all their wickedness, and that in that very plat | also that they shall continue in their station, being where they have committed it. Wherefore the day therein confirmed by Jesus Christ, by whom all appointed for this is set, and he will, and shall things consist.' Col. i. 17. come quickly to do it. For however the time may scem long to us, yet, according to the reckoning of God, it is but a little while since he went into the holiest to intercede. A thousand years with the Lord is as one day;' and after this manner of counting, he has not been gone yet full two days into the holiest. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness;' 'he will come quickly, and will not tarry.' 2 Pe. iii.

4. I read also of these cherubims, that they had chariots and wheels; by which is taught us how ready and willing the angels are to fetch us when commanded, unto the paradise of God; for these chariots were types of the bosoms of the angels; and these wheels, of the quickness of their motion to come for us when sent. 'The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels; the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place.' 1 Ch. xxviii. 18. Eze. x. 9, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20. 2 Ki. vi. 17. Ps. lxviii. 17.

2 Ki. ii. 11. Da. ix. 2.

5. What difference, if any, there is between cherubims and seraphims, into that I shall not now inquire; though I believe that there are diverse orders and degrees of angels in the heavens, as there are degrees and diverse orders among men in the world. But that these cherubims were figures of the holy angels, their being thus placed in the holy oracle doth declare; for their dwelling-place is heaven, though they, for our sakes, are conversant in the world. He. i.

6. It is said that these cherubims, in this holy place, did stand upon their feet, to show, 1. That the angels of heaven are not fallen from their station, as the other angels are. 2. To show also that they are always ready, at God's bidding, to run with swiftness to do his pleasure. 3. To show

7. It is said their faces were inward,' looking one to another, yet withal somewhat ascending, to show that the angels both behold and wonder at the mysteries of grace, as it is displayed to usward from off the mercy-seat. The faces of the cherubims 'shall look one to another; towards the mercyseat shall the faces of the cherubims be.' Ex. xxv. 20. 2 Ch. iii. 13. 1 Pe. 1. 12. Ep. iii. 10.

(1.) Towards the mercy-seat.' They are desirous to see it, and how from hence, I say, mercy doth look towards us.

(2.) They look one towards another,' to show that they agree to rejoice in the salvation of our souls. Lu. xv. 10.

(3.) They are said to stand above the mercyseat, perhaps to show that the angels have not need of those acts of mercy and forgiveness as we have, who stand below, and are sinners. They stand above it; they are holy. I do not say they have no need that the goodness of God should be extended to them, for it is by that they have been and are preserved; but they need not to be forgiven, for they have committed no iniquity.

(4.) They stand there also with wings stretched out, to show how ready, if need be, the angels are to come from heaven to preach this gospel to the world.' Lu. ii. 9—14.

(5.) It is said in this, that thus standing, their wings did reach from wall to wall; from one side of this holy house to the other; to show that all the angels within the boundaries of the heavens, with one consent and one mind, are ready to come down to help and serve, and do for God's elect at his command.

It is said, also, that their wings are stretched on high, to show that they are only delighted in those duties which are enjoined them by the high and lofty One, and not inclined, no not to serve the saints in their sensual or fleshly designs. It may be also to show that they are willing to take their flight from one end of heaven to the other, to serve God and his church for good. Mat. xiii. 41, 49; xxiv. 31;

XXV. 31. 2 Th. i. 7, 8.

LXX. Of the figures that were upon the walls of the inner Temple.

The wall of the inner temple, which was a type of heaven, was, as I have already told you, ceiled with cedar from the bottom to the top. Now by the vision of Ezekiel, it is said this wall was carved

with cherubims and palm trees. 'So that a palm tree was between a cherub and a cherub, and every cherub had two faces; so that the face of a man was toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on the

other side. It was made through all the house round about; from the ground unto above the door were cherubims and palm trees made.' Eze. xli. 18-20. 1. As to these cherubims and palm trees, I have already told you what I think them to be figures of.

The cherubims are figures of the holy angels, and the palm trees of upright ones; we therefore here are to discourse only of the placing of them in the heavens.

