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PART
II.

I.

St. Paul,

after a fhort

rufalem,

A. D. 37.

CHA P. II.

Of St. Paul's Travels from Jerufalem to Cæfarea, Tarfus, and Antioch, till his fecond return to Jerufalem after his Converfion.

T. PAUL having made his escape out of Damafcus, as has been related in the foregoing chapter, fets forward for ftay at Je- Jerufalem, where, when he arrived, he addressed himself to goes to Ca- the Church. But the Disciples, knowing the former temper farea. and principles of the man, fhunned his company, and were all afraid of him, and could not believe that he was himself become a disciple. At length Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles Peter and James, declaring to them the manner of his converfion; that He had feen the Lord in the way to Damafcus, and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how he had gone fo far already as to preach boldly at Damafcus in the name of Jefus. Hereupon St. Paul was very familiarly entertained by the faid Apoftles and the reft of the brethren at Jerufalem, where he staid no more at this time than fifteen days. For he likewise here, fpeaking boldly in the name of the Lord Jefus, and difputing against the Greeks or Hellenist Jews, brought upon him the malice of the unbelieving Jews, fo far as that they fought to kill him. Whereupon being warned of God in a vifion, that his preaching would not find acceptance in that place, and that therefore he should leave it, and betake himself to the Gentiles, he was accordingly conducted by the brethren to Cæfarea; of which place take this account from Jofephus, the Jewish historian, book xv. ch. 13. of his Antiquities.

a Acts ix. 26-30.

Gal. i. 18.

b

L'Etrange's Engl. Edit.

There

farea.

II.

2.

There was a certain place by the fea-fide, formerly called CHAP. Straton's Tower, which Herod looked upon as a very commodious tract of ground to raise a city upon. He drew his model, fet people to work upon it, and finished it. The A defcripbuildings were all of marble, private houses as well as palaces; tion of Ca but his master-piece was the Port, which he made as large as the Piraeus, and a safe station against all winds and weathers, to fay nothing of other conveniencies. This work was the more wonderful, because all the materials for it were brought thither at a prodigious expence from afar off. This city stands in Phoenicia, upon the road into Egypt, between Dora and Joppa, two wretched fea-towns, where there is no riding in the harbours with a fouth-west wind; for it beats fo furiously upon the shore, that merchant-men are forced to keep off at fea many times for fear of being driven aground. To encounter these difficulties of the place, Herod ordered a mole to be made in the form of an half-moon, and large enough for a royal navy to ride in. He directed also prodigious ftones to be let down there in twenty fathom water; ftones of fifty feet in length, eighteen feet over, and nine feet deep; fome greater, fome lefs. This mole was two hundred feet in extent; the one half of it served to break the setting of the sea; the other half ferved for the foundation of a ftone wall fortified with turrets, the fairest and largest of them being called by the name of the tower of Drufus, from Drufus the fonin-law of Auguftus, who died young. There were several arched vaults alfo, that ferved for feamen's cabins. There was likewise a key or landing-place, with a large walk upon it, around the port, as a place of pleasure to take the air in. This port opens to the northward, which is the clearest quarter of the heavens. On the left-hand of the entrance into it, there was a turret erected upon a large platform, with a floping bank, to shoot off the washing of the sea; and on the right-hand were two ftone pillars over against the tower,

The port belonging to Athens.

He elfewhere reckons it in Judea,

and

II.

PART and both of an height. The houses about the port were all uniformly built, of the most excellent fort of marble. Upon a mount in the middle ftood a temple, dedicated to Cæfar, which was of great ufe to mariners, for a famous fea-mark. There were in this temple two statues or images, the one of Rome, the other of Cæfar; and from hence the city took the name of Cæfarea, celebrated no lefs for its materials than for the workmanship. The contrivance of the vaults and common-shores was wonderful too, being laid at equal distances one from another, and fo difcharging themfelves into the fea. Only there was one conveyance, that went across all the rest; and as it carried off all the filth of the town, fo it made way for the tides to fwill and wash the paffages, and to make all fweet and clean. Herod built alfo a ftone theatre, and upon the south side of the harbour, a spacious amphitheatre, with a goodly prospect toward the fea. He spared, in fhort, neither for money nor pains, and in a matter of twelve years this work was brought to perfection. Thus far Jofephus in the place above cited; who in book iii. ch. 14. of the Wars of the Jews, tells us withal, that the greater part of the inhabitants of this city (which he here calls the fairest city of Judea) were Greeks.

