longs from the city, to eight hundred of his soldiers, whom he had dismissed from his army.' This may be identical with the Emmaus of Luke. Dr. Robinson identifies Kuryet el 'Enab, Kirjathjearim, with Emmaus. It is the right distance from Jerusalem, and it would be a very appropriate situation to plant a colony of dis

banded troops, for they would command the road from the seaboard to Jerusalem. The two things do not clash, for Kuryet el 'Enab may be both Kirjath-jearim and Emmaus; and it renders this site more interesting to find it not only the resting-place of the ark, but, long after, the place where He who was infinitely greater than the ark revealed himself in the breaking of bread to those wonder1 Wars, vii. vi. 6.

NICOPOLIS.-RESPECT DUE TO SACRED SITES.

125

ing disciples. Some modern writers locate Emmaus at Kubeibeh, and others at Kŭlônieh, but for this there is no historic authority, and Kulônieh is much too near Jerusalem.

But even though 'Amwâs may not be the Emmaus of Luke, it early became celebrated; and there are still the remains of a church there, and other indications of antiquity. It was called Nicopolis by Julius Africanus, who caused it to be rebuilt early in the third century; and under this name it is often mentioned by Eusebius, Jerome, and other early writers. It also figures largely in the Crusades, as does Beit Nŭba, a village north-east of it, which marks the limit of Richard the Lion-hearted's career in this country. He loitered several weeks there in fruitless negotiations with Saladin, and then returned disappointed to Ramleh.

There are fine fountains below 'Amwâs, which Pliny mentions ;' and good water in this neighborhood is most acceptable, even in spring, as the pilgrims have abundant reason to remember; for the road is lined with boys and girls with jars of it for sale.

For sites like this of 'Amwâs, that recall incidents of special moment, I am conscious of an ever-growing reverence. They seem providentially perpetuated from the distant ages to bear witness to the reality of those things with which they are intimately associated. Familiarity is said to breed contempt, but in this case I have no fear of such a sinister result.

Not contempt, certainly, but there is more than a possibility that thoughtless and intimate association may induce indifference. These peasants of Sharon look upon the sites and scenes, which so deeply affect you, with utter insensibility, and the inhabitants. of Jerusalem go in and out of the gates of Zion without bestowing a thought upon the significance with which religion has clothed everything in and about the Holy City.

The time may come when I shall need to be on my guard in this respect, but thus far the effect produced by closer acquaintance has been quite the reverse. Things innumerable constantly remind me that I have found the true home of the Bible, where the prophets and apostles wrote their inspired revelations, and willing witnesses, on every side, testify to this great fact.

1 Book vi. 14.

ance.

You do not overstate the case, nor place too high a value upon such testimony, for, rightly heard and truly interpreted, it adds many a link to the golden chain of evidence that holds our faith fast anchored to the Word of God. Remembering where we now are, and with what scenes and scenery surrounded, our thoughts are directed most naturally to this particular phase of the general subject, and, for illustration, we may resort, for a moment, to an imaginary incident: A learned Pundit in the East had a Bible presented to him, and, after carefully reading it, he resolved to institute a thorough investigation into the reality of its claims to acceptHe rightly saw that the entire book is inextricably interwoven with human history and numberless incidents in ordinary human life. Countless names of places, persons, and things are mentioned in connection with a small and well-defined land, and of a peculiar character. "These things I can examine," says he, "and if they accord with the statements in the book, I shall prosecute the further study of it with greater respect and confidence. But if there is no such land, no such places or things, and no evidence that such persons ever lived there and performed the acts ascribed to them, then I shall know that the book is a forgery. I will go thither, and see for myself."

Arrived on this coast, our Pundit inquires for Joppa, but can hear of no such city. He lands, and is told that no city of that or any other name similar to it ever existed in that region. "What!" says the bewildered Pundit, “no Joppa in this country, no Cæsarea, no Jerusalem, no Bethlehem, no Hebron?" To these, and all such questions, the reply is always the same: "We know nothing about these places, nor has any tradition regarding them come down to us from our forefathers. Strangers like you from a distance visit us, and make inquiry about them, and many other wonderful things of which we of the country have never heard." If, on further investigation, the physical features of the country, its climate, and its animal and vegetable productions, are found to be totally diverse from those mentioned in the book, what other conclusion could the visitor adopt but that the book was an impudent forgery?

