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political import, are not the object of the Apocalyptical prophecies-unless they appear to have promoted or retarded in a considerable degree the real progress of the religion of Jesus Christ, whose proper reign is in the hearts and consciences of his subjects. His reign is advanced when Christian principles, when faith, and righteousness, and charity abound. It is retarded when ignorance, impurity, idolatrous superstition, and wickedness prevail.

4. We are not to attempt the particular explanation of those prophecies which remain to be fulfilled.

* Translation of the Apocalypse, p. xii. &c.

291

CHAPTER II.

A SKETCH OF SACRED GEOGRAPHY.

SECTION I.

GENERAL FEATURES AND DIVISIONS OF THE HOLY LAND.

I. Names II. Situation and Limits-III. Inhabitants-IV. Divisions.-V. Face of the Country-1. Rivers-2. Mountains3. Valleys, Plains, and Deserts.

I. VARIOUS NAMES.*

THE land given by covenant to the seed of Abraham," for an everlasting possession," is distinguished by various appellations, both in the Holy Scriptures and in the Jewish and Pagan writers. Of these the following are the principal:

1. THE LAND OF CANAAN.-This name is derived from the descendants of Canaan, the grandson of Noah, who were its earliest inhabitants. These were either destroyed, expelled, or rendered tributaries, by the Israelites, in conformity with the prediction of the patriarch Noah, Gen. ix. 25.

It should be particularly remarked, that under this name was not comprehended the whole of the land given to the tribes of Israel, but only that part of it which lay west of the river Jordan. See Numb. xxxv. 14; xxxiii. 51; Josh. xxii. 11, &c.

*In this section we have adopted, with some slight alterations, the plan laid down by Reland, in his admirable work, "Palestina Illustrata," &c., availing ourselves of the materials furnished by the most authentic and recent travellers, concerning the present state of the Holy Land.

It is also necessary to apprise the reader, that by the Land of Canaan is sometimes meant that part of the country occupied by the Philistines, extending along the south-eastern coast of the Mediterranean, and in which were situated the cities of Ascalon, Gaza, Ashdod, Ekron, and Gath. See Zeph. ii. 5, &c.

2. THE LAND OF ISRAEL.-This name, which was given to the land after its conquest by Joshua, and its division among the tribes (see 1 Sam. xiii. 19; 2 Ki. vi. 23, &c.), comprehended the whole of the territory which was possessed by the twelve tribes, on each side of the river Jordan (see 2 Ki. xiv. 25; 1 Chr. xiii. 2); and it appears to be the appellation in most frequent use by the sacred writers.

3. THE LAND OF GOD-not in that sense in which the entire world is said to be the Lord's, but in a peculiar sense. See Lev. xxv. 23; Ps. lxxxv. 1; Hos. ix. 3; Joel, i. 6; iii. 2. He was the sovereign, and granted the use of his territories to the children of Israel. He brought them in with a strong arm, expelling its former inhabitants for their impieties. His sovereignty was acknowledged by his people, in the presentation of their first-fruits, and in the consecration of the sabbatic years. Besides this, he fixed his habitation here, saying, "This is This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it," Ps. cxxxii. 14. His temple, his priests, and his worship, consecrated the favoured land.

4. THE LAND OF PROMISE.-So called (Heb. xi. 9), from the promise made to Abraham, that it should be given to his seed as their inheritance, Gen. xii. 7, &c. This designation did not include the region on the East of the Jordan, that not having formed part of the promise.

5. THE HOLY LAND.-So called by the Jews, because it was the chosen and consecrated spot in which the one true God was acknowledged and worshipped; and by Christians, because it was the scene of the manifestation and mediatorial work of the promised Messiah. The Jews entertained very high notions of the exclusive sanctity of their own land, esteeming the very dust thereof to be holy, while they regarded every other part of the world as profane and polluted. Hence they were accustomed, on their arrival in Judea from any of the places without its limits, to rub off the dust from their shoes, lest their inheritance should be defiled. Lightfoot thinks there is an allusion to this custom in Matthew x. 14, where our Saviour commands his disciples to shake off the dust from their feet, when leaving a city where their message had been rejected.-"Show, by shaking off the dust from

your feet, that ye esteem that city, however a city of Israel, for a heathen, profane, impure city."*

6. THE LAND, AND AND THE EARTH.-It is frequently spoken of under these terms (see Ruth i. 1; Jer. iv. 20 ̊; xxii. 29; Luke iv. 25, &c.), by way of eminence or distinction; or, perhaps, out of contempt to the Gentile nations, whom the Jews considered as nothing-a people who had no beingwho were yet to be created. See Ps. xxii. 31; cii. 18; Hos. i. 10, &c. +

7. JUDEA.-This name originally distinguished the southern part of the land, which was occupied by the tribe of Judah. But after the return from the captivity it appears to have been given to the whole country.

