THE LAND AND THE BOOK; OR, BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATIONS DRAWN FROM THE MANNERS AND THE HOLY LAND. BY W. M. THOMSON, D.D., TWENTY-FIVE YEARS A MISSIONARY OF THE A.B.C.F.M. IN SYRIA AND PALESTINE. Maps, Engravings, &c. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. NEW YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE. 1871. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, by HARPER & BROTHERS, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York. AUTHOR'S PREFACE. EVERY sincere attempt to illustrate the Word of God is in itself commendable. On this fundamental fact the author rests his apology for obtruding the present work upon the notice of the public. Commentaries are daily multiplying; geographies and dictionaries, researches and travels almost innumerable, lend their aid to the student of the sacred page, and it is not proposed to add another to the long list. The author does not attempt a consecutive comment on any particular book of the Bible, but selects indiscriminately from all, such passages as contain the themes he desires to elucidate. The field is ample, and it is abundantly rich in subjects for scenic and pictorial description. Whether he has succeeded in working out his own idea or not must be left for others to determine, but, if he has failed, it has not been through want of opportunity to study the originals of which his pictures are to be copies. For a quarter of a century he has resided amid the scenes and the scenery to be described, and from midday to midnight, in winter and in summer, has gazed upon them with a joyous enthusiasm that never tired. The 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. The author entertains the opinion that much has been published upon Biblical illustration which recent research has shown to be incorrect or rendered superfluous, and much, also, that does not properly belong to the subject. Erudite and curious inquiries into the life and conduct of |