rendered it sacred." The best proof of its excellence, as observed by Whittaker, in his critical examination of Mr. Bellamy's hardy and arrogant assertions, is, "that it has been used, since its first appearance by the Dissenters as well as by the Church, and has been esteemed by all for its general faithfulness, and the severe beauty of its language.' Το conclude, in the words of Scott," During nearly two hundred years our translation has been extant, and persons of various descriptions have made new translations of the whole, or particular parts; and scarcely any writer on these subjects fails to mention alterations which he supposes to be improvements. It may then be asked, How can unlearned persons know that the authorized version may be depended on? Let the inquirer, however, remember, that Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Independents, Calvinists, and Arminians, who maintain eager controversies with each other, all appeal to the same version, and in no matters of consequence object to it; and, in fact, if all different readings, and all their alterations, were adopted, the rule of duty and the articles of faith would continue the same they now are."

SECTION VII.

On the Geography of the Holy Land.

WE naturally associate with remarkable events their loca lity, and the imagination forms a picture of the spot, which we wish to correct from the original. Who, that is even but imperfectly acquainted with the poetry and history of antiquity, has not longed at times to ascend the Acropolis of the city of Minerva, or to wander among the ruins of the ancient capital of the world? But what are the emotions of admiration which Athens or Rome can awaken in the minds of comparatively few, to the sentiments of reverence and gratitude which must touch the hearts of all believers, when they meditate on that hallowed land,

Over whose acres walked those blessed feet,

Which eighteen hundred years ago were nailed

For our advantage on the bitter cross!

This feeling, no doubt, from the very commencement of Christianity, led many a true devoted pilgrim

To measure kingdoms with his feeble steps;

and as superstition superseded, or at least allayed, pure and rational religion, the idea of merit connected itself more and more with that of gratification. An increasing multitude flocked in consequence from all quarters to visit the tomb of Him who died for them in Palestine, and enumerated on their return the various places which had been pointed out to them as the scenes of the events of that Saviour's life. We Protestants have ceased to regard such pilgrimages as meritorious, but Palestine is still from religious associations frequented by our travellers. They may be less devout, they are certainly less credulous, than their predecessors; and the minute accuracy, with which even the houses of almost all who are mentioned in the New Testament are pointed out to them, is calculated to provoke suspicion. We are apt to pass from one extreme to another; and Dr. Clarke, in his anxiety to avoid credulity, falls into an unreasonable scepticism, when he doubts, that the church which the mother of the first Christian emperor erected on Calvary, really covered the Holy Sepulchre. Allowing the primitive Christians to feel like ourselves, how could they lose the knowledge of the spot, or neglect to transmit it to their posterity? And if Helena was not misled, we are sure that the tomb within her church is really, as it has been ever since supposed to be, that of our Lord. We may depend upon this appropriation as true, and even Clarke is satisfied with the authenticity of the case of the Nativity. The two most interesting places then may be assumed as ascertained; and whatever changes the country has undergone in the lapse of ages, the most sceptical traveller must allow, that there is enough to recall his Scripture reminiscences in the durable monuments of nature. The temple

G

has disappeared, but the hills still stand around Jerusalem, as in the days of Solomon; and no one can call in question the position of the Mount of Olives. Capernaum, Chorazin, and the neighbouring towns, have been so completely, according to our Lord's prediction, brought down to hell, that their sites are doubtful; but the lake itself, from which he so often taught, and on which he walked, is unchanged by time, and the Jordan still rolls its consecrated waters into the bituminous lake which has succeeded to the plain of Sodom and Gomorrah. We are more interested in Palestine than in any other ancient country, and the many travellers who have published their observations on it, enable us to satisfy our curiosity. To many, however, of those, for whom this book is chiefly designed, they may be unknown; and therefore I add a section upon geography, which is principally compiled from Horne's Introduction, with the additional information to be derived from the Modern Traveller and Russel's Palestine. Some knowledge of the subject is not only agreeable but necessary, for without it some parts of the New Testament are at least obscure; as, for example, the observation "he must needs pass through Samaria," which is obvious to those alone who know that it lay between Galilee and Judæa.

