Page images
PDF
EPUB

century he has resided amidst the scenes and the scenery described, and from mid-day to midnight, in winter and in summer, has gazed upon them with a joyous enthusiasm that never tired. First impressions, corrected and improved by subsequent study and examination, are now reproduced for the eye of the public and the heart of the pious.

In many departments of Biblical literature the student in Europe or America, surrounded by ample libraries, is in a better situation to carry on profitable inquiry than the pilgrim in the Holy Land, however long his loiterings or extended his rambles. But it is otherwise in respect to the scenes and the scenery of the Bible, and to the living manners and customs of the East which illustrate that blessed book. Here the actual observer is needed, not the distant and secluded student. To describe these things and such as these, one must have seen and felt them; and this the author has done through many years of vicissitude and adventure, and whatever of life and truthfulness there may be in his pen-pictures is due to this fact. Where he has been he proposes to guide his reader, through that "good land" of mountain and vale and lake and river: to the shepherd's tent, the peasant's hut, the palace of kings, the hermit's cave, the temple of the gods-to the haunts of the living and the sepulchres of the dead-to muse on what has been and converse with what is, and learn from all what they teach concerning the oracles of God. A large part of these pages was actually written in the open country. On sea-shore or sacred lake, on hill-side or mountain-top, under the olive, or the oak, or the shadow of a great rock-there the author lived, thought, felt, and wrote, and place and circumstance have, no doubt, given color and character to many parts of the work. He would not have it otherwise. The Bible, at once his guide, pattern, and text, is pervaded with the air of

[blocks in formation]

rural life; and He who came from heaven to earth for man's redemption loved the country, not the city. To the wilderness and the mountain He retired to meditate and pray. Thither He led His disciples and the listening multitudes; and from seed-time and harvest, and flocks and shepherds, and birds and flowers, He drew His sweetest lessons of instruction. In that identical land, amidst the same scenes, has the author of this work earnestly cultivated communion and intimate correspondence with that Divine Teacher, and with the internal and external life of the Book of God; and what he has found and felt he has tried to trace upon the silent page for other eyes to see and other hearts to enjoy.

A new generation of readers and students of the Sacred Scriptures has arisen, and the interest in Biblical studies has been greatly increased and extended. Any work designed to meet the wants of those who now daily search the Scriptures should abound in illustrations, both textual and pictorial, which are accurate and reliable in detail, and the information imparted must be brought down to the present day. No effort has been spared which was found necessary to reach such a result. The pictorial illustrations are entirely new, prepared specially for this work from photographs taken by the author, and from the best existing materials, and they have been drawn and engraved, under his superintendence, by artists in London, Paris, and New York. The thanks of the author are due to his publishers for the liberal manner in which this most costly part of the work has been executed.

Great attention has been bestowed upon the spelling of proper names, and all who have any knowledge of the subject will appreciate its importance. It is extremely perplexing to ordinary readers to meet with a dozen different ways of spelling the name of the same person, place, or thing.

To avoid this confusion it is absolutely necessary to have some well-defined system, and the one adopted for this work is that of Dr. Edward Robinson. This system, drawn up by Dr. Robinson, and his fellow-traveller, Dr. Eli Smith, was submitted to the general meeting of the Syrian Mission. After careful examination, in which the author participated, it was adopted by the mission; and it has gradually grown in public favor-has been accepted by the Palestine Exploration Fund of England, by the American Exploration Society, by recent writers, and in guide-books to the Holy Land. In addition to the names which occur in our English Bible, the present Arabic names of places are added in all important cases a feature, in this work, of much importance.

This volume of the Land and Book is supplied with two carefully prepared indexes-one of texts, and the other of names and subjects-and the attention of the reader is directed to them, as they will facilitate reference to those parts of the work where the Scripture passages illustrated, and the subjects treated of, are to be found.

And now, with the cheerful hope and fervent prayer that our pleasant pilgrimage together through the earthly Canaan. may hereafter be resumed and perpetuated in the heavenly, the author bids his courteous reader farewell.

New York, 1879.

W. M. T.

[blocks in formation]
[ocr errors]
« PreviousContinue »