorite, brother of Eschol, and brother of 
 Aner ; and these [three it was who] were confederate [literally, were 
 masters of the covenant] with [the fourth one] Abram." ^ This ren- 
 dering certainly gives a reason for the prominent mention of the trees at 
 Hebron, in conjunction with Abram's covenant with Amorite chieftains ; 
 and it accords with Oriental customs of former days, and until to-day. 
 So, also, it would seem that the tree which witnessed* the confirma- 
 tion, or the recognition, of the covenant between another Abimelech, and 
 the men of Shechem and the men of Beth-millo, by the pillar (the 
 symbol of Baal-bereeth) "^ in Shechem,^ was a covenant-tree, after the 
 Oriental custom in sacred covenanting. 
 
 There is apparently a trace of the blood-covenanting and tree-plant- 
 ing rite of jfrimitive times, in the blood-stained " Fiery Cross " of the 
 
 1 See page 53, supra. ^ See page 35, supra. » See page 37, supra. 
 
 * Gen. 21 : 33. ^ See Gen. 13 : 18 ; 14 : 13 ; 18 : i. 
 
 ' The covenant was " with " [Hebrew, Q^* '««, not " with " as an instrument, 
 but " with" as in the presence of, as accompanied by] the tree at Shechem. 
 
 7 See page 218, supra^ note. * Judges 9 : i-6. 
 
 27* 
 
3l8 APPENDIX. 
 
 Scottish Highlands, with its correspondent Arabian symbol of tribal 
 covenant-duties in the hour of battle. Von Wrede, describing his travels 
 in the south-eastern part of Arabia, tells of the use of this symbol^ he 
 saw it employed, as preliminary to a tribal warfare. A war-council had 
 decided on conflict. Then, " the fire which had burned in the midst 
 of the circle was newly kindled with a great heap of wood, and the 
 up-leaping flames were greeted with loud rejoicing. The green branch 
 of a nubk tree [sometimes called the * lote-tree,' and again known as 
 the * dom,' although it is not the dom palm] ^ was then brought, and 
 also a sheep, whose feet were at once tied by the oldest shaykh. After 
 these preparations, the latter seized the branch, spoke a prayer over it, 
 and committed it to the flames. As soon as every trace of green had 
 disappeared, he snatched it from the fire, again said a short prayer, and 
 cut with his jembeeyeh [his short sword] the throat of the sheep, with 
 whose blood the yet burning branch was quenched. He then tore a 
 number of little twigs from the burnt branch, and gave them to as 
 many Bed^'ween, who hastened off with them in various directions. 
 The black bloody branch was then planted in the earth. . . . The 
 little twigs, which the shaykh cut off and gave to the Bed^'ween, serve 
 as alarm signals, with which the messengers hasten from valley to 
 valley, calling the sons of the tribe to the impending war [by this 
 blood-stained symbol of the sacred covenant which binds them in 
 brotherhood]. None dare remain behind, without loss of honor, when 
 the chosen [covenant] sign appears at his encampment, and the voice of 
 its bearer calls to the war. ... At the conclusion of the war [thus 
 inaugurated], the shaykhs of the propitiated tribe return the branches to 
 the fire, and let them bum to ashes." ^ 
 
 How strikingly this parallels the use and the symbolism of the Fiery 
 Cross, in the Scottish Highlands, as portrayed in The Lady of the Lake. 
 Sir Roderick Dhu would summon Clan Alpine against the King. 
 
 1 Robinson's Biblical Researches , II., 210 f., note, 
 s Von Wrede's Reise in Hadhramaut, p. 197 f. 
 
APPENDIX. 319 
 
 ** A heap of withered boughs was piled. 
 Of juniper and rowan wild. 
 Mingled with shivers from the oak. 
 Rent by the lightning's recent stroke. 
 Brian the Hermit by it stood. 
 Barefooted, in his frock and coat. 
 
 *Twas all prepared ; — and from the rock 
 
 A goat, the patriarch of the flock. 
 
 Before the kindling fire was laid. 
 
 And pierced by Roderick's ready blade. 
 
 Patient the sickening victim eyed 
 
 The life-blood ebb in crimson tide 
 
 Down his clogged beard and shaggy limb. 
 
 Till darkness glazed his eyeballs dim. 
 
 The grisly priest, with murmuring prayer, 
 
 A slender crosslet framed with care, 
 
 A cubit's length in measure due ; 
 
 The shaft and limbs were rods of yew. 
 
 Whose parents in Inch-Cailliach wave 
 
 Their shadows o'er Clan Alpine's grave." 
 
 Lifting up this fragment of the tree from the grave of the patriarch of 
 the Clan,^ the old priest sounded anathemas against those who should 
 be untrue to their covenant obligations as clansmen, when they recog- 
 nized this symbol of their common brotherhood. 
 
 " Burst with loud roar their answer hoarse, 
 * Woe to the traitor, woe ! ' 
 Ben-an's gray scalps the accents knew. 
 The joyous wolf from covert drew. 
 The exulting eagle screamed afar, — 
 ^ They knew the voice of Alpine's war. 
 " The shout was hushed on lake and fell. 
 The monk resumed his muttered spell : 
 Dismal and low its accents came, 
 The while he scathed the cross with flame. 
 1 See reference (in note at page 268 f. supra) to the custom in Sumatra, of taking 
 an oath over the " grave of the original patriarch of the Passumah*" 
 
320 APPENDIX, 
 
 The crosslet's points of sparkling wood 
 He quenched among the bubbling blood. 
 And, as again the sign he reared. 
 Hollow and hoarse his voice was heard : 
 * When flits this cross from man to man, 
 Vich-Alpine's summons to his clan. 
 Burst be the ear that fails to heed ! 
 Palsied the foot that shuns to speed ! 
 
 Then Roderick with impatient look 
 
 From Brian's hand the symbol took : 
 
 ' Speed, Malise, speed ! ' he said, and gave 
 
 The crosslet to his henchman brave. 
 
 * The muster-place be Lanrick mead — 
 
 Instant the time — ^Speed, Malise, speed ! '" l 
 
 "At sight of the Fiery Cross," says Scott, "every man, from sixteen 
 years old to sixty, capable of bearing arms, was obliged instantly to 
 repair, in his best arms and accoutrements, to the place of rendezvous. 
 . . . During the civil war of 1 745-6, the Fiery Cross often made its 
 circuit ; and upon one occasion it passed through the whole district of 
 Breadalbane, a tract of thirty-two miles, in three hours." 2 
 
 BLOOD-DRINKING. 
 
 Another item of evidence that the blood-covenant in its primitive 
 form was a well-known rite in primitive Europe, is a citation by Athen- 
 seus from Poseidonios to this effect : " Concerning the Germans, Poseido- 
 nios says, that they, embracing each other in their banquets, open the 
 veins upon their foreheads,' and mixing the flowing blood with their drink, 
 they present it to each other; esteeming it the farthest attainment of friend- 
 ship, to taste each other's blood." * As Poseidonios was earlier than our 
 Christian era, this testimony shows that the custom with our ancestors was 
 in no sense an outgrowth, nor yet a perversion, of Christian practices. 
 
 "^Lady 0/ the Lake, Canto III. ^Ibid., note. 
 
 » Sec pages 13, 86 f., supra. * Athenaeus's Deipnosophistce , II., 24 (45). 
 
APPENDIX. 321 
 
 In Moore's Lalla Rookh, the young maiden, Zelica, being induced 
 
 by Mokanna, the Veiled Prophet of Khorassan, to accompany him to 
 
 the charnel-house, pledged herself to him, body and soul, in a draught 
 
 of blood. 
 
 " There in that awful place, when each had quaflfed 
 
 And pledged in silence such a fearful draught. 
 
 Such — oh ! the look and taste of that red bowl 
 
 Will haunt her till she dies — he bound her soul 
 
 By a dark oath, in hell's own language fram'd." 
 
 It was after this, that he reminded her of the binding force of this blood- 
 covenant : 
 
 " That cup — thou shudderest, I>ady — was it sweet ? 
 
 That cup we pledg'd, the charnel's choicest wine. 
 Hath bound thee — aye — ^body and soul all mine." 
 
 And her bitter memory of that covenant-scene, in the presence of the 
 "bloodless ghosts," was: 
 
 " The dead stood round us, while I spoke that vow. 
 Their blue lips echo'd it. I hear them now ! 
 Their eyes glared on me, while I pledged that bowl, 
 *Twas burning blood — I feel it in my soul 1 " 
 
 Although this is Western poetry, it had a basis of careful Oriental study 
 in its preparation ; and the blood-draught of the covenant is known to 
 Persian story and tradition. 
 
 One of the indications of the world-wide belief in the custom of 
 covenanting, and again of life seeking, by blood-drinking, is the fact 
 that both Jews and Christians have often been falsely charged with 
 drinking the blood of little children, at their religious feasts. This was 
 one of the frequent accusations against the early Christians (See Justin 
 Martyr's Apol.y I., 26 ; Tertullian's ApoL^ VIII., IX.) And it has been 
 repeated against the Jews, from the days of Apion down to the present 
 decade. Such a baseless charge could not have gained credence, but 
 for the traditional understanding that men were wont to pledge each 
 other to a close covenant by mutual blood-drinking. 
 
322 APPENDIX. 
 
 COVENANT- CUTTING. 
 
 It is worthy of note that when the Lord enters into covenant with 
 Abraham by means of a prescribed sacrifice (Gen. 15 : 7-18), it is said 
 that the Lord " cut a covenant with Abram " ; but when the Lord calls 
 on Abraham to cut a covenant of blood-friendship, by the rite of cir- 
 cumcision (Gen. 17: 1-12), the Lord says, for himself, "I will make 
 [or I will fix] my covenant between me and thee." In the one case, 
 the Hebrew word is karath (r\13) "to cut" ; in the other, it is nathan 
 yjnj ) " to give," or " to fix." This change goes to show that the idea of 
 cutting a covenant includes the act of a cutting — of a cutting of one's 
 person or the cutting of the substitute victim — as an integral part of the 
 covenant itself; that a covenant may be made, or fixed, without a cutting, 
 but that the term " cutting " involves the act of cutting. 
 
 Thus, again, in Jeremiah 34: 18, there is a two-fold reference to 
 covenant-cutting ; where the Lord reproaches his people for their faith- 
 lessness to their covenant. "And I will give [to destruction] the men 
 that have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed the 
 words of the covenant which they made [literally, * cut '] before me [in 
 my sight] when they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts 
 thereof." In this instance, there is in the Hebrew, a pun, as it were, to 
 give added force to the accusation and reproach. The same word ^abhar 
 p5;?) means both " to transgress " and "to pass over" [or, "between"], 
 so that, freely rendered, the charge here made, is, that they went through 
 the covenant when they had gone through the calf; which is another way 
 of saying that they cut their duty when they claimed to cut a covenant. 
 
