THE

JOURNEYINGS

OF

OUR BLESSED LORD AND SAVIOUR

JESUS CHRIST:

OR, A

GEOGRAPHICAL and HISTORICAL ACCOUNT of the Places mentioned, or referred to, in the FOUR GOSPELS.

CHAP. I.

Of the Holy Land in general, and its principal Divifions; as alfo of fuch other Places, as lay without the Holy Land, and are mentioned or referred to in the four Gofpels.

A

I.

The Holy Land, why fe

MONG the great and glorious advantages, enjoyed of old by the Jews above the Gentiles, it may justly be esteemed none of the leaft, that our blessed Lord and Saviour called. JESUS CHRIST not only came of them according to the flesh, Rom. ix. 5. but also during his ftay in the flesh here upon earth, dwelt among them, John i. 14. making fo conftant an abode with them, as that we read not in Scripture he ever went out of the bounds of the Holy Land, but when Joseph fled with him, then a child, into Egypt, in order to avoid the wicked and fecret defigns of Herod againft his life. His com

I.

PART ing into the world was indeed intended to prove, in God's appointed time, an universal benefit to the whole world: but it seemed good to his Divine Wisdom to fhew in the first place a fpecial favour to those, who had for fo long a time been his peculiar people, in making choice of their country to be the feat of his conftant refidence, whilst he lived here on earth. And a great bleffing was this his refidence, inasmuch as he went about their country doing good, Acts x. 38. not only to men's bodies by his miraculous cures, but also to their fouls by his moft holy doctrine and life. And it is on account, chiefly and eminently, of the unfpotted holiness of our Redeemer, the ever bleffed and ever to be adored JESUS, that the land of the Jews, wherein he lived, is by us Chriftians dignified with the most honourable title of the Holy Land.

2.

Called in Scripture the land of

Ifrael.

3.

A general

countries

The name, whereby it is denoted in the New as well as the Old Teftament, is the land of Ifrael, Matt. ii. 20, 21. Under which name in its larger acceptation is comprehended all that tract of ground, on each fide the courfe of the river Jordan, which God gave for an inheritance to the children of Ifrael. And within this extent or compafs lay all the provinces or countries, which our Lord honoured with his prefence, excepting Egypt; and fo all the countries or places, but a very few, mentioned or referred to by the four Evangelifts, or in the history of our Saviour's life.

Now before I enter upon a particular defcription of our view of the Saviour's Journeyings, it may be convenient to give here a mentioned general view of the faid countries. I fhall begin with the in the four celebrated province of Judea, and so take the reft as they come Gofpels, more efpein my way, in a geographical order, or with respect to their cially of the fituation. principal divifions of the

Judea then took its name originally from Judah, the fourth Holy Land. fon of Jacob, whofe offspring made up the most renowned of Of Judea. the twelve tribes of Ifrael, (moft renowned, as on other ac

counts, fo especially because of it sprang our Saviour, Heb. vii. 14.) Hence by the children of Judah were originally understood only the tribe of Judah; and by the land of Judah, only the portion of land that appertained to that tribe. But in process of time, when ten of the twelve tribes revolted

from

1.

from the house of David, and erected themselves into a dif- CHAP. tinct kingdom, under the title of the kingdom of Ifrael; then the other two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, which adhered to the house of David, began to be both of them comprehended under one common title of the kingdom of Judah, or fimply Judah. And afterwards by degrees, as the people of the kingdom of Judah did enlarge their poffeffions, more especially upon the ten tribes being carried away into captivity by the King of Affyria (when those of Judah feemed to have poffeffed themselves of the land pertaining to the two adjoining tribes of Simeon and Dan, then left defolate), upon these acquifitions the name of Judah or Judea began to be extended to all the southern tract of the land of Ifrael, fo as to include under it, not only what of old belonged to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, but also what belonged to the tribes of Simeon and Dan. And in further process of time, especially after the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, the name of Judea was extended in general to all the Holy Land, at least to all the parts of it inhabited by Jews. In this largest acceptation it is taken, Luke xxiii. 5, &c. In the other acceptation, wherein it denoted all the south part of the Holy Land, it is always taken where it is mentioned in conjunction with Galilee, Samaria, and the country beyond Jordan; excepting only one place, of which I shall speak diftinctly in the enfuing paragraph.

The place referred to by me in the foregoing paragraph is Mark iii. 7, 8. where we are told, that a great multitude followed JESUS from Galilee, and from Judea, and from Ferufalem, and from Idumea, &c. Now Idumea, though it be no more than the Greek name, framed from, and answering to, the Hebrew Edom, yet is not here to be understood of the original habitation of the Edomites, mount Seir (of which fee Deut. ii. 5.); but by Idumea in this place of St. Mark, seems much more probably to be denoted the more southern part of the province of Judea, which during the captivity of the Jews at Babylon, being left deftitute or not fufficiently inhabited by its natives, feems to have been poffeffed by the neighbouring Idumæans. Thefe Idumæans, though (when

5.

Of Idumea.

PART they were afterwards quite difpoffeffed again of many places I. in Judea, and were brought fo low by the conquering arms of the Maccabees, as to be forced to comply with fuch terms as the Jews offered them) they chose rather to embrace Judaism, than to quit the habitations they were poffeffed of; and, though hereupon they were incorporated into the body of the Jewish nation, and were reckoned themselves among the Jews; yet however the tract of Judea inhabited by them did not fo foon lose the name of Idumea derived from them, but retained it not only in the times of the New Teftament, as appears from this place of St. Mark, but also for a confiderable time afterwards, as appears from common writers.

6.

Of Samaria.·

7.

Of Galilee.

Above Judea northwards lay the province of Samaria, so called from its city of the fame name, formerly the capital of the kingdom of Ifrael, namely, from the reign of Omri, its founder. For he bought the hill Samaria of Shemer for two. talents of filver, and built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, after the name of Shemer, owner of the hill, Samaria, 1 Kings xvi. 24. This province, as well as the former of Judea, ftretched itself from the Mediterranean Sea weftward, to the river Jordan eastward, taking up the moft confiderable part of what formerly pertained to the tribe of Ephraim, and the half tribe of Manaffes on the weft fide of Jordan, and lying exactly between Judea to the south, and Galilee to the north. Whence St. John faith, chap. iv. 4. that our Saviour must needs go through Samaria, when he left Judea and departed into Galilee; which laft therefore comes next to be described in the geographical order I above propofed here to follow.

I pass by the etymology or derivation of the word Galilee, there being not enough faid in Scripture to make a well grounded conjecture concerning it. I obferve rather, that this country above all the others was most honoured with our Saviour's prefence. It was here that he was conceived, Luke i. 26, &c; it was hither that Joseph and Mary returned with him, then a child, out of Egypt; it was here he fettled and lived with his reputed father, and the bleffed Virgin his mother, till he began to be about thirty years of age, and was

baptized