CHA P. IV.

Of St. Paul's Travels and Voyages into Phrygia, Galatia, Myfia, Troas, Macedonia, Achaia, &c. till his fourth Return to Jerufalem, after his Converfion.

ST

T. PAUL, after his next departure from Jerusalem, taking a very great circuit both by land and fea, before he returned again to the Holy City, I fhall therefore diftinguish this chapter into two fections.

SECT. I.

Of St. Paul's Travels, from his leaving Jerufalem, after the Council there held, to his Departure out of the Afiatic Continent for Europe.

THE

I.

St. Paul re

turns with

Antioch.

HE Council at Jerufalem, having made fuch decrees as were judged proper", difmiffed St. Paul and the reft of his company, who returned to Antioch. Some days after Barnabas to they had been here, Paul faid unto Barnabas, Let us go again and vifit our brethren, in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and fee how they do. Hereupon A. D. 46. Barnabas, taking with him John, furnamed Mark, failed into Barnabas Cyprus, his native country; and Paul taking with him Silas, part one otherwife called, according to the mode of the Latin tongue, other. Silvanus, went through Syria, and fo into his native country

y

St. Paul and

from the

PART

II.

2.

Cilicia,

Derbe and

The country called in the New Teftament Phrygia, is the fame with that which in common authors is generally styled Phrygia Major, or the Greater, to diftinguish it from another St. Paul country called Phrygia Minor, or the Leffer, (of which more hereafter) by the said common authors. The Scripture Phrythence to gia lay to the weft of Lycaonia, where stood Derbe and Lyftra, and Lyftra; from which last, as lying next to it, St. Paul seems fo into Phry-to have come directly into Phrygia. The people of this gia. A. D. 49. country are faid to be anciently more fuperftitious than the other Afiatics; as is gathered from the rites used by them in the facrifices of Cybele, and fome other Heathen goddeffes. They are faid also to be the inventors of augury, and other kinds of divination; and yet for the most part men of afterwits, whence the proverb, Sero fapiunt Phryges, i. e. the Phrygians are wife too late, is wont to be applied to fuch as want forecast, and know better to lament misfortunes than to keep them off. They were likewife noted for their effemiand lightness of converfation; and, for fear they fhould not of themselves be wanton enough, their very mufic was fo fitted as to difpofe them to lasciviousness. Hence that sort of mufic which is ftyled by Ariftotle enthufiaftic, as unhinging the affections, is by Boethius termed Phrygian; which by the Philofopher firft mentioned is forbidden to be used, by reason of the ill influence it was apt to have on men's behaviours. And it is an obfervation of the Orator, that change of mufic makes a change in manners; and therefore care is to be taken in a commonwealth, that the most grave mufic only be used. But to return to the geographical account of this province. It was by Conftantine divided into two provinces, Phrygia Salutaris, and Pacatiana; of which last mention is made in the postscript at the end of the first Epiftle to Timothy.

polis.

3.

nacy

In Phrygia, and more particularly in that part of it which, Of Hiera- after its divifion by Conftantine, was called Pacatiana, lay the city Hierapolis, mentioned by St. Paul, Col. iv. 13. being the principal city of that divifion. Of this place take this account from Sir Paul Rycaut. About five miles on our right

Prefent State of the Greek Church, chap. ii. p. 64, &c.

hand

IV.

hand from Laodicea to the north, we efpied a white cliff on CHA P. the fide of a hill, with some buildings thereon, which the Turks from their whitenefs call Pambuck or Cotton; and having received information from the Greeks that Hierapolis was there to be seen, curiofity carried us thither; of which place Strabo reporteth in this manner.

Hierapolis is feated over-against Laodicea, where are to be feen baths of hot waters, and the Plutonium. The waters eafily congeal the earth, whereon they run, into stone, so that the channels are firm rocks. The Plutonium is under the brow of the hill, the entrance into which is no wider than that a man can thruft himself through; yet it is very deep within, of a quadrangular form, containing about the compass of half an acre, and is filled with fuch a thick and caliginous air, that the ground cannot be seen. At the new moon, the poisonous air contains itself within the circumference of the cave, so that a man may approach to the mouth of it at that time without danger; but if any living creature ventures to go in, it immediately expires. Cattle which have been put in there have been drawn out dead; and some sparrows, which we let fly therein, prefently died. Thofe which attend the temples, enter in without danger; because perhaps they are full of an enthusiastical spirit, and fo are preferved by Divine Providence; or else because they have difcovered fome confervations against the peftilence of that air. The water of Hierapolis, which fo abounds that the whole city is full of baths, hath an admirable virtue for dying; fo that colours dyed there, with the help of certain roots, equal the best fcarlets and purples of other places. Thus far Strabo: but what we ourselves faw and obferved was in this manner.

