grown up within its limits. "God hath determined the bounds

of the habitation of all nations to dwell on the face of the earth.' So said the Apostle in his speech on the Areopagus. It is indeed a subject not unworthy of the solemnity of such words. If there be anything in the course of human history which brings us near to the divinity which shapes men's ends, rough-hew them as they will,' which indicates something of the prescience of their future course even at its very commencement, it is the sight of that framework in which the national character is enclosed, by which it is modified, beyond which it cannot develop itself. And such a view of this connexion becomes deeply interesting in the case of those nations which have played so great a part on the stage of the world as to entitle us to look there, if anywhere, for that prophetic forecast of a nation's destiny which can be seen nowhere so clearly as in the hills, the plains, the rivers, the seas, which cradled and fostered its birth and its infancy. Such a forecast, as every one knows, can be seen in the early growth of the Roman commonwealth, and in the peculiar conformation and climate of Greece. The question which the geographer of the Holy Land, which the historian of the chosen people has to propose to himself is, 'Can a connexion be traced between the scenery, the features, the boundaries, the situation of Sinai and of Palestine, on the one hand, and the history of the Israelites on the other?' It may be, as is our own belief, that there is much in one part of their history, and little in another; least of all in its close, more in the middle part, most of all in its early beginnings. But whatever be the true answer, it cannot be indifferent to any one who wishes-whether from the divine or the human, from the theological or the historical point of view-to form a complete estimate of the character of the most remarkable nation which has appeared on the earth. If the grandeur and solitude of Sinai was a fitting preparation for the reception of the Decalogue and for the second birth of an infant nation; if Palestine, by its central situation, by its separation from the great civilized powers of the Eastern world, by its contrast both with the Desert and with the Egyptian and Mesopotamian empires, and by the variety of its climate and scenery, presents a natural home for the chosen people; if the poverty of its local features deprives it of some of the main accessories of local religions, and thus renders it an obvious cradle of a faith that was intended to be universal; its geography is not without interest in this its most general aspect, both for the philosopher and theologian.

II. Next to the importance of illustrating the general character of a nation from its geographical situation is the importance of ascertaining

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ascertaining how far its leading ideas, its poetry, its philosophy, its forms of worship, have been affected by it. In Greece this has been eminently the case. Was it so in Palestine? It is not enough to answer that the religion of the Jewish people came direct from God, and that the poetry of the Jewish prophets and psalmists was the immediate inspiration of God's Spirit. In the highest sense, indeed, of the words this is most true. But it must be remembered, that as every one acknowledges that this religion and this inspiration came through a human medium to men living in those particular times' of civilization, and in those particular bounds of habitation,' which God had before appointed' and 'determined' for them, we cannot safely dispense with this or with any other means of knowing by what local influences the Divine message was of necessity coloured in its entrance into the world. Again, as there are some who would exaggerate this local influence to the highest, and others who would depreciate it to the lowest degree possible, it is important to ascertain the real facts, whatever they may be, which may determine our judgment in arriving at the proper mean. And lastly, as there was in the later developments of the history of Palestine, in the rabbinical times of the Jewish history, in the monastic and crusading times of the Christian history, an abundant literature and mythology of purely human growth, it becomes a matter of at least a secondary interest to know how far the traditions and the institutions of those times have been fostered by, or have grown up independently of, local and geographical considerations.

III. In the two points we have just noticed the connexion between history and geography, if real, is essential. But this connexion must always be more or less matter of opinion, and, for that very reason, is more open to fanciful speculation on the one side, and entire rejection on the other. There is however a connexion less important but of more general interest, because more generally accessible and appreciable, that, namely, which, without actually causing or influencing, explains the events that have occurred in any particular locality. The most obvious example of this kind of concatenation between place and event is that between a battle and a battle-field, a campaign and the seat of war. No one can thoroughly understand the one without having seen or investigated the other. In some respects this mutual relation of action and locality is less remarkable in the simple warfare of ancient times than in the complicated tactics of modern times. A single combat, or a succession of single combats, such as the Homeric battles, may be fought indifferently on any ground; whereas in later strategics a rise or a depression of ground, however slight,

in the theatre of war, may decide the fate of empires. But, on the other hand, the course of armies, the use of cavalry and chariots, or of infantry, the sudden panics and successes of battle, are more easily affected by the natural features of a country in simpler than in later ages, and accordingly the conquest of Palestine by Joshua and the numerous battles in the plain of Esdraelon must be as indisputably illustrated by a view of the localities as the fights of Marathon or Thrasymenus. So again the boundaries of the different tribes, and the selection of the various capitals, must either receive considerable light from a consideration of their geographical circumstances, or, if not, a further question must arise why in each case such exceptions should occur to what is else the well-known and general rule which determines such events. It is to the middle history of Palestine and of Israel, the times of the monarchy, where historical incidents of this kind are related in such detail as to present us with their various adjuncts, that this interest especially applies. But perhaps there is no incident of any magnitude, either of the New or Old Testament, to which it is not more or less applicable. Even in those periods and those events which are least associated with any special localities, namely, the ministrations and journeys described in the Gospels and in the Acts, it is at least important to know the course of the ancient roads, the situation of the towns and villages, which must have determined the movements there described in one direction or another. Mr. Howson's labours in this respect are amongst the most important contributions which have been made to the subject.