To the foregoing account of Jofephus it may be proper to add, that though this city is called Cæfarea in the New Teftament, yet it is frequently ftyled, by way of distinction from others of the fame name, Cæfarea Palestina, as being the metropolis of Palestine, and the feat of the Roman proconful. Here it was that St. Peter f converted Cornelius and his kinfinen, the firft-fruits of the Gentiles. Here lived Philip the Evangelift. Here Paul 1 defended himself against the Jews, and their orator Tertullus. Here in the amphi theatre it was that Herod Antipas was fmitten by an angel of God. And as for the times after the New Teftament, here was born Eufebius, the learned hiftorian and chronologer,

f Acts x.

& Acts xxi. S.

i

Acts xxiv.
A&ts xii. 19, 20.

and

II.

and who was bishop of this city at the beginning of the fourth CHA P. century, and of the reign of Conftantine the Great, to whom he made a celebrated oration.

Having made mention of Cæfarea being the place, where Peter converted Cornelius, and Philip the Evangelift lived; this feems to be the most proper place for taking notice of thofe cities or towns, which lie to the fouth of Cæfarea, and are mentioned only in the hiftory of St. Peter and Philip.

3.

Of Joppa

A. D.

Now we read that St. Peter, when he was fent for by Cornelius to Cæfarea, was at Joppa, which is a fea-port town lying fouth of Cæfarea, and anciently the only port 35 & 36% to Jerufalem, whence all the materials fent from Tyre towards the building of Solomon's Temple were brought hither and landed. It is faid to have been firft 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.

As St. Peter was fent for to Cæfarea from Joppa, so he was fent for to Joppa from Lydda, which lay not far off, but fomewhat more inland, and to the north. Jofephus tells us, it was a village not yielding to a city for greatness; and elsewhere he exprefsly ftyles it a city. By the Gentiles it was called Diofpolis, or the City of Jupiter: but by the Chrif tians, in the times of the holy wars, it had the name of St. George's, partly from a magnificent temple, which the Emperor Juftinian 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 miftakes; the firft, of a cenotaphium, or an empty monument, (erected in this city to preferve his me mory,) for the grave in which he was interred; the other in taking the word Paffio (ufed in the martyrologies) for the

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4.

Of Lydda

A. D. 35

II.

PART place of his fuffering, whereas it is meant only of the story or celebration. But, howfoever, they entitled it by the name of St. George's, and made it on that account an episcopal see. This fame Lydda is remarkable in facred writ for the cure of Æneas", by St. Peter's faying to him, Jefus Chrift makes thee whole: arife, and make thy bed. Whereupon he arofe immediately, after he had kept his bed eight years, being fick of the pally.

5.

Of Saron.

6.

Of Gaza.

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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 Cæfarea to Joppa, and is famous among the Rabbins for its wines.

Having thus defcribed the towns in these parts, mentioned in the hiftory of St. Peter, I fhall proceed next to those two towns lying likewise in this tract of the Holy Land, and mentioned in the history of Philip the Evangelift. The first of them is P Gaza, which lies at the fouth-west point of Judea. It is called in the Old Teftament Azzah, from whence perhaps the name of Gaza was derived by the Heathens; but fome will have it fo called by the Perfians, in regard that Cambyfes here laid up the treasure, which he had provided for the war of Egypt, the word Gaza in the Perfian language fignifying treasures. After this it is faid to be made the recepture or treasury, in which the Perfians laid up the tributes of the western provinces, whence all riches came in time to have the name of Gaza. This is the city whofe gates Sampfon 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 deftroyed by Alexander the Great, and fo made defolate, as the Prophet had foretold; and is therefore called, and, faith Strabo, continued defert. For the city built by Conftantine, and called by the name of Gaza, is nearer to the fea than the old one was, as

" Acts ix. 33.

• Acts ix. 35.

P Acts viii. 26.

9 Judg. xvi.

St.

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