The Land and the Book are inseparable. Like prophecy and history they complement each other. They are the reciprocal witnesses of the same great truth. They stand or fall together. Our chief interest in Palestine is the confirmation of scriptural allusions to its topography, the scene of personal and national history. The sacred writers make incidental references to towns and cities, to valleys and mountains, to lakes and rivers, to battlefields and other scenes of important events, around which will forever cluster the most hallowed associations of our religious faith. They make these allusions with an accuracy of statement which to-day is in proof of the sincerity of their purpose and the truthfulness of their record. There is a sublime naturalness in their narration which is monumental evidence of the facts which they have transmitted to mankind. These frequent off-hand references clearly indicate that the sacred writers resided in Bible Lands, that they witnessed the events they recorded, and were familiar with the times, places, and persons of which they wrote.

Unbelievers realize the force of this argument and have sought, but in vain, to charge the inspired penmen with inaccuracy, and thus throw distrust upon their history; but they have found to their consternation, both by personal observation and the testimony of travelers, that the Bible is the most reliable handbook of Palestine extant.

During one of my visits to Jerusalem Ichanced to meet a venerable English barrister who had made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land to write a book against the Bible founded on the supposed discrepancies between the Land and the Book; and Isubsequently met him at Beyroot, after his fruitless journey from “Dan to Beersheba.” While at Mosul, opposite ancient Nineveh, Imet George Smith, sent forth by a London journalist to explore the Assyrian ruins, and who, as archÆologist and philologist, ranks with Layard and Rassam. He went out an unbeliever, but such is the agreement between the record of the ruins and the record of the Book, that Mr.Smith returned to London a believer, and lectured before the Society of Biblical ArchÆology on the marvelous synchronisms of the Assyrian tablets and the sacred historians.

From Dan to Beersheba was written to verify these references. It has the advantage of having been written on the scene of the recorded event, in notes taken for future elaboration of all that had transpired thereon, whether in sacred or profane history. It was my custom, from which Iseldom deviated, to read on the spot every reference in the Bible to each locality Ivisited, and to record my observations and impressions while my mind was aglow with the recollections of the hallowed associations of the place and impressed with the extraordinary agreement between the inspired narration and the present aspect of the scene where the grand events had transpired; so that the traveler of to-day, with this book in hand, will have his memory refreshed and his mind inspired by a picture of what once occurred on the accredited historic site.

Through all the turbulent centuries since Christ ascended, Palestine has been a “changeless land,” whose social customs, mechanic arts, commercial and manufactural methods have suffered little from contact with Western civilization, and it should be the ambition of Christendom to preserve it intact to the last generation of mankind. Providence calls us to preserve this monumental land. The changeful influence of the mighty West is seen to-day on lower Egypt, on Asia Minor, on Grecia and Rome in Europe, but Palestine abides the same forever; as Christ and his apostles left it we now see it, and so should it be seen by all future ages. Impelled by sectarian zeal or for political purposes, the nations of Europe have sought supremacy there, and the Promised Land is the larger factor in the Eastern Question, but neither France, nor Russia, nor England should take possession, but rather a syndicate, representing all nations and all creeds, should hold it in fee simple by purchase from the Sultan subject to such rights of property as may vest in the present inhabitants.

It is a land of buried cities which await the coming of the spade. Names are to be verified, places are to be identified, dates are to be reconciled. The whole land should be open to research. Modern Jerusalem should be removed. The Jerusalem of Solomon and of Christ is from two to three hundred feet buried beneath the present city. That religious metropolis of the world has suffered twenty-seven sieges, and eleven cities have been built upon the ancient site. Each conqueror leveled the dÉbris and thereon reared his new capital. Vital questions await the spade of the explorer. Much has been accomplished within the last twenty years, and more awaits the efforts of the future.

The whole of western Palestine has been surveyed, and the biblical gains have been immense. Not less than six hundred and twenty-two names west of the Jordan are given by the sacred writers. Of these we had knowledge of two hundred and sixty-two, and by the survey one hundred and seventy-two were discovered and added to our list, leaving one hundred and eighty-eight to be uncovered by the archÆologist. Some of these are insignificant, but others are of intense interest, such as Mamre, Gethsemane, and Arimathea, around which cluster most hallowed memories. The surveyors have determined the boundaries of the tribes, the march of armies, the routes of pilgrims, merchants, and kings. Beautiful Tirzah, royal residence of Jeroboam, has been identified, with its enchanting landscape—“Beautiful as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem”—and in the rocks are to be seen the tombs of the kings of Israel. The famous battlefield of Sisera and Deborah has been traced, the relative positions of the contending hosts by the waters of Megiddo, the path of the flight of Sisera, when “the river Kishon swept them away, that river of battles, the river Kishon,” the site of the black tent of Heber the Kenite, where the generous Jael gave the royal fugitive Leban a delicious preparation of curdled milk, and then, when he infringed upon oriental etiquette and insulted her womanhood by forcing himself into the women’s apartments, the avengeful Jael drove the iron tent-peg into the offender’s brain.

