A DISCOURSE OF THE HOUSE OF THE FOREST OF LEBANON. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. 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, either, first, because it was built in the mountain aud forest of Lebanon, for recreation in summer time; but generally held to have been near Jerusalem; or rather, secondly, from some resemblance it had with Lebanon for its pleasant shades and groves. Diodati considers it the same with Solomon's palace, but called the house of Lebanon by reason of the groves planted about it; or of the great number of cedar columns brought from Lebanon, and used in its construction. Even Bunyan's favourite translation, made at Geneva by the Puritans, while it gives two wood-cuts of 'The King's house IN the wood of Lebanon,' a marginal note is added For the beauty of the place, and great abundance of cedar trees that went to the building thereof, it was compared to Mount Lebanon." Calmet, in his very valuable translation, accom As the magnificent temple at Jerusalem was the scat of public worship appointed by God, it was considered typical of the gospel dispensation, which was intended to supersede it. All its parts and utensils, sacrifices and services, have been described, in their typical meaning, in Solomon's Temple Spiritualized; but as the lovely system of the gospel had, with slow and irresistible steps, to conquer the prejudices, passions, and wickedness of mankind, those who bore the brunt of this battle were considered as the church militant in the wilderness and Bunyan has, in this treatise, endeavoured to show that this palace and fortress was typical of the churches of Christ while in a state of holy warfare, defending their Divine dispensation, and extending the line of defence by progressive spiritual conquests. While the churches are 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, 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. 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 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 Leb-rushlight. anon 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. 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 frightLeb-quent anon 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. The 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, is no burthen to the body, nor clog to the mind, · Prynne, Bastwick, and some of the most virtuous and enlightened citizens, justly but firmly remonstrated, they were seized and tortured in a way that the heart sickens with the narrative. It was an attempt to reduce the whole nation to the most abject slavery of both body and soul, that roused the spirit of the people to resistance. The solemn league and covenant was taken, Cromwell appeared, and the country was, by Divine aid, saved from utter desolation. It was not a war of religious sects; the Presbyterians, Independents, Baptists, and others, could never have coalesced; it was a war for liberty or despotism, and the principal of the warriors on both sides were attached to the religion that was by law established. It is true that many Episcopalians, in the reign of Charles II., charged the Puritans, not only as being the mainspring, but as possessing the overwhelming force in that awful struggle, forgetting that the Nonconformists were then but a handful of men, neither possessed of wealth nor influence. To attribute victory to so small a band, must refer it to the immediate interposition This treatise is one of the ten 'excellent manuof the Most High, as in the case of Gideon in his scripts' which Bunyan had prepared for the press, victory over the Assyrians. But it was no sectarian when his unexpected decease prevented his pubfight, except those two great sects of freemen against lishing them. It first appeared in the folio volume despots. Bunyan fully proves that no state has of his works, printed under the care of Charles anything to fear from religion: She moveth no Doe, in 1692. It has since been re-published in sedition, she abideth in her place; let her temple- every edition of Bunyan's works, but with the omisworshippers but alone, and she will be as if she sion of the Scripture references, and many errors. were not in the world;'neither she nor her Jesus It is now accurately corrected by the first edition. are for doing them any hurt." p. 516. God's armour | GEO. OFFOR. ་ THE HOUSE OF THE FOREST OF LEBANON. CHAP. I. As Solomon built a house for Pharaoh's daughter, and that called the temple of the Lord; so he built a house in Lebanon, called the house of the forest of Lebanon.' 1 Ki. vii. 2. Some, I perceive, have thought that this house, called the house of the forest of Lebanon,' was none other than that called the temple at Jerusalem, and that that was called the house of the forest of Lebanon,' because built of the wood that grew there. But that Solomon built another than that, even one in Lebanon, called the house of the forest of Lebanon,' is evident, and that from these reasons: First, That in the forest of Lebanon is mentioned as another, besides that called the temple of the Lord; and that too when the temple and its finishing is spoken of; yea, it is mentioned with an 'also,' as an additional house, besides the temple of the Lord. In the fourth year,' saith the text, 'was the foundation of the house of the Lord laid in the month Zif;1 and in the eleventh year in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, was the house finished throughout all the parts thereof, and according to all the fashion of it; so he was seven years in building it.' 