verer, is the new world, and it contains North and South America. This hemisphere was unknown to those who dwelt in the Eastern half of the earth, till the year of our Lord 1492; consequently the Jews in the time of our Lord were as unacquainted with it as the rest of the civilised world.

You now see what I meant when I said that the notion entertained by the Israelites that Jerusalem was the centre of the earth, showed their ignorance; for even were it the central point on the surface of the old world, it would lose its character as such, the moment the Western hemisphere is taken into the measurement.

In order, however, that you may rightly understand their view, you must learn and bear in mind that only a small portion of the Eastern hemisphere was inhabited by civilised nations in ancient times, and therefore that only a small portion of the surface of that hemisphere was meant when men spoke of the earth or the whole earth. The earth, to the ancients, was in each age that portion of our hemisphere with which men were then acquainted. With little more than the western and southern borders of Asia, the northern borders of Africa, and the southern borders of Europe, were even educated Romans familiar at the advent of Christ. As you go further back in history, the acquaintance of men with the surface of the earth becomes less extensive, till in the days of Noah the term 'earth' seems to have comprised little more than a circle, drawn so as to touch the Mediterrannean on the west, the Black Sea on the north, the Caspian and the Persian Gulf on the east, and the Red Sea on the south. In later times, the progress of civilisation took its course westwardly, and, covering Asia Minor, extended to Greece, Italy, and even as far as Spain. With this extension of the circle towards the west, you will by looking on the map see that the Hebrews had good reason for holding Jerusalem to be the centre of the earth. In this opinion, therefore, we find a proof of their knowledge as well as of their ignorance.

The facts now set before you will enable you to see how fit a part of the earth Palestine was to be the spot where God took special measures for making himself known to man. By its position at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, it was connected with the whole Western world. Its nearness to Africa made Egypt its next neighbour. The Red Sea brought it into intercourse with the whole line of western Arabia, while it lay at no impassable distance from those very ancient seed-beds of knowledge and government, the banks of the Euphra ́tes and the Tigris. Practically, Jerusalem may be said to have been the centre of the civilised world, and no spot was more favourable for receiving and diffusing abroad the rays of religious truth.

CHAPTER II.

GENERAL OUTLINE.

The geography of the Bible, in concurrence with the opinion of some of the most learned of recent investigators, directs our minds to the high lands of Armenia and the fertile plains which lie between the Tigris and the Euphrates, as the parts of the earth where human society originated, and whence our race spread in every direction over the face of the earth. By the descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the three sons of Noah, the world was peopled. Shem, the founder of the Shemitic family, gave birth to tribes which occupied the peninsula running south from the Black Sea and the Caspian to the Indian Ocean, comprising what may specially be called 'the Lands of the Bible.' Ham was the progenitor of the Africans, though the Egyptian races, whose monuments have come down to us, are connected with the Shemites. Japheth was the father of the European nations, who seem to have set out from India, taking a northwesterly course. Other parts of the earth appear to have received their several populations from one of these three great stems. From continental Asia on the south, the islands of the South Sea may have been peopled, and at Behring's Straits on the north the tribes may have crossed, which gave rise to the diverse races that extended over America from north to south before it received European settlers.

These races and nations became mixed and confounded together; yet do many of them still retain great lines of distinction, particularly in the places which they inhabit and the languages which they speak. They were in the time of Christ nearly as much blended as now, and far less known one from another. This mingling is of advantage to all, for it tends to make men feel that they are members of one family. In primitive times, such a mixture was both impossible and undesirable. Purity of blood was then held in deserved estimation, because it was a means and a guarantee of a less impure transmission of religious truth. Of all nations, the Arabians are most jealous to keep their race free from baser elements; and of all Arabians, the descendants of Abraham, or the Hebrews, were in this point most successful as well as most particular. The preservation of their national unity enabled them to transmit in a state of comparative purity the primitive traditions of the human race and the divine truths of religion. Accordingly, in the early portions of the Bible we have religion and history much more free from earthly ingredients than in any other ancient books.

At the time of our Lord, the Roman power, which had just

passed from a republic into an empire under Augustus Cesar, extended over all the more civilised parts of the earth, from Britain and France in the west to Syria in the east, and from the northern shores of Africa, including Lower Egypt, to the rivers Danube and Rhine.

