Entrails; and if he were provided with Bread, he muft die, it being too fine for him to breath in? To whom MICHAEL replied thus: Thou haft a just Abhorrence of that Sin, who brought fuch great Trouble upon the quiet State of MAN, affecting to fubdue reasonable Liberty; yet learn at the fame Time, that fince true Liberty is loft, by reafon of original Sin, (and Liberty always is paired with right Reafon, and divided from it can have no Being) Reafon in MAN being obfcured, or not obeyed, immediately inordinate Defires and fudden Paffions catch the Government from it, and reduce the whole MAN to Servitude, who till then was free. Therefore, fince he permits unworthy Powers to reign over free Reafon within himself; GoD, injuft Judgment, fubjects it from without to violent Lords, who oftentimes as undeservedly enthral his outward Freedom. So that there must be fuch a Thing as Tyranny; though that cannot ferve for any Excufe to him who is a Tyrant: Yet, fometimes Nations will decline fo low from Virtue, (which too is Reafon) that no Wrongs, but Juftice and fome fatal Curfe, deprives them of their outward Liberty, their inward being loft by themfelves; witness HAM (c), the irreverent Son of NOAH, who built the Ark; who, for the Shame done to his Father, had this heavy Curfe pronounced on him and his vicious Race; "A SERVANT OF SERVANTS " SHALL HE BE UNTO HIS BRETHREN." Thus will this latter World, as the former did, go on from bad to worfe; 'till at laft GOD, wearied with their Iniquities, will draw his Prefence from among them, and turn his Holinefs away from them; from thenceforth refolved, to leave them to their own polluted (c) Ham, the youngest Son of Noah, who was curfed for his Difrefpe&t and Contempt of his Father, Gen. ix. 24, 25. The old Carthaginians, Greci ans, and Romans, and all the Nations of Europe, made Slaves of the Africans. Ways, Ways, and to felect one peculiar Nation from all the reft to be adored by; a Nation to spring from one faithful MAN; that is to fay, from ABRAHAM (d), yet refiding on this Side the River EuPHRATES, and bred up to worship Idols.-Canft thou believe it poffible? O that MEN fhould be grown fo ftupid and fenfelefs, while yet the Patriarch NOAH lived, who escaped the Flood, as to forfake the living GOD, and fall down to worship their own Works in Wood and Stone, and call them Gods! yet the most high GOD vouchfafes to call him by Vifion from his Father's House, and from his Kindred and falfe Gods, into a Land which he will fhew him; and from him will raise a mighty Nation, and upon him fhower his Benediction fo, that in his Seed all Nations fhall be bleffed: He ftrait obeys GOD's Call and Promises; firmly believing in them, though he did not know to what Land he was to go. I fee him, (but I know thou canst not) with what Faith he leaves his Gods, all his Friends, and native Country, which is UR (e) of CHALDEA (f); now paffing the (d) Abraham. God called him from among the idolatrous Chaldeans, about the year of the World 2083. (e) Ur ; Heb. i. e. Light; because the Chaldeans worship. ped the Sun or Fire. A City of Chaldæa, where Abraham was born, about fix hundred and twenty four Miles from Jerufalem Eastward; now Orche and Horrea. This was the first Sort of Idolatry, called Sebaifm, Gr. from the Heb. i. e. Worshipping the Hofs of Heaven; for Demonolatria, Gr. i. e. WorShipping Damons, Heroes, Beafts, Images, &c. came in long afterwards. (f) Chaldea; Gr. from the Heb. i. e. Like Dæmons, Deftroyers, Robbers: In Scripture it is called Chased, and the People Chajdin, from Kefed, the Son of Nabor, which the Greeks turned into Chaldea. Allo Shinar, Heb. i. e. Scattered; because the Builders of that Tower were scattered over the whole Earth, Gen. x. 10. xi. 28. and now Chaldar and Curdistan. Chaldea is a large Country of Afia, bordering upon Affyria, Mefopotamia between the