ON THE

IMPORTANCE AND ADVANTAGE

OF THE

STUDY OF SCRIPTURE GEOGRAPHY.

GEOGRAPHY is that department of knowledge which treats of the general outline and surface of our globe. It professes to make us acquainted with the natural divisions of the earth, by mountains, seas, lakes, and rivers; and with its political divisions into empires, states, and kingdoms, and the relations subsisting between them. It treats, too, of the natural productions of the different climates and countries of the earth, and of the laws and government, trade and intercourse, customs and manners, of the various inhabitants.

It is obvious that knowledge of this kind must be useful and interesting. Indeed, one of the first questions of the young inquirer is to know what lies beyond the horizon of his native valley, and to learn something of those climes which the sun goes to warm, when he sinks behind the hill which seems, to his uneducated eye, to be the boundary-wall of the world. And when the mind has become more mature, and has risen to an adequate conception of the figure and extent of the earth, there is no desire more natural and common than that of visiting new and foreign parts. When the heart is light, and the step elastic with the spirits of youth, it is a source of great satisfaction to open up a fresh prospect of nature, and to look on society in a new phase. Most men, however, are necessarily confined to one quarter of the earth's surface, and limited in the means of becoming personally familiar with the general aspect and condition even of that quarter which they inhabit. Much importance and interest are, therefore, attached to those accounts which make us acquainted with regions which lie beyond the reach of our own observation, and which enable us to rise to something like an adequate conception of the general distribution and economy of our globe. The knowledge of its rich and varied productions is calculated to enlarge our views of the Divine beneficence and wisdom. The contemplation of man, under different

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circumstances, shows us at once the strength and the weakness of the human faculties, and renders us more humble, by rendering us more intelligent. A survey of the various empires which have occupied the earth, and of the different laws and customs which have prevailed, lets us see our relative position and advantage in the scale of nations: And, in short, a knowledge of Geography, and of the different topics connected with it, by showing us our place, prepares us for taking our part, as the creatures of Divine power and the subjects of Divine providence; while, at the same time, it may serve to teach us something of what is due from us, as members of the great human family, as citizens, as neighbours, and as friends.

But, while all geographical inquiries are interesting and useful, the most interesting and useful are those which lead us to the knowledge of the places and countries mentioned in Holy Writ. These places and countries are connected with all that is great and ennobling in the history of man and of the world. Indeed, the Geography of Scripture may, in one view of the matter, be regarded as co-extensive with Geography in general. It may be said, in reference to it, that the field is the world." The Old Testament history opens with the origin of the first human family, and follows that family, through all their generations and all their wanderings, till they were swept from the face of the earth by the avenging waters of the Deluge. The posterity of Noah, who became the second founder of our race, are enumerated, and the different regions into which they migrated are recorded; so that, from the tenth chapter of Genesis, as from a centre, there are lines which "go forth to the uttermost ends of the earth." But the principal object of the Old Testament history being to record the dealings of God with the descendants of Abraham, the narrative soon comes to be limited to the wanderings of that Patriarch and his posterity. The extraordinary destinies of that singular people are scattered over a wide field, and connected with regions the most remote. Their great father, Abraham, travelled from Ur of the Chaldees, through Syria, into Egypt. Moses, after journeying for forty years, through Arabia, with the Israelites, brought them to the borders of the land of Canaan. Their struggles with the Canaanites and neighbouring nations were obstinate and bloody; and when at length the kingdom of Israel was established, its dominions, in the time of Solomon,* extended from the banks of the Euphrates to the borders of Egypt, while its fleets traversed the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf; and the caravan commerce of almost every part of the world which was then known passed through it. The subsequent revolutions of that kingdom and people bring us into contact with the Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian Empires, and with the whole regions of

2 Chron. ix. 26. He reigned over all the kings from the river (Euphrates), even unto the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt.

Central Asia. Their wars with the successors of Alexander, and the chivalrous and patriotic exploits of the Maccabees, are not recorded in the canonical books of the Old Testament: But, whatever opinion may be entertained of the authority of the books which record them, there can be little doubt that the historical events which they mention are substantially true, and that the knowledge of these events, and of the circumstances under which they happened, is exceedingly useful to the biblical student.

When the canon of the New Testament opens, the Jews had risen from the state of subjection into which they had fallen, and were enjoying a second era of splendour, under the protection of the Romans. The personal ministry of the Saviour, and consequently the narrative of the Evangelists, is confined to Galilee and Judea. But the history of the Acts of the Apostles opens up a wider field; for, as soon as they were satisfied of the comprehensive nature of the Gospel, they went into all nations, "baptizing them in the name of the Lord, and teaching them to observe all things whatsoever He had commanded them." The journeyings of the Apostle Paul alone extend from the shores of Syria, along those of the Adriatic, to those of Italy. He is even supposed to have penetrated as far as Spain and Britain; while Thomas is said to have preached the Gospel in India. But, without extending it to those places which the Apostles are thought to have reached, or beyond those which are distinctly alluded to in Scripture, it is plain that the Geography of the New Testament opens up before us a wide and interesting field. When taken in connection with the Geography of the Old Testament, it includes the most famous portions of our globe, and places that are populous with the most ennobling and stirring recollections. The lands into which it leads us are written all over with the most wonderful memorials, and have folded within their bosoms the dust of the most favoured generations that this opening earth can send forth to the bar of a righteous judgment.