That no such result could be reached by any investigation of

SIGNIFICANCE OF BIBLICAL SITES AND SCENES.

127 this country is now well known to all the world. The places and the things inquired for are all here, in their right positions, and ever ready to bear testimony to the truthfulness of the sacred. writers. We may, therefore, dismiss our imaginary Pundit and all his sceptical perplexities. It will be well, however, to continue the inquiry for ourselves on a more comprehensive basis, and we may be quite sure that the Bible will come triumphantly through the most searching examination carried out into minutest details. So far from proving it to be a fable or a forgery, such an investigation would powerfully corroborate its claims to be a divine revelation, written by holy men inspired by the Spirit of God.

The names of persons, places, things, and incidents around and about us both illustrate and confirm the Bible, and it is this fact alone that gives them special significance and real importance

to me.

The range of topics, historic, moral, social, and religious, is very wide and surprisingly diversified. Think, if you can, of a Bible with all these left out, or others essentially different substituted in their place—a Bible without patriarch or pilgrimage; with no bondage in Egypt or deliverance therefrom, no Red Sea, no Sinai with its miracles, no Wilderness of Wandering with all the included scenes and associated incidents; without a Jordan with Canaan over against it, or a Dead Sea with Sodom beneath it; no Moriah with its temple, no Zion with palaces upon it. Whence could have come our divine songs and psalms, if the sacred poets had lived in a land without mountain or valley, where were no plains covered over with corn, no hills planted with the olive, the fig, and the vine? All are needed, and all do good service, from the oaks of Bashan and the cedars of Lebanon "even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall." We can dispense with none of them. The tiny mustard-seed has its moral, and the lilies of the field their lessons. Thorns and thistles utter admonitions, and revive sad memories. The shepherd and his flock, the sheep and the fold, the ox and his yoke, the camel and his burden, the ass and his owner, the horse with neck clothed with thunder; lions that roar, wolves that raven, foxes that spoil, harts panting for water-brooks, and roes feeding amongst lilies; doves in their windows, sparrows on the

house-top, storks in the heavens, eagles hasting to the prey; things great and small; the busy bee, and the careful ant laying up store in harvest-these are merely random specimens out of a world of rich materials all congregated in this land, where their presence was needed to enrich and adorn the revelation of God to

man.

This seems to be quite evident; and I can also see that if the condition of the people associated with these external phenomena had been essentially different from that of the Hebrews and their neighbors, the result could not have been achieved, at least not in the form in which we now have it.

Again, suppose there had been no heathen in their borders with idols to corrupt, no enemies to fear and resist, like the Philistines, the Midianites, or the Canaanites; or if the customs and occupations of the people had been other than they were, and there had been no ploughing and sowing; neither seed-time, nor harvest, nor summer threshing-floor with useless chaff; no vineyard, or vinedresser with pruning-hook; no vintage or wine-press; if there had sailed over Galilee no boat, and no fisherman had cast a net into that lovely sea; if there had been no weaver with his shuttle and loom, no refiner with his furnace, no smith with his forge, no potter with his wheel; or no warrior with bow and battle-axe, sword and shield, no bloody battles, no slaughtered victims, no prisons, chains, or captive slaves; no floods to drown, no famine to consume, no earthquake to terrify and overwhelm, no pestilence to desolate, no rust to corrupt, moth to eat, locusts to lay waste, scorpion to sting, serpent to bite-then would it have been utterly impossible for the sacred writers to have given us such a book as we now possess.

In a word, therefore, if we should erase from our Bibles all that has a manifest connection with or necessary basis in this land, there would be very little left; and any attempt to fill up these erasures with other names, narratives, and incidents would be simply preposterous.