 The correspondence of cutting the victim of sacrifice, and of cutting 
 into the flesh of the covenanting parties, in the ceremony of making 
 blood-brotherhood, or blood- friendship, is well-illustrated in the inter- 
 changing of these methods in the primitive customs of Borneo.^ The 
 pig is the more commonly prized victim of sacrifice in Borneo. It 
 1 St. John's Life in Far East, Comp. I., 38, 46, 56, 74-76, 115, 117, 185, 
 
APPENDIX. 323 
 
 seems, indeed, to be there valued only next after a human victim. In 
 some cases, blood-brotherhood is made, in Borneo, by " imbibing each 
 other's blood." In other cases, " a pig is brought and placed between 
 the two [friends] who are to be joined in brotherhood. A chief ad- 
 dresses an invocation to the gods, and marks with a lighted brand ^ the 
 pig's shoulder. The beast is then killed, and after an exchange of 
 jackets,^ a sword is thrust into the wound, and the two [friends] are 
 marked with the blood of the pig." On one occasion, when two hos- 
 tile tribes came together to make a formal covenant of brotherhood, 
 "the ceremony of killing a pig for each tribe " was the central feature 
 of the compact ; as in the case of two Kayans becoming one by inter- 
 changing their own blood, actually or by a substitute pig. And it is 
 said of the tribal act of cutting the covenant by cutting the pig, that 
 " it is thought more fortunate if the animal be severed in two by 
 one stroke of the parang (half sword, half chopper)." In another 
 instance, where two tribes entered into a covenant, "a pig was placed 
 between the representatives of [the] two tribes ; who, after calling 
 down the vengeance of the spirits on those who broke the treaty, 
 plunged their spears into the animal [* cutting a covenant ' in that 
 way], and then exchanged weapons.^ Drawing their krises, they each 
 bit the blade of the other [as if * drinking the covenant '],' and so com- 
 pleted the affair," So, again, " if two men who have been at deadly 
 feud, meet in a house [where the obligations of hospitality restrain 
 them], they refuse to cast their eyes upon each other till a fowl has 
 been killed, and the blood sprinkled over them." 
 
 In every case, it is the blood that seals the mutual covenant, and the 
 "cutting of the covenant" is that cutting which secures the covenant- 
 ing, or the inter-uniting, blood. The cutting may be in the flesh of the 
 covenanting parties ; or, again it may be in the flesh of the substitute 
 victim which is sacrificed. 
 
 1 A trace of the burnt branch of the covenant-tree. 
 ' See page 270, supra. s See pages 9, 154, supra. 
 
324 APPENDIX. 
 
 BLOOD-BATHING. 
 
 In the Midrash Rabboth [Shemoth, Beth, 92, col. 2.) there is this 
 comment by the Rabbis, on Exodus 2 : 23 : " * And the king of Egypt 
 died.' He was smitten with leprosy. ... * And the children of 
 Israel sighed.' Wherefore did they sigh ? Because the magicians of 
 Egypt said : ' There is no healing for thee save by the slaying of the 
 little children of the Israelites. Slay them in the morning, and slay them 
 in the evening ; and bathe in their blood twice a day.' As soon as the 
 children of Israel heard the cruel decree, they poured forth great sigh- 
 ings and wailings." That comment gives a new point, in the rabbinical 
 mind, to the first plague, whereby the waters of the Nile, in which 
 royalty bathed (Exod. 2 : 5), were turned into blood, because of the 
 bondage of the children of Israel. 
 
 A survival of the blood-baths of ancient Egypt, as a means of re-vivi- 
 fying the death-smitten, would seem to exist in the medical practices of 
 the Bechuana tribes of Africa ; as so many of the customs of ancient 
 Egypt still survive among the African races (See page 15, supra). Thus, 
 Moffat reports [Missionary Labours, p. 277) a method employed by 
 native physicians, of killing a goat " over the sick person, allowing the 
 blood to run down the body." 
 
 BLOOD-RANSOMING. 
 
 Among other Bible indications that the custom of balancing, or 
 canceling, a blood account by a payment in money, was well known in 
 ancient Palestine, appears the record of David's conference with the 
 Gibeonites, concerning their claim for blood against the house of Saul, 
 in 2 Samuel 21 : 1-9. When it was found that the famine in Israel 
 was because of Saul's having taken blood — or life — unjustly from the 
 Gibeonites, David essayed to balance that unsettled account. "And the 
 Gibeonites said unto him, It is no matter of silver or gold between us 
 and Saul, or his house ; neither is it for us to put any man to death in 
 
APPENDIX. 325 
 
 Israel ; " which was equivalent to saying : " Money for blood we will 
 not take. Blood for blood we have no power to obtain." Then said 
 David, "What ye shall say, that will I do for you." At this, the 
 Gibeonites demanded, and obtained, the lives of the seven sons of Saul. 
 The blood account must be balanced. In this case, as by the Mosaic 
 law, it could only be by life for life. 
 
 In some parts of Arabia, if a Muhammadan slays a pereon of another 
 religion, the relatives of the latter are not allowed to insist on blood 
 for blood, but must accept an equivalent in money. The claim for the 
 spilled blood is recognized, but a Muhammadan's blood is too precious 
 for its payment. (See Wellsted's Travels in Arabiuy L, 19.) 
 
 It is much the same in the far West as in the far East, as to this can- 
 celing of a blood-debt by blood or by other gifts. Parkman [Jesuits 
 in No. Am., pp. Ixi.-lxiii. ; 354-360) says of the custom among the 
 Hurons and the Iroquois, that in case of bloodshed the chief effort of 
 all concerned was to effect a settlement by contributions to the amount 
 of the regular tariff rates of a human life. 
 
 Another indication that the mission of the goel was to cancel the loss of 
 a life rather than to avenge it, is found in the primitive customs of the 
 New World. " Even in so rude a tribe as the Brazilian Topanazes," the 
 Farrer (citing Eschwege, in Prim. Alan, and Cust., p. 164), " a murderer 
 of a fellow tribesman would be conducted by his relations to those of the 
 deceased, to be by them forthwith strangled and buried [with his forfeited 
 blood in him], in satisfaction of their rights ; the two families eating 
 together for several days after the event as though for the purpose of 
 [or, as in evidence of] reconciliation," — not of satisfied revenge. 
 
 Yet more convincing than all, in the line of such proofs that it is resti- 
 tution, and not vengeance, that is sought by the pursuit of blood in the 
 mission of the goel, is the fact that in various countries, when a man has 
 died a natural death, it is the custom to seek blood, or life, from those 
 immediately about him ; as if to restore, or to equalize, the family loss. 
 Thus, in New South Wales, " when any one of the tribe dies a natural 
 
 28 
 
326 APPENDIX. 
 
 death, it is usual to avenge [not to avenge, but to meet] the loss of the 
 deceased by taking blood from one or other of his friends," and it is said 
 that death sometimes results from this endeavor (Angas's Sav. Life, II., 
 227). In this fact, there is added light on the almost universal custom 
 of blood-giving to, or over, the dead. (See, e. g. Ellis's Land of Fetish, 
 pp. 59, 64; Stanley's The Congo, II., 180-182; Angas's Sav. Life, I., 
 98, 331 ; II., 84, 89 f, ; Ellis's Polyn. Res., I., 527-529; Dodge's Our 
 Wild Indians, p. 172 f. ; First An. Rep. of Bureau of Ethn., pp. 109, 
 112, 159 f., 164, 183, 190.) 
 
 THE COVENANT-REMINDER. 
 
 It has already been shown, that the blood-stained record of the cove- 
 nant of blood, shielded in a leathern case, is proudly worn as an 
 armlet or as a necklace, by the Oriental who has been fortunate enough 
 to become a sharer in such a covenant ; and that there is reason for 
 believing that there are traces of this custom, in the necklaces, the 
 armlets, the rings, and the frontlets, which have been worn as the 
 tokens of a sacred covenant, in well-nigh all lands, from the earliest 
 days of Chaldea and Egypt down to the present time. There is a con- 
 firmation of this idea in the primitive customs of the North American 
 Indians, which ought not to be overlooked. 
 
 The distinctive method by which these Indians were accustomed to 
 confii-m and signalize a formal covenant, or a treaty, was the exchange 
 of belts of wampum ; and that these wampum belts were not merely 
 conventional gifts, but were actual records, tokens, and reminders, of 
 the covenant itself, there is abundant evidence. In a careful paper on the 
 " Art in Shell of the Ancient Americans," in one of the reports of the 
 Bureau of Ethnology, of the Smithsonian Institution, the writer ^ says : 
 " One of the most remarkable customs practiced by the Americans is 
 found in the mnemonic use of wampum. ... It does not seem 
 probable . . . that a custom so unique and so widespread could 
 1 W. H. Holmes, in Second Annual Report 0/ Bureau of Ethnol., pp. 240-254. 
 
APPENDIX. 327 
 
 have gi-own up within the historic period, nor is it probable that a 
 practice foreign to the genius of tradition-loving races could have be- 
 come so well established and so dear to their hearts in a few genera- 
 tions. . . . The mnemonic use of wampum is one, which, I 
 imagine, might readily develop from the practice of gift giving and the 
 exchange of tokens of friendship, such mementoes being preser\'ed for 
 future reference as reminders of promises of assistance or protection. 
 . . . The wampum records of the Iroquois [and the same is found 
 to be true in many other tribes] were generally in the form of belts [as 
 an encircling and binding token of a covenant], the beads being strung 
 or woven into patterns formed by the use of different colors." Illustra- 
 tions, by the score, of this mnemonic use of the covenant-confirming 
 belts, or " necklaces," ^ as they are sometimes called, are given, or are 
 referred to, in this interesting article. 
 
 In the narrative of a council held by the " Five Nations," at Onon- 
 daga, nearly two hundred years ago, a Seneca sachem is said to have 
 presented a proposed treaty between the Wagunhas and the Senecas, 
 with the words : " We come to join the two bodies into one " ; and he 
 evidenced his good faith in this endeavor, by the presentation of the 
 mnemonic belts of wampum. " The belts were accepted by the Five 
 Nations, and their acceptance was a ratification of the treaty." * Lafi- 
 tau, writing of the Canadian Indians, in the early years of the eighteenth 
 century, says : " They do not believe that any transaction can be con- 
 cluded without these belts ; " and he mentions, that according to Indian 
 custom these belts were to be exchanged in covenant making ; " that is 
 to say, for one belt [received] one must give another [belt]." ' And a 
 historian of the Moravian Missions says : " Everything of moment trans- i 
 acted at solemn councils, either between the Indians themselves, or with 
 Europeans, is ratified and made valid by strings and belts of wam- 
 
 IW. H. Holmes, in Second Annual Report of Bureau 0/ Ethnol., p. 243. 
 » Events in Indian History, p. 143 ; cited Ibid., p. 242 f. 
 ^Moeurs des Sauvages Amerig., torn. II,, pp. 502-507 ; cited 3id., p. 243 flF. 
 
328 APPENDIX. 
 
 pum." ^ "The strings," according to Lafitau, "are used for affairs of 
 little consequence, or as a preparation for other more considerable pres- 
 ents " ; but the binding "belts " were as the bond of the covenant itself. 
 
 These covenant belts often bore, interwoven with different colored 
 wampum beads, symbolic figures ; such as two hands clasped in friend- 
 ship, or two figures with hands joined. As the belts commonly signal- 
 I ized tribal covenants, they were not worn by a single individual ; but 
 were sacredly guarded in some tribal depository ; yet their form and 
 their designation indicate the origin of their idea. 
 