Euphrates and Tigris, whereof Babylon was the Metropolis for ma ny Ages; therefore that Country was called Babylonia. River EUPHRATES to HARAN (g); and after him a numerous Train of Herds and Flocks, and Abundance of Servants; not wandering poorly without his Substance, but trufting all his Wealth with. GOD; who called him to an unknown Land. Now he comes to CANAAN (); I fee his Tents pitched all about SICHEM (i), and the neighhouring Plain Mo REH (k). There he receives a Promile, that all that Earth. Such were the old Pha nicians, Tyrians, Sidonians, Carthaginians, &c. (3) Haran, or Charran; Heb. i. e. Anger or Wrath; from Haran, the Father of Lot. It is a Country and chief City of MeJopotamia, upon a River of the fame Name, and not far from Uz, 440 Miles from Jerufalem North-Eastward. There Abraham lived fome Years; the Turks pay a great Veneration to it on that Account, and now call it Herea or Charon, Acts vii. 4. There the great Craffus, the Roman General and Conful, with his Army of three thou and Men, was overthrown by the Parthians, who took it: Afterwards the Perfians took it, now the Turks poffets it. It is eleven Days Journey, or two hundred and thirty-two Miles Weftward from Niniveh, now well inhabited, has a good Trade, and is alfo called Opbra. There is a Well of very clear Water, at which Rebecca gave Drink to Eleazar, Abraham's Servant, Gen. xxiv. 19. They call it Abraham's Well. But MeFpotamia is now rendered very deart and ruinous by the Turks. (b) Canaan; Heb. i. e. A Merchant, from Canaan the Son of Ham, by whom it was first peopled, Gen. xi. 18. because it lies along the Mediterranean Sea, and gave the Inhabitants an Opportunity of Trade, Merchandise and Navigation, over the whole An (i) Sichem; Heb. i. e: \ A Shoulder or Back; because it ftandeth out like one; or from Sichem, the Father of Homer or Emn.or, Gen. xxxiv. 2. A&s vii. 16. Allo Sychar; Heb.i.e. Hired or Wages, John iv. 5. and afterwards Scythopolis; See Judith iii 14. Gr. i. e. The City of the Scythians or Tartars; becaufe fome of them fettled there. antient City of Samaria in Pa leftine, between Mount Garizim and Mount Ebal, belonging to Samaria, thirty-fix Miles from Jerufalem Northward. There Jo feph was buried, Jafbya xxiv. 32. Abimelech razed it, Judges ix. 45. But Jeroboam rebuilt it, I Kings xii. 25. Now it is called Naplofa, Gr. i. e. The new Town ; but it is in a very low Condition at this Timé. די (k) Morch; Heb. i. e. The Lordship of the Lord: Or from Moreb, one of the old Amorites, who poffeffed it, Gen. xiii. 18. xiv. 13. A Piece of Ground near Sichem, where Abraham first settled in Canaan, which Jacob bought of Hamor for an hundred Pieces of Money, and gave to Jofeph, Gen. xxxiii. 19. xlviii: 22. Jahniv. 5. * .** Ddd from Land fhould be given to his Pofterity, Northward from HA MATH (1), to the Defart South of ARABIA; (I call Things by their Names, though as yet they are not named) and Eaft from HERMON (m) to the MEDITERRANEAN Sea; Mount HERMON that lies there! and yonder Sea! (look at each Place in Profpect as I point to them) Upon the Shore there is Mount CARMEL (n); here the River JORDAN, fpringing from two Fountains, is the Boundary of CANAAN (1) Hamath, Hemath. or Chamath; Heb. i. e. Heat or Anger; from Hamath the Son of Canaan, who built it A City in the North of Canaan belonging to Syria, between two Hills, near the River Orontes, at the Foot of Anti-Libanus, two hundred and eighty Miles from Jerufalem; the utmost Bounds of the Holy Land on the North, and one of the grand Paffes of it, called also Zin, Numb. xxxiv. 