V1. CHAP. with the other Jews1. They consisted principally of deserters from Judæa; and they have continued to maintain their peculiar tenets to the present day. Sichem, according to Procopius, was much favoured by the Emperor Justinian, who restored the sanctuaries, and added largely to the other public edifices of the city. The principal object of veneration, among Jacob's the present inhabitants, is Jacob's Well, over which a church was formerly erected*. Well. This is situate at a small distance from the towns. (1) Josephus says of them, that they boasted of their Jewish origin whenever the Jews were in prosperity, but disowned any connection with them when in adversity. Vid. Antiq. lib. xi. c. 8. (2) The antient medals of the city bear the name of Flavia Neapolis. Spanheim (De Præst. et Us. Numism. p. 769. Amst. 1761), notices a medal of the Emperor TITUS, in Seguin's Collection, with this inscription, ΦΛΑΟΥΙΝΕΑΠΟΛΙΣΑΜΑΡΕΙΑΙ. Vaillant mentions colonial coins of Philip the Elder, on which appeared Mount Gerizim, with a temple on its summit. For an account of this temple, named, by Antiochus, the Temple of Jupiter, see Josephus, Antiq. lib. xi. c. 8. lib. xii. c. 7. (3) See Reland. Palæst. Illust. lib. iii. p. 1008. tom. II. Utrecht, 1714. (4) Attributed, as usual, to the Empress HELENA. (See Maundrell's came to Oxf. 1721. VI. in the road to Jerusalem; and has been visited CHAP. by pilgrims of all ages; but particularly since the Christian æra, as the place where our SAVIOUR revealed himself to the woman of Samaria. The spot is so distinctly marked by the Evangelist, and so little liable to uncertainty, from the circumstance of the well itself and the features of the country, that, if no tradition existed for its identity, the site of it could hardly be mistaken. Perhaps no Christian scholar ever attentively read the fourth chapter of St. John, without being struck with the numerous internal evidences of truth which crowd upon the mind, in its perusal. Within so small a compass it is impossible to find, in other writings, so many sources of reflection and of interest. Independently of its importance as a theological document, it concentrates so much information, that a volume might be filled with its singular illustration of the history of the Jews, and the geography of the country. All that can be collected upon these subjects from Josephus seems but as a comment to this chapter. The journey of our Lord from Judea into Galilee; the cause of it; his passage (6) John, c. iv. (7) Vid. Antiq. lib. xi. c. 4, 7, 8. lib. xii. c. 3, 7. &c. VI. CHAP. through the territory of Samaria; his approach to the metropolis of that country; its name; his arrival at the Amorite field which terminates the narrow valley of Sichem'; the antient custom of halting at a well; the female employment of drawing water; the Disciples sent into the city for food, by which its situation out of the town is so obviously implied; the question of the woman referring to existing prejudices which separated the Jews from the Samaritans; the depth of the well; the Oriental allusion contained in the expression "living water;" the history of the well, and the customs thereby illustrated; the worship upon Mount Gerizim; all these occur within the space of twenty verses; and if to these be added, what has already been referred to in the remainder of the same chapter, we shall perhaps consider it as a field, which, in the words of HIM who contemplated its ultimate produce3, "WE MAY LIFT UP OUR EYES, AND LOOK UPON, FOR IT IS WHITE ALREADY TO HARVEST." (1)" At this well, the narrow valley of Sychem ends; opening itself into a wide field, which is probably part of that parcel of ground given by JACOB to his son JOSEPH." Journey from Alep. to Jerus. p. 63. Oxf. 1721. (2) See p. 185, Note 1; and p. 186; of this volume. е 1 1 CHAP. VII. THE HOLY LAND-NAPOLOSE TO JERUSALEM. Journey to Jerusalem-Singular Cultivation of 4 CHAP. Jerusalem. Appearance Other Relics-Plan for the Survey of the City-Sion Gate-Discovery made by the Author-Inference derived from itPossible Site of Golgotha, or Calvary- Greek Inscriptions -Remarkable Tomb-Hebrew Inscriptions Conjecture respecting Mount Sion. E We left Napolose one hour after midnight, that Journey to we might reach JERUSALEM early in the same day. We were however much deceived concerning the distance. Our guides represented the journey as a short excursion of five hours: it proved to be a most fatiguing pilgrimage of eighteen1. The road was mountainous, rocky, (1) Authors disagree very much concerning this distance. Reland, who compares the computed measure, by time, with the Roman miles, (Vid. "Mensuræ quibus veteres locorum intervalla metiuntur," Palæst. Illust. lib. ii. c. 1.) makes an hour's journey equivalent to three miles; and this corresponds with its relative proportion to a French league, or to three English miles. But, in the valuable map wherein he has exhibited the distances of places in Roman miles, from Josephus, Eusebius, Arrian, Diodorus Siculus, and the Itinerary of Antoninus, (Vid. cap. 5, id. lib.) he states the distance between Napolose and Jerusalem as equal to forty Roman miles; that is to say, twenty-eight from Napolose to Bethel, and twelve from Bethel to Jerusalem. Again, in estimating the extent of the Holy Land (Vid. tom. I. p. 423. Traj. Bat. 1714.) he gives, from Josephus, Eusebius, and an antient anonymous Itinerary, the following distances: Ab Hierosolymis ad Bethel, ex Itinerar. veter. Hieros. et Eusebio Inde ad Neapolin, ex eodem Itiner. } mil. 12. mil. 28, vel. 29. The fact is, that, notwithstanding the numerous authors who have written in illustration of the geography of this country, the subject still remains undecided. We have no accurate map of the Holy Land: and were we to collect the distances from books of Travels the labour would be |