The “Brook Cherith,” from which Elijah drank, and the “Valley of Achor,” where Achan was stoned, have been identified, and the site of Bethabara, dear to all Christians, has been recovered. The native name AbÂrah, a passage or ferry, now marks one of the fords of the Jordan, just above where the JalÛd debouches into the sacred river, and means the same as Bethabara—a “ferry.” This disarms the critics of the fourth gospel, inasmuch as Cana of Galilee is but twenty-two miles from AbÂrah, a day’s journey, while from the traditional site of our Lord’s baptism the distance is eighty miles. Forty fords of the Jordan have been identified; hundreds of ancient names have been recovered; the site of Gilgal has been determined; the tombs of Joshua and of Nun, and the tombs of Eleazar and Phinehas, successors of Aaron in the priesthood, have been rescued from oblivion, and are to be seen in Mount Ephraim, south of Shechem, all of which appear of great antiquity.

In the first chapter of this book Igave what seemed to me at the time the wonderful correspondence between the prophetical descriptions of the twelve tribeships and the present aspects and conditions of those twelve sections, as to climate, physical features, soil, cultivation, and natural products, and the recent surveys more than confirm this correspondence. It is now apparent that the boundaries of the tribal possessions were rivers, ravines, ridges, and the watershed lines of the country, and, above all, the fertility of the soil was in accordance with the density of population, and this density is now indicated by the larger number of ancient ruins.

While excavations have been made with more or less success in all the notable sections of the land, those of chief interest to the biblical scholar are in and about the holy city. There shafts have been sunk through the dÉbris one hundred and twenty-five feet below the present surface of the ground. In those researches the foundation stones of the walls of the temple area were laid bare; Phoenician jars were found, on which are Phoenician characters; a subterranean passage was uncovered, a secret passage for troops from the citadel to the temple in times of danger; old aqueducts were brought to light; the ancient wall on Mount Ophel was traced hundreds of feet; the first wall on Mount Zion, and the probable site of the second wall, on which so much depends touching both the Temple and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, were discovered. The explorer has confirmed the historical statement of the glories of the temple of God, one thousand feet long and two hundred feet high, the grandest structure ever dedicated to divinity.

In their explorations they found fragments of earthenware at a depth of ninety feet, belonging to the city of the Jebusites, B.C.1500; they uncovered pavements, one of mezzah stone, and between the pavements rubbish twenty feet deep, and under a second pavement was found Haggai’s seal, bearing the Hebrew inscription, “Haggai, son of Shebaniah,” B.C.500. And in those depths of the ages were found lamps, dishes, stone weights, and a Phoenician jar, standing upright where the workmen of King Hiram of Tyre left it 3,000 years ago, and beautiful vases of black ware covered with crimson glaze. They were rewarded for their patient toil by uncovering immense columns, broken arches, vast vaults, the bases of great towers, and large water tanks, four hundred feet long, subterranean passageways, with their steps in situ, and strong triple gates; they exhumed the lower courses of Solomon’s city wall, seven hundred feet long and whereon are painted Phoenician characters in red paint, still bright, and they brought to light a stone cross inscribed, “The light of Christ shines forth for all.” For these magnificent results we are indebted to two Americans, Robinson and Barclay, and to two Englishmen, Warren and Conder.

In my visits to the holy city Iexperienced a keen regret that Iwas not treading the streets trodden by Christ and his apostles. They are hidden beneath the accumulated rubbish of ages. As Iwalked the crooked, neglected lanes of modern Jerusalem Ifelt Iwas treading upon the buried temples and palaces and avenues of Solomon’s glorious reign which await a resurrection by the spade, when the crescent goes down and the cross goes up. The regret Ihad experienced was relieved when Istood upon Mount Moriah, whose summit remains in its form and aspect as when Jesus “walked in Solomon’s Porch;” or when Icrossed the little stone bridge which spans the Kedron, so often pressed by his weary feet; or when Isat on the slopes of Olivet and “beheld the city” which in its former majesty and glory rose before his divine vision.

