and imported somewhat majestic and venerable above the common state of human affairs P: which authority and title he enjoyed to his death, as all his successors the Roman emperors did for many ages following, together with that of Cæsar, from Julius Cæsar, before mentioned, who adopted him; it being the custom of the Romans, that the person adopted should take the name of the one who adopted him. Hence the Roman emperor is often in Scripture called Cæsar and Augustus ".

Among other nations, the Jews became subject to the Romans. In this emperor Augustus' time there was an universal peace, and Jesus Christ, the Messiah and Saviour, was born into the world.

Farther, as to these four chief monarchies, one particular phrase is to be taken notice of, which expresses their authority and dominion, as if it extended over the whole world, according to the lofty way of speaking, usual in the eastern countries: thus 'it is said of the Assyrians and Babylonians, that they made the world a wilderness; and Nebuchadnezzar, the king to all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth"; and Cyrus the Persian says, that God had given him all the kingdoms of the earth. Accordingly, among the modern Persians, their king is styled the companion of the sun; and no doubt, together with the imperial power and dominion, the said lofty title came from the Babylonians and Persians to the Greeks, and so to the Romans; for of the Grecian monarchy it is said, that it should bear rule over all the earth';

and

* Dion. Cassius, 1. 53. p. 581. πλειον τι η κατ' ανθρώπους ων, which, he says, the Greeks interpret by σaror, venerable, or to be adored. 9 Dion. Cassius, 1. 46. As Luke ii. 1. and iii. 1. and Acts xxv. 8, 21, &c. s Isaiah xiv. 17, 25. t Dan.

iv. 1.

u So also Dan. ii. 38. and iii. 29.

▾ Ezra i. 2.

* Dan. ii. 39.

* Tavernier of the isle Formosa, chap. viii. There is an inscription in one of Constantine's medals, like

and as for the Roman", there went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus that all the world should be taxed"; so the Gospel was to be preached in all the world, that is, chiefly up and down the Roman empire, before the destruction of Jerusalem'.

SECTION II.

A SHORT ACCOUNT OF CANAAN, THE LAND OF THE

JEWS.

(See the Map.)

FIRST,

Of the ancient Inhabitants before the Israelites.

AFTER the flood, the world was peopled or inhabited by Noah and his family. This Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japhet. His son Ham had four sons, of which the youngest was Canaan. Now the first inhabitants of the land of the Jews were chiefly those who descended from Canaan ; thence it was called the land of Canaan; and it was divided into several parts, and those called after the names of Canaan and his sons. Upon the seacoast dwelt the Palestines or Philistines, who came from some of the descendants of Mizraim, Canaan's brotherd; whence, in after ages, the whole country was called Palestine. It contains in length about two hundred miles, in breadth eighty.

Secondly, In the time of Joshua, when the children of Israel were to take possession of the land,

one of Constantine's medals, like the Persian style afore-mentioned, Soli invicto Comiti. Numismata Adolfi Occonis, p. 461. z Luke ii. 1. a Ocuμe, and, according to their own historians, Imperium orbis terrarum. b Matt. xxiv. 14. Rom. i. 8. c For which see Gen. x. 15-20. d Gen. x. 13, 14. e Heylin.

there were seven nations or petty kingdoms in it, viz. the Hittites, Gergashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites; of which the Amorites had extended their conquests beyond Jordan, and having overcome the Moabites, placed themselves in their country, between the rivers Arnon and Jabbok, and drove the Moabites to the south of Arnon. These seven nations were the people which the children of Israel were to root out, and to settle themselves in their places; as they did for the most part; though some of the old inhabitants remained still, to be as thorns in their sides'; as they of Tyre and Sidon, and the Jebusites, who dwelt in or about Jebus or Jerusalem, and the Philistines, a strong and warlike people on the seacoast, by whom God afterwards often punished the Israelites, when they sinned against him. On the west was the Mediterranean sea, called the West sea. On the north-west was Canaan, strictly so called, or Phoenicia. On the north and north-east were mount Libanus and Syria. On the south were the Edomites or Idumæans, the posterity of Esau, Jacob's brother, (who, for selling his birthright for some red pottages, was named Edom, that is, in the Hebrew, Red,) among whom lived the Amalekites, so called, properly, because descended from "Amalek, grandson of Esau'. On the other side of the Dead sea were the Moabites, who proceeded from Moab, one of Lot's sons, being bounded by the river Arnon. Beyond them, south-eastward, were the Midianites, the descendants of Midian, one of the sons of Abraham, by Keturah. Beyond Arnon, northwards, were

d Reckoned up Deut. vii. 1. e Numb. xxi. 24. f Judges i. 27. and chap. ii. 20. to the end of the chapter. 8 Gen. xxv. 30. It is more probable that the Amalekites were descended, as some Arabian writers affirm, from Amalk or Amalek, the son of Ham, and grandson of Noah. See Newton on Prophecy. iGen. xxxvi, 12.