'But Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house. He built also the house of the forest of Lebanon,' &c. 1 Ki. vi. 37, 38; vii 1, 2. Can there now be any thing more plain? Is not here the house of the forest of Lebanon mentioned as another besides the temple? he built the temple, he built his own house, he built also the house of the forest of Lebanon. Second. It is evident by the difference of their measures and dimensions. The length of the temple was threescore cubits; but the length of the house of the forest of Lebanon was an hundred cubits; 1 The second month in the Hebrew calendar began April 7.-(ED.) so that the house of the forest of Lebanon was forty cubits more than was that called Solomon's temple: The breadth of Solomon's temple was twenty cubits, but the breadth of the house of the forest of Lebanon was fifty cubits: And as there is odds between threescore and fivescore, so there is also between twenty and fifty. As to their height, they were both alike; but equality in height can no more make them the same, than can a twenty years' age in two, make them one and the same person. Their porches also differed greatly; the porch of the temple was in length but twenty cubits, but the length of that of the house of the forest of Lebanon was fifty cubits. So that here also is thirty odds.1 The porch of the temple was but ten cubits broad; but the porch of the house of the forest of Lebanon thirty cubits. Now, I say, who that considereth these disproportions, can conclude that the house of the forest of Lebanon was none other than that called the temple of Jerusalem. For all this compare 1 Ki. vi, 2, 8, with vii. 2, 6. Third. If you add to these the different makes of the houses, it will sufficiently appear that they were not one. The house of the forest of Lebanon was built upon four rows of cedar pillars; but we read of no such pillars upon which the temple stood. The windows of the house of the forest of Lebanon stood in three rows, light against light; but we read of no such thing in the temple. The temple had two pillars before the door of its porch, but we read not of them before the door of the porch of the house of the forest of Lebanon. In the sixth and seventh chapters of the first book of Kings, these two houses, as to their make, are exactly set forth; so that he that listeth may search and see, if as to this I have not said the truth. CHAP. II. OF WHAT THE HOUSE OF THE FOREST OF LEBANON WAS A TYPE. That the house of the forest of Lebanon was a house significant, I think is clear; also, if it had not, we should not have had so particular an account thereof in the holy Word of God: I read but of four buildings wherein, in a particular manner, the houses or fabrics are, as to their manner of building, distinctly handled. The tabernacle is one, the temple another; the porch which he built for his throne, his throne for judgment; and this house of the forest of Lebanon is the fourth. Now the three first, to wit, the tabernacle, the temple, the porch and throne, wise men will say are typical; and therefore so is this. [First.] I will therefore take it for granted that the house of the forest of Lebanon is a significative thing, yea, a figure of the church, as the temple at Jerusalem was, though not under the same consideration. The temple was a figure of the church under the gospel, as she relateth to worship; but the house of the forest of Lebanon was a figure of that church as she is assaulted for her worship, as she is persecuted for the same. Or take it more expressly thus: I take this house of the forest of Lebanon to be a type of the church in the wilderness, or as she is in her sackcloth state. We read, before this house was built, that there was a church in the wilderness; and also, after this house was demolished, that there would be a church in the wilderness. Ac. vii. 38. Re. xii. 14. But we now respect that wilderness state that the church of the New Testament is in, and conclude that this house of the forest of Lebanon was a type and figure of that; that is, of her wilderness state. And, methinks, the very place where this house was built does intimate such a thing; for this house was not built in a town, a city, &c., as was that called the temple of the Lord, but was built in a kind of a wood, a wilderness; it was built in the forest of Lebanon, unto which that saying seems directly to answer. And to the woman,' the church, were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness into her place.' Rc. xii. 14. A wilderness state is a desolate, a tempted, an afflicted, a persecuted state. Je. ii. 6. All which is more than intimated by the witnesses wearing of, and prophesying in sackcloth, and also expressed of by that Re. xii. fire What Answerable to this is that of the prophet concerning this house of the forest of Lebanon, where he says, Open thy doors, O Lebanon! that the may devour thy cedars.' And again, Howl, fir-tree; for the cedar is fallen.' Zec. xi. 1, 2. can be more express? The prophet here knocks at the very door of the house of the forest of Lebanon, and tells her that her cedars are designed for fire; unto which also most plainly answer the flames to which so many of the cedars of Lebanon,2 God's saints, I mean, for many hundred years, have been delivered for their profession; and by which, as 2 The churches of Christ have suffered under bitter persecution, and been in a wilderness state, from the primitive times, through Popish days, and under the relentless cruelties suffered by the Covenanters and Nonconformists from the State despotism. As the gospel spreads, it humanizes and softens the hearts even of the rebellious. The dread fire no longer consumes the cedars of Lebanon. Still there remains the contemptuous sneer, the scorn, the malice of the soul, against Christ and his spiritual seed. Not many years since the two daughters of an evangelical clergyman, a D.D., came out, from strong and irresistible conviction, and united with one of the straitest sects of Dissenters-the Plymouth Brethren. 1 A common expression for difference.-'What's the odds The unhappy parent could not brook the insult to his excited feelings, and died insane.