THE JOURNEYINGS OF OUR BLESSED LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST: OR, A GEOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE Places mentioned, or referred to, IN THE FOUR GOSPELS. CHAP. I. Of the Holy Land in general, and its principal Divisions; as alfo of fuch other Places, as lay without the Holy Land, and are mentioned or referred to in the four Gofpels. AMONG the great and glorious advantages, enjoyed of 1. Land, why old by the Jews above the Gentiles, it may juftly be The Holy efteemed none of the leaft, that our bleffed Lord and Sa- fo called. viour JESUS CHRIST not only came of them according to the flesh, Rom. ix. 5. but alfo, during his stay in the flesh here upon earth, dwelt among them, John i. 14. making so constant an abode with them, as that we read not in Scripture he ever went out of the bounds of the Holy Land, but when Jofeph fled with him, then a child, into Egypt, PART I. Egypt, in order to avoid the wicked and fecret defigns of Herod against his life. His coming into the world was indeed intended to prove, in God's appointed time, an univerfal benefit to the whole world: but it seemed good to his Divine Wisdom to fhew in the first place a special favour to those, who had for fo long a time been his peculiar people, in making choice of their country to be the feat of his conftant refidence, whilst he lived here on earth. And a great bleffing was this his refidence, inafmuch as he went about their country doing good, A&ts x. 38. not only to men's bodies by his miraculous cures, but also to their fouls by his most holy doctrine and life. And it is on account, chiefly and eminently, of the unfpotted holiness of our Redeemer, the ever bleffed and ever to be adored JESUS, that the land of the Jews, wherein he lived, is by us Christians dignified with the most honourable title of the Holy Land. 2. The name, whereby it is denoted in the New as well as Called in the Old Teftament, is the land of Ifrael, Matt. ii. 20, 21. Scripture the land of Under which name in its larger acceptation is compre Ifrael. hended all that tract of ground, on each fide the course of the river Jordan, which God gave for an inheritance to the children of Ifrael. And within this extent or compass lay all the provinces or countries, which our Lord honoured with his prefence, excepting Egypt; and fo all the countries or places, but a very few, mentioned or referred A general to by the four Evangelists, or in the history of our Sacountries viour's life. 3. view of the mentioned in the four Now before I enter upon a particular description of our Gospels, Saviour's Journeyings, it may be convenient to give here a more efpecially of the general view of the said countries. I fhall begin with the principal celebrated province of Judea, and so take the rest as they come in my way, in a geographical order, or with respect to their fituation. divifions of the Holy Land. 4. Judea then took its name originally from Judah, the Of Judea. fourth fon of Jacob, whofe offspring made up the most renowned of the twelve tribes of Ifrael, (most renowned, as on other accounts, fo especially because of it Sprang our our Saviour, Heb. vii. 14.) Hence by the children of Ju- CHAP. 1, dah were originally understood only the tribe of Judah ; and by the land of Judah, only the portion of land that appertained to that tribe. But in procefs of time, when ten of the twelve tribes revolted from the house of David, and erected themfelves into a diftin&t kingdom, under the title of the kingdom of Ifrael; then the other two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, which adhered to the house of David, began to be both of them comprehended under one common title of the kingdom of Judah, or fimply Judah. And afterwards by degrees, as the people of the kingdom of Judah did enlarge their poffeffions, more efpecially upon the ten tribes being carried away into captivity by the King of Affyria, (when thofe of Judah feemed to have poffeffed themselves of the land pertaining to the two adjoining tribes of Simeon and Dan, then left desolate,) upon thefe acquifitions the name of Judah or Judea began to be extended to all the fouthern tract of the land of Ifrael, fo as to include under it, not only what of old belonged to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, but also what belonged to the tribes of Simeon and Dan. And in further procefs of time, especially after the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, the name of Judea was extended in general to all the Holy Land, at least to all the parts of it inhabited by Jews. In this largest acceptation it is taken, Luke xxiii. 5, &c. In the other aceeptation, wherein it denoted all the fouth part of the Holy Land, it is always taken where it is mentioned in conjunction with Galilee, Samaria, and the country beyond Jordan; excepting only one place, of which I fhall speak distinctly in the ensuing paragraph. The place referred to by me in the foregoing paragraph 5. is Mark iii. 7, 8. where we are told, that a great multi- Of Idumea. lude followed JESUS from Galilee, and from Judea, and from Jerufalem, and from Idumea, &c. Now Idumea, though it be no more than the Greek name, framed from, and anfwering to, the Hebrew Edom, yet is not here to be understood of the original habitation of the Edomites, mount |