The object of the following Essay is to recommend the study of Scripture Geography-to point out the advantages of a familiar and accurate acquaintance with the countries and the places which are mentioned in Holy Writ, and thus to hold out encouragement and motive to the prosecution of this department of knowledge.

I. A KNOWLEDGE OF SACRED GEOGRAPHY IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY TOWARDS A FULL AND CLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF THE

SCRIPTURES.

THE Canon of Holy Writ, from the time of Moses to the time of the Apostles, embraces a period of more than fifteen hundred years. Now, although all Scripture is given by the same inspiration, it was given by ment of different countries and of different eras. It is plain, then, that a know

ledge of the time when, and of the persons by whom, the different portions of Holy Writ were delivered, will conduce much towards the right understanding of it as a whole; and more especially in reference to those parts of Scripture which are historical, it is necessary to know the times and the seasons, as well as the countries and places, which are spoken of. Hence it is that Chronology, which is the knowledge of time, and Geography, which is the knowledge of place, have been called the two eyes of History. Without the light which they lend us, the records of the past would prove a dark and tangled labyrinth, from which we could never extricate ourselves, or rather a black and impervious forest, upon the gigantic shadows of which we must gaze in ignorant dismay. But when the dark mass has been cut and traversed, by the parallels of time and place, the phantoms which stalked throughout it disappear, and our views become more clear, and our impressions more correct. It is only, however, to the light of one of these eyes that attention is now claimed; and the following remarks refer merely to the assistance which Geography gives towards the full understanding of Scripture. Without minutely analysing the various books of the Bible, and showing the advantage of Geographical knowledge in reference to each and to all of them, it may be sufficient to consider the Scriptures as containing matters, Narrative, Historical, Prophetical, Didactic, and Doctrinal, and glance at the help which a knowledge of Geography gives in such matters.

Now, in reading any Narrative, the first desire which we feel is, to know something of the place and the circumstances in which what is narrated happened. Nor is this an idle or unreasonable curiosity. The knowledge of the place, and the circumstances in which any event occurred, tends greatly to impress that event upon our mind, and to make us more clearly understand its different bearings. The writers of fictitious narratives, indeed, find it more easy to get on with their descriptions, without their being tied down to the strict and literal proprieties of time and place; and the readers of such narratives like to indulge a dreamy imagination, in conjuring up scenes and circumstances befitting the events which are supposed to have happened. But, in matters of fact, it is quite otherwise. The more these matters are fixed down and determined as to place and circumstances, the more clear and satisfactory is our knowledge of them, and the more prompt and correct will be our recollection of them. In reading the narrative of Joseph, for example, we want to know all about it. We like to learn the situation of Dothan, where his brethren were feeding their flocks, and to look down, as it were, into the waterless pit into which they so unnaturally cast him. We wish to know something of the caravan of Ishmaelites, who afterwards bought him-of the country of Gilead, from whence they came-of the balm and

*

• This natural feeling was responded to in the early editions of the Bible, which frequently contain geographical delineations of the places referred to.

myrrh, and spicy loads, which they carried-of the land of Egypt, to which they journeyed-of the jewelled and linen-vested Pharaoh, to whose officer Joseph was sold-of the superstitious priesthood with whom he was associated by marriage and of the singular people over whom he was appointed to rule. There can be no doubt that the reader who knows most of these things will most clearly comprehend the meaning, and most sensibly feel the beauty and pathos, of the narrative.

Our Saviour went throughout all Galilee and Judea, preaching the Gospel of the kingdom. But, unless we literally follow his steps-unless we know something of the Geography of the parts into which he passed, and of the habits and prejudices of the people with whom he conversed, we cannot see the suitableness and propriety of his discourses and parables, nor comprehend their true force and meaning.

In reading of the journeyings of the Apostle Paul, we shall read with comparatively little understanding or interest, unless we know something of the relative position of the different places to which he went. And it is impossible to form any clear or accurate conception of those abundant labours of which he boasts of his shipwrecks, and imprisonment, and stripes-of his weariness, and painfulness, and watching, and fasting, and cold, and nakedness-or of that inextinguishable zeal and unabating alacrity with which he advanced the cause of Christ-unless we know something of the countries which he traversed, and of the promptitude with which he flew, at the call of duty, into places the most perilous and distant. We shall be ready almost to justify his own generous fears, and to count him a fool in his glorying, unless we look at the seas which he crossed, and the various toils and hazards which he encountered.

History bears the same reference to states and nations which Narrative does to individuals; so that Geographical knowledge must be equally necessary and useful towards the proper reading and the full understanding of the one, as of the other. He who should read the Commentaries of Cæsar, without knowing what part of the globe was designated by the term Gaul, would read with comparatively little interest or understanding. Or, if he were to fancy that the country which Cæsar called Gaul was not the country which is now called France, but the country which was anciently called Sarmatia, and which is now called Poland, it is plain that he would be staggered and perplexed at every step in his progress, and that the result of his reading would be altogether erroneous and useless. Hence it is that Classical commentators have been so careful to give interest and clearness to the reading of their favourite authors, by adding Geographical annotations, which point out the places and the countries which have been the scenes of those remarkable events which History records. Now, the historical events which