 There is still preserved, in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 
 Ine wampum belt which is supposed to have sealed the treaty of peace 
 and friendship between William Penn and the Indians. It contains 
 two figures, wrought in dark colored beads, representing " an Indian 
 grasping with the hand of friendship the hand of a man evidently 
 intended to be represented in the European costume, wearing a hat." ^ 
 
 Still more explicit in its symbolism, is the royal belt of the primitive 
 kings of Tahiti. Throughout Polynesia, red feathers, which had been 
 inclosed in a hollow image of a god, were considered not only as em- 
 blematic of the deities, but as actually representing them in their person- 
 ality (Ellis's Polyn. Pes., I., 79, 211, 314, 316; II., 204; Tour thro* 
 Hawaii, p. I2l). " The inauguration ceremony [of the Tahitian king], 
 answering to coronation among other nations, consisted in girding the 
 king with the maro uro, or sacred girdle of red feathers; which not 
 only raised him to the highest earthly station, but identified him with 
 their gods [as by oneness of blood]. The maro, or girdle, was made 
 with the beaten fibres of the ava; with these a number of ura, red 
 feathers, taken from the images of their deities [where they had, seem- 
 ingly, represented the blood, or the life, of the image], were interwoven; 
 , . . the feathers [as the blood] being supposed to retain all the 
 
 1 Loskiel's Missions of the United Brethren, Trans, by La Trobe, Bk. I., p. 
 26 ; cited in Ibid,, p. 245 f. 
 
 2 Ibid., p. 253 f. 
 
APPENDIX. 329 
 
 dreadful attributes of vengeance which the idols possessed, and with 
 which it was designed to endow the king." In lieu of the king's own 
 blood, in this symbolic ceremony of inter-umon, a human victim was 
 sacrificed, for the " fastening on of the sacred maro." " Sometimes a 
 human victim was offered for every fresh piece added to the girdle [blood 
 for blood, between the king and the god]; . . . and the girdle 
 was considered as consecrated by the blood of those victims." The chief 
 priest of the god Oro formally invested the king with this " sacred girdle, 
 which, the [blood-representmg] feathers from the idol being interwoven 
 m it, was supposed to impart to the king a power equal to that possessed 
 by Oro." After this, the king was supposed to be a sharer of the divine 
 nature of Oro, with whom he had entered into a covenant of blood- 
 union (Ellis's Polyn. Res., II., 354-360). 
 
 Thus it seems that a band, as a bond, of a sacred covenant is treasured 
 reverently in the New World ; as a similar token, of one kind, or an- 
 other, was treasured, for the same reason, in the Old World. Yet, in 
 the face of such facts as these, one of the notable rationalistic theological 
 writers on Old Testament manners and customs, in the latest edition of 
 the Encyclopaedia Britannica, coolly ascribes the idea of the Jewish phy- 
 lacteries to the superstitious idea of a pagan " amulet." He might in- 
 deed, with good reason, have ascribed the idea of the pagan amulet itself 
 to a perversion of that common primitive idea of the binding bond of a 
 sacred covenant, which shows itself in the blood-friendship record of 
 Syria, in the red covenant-cord of China and India, in the divine-human 
 covenant token of ancient Egypt, in the red-feather belt of divine-royal 
 union, in the Pacific Islands, in the wampum belt of America, and in 
 the evolved wedding-covenant ring, or amulet, of a large portion of the 
 civilized world. But that would hardly have been in accordance with 
 the fashionable method of the modem rationalistic theologian ; which is, 
 to fix on some later heathenish perversion of a primitive sacred rite, and 
 then to ascribe the origin of all the normal uses of that primitive rite, to 
 
 its own later perversions. 
 
 28* 
 
330 APPENDIX. 
 
 Yet another indication that the binding circlet of the covenant-token 
 stands, among primitive peoples, as also among cultivated ones, as the 
 representative, or proof, of this very covenant itself, is found in a method 
 of divorce prevailing among the Balau Dayaks, of Borneo. It has 
 already been shown (page 73, supra) that a ring of blood is a binding 
 symbol in the marriage covenant in some parts of Borneo. It seems, also, 
 that when a divorce has been agreed on by a Balau couple, " it is neces- 
 sary for the offended husband to send a ring to his wife, before the 
 marriage can be considered as finally dissolved ; without which, should 
 they marry again, they would be liable to be punished for infidelity." ^ 
 This practice seems to have grown out of the old custom already 
 referred to (page 73 f.), of the bride giving to the bridegroom a blood- 
 representing ring in the marriage cup. Until that symboHc ring is re- 
 turned to her by the bridegroom, it remains as the proof of her cove- 
 nant with him. 
 
 This connection of the encircling ring with the heart's blood, is of very 
 ancient origin, and of general, if not of universal, application. Wilkinson 
 {Anc. Egypt.i III., 420) cites Macrobius as saying, that " those Egyptian 
 priests who were called prophets, when engaged in the temple near the 
 altars of the gods, moistened [anointed] the ring-finger of the left hand 
 (which was that next to the smallest) with various sweet ointments, in 
 the belief that a certain nerve communicated with it from the heart." 
 He also says, that among the Egyptian women, many finger rings were 
 worn, and that " the left was considered the hand peculiarly privileged 
 to wear these ornaments; and it is remarkable that its third finger [next 
 to the little finger] was considered by them, as by us, par excellence the 
 ring finger; though there is no evidence [to his knowledge] of its having 
 been so honored at the marriage ceremony." Birch adds [Ibid., II., 
 340), that " it is very difficult to distinguish between the ring worn for 
 mere ornament, and the signet [standing for the wearer's veiy life] em- 
 ployed to seal [and to sign] epistles and other things." The evidence 
 1 St John's Li/e in the Far East, I., 67, 
 
APPENDIX. 331 
 
 is, in fact, ample, that the ring, in ancient Egypt, as elsewhere, was not 
 a mere ornament, nor yet a superstitious amulet, but represented one's 
 heart, or one's life, as a symbol and pledge of personal fidelity. 
 
 In South Australia, the rite of circumcision is one of the steps by 
 , which a lad enters into the sphere of manhood. This involves his cove- 
 nanting with his new god-father, and with his new fellows in the sphere 
 of his entering. In this ceremony, the very nng of flesh itself is placed 
 ** on the third finger of the boy's left hand " (Angas's Sav. Life, I., 99). 
 What stronger proof than this could be given, that the finger-ring is a 
 vestige of the primitive blood-covenant token ? 
 
 An instance of the use of a large ring, or bracelet, encircling the two 
 hands of persons joining in the marriage covenant, is reported to me from 
 the North of Ireland, in the present century. It was in the county Don- 
 egal. The Roman Catholic priest was a French exile. In marrying the 
 people of the poorer class, who could not afford to purchase a ring, he 
 " would take the large ring from his old-fashioned double-cased watch, 
 and hold it on the hands, or the thumbs, of the contracting parties, 
 while he blessed their union." 
 
 Yet another illustration of the universal symbolism of the ring, as a 
 token of sacred covenant, is its common use as a pledge of friendship, 
 even unto death. The ring given by Queen Elizabeth to the unfortunate 
 Earl of Essex, is an instance in point. Had that covenant-token reached 
 her, her covenant promises would have been redeemed. 
 
 There is an old Scottish ballad, " Hynd Horn," — ^perhaps having a 
 common origin with the Bohemian lay on which Scott based The 
 Noble Moringer,^ — which brings out the idea of a covenant-ring having 
 the power to indicate to its wearer the fidelity of its giver ; correspond- 
 ing with the popular belief to that effect, suggested by Bacon.' Hynd 
 Horn has won the heart of the king's daughter, and the king sends 
 him over the sea, as a means of breaking up the match. As he sets 
 out Hynd Horn carries with him a symbol of his lady-love's troth. 
 1 See page 73, supra. 8 Sec page 75, supra. 
 
332 APPENDIX. 
 
 " O his love gave him a gay gold ring. 
 With a hey lillelu, and a how lo Ian ; 
 With three shining diamonds set therein. 
 And the birk and the broom blooms bonnie. 
 " As long as these diamonds keep their hue. 
 With a hey lillelu, and a how lo Ian, 
 Ye'U know that I'm a lover true. 
 And the birk and the broom blooms bonnie. 
 " But when your ring turns pale and wan. 
 With a hey lillelu, and a how lo Ian, 
 Then I'm in love with another man. 
 And the birk and the broom blooms bonnie." ^ 
 
 Seven years went by, and then the ring-gems grew " pale and wan," 
 Hynd Horn hastened back, entered the wedding-halJ disguised as a 
 beggar, sent the covenant-ring to the bride in a glass of wine ; and the 
 sequel was the same as in The Noble Moringer. 
 
 At a Brahman wedding, in India, described by Miss H. G. Brittan (in 
 "The Missionary Link," for October, 1864; cited in Women of the 
 Orient, pp. 1 76-179) a silver dish, filled with water, (probably with water 
 colored with saffron, or with tumeric, according to the common custom in 
 India,) " also containing a very handsome ruby ring, and a thin iron brace- 
 let," was set before the father of the bride, during the mairiage ceremony. 
 At the covenanting of the young couple, « the ring was given to the 
 groom; the bracelet to the bride; then some of the [blood-colored?] 
 water was sprinkled on them (See page 194, supra), and some flowers 
 [were] thrown at them." Here seem to be combined, the symbolisms 
 of the ring, the bracelet, and the blood, m a sacred covenanting. 
 
 HINTS OF BLOOD-UNION. 
 
 From the very fact that so little attention has been given to the primi- 
 tive rite of blood-covenanting, in the studies of modem scholars, there 
 is reason for supposing that the rite itself has very often been unnoticed 
 1 AJlingham's Ballad Book, p. 6 f. 
 
APPENDIX. 333 
 
 by travelers and missionaries in regions where it was practiced almost 
 under their eyes. Indeed, there is proof of this to be obtained, by 
 comparing the facts recorded in this volume with the writings of visitors 
 to the lands here reported from. Hence, it is fair to infer, that more or 
 less of the brotherhoods or friendships noted among primitive peoples, 
 without any description of the methods of their consummating, are 
 either dii-ectly based on the rite of blood-covenanting, or aie outgrowths 
 and variations of that rite ; as, for example, in Borneo, blood-tasting is 
 sometimes deemed essential to the rite, and again it is omitted. It may 
 be well, therefore, to look at some of the hints of blood-union among 
 primitive peoples, in relationships and in customs where not all the facts 
 and processes involved, are known to us. 
 
 Peculiarly is it true, that wherever we find the idea of an absolute 
 merging of two natures into one, or of an inter-union or an inter-chang- 
 ing of two personalities in loving relation, there is reason for suspecting 
 a connection with the primitive rite of inter-union through a common 
 blood flow. And there are illustrations of this idea in the Old World 
 and in the New, all along the ages. 
 
 It has already been mentioned (page 109, supra) that, in India, the 
 possibility of an inter-union of two natures, and of their inter-merging 
 into one, is recognized in the statement that " the heart of Vishnu is 
 Siva,, and the heart of Siv§, is Vishnu " ; and it is a well-known philo- 
 sophica;! fact that man must have an actual basis of human experience 
 for the symbolic language with which he illustrates the nature and 
 characteristics of Deity. 
 
