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TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



then universal sentiment would lead the Israelites back to idolatry, en- 

 joined upon tliem to hew down and burn the groves of Palestine, for 

 there, they sa}^, the Canaanites worshipped false gods. Too faithfully did 

 the Israelites carry out this injunction, and Palestine, instead of a land 

 flowing with milk and honey, has become treeless, herbless, and almost 

 a desert. The early, that is the winter rain, yet comes in its season, but 

 the latter, the spring rain, no longer visits the naked plains. 



The ancient legends and mytlis of Greece and of Rome, had we no 

 historical evidence of it, show not only that worshiping in the groves 

 was universal, but also the reason for it. It is a historical fact that the 

 ancient Pelasgic oracle of Dodona was situated in a sacred grove. So 

 also the Greek oracle at Delphi. But what is remarkable in this latter 

 case, is, that the cave whence issued the prophetic vapors that inspired 

 the Pythia, was situated in a sacred grove where the responses of the 

 oracle alone were delivered. In that magnificent poem, " The Forest 

 Hymn," Bryant, the most emotional of American poets, has beautifully 

 described this universal custom of the ancients: 



" The groves were God's first temples. Ere nian learned 



To hew the shaft and lay the architrave 



And spread the roof above them, ere he framed 



The loftj vault to gather and roll back 



The sound of anthems, in the darkling wood 



Amidst the cool and silence, he knelt down 



And offered to the Mightiest solemn thanks 



And supplications." 



The religious sentiment that the groves were the natural temples of 

 the gods, necessarily carried with it the corollary that they were sacred, 

 and consequently the act of destroying them sacrilegious. Hence, Virgil 

 relates how .-^neas, being obliged to obtain timber from the groves of 

 Mount Ida to build his fleet with which to flee from Troy to Italy, durst 

 not do it until he had obtained permission from Cybele, to whom they 

 were dedicated. In fact the ancient priesthood, which represented 

 almost exclusively the intelligence of the primeval world, to pre- 

 serve the groves and forests, dedicated them to some deity, and 

 inculcated the dogma that he ^\'ho destroyed them, was guilty of sacri- 

 lege and would be punished by the offended god. A few myths and 

 legends will suffice to make this evident, and also the reason for incul- 

 cating it. 



According to an ancient myth, Erisichton derided Ceres and cut down 

 her groves. This impiety so irritated the goddess, that she afflicted him 

 with continual hunger. He sacrificed all his possessions to satisfy the 

 cravings of his appetite, and finally devoured himself for want of food. 

 According to the ancients not only the groves were sacred, but each tree 

 had a nymph called Hamadryad, that cared for and protected it. More- 

 over, the fate of these nymphs had a dependence on their trees, and 

 they lived and died together. Apollonius relates a beautiful legend 

 illustrating this point, and incidentally the belief that trees and moisture 

 are concomitants. He says, " Rhaecus, observing an old oak ready to fall, 



