baptized of John, Matt. ii. 22, 23. Luke ii. 39, 51. Matt. CHAP. iii. 13. Luke iii. 23. It was hither he returned after his I. baptifm and temptation by the Devil, Luke iv. 14. And after his entry upon his public ministry, though he frequently vifited the other provinces, yet it was here that his dwellingplace was, Matt. iv. 13. And lastly, it was here our Lord made his first appearance to the eleven Apoftles after his refurrection, Matt. xxviii. 16. To all which may be added, that the moft confiderable part, if not all, of his faid Apostles. were of this country; whence they are all ftyled by the angels, Acts i. 11. men of Galilee. It remains only to obferve here farther, that Galilee took up what was formerly poffeffed by the tribes of Iffachar and Zabulon and Naphtali, and the inland part of the tribe of Afher. A more distinct account of the bounds of Galilee will appear, from what is to be said of the countries joining upon it, which I therefore proceed to.

8.

Of the pafts

of Tyre and

As Galilee was bounded on the fouth with Samaria, so it was bounded on the weft and north with the coafts of Tyre and Sidon, which were two very confiderable cities, feated Sidon. on the Mediterranean Sea, and thereupon celebrated for merchandize in facred (as well as heathen) hiftory, Ifai. xxiii. They both lay within the land of Canaan; and Sidon, as it was fo called from the firft-born of Canaan, Gen. x. 15. fo was it the northern border of the land of Canaan, Gen. x. 19. and upon division of the faid land among the tribes of Ifrael, it, together with Tyre, fell to the lot of the tribe of Afher, Josh. xix. 28, 29. But we read, Judg. i. 31. that Aber did not drive out the inhabitants of Sidon, nor of the other maritime places there mentioned, which lay along upon that seacoaft, but dwelt in those parts among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land.

There remains now only the eastern boundary of Galilee to be spoken to; and this was made up of the countries of Abilene and Ituræa, with Trachonitis. Of these Abilene lay highest to the north, and was fo named from its chief town Abila, and is thought by fome to have lain within the borders.

9.

Of Abilene,

of

I.

PART of Nephtalim, though it was never fubdued by that tribe. Mr. Maundrel tells us, that the next day after he left Damascus, in his return towards Tripoli, they came to a small village, called Sinie; just by which is an ancient structure on the top of an high hill, supposed to be the tomb of Abel, and to have given the adjacent country in old times the name of Abilene. The tomb is thirty yards long, and yet is here believed to have been but just proportioned to the stature of him that was buried in it.

nitis.

10.

Below Abilene, on the east of the course of Jordan, lay Of Itura, Ituræa, thought to have taken its name originally from Jetur, Gen. xxv. 15. one of the fons of Ifhmael, who settled in these parts, and whofe pofterity was afterwards either quite driven out, or fubdued by thofe Amorites, over whom in the time of Mofes reigned Og, by the title of the King of Bashan: Ituræa, therefore, being much the same with the kingdom of Bashan, was a confiderable part of that tract of ground, which Mofes gave to that half tribe of Manaffes, which fixed on the eaft of Jordan. And to the fame half tribe appertained the region of Argob, Deut. iii. 13. or the country about mount Gilead, which from its craggy rough mountains or hills was and Tracho- called by the Greeks Trachonitis, i. e. the rough or mountainous country. This country lay eaft of Ituræa, and together with it made one tetrarchy, Luke iii. 1. in our Saviour's A tetrarchy, time. In order to understand the import or meaning of which word, it may not be unuseful to observe, that, upon the death of Herod the Great, his kingdom was divided into four parts, which were therefore called tetrarchies; that is, governments confifting of a fourth part, or rather divifion (for they were not equal parts) of the aforefaid Herod's kingdom. These are all mentioned by St. Luke in the place above cited, viz. the tetrarchy of Galilee, belonging to Herod furnamed Antipas; the tetrarchy of Ituræa and Trachonitis, belonging to his brother Philip; and the tetrarchy of Abilene, belonging to Lyfanias: the fourth divifion was that of Judea, Samaria, and Idumea, which (Archelaus, eldest son of Herod the Great, enjoyed for a time with the title of King, Matt. ii. 22. ·

what.

but

I.

but he being afterward displaced, his kingdom) was made CHA P. a province of the Roman empire, governed by Pontius Pilate at the time of our Saviour's crucifixion.

II.

Of Perea, or

dan.

We have now gone round the borders of Galilee, and there is remaining but one province more, which lay within the country the bounds of the land of Ifrael, and that is Peræa, or beyond Jorthe country beyond Jordan, lying to the fouth of Ituræa, and to the east of Judea and Samaria, and poffeffed of old by the two tribes of Reuben and Gad.

12.

