friends. Let our call be responded to. Let our literary friends take the pen, and record the doings of teachers. Let every teacher do something worthy of being recorded, and let every Christian use his influence to send the record forth; to encourage our fellow-labourers in the Lord's vineyard, and to summon fresh adherents to the cause of scriptural education—the cause of Christianity and truth.

December 1, 1852.

THE UNION MAGAZINE,

FOR

SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHERS.

THE CEDARS OF LEBANON.

BY J. KITTO, D.D.

THAT the existing cedar grove of Mount Lebanon afforded, as is locally believed, the trees which Hiram furnished to Solomon for the works of his temple and his palace, is not at all likely. The timber which Solomon required was, beyond all question, drawn from parts of the mountain more accessible from the coast, from which all the cedar trees have now disappeared: and these, high up near the topmost summits of Lebanon, doubtless owe their preservation, and the venerable age which some of them exhibit, to the very fact, that if they were cut down, it would be impossible to transport them to the sea. The circumstances which operate now in preserving the trees of this upper region from the axe, and in permitting them to attain, by the long growth of ages, the fulness of their size; and then to stand unmolested during another long series of years, while passing through the slow stages of natural decay-must equally have operated in ancient times. Although, therefore, we cannot indulge the notion that we here behold the venerable survivors-then too young to be cut down-of the very grove which yielded to Solomon its timber, we may confidently assume, that the largest cedars of Lebanon were always found in this part of the mountain, and that trees as old and venerable as those which we now find, grew there in the time when the prophets broke forth into admiration of the cedars of Lebanon, and expatiated upon their height, their bulk, their comely proportions, their density of foliage, and their amplitude of shade.

The grove consists of some hundreds of trees and shrubs of various sizes. The largest and most venerable of them, and those to which the attention of travellers is chiefly directed, are those shown in our engraving. That to the left

B

is the largest of all, and the one upon which travellers like best to inscribe their names, though all of them are more or less charged with such inscriptions, some of which date so far back as 1640. This appears to be the tree that Maundrell measured, and found to be twelve yards six inches in girth, and thirty-seven yards in the spread of its boughs; at about five or six yards from the ground, it was divided into five limbs, each of them equal to a large tree. One was measured by Dr. Pococke in 1738, which had the roundest body, but was not the largest, and was found to be twenty-four feet in circumference; another, with a sort of triple body and triangular figure, measured twelve feet on each side. In 1818, Dr. Richardson measured one, which he afterwards discovered to be, not, as he had supposed, the largest, and found it to be thirty-two feet in circumference. In 1824, Mr. Madox here rested under the branches of a cedar twentyseven feet in girth, a little way above the ground; and afterwards measuring the one that seemed the largest, found it to be thirty-nine or forty feet in circumference. It had three very large stems, and seven large branches, with many smaller ones-and was no doubt the same that appears most conspicuously in our engraving. The largest trees are correctly described by Burckhardt, as distinguishable by having the small branches at the top only; and by four, five, and even seven trunks springing from one base. The foliage and branches of the others are larger, but there are none whose leaves touch the ground, as in the fine specimens in Kew Gardens. The trunks seem quite dead, and exhibit externally a grayish tint. The wood, when closely examined, is hardly distinguishable in appearance from white deal, nor does it seem to be harder; but it has a much finer scent than any kind of deal.

It is usual to say how rapidly the number of these larger trees has declined, since they first began to be counted by travellers. We are reminded that the number which Belon found, in 1550, was twenty-eight-that we afterwards hear of sixteen-then of twelve-now of seven. But we suspect that the difference is more apparent than real-arising from travellers not being agreed as to what they should consider the largest trees-some counting more, and some less, and generally the number counted as largest, being pro

gressively fewer in proportion as the notions of travellers became more definite, and their means of comparison increased. Le Bruyn, who travelled after Maundrell's computation of sixteen, reckoned thirty-six, and admits, that it was as difficult to count them by the eye, as to count the stones at Stonehenge. There is no apparent cause of decrease; and in a place where the axe of the hewer never comes, there should naturally be a succession of large trees, as without doubt has been really the case. The trees that were of the second growth, three centuries ago, must by this time have so increased, as to be among those which Belon would now reckon as the largest, could he count them over again. The cedar, like other timber trees of light texture, is by no means a slow-growing tree. Those very large and imposing specimens which now grow in Kew Gardens, are known to be less than two centuries old; and the cedar planted about 1670, in the garden of the Old Manor House at Enfield, measured fourteen feet six inches in its lower girth in 1797, and sixteen feet one inch in 1821, when the extent of its branches was no less than eighty-seven feet.

THE INN AND THE MANGER.

(See Lesson for January 4.)

THAT the difficulties of learners often afford valuable instruction to the teacher, is a truth too familiar to need repetition. Hence, in the best sabbath school classes, the pupils will be encouraged to propose any doubt which may occur to them; and the statement of a perplexity, which to an older mind may seem absurd, will be met, not by the faintest smile or glance of ridicule, but with ready sympathy and kind explanation.

In discussing the second chapter of Luke with a class of intelligent lads, two difficulties were started. One was, why there should have been more persons in Bethlehem at the "taxing," than in other towns? "If every one went to his own city," a scholar remarked, "there might have been as many going from Bethlehem elsewhere, as came there from other places, and so room have been made for all visitors.” The observation directed attention to the phrase previously unexplained, "his own city;" and by comparing these words

with the statement, "he was of the house and lineage of David," the conclusion was reached that in Judea the city of a person was not as with us, the place where he was born and bred, but that from which his family sprung. Genealogies were kept with the utmost care. The descendants of

every great man maintained their connexion with him through every succeeding age, and the city of his abode was regarded as their home, although neither they nor their immediate ancestors might have actually dwelt there for some hundreds of years. And this would explain why some towns would be crowded with travellers, while others, to which no such associations of greatness belonged, would be deserted.

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All this led to another remark, which we also find in this year's "Notes," viz.-the wonderful way in which the providence of God made every circumstance concur to fulfil the predictions concerning Messiah's birth. It seems likely indeed, though we do not remember having met with the idea, that the difficult second verse is introduced in order to exhibit this overruling providence in a very striking light. At least it will appear so, if we read, in accordance with history, and with the translation proposed by many learned men- the enrolment itself was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria," (eleven years after the birth of Christ). Augustus made the decree, gave orders for the Jews to repair to the cities of their respective family heads, threw the whole nation into confusion-and then suspended his purpose, not to be renewed until Cyrenius came. All the trouble seemed, therefore, to have been given for no earthly purpose; and in truth it was so, for the purpose was heavenly. The Jews left their homes, went up to their cities, and came back again with no result but the fulfilment of the prediction which God had spoken by Micah, seven hundred years before, and the renewed illustration of the great truth, that all this world's transactions and changes, however purposeless they may occasionally seem to be, are overruled by the Most High for the accomplishment of his designs, and the coming of his kingdom.

The second difficulty related to the place where the newborn babe was laid. It was scarcely proposed as a difficulty either; but several of the scholars appeared perplexed by the notions they had evidently formed of an English inn, with