2. Now you see the palm trees in the holiest are placed between a cherub and a cherub, round about the house, which methinks should be to signify that the saints shall not there live by faith and hope, as here, but in the immediate enjoyment of God; for to be placed between the cherubims, is to be placed where God dwells; for Holy Writ says plainly, He dwells between the cherubims, even where here it is said these palm trees, or upright ones are placed. 1 Sa. iv. 4. 2 Ki. xix. 15. 1 Ch. xiii. 6. The church on earth is called God's house, and he will dwell in it for ever; and heaven itself is called God's house, and we shall dwell in it for ever, and that between the cherubins. This is more than grace, this is grace and glory, glory indeed.

Ps. lxxx. 1. Is. xxxvii. 16.

3. To dwell between the cherubims may be also to show that there we shall be equal to the angels. Mark, here is a palm tree and a cherub, a palm tree and a cherub. Here we are a little lower, but there we shall not be a whit behind the very chief of them. A palm tree and a cherub, an upright one between the cherubs, will then be round about the house; we shall be placed in the same rank; neither can they die any more, for they are equal unto the angels.' Lu. xx. 36.

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4. The palm trees thus placed, may be also to show us that the elect of God shall there take up the vacancies of the fallen angels; they for sin were cast down from the holy heavens, and we by grace shall be caught up thither, and be placed between a cherub and a cherub. When I say their places, I do not mean the fickleness of that state, that they for want of electing love did stand in while in glory; for the heavens, by the blood of Christ, is now to us become a purchased possession; wherefore, as we shall have their place in the heavenly kingdom, so, by virtue of redeeming blood, we shall there abide, and go no more out; for by that means that kingdom will stand to us unshaken. He. ix. 12; xii. 22—24, 28. Re. iii. 12.

5. These palm trees, I say, seem to take their places who for sin were cast from thence. The elect therefore take that place in possession, but a better crown for ever. Thus 'Israel possessed that of the Canaanites;' and David, Saul's kingdom; and Matthias, the place, the apostleship of Judas.

Ac. i. 20-26.

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angels lost, excepting that which was excepted be6. Nor were the habitations which the fallen fore, at all inferior to theirs that stood; for their captain and prince is called son of the morning, for he was the antitype there. Is. xiv. 12.

ground up to above the door; that is, from the 7. Thus, you see, they were placed from the lowest to the highest angel there. For as there earth, so there are angels of divers degrees in are great saints and small ones in the church on heaven, some greater than some; but the smallest saint, when he gets to heaven, shall have an angel's dignity, an angel's place. From the ground you find a palm tree between a cherub and a cherub. but I read in Eze. x. 14, that they had four faces 8. And every cherub had two faces-so here; apiece. The first was the face of a cherubim; the second, the face of a man; the third, the face of a lion; and the fourth, the face of an eagle.

they were of a double heart, for " 9. They had two faces apiece; not to show that and themselves' were the same, and they went 'their every one straight forward.' Eze. x. 22. appearances faces, then, were to show here the quickness of These two cute the mind of God. The face of a man signifies their apprehension, and their terribleness to exethem masters of reason; the face of a lion, the terribleness of their presence. 1 Co. xiii. 12. Ju. xiii. 6. that themselves, In another place I read of their wheels; yea, backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the 'their whole bodies, and their wheels were full of eyes round about.' Eze. i. 18; x. 12. And this is to show us how knowing and quicksighted they are in all providences and dark dismischievous designs of the enemies of God's church, pensations, and how nimble in apprehending the and so how able they are to undermine them. And forasmuch also as they have the face of a lion, we by that are showed how full of power they are to kill and to destroy, when God says, Go forth and do so. habit, a palm tree and a cherub; a palm tree and Now, with these we must dwell and coa cherub must be from the ground to above the door, round about the house-the heavens.

tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion 'So that the face of a man was toward the palm toward the palm tree on the other side.' By these two faces may be also showed that we in the heavens shall have glory sufficient to familiarize us used to fright the biggest saint on earth, as you to the angels. Their lion-like looks, with which they have it, Ge. xxxii. 30. Ju. xiii. 15, 22, shall then be accompanied with the familiar looks of a man. angels and men shall be fellows, and have to do Then with each as such.

Thus you see something of that little that I have found in the temple of God.

