i8o 



AROUND AN OLD HOMESTEAD. 



magnificent for their language and beauty, such as occa- 

 sional verses in Ezekiel and Isaiah, in which the trees 

 are used as examples in the most exalted prophecies. 

 Jehovah, through Isaiah (chapter Iv, 12; Ix, 13), says 

 that "all the trees of the field shall clap their hands" 

 at the return of the wicked, and thus portrays the 

 future of Zion : 



"The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir-tree, 

 the pine, and the box-tree together, to beautify the place of 

 My sanctuary ; and I will make the place of My feet glorious." 



The description of the cedar in Ezekiel (chapter 

 xxxi, 3-9) is especially to be noticed: 



"Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair 

 branches, and with a forest-like shade, and of high stature; 

 and its top was among the thick boughs. The waters nour- 

 ished it, the deep made it grow. . . . Therefore its stature 

 was exalted above all the trees of the field ; and its boughs 

 were multiplied, and its branches became long by reason of 

 many waters, when it shot them forth. All the birds of the 

 heaven made their nests in its boughs; and under its branches 

 did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young; and 

 under its shadow dwelt all great nations. Thus was it fair 

 in its greatness, in the length of its branches; for its root was 

 by many waters. The cedars in the garden of God could not 

 hide it; the fir-trees were not like its boughs, and the plane- 

 trees were not as its branches; nor was any tree in the garden 

 of God like unto it in its beauty." 



The cedar of Lebanon figures prominently all 

 through the Scriptures; Solomon, indeed, had "four- 

 score thousand hewers in the mountains," felling cedar 

 and fir for the temple. David, in a comparison, laments 



