temples—many of the Singhalese have private holy places in their own houses. They "build in their yards private chapels, which are little houses like to closets," and in these they place an image of the Buddha which they worship (H. R. C., p. 73).
Graves of the dead whom we have loved are apt to become holy places to us all; and in some religious creeds, such as those of Islam and Christianity, this veneration is extended to the tombs of persons who have been distinguished by their sanctity. Mussulmans "pray at the tomb of those they repute saints;" and expect by offering vows at such places, to obtain "relief, through their saintly intercession, from sickness, misfortune. sterility, &c." Miracles take place at these tombs, and supernatural lights float over them (Dervishes, pp. 79, 80). It is believed, too, that "the merits of the deceased will insure a favorable reception of the prayers which they offer up in such consecrated places" (Dervishes, p. 272).
Sometimes, again, the place where some striking event in the history of religion has occurred, acquires a holiness of its own. Thus the Scala Santa at Rome enjoys a preëminent holiness possessing the merit of procuring a considerable remission of punishment for those who perform the task of ascending it on their knees.
The oracle of Clarius Apollo at Colophon, mentioned by Tacitus, is an example of a large and important class of holy places which were not consecrated places. Here it was not a woman, as at Delphi (observes Tacitus), who gave the responses; but a priest, who descended into a cavern, and drank water from a secret fountain (Tac. Ann., ii. 54). In Jewish history we meet with a remarkable instance of a place originally hallowed by the actual appearance of God, in the case of Bethel, "the house of God," where Jacob was favored with his remarkable dream. "How dreadful is this place!" exclaimed the patriarch on waking; "this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven" (Gen. xxviii. 17). In the spot whose holiness had thus been rendered manifest, Jacob proceeded to perform consecrating rites; but, contrary to the usual order, the holiness preceeded and induced the consecration.
More generally, consecration forms a sort of invitation to the deity to inhabit the place which has thus been rendered