Until the uncivilized and uncivilizing Turk is driven from the holy city, and until Christendom owns that religious metropolis of the world, and until the archÆologist can pursue his noble work unmolested, two questions will remain in dispute—the site of Calvary and the site of the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. Greeks and Latins claim that both are within the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, a claim which rests upon the traditions of centuries, but which can never be substantiated beyond a doubt until the second wall of the Jerusalem of Christ can be definitely traced. Both English and American explorers of to-day place Calvary on the ridge over the Grotto of Jeremiah, north of the city and near the Damascus Gate. From immemorial time this has been called the “Hill of Execution;” it resembles the human skull, and the Jews esteem it accursed, and exclaim as they pass it, “Cursed be he who destroyed our nation by aspiring to be king thereof.” And to the west of the hill, two hundred yards north of the Damascus Gate, on one side is a lane leading to St.Stephen’s Church, and opposite is an arched gateway of stone, with wooden door, which opens into a garden, and in the garden is the tomb. The tomb has never been finished, yet it has been occupied; its construction is Herodian, about the time of Christ; it has been occupied for only one burial; it is a Jewish tomb and designed for one of wealth and influence; it has been used for Christian worship, and upon its walls can now be traced faintly a frescoed cross with the sacred monograms.

Interesting and remarkable as are the recoveries thus far made, a larger future awaits the archÆologist. There are venerable traditions which point to hidden vaults and subterranean passageways beneath ancient Jerusalem wherein were secreted during the last and fatal siege of the city the Ark of the Covenant, the autograph copy of the Pentateuch, and the sacred vessels of the temple which were brought back from Babylon, and these traditions have been confirmed by the excavations of the present day. And there is good reason to believe that St.Matthew’s gospel in Hebrew, together with some of the apostolic letters, were deposited in a place of security when the storm of persecution burst upon the Church in Jerusalem. Afew inscriptions have been found and translated, illustrative of the Scripture record. Atablet has been recovered on which is an inscription in Greek—the characters are monumental in size—which is a notice to strangers not to pass through the sacred inclosure of the temple: “No stranger is to enter within the balustrade round the temple inclosure; whoever is caught will be responsible to himself for his death, which will ensue.” This recalls the episode recorded in Acts xxi,26, when St.Paul, after his purification, was accused of introducing into the temple the Gentile Trophimus of Ephesus, which caused a riot, that was quelled by the intervention of the Tribune, who rescued Paul. In the Pool of Siloam there was discovered an inscription, the letters of which closely resemble those on the Moabite stone. On this tablet, twenty-seven inches square, is recorded in six lines a commemoration of the completion of the tunnel, which is a third of a mile long and connects the Virgin’s Fount with the Pool of Siloam, and dates back to the reign of Solomon. And at Bethphage a stone was uncovered on which are frescoes representing the raising of Lazarus and the triumphal procession in honor of our Lord, and strong arguments are adduced that on this stone the Saviour rested when he sent his disciples to the city. These are but intimations of the future, when biblical research can be carried forward unhindered by the greed of the Turk or the fanaticism of the Jew.

While we wait patiently for the incoming of that better day, Jerusalem is attracting the attention of all peoples. Palestine is still the “high bridge” of the nations, over which the commerce of the world must pass from west to east. The old saying of Scripture is still true: “Ihave set Jerusalem in the midst of the nations,” and for some wise purpose it is destined to be the religious metropolis of the world. Sixty thousand people dwell within her walls; eight thousand Turks hold the city and rule it with an iron hand. They have neither patriotism nor honor; they are robbers in the disguise of government officials. Forty-two thousand Jews have come from Spain, Poland, and the ends of the earth, who are paupers, and who divide their time between wailing over their departed glory and living on the charity of others. Ten thousand Christians are denizens of the once proud city, who stand guard over the “sacred places” and are the thrift and hope of the place. Four thousand orthodox Greeks and four thousand orthodox Latins watch each other with a jealous eye, and are ready for the fray whenever the “Silver Star of Bethlehem is stolen.” The Arminian Christians are merchant princes; the Syrians live on the venerable past; the Copts and Abyssinians are few and poor; and the four hundred Protestants represent the brain, the heart, the enterprise, the piety, and the charity of modern Jerusalem. They are American and Scotch Presbyterians, German Lutherans, and Anglican Episcopalians. They have founded hospitals, organized schools, built churches, created a healthful literature, and are the energy of public opinion. While many are waiting for the restoration of the Jews these noble Protestant Christians are preparing the way for the coming of the Lord, when Jerusalem shall be rebuilt and made holy and once again be the joy of the whole earth.