THE CEDAR OF LEBANON. 



413 



boughs are equal to the stem of a Fir or a 

 Chestnut. The second characteristic is, what 

 Ezekiel, with great beauty and aptness, calls his 

 ^shadowing shroud.' No tree in the forest is 

 more remarkable than the Cedar for its close- 

 woven, leafy canopy. Ezekiel's Cedar is marked 

 as a tree of full and perfect growth, from ^ the 

 circumstance of its top being among the thick 

 boughs; that is, no distinction of any showy 

 head or leading branch appears ; the head^ and 

 the branches are all mixed together. This is 

 generally in all trees the state in which they 

 are most perfect and most beautiful, and this 

 is the state of Ezekiel's Cedar. But^ though 

 Ezekiel has given us this accurate description of 

 the Cedar, he has left its strength, which is its 

 chief characteristic, untouched. But the reason 

 is evident ; the Cedar is here introduced as an 

 emblem of Assyria, which, though vast and 

 wide-spreading, and come to full maturity, was, 

 in fact, on the eve of destruction. Strength, 

 therefore, was the last idea which the prophet 

 wished to suggest. Strength is a relative term, 

 compared with opposition. The Assyrian was 

 strong compared with the powers on earth ; but 

 weak, compared with the arm of the Almighty, 

 which brought him to destruction. So his type, 

 the Cedar, was stronger than any of the trees 

 of the forest; but weak in comparison with 

 the axe which cut him off and left him (as 

 the prophet expresses the vastness of his rum) 

 spread upon the mountains and in the valleys, 

 while the nations shook at the sound of his fall. 

 Such is the grandeur and form of the Cedar of 

 Lebanon." 



