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.

CHAPTER I.

Of the Holy Land in general, and its principal' Divisions; as also of such other Places, as lay without the Holy Land, and are mentioned or referred to in the four Gospels.

AMONG the great and glorious advantages,

en

I.

joyed of old by the Jews above the Gentiles, it The Holy may justly be esteemed none of the least, that our Land, why blessed Lord and Saviour JESUS CHRIST not only so called.. came of them according to the flesh, Rom. ix. 5. but also, 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 Joseph fled with him, then a child, into Egypt, in order to avoid the wicked

PART I. and secret designs of Herod against his life. His

Called in

the land of

Israel.

coming into the world was indeed intended to prove, in God's appointed time, an universal benefit to the whole world but it seemed good to his Divine Wisdom to shew in the first place a special favour to those, who had for so long a time been his peculiar people, in making choice of their country to be the seat of his constant residence, whilst he lived here on earth. And a great blessing was this his residence, inasmuch as he went about their country doing good, Acts x. 38. not only to men's bodies by his miraculous cures, but also to their souls by his most holy doctrine and life. And it is on account, chiefly and eminently, of the unspotted holiness of our Redeemer, the ever blessed 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.

The name, whereby it is denoted in the New as well as the Old Testament, is the land of Israel, Scripture Matt. ii. 20, 21. Under which name in its larger acceptation is comprehended all that tract of ground, on each side the course of the river Jordan, which God gave for an inheritance to the children of Israel.. And within this extent or compass lay all the provinces or countries, which 3. our Lord honoured with his presence, excepting A general Egypt; and so all the countries or places, but a countries very few, mentioned or referred to by the four mentioned Evangelists, or in the history of our Saviour's life. in the four Now before I enter upon a particular descripGospels, tion of our Saviour's Journeyings, it may be concially of the venient to give here a general view of the said principal countries. I shall begin with the celebrated prodivisions of vince of Judea, and so take the rest as they come the Holy in my way, in a geographical order, or with respect to their situation.

view of the

more espe

Land.

4.

Judea then took its name originally from Judah, Of Judea. the fourth son of Jacob, whose offspring made up the most renowned of the twelve tribes of Israel, (most renowned, as on other accounts, so especially

because of it sprang our Saviour, Heb. vii. 14.) CHAP.I. Hence by the children of Judah 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 process of time, when ten of the twelve tribes revolted from the house of David, and erected themselves into a distinct kingdom, under the title of the kingdom of Israel; 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 simply Judah. And afterwards by degrees, as the people of the kingdom of Judah did enlarge their possessions, more especially upon the ten tribes being carried away into captivity by the King of Assyria, (when those of Judah seemed to have possessed themselves of the land pertaining to the two adjoining tribes of Simeon and Dan, then left desolate,) upon these acquisitions the name of Judah or Judea began to be extended to all the southern tract of the land of Israel, so 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 process 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 acceptation, wherein it denoted all the south 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 shall speak distinctly in the ensuing paragraph.

5.

The place referred to by me in the foregoing paragraph is Mark iii. 7, 8. where we are told, Of Idumea that a great multitude followed JESUS from Galilee, and from Judea, and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, &c. Now Idumea, though it be no more than the Greek name, framed from, and answering