"O! quantum est in hominum studiis inane!" But the events which the Scripture History records are of the most deeply interesting and important kind, not only to one portion of the human family, but to the whole; and the interest and importance of them attach not to a few fleeting generations, but are commensurate with the existence of the human race. To him who traverses the field of Scripture Geography, it may be said, almost at every step, Stop ! for thy tread is on an empire's dust, The Garden of Eden, the resting-place of the Ark, the second cradle of the human family, the journey to the Plains of Shinar, the division of the earth, the site of the first great empires, the descent of the Israelites into Egypt, their triumphant exode, their wanderings in the Wilderness, their settlement in the land of Canaan, the different cities which crowned its rocks, or sought shelter in its valleys, the palaces of their kings, and the retreats of their prophets these are scenes and subjects which should be deeply interesting. The glory which has gathered round the territories of Greece and Rome, is dim to that which still lingers on the banks of the Jordan and the land of Judea. “I have seen," says Chateaubriand (Itineraire de Paris a Jerusalem, tom. ii. p. 184), "the great rivers of America, with the pleasure which nature and solitude inspire. I have visited the Tiber with enthusiasm, and have examined with similar interest the Eurotas and the Cephisus; but I cannot tell what I experienced on seeing the Jordan. Not only did the river recal to me a famous antiquity, and one of the fairest names which the most beautiful poetry hath entrusted to the memory of man, but its streams presented me with the scene of the miracles of my religion. Judea is the only country of the earth which recals to the traveller the recollection of things human, and things divine, and which causes to spring up in the bottom of the soul, by this blending, thoughts and feelings which no other place can inspire." In another passage, the same writer remarks: "That when you travel in Judea, the heart is at first filled with profound melancholy. But when, passing from solitude to solitude, boundless space opens before you, this feeling wears off by degrees, and you experience a secret awe, which, so far from depressing the soul, imparts life and elevates the genius. Extraordinary appearances every where proclaim a land teeming with miracles. God himself has spoken in these regions, dried up rivers, rent the rocks, and opened the grave. The desert still appears mute with terror; and you would imagine that it had never presumed to interrupt the silence since it heard the awful voice of the Eternal." As you go up to Jerusalem, that city which was once the joy of the whole earth, the interest increases. Its splendid temple, and its gold-paved streets, even in the days of its brightest prosperity, were but shadows of a higher glory which belongs to it. That temple was hallowed by visible tokens of the Divine favour; and these streets were trodden, not merely by saints and prophets, but by Those blessed feet, Which eighteen hundred years ago were nailed, The brook Cedron, the garden of Gethsemane, and the hill of Calvary, possess an interest which is shared by no other scene. "We ran over," says Chateaubriand (Itineraire, tom. ii. p. 230), "the different stations to the summit of Calvary. In all antiquity you find nothing so touching, nothing so marvellous as the last scenes of the Gospel. You find not there the eccentric adventures of a divinity who was a stranger to human nature; it is the most pathetic history-a history which not only makes us shed tears by its beauty, but the consequences of which have changed the face of the earth. I have been to visit the monuments of Greece, and have been filled with their grandeur; but they were far from inspiring me with the feelings which I experienced on seeing the Holy Places." The wars which were carried on for the possession of the Holy Sepulchre had their origin in a high and generous enthusiasm. It is impossible to doubt that many of the weary pilgrims who pressed into the Holy Land, were urged by strong feelings of devotion; and it is next to impossible not to sympathize with that mixture of chivalry and piety with which the crusading armies and their attendants approached the city which was the end of all their toils and wanderings. Behold! Jerusalem in prospect lies! Each faltering tongue imperfect speech supplies; Even to the philosopher, Jerusalem and the Holy Land, from having been the scenes of those events which have exercised a powerful and extensive influence on the character and happiness of the human race, possess peculiar interest. "On visiting the places consecrated by those events which have changed the face of the world, we have a somewhat similar feeling to that of the traveller, who, after laboriously ascending the current of a mighty river, like the Nile or the Ganges, at length discovers and contemplates its hidden source." "It seemed to me, also," says Lamartine (Pilgrimage to the Holy Land, vol. i. p. 319), "as I ascended the last hills which separated me from Nazareth, that I was going to contemplate, on the spot, the mysterious origin of that vast and fertile religion which, for these two thousand years, has made its road from the height of the mountains of Galilee through the universe, and refreshed so many human generations with its pure and living waters! There is its source! There, in the hollow of the rocks on which I tread! This hill, the summit of which I am attaining, has borne on its sides the salvation, the life, the light, the hope of the world. It was there, at a few paces from me, that the Man-model was born among men, to withdraw them, by his word and his example, from the ocean of error and corruption, into which the human race was fast submerging. If I considered the matter as a philosopher, it was the point at which occurred the greatest event that has ever startled the moral and political world-an event, the influence of which is yet felt throughout the whole compass of social order. From hence arose, as from the bosom of obscurity, poverty, and ignorance, the greatest, the most just, the wisest, most virtuous of men: this land was his cradle! the theatre of his actions and of his affecting discourses! From hence, while yet young, he went with a few unknown and uneducated men, whom he had inspired with the confidence of his genius, and the courage necessary to their mission-which was, boldly to attack an order of ideas and things, not powerful enough to resist his doctrines, but sufficiently so to put him to death; from hence, I repeat, he went with alacrity to conquer death, and obtain the empire of posterity! From hence, in fine, flowed Christianity at first an obscure spring, an almost unperceived drop of water in the hollow of the rock of Nazareth; in which two sparrows could scarcely have allayed their thirst, and which a ray of the sun could have dried up; but which now, like the great ocean of mind, has