>237 
what different feelings ! — hear “ the voice of the Lord 
God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.” 
This is the true and proper use of these natural 
oratories. Alas ! that they should ever have been dese¬ 
crated to other purposes. The innocent veneration 
for groves soon passed from the devout worshippers of 
Jehovah to the heathens, and by degrees it degenerated 
into the vilest misuse: “ for,” to use the quaint lan¬ 
guage of our sylvan chronicler, “ the devil was always 
God’s ape, and did so ply his groves, altars, and sacri¬ 
fices, and almost all other rites belonging to his wor¬ 
ship, that every green tree was full of his abominations.” 
Even the Israelites themselves soon borrowed the cus¬ 
toms of their heathen neighbours, and devoted those 
very groves to idol-worship which their fathers had 
planted and consecrated to the one true God. “ They 
set up images and groves,” says the sacred text, “ in 
every high hill, and under every green tree; and there 
they burnt incense in all high places, as did the heathen 
whom the Lord carried away before them.” And 
again : — “ They sacrifice upon the tops of the moun¬ 
tains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks, and 
poplars, and elms, because the shadow thereof is good.” 
Hence the needful prohibition, “ Thou shalt not plant 
a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the Lord 
