GROVES, ANTHONY NORRIS: English missionary; b. at Newton (20 m. n. of Winchester), Hampshire, 1795; d. at Bristol May 20, 1853. He studied chemistry in London, took up dentistry under his uncle, James Thompson, and at the same time studied surgery in the London hospitals. In Feb., 1813, he settled as a dentist at Plymouth, but removed to Exeter in 1816, and in 1825 took charge of a small church at Poltimore, near Exeter.

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With a view to taking orders he studied at Trin ity College, Dublin, where he associated with John Nelson Darby and other early Plymouth Brethren (see Darby, John Nelson; and Plymouth Brethren). His proposal in 1860 that Christians meet together in brotherhood, with no other tenets than faith in Christ, entities him to be regarded as one of the founders of this sect. In 1829 he went as an independent missionary to Bagdad, whence he proceeded to Bombay in Apr., 1833. With the exception of two visits to England to secure re cruits for the missionary cause, he spent the neat nineteen years in effective missionary work in India. Of interest are his Journal . . . Diving a Journey from London to Bagdad (London, 1831); and his Journal of a Residence at Bagdad Draing the Yom 1880 and 1881 (1832).

Bibliography: Memoir and Corraspondenoe o) d. N. (hover, by his widow, London, 1866; W. B. NesAby, HiA of the Plymouth Brethren, ib. 1902; DNB, ntii. 299-300.

GROVES AND TREES, SACRED: In all stages of religious development the use of groves as places of worship is attested. These groves were not the result of deliberate choice, but marked the locality in which some superhuman being was supposed to be or to have been manifest. It is most probable that sacred groves in populated regions and in historical times were survivals of parts of the early forest around the spot where a divinity had revealed itself, since the area thus honored was protected by taboo (see Comparative Religion, VI., 1, c). It often happened, however, that these groves were in part the result of man's assistance of nature, that trees were planted and carefully reared and protected, as in the case of the great sacred park at Antioch; but where this was the case it was always bemuse tradition, generally a very ancient one, regarded the place as hallowed by some supposed theophany or like manifestation. Not seldom the tradition suggests the actual divin ity of the grove itself or of some individual tree in it (as when a part of the sacred oak was built into the Argo in the expedition of the Golden Fleece). The progress in the development of regard for a sa cred grove may be stated in this way: in the ani mistic period the tree itself was divine and gave omens or warnings, in a later period the tree was the home of a spirit or deity, while still later a deity used the tree to indicate his will. Among the Semites the tree cult was indigenous, so that the Hebrews on coming into Canaan found. the practise established. The Semites regarded certain trees as connected with the fructifying powers of nature, and in many cases with female deities-and this is doubtless one cause of the severe denunciations of the prophets of Israel (see below). So the moon was brought into this connection, espe cially as giving moisture in the shape of dew (see A$HERAB; AsHroRwH; and MooN); and in the Astarte-Aphrodite circle of cult, the cypress, myrtle, palm, and pomegranate were sacred to this deity. But a large portion of the great region inhabited by the Semites is characterized by a scarcity of tree growth. As a consequence, among Semites it is much more common to hear of the sacred tree than of the grove. Hence the Passages in the Old Tes-

tament where the A. V. speaks of groves the R.V. either changes the translation or, where proper, correctly transcribes the Hebrew original "Asherah" (see Asherah).

