CHAP. III.

Of our Saviour's Journeyings from his Baptifm and En- A. D. 39. trance upon his public Miniftry to the first Paffover next fucceeding.

THE bleffed JESUS, though as to his divine nature he

1.

derness of

was equal with God, and was no other than God, Phil. ii. 6. Of the wilJohn i. 1. yet was pleafed for the redemption of mankind, Judea. not only to be made flesh, John i. 14. but alfo in the flesh to make himself of no reputation, taking upon him the form, or condition of a fervant, or mean man, Phil. ii. 7. and during the former part of his life working with his reputed father, who was by trade no more than a carpenter. Hereupon our Saviour is styled, by way of scorn and contempt, the carpenter's fon, Matt. xiii. 55. and alfo the carpenter, Mark vi. 3. In this mean employ did our blessed Lord vouchsafe to exercise himself, till he began to be about thirty years of age, Luke iii. 23. when he thought fit to enter upon his public miniftry, and to make known who he was, and for what end and intent he was come into the world. In order hereunto he repairs from Nazareth of Galilee, Mark i. 9. to John, the son of Zacharias and Elizabeth, and fo his kinfman, who not long before had begun publicly to preach the baptism of repentance for the remiffion of fins, Mark i. 4. Luke iii. 3. The place where John preached and baptized was the wilderness of Judea, Matt. iii. 1. Mark i. 4. which lay along the river Jordan, and that on each fide of it; whence John is faid by St. Mark to baptize as well as to preach in the fame wildernefs, and by St. Luke to come into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptifin of repentance for the remiffion of fins, Mark i. 4. Luke iii. 3. It is further to be here observed, that this tract was called the wilderness of Judea, not because it was abfolutely uninhabited, but because it was lefs inhabited than other parts.

As

PART I.

2.

As to the river Jordan, it is the most celebrated and largest river in the Holy Land, and the famous Jewish hiftorian Jofephus gives us this account of it: "The head Of the river ❝ of this river has been thought to be Panion, but in truth "it paffes either under ground, and the fource of it is “Phiala, an hundred and twenty furlongs from Cæfarea,

Jordan.

66

(viz. Philippi,) a little on the right-hand, and not much "out of the way to Trachonitis. It is called Phiala (that "is, the vial) from the round figure of it; and its water "stands always at a stay, the bason being brun full, with❝out either shrinking or overflowing. The first discovery "of this fecret was from Philip, the tetrarch of Tra"chonitis, by cafting straws into Phiala, that came out 66 again at Panion, which till that time was taken for the "head of Jordan. This river, thus, as to appearance,

દ

taking its original from the cave of Panion, afterwards "croffes the bogs and fens of the lake Semechonitis: "and, after a courfe of an hundred and twenty furlongs "further, paffes under the city of Julias, (or Bethfaida,) "and fo over the lake of Genezareth; and then running "a long way through a wilderness or defert, it empties it"self at last into the lake Asphaltites, or the Dead Sea." Such is the defcription of the river Jordan, given us by Jofephus himself in his third book of the Wars of the Jews, chap. xviii. From which account it appears, that the vulgar opinion of this river's arifing from two fountains, or rivulets, one named Jor, the other Dan, is but ill grounded, if not wholly fictitious. It may not be improper to observe here further, that the cave Panion lying at the foot of mount Libanus, and the lake Asphaltites reaching to the very extremity of the fouth of Judea; it follows, that the river Jordan extends its courfe quite from the northern to the fouthern boundary of the Holy Land. And it is alfo obfervable from the forementioned account, that there lay in the times of the New Testament a great deal of wilderness or defert along the river Jordan; which

• L'Estrange's English edition.

therefore

therefore was without all doubt the wilderness wherein CHAP. III. John the Baptift came preaching and baptizing. As to the largeness of the river Jordan, Mr. Maundrelld has observed, that it may be said to have two banks, whereof the first or outermoft is that to which the river does, or at least did anciently, overflow at fome feasons of the year, viz. at the time of harveft, Josh. iii. 15. or as it is expreffed, 1 Chron. xii. 15. in the firft month, that is, in March. But at present (whether it be because the river hath by its rapidity of current worn its channel deeper than it was formerly, or whether because its waters are directed fome other way) it seems to have forgot its ancient greatness: for we, faith the forementioned author, could difcern no fign or probability of fuch overflowing, when we were there, which was the thirtieth of March, being the proper time for these inundations. Nay, fo far was the river from overflowing, that it ran at least two yards below the brink of its channel. After having defcended the outermoft bank, you go about a furlong upon the level ftrand, before you come to the imme-. diate bank of the river. This fecond bank is so befet with bushes and trees, such as tamarisk, willows, oleanders, &c. that you can fee no water, till you have made your way. through them. In this thicket anciently (and the fame is reported of it at this day) several forts of wild beasts were wont to harbour themselves: whose being washed out of their covert by the overflowings of the river, gave occafion to that allufion of the prophet Jeremiah, ch. xlix. 19. and 1. 44. He shall come up like a lion from the fwelling of Jordan. The water of the river, when Mr. Maundrell faw it, was very turbid, and too rapid to be swam againft. And for its breadth, he tells us, it might be about twenty yards over, and in depth it far exceeded his height.