8. PALESTINE.-This name, by which the land is frequently mentioned both in Jewish and Gentile writers, is derived from the Philistines, a people who had settled on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean sea, and with whom the Israelites were frequently at war.

9. By profane writers the Holy Land has been variously termed, Syria-Syria-Palestine-Calo-Syria-Idumea- and Phenicia.

II. SITUATION AND LIMITS.

The Jews affirm that the Holy Land is situated in exactly the centre of the world: be this as it may, it is situate in the exact centre of the three continents that were anciently inhabited, and therefore most wisely chosen to the depository of the oracles of God. The Africans could not go out of Suez, their only passage between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, to enter into Arabia, without making Palestine in their way. The Arabians, coming out of their deserts met the river Jordan. The Europeans, when at the end of their longest courses on the Mediterranean, arrived in Greater Asia, upon the confines of Palestine. The Persians, and other eastern nations, could not pass the Euphrates, and visit the provinces of the west and the south, without coming into the countries near Syria and Palestine. §

In the map, this country presents the appearance of a narrow slip, extending along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean; from which, to the river Jordan, the utmost width does not exceed fifty miles. It is situate in the fifth

See Whitby on 1 Cor. i. 28.

*Hor. Heb. Matt. x. 14.
Relandi Palestina, b. i. cap. i—ix.
Le Pluche, Truth of the Gospel Demonstrated, vol. i. p. 99.

climate, between the 31st and 34th degrees of north latitude. It has the Mediterranean sea on the west; Lebanon and Syria on the north; Arabia Deserta, and the land of the Ammonites, Moabites, and the Midianites, on the east; the river of Egypt (the Sihor, Josh. xiii. 3; Jer. ii. 18); the desert of Zin, the southern shore of the Dead Sea, and the river Arnon, on the south; and Egypt, on the south-west. Near the mountains of Lebanon stood the city of Dan, and near the southern extremity of the land, Beersheba; hence in the sacred writings the expression, "from Dan to Beersheba," is used to denote the whole length of the country. Its extreme length, therefore, was about 190 miles, and its width about 80. The boundaries of the land are most accurately described by Moses, Numb. xxxiv. 1—15.

But the real boundary of the Holy Land, on the western side, did not continue so distinct and simple in the succeeding periods as the law would have made it, because the Israelites desisted from expelling the Philistines and the Canaanites. David first fully executed what the lawgiver commanded on this head; and yet it would appear that he had rather subdued than exterminated these strange nations.* The clear possession of the sea-coast is of great consequence to a state established in Palestine, even though it should carry on no commerce: for without it the boundary could never be secure. Hence we see that as long as the Philistines on the southern side of Palestine continued to occupy but a small tract of coast, the Israelites were never at rest: sometimes they were even brought under the Philistine yoke, as we learn from the books of Judges and Samuel. And further to the north, the single city of Acco (Acre), or Ptolemais, is so decisive of the fate of Palestine, that whoever possesses it, may easily make himself master of the whole country, in consequence of the advantage given by the great plain, which extends itself from this port all the way to the river Jordan, dividing Palestine into two parts. That on this hand the sea was certainly to form the Israelitish boundary, is manifest from this circumstance, that the territory assigned to Asher as its portion, reaches from Mount Carmel toward Achzib, on the coast; and that it was reckoned as a transgression to this tribe, that they left Accho and Achzib

*The conquest of Canaan by the Israelites has often furnished a ground of complaint to the impugrers of revelation. For a satisfactory vindication of this transaction, the reader is referred to Michaelis on the Laws of Moses, vol. i. B. ii. ch. 3; Paley's Sermons, Ser. xxix.; Faber's Orig. of Pagan Idolatry, vol. iii. p. 564, &c.; Townsend's Old Testament, vol. i. p. 444, &c., note; and Critica Biblica, vol. i. p. 161, &c.

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