Of Decapo

As for Decapolis, it was a tract so named from ten confiderable cities contained therein; fome of which lay without, lis others (if not the greater part) lay within the Holy Land, partly in Ituræa, partly in Peræa.

Having gone through the provinces or countries men-. tioned in the Gospels, and lying (at least mostly) within the land of Ifrael, I am in the last place to take notice of those few countries and places that lay without the land of Ifrael, and are mentioned in the Gofpels. I fhall begin with Syria; under which name, though heathen authors do sometimes include the Holy Land as a part of it, yet by facred writers it is, I think, always ufed in a more reftrained fenfe, and in the New Teftament as a country distinct not only from the Holy Land, but also from Phoenicia (mentioned Acts xi. 19, &c. and of which the coafts of Tyre and Sidon were the fouthern part). So that by Syria in the New Testament is to be understood the country lying to the eaft and northeaft of the Holy Land, between Phoenicia and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, and the river Euphrates to the east.

13.

Of Syria.

14..

Beyond Syria and its adjoining country Mefopotamia, mentioned Acts vii. 2. on the river Tigris is the city of Nine- Of Nineveh. veh generally supposed to have been fituated, and to have been built by Nimrod. It is famous for being the capital city of the first, that is the Affyrian, empire; as alfo for its greatness, and for its inhabitants repenting at the preaching of the prophet Jonas, Jon. iii. 3, 5. on which laft account it is mentioned by our bleffed Saviour, Matt. xii. 41.

As Nineveh was the capital of the Affyrian empire, whilst it continued entire; fo upon its being broken into two parts,

one

15.

Of Babylon.

I.

PART one seized on by the Medes, the other by the Chaldæans, the capital of this latter part was Babylon, founded likewise by Nimrod, Gen. x. 10. and of vaft bignefs, and very famous in facred as well as common writers, especially on account of the captivity of the Jews into the countries under its dominion; for which reafon it is mentioned by St. Matthew, chap. i. ver. 17. It lay in Chaldæa, on a stream of the great river Euphrates.

16. Of the kingdom of the

South.

In the fame place, where our Saviour mentions Nineveh, he makes mention likewife of the Queen of the South, who Queen of the came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, Matt. xii. 42. Now it is evident from the history of Solomon, recorded in the Old Teftament, that by the Queen of the South is to be understood the Queen of Sheba, I Kings X. I; which Sheba was the capital city of a confiderable kingdom in the most fouthern part of Arabia: fince therefore Arabia is that country which takes up all that part of the Afiatick continent that lies fouth of the Holy Land, even fo far as to the main Southern Ocean; and fince the kingdom of Sheba took up the most southern part of Arabia, it appears that the Queen of Sheba is very properly faid to come from the uttermost parts of the earth that way, namely, fouthwards in refpect of the Holy Land.

17..

To the weft of Arabia lay the country of Egypt, famous Of Egypt. in the Old Teftament för God's bringing out from thence the children of Ifrael, his peculiar people, and therefore styled by the prophet Hofea, chap. xi. 1. his Son, namely, by virtue of the covenant which God made with Abraham, Acts iii. 25. The fame country is mentioned by St. Matthew, chap. ii. 13, 14, 15, &c. on account of our Saviour's being carried thither to avoid the wicked purposes of Herod against his life; and being upon the death of Herod called back again out of Egypt into the land of Ifrael, whereby the prophetical part of Hofea's words in the place juft now cited did receive a literal and full completion, our bleffed Saviour being the Son of God by nature.

18.

Beyond Egypt weftward, not far from the Mediterranean Of Cyrene. Sea, food Cyrene, fo confiderable a city, as to give the name

of

I.

of Cyrenaica to the adjacent parts of Africk. Of this more CHAP. in the second Part; I fhall here only obferve, that of this place was Simon the Cyrenian, on whom the foldiers laid our Saviour's cross, to carry it after him to the place of crucifixion, Luke xxiii. 26.

Of Rome,

There remains but one place more to be here taken notice 19. of, and that is Rome, the capital of the Roman empire, by or the Ro whofe arms the Jewish nation was at first fubdued, and after- mans. wards finally deftroyed, or driven out of their own country; the very fame calamity which they caufelefsly feared would be the confequence of believing JESUS to be the Chrift, being by the juft judgment of God brought upon them as a punishment for their crucifying him. For, according to our Saviour's predictions, Matt. xxiii. 36. and xxiv. 34. the generation then present did not pass away before all that he there denounced against the Jews were fulfilled, and the Romans came and took away both their place and nation, John xi. 48.

Having thus given a general defcription of the several countries honoured with our Saviour's prefence, or so much as mentioned or referred to in the Gofpels, I come now to give a particular defcription of our Saviour's Journeyings, which I fhall diftinguish according to the feveral most remarkable periods of his life here on earth.

CHAP.