 In the most ancient portion of the ancient Egyptian Book of the 
 Dead,^ there is a description of the inter-union of Osiris and Ra, not 
 unlike that above quoted concerning Sivi and Vishnoo. It says, that 
 " Osiris came to Tattu (Mendes) and found the soul of Ra there; each 
 embraced the other, and become as one soul in two souls'" — as one 
 life in two lives ; or, as it would be phrased concerning two human 
 1 Todtenbuch, xvii., 42, 43 2 Renouf 's The Relig. 0/ Arte. Egypt, p. 107, 
 
334 APPENDIX. 
 
 beings united in blood-friendship, " one soul in two bodies " ; a common 
 life in two personalities. Again it is said in an Egyptian sacred text, 
 " Ra is the soul of Osiris, and Osiris is the soul of Ra." ' 
 
 An exchange of names, as if in exchange of personalities, in con- 
 nection with a covenant of friendship, is a custom in widely diverse 
 countries ; and this custom seems to have grown out of the idea 
 of an inter-union of natures by an inter-union of blood; even if it 
 be not actually an accompaniment of that rite in every instance. It 
 is common in the Society Islands,^ as an element in the adoption of 
 a " tayo," or a personal friend and companion (See page 56, supra). 
 It is to be found in various South Sea islands, and on the American 
 continent. 
 
 Among the Araucanians, of South America, the custom of making 
 brothers, or brother-friends, is called Lacu. It includes the killing of a 
 lamb and dividing it — " cutting " it — between the two covenanting 
 parties ; and each party must eat his half of the lamb — either by him- 
 self or by such assistance as he chooses to call in. None of it must be 
 left uneaten. Gifts also pass between the parties ; and the two friends 
 exchange names. " The giving [the exchanging] of a name [with this 
 people] establishes between the namesakes a species of relationship 
 which is considered almost as sacred as that of blood, and obliges them 
 to render to each other certain services, and that consideration which 
 naturally belongs to relatives." ^ 
 
 It is related of Tolo, a chief of the Shastika Indians, on the Pacific 
 coast, that when he made a treaty with Col. McKee, an American 
 soldier, in 1852, for the cession of certain tribal rights, he was anxious 
 for some ceremony of brotherhood, that should give binding sacredness 
 to the mutual covenant. After some parleying, he proposed the formnl 
 exchange of names, and this was agreed to. Thenceforward he desired 
 
 IRenouf's The Relig. of Anc. Egypt, p. 107. 
 
 ^Miss. Voyage to So. Pad/. Ocean, p. 65. 
 
 'See E. R. Smith's The Araucanians, p 262. 
 
APPENDIX. 335 
 
 to be known as " McKee." The American colonel was now " Tolo." 
 But after a while the Indian found that, as in too many other instances, 
 the terms of the treaty were not adhered to by the authorities making 
 it. Then he discarded his new name, " McKee," and refused to re- 
 sume his former name, " Tolo." He would not answer to either, and 
 to the day of his death he insisted that his name, his identity, was 
 " lost." ' — There is a profound sentiment underneath such a course, and 
 such a custom, as that. 
 
 So fully is the identity of one's name and one's hfe recognized by 
 primitive peoples, that to call on the name of a dead person is generally 
 supposed to summon the spirit of that person to the caller's service. 
 Hence, among the American Indians, if one calls the dead by name, he 
 must answer to the dead man's goel. He must surrender his own blood, 
 or pay blood-money, in restitution of the life — of the dead — taken by 
 him. [First An. Rep. of Bureau of EthnoL, p. 200.) 
 
 Even Herbert Spencer sees the correspondence of the blood-covenant 
 and the exchange of names. He says : " By absorbing each other's 
 blood, men are supposed to establish actual community of nature. 
 Similarly with the ceremony of exchanging names. . . . This, 
 which is a widely-diffused practice, arises from the belief that the name 
 is vitally connected with its owner. ... To exchange names, 
 therefore, is to establish some participation in one another's being." ^ 
 Hence, as we may suppose, came the well-nigh universal Oriental prac- 
 tice of inter-weaving the name of one's Deity with one's name, as a 
 symbolic evidence of one's covenant-union with the Deity. The blood- 
 covenant, or the blood-union, idea is at the bottom of this. 
 
 Another custom, having a peculiar bearing upon this thought of a 
 new name, or a new identity, through new blood, is the rite of initia- 
 tion into manhood, by the native Australians. During childhood the 
 Australian boys are under the care of their mothers, and they bear 
 
 1 Power's Tribes of California," in Contrib. to No. Am. Eihnol., III., 247. 
 '^Principles 0/ Sociology, li., 21. 
 
'336 APPENDIX. 
 
 names which designate the place and circumstances of their birth. But 
 when the time comes for them to put away childish things,^ they are 
 subjected to a series of severe and painful tests, to prove their powere 
 of physical and mental endurance, preparatory to their reception of a 
 new name, as indicative of a new life. A rite resembling circumcision 
 is one step in their progress. During these ceremonies, there is se- 
 lected for each lad a sponsor (or godfather) who is a representative of 
 that higher life into which the lad seeks an entrance. One of the latest 
 steps in the long series of ceremonies, is the choosing and conferring, 
 by the sponsor, of the lad's new name, which he is to retain thence- 
 forward during his life. With a stone-knife, the sponsor opens a vein 
 in his own arm, and causes the lad to drink his warm-flowing blood. 
 After this, the lad drops foi-ward on his hands and knees, and the 
 sponsor's blood is permitted to form a pool on his back, and to coagu- 
 late there. Then the sponsor cuts, with his stone-knife, broad gashes 
 in the lad's back, and pulls open the gaping wounds with the fingers. 
 The scars of these gashes remain as permanent signs of the covenant 
 ceremony .2 And encircling tokens of the covenant ' are bound around 
 the neck, each arm, and the waist, of the young man ; who is now 
 reckoned a new creature * in the life represented by that godfather, who 
 has given him his new name, and has imparted to him of his blood.* 
 That the transfusion of blood in this ceremony is the making of a 
 covenant between the youth and his sponsor, and not the giving him 
 blood in vivification, is indicated in another form of the same rite of 
 manhood-initiation, as practised in New South Wales. There, the youth is 
 seated upon the shoulders of his sponsor; while one of his teeth is knocked 
 out. The blood that flows from the boy's lacerated gum in this ceremony 
 is not wiped away, but is suffered to run down upon his breast, and thence 
 upon the head of his sponsor, whose name he takes. This blood, which 
 secures, by its absorption, a common life between the two, who have now 
 
 1 1 Cor. 13 : II. 2 See note at page 218, supra. 3 See pages 65-77, supra, 
 *2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 4 : 24 ; Col. 3 ; 9, 10. 6 Angas's Savage Life, I., 114-116. 
 
APPENDIX. ll^j 
 
 a common name, is permitted to dry upon the head of the man and upon 
 the breast of the boy, and to remain there untouched for several days. 
 
 In this New South Wales ceremonial, there is another feature, which 
 seems to suggest that remarkable connection of life with a stone, which 
 >ias been already referred to (page 307, supra) ; and yet again to suggest 
 the giving of a new name as the token of a new life. A white stone, or 
 a quartz crystal, called mundie, is given to each novitiate in manhood, 
 at the time he receives his new name. This stone is counted a gift 
 from deity, and is held peculiarly sacred. A test of the young man's 
 moral stamina is made by the old men's trying, by all sorts of persuasion, 
 to induce him to surrender this possession, when first he has received it. 
 This accompaniment of a new name " is worn concealed in the hair, tied 
 up in a packet, and is never shown to the women, who are forbidden to 
 look at it under pain of death." The youths receiving and retaining 
 these white stones, with their new names, are termed " Kebarrah, 
 from keba, a rock, or stone." (Angas's Savage Life, II,, 221.) That 
 the idea of a sacred covenant, a covenant of brotherhood and friendship, 
 is underneath these ceremonies, is indicated by the fact, that when the 
 rites of Kebarrah are celebrated, even " hostile tribes meet in peace ; all 
 animosity between them being laid aside during the performance of these 
 ceremonies." " To him that overcometh, [saith the Spirit,] . . . I will 
 give him a white stone, and upon the stone a new name written, which no 
 one knoweth but he that receiveth it" (Rev. 2 : 17). The Rabbis recom- 
 mend the giving secretly of a new name, as a means of new life, to him 
 who is in danger of dying. (See Seph. Hakhkhay., p. 37 f. and note.) 
 
 Again, in a form of marriage ceremony in Tahiti, there is a hint of 
 this universal idea of inter-union by blood. An observer of this cere- 
 mony, in describing it says : " The female relatives cut their faces 
 and brows * with the instrument set with shark's teeth,^ received the 
 flowing blood on a piece of native cloth, and deposited the cloth, 
 
 ' See references to drawing blood from the forehead, at page 86 flf., supra. 
 
 } See pages 85-88, supra. 
 
 29 
 
338 APPENDIX. 
 
 sprinkled with the mingled blood of the mothers of the married pair, it 
 the feet of the bride. By the latter parts of the ceremony, any inferiori'^v 
 of rank that might have existed was removed, and they were [now] 
 considered as equal. The two families, also, to which they respectivel) 
 belonged, were ever afterwards regarded as one [through this new blood 
 union]." ^ Had these mothers mingled and interchanged their own 
 blood before the births of their children, the children — as children of 
 a common blood — would have been debarred from marriage ; but now 
 that the two children were covenanting to be one, their mothers might 
 interchange their blood, that the young couple might have an absolute 
 equality of family nature. 
 
 There are frequent references by travelers to the rite of brotherhood, 
 or of close friendship, in one part of the world or another, with or with- 
 out a description of its methods. Thus of one of the tribes in Central 
 Africa it is said : " The Wanyamuezi have a way of making brother- 
 hood, similar to that which has already been described, except that 
 instead of drinking each other's blood, the newly made brothers mix it 
 [their blood] with butter on a leaf, and exchange leaves. The butter is 
 then rubbed into the incisions, so that it acts as a healing ointment at 
 the same time that blood is exchanged.^ The ceremony is concluded 
 by tearing the leaves to pieces and showering the fragments on the heads 
 of the brothers." ^ The Australians, again, are said to have " the custom 
 of making * Kotaiga^ or brotherhood, with strangers. When Europeans 
 visit their districts, and behave as they ought to do, the natives generally 
 unite themselves in bonds of fellowship with the strangers ; each select- 
 ing one of them as his Kotaiga. The new relations are then considered 
 as having mutual responsibilities, each being bound to forward the wel- 
 fare of the other," * Once more, in Feejee, two warriors sometimes bind 
 themselves to each other by a formal ceremony, and although its details 
 1 Ellis's Polynesian Researches, II., 569 f. 2 Cge Prov. 27 : 9. 
 