filled every abyss of human wisdom, and bathed in its inexhaustible waves the past, the present, and the future. Were I, therefore, incredulous as to the Divinity of this event, my soul would still have felt powerful emotions on approaching its primitive theatre; and I should have uncovered my head, and bowed down profoundly to that occult and all-powerful will which has made so many great things flow from so feeble, so imperceptible a commencement." Nor is the interest, which this writer so feelingly expresses, confined to the birth-place of the Saviour. It belongs to every scene connected with the history of his life on earth. The villages in which he taught, and the mountain from which he pronounced the beatitudes-the wilderness in which he was tempted, and the garden where he was agonized-are scenes fitted to excite and to reward our most ardent inquiries. Indeed, every place which was sanctified by his presence, and blessed by the casting forth of that precious seed which has produced such an abundant harvest of glory to God, and good-will among men, should be regarded by us with feelings of the deepest gratitude and devotion. In seeking to know all that can now be learned of such places, we are gratifying a curiosity which is highly laudable, and which may be indulged to an extent which no similar subject can justify. When the Saviour had accomplished his decease at Jerusalem, and his Apostles, shaking the dust from their feet against that devoted city, went forth from it, bearing with them a light brighter than any which had ever burned behind the rent vail of its temple, the field of Scripture Geography becomes wider, but scarcely less interesting. The journeyings of the Apostles are fitted to awaken in us the most lively and generous emotions. Altogether independent of the sacredness of the cause in which they were engaged, the zeal and intrepidity which they manifested-whether fighting with wild beasts at Ephesus, or with the more furious passions of their infatuated countrymen-whether bearing up against the taunts of infidelity at Athens, or the rage of persecution at Rome-are sufficient to enlist all our sympathies on their side. When we think of the pure and lofty doctrines which they taught, and of the generous and manly eloquence with which they urged these doctrines on the acceptance of their hearers, the mantle of their Divine Master seems to descend upon the holy brotherhood, which now contains no traitor in its band. When we read of the prejudices which they subdued, and the idols which they overturned-of the deserts which rejoiced, and the wildernesses which blossomed at their word-of the sinners whom they converted, and the churches which they planted-we feel that we are reading the accomplishment of what the Prophets going before them had spoken. In following the tract of the Apostles, we find that we are in the train of truth, and breathe more loftily than if we were swelling the we were swelling the pomp of some victorious army. Some of the candlesticks which were set up by the Apostles have been removed; some of the lights which they kindled have been extinguished; but a deep and solemn interest must ever gather round the history of those churches which were planted by the Apostles and first teachers of Christianity;-and the fact, that some of these churches are now in ruins, so far from diminishing our desire to know all that Scripture Geography can tell of the condition of these churches, should only stir up our faith and quicken our vigilance, and lend additional interest and emphasis to the Scripture, which saith, "He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." In addition to these direct arguments in favour of the study of Scripture Geography, several facts and circumstances may be stated as tending to show the necessity and importance of its being more carefully and extensively cultivated. Till a period comparatively recent, the Geography of Scripture was de termined chiefly on the authority of the ancient geographers, who, in many cases, were but imperfectly acquainted with the subject. Ignorant of the true system of the universe, and of the real figure of the earth, they could not lay down the relative position of the different countries and places with precision or accuracy. For our knowledge of much of the geography of the Old Testament, and of many of the most remarkable localities mentioned in it, we are indebted to Jewish authors and to Jewish traditions. The Septuagint version of the Old Testament is understood to have been done by Jews, who translated the names of the various countries and places mentioned, in conformity with the opinions which prevailed at the time among their countrymen. But these opinions must have been considerably influenced and modified by the views which were entertained by the people who carried them away into captivity; and although it may be admitted, that, in general, they are in accordance with the statements of Scripture, still it would have been better for the cause of Sacred Geography that the Septuagint, instead of translating the names of countries and places, and giving the Greek names by which these places were then recognised, had merely given the original Hebrew names, and thus had left the Geography of Scripture to be settled upon Scripture authority. For although it is desirable to have the opinion of those who lived so early and so near the places described or alluded to, still, if that opinion was liable to be biassed by the partialities and prejudices which were then entertained, or to be disfigured by the ignorance which then prevailed, it would have been better that the matter had been left free and open, rather than closed and settled upon narrow and erroneous grounds. The authority of the Septuagint translation was very high in the early ages of the Christian church; and, in this way, the geographical mistakes and misnomers which it had made have been extended and multiplied through other translations. For example, the word in the Old Testament Scriptures is applied to various countries which were peopled by the descendants of Cush. One of these is understood to have been Ethiopia, lying south of Egypt, and in Africa. By the Septuagint version this word is generally rendered Ethiopia, which rendering has been, in many instances, followed by the Vulgate, and by our English version. In this way, much confusion and perplexity has been occasioned; because, although in some of the passages where it has been so rendered, the country which we understand to be designated by the term Ethiopia be the country which is meant, it is not so in all. And it is plain, that, if we refer to one of the countries called Cush, what is said of another country which was also called so, but lying at a great distance from the former, much embarrassment must ensue. There are no fewer than four different countries, it has been thought, to which the name is applied in the Old Testament. Now, this being the case, it is plain that the word should not have been translated by Ethiopia, which is e |