THAT part of Palestine in which the celebrated | no man could say of him that much learning mountains of Lebanon are situated, is the border country adjoining Syria, having Sidon for its seaport, and Land, nearly adjoining the city of Damascus, on the north. This metropolitan city of Syria, and capital of the kingdom of Damascus, was strongly fortified; and during the border conflicts it served as a cover to the Assyrian army. Bunyan, with great reason, supposes that, to keep them in check, Solomon built a tower house and palace, well furnished with munitions of war, called the house in the forest of Lebanon.

has made thee mad.' Bunyan's is the plain common-sense scriptural account of this building; but he differs greatly from almost all our learned commentators-they imagining that this house was near the temple of Jerusalem. The Assembly of Divines, in their valuable annotations, suggest that it was so called 'because great store of trees, as in Lebanon, were planted about it; and gardens, orchards, and all manner of delightful things were added thereto :' to aid this conjecture, they quote Ec. ii. 4, 6. Poole says that it was 'a house so called, As the magnificent temple at Jerusalem was the either, first, because it was built in the mountain seat of public worship appointed by God, it was and forest of Lebanon, for recreation in summer considered typical of the gospel dispensation, which time; but generally held to have been near Jeruwas intended to supersede it. All its parts and salem; or rather, secondly, from some resemblance utensils, sacrifices and services, have been de- it had with Lebanon for its pleasant shades and scribed, in their typical meaning, in Solomon's groves." Diodati considers it the same with SoloTemple Spiritualized; but as the lovely system of mon's palace, but called the house of Lebanon by the gospel had, with slow and irresistible steps, to reason of the groves planted about it; or of the conquer the prejudices, passions, and wickedness great number of cedar columns brought from Lebof mankind, those who bore the brunt of this battle anon, and used in its construction. Even Bunyan's were considered as the church militant in the favourite translation, made at Geneva by the Puriwilderness and Bunyan has, in this treatise, en- tans, while it gives two wood-cuts of The King's deavoured to show that this palace and fortress house IN the wood of Lebanon,' a marginal note was typical of the churches of Christ while in a is added-'For the beauty of the place, and great state of holy warfare, defending their Divine dis- abundance of cedar trees that went to the building pensation, and extending the line of defence by thereof, it was compared to Mount Lebanon.' progressive spiritual conquests. While the churches Calmet, in his very valuable translation, accomare surrounded by enemies, they have inexhaust-panied by the Vulgate Latin, gives the same idea: ible internal comfort, strength, and consolation. Like the house in the forest of Lebanon, they are also pleasantly, nay, beautifully situated. If Mount Zion was the joy of the whole earth, the mountains of Damascus were a picture of the earthly paradise. So beautiful is the scenery, and balmy the air, that one part is called Eden, or the garden of the Lord. It is described by Arabian poets as always bearing winter far above upon his head, spring on its shoulders, and autumn in his bosom, while perpetual summer lies sleeping at his feet. It was upon this beautiful spot, called by Isaiah the glory of Lebanon,' that Solomon built his house in the forest.

This is the plain matter of fact which Bunyan establishes from the sacred Scriptures, but he was, as to lettered lore, an unlearned man; at all events,

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Il bâtit encore le palais appellé la maison du Leban, à cause de la quantité prodigeuse de cedres qui entroient dans la structure de cet édifice.' Bishop Patrick places this house in or near to Jerusalem, in a cool, shady mountain, which made it resemble Mount Lebanon.' Dr. Gill was of opinion that this house was near Jerusalem; because it was a magazine of arms, and a court of judicature, and had its name from being built of the cedars of Lebanon, and among groves of trees. Josephus, in his Antiquities of the Jews, book viii. chap. vi. s. 5, states that when the Queen of Sheba came to Judea, she was amazed at the wisdom of Solomon, and surprised at the fineness and largeness of his royal palace; but she was beyond measure astonished at the house which was called the forest of Lebanon.' Matthew Henry

follows the opinion of Bunyan; I rather incline | vent the approach of enemies to the temple, is to think it was a house built in the forest of Leb- intended as a type of the Christian warfare, is anon itself, whither, though far distant from Jeru- left to the impartial consideration of the reader. salem, Solomon having so many chariots and horses, There is very little reason to doubt but that we and those dispersed into chariot cities, which pro- shall adopt Bunyan's view; if we consider the tembably were his stages, he might frequently retire ple to be typical, we shall consider the house in with ease.' Express notice is taken of Lebanon, the forest of Lebanon to be typical also. as the place of a warlike building, in 2 Ki. xix., and in Ca. vii. 4.