 8 Cited from Capt. Grant's description ; in Wood's Unciv. Races, 1., 440. 
 <Ibid.,\\.,'S>\. 
 
APPENDIX. 339 
 
 are not described, a missionary writer says of it : " The manner in which 
 they do this is singular, and wears the appearance of a marriage con- 
 tract; and the two men entering into it are spoken of as man and wife, 
 to indicate the closeness of their military union. By this mutual bond, 
 the two men pledge themselves to oneness of purpose and effort, to stand 
 by each other in every danger, defending each other to the death, and 
 if needful to die together." ^ 
 
 With the American Indians, there are various traces of the blood- 
 brotherhood idea. Says Captain Clai-k, in his work on the Indian Sign 
 Language : " Among many tribes there are brothers by adoption, 
 and the tie seems to be held about as sacredly as though created by 
 nature." ^ Stephen Powell, writing of the Pacific Coast Indians, gives this 
 tie of brotherhood-adoption yet more prominence, than does Clark. He 
 says : " There is an interesting institution found among the Wyandots, 
 as among some other of our North American tribes, namely, that of 
 fellowship. Two young men agree to be perpetual friends to each other, 
 or more than brothers. Each reveals to the other the secrets of his life, 
 and counsels with him on matters of importance, and defends him from 
 wrong and violence, and at his death is chief mourner." ^ This cer- 
 tainly suggests the relation of blood-brotherhood; whether blood be 
 intermingled in the consummation of the rite, or not. 
 
 Colonel Dodge tells of a ceremony of Indian-brotherhood, which in- 
 cludes a bloody rite, worthy of notice in this connection. Pie says : 
 " A strong flavor of religious superstition attaches to a scalp, and many 
 solemn contracts and binding obligations can only be made over or by 
 means of a scalp ; " for is it not the representative of a life ? In illus- 
 tration of this, he gives an incident which followed an Indian battle, in 
 which the Pawnees had borne a part with the whites against the 
 Northern Cheyennes. Colonel Dodge was sitting in his tent, when " the 
 1 Williams and Calvert's Fiji and Fijians , p. 35. 
 ^Indian Sign Language, s. v. " Brother." 
 8 Contributions to No. Am. Ethnology, Vo.. III., p. 68. 
 
340 APPENDIX. 
 
 acting head-chief of the Pawnees stalked in gravely, and without a 
 word." The Colonel continues : " We had long been friends, and had 
 on several occasions been in tight places together. He sat down on the 
 side of my bed, looked at me kindly, but solemnly, and began in a low 
 tone to mutter in his own language, half chant, half recitative. Know- 
 ing that he was making * medicine ' [that he was engaged in a religious 
 exercise] of some kind, I looked on without comment. After some 
 moments, he stood erect, and stretched out his hand to me. I gave him 
 my hand. He pulled me into a standing position, embraced me, passed 
 his hands lightly over my head, face, arms, body, and legs to my feet, 
 muttering all the while ; embraced me again, then turned his back upon 
 me, and with his face toward heaven, appeared to make adoration. He 
 then turned to embrace and manipulate me again. After some five 
 minutes of this performance, he drew from his wallet a package, and 
 unrolling it, disclosed a freshly taken [and therefore still bloody] scalp 
 of an Indian. Touching me with this [blood-vehicle] in various places 
 and ways, he finally drew out his knife, [and * cutting the covenant ' in 
 this way, he] divided the scalp carefully along the part [the seam] of 
 the hair, and handing me one half, embraced me again, kissing me on 
 the forehead. * Now,' said he in English, ' you are my brother.' He 
 subsequently informed me that this ceremony could not have been per- 
 formed without this scalp." ^ 
 
 Here seems to be an illustration of cutting the covenant of blood- 
 brotherhood, by sharing the life of a substitute human victim. It is 
 much the same in the wild West as in the primitive East. 
 
 So simple a matter as the clasping of hands in token of covenant 
 fidelity, is explicable, in its universality, only as a vestige of the primitive 
 custom of joining pierced hands in the covenant of blood-friendship. 
 Hand-clasping is not, by any means, a universal, nor is it even the com- 
 monest, mode of friendly and fraternal salutation among primitive peoples. 
 Prostrations, embracings, kissings, nose-rubbings, slappings of one's own 
 1 Dodge's Our Wild Indians, page 514 f. 
 
APPENDIX. 341 
 
 body, jumpings up and down, the snappings of one's fingers, the blowing 
 of one's breath, and even the rolHng upon one's back, are all among the 
 many methods of primitive man's salutations and obeisances (See, e. g,, 
 Spencer's Principles of Sociology, II., 16-19). ^^t, even where hand 
 clasping is unknown in salutation, it is recognized as a symbol of the 
 closest friendship. Thus, for example, among tribes of North American 
 Indians where nose-rubbing is the mode of salutation, there is, in their 
 widely diffused sign language, the sign of clasped, or inter-locked, hands, 
 as indicative of friendship and union. [First An. Rep. of Bureau of 
 Ethnol., pp. 385 f., 521, 534 f.) So again, similarly, in Australia [Ibid., 
 citation from Smith's Aborigines of Victoria, II., 308). In the Society 
 Islands, the clasping of hands marks the marriage union, and marks a 
 loving union between two brothers in arms ; although it has no place in 
 ordinary greetings (Ellis's Polyn. Res., II., II., Ii, 492, 569). And so, 
 again, in other primitive lands. 
 
 There seems, indeed, to be a gleam of this thought in Job 17:3: 
 
 " Give now a pledge, be surety for me with thyself; 
 Who is there that will strike hands with me? " 
 
 The Hebrew word /<z^ 'a (J^pr^)ihere translated "strike," has also the 
 meaning "to pierce " (Judg. 4: 21) and "to blow through," or "to drive 
 through " (Num. 10 : 3) ; and Job's question might be freely rendered ; 
 Who is there that will pierce [or that will clasp pierced] hands with me, 
 in blood-friendship ? Thus, suretyship grew out of blood-covenanting. 
 
 Again, in Zechariah 13:6, where the prophet foretells the moral 
 reformation of Judah, there is a seeming reference to the pierced hands 
 of blood-friendship. When one is suspected of being a professional 
 prophet, by certain marks of cuttings between his hands, he declares that 
 these are marks of his blood-covenant with his friends. " And one shall 
 say unto him. What are these wounds [these cuttings] between thine 
 hands ? Then he shall answer, [They are] these [cuttings] with which 
 
 1 Is there any correspondence between this word, tag' a, and the Hindoo word 
 tika (the blood-mark on the Rajput chief), referred to at page 137, supra? 
 
 29* 
 
342 APPENDIX. 
 
 I was wounded [or stricken, or pierced] in the house of my friends [in 
 the covenant of friendship]." If, indeed, the translation of the Revisers, 
 " between thine arms," were justified, the cuttings would still seem to be 
 the cuttings of the blood-covenant (See pages 13, 45, supra). 
 
 It is a noteworthy fact, that among the Jews in Tunis, near the old 
 Phoenician settlement of Carthage, the sign of a bleeding hand is still 
 an honored and a sacred symbol, as if in recognition of the covenant- 
 bond of their brotherhood and friendship. " What struck me most in all 
 the houses," says a traveler (Chevalier de Hesse-Wartegg) among these 
 Jews, « was the impression of an open bleeding hand, on every wall 
 of each floor. However white the walls, this repulsive [yet suggestive] 
 sign was to be seen everywhere." 
 
 How many times, in the New Testament epistles, does the idea show 
 itself, of an inter-union of lives, between Christ and his disciples, and be- 
 tween these disciples and each other, " We, who are many, are one 
 body in Christ, and severally members one of another" (Rom. 12: 5). 
 " We are members of his body " (Eph. 5 : 30). " We are members one 
 of another" (Eph. 4: 25). "Know ye not that your bodies are mem- 
 bers of Christ?" (i Cor. 6: 15). "Ye are the body of Christ, and 
 severally [are] members thereof" (i Cor. 12 : 27). 
 
 It is in this truth of truths, concerning the possibility of an inter-union 
 of the human life with the divine, through a common inter-bloodflow, 
 that there is found a satisfying of the noblest heart yearnings of primitive 
 man everywhere, and of the uttermost spiritual longings of the most ad- 
 vanced Christian believer, in the highest grade of intellectual and moral 
 enlightenment. No attainment of evolution, or of development, has brought 
 man's latest soul-cry beyond the intimations of his earliest soul-outreaching. 
 
 " Take, dearest Lord, this crushed and bleeding heart. 
 And lay it in thine hand, thy piercfed hand ; 
 That thine atoning blood may mix with mine. 
 Till I and my Beloved are all one. ' ' 
 
INDEXES. 
 
TOPICAL INDEX. 
 
 Abel, his blood-giving, 210 ff. 
 
 Abimelech, his covenant : with Abra- 
 ham, 265 ; with Isaac, 267 f. 
 
 Abraham : The friend of God, 215-221 ; 
 his blood-giving, 217-221 ; his faith- 
 testing, 224-230 : his covenant with 
 Abimelech, 265 f. 
 
 Adoption, blood used in, 195 f. 
 
 Ahab's fate, significance of, 312. 
 
 Altar, a table of communion, 167, 292 f. 
 
 Amulet : house of the, 7, 65, 298 ; of the 
 covenant, 81 f. , 83, 232-238. See 
 Phylactery ; Token of covenant. 
 
 Anointing with blood : in Central 
 America, go f. ; in Arabia, 120; in 
 the Arthurian romance, 120 f. ; 
 among the Bheels, 136 f. ; among 
 the Caribs, 137 f. ; among the Cen- 
 tral Africans, 138 ; among the Chi- 
 nese, 154 ; among the Jsorth Amer- 
 ican Indians, 306 f. ; among the 
 Australians, 336 f. 
 
 Antiquity of the blood-covenant, 6, 
 58 if., 77 ff., 206, 320 
 
 Ark, the, covering record of blood cove- 
 nant, 298. See Amulet, house of the. 
 
 Assiraium, its meaning, 63 ff. 
 
 Avenger of blood. See Goel. 
 
 Baal-bereeth : god-father in circum- 
 cision, 218; god of the covenant, 
 
 218,317. 
 Banquet, connection of, with sacrifice : 
 
 in China, 148 ff. ; in India, 159 ff. ; 
 
 in Babylonia and Assyria, 167 ; 
 
 among the Bed'ween, 179 f. ; among 
 
 American Indians, 179 f. 
 Bed'ween Brotherhoods, 9 f. See also 
 
 Blood-covenant. 
 Belt: royal, of Tahiti, 328; wampum 
 
 of American Indian, a covenant 
 
 record, 326 ff. 
 Blood : thicker than milk, 10 ; not 
 
 eaten. See Prohibition of blood. 
 
 Vivifying power of, iioff. ; belongs 
 
 to God, 204 ; symbolism of, in uni- 
 ; versal speech, 309 f. ; life-giving, 
 
 in: Mexican legend, iii f . ; Egyp- 
 
 U. 
 
 tian legend, inf.; Chaldean legend, 
 112 ; Phoenician legend, 112 ; Greek 
 legend, 112 ; modern science, 115 f. ; 
 sacredness of in: Egypt, 99 ff . ; 
 America, 105 ff. ; India, 109, 158 ff. ; 
 China, 109. See Offerings of blood. 
 
 Blood-baths: in Egypt, 116 f., 324; in 
 mediseval Europe, 117 ff. ; in Scan- 
 dinavia, 121 f. ; in India, 122 f. ; 
 in Bechuana-land,324. 
 