IV. Those who visit or who describe the scenes of sacred history expressly for the sake of finding confirmations of Scripture, are often tempted to mislead themselves and others by involuntary exaggeration or invention. But this danger ought not to prevent us from thankfully welcoming any such evidences as can truly be found to the reality and faithfulness of the sacred records. One such aid is sometimes sought in the supposed fulfilment of the ancient prophecies by the appearance which some of the sites of Syrian or Arabian cities present to the modern traveller. We need not go over again* the reasons which make us regard many of these attempts as fraught with mischief to the cause they intend to uphold. Rather we may hail the present aspect of these sites as proofs that the spirit of prophecy is not so to be bound down. The continuous existence of Damascus and Sidon, the ruins of the revived cities of Ascalon, Petra, and Tyre, after the extinction of the empires or the races which they

*See Quart. Rev., vol. lxix. p. 182.

represented,

represented, are standing monuments of the important truth that the warnings delivered by 'holy men of old' were aimed not against stocks and stones, but then, as always, against living souls and sins, whether of men or of nations. But there is a further and more satisfactory'evidence' to be derived from a view of the sacred localities, which has perhaps hardly been regarded sufficiently by those who have written on the subject. Facts, it is said, are stubborn, and geographical facts happily the most stubborn of all. We cannot wrest them to meet our views; but neither can we refuse the conclusions they force upon

us.

We would not strain the argument beyond what it is worth. But it is impossible not to be struck by the constant agreement between the recorded history and the natural geography both of the Old and New Testament. To find a marked correspondence between the scenes of the Sinaitic mountains and the events of the Israelite wanderings is not much perhaps, but it is certainly something towards a proof of the great truth of the whole narrative. To meet in the Gospels allusions so transient and yet so precise to the localities of Palestine, inevitably suggests the conclusion of their early origin, while Palestine was still familiar and accessible, while the events themselves were still recent in the minds of the writers. The complete and detailed harmony between the incidents of the life of David and the hills and vales of Judæa, or between the voyages of St. Paul and the known facts of the navigation of the Mediterranean Sea are indications, slight it is true, yet still important, that we are dealing not with shadows, but with realities of flesh and blood. coincidences are not usually found in fables, least of all in fables of Eastern origin.

Such

V. Lastly, even where there is no real connexion, either by way of influence or explanation, between the localities and the events, there still remains the charm of more vividly realizing the scene. Even when, as in that last period of the Sacred History, local associations can hardly be supposed to have exercised any the slightest influence over the minds of the actors, or over the course of the events, it is still to most persons an indescribable pleasure and assistance to know what was the outline of landscape, what the colour of the hills and fields, what the special objects, far or near, that met the eye of those who took part in those momentous acts. And this is a pleasure and an instruction which of course is increased in proportion as the events in question occurred not within perishable or perished buildings, but on the unchanging scenes of nature; on the Sea of Galilee, and Mount Olivet, and at the foot of Gerizim, rather than in the house of Pilate, or the inn of Bethlehem, or the garden

garden of the Holy Sepulchre, were the localities now shown as such ever so genuine.

This interest is one which pervades every stage of the Sacred History, from the earliest to the latest times, the latest times perhaps the most, because then it is often the only interest, but the earliest in a high degree, because then the events more fre quently occurred in this connexion with the free and open scenery of the country, which we still have before us. It is also an interest which extends in some measure beyond the actual localities of events to those which are merely alleged to be such, a consideration not without importance in a country where so much is shown which is of doubtful, or more than doubtful, authenticity, yet the objects of centuries of veneration. Such spots have become themselves the scenes of a history, though not of that history for which they claim attention; and to see and understand what it was that has for ages delighted the eyes and moved the souls of thousands of mankind is instructive, though in a different way from which those who selected these sites intended.

In one respect the sight and description of Eastern countries lends itself more than that of any other country to this use of historical geography. Doubtless there are many alterations, some of considerable importance, in the vegetation, the climate, the general aspect of these countries, since the days of the Old and New Testament. But, on the other hand, it is one of the great charms dwelt upon by Eastern travellers that the framework of life, of customs, of manners, even of dress and speech, is still substantially the same as it was centuries and ages ago. Something, of course, in representing the scenes of the New Testament, must be sought from Roman and Grecian usages now extinct, but the Bedouin tents are still the faithful reproduction of the outward life of the patriarchs-the vineyards, the corn-fields, the houses, the wells of Syria still retain the outward imagery of the teaching of Christ and the Apostles; and it is for this reason that the mere passing notices of Oriental customs which occur in ordinary travels, much more the detailed accounts of Lane and of Burckhardt, contain a mine of Scriptural illustration which it is an unworthy superstition either to despise or to fear.

It is to this last result of sacred geography, that of reproducing the scenes rather than of explaining or illustrating the actual course of sacred history, that the chief part of Mr. Howson's work is necessarily confined. Of all the great characters that have ever appeared in the world few probably have been so little affected by local influences as that of the Apostle of the Gentiles. Still, as we have observed, there is always a pleasure in the sight and description of the mere outlines and

colours