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of which was the scene of His transfiguration. The monkish legend which placed it at Tabor is now universally abandoned. The secluded valleys and gorges which run from the very suburbs of the town amongst the spurs of Hermon afford a fitting theatre for this wonderful manifestation. It was in sight of the mighty mass of the venerable mountain that He proclaimed Himself to be the rock upon which His Church should be built. Surrounded by the temples of Syrian, Greek, and Roman deities, with which the region was profaned, He declared that the gates of hell should not prevail against it. It was amongst these solemn solitudes that the voice was heard from heaven saying, 'This is My beloved Son: hear Him.'

There was deep significance in the time and place at which this manifestation of Divine glory was made. It was, as we have seen, the northern limit of His earthly ministry. It was, too, at the close of His last missionary journey. Henceforward His face was 'steadfastly set to go up to Jerusalem,' for 'the time was come that He should be received up.' He now commenced that pilgrimage southward of which the cross was the foreseen goal. by step along the road by which we have travelled He pressed onward, each step bringing Him nearer to the decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem;' of which Moses and Elias spake with Him' as they 'appeared in glory.'3

Step

The thoughts and feelings excited by a visit to Palestine, find apt expression in the words of two authors, widely separated from each other in time and in character. The first is a crusader, Sir John Mandeville, deeply imbued with the credulity and superstition of the Middle Ages. Writing more than five centuries ago, he says in the Prologue to his Voiage et Travaille: 'Forasmuch as the land beyond the sea, that is to say, the Holy Land, which men call the land of promise or of behest, passing all other lands, is the most worthy land, most excellent, and lady and sovereign of all other lands, and is blessed and hallowed with the precious body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ; in which land it pleased Him to take flesh and blood of the Virgin Mary, to environ that Holy Land with His blessed feet; and there He would, of His blessedness, shadow Him in the said blessed and glorious Virgin Mary, and become man and work many miracles, and preach and teach the faith and the law of Christian men unto His children; and there it pleased Him to suffer many reprovings and scorns for us; and He that was King of heaven, of air, of earth, of sea, and of all things that are contained in them, would only be called King of that land, when He said, “Rex sum Judeorum," that is to say, I am King of the Jews; and that land He chose before all other lands, as the best and most worthy land, and the most virtuous land of all the world. . See, now, how dearly He

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1 Matt. xvi. 13-28; xvii. 1-13. Mark ix. 2-13. Luke ix. 28–36.

bought man, that He made after His own image, and how dearly He redeemed us for the great love that He had to us, and we never deserved it of Him ; for more precious goods or greater ransom might He not put for us, than His blessed body, His precious blood, and His holy life, which He enthralled for us; and He offered all for us, that never did sin. Oh! dear God! what love had He to us His subjects, when He that never trespassed, would for trespassers suffer death! Right well ought we to love and worship, to dread and serve such a Lord, and to worship and praise such a Holy Land, that brought forth such fruit, through which every man is saved, unless it be his own fault. Well may that land be called delectable and a fruitful land, that was made moist with the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ; which is the same land that our Lord promised us in heritage.'

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The second is a writer living in our time and expressing the critical and sceptical tendency of modern thought-M. Renan. He says: 'The scientific mission, having for its object the exploration of ancient Phoenicia, which I directed in 1860 and 1861, led me to reside on the frontiers of Galilee, and to travel there frequently. I have traversed in all directions the country of the Gospels, I have visited Jerusalem, Hebron and Samaria; scarcely any important locality of the history of Jesus has escaped me. All this history, which at a distance seems to float in the clouds of an unreal world, thus took a form, a solidity which astonished me. The striking agreement of the texts with the places, the marvellous harmony of the gospel ideal with the country which served it as a framework, were like a revelation to me. I had before my eyes a fifth gospel, torn, but still legible, and henceforward, through the recitals of Matthew and Mark, in place of an abstract being, whose existence might have been doubted, I saw living and moving, an admirable human figure.''

The superstitious crusader and the cold sceptical critic thus agree in attesting the influence exerted upon them by those holy fields.' The devotion of the one is kindled as he visits the earthly abode of the incarnate Deity. The intellect of the other is convinced as he traces the footsteps of Jesus of Nazareth. To many of the readers of this volume it may not be granted to gaze upon the spots hallowed by memories of patriarchs and prophets, and apostles, and of our Lord Himself. But all may reach 'the better country, that is, a heavenly,' of which the earthly Canaan was but a type; all may share the vision and the blessedness of the New Jerusalem,' 'the city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.'

1 Early Travels in Palestine. Edited by Wright, pp. 127, 128.

2 The Life of Jesus, by Renan, pp. 30, 31.