 Blood-covenant : defined, 4 f . ; a primi- 
 tive rite, 4, 6, 8 ; its sacredness, 6 f. ; 
 influence of, 15 ; refused, 21 ; recog- 
 nized, 26 f. ; in Syria, 5 ff. ; in Africa, 
 12-38 ; in Europe, 39-43 ; in China, 
 f, ; in Burmah, 44, 313 f. ; in 
 ladagascar, 44 f., 44-49 ; in Borneo, 
 49-52 ; in Timor, 53 f. ; in Yucatan, 
 54 f. ; in Brazil, 55; in Scythia, 
 58 f., 61 f. ; in South America, 334 ; 
 in Egypt, 77-84 ; traces of, in 
 China, 153 ; full symbolism of, 202 f.; 
 Noah's, 213 ; at Sinai, 238-240, 298 ; 
 importance commonly undervalued, 
 297; a safeguard in Burmah, 315. 
 
 Blood-lickers, 11, 59. See Drinking of 
 Blood. 
 
 Blood-money : in the East, 260 ff. ; re- 
 fused by Gibeonites, 324 f. ; ac- 
 cepted : by Arabs, 325 ; by North 
 American Indians, 325. See Goel. 
 
 Blood-sucking, 8, 30, 43, 92, 114 f. See 
 Drinking of blood. 
 
 Blood-transference. See Blood-cove- 
 nant; Transfusion of blood. 
 
 Book of the Dead, 78-83. 
 
 Bracelet, assymbol, 65-76. 
 
 Bread: ofRa, 173; covenant of, 293, 313. 
 
 Breaking the grass, 315. 
 
 Brebeuf, heart of, 127. 
 
 Brotherhoods, blood. See Blood-cove- 
 nant. 
 
 Bruce, heart of, 107 f. 
 
 Burial in brotherhood, 41. 
 
 Cain, his blood withholding, 210 ff. 
 Cameron, Commander, making blood- 
 friendship, 15 ff. 
 
 345 
 
346 
 
 TOPICAL INDEX, 
 
 Cannibalism : religious origin of, 183 f., 
 184; in India, 185 f . ; in Feejee, 
 187 ; in North America, 187 f., 308 ; 
 in Central and South America, 
 180 f. ; in Europe, 189 f. 
 
 Caste-distinctions lost in communion, 
 161 flF. 
 
 Cataline's blood-covenant, 60 f. (See 
 stamp on outside cover ) 
 
 Christ, his blood, fulfillment of human 
 desire, 271-286. 
 
 Christians, charges of cannabalism 
 against, 321. 
 
 Circumcision, a mode of blood-cove- 
 nanting, 215-223, 237; its modern 
 methods, 218 f. 
 
 Clasped hands : a relic of the covenant, 
 328, 340. See Hands. 
 
 Classics, references to blood-covenant in, 
 58-65, 267, 297, 312. 
 
 Communion : through blood, 147 ff. ; in 
 China, 148 ff. ; in Assyria, 168 f. ; 
 divine-human, in Egypt, 172. See 
 Altar; Banquet; Union. In Christ, 
 foretold, 275-278 ; instituted, 280- 
 284; realized, 285 f. 
 
 Covenant, between those of different 
 religions, 7. See Blood-covenant. 
 
 Covenant of Bread, its symbolism, 293, 
 313- 
 
 Cry of blood from the ground, 212. 
 
 Cutting covenant : meaning of term, 
 267 f., 322 ; between Jacob and La- 
 ban, 269 ; in one's own body, 322 ; in 
 substitute victim, 322 ; both methods 
 in Borneo. 
 
 Cuttings in flesh, 218 ; in friendship, in 
 Zechariah, 341. 
 
 David and Jonathan, covenanting, 
 269 ff. 
 
 Dead, blood-covenant with, 299. 
 
 Discerning the communion-body, 172. 
 
 Drinking of blood : in North America, 
 127 ; in Syria, 6 ; in Central Africa, 
 13, 28ff. ; in Europe, 41, 60 f. ; in 
 Madagascar, 44, 48 ; in Borneo, 49 
 f.,52; in Timor, 53 ; in Scythia, 59, 
 62, 126 ; in Egypt, 83 ; in India, 92 
 f. ; in China, 123 f. ; in France, 124 ; 
 in Italy, 124 f. ; in language of Fel- 
 laheen, 130; among the Germans, 
 320; in Persia, 321; in Australia, 
 336; charge of, against Jews, 179, 
 321 ; charge of, against .Christians, 
 
 321. 
 
 Drinking the covenant : 9, 17 t., 60, 191 
 f. ; in Borneo, ic2 ; in Feejee, 193 ; 
 in China, 196 ; in Central America, 
 197 ; in Europe, 198 ff. 
 
 Eating together, in covenant, 268 f. 
 Exchange : of gifts, 14, i6, 20 f., 22, 25 f., 
 
 2'7 f., 32; of garments, 14, 270; of 
 arms, 270. 
 Evolution, or deterioration, 4. 
 
 Feathers, red, their significance, 328 f. 
 See Red as a symbol. 
 
 Feeding on the god: 176 f. See Com- 
 munion ; Union. 
 
 Fiery cross : its significance in Arabia, 
 317 f ; in Scotland, 319 ff. 
 
 Fire, a gift of the gods, 174. 
 
 Firstborn, blood of the, 156. 
 
 sacrifice of: in China, 150 f.; in 
 
 pre-Semitic times, 166. 
 
 Food restrictions removed in commun- 
 ion : in India, 161 ff . ; in Assyria, 
 168. 
 
 Friend, closer than brother, 7 f , 10. 
 
 Friendship, blood. See Blood-covenant. 
 
 Girdle. See Belts. 
 
 Ghouls seeking life in blood, 114 f. 
 
 Giving blood : in proof of love, 85-92 ; 
 in worship, 89-93, 96. 
 
 Goel, pursuer, not avenger, of blood, 
 259-563 ; in Brazil, 325 ; in Aus- 
 tralia, 325 f. 
 
 Golden legend. Blood transference in, 
 118 ff. 
 
 Hand, bleeding, in Tunis, 342. 
 
 Hands : joined in blood, 12, 41 f , 235 f. ; 
 clasped, token of, 328, 340 ff. 
 
 Healths, drinking of, relic of blood- 
 drinking, 201 f. 
 
 Heart: sacredness of, in Egypt, 99 ff., 
 300 ff. ; as life, outside of the body, 
 103 ffx, 301 f. ; sacredness of, in 
 Greece and Rome, 108 f. ; epitome 
 of man, 107 ; the symbol of person- 
 ality, 204 ; new, is new life, 303 ; the 
 seat of the soul, 304 ; living, in pet- 
 rifactions, 305 ; source of life, 99 ff. ; 
 of strength, 135 ; of manhood, 135 ; 
 of courage, 136. 
 
 Heart-eating : among American In- 
 dians, 128 ; in British Guiana, 128 ; 
 in Australia, 129 ; in Africa, 129 ; in 
 Borneo, 129. 
 
 Heathen communions and the Christian 
 sacrament, 177. 
 
 Human sacrifices. See Sacrifices, hu- 
 man. 
 
 Idols, anointed with blood, 176 f., 306 f. 
 Illustrations of blood-covenant, in Bible, 
 
 264-271. 
 Imprecatory oaths, 6, 9, 16, 20, 31, 45 
 
 ff., 51, 53, 60 f, 62. 
 Imputation, doctrine of, 221. 
 Incest, in marriage of blood-friends, 10, 
 
 55 f. 
 Influence of blood-covenant, 15, 48. 
 
TOPICAL INDEX. 
 
 347 
 
 Inspiration through blood : in Homer, 
 113 ff. ; in Norseland legends, 1^9 
 f. ; on Pacific coast, 140 f. ; in India, 
 141 f. 
 
 Isaac; his blood proffered, 225-230 ; his 
 covenant with Abimelech, 267 f. 
 
 Isis, blood of, 81 f., 233. 
 
 Jacob, his covenant with Laban, 268 f. 
 Jagan-natha, communion of, 163 f. 
 Jews, charged with human sacrifices, 
 
 178 f , 321. 
 Jezebel's fate, significance of, 312 f. 
 Jonathan and David, covenanting, 269 ff. 
 
 Kali, human sacrifices to, 158 f. 
 Khatan, one bound through bleeding, 
 
 222 f. 
 Krishna, communion of, 163 f. 
 
 Leprosy : blood baths, for cure of, in 
 Syria, 116; in Egypt, 117, 324; in 
 mediaeval Europe, 117. 
 
 Life: blood is, 38, 57, 79 flf., 88 f., 99, 
 211-215, 241-263, 299 ff., 306. 
 
 from divine blood : in Egypt, 
 
 III f ; in Mexico, iii f. ; in Chaldea, 
 112; in Phoenicia, 112; in Greece, 
 112. 
 
 Life-transference in blood-transference, 
 126 ff. See Soul transference; 
 Transfusion of blood. 
 
 Liver : a symbol of life, 303 f. ; proposed 
 derivationsof the word, 304 f; sym- 
 bolism of: as a blood-cistern, 303 f. ; 
 as seat of emotion, 304 ; as congealed 
 blood, 304 f. ; eaten, like the heart, 
 306. 
 
 Livingstone, Dr., making blood-friend- 
 ship, 13 ff. 
 
 Mandrakes, symbolism of, in. 
 Marriage, blood-drinking in, 191 ff., 332. 
 
 See Symbolic substitutes for blood ; 
 
 wedding, ceremonies of. 
 Marriage-covenant, blood in, 192 i. 
 Milk-brothers, 11 f. 
 Moses : his child's circumcision, 221 ff. ; 
 
 his blood-covenant at Sinai, 238 ff. 
 
 Name : a lost, 334 ; the new, 337 f. ; 
 restitution for calling, of the dead, 
 
 represents the life, 334 f. ; in the 
 
 Society Islands, 334 ; among In- 
 dians, 334 f. ; among Austr^uians, 
 335 f 
 
 Names, exchange of, 334 AT. 
 
 Nature, transference of, by blood trans- 
 ference : 126 ff. ; among the Caribs, 
 137 f . ; among the Kaffirs, 138; 
 among the Yarubas, 138 f. 
 
 Necklace, symbolism of, 76 f. 
 
 New covenant, Christ's body and blood 
 in, 299. 
 
 Noah's blood-giving, 212 ff. 
 Norseland legends, 41 flf., 88 f. 
 
 Odin and L6k6, in covenant, 39 ff. 
 Offerings of blood : in Egypt, 102 f. ; in 
 
 America, 106 f. ; in Greece and 
 
 Rome, 108 f ; in Phoenicia, 109 : in 
 
 India, 109 ; in China, 109 ; in Arabia, 
 
 180. 
 One soul in two bodies, 38, 80, 92 f., 334. 
 Ordeal of touch : in the Nibelungen 
 
 Lied, 143 f. ; in Denmark, 144 f. ; 
 
 in Scotland, 145 ; in England, 146 f.; 
 
 in America, 147. 
 Otaheite, See Tahiti. 
 
 Passover, substitute blood of, 231 f. 
 
 Phoenicia, blood-giving in, 89 f. 
 
 Phylacteries, the token of blood-cove- 
 nant, 233-236; and amulet, 329. 
 