-(ED.) 3 T-3 U between us?'-(ED.) VOL III. another prophet has it, for many days they have | sertion, he calls those judgments the violence of fallen. Da. xi. 33. Also when the king of Assyria Lebanon. That is, by way of comparison, such as came up with his army against Jerusalem, this was the violence done to Lebanon was. 'The violence his vaunting, 'I am come to the sides of Lebanon, of Lebanon shall cover thee; and the spoil of beasts and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof.' Is.xxxvii. 24. which made them [Lebanon] afraid, because of What was this king of Assyria but a type of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the beast made mention of in the New Testament? the city, and of all that dwell therein.' Hab. II. 17. Now, saith he, I will cut down the cedars of Le- This is like that, 'Reward her, even as she rebanon; who are, in our gospel times, the tall ones warded you, and double unto her double according of the church of God. And I say again, in that to her works.' Re. xviii. 6. This the church doth by he particularly mentions Lebanon, he intends that her prayers. "The violence done to me and to house which Solomon built there, the which was my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant of built as a fortification to defend the religion of the Zion say; and my blood upon the inhabitants of temple, as the saints now in the wilderness of the Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.' Je. li. 35. And then people are set for the defence of the gospel. But shall be fulfilled that which is written, Look what more of this anon. they did unto Lebanon shall be done unto them. Ob. 15. Eze. xxxv. 14, 15. God has his time to return the evil that the enemies do to his church, and he will do it when his time is come upon their own head; and this return is called the covering of them with the violence of Lebanon, or that violence showed to her in the day of her distress. It is yet further evident that this house of the forest of Lebanon was a type of the church in the wilderness: This house therefore was built to make assaults, and to be assaulted, as the church in the wilderness is; and hence the state of this house is compared to the condition of a woman in travail, struggling with her pains, as also we find the state of the church in the wilderness is-‘O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!' Je. xxii. 23. And again, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament,' and have sorrow, as a woman in travail. Jn. xvi. 20–22. Much answering her case who, in her travails, and while 'pained to be delivered,' was said even in this case to stand before the dragon, who with open mouth sought to destroy her fruit, so 'soon as it was born.' Re. xii. 1-6. Hence, again, when Christ calls his spouse out to suffer, he calls or draws her out of his house in Lebanon, to look from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards,' to the things that are invisible; even as Paul said when he was in afflic-afflicted, and so is the church under the rage of tion, 'We look not at the things which are seen. Ca. iv. 8. 2 Co. iv. 18. He draws them out thence, I say, as sheep appointed for the slaughter; yea, he goeth before them, and they follow him thither. Also, when the prophet foretells the affliction of the church, he expresses it by the fall of the cedars of Lebanon, saying, The Lord shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron; a little afore called the axe and saw. And Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one. Is. x. 15, 34. And again, The earth mourneth and languisheth: Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down.' Is. xxxiii. 9. Do we think that the prophet prophesieth here against trees, against the natural cedars of Lebanon? No, no, it is a prophecy touching the afflicted state of the church in the wilderness, of which Lebanon, I mean this house of the forest of Lebanon, was a figure. 1. For that she is called a tower, or place of fortification and defence; the same term that is given to the church in a captivated state. Ca. vii.4. Mi. iv. 8—10, For as the church in the wilderness is compared to a woman in travail, to show her fruitfulness to God-ward in her most afflicted condition; so she is called a tower, to show her fortitude and courage, for God and his truth, against antichrist. I say therefore, unto both these is she compared in that scripture last cited, the which you may peruse if you please. A tower is a place of receipt for the antichrist; yea, and though it is the only place designed by the enemy for ruin and destruction, yet it is the only place of safety in the world.1 2. This tower, this house of the forest of Lebanon, it seems to be so built as to confront Damascus, the chief city of the king of Assyria; and in so doing it was a most excellent type of the spirit and design of the church in the wilderness, who is raised up, and built to confront antichrist. Hence Christ calls some of the features of his church, and compares them to this. Thy neck,' says he is as a tower of ivory; thine eyes like the fish-pools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bath-rabbim; 1 Bunyan not only experienced the richest enjoyments in jail, but it is very probable that his life was saved for a few years by his having lain in prison during the violent heat and storm of persecution which raged in the early part of the reign of Charles II. Thus God mysteriously restrains the wrath of man, and makes it to praise him. The damp unwholesome liar honour, because, as in his Patmos, he there wrote his dungeon, intended for his destruction, crowned him with pecu When God also threateneth the enemies of his ehurch in the wilderness with his judgments, for their cruel dealing with her in the day of her de-immortal book.-(ED.) |