bius, the learned historian and chronologer, and who was CHAP. II. bishop of this city at the beginning of the fourth century, and of the reign of Constantine the Great, to whom he made a celebrated oration.

Having made mention of Cæsarea being the place, where Peter converted Cornelius, and Philip the Evangelist lived; this seems to be the most proper place for taking notice of those cities or towns, which lie to the south of Cæsarea, and are mentioned only in the history of St. Peter and Philip.

3.

Of Joppa.

Now we read that St. Peterk, when he was sent for by Cornelius to Cæsarea, was at Joppa, which is a sea- A. D. port town lying south of Cæsarea, and anciently the 35 and 36. only port to Jerusalem, whence all the materials sent from Tyre towards the building of Solomon's Temple were brought hither and landed. It is said to have been first built by Japhet, and from him to have taken its name Japho, afterwards moulded into Joppa. And the very Heathen geographers speak of it as built before the Flood. It is now called Jaffa, somewhat nearer to its first appellation, and is in but a poor and mean condition.

4.

A. D. 35.

As St. Peter was sent for to Cæsarea from Joppa, so he was sent m for to Joppa from Lydda, which lay not far Of Lydda. off, but somewhat more inland, and to the north. Josephus tells us, it was a village not yielding to a city for greatness; and elsewhere he expressly styles it a city. By the Gentiles it was called Diospolis, or the City of Jupiter: but by the Christians, in the times of the holy wars, it had the name of St. George's, partly from a magnificent temple, which the Emperor Justinian there erected to the honour of that martyr, but principally from an opinion, which they had amongst them, that he suffered martyrdom in that place: an opinion founded on two mistakes; the first, of a cenotaphium, or an empty monument, (erected in this city to preserve his memory,)

k Acts x. 5. and ix. 38. 43. 12 Chron. ii. 16.

m

Acts ix. 32. 38, 39.

PART II. for the grave in which he was interred; the other in taking the word Passio (used in the martyrologies) for the place of his suffering, whereas it is meant only of the story or celebration. But, howsoever, they entitled it by the name of St. George's, and made it on that account an episcopal see. This same Lydda is remarkable in sacred Writ for the cure of Æneas ", by St. Peter's saying to him, Jesus Christ makes thee whole: arise, and make thy bed. Whereupon he arose immediately, after he had kept his bed eight years, being sick of the palsy.

5.

Of Saron.

6.

By the forementioned miraculous cure were converted to the faith, not only all that dwelt at Lydda, but also all that dwelt at Saron, an adjoining town, which gave name to that spacious and fruitful valley that reaches from Cæsarea to Joppa, and is famous among the Rabbins for its wines.

Having thus described the towns in these parts, menOf Gaza. tioned in the history of St. Peter, I shall proceed next to those two towns lying likewise in this tract of the Holy Land, and mentioned in the history of Philip the Evangelist. The first of them is P Gaza, which lies at the south-west point of Judea. It is called in the Old Testament Azzah, from whence perhaps the name of Gaza was derived by the Heathens; but some will have it so called by the Persians, in regard that Cambyses here laid up the treasure, which he had provided for the war of Egypt, the word Gaza in the Persian language signifying treasures. After this it is said to be made the recepture or treasury, in which the Persians laid up the tributes of the western provinces, whence all riches came in time to have the name of Gaza. This is the city whose gates Sampson 9 took away; and whither he was carried, when he was taken; and where he pulled down the house of their god Dagon on the lords of the Philistines. It was destroyed by Alexander the Great, and so made desolate,

as the Prophet had foretold; and is therefore called, and, CHAP. II. saith Strabo, continued desert. For the city built by Constantine, and called by the name of Gaza, is nearer to the sea than the old one was, as St. Jerom informs us. Near the place of Old Gaza, or Gaza the Desert, it was, that Philip baptized the Eunuch.

pia.

7.

This Eunuch was, we are informed, a man of Ethiopia, of great authority under Candace, Queen of the Ethio-Of Ethiopians: where by Ethiopia is to be understood, not the Asiatic Ethiopia, or part of Arabia so styled in the Old Testament, but the African Ethiopia, lying below Egypt, in the south part of Afric, where Candace had been long the name of the Queens, as we learn from Pliny, Strabo, and Dio.