This Holy Land, as it is called both by Jews and Christians, extends about two hundred miles in length, and eighty in breadth in the middle, and ten or fifteen more or less where it widens or contracts. The northern boundary is Libanus, a lofty chain of mountains which stretches from Sidon to near Damascus, high enough to have its summits covered with perpetual snow. The southern limit is called in the Bible, the river of Egypt, not meaning the Nile, but an obscure stream, supposed to be the Sichor, (Josh. xiii. 1—3. Jerem. ii. 18.) on the frontier of that country near Gaza, about sixty miles south of Jerusalem. The country is often distinguished in the Old Testament as lying between Dan and Beersheba, which were the most northern and southern cities. The western boundary is the Mediterranean Sea, the eastern was less certain. The promise to Abraham included all the land west

of the Euphrates, but it does not seem to have been regularly possessed for any length of time to this extent, except under David and Solomon; and it is of less consequence to enter into this question, as there never could have been any considerable fixed population in the pasture grounds and sandy deserts on the left of the Jordan. That river, the only one in Palestine, for the other streams are no more than winter torrents, is a peculiar feature in its physical geography. Its true source is a small round lake, called from its shape the Bowl, at the foot of the eastern ridge of Lebanon, known in classical geography by the name of Anti-Libanus, whence it passes under ground, and, emerging from a cave near Cæsarea Philippi, flows due south, passing through the Lake of Galilee, and then, after a rapid course of about a hundred miles, rolls into the Dead Sea a volume of water, from two to three hundred feet in width, with a current so violent, that an expert swimmer will find it hardly practicable to cross it. Here it is lost; but it seems probable from recent travels, that, previous to that convulsion of nature which converted the plain of Sodom into a lake, it found its way to the Elanitic gulph of the Red Sea, as is presumed from a deep valley bounded by mountains, which may be traced through the whole intermediate desert, and appears to have been traversed by the Israelites, and was in after times one of the lines by which the commerce of India and Africa with Palestine was carried on. The lake, or, to use the Hebrew idiom, the Sea of Galilee, on the shores of which our Saviour chiefly lived during his ministry, is about sixteen miles in length by six; and is called by St. John the Sea of Tiberias, from a celebrated city in its vicinity. "Its broad surface," observes Dr. Clarke, "covering the bottom of a profound valley, environed by lofty and precipitous eminences, added to the impression of a certain reverential awe under which every Christian pilgrim approaches it, gives it a character of dignity unparalleled by any similar scenery." He describes it as finer than any of the English lakes, but as inferior to Loch Lomond. "The barren aspect of the mountains, and the total absence of

wood," says Buckingham," give a cast of dulness to the picture, and this is increased to melancholy by the dead calm of its waters, and the silence which reigns throughout its whole extent, where, though it still abounds with fish, not a boat is now to be seen." A strong current through it marks the passage of the river, and when this is opposed by contrary winds which blow with the force of a hurricane from the south-west, sweeping into the lake from the mountains, a boisterous sea is instantly raised. A second lake, which greatly exceeds it in dimensions, derives its name, the Dead Sea, from the popular but erroneous opinion, that fish cannot live in it. Its water is perfectly transparent, yet salter and heavier than that of the ocean, and containing no less than a fourth of its weight of mineral ingredients, and of such a specific gravity, as will enable a man to float on the surface without motion. The air, loaded by evaporation with sulphureous vapours, is fatal to vegetation. The coast is rocky and desolate, and well suited to the tales related concerning it by the inhabitants of the country, who speak of it with terror. It was once, as we learn from the Old Testament, a fertile well watered plain, in which were Sodom and Gomorrah, and three other cities, which, on account of the wickedness of their inhabitants, were destroyed by an interposition of the Almighty. Modern travellers assure us, that the neighbouring country is volcanic; and it is highly probable, that this awful visitation of God, who generally effects his purposes by secondary causes, was produced in part by the agency of subterranean fire. In confirmation of this supposition, we may cite Deut. xxix. 23. " all the land burning with brimstone and salt, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah." Nor was the fire thus kindled soon extinguished; for it continued to send forth flames, smoke, and bitumen, in the first century. Josephus, Bell. Jud. iv. 4, 8. and Henderson, in his Account of Iceland, cites passages from the Prophets, which seem to shew that volcanic erup

a Thus Nahum, describing the majesty of God, says,

"the hills melt,