 Preserving blood, as life, 88 f., 337 f. 
 See Life, blood is. 
 
 Prohibition of blood-drinking, 214 f. ; in 
 the Mosaic law, 240 f, ; reason for, 
 312. 
 
 Prophecy, Blood as a means of, 113 ff. 
 
 Quiche god, Tohil, his terms of cove- 
 nant, 174. 
 
 Ra, communion with, in Amenti, 172, 
 333 f- 
 
 Ransoming by blood, 324 ff. See Goel. 
 
 Record of the divine blood-covenant, 
 298 ; of the covenant : among Amer- 
 ican Indians, 326 ff. 
 
 Red as a symbol of blood, in Egypt, 
 102 f., 173 ; in China, 196 ; the color, 
 its symbolism, 236 f. See also. 
 Feathers, red. 
 
 Revenger of blood. See Goel. 
 
 Ring : symbolism of, 65-76, 330 ff. ; in 
 Dayak divorce, 330; of flesh, 331. 
 
 Rosetta-stone of the covenant, 267. 
 
 Russia : customs in, 73 ; blood giving 
 in, 96. 
 
 Sacrament, Christian : its relation to 
 heathen communions, 177; fore- 
 shadowed in the Old Testament, 
 274 f. ; instituted by Jesus, 281 ff. ; 
 not a sacrifice, 292 ; a two-fold 
 covenant, 293. 
 
 of the Holy Food, 164. 
 
 Sacredness of blood : in Egypt, 99 ff. ; 
 in America, 105 ff. ; in India, 155. 
 See offerings of blood. 
 
 Sacrifice : as communion, in China, 149 
 ff. ; not necessarily expiatory, 166 ; 
 of Isaac, 224-230. 
 
 Sacrifices : Egyptian and Jewish, their 
 resemblance, 300. 
 
 ' human, among the Nahuas, 
 105 f. ; among the Mayas, 106 f. ; in 
 
348 
 
 TOPICAL INDEX. 
 
 India, 157 ff., 227; in Assyria, 166 f.; 
 of children, in Guatemala, 174 ; in 
 Arabia, 227 ; in the Norseland, 227 ; 
 in (jreat Britain, 227 f. 
 
 human and animal, succession 
 
 of: in China, 152 ; in India, 155 f. ; 
 in the Brahmanical books, 157 f. 
 
 " Sacrificial part," blood the, 157 f. 
 
 Saffron, symbolism of, 77, 165. 
 
 water: in wedding, 332 ; a sub- 
 stitute for blood, 195 f. 
 
 Saul, his phylacteries, 237 f. 
 
 Scarabseus, a symbol of heart, 100,300. 
 
 Signing with blood, 93 ff. 
 
 Smoking, in inter-union, 51, 309. 
 
 Society Islands, brotherhoods in, 56 f. 
 
 Soul-transference by blood-transference, 
 312 f. See Life-transference, Trans- 
 fusion of blood. 
 
 Spiritual conceptions not innate, 311. 
 
 Stanley, Henry M., making blood- 
 friendship, 18-38. 
 
 Stone, white, and new name, 337. 
 
 Stones, living, 119 f., 307 f. 
 
 Striking : a covenant, 59, 62 ; hands, in 
 covenant, 236, 341 i. 
 
 Substitute-blood offered : in Borneo, 52, 
 73 ; in Egypt, 72 ; in China, 148 ; 
 m South America, 177; in liible 
 times, 211, 213; at Sinai, 239-258. 
 See Symbolic substitutes. 
 
 Sucking-brothers, 11 f. 
 
 Symbolic substitutes for blood, 191 fF. ; 
 the assiratum, 63 ff. ; arrack, 192 ; 
 coffee, 192 ; any ordinary spirit- 
 uous liquor, 193; saffron, 194, 332; 
 wine and honey, 196; chica, 197; 
 wine, 198 ff. ; whisky, 316. 
 
 Symbols, scriptural and ethnic, their 
 relationship, 206. 
 
 Table-Altar : in Assyria, 167 ; in the 
 Old Testament, 167 f. ; in the New 
 Testament, 292 f. 
 
 Thumbs bound, in covenant, 59,71, 331. 
 
 Token of passover covenant, 232. See 
 Covenant, token of the. 
 
 Touch, life by, of blood, 134 ff. 
 
 Transfusion of blood : 38 f. ; modern 
 scientific, 115 f. ; among Egyptians, 
 ii6f. ; among Hebrews, 116 ; among 
 Syrians, 116; in Tasmania, 126; 
 a cure for insanity, 133 f. 
 
 Transmigration of souls, origin of be- 
 lief in, 310. 
 
 Tree : branch of, in the covenant, 35 ff . ; 
 of the covenant, 53 ; the fiery cross 
 in Scotland, 317 ft. ; the war-signal 
 in Arabia, 318. See Tree-planting. 
 
 Tree-planting in blood-covenant : in 
 Borneo, 53 ; in India, 165 ; in Bur- 
 mah, 313 ; in Israel, 316 ; traces of, 
 316 f. 
 
 Trial by blood : in the Nibelungen Lied, 
 143 f. ; in Denmark, 144 f. ; in Scot- 
 land, 145 ; in England, 146 f. ; in 
 America, 147. 
 
 Turkey, blood-giving in, 85. 
 
 Types, insufficiency of, 252-258. 
 
 Uarda, citation from, 84. 
 
 Union : (divine) through blood ; in 
 Egypt, 333 f. ; in the Norseland, 
 40 f. 
 
 (divine-human) through blood : 
 
 in Phoenicia, 89 ; in Armenia, 90 ; 
 in India, 92, 156 ff. ; in Central 
 America, 90 f, 17s f . ; in Russia, 
 95 ; in China, 148 f. ; in Assyria, 
 167 f. ; in Persia, i6q f. ; in Egypt, 
 170 f . ; in Guatemala, 174; in the 
 Mosaic ritual, 242-2 8 ; Abel's out- 
 reaching for it, 210 ff. ; Noah's out- 
 reaching for it, 213 ff. ; Abraham's 
 outreaching for it, 217-221 ; univer- 
 sal longing for it, 272 ; realized, 
 through Christ, 273-293, 342. 
 
 (human) through blood : in Syria, 
 
 5-12 ; in Africa, 12-38 ; in the Norse- 
 land, 41 ff. ; in Madagascar, 44-49 ; 
 in Borneo, 49-52, 73 ; in Timor, 52- 
 54 ; in Yucatan, 54 f. ; in Brazil, 55 ; 
 in North America, 55 f., 339 f. ; in 
 the South Sea Islands, 56 f. ; in 
 Scythia, 59 f., 61 f . ; in Armenia, 
 59 f. ; in Arabia, 62 f. ; in Egypt, 
 72, 77-84; in India, 156; in Tahiti, 
 338 ; in Central Africa, 338 ; in Bur- 
 mah, 314 f. 
 
 ' (Satanic-human) through blood : 
 
 among witches, 93 ff. ; among won- 
 der-workers, 95. 
 
 Unity of the human race, 57, 96, 178 f. 
 
 Vampires : seeking life in blood, 114 f. ; 
 
 in the Old World and the New, 115. 
 Vicarious blood-absorption : 131 f. ; 
 
 among the Araucanians, 131 ; among 
 
 the Abyssinians, 132 ; among the 
 
 Australians, 133. 
 Victim, representing a deity, 177 f., 
 
 183 f 
 Vivifying power of blood. See Blood, 
 
 life-giving. 
 
 Wampum-belts, a covenant record, 326. 
 Water-of-saffron children, 195. 
 Wedding, ceremonies of, 69-74. 
 Wine, symbolism of, 63 ff., 73. 
 Witchcraft, blood in, 93 ff. 
 Witness-heap, 62, 266. 
 
 XoLOTL, rescues a lost race, 112. 
 
 Yajna, great sacrifice of, 161 fF. . 
 
 ZiPPORAH, her act of blood-giving, 222 f. 
 Zoroastrians, their communion, 169 f. 
 
SCRIPTURAL INDEX. 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 TEXT PAGE 
 
 4:2-5 211 
 
 4 : 10, II 2X2 
 
 8 : 20 213 
 
 9:3-6 214 
 
 12 : 6-8 268 
 
 13: 18 317 
 
 14: 13 264,317 
 
 14 : 22 235 
 
 15 : 6 220 
 
 15 : 7-18 322 
 
 15 : 18 264 
 
 17 : 1-12 322 
 
 17 : 2, 7-9, 10, II, 13 . 217 
 
 18: I 317 
 
 21 : 12 275 
 
 21 :• 22-24 265 
 
 21 : 30, 31, 33 266 
 
 21: 33 317 
 
 22 : I, 2 2.-5 
 
 22 : 15, 18 230 
 
 22 : 18 267 
 
 26 : 25-29 268 
 
 26 : 30, 31 268 
 
 28 : 18-22 268 
 
 30: T4-17 I" 
 
 31 : 19-36 268 
 
 31 : 44-47 266 
 
 31 : 44-54 269 
 
 34 : 1-31 218 
 
 41 : 41,42 70 
 
 49 : II 191 
 
 EXODUS. 
 
 2:5 324 
 
 4:9 231 
 
 4: 20-26 221,222 
 
 7 : 17-21 231 
 
 12 : 1-6 231 
 
 12 : 7-10 153 
 
 12 : 7-13 232 
 
 13: 3-10. 11-16 .... 233 
 
 21 : 18-27 261 
 
 22 : 14-17 261 
 
 24 : i-ii 240 
 
 24 : 3-8 298 
 
 24 : 8 299 
 
 24: 5, 6 213 
 
 29 : 15-25 213 
 
 33 : II 216 
 
 LEVITICUS. 
 
 1 : 1-6 213 
 
 I : 5, ". 15 249 
 
 I : 10-12 213 
 
 1 : 13, 17 247 
 
 1 : 14, 15 213 
 
 TEXT PAGE 
 
 2 : 2, 12 247 
 
 3 : 8, 26 247 
 
 4 : 6, 7, 17, 18, 25, 30, 
 
 34 248 
 
 4 : 13, 14 247 
 
 7 : 26 241 
 
 8 : 14-22 249 
 
 8: 18, 19 213 
 
 9 : 8-22 249 
 
 14 : 19, 20 249 
 
 16 : 3-25 249 
 
 16 : 14, 15 248 
 
 17: 3-6 243 
 
 17 : 10-12 241 
 
 17 : 11-14 287 
 
 17: 13 243 
 
 17: 14 241,309 
 
 25 : 25 ff. 260 
 
 25 : 47 ff 260 
 
 27 : 1-8 261 
 
 NUMBERS. 
 
 35 : 12 2^9 
 
 35 : 19, 21, 24, 25, 27 . 259 
 
 35 : 9-34 260 
 
 36 : 30-34 261 
 
 DEUTERONOMY. 
 
 6 : 4-9, 13-22 234 
 
 8:3 173 
 
 10: 14-16 256 
 
 12 : 23 64 
 
 19 : 6, 12 259 
 
 22 : 13-21 223 
 
 27 : 9-26 47 
 
 28 : 1-68 47 
 
 30 : 1-6 257 
 
 32 : 14 191 
 
 JOSHUA. 
 