The tower of Lebanon is described as looking towards Damascus. The ruins of this house and tower, in the forest of Lebanon, are probably those seen by Benjamin of Tudela, who describes the stones of which it was built as twenty palms long, and twelve wide. Gabriel Sionita describes the tower as an hundred cubits high, and fifty broad. Maundrel saw the ruins in the mountains of Lebanon at a distance. The objections made by our commentators to the plain testimony of the Scriptures are, that Solomon would not have built this beautiful house at so great a distance from the capital-that he would not have risked so much treasure nor the munitions of war in a forest and that he would not, on the extreme border of the kingdom of Judea, have set up a throne, or seat of judgment. The answer to these objections appears to me to be conclusive. Lebanon possessed the most commanding sites for a border fortress, and therefore an admirable depot for arms, to enable the Jewish warriors to keep out their most vigilant and dangerous enemies, the Assyrians. The wealth that was deposited in this house was calculated to excite greater vigilance to protect so important a pass, while it would divert the attention of an enemy from the still more wealthy temple and fortress at Jerusalem. A throne of justice was well placed there, to save a long journey to the capital, for the trial of offenders, and the settlement of disputes on the borders of the empire. It appears to me that common sense and the soundest evidence supports the view which Bunyan took, which was far in advance of the age in which he lived.

It has been said, by an author of very great repute (Addison), that had Bunyan lived in the times of the Christian fathers, he would have been as great a father as the best of them. He stands unrivalled for most extraordinary mental powers for allegory and for spiritualizing, but to compare him with the best of the fathers is faint praise indeed. He was as much their superior, as the blaze of the noon-day sun excels the glimmer of a rushlight.

In this treatise we find many very admirable illustrations of two important subjects. One is, that temporal governors have nothing to fear from the spread of vital godliness: the other is upon the nature of the strife and antipathy felt by the world against Christ and his spiritual seed. They are sweet-scented; the fragrant smell of their graces excites the enmity of Satan and his followers, who would burn these cedars, because they are pillars of, and angels for, the truth. Reason, history, and experience all confirm this truth; that a people, whose profession is directly in opposition to the devil, and antichrist, and to all debauchery, inhumanity, profaneness, superstition, and idolatry,' p. 529. will be hated, persecuted, and, if possible, destroyed by Satan and his adherents. The secret is, that the world cannot bear such 'living epistles, known and read of all men,' which reflect so severely by their conduct upon the vice and profligacy of the worldling. This was a stinging censure upon the profligate court of Charles II., and therefore the Nonconformists were hated and persecuted; while conformity to soul-benumbing rites and ceremonies was cherished and rewarded. To render persecution perfectly unjustifiable, Bunyan scripturally and plainly exhibits the harmlessness of The way in which this building, with the pur- the Christian character bearing with meekness poses for which it was intended, is spiritualized, is the injuries heaped upon it; followers of him who, very ingenious, and admirably carried through in when reviled, reviled not again, but suffered patientthe following treatise. Whether it was intended ly. It is a grievous mistake to suppose that vital by the Holy Ghost to be typical, must be left to godliness caused the great rebellion, and consethe judgment of the impartial reader. That Leb- quent beheading of King Charles I. It was frightanon is used figuratively by the inspired writers ful and most insupportable tyranny that drove a there can be no doubt. 'Lebanon is ashamed and nation, headed by their parliament, to arms. hewn down,' must be intended as a type of the King levied severe taxes without the consent of the church, when under the malice of her enemies. people's representatives; he perverted justice by So also when Babylon, a type of Antichrist, fell, the abominable decisions of the King's judges in the the cedars of Lebanon rejoiced;' doubtless re- court of Star Chamber; and attempted to introduce ferring to the joy of God's saints when relieved Popery through the medium of the Queen and her from the oppressor. Whether the fine old trees, licentious court, composed principally of the worst or the splendid house built as a defence to pre-class of foreign Papists. And when Leighton,

The

THE HOUSE OF THE FOREST OF LEBANON.