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A By J O H N.B U N Y A N. Published by Charles Doe, 1692. Published four years after John Bunyan's death. |
ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR.
hat part of Palestine in which the celebrated 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.
As the magnificent temple at Jerusalem was the seat 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 inexhaustible 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, no man could say
of him that "much learning 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 Ecclesiastes 2:4, 6.
Poole says that it was "a house so called, either, first, because it was built
in the mountain and 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, accompanied by the Vulgate Latin, gives
the same idea: "Il batit encore le palais appelle la maison du Leban, a cause
de la quantite prodigeuse de cedres qui entraient dans la structure de cet edifice."
[Translation: "Another thing he did was build the palace which was called the
house of Lebanon because of the prodigious quantity of cedars used in its construction."]
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 8, chapter 6, section 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 to think it was a house built in the forest of Lebanon itself,
whither, though far distant from Jerusalem, Solomon having so many chariots and horses,
and those dispersed into chariot cities, which probably were his stages, he might
frequently retire with ease." Express notice is taken of Lebanon, as the place
of a warlike building, in 2 Kings 19, and in Canticles 7:4.
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 Sionits 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.
The way in which this building, with the purposes for which it was intended, is spiritualized,
is very ingenious, and admirably carried through in the following treatise. Whether
it was intended by the Holy Ghost to be typical, must be left to the judgment of
the impartial reader. That Lebanon is used figuratively by the inspired writers there
can be no doubt. "Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down," must be intended as
a type of the church, when under the malice of her enemies. So also when Babylon,
a type of Antichrist, fell, "the cedars of Lebanon rejoiced"; doubtless
referring to the joy of God's saints when relieved from the oppressor. Whether the
fine old trees, or the splendid house built as a defence to prevent the approach
of enemies to the temple, is intended as a type of the Christian warfare, is left
to the impartial consideration of the reader. There is very little reason to doubt
but that we shall adopt Bunyan's view; if we consider the temple to be typical, we
shall consider the house in the forest of Lebanon to be typical also.
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," 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 Christian character bearing with meekness the injuries heaped
upon it; followers of him who, when reviled, reviled not again, but suffered patiently.
It is a grievous mistake to suppose that vital godliness caused the great rebellion,
and consequent beheading of King Charles I. It was frightful and most insupportable
tyranny that drove a nation, headed by their parliament, to arms. The King levied
severe taxes without the consent of the people's representatives; he perverted justice
by the abominable decisions of the King's judges in the court of Star Chamber; and
attempted to introduce Popery through the medium of the Queen and her licentious
court, composed principally of the worst class of foreign Papists. And when Leighton,
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 of the Most High, as in the case of Gideon in his victory
over the Assyrians. But it was no sectarian fight, except those two great sects of
freemen against despots. Bunyan fully proves that no state has anything to fear from
religion: "She moveth no sedition, she abideth in her place; let her temple-worshippers
but alone, and she will be as if she were not in the world"; "neither she
nor her Jesus are for doing them any hurt." "God's armour is no burthen
to the body, nor clog to the mind, and it being only spiritual, the slaughter must
needs be spiritual also." "All her privileges are soul concerns, they make
no infringement upon any man's liberties. Let but faith and holiness walk the streets
without control, and you may be as happy as the world can make you."
"Let not kings, and princes, and potentates be afraid; the saints that are such
indeed, know their places, and are of a peaceable deportment; the earth God hath
given to the children of men, and his kingdom to the sons of God." The Christian
is a pilgrim bound to a far more glorious inheritance: with so bright and glorious
a prospect, he may well apply the encouraging language of Bunyan to his own soul;
"I have a bad master, but I have only a year to serve under him, and that makes
me serve him with patience. I have but a mile to go in this dirty way, and then I
shall have my path pleasant and green, and this makes me tread the dirty way with
patience."
This treatise is one of the ten "excellent manuscripts" which Bunyan had
prepared for the press, when his unexpected decease prevented his publishing them.
It first appeared in the folio volume of his works, printed under the care of Charles
Doe, in 1692. It has since been re- published in every edition of Bunyan's work,
but with the omission of the Scripture references, and many errors. It is now accurately
corrected by the first edition.
GEO. OFFOR.
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