8. Joshua xiii. 5. Now the Turks call it Hems. There is a great Hamath and a little Hamath, Amos vi. 2. Some take it to be the antient Apamea; others on better Grounds, for Epiphania or Antiochia. In the Targum it is called Antiochia, from Antiochus King of Syria. Toi was King of it in the Reign of King David, 2 Sam. viii. 9. In the thirteenth Century it had Princes of its own, which were of the Race of Ayub or Job, from whom defcended Saladin, a Sultan of the Turks, who conquered Palestine, Egypt, Syria, &c. A. D. 1180. Hamath was a City of great Trade, but is now very much decayed. (m) Hermon, or Cherman; Web. i.e. Snow. An high and *Mountain in the North of Canaan, near Mount Lebanon, beyond Jordan to the NorthEaft, an hundred and twenty-two Miles from Jerufalem, and frequently covered with Snow, becaufe it is high. It is called Shirjan by the Sidonians, Pfal. xxix. 6. Sheniz, by the Amorites, Deut. iii. 9. Alfo Sion (not Tzion at Jerufalem) Deut. iv. 48. and alfo Baal-Hermon, Heb. i. e. Hermon the Great; to diftinguish it from aleffer of that Name, near Mount Gilboa and Mount Taber, in the Tribe of Manaffes, forty-four Miles from Jerufalem towards the North. At the Foot of it ftood the City Nain, Heb. i. e. Pleafant; because it flood moft pleasantly on the Banks of the River Chifen. Upon this Mountain grew many goodly Trees; wild Beafts alfo abounded upor it, Ezek. xxvii. 5. (n) Carmel Heb. i.e. A Vineyard; because there are many Vineyards upon it. Anoth r very high Mountain in the Holy Land, upon the Mediterranean Sea, to the South of Ptolemais, fifty Miles North-Weft from Jerufalem, in the Tribe of Ifachar. Here the Prophet Elijah began his Reformation of Religion, in CANAAN on the Eaft Side; but ABRAHAM'S Sons fhall dwell as far as SEIR (0), which is all that long Ridge of Hills! Now confider this well, that all the Nations of the Earth fhall be bleffed in his Seed: By that Seed, thy GREAT DELIVERER is meant, whỏ fhall bruife the Head of the Serpent; about which, before I depart, I fhall reveal more to thee. This bleffed Patriarch (who, by Reafon of his Obedience, hall be called faithful ABRAHAM (p)) leaves a Son, called in the Days of Ahab, a very ido latrous and impious King of Irael. Kings xviii. Here Samuel Elijah, Elba, and other Prophets, and alfo Pythagoras, the Heathen Philofopher, long afterwards reforted; for the Sake of Devotion, Contemplation, and Retirement. The antient River Kyen cuts its Way clofe by the Wet Side of it, through the Plains o Efdraelon into the Sea at a Place called Caypha. Upon this Mountain is a Convent of bare-footed Friars, called Carmelites, a little Mofque, with feveral Gardens and Vineyards. (o) Seir, Senir, or Saner; Heb. i. e. Rough. A long and la: Ridge of Mountains with many Tracts of fertile Lands, which made the Kingdom of the Edo mites, on the South Side of the Dead Sea and Canaan, about forty-fix Miles from Jerufalem. It is a rocky Country; therefore it is called Trachonites, Syr. Chald. i. e. Rocky, rough; Iturea, Heb. i. e. Mountainous, from Fetur, a Son of Ifmael; Petræa, Syr. i. e. Rocky; and Idumea, Heb. i. e. Red, from Efau or Edom; because he and his Sons did fettle in it: But it was called Şeir long before that. (P) Abraham; his first Name was Abram, Heb. i. e. An Excellent or mighty Father; but when God renewed his Covenant, he changed that into Abraham, i. e. An excellent or mighty Father of many People. Abraham was the Founder of the Jewish Nation and Church, efteemed a mighty Prince among the Canaanites, a great Prophet at Pharaoh's Court. The Kings of Egypt, Palefline, &c. courted his Friendship, made Leagues with him, and paid him Homage. Nicol. Damafcenus, Justin, &c. fay, that he was King of Damafcus; his Name was had in Veneration among both Jers, Gentiles, Muhammedans, and ChriAlians, in all Ages: They made religious Pilgrimages to this Oak at Mamre, till Conftantine the Great ordered it to be destroyed; and which is more, he was called the Father of the Faithful, and the Friend of God; a Title of Honour never bettowed on any Man before. He carried the Knowledge of Aftronomy, Arithmetick, and other Sciences, D dd z from |