 2 : 18-20 236 
 
 20 : 3, 5, 9 259 
 
 JUDGES. 
 
 8 : 33 218 
 
 9:4 218 
 
 9:1-6 317 
 
 RUTH. 
 1 : 14 211 
 
 I SAMUEL. 
 18 : 1-3 . 270 
 
 18 : 4 270 
 
 19 : 1-7 270 
 
 20 : 1-13 270 
 
 20 : 13-17 271 
 
 2 SAMUEL. 
 
 TEXT PAGE 
 
 1 : 1-16 237 
 
 i: 10 75 
 
 I : 26 270 
 
 7:1 271 
 
 9: 1-13 271 
 
 12 : 17 264 
 
 14: II 259 
 
 21 : 1-9 324 
 
 1 KINGS. 
 
 18 ; 26-28 90 
 
 21 : 17-23 313 
 
 22 : 35-38 313 
 
 2 KINGS. 
 
 5 : 1-14 116 
 
 9 : 30-37 313 
 
 19 : 37 i63 
 
 2 CHRONICLES. 
 
 20 : 7 216 
 
 EZRA. 
 4:2 168 
 
 ESTHER. 
 
 3: 10-12 70 
 
 8:2 70 
 
 JOB. 
 
 3:2-9 46 
 
 19 : 25 259 
 
 23: 12 173 
 
 PSALMS. 
 
 16 : 4 63 
 
 16 : 4, 5 252 
 
 19 : 14 259 
 
 50: 7-17 253 
 
 56: 8 8S 
 
 78 : 35 259 
 
 PROVERBS. 
 
 3:1-4 257 
 
 4: 18 78 
 
 4 : 23 loi 
 
 6:1 236 
 
 7: 2, 3- • 257 
 
 II : 15 margin .... 236 
 
 18 : 24 7 
 
 22 : 24-26 236 
 
 23: II 259 
 
 27 : 9 338 
 
 ECCLESIASTES. 
 4 : 9, 10 8 
 
 349 
 
350 
 
 SCRIPTURAL INDEX. 
 
 ISAIAH. 
 
 TEXT PAGE 
 
 I : "-17 254 
 
 25 : 6 254 
 
 37 : 38 168 
 
 41 : 8 216 
 
 41 •• 14 259 
 
 43 : 14 259 
 
 44 : 6, 24 259 
 
 47 : 4 259 
 
 48 : 17 259 
 
 49 : 7, 26 259 
 
 49 : 16 234 
 
 49 : 18 235 
 
 51 : 10 259 
 
 53 : 4-6, 12 286 
 
 54 : 5, 8 259 
 
 59 : 20 259 
 
 60 : 16 259 
 
 62 : 8 234 
 
 63 : 16 259 
 
 65 : II 167 
 
 JEREMIAH. 
 
 7 : 21-23 255 
 
 22 : 24 235 
 
 31 : II 259 
 
 31 : 31-34 258 
 
 34 : 18 264, 322 
 
 50 : 34 259 
 
 EZEKIEL. 
 5: II 235 
 
 DANIEL. 
 12 : 7 235 
 
 HOSEA. 
 6:4-7 255 
 
 MALACHI. 
 1 : 6, 7 167 
 
 ECCLESIASTICUS. 
 
 39 : 26 191 
 
 50: 15 191 
 
 -" I MACCABEES. 
 6 : 34 191 
 
 MATTHEW. 
 
 4:4 173 
 
 6 : 31, 32 47 
 
 13: 12 47 
 
 25: 29 47 
 
 26 : 26-28 281 
 
 27 : 33-54 285 
 
 MARK. 
 14: 23 281 
 
 14 : 24 299 
 
 15 : 22-39 285 
 
 LUKE. 
 
 IS : 22 70 
 
 22 : 44 280 
 
 TEXT PAGE 
 
 22 : 14, 15, 19, 20 . . . 281 
 
 23 : 33-47 285 
 
 JOHN. 
 1 : 1-14 274 
 
 4 : 34 173 
 
 5 : 26 290 
 
 6: 51, 55 285 
 
 6 : 53, 54 299 
 
 6 : 53-58 276 
 
 6 : 60, 63 277 
 
 6: 60 278 
 
 8: 31, 32 173 
 
 10 : 10, 18 285 
 
 13:1 280 
 
 15:4-7 283 
 
 15: 13 7,229,285 
 
 15 : 13-15 282 
 
 16: 13 173 
 
 17: 1-24 284 
 
 17: 19 173 
 
 19: 17-37 285 
 
 20 : 31 288 
 
 ACTS. 
 15 : 2-29 215 
 
 21 : 18-25 215 
 
 ROMANS. 
 
 1 : 18-23 311 
 
 2 : 26-29 257 
 
 4:3 220 
 
 4 : II, 12 257 
 
 5 : 8-12 289 
 
 5 : 12-21 245 
 
 6 : 4-6 42 
 
 6 : 23 242,286 
 
 8 : 22 272 
 
 8 : 32 273 
 
 12 : 5 342 
 
 1 CORINTHIANS. 
 
 6:15 342 
 
 10: 14-17 293 
 
 10: 21 168 
 
 II : 29 164 
 
 II : 25 281 
 
 12 : 27 342 
 
 13: II 336 
 
 2 CORINTHIANS. 
 
 5: 17 288,336 
 
 GALATIANS. 
 
 2 : 20 289 
 
 3:6 220 
 
 3 : 6-9, 16, 29 .... 278 
 
 3:7-9 257 
 
 3 : 28, 29 291 
 
 4:5 195 
 
 6: 17 218 
 
 EPHESIANS. 
 
 1:7 288 
 
 2 : 11-16 290 
 
 TEXT PAGE 
 
 4 : 24 336 
 
 5 : 30 342 
 
 PHILIPPIANS. 
 3:3 257 
 
 COLOSSIANS. 
 
 1 : 19, 20 290 
 
 2 : 9-11 291 
 
 2 : 12 42 
 
 2 : 17 258 
 
 3:3 288 
 
 3 : 9, 10 336 
 
 2 TIMOTHY. 
 1 : 10 284 
 
 HEBREWS. 
 
 1:1-3 274 
 
 1 : 14-16 278 
 
 2 : 14-16 274 
 
 6: 13 235 
 
 9:8 252 
 
 9 : 16, 17 284 
 
 9 : 19 239 
 
 9 : 20 298 
 
 9 : 24-28 292 
 
 10 : 1-4 272 
 
 10: 4 252 
 
 10 : 5-9 275 
 
 10 : 10, 14-22, 28, 29 . 292 
 
 II : 4 211 
 
 II : 17-19 229 
 
 II : 18 275 
 
 12 : 24 212 
 
 13 : 20 243, 273 
 
 13 : 20, 21 293 
 
 JAMES. 
 
 2 : 21-23 . 230 
 
 2 : 23 . . . . 216, 220, 221 
 
 1 PETER. 
 
 1 : 20 275 
 
 2:2-5 307 
 
 2:17 45 
 
 3;: 18 286 
 
 2 PETER. 
 
 1:4 289 
 
 I JOHN. 
 
 1:7 288 
 
 5 : II, 12 286 
 
 5 : 13, 20 288 
 
 REVELATION. 
 1:5 288 
 
 6 : 10 212 
 
 7:3 154 
 
 9:4 154 
 
 13 : 8 27s 
 
 13: 16 154 
 
 14: I 154 
 
 20: 4 154 
 
 22 : 4 154 
 
BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 KA DESH-B a R NEA ; 
 
 ITS IMPORTANCE AND PROBABLE SITE, WITH THE STORY OF A HUNT 
 
 FOR IT; INCLUDING STUDIES OF THE ROUTE OF THE EXODUS, 
 
 AND THE SOUTHERN BOUNDARY OF THE HOLY LAND. 
 
 One volume, 8vo., 478 pages, with two maps and four 
 full page illustrations, $5.00. 
 
 CRITICAL NOTICES. 
 
 From TAe AthencEum (London). 
 
 " This book contains a great deal of new information on the topography 
 of the Holy Land, derived from the latest hieroglyphic documents, as 
 well as from the accounts of recent travelers. . . . The wilderness 
 of Shur (a word meaning a wall) was beyond the Great Wall of Egypt, 
 and was also, according to the happy conjecture of our author, the 
 wilderness of Etham. This is an important identification, which will be 
 a new starting-point for the history of the exodus." 
 
 From The Academy (London). 
 
 "This is a truly noteworthy book, and will at once command the 
 attention of all biblical scholars." 
 
 From the London Quarterly Review. 
 
 "This is one of the noblest historical monographs that we have, and 
 in some respects surpasses all other books of the kind. . . . The 
 reader will find this work of our American divine deeply engrossing; 
 combining, in fact, many kinds of interest not often meeting in one 
 volume. We have a fine historical insight running through all the 
 ages ; a keen appreciation of the difficulties of the exodus, an intelligent 
 attempt to settle them ; an intense enthusiasm for the biblical history as 
 such, and the dramatic skill of a modern traveler. . . . It is a book 
 which our young Hebraists and students of the Old Testament should 
 read over and over again." 
 
From Professor A. H. Sayce, of Oxford University. 
 
 "It is one of the most 'thorough' books I have ever come across. 
 Among other points proved by you, your identification of the desert of 
 Shur is perhaps the neatest and most important." 
 
 From Professor Dr. Franz Delitzsch, of Leipzig University. 
 
 "As an apple of Tantalus, your splendid work concerning Kadesh- 
 Barnea sways above me. I am not yet filled with it ; . . . but it is 
 unbearable that I should longer refrain from thanking you. ... It 
 is a great service that you, following the lead of the sainted Palmer, have 
 made En Kudels the object of your investigation. . . . My com- 
 mentary on Genesis is out of print. . . . Would that I could yet 
 once more work over this commentary. . . . Then I would have an 
 opportunity to show my thankful appreciation of your work." 
 
 From Dr. Hermann Guthe (Secretary of the German Pal- 
 estine Society) in the Theologische Literatur-Zeitung, of Leipzig. 
 
 " Trumbull appears to me to be specially felicitous in his determination 
 of the three roads leading out from Egypt to the East, -w^hich are of great 
 importance for the general history of the further East. . . . The 
 happy result of his journey is very gratifying, and we have to thank his 
 diligent studies for a valuable contribution to biblical geography." 
 
 From Professor C. A. Briggs (of Union Theological Semi- 
 nary) in The Presbyterian Review. 
 
 *' This is the most- important work upon the geography of the Holy 
 Land produced in America since the Biblical Researches of Edward 
 Robinson. . . . Dr. Trumbull , . . has established the site of 
 Kadesh-Barnea so thoroughly, and so fortified his conclusions on every 
 hand, that we believe no one will hereafter think of questioning them. 
 . . . The book is written in an interesting and fervent style. The 
 author grapples with his reader. His enthusiasm is contagious. The 
 critic has to take care and stand firm lest he be swept off his feet. We 
 thank Dr. Trumbull for his labor of love and enthusiasm. He has done 
 honor to American pluck and indefatigable research. We are proud of 
 the book and the man." 
 
 *^* For sale by all booksellers ^ or sent post-paid upon receipt of price ^ by 
 
 Charles Scribner's Sons, 
 Nos. 743 and 745 Broadway, New York. 
 
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