We, mounting at first an afcent towards the ruins, obferved the ground to be covered with a foft brittle ftone, crusted by the hot waters, which defcend with a full stream from the hill. Being come to the top, the firft object which prefented itself to our fight, and to put us in mind of our mortality, as well as of the period and fubverfion of cities, were certain magnificent tombs of entire ftone; I may rather

call

II.

PART call them coffins, with covers of the fame, cut in a cubical form. One bore the fculpture, as it feemed, of Apollo, in a chariot; but the charioteer was difmounted, and both he and the other part of the monument fubverted. Other fepulchres there were, like fmall chapels, covered with ridges of vast ftones, instead of lead or tiles, to caft off rain. Other vaults and charnel houfes lay open, where lay exposed the white bones of men, light and dry, and as durable almost as the walls of the city. Near hereunto was the Campus Martius, or a place which feemed to have been defigned for exercises and feats of arms. Proceeding farther, we entered into a folitude fo difmal, as affected our minds with a ftrange confufion, and with the thoughts of the fad fate of this unhappy city. The waters, which tumbled down the precipice, added, by its murmuring found, to the melancholy of the place; and as they run, they petrify all before them, making rude channels for themfelves of ftone; and when fometimes they overflow, they petrify the earth with a brittle cruft. In the midst of the city is a bath of hot waters, paved at the bottom with white marble; but the pavement is now difordered by the fall of pillars and other ornaments, which encompass it. For it seems to have been fet off with columns and arches, agreeable to the magnificence of antique buildings, and to the excellent virtues of the waters. For I am of opinion, that the quality of those waters at the beginning drew inhabitants to that place; the fituation thereof not being otherwife advantageous for trade, no more than the air feems conducing to health, lying open to a large plain to the fouth, and fhut into the north with a high mountain. It might alfo in probability have had the name of Hierapolis from the medicinal virtues of thofe waters, which often have been accounted facred, and dedicated to fome deity; or elfe perhaps the cures they operated in many difeafes might bestow the name on it of the Holy City, as rivers and fountains have upon lefs confiderable occafions been hallowed and accounted facred by the Gentiles.

Not far diftant remains the ruin of a theatre, not very large, but sumptuous, of a round form, the seats about twenty

three

three in number, one above the other: but it is almoft filled CHAP. with the downfall of vaft and weighty pillars; the marble of IV. which is so curiously polished, and ftill smooth and not defaced, (especially those parts of it, which the rubbish and stones have preserved from the weather,) that I have not observed better in the countries of Chriftendom. Some infcriptions we found, but such as were worn out with time, and broken off in the midst; only this was very legible on the portal of a gate which was fallen into the theatre: Απόλλωνι Αρχηγέτη κα that is, To Apollo the chief Prefident, and. Some authors fay, that the multitude of temples and fanes, with which this city did abound, was the reason they gave unto it the name of Hierapolis, or the Holy City. And indeed the ruins of vast fabrics are fo numerous, that we may well believe, that the falfe gods had once there a great poffeffion and fhare of worship. And as the walls and pillars are the greatest and strongeft that I have obferved; fo the covering and the roofs are the most different from all others that I have seen, being stones of an incredible magnitude and weight, which by force of engines being carried aloft, are there close cemented without the help of timber, and (what is more) of arched work, and yet are joined fo artificially, that unto this day they remain unmoveable either by time or earthquakes.

In this place is ftill to be seen the grotto or cavern, so much defamed by ancient writings, and particularly by Strabo, as before mentioned, for those peftilential or noxious vapours, which it perfpires, infecting the air about it with unwholefome atoms; which Pliny confirms, book ii. chap. 83. of his Natural Hiftory. The Turks that have had the curiosity to enter into this cave, being ignorant of its ill vapours, have often felt the bad effects of them, having either fuddenly died, or else fallen defperately fick; and therefore they have a report generally amongst them, that the place is haunted by fpirits, which strike men dead, that have the boldness to enter into their region. For my part I would not go near it; for I ingenuously confefs that curiofity was never fo prevalent in

me,