Of this large portion of the Eastern hemisphere, the countries around the Mediterranean are most interesting to the reader of the Bible, not only as the early seats of civilisation, but also because they are frequently mentioned in that invaluable book. If we place ourselves on Mount Lebanon, in Palestine, then we

stand in Syria, which is the strip of land running along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, and of which the southern part forms Canaan, or the Holy Land. Looking southward, we have at our back the mountainous region of Arme'nia, flanked on the west by the Black Sea, and on the east by the Caspian. At our left hand, and far over the Syrian Desert, flow the Euphra'tes and the Tigris, which, taking their rise in Armenia, run down into the Persian Gulf, and as they go enclose the country called Mesopotamia, the parts of which that line the rivers are very productive and beautiful. On the banks of these streams human beings first formed societies. On the Euphrates arose the famous city of Babylon, and on the Tigris the scarcely less distinguished city of Ni'neveh. The country which lies between the Euphrates and the table-lands on the east of the Jordan, bears the name of

Ara'bia Dese'rta, and is a spacious wilderness containing pasture grounds and other more verdant spots. Pursue this district southward, and passing Arabia Petre'a, or Arabia with its chief city, Petra, stretching across from the southern extremity of the Euphrates to the northern shores of the Red Sea, you come to Arabia in the wider sense of the word—that is, the great peninsula formed by the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Persian Gulf, and containing the very fertile and early peopled country specifically called Arabia Felix. If now you resume your station on Lebanon, you will find Palestine before you running down along the sea line, with Pheni'cia at its northern and Phili'stia at its southern extremity. Carrying your thoughts still further south, you behold the peninsula of Sinai', so interesting in consequence of having in its sequestered vales and deep ravines afforded shelter and a home to the Israelites during forty years. Directing your eye round to the west, you come to the land whence the Hebrews, rescued by Moses, went forth to undergo in the Desert that discipline which was requisite to raise them into a nation of religious freemen. Egypt, the land of the Nile, to the annual overflow of which river the country owes its wealth, civilisation, and renown, has for the Biblical student special and unfading attractions, inasmuch as it still presents in its tombs, temples, and other monuments, materials for history unique in their kind, most abundant in their amount, and highly instructive in their disclosures. Immediately beneath you, on the right, lie the blue waters of the Mediterranean, serving as a great highway for the transmission westward of the riches of Oriental discovery, invention, knowledge, and general culture, and by means of land carriage, conducted by caravans which passed over the Syrian and Arabian deserts through Persia and still further eastward, serving to connect the eastern shores of the Atlantic with the marts of India and even China. Along the surface of the Mediterranean you in turn see islands famous in ancient history,-Cyprus, Crete, Malta, Sicily. If now you carry your eye in a line with your right hand, you meet with Asia Minor, having on its eastern side the provinces of Cappado'cia and Pontus; on its northern, Paphlago'nia and Bithy'nia; on its western, Mysi'a, Ly'dia, and Ca'ria; on its southern, Lycia, Pamphy'lia, and Cili'cia; and in the centre, Lycao'nia, Pisi'dia, Phrygia, and Gala'tia. Pursuing a westerly direction, after leaving Asia Minor and passing the Æge'an Sea, or Archipelago, you come to Hellas, or Greece, called Acha'ia in the New Testament, and having Macedonia on the north and Thrace on the north-east. From Macedonia, Illyricum stretches upward in a north-westerly line. Crossing the Adriatic Sea, you land on the eastern side of Italy, and from Brundi'sium, which lies on the heel of the boot, the shape of which Italy is thought to represent, you may proceed across the Apenni'ne hills directly to Rome,

found midway on its western seaboard. Thence you may travel by land over the Alps, or by sea through the Gulf of Ge'noa, to France; and from France, going over the Pyrenees, you pass into Spain, and, proceeding southward, come to Tarshish, near the Pillars of Hercu'le's, or the Straits of Gibraltar. And should you wish to traverse the civilised districts of Africa, keeping along its northern shore, you will in succession go through Mauritania Numi'dia, Africa Proper, and Ly'bia, till you at last come to Egypt; and from Egypt, turning to the north, may cross the desert, and through Phili'stia, the western coast of Palestine and Pheni'cia, once more take your stand on Mount Lebanon.

This time, however, I wish you to place yourself on its southeastern apex, or highest point, commonly called Mount Hermon, from which as a centre the whole Lebanon range may be conceived to spring. Looking towards the north, you see the two long, nearly parallel ridges of Lebanon on the west and Antilebanon on the east, proceeding up through Syria till they enter and form a part of Mount Taurus, which runs east and west through Asia Minor. Opening as they go northwardly, these two ranges enclose the wide and beautiful valley called Cole' Syria, that is Hollow Syria, or the Beka'a, having Baalbec, the famous City of the Sun, in the south-east, and watered by the Oronte's, which by a northerly, and the Leonte's, which by a southerly course, fall into the Mediterranean Sea. Turn your