Aside from the Asherah, which was probably a survival of tree-worship (cf. G. A. Barton, Semr is Origins, pp. 87 sqq., New York, 1902), the traces of a tree cult in the Old Testament are quite numerous. Abraham built an altar to Yahweh at "the tree of the seer" (Gen. xii. 6-7, Hebr. Won moreh, A.V. "plain of Moreh," R.V. "oak of Moreh," margin, "terebinth"; d. Judges iv. b, according to which Deborah dwelt under "the palm-tree of Deborah "). Moreover, Abraham took up his residence, built an altar, and witnessed a theophany by the terebinths of Mature (Gen. Ioii. 18, ziv. 13, aviii. 1, Hebr. 'elowm, Septuagint Wi drut, A.V. "plain," R.V. "oaks," margin "terebinths"). He planted a tamarisk (Hebr. 'sahd, AN. "grove") at Beersheba and "called there on the name of Yahweh" (Gen. aai. 33), and this place was held sacred by Isaac (Gen. aavi. 25) and by Jacob (aivi. 1), and apparently by Joshua, who set up the stone of witness "under tire oak (Hebr. 'aRah) that was by (in) the sanctuary" at Sheclem (Josh. naiv. 26); but of. Judges ix. 6, where the terebinth (Hebr. 'clan) seems to have been sacred to Basl-berith, while in Judges ix- 37 it is called (ILV. margin) "the augurs' terebinth," and note II Sam. v. 24, where the signal for marching is given by rustling in the mulberry-trees. Jacob buried the rejected idols under the terebmth (Hebr. 'dah) which was by Shechem; Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, was buried beneath "the oak of weeping" below Bethel (Gen. xxav. 8), and the ashes of Saul and his sons were buried under the tamarisk in Jabesh (I Sam. xxxi. 13). The theopbany of Es. ii. 2 is connected with a bush. Gideon witnessed a theophany under the terebinth at Ophmh (Judges vi. 11 sqq.) and built an altar there. Possibly Saul's place of encampment under "the pomegranate" (I Sean. Iav. 2) and his place of judgment under the tamarisk on the height (I Sam. a:ui. 6; cf. Judges iv. b sqq.) were sacred spots. The "green tree" as a place of idolatry is noted in I Kings aiv. 23; II King avi. 4; II Chron. gaviii. 4. In later times, just as the worship at the high places and at the numerous altars came undue the ban of the prophets, though these altars seem to have existed with the approval of earlier prophets (cf- I Kings via. 14, "altars" in the plural), so this worship under "oaks, poplars, and terebinths" was regarded as sinful (Has. iv. 13; cf. Ira. i. 29, lviL 5, 1zv. 3, lavi. 17; Deut. xii. 2; Jer. fi. 20, avii. 2). lAek. vi. 13 (cf. xx. 28) is quite decisive of the trees as places where idolatry was practised. Burton (ut sup., p. 90) thinks that the story of Judah end Tamer (Gen. axxviii.; note that Hebr. famar, memo "Palm,,) indicates that a palm clan was incorporated into the tribe of Judah, the palm in this case being a totem (cf. the place name Baai-tamer, judges ax. 33). Tlie same authority, sees saae6ity in the mention (Ex. av. 27) of seventy pshDtrees and twelve springs (possibly a combination of asered trees and springs). It is not unlikely that Jerxbo, the city of palm-trees (Deut. xxxiv. 3; Judges i. 16, iii. 13),

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was once a sacred city. It is noteworthy that the pomegranate and the palm-tree formed part of the adornment both of Solomon's temple (I Kings vi. vii.) and of Ezekiel's (Ezek. xii. 18), and the cheru him are connected with both. In elucidation of the last fact Barton, in a striking passage (cat sup., pp. 91-92), quotes Tylor as suggesting that the cherubim were personifications of the wind which was so important in fertilizing the male date palm. The two trees, originally perhaps only one, in Gen. ii.-iii. were explained in the Book of Enoch (chap. xxiv.) and by the rabbis generally as date palms, and the two varieties of palms, male and female, were associated with the discovery of sexual dis tinction in man.

Geo. W. Gilmore.

Bibliography: W. Baudisein, Studien zur semitischen Religionegeschichte, ii. 143 sqq., Leipsic, 1878 (list of older literature on p. 184); B. Stade, Geschichte des Volkes Israel i. 455, Berlin, 1887; A. von Gall, Altisraelitischen Kulb e, pp. 23-28. Giessen, 1898; Smith, Rel. of Sem., pp. 125, 169, 174-175, 178-179, 185-197; ED, iv. 4892-93; 'and the work of Barton cited in the text. On the general tree-cult the most important work is J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough, 3 vols., London, 19W; idem, Adonis, Attic, Osiris, London, 1906; Stark, in Berichte der kaniglich sacheischen G esellseha#t der isaenschaften zu Leipzig, Phil.-hist. Clasee, viii (1856), 32-120; M. OhnefalschRichter, Kypros, die Bibel and Homer, pp. 32-227, Berlin, 1893; H. C. Trumbull, Threshold Covenant, pp. 228 sqq., New York, 1896; Mrs. J. H. Philpot, The Sacred Tree or the Tree in Religion and Myth, London, 1897; H. P. Smith, Old Testament History, p. 135, New York, 1903; Evans, in Journal of Hellenic Studies, xxi. 106 sqq.; Folk-Lore, vi. 20 sqq.