Jordan to

Now while John was baptizing, Jefus came and was OurSaviour also baptized of him in Jordan. And Mr. Maundrell in- comes to forms us, that within about a furlong of the river, at that be baptized place where he and his company visited it, there was an old by St. John.

d Journey from Aleppo, &c. p. 80, 81, &c.

PART I. ruined church and convent, dedicated to St. John, in memory of the baptizing of our bleffed Lord. It is founded as near as could be conjectured to the very place where the Baptist had the honour to perform that facred office, and to wash him who was infinitely purer than the water itfelf, and, let me add, from whom the water of baptism derives all its faculty or fpiritual virtue of cleanfing the inward man, or wathing away fin.

3.

derness

wherein our Lord was tempt

ed.

Our bleffed Lord, after he had been baptized, was Of the wil- moved by the Holy Spirit to retire from Jordan up higher into the mountainous and more folitary part of the wilderness, in order to conflict with the temptations of the Devil; and fo, by what befel himself, and by his own deportment therein, to teach all his followers what they were to expect from the fame common adversary of mankind, and after what manner they fhould beft defeat all his crafty devices to feduce them. The Devil adapts his first temptation to our Saviour's prefent circumftances; and from the hunger, which our Lord began to feel after his fast of forty days and forty nights, the Devil takes occafion to perfuade him to exert his divine power, by commanding the ftones that lay by, to be made bread. But this temptation not fucceeding, the Devil brings our Lord to Jerufalem, and fets him on a pinnacle of the Temple, and there tempts him to fhew his divine power, by cafting himfelf down from thence. This temptation failing likewife of its fuccefs, the Devil in the laft place takes our Lord And of the up into an exceeding high mountain, where he vainly enexceeding deavours, by promifes of earthly grandeur and dominion, tain, to to allure and overcome the heavenly-minded JESUS, who was carried was dead to the vanities and pomps of this world, and by the De- was in truth the fole Lord of all therein. Mr. Maundrelle

high moun.

which he

vil.

informs us, that in his journey from Jerufalem to Jordan, after he had paffed over mount Olivet, he proceeded in an intricate way amongst hills and valleys interchangeably; and, after some hours travel in this fort of road, he arrived

Journey from Aleppo to Jerufalem, p. 78, 79.

at

at the mountainous defert, into which our bleffed Saviour CHAP. III.. was led by the Spirit to be tempted by the Devil. A moft miferable, dry, barren place, faith he, it is, confifting of high rocky mountains, fo torn and difordered, as if the earth had here fuffered fome great convulfion, in which its very bowels had been turned outward. On the left hand, looking down in a deep valley, as we paffed along, we saw fome ruins of small cells and cottages; which they told us were formerly the habitations of hermits, retiring hither for penance and mortification. And certainly there could not be found in the whole earth a more comfortless and abandoned place for that purpofe. From the tops of these hills of defolation, we had however a delightful profpect of the mountains of Arabia, the Dead Sea, and the plain of Jericho into which laft we defcended, after about five hours march from Jerufalem. As foon as we entered the plain, we turned up on the left hand, and going about one hour that way, came to the foot of the Quarantania, which they fay is the mountain, into which the Devil took our bleffed Saviour, when he tempted him with that vifionary scene, of all the kingdoms and glories of the world. It is, as St. Matthew ftyles it, an exceeding high mountain, and in its afcent not only difficult but dangerous. It has a final chapel at the top, and another about half way up, founded on a prominent part of the rock. Near this latter are feveral caves and holes in the fide of the mountain, made use of anciently by hermits, and by fome at this day, for places to keep their Lent in, in imitation of that of our bleffed Saviour. In most of these grots we found certain Arabs quartered with firearms, who obftructed our afcent, demanding two hundred dollars for leave to go up the mountains: fo we departed without farther trouble, not a little glad to have fo good an excuse for not climbing fo dangerous a precipice. This is the account, given us by Mr. Maundrell, of the place where our Lord is generally and moft probably believed to have been tempted.

VOL. II.

M

After