As soon as Philip and the Eunuch came out of the water, we read, that the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the Eunuch saw him no more; but that Philip was found at Azotus, the same which is called in the Old Testament Ashdod, memorable therein for the temple of Dagon. It lies near the shore between Gaza and Joppa. In the times that Christianity flourished in these parts it was made an episcopal see, and continued a fair village till the days of St. Jerom. The Evangelist Philip being brought to Azotus, we are informed that from thence he preached in all the cities lying in that tract, till he came to Cæsarea; where we left St. Paul, whom now we shall follow in his voyage to Tarsus. For we read " that the brethren brought him down to Cæsarea, and thence sent him forth to Tarsus.

8.

Of Azotus.

9.

St. Paul

Cæsarea to

Tarsus, his

Tarsus is the same which in Hebrew is called Tarshish, from whence the Heathens derived the common name goes from Tarsus. It took the original name from Tarshish, one of the sons of Javan, who settled in these parts, afterwards native called Cilicia, being the south-east country of Asia Minor, place, in and lying on the northern coast, at the east end of the

r Acts viii. 26. 38.

s Acts viii. 39, 40.

1 Sam. v. 1, 2.

u Acts ix. 30.

* Gen. x. 4. Joseph. Antiq. of the Jews, book i. chap. 7.

PART II. Mediterranean sea. The city of Tarshish, or Tarsus, 'stands in a plain on the banks of the river Cydnus, and was all along in ancient times a great trading and rich town; whence all trading or merchant ships came to be denoted by the name of ships of Tarshish, so often mentioned in holy Writ. It was a town of such note in the times of the Roman empire, that it was not only made the metropolis or chief town of Cilicia, but was peculiarly honoured with the great privileges of a Roman colony, on which account we ready, that St. Paul pleaded in his own behalf the said privilege, as being a free-born Roman, forasmuch as he was a native of this place. For here dwelt many Jews, as being a trading people; and among them the parents of our Apostle, being of the ancient stock, not entering in by the Gate of Proselytism, but originally descended both of them from the seed of Abraham; which seems to be the plain and natural meaning of our Apostle's styling himself a an Hebrew of the Hebrews. Moreover, as Tarsus was a rich and populous city, so was it an academy, furnished with very eminent men; insomuch that Strabo scruples not to say of them, that they excelled in all parts of polite learning and philosophy even those of Alexandria and Athens; and Rome itself was beholding to this nursery of learning for its best professors. Hence St. Paul being bred up in his youth in the schools of Tarsus, became so fully instructed in the liberal arts and sciences, and so well acquainted with Heathen authors. But as our Apostle was brought up to learning, so was he also brought up to a particular trade, according to the great maxim and principle of the Jews, that He who teaches not his son a trade, teaches him to be a thief. They thought it not only fit, but a necessary part of education, for their wisest and most learned Rabbins to be brought up to a manual trade, whereby, if occasion was, they might be able to maintain themselves. The trade our

Apostle was brought up to, was that of b tent-making, (an CHAP. IT. useful and gainful trade in those then warlike countries, where armies had such frequent use of tents,) at which St. Paul, at some times, and for some particular reasons, wrought, even after his being called to the Apostolate.

C

10.

St. Paul

from Tarsus

ria.

St. Paul having staid some time at his native place, was fetched from thence by Barnabas to Antioch in Syria, called by some Antiochia Epidaphne, to distinguish it from goes to Anthe sixteen other cities, which in Syria and elsewhere bore tioch in Sythe name of Antioch. It took this additional name from its neighbourhood to Daphne, a village so denominated from a temple of Daphne standing therein. It had the name of Antioch given it by Seleucus Nicanor, the first King of Syria after Alexander the Great, in memory of his father Antiochus, and was after that the royal seat of the succeeding kings of Syria. In the flourishing times of the Roman empire, it was the ordinary residence of the præfect or governor of the eastern provinces, and was also honoured with the residence of many of the Roman emperors, especially of Verus and Valens, who spent here greatest part of their time. But this place is famous for nothing more than giving the named of Christians to the A. D. 39. disciples of Christ, who before this were commonly styled Nazarenes, as being the followers of JESUS of Nazareth; a name by which the Jews in scorn call them to this day, with the same intent that the Gentiles of old were wont to call them Galilæans. It is also famous among us Christians for being the birthplace of St. Luke the Evangelist, and of Theophilus, hence surnamed Antiochenus, and for its celebrated bishop, St. Ignatius the Martyr. Indeed in such reputation has this place been had in the earlier times of Christianity, that its bishop has been honoured with the title of Patriarch.

As to the situation of this city, it lay on both sides the river Orontis, about twelve miles distant from the shore of