NOTICES OF REMARKABLE PLACES MENTIONED IN THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. BY MRS. MILNER. No. I. JERICHO. "The city of Palm Trees."-Deut. xxxiv. 3. To the traveller who views it in its present condition, Jericho presents a mean and uninteresting appearance. The "Palm Trees" of the days of Joshua, and the "Balsam Trees" of Josephus, have alike disappeared. A small number of miserable huts, surrounded by a fence of thorns, and inhabited by a few indigent Arabs, are the sole remains of one of the strongest and most ancient cities of Canaan. But who, possessing either feeling or imagination, can gaze with indifference upon that collection of wretched hovels? Who can view the frail barrier of thorny shrubs which now suffices to defend it from the incursions of the roving inhabitants of the desert, without being, in imagination, carried back to the time when "the Lord fought for Israel," and when the strong walls of Jericho were, consequently, insufficient for the protection of her king and her “mighty men of valour." Who does not picture to himself the solemn procession of Priests and warriors bearing in the midst of them "the ark of God," and during six successive days compassing in silence the devoted city? And who cannot almost imagine, that he hears "the long blast," and "the great shout," which, on the seventh day, caused the wall of the city to fall" down flat," thus permitting "the people to ascend up, every man straight before him?" If the sight of the now insignificant village of Jericho recall, as it must, even to the most insensible and least imaginative observer, the memory of this amazing transaction; so must it also bring back the recollection of the touching narrative concerning Rahab and the Israelitish spies. The flat roof of the house-"the stalks of flax laid upon it in order”and the "line of scarlet thread bound in the window" -all this, and more, must be present to the mind of the christian traveller, who, with the Sacred Story imprinted upon his memory, looks upon the little village of Jericho. Another circumstance, and one which carries along with it a strong confirmation of the Divine Inspiration of Scripture, would doubtless occur to the thoughts of such an observer. I mean the curse denounced by Joshua against the person who should venture to rebuild the fallen city.* It is needless to remind those who are versed in the Sacred Oracles, that this curse was literally, after an interval of more than five hundred years, executed upon Hiel of Bethel. "In the days of Ahab did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his first born, and set up the gates thereof in his Joshua vi. 26. youngest son Segub, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke to Joshua the son of Nun.”* Although the obstinate determination of Hiel in thus rebuilding the city of Jericho, was awfully punished by the loss of his sons from the first-born to the youngest, the restored city appears to have been no longer under the curse of the Almighty. On the contrary, it was soon afterwards honoured by the frequent presence, if not, as some persons have thought, by the settled residence of the two great Prophets of Israel, Elijah and Elisha; the latter of whom wrought in its vicinity, the miracle of the healing of the waters. In later times, Jericho became, in splendour and importance, a city only inferior to Jerusalem itself, and was distinguished by being selected as the scene of many of our Saviour's miracles. The distance between Jericho and Jerusalem is about nineteen miles. The road between these two cities lies through the rocky and mountainous desert supposed to have been the scene of Christ's temptation, and anciently known by the name of 'the wilderness of Jericho,' a tract of country which is still, as it was in the time of our Saviour, infested by troops of robbers, to whom the numerous caverns in the neighbourhood afford convenient lurking places. These circumstances strikingly illustrate the exact propriety of our Lord's choice of this locality as the scene of the beautiful parable of "The good Samaritan." On this subject a modern traveller+ thus speaks: "The whole of the road from Jerusalem to the Jordan, is held to be the most dangerous in Pales * 1 Kings xvi. 26. † Mr. Buckingham. tine." 'One must be amid these rude and gloomy solitudes, surrounded by an armed band, and feel the impatience of the traveller who rushes on to catch a new view at every pass and turn: one must be alarmed at the very tramp of the horses' hoofs rebounding through the caverned rocks, and at the savage shouts of the footmen, scarcely less loud than the echoing thunder produced by the discharge of their pieces in the valleys: one must witness all this upon the spot, BEFORE THE FULL FORCE 66 AND BEAUTY OF THE ADMIRABLE STORY OF THE GOOD SAMARITAN' CAN BE PErceived.' What remains to be told of the history of JERICHO, may be summed up in few words. In the war between the Romans and the Jews, Jericho was sacked by Vespasian, and its inhabitants cruelly slaughtered. In the year of our Lord 138, it was restored by the Emperor Hadrian; and subsequently, after suffering some further disasters, it was again repaired by the Christians, and raised to the dignity of an Episcopal See. In the course of the twelfth century, the city of Jericho experienced its last "sad vicissitude;" being conquered by the Mahomedans, and by them reduced to the ruinous condition in which it still continues. The Vicarage, Appleby, Westmoreland, FEMALE BIOGRAPHY OF SCRIPTURE. THE SHUNAMITE. No I. PHYSIOLOGISTS have frequently remarked upon the infinite variety of the human countenance, which, though composed of certain specified features, is so differently combined, and so wonderfully varied in every individual, that of the vast multitude of human beings, no two ever exactly resemble each other. Equally diversified are the mental lineaments of our race, so that while broad and general terms will suffice to designate classes, each single species of the class shall be found to possess qualities peculiar to itself alone. The traits afforded us in the Word of God of female believers under the old dispensation, represent to us those who in many respects possessed great similarity of character. They were all daughters of Abraham, mothers, wives, sisters, of a race distinguished above all the people of the earth, by national and spiritual privileges. To them, as well as to their brethren and fathers, the oracles of God belonged: and to them, in an especial manner, was attached the promise of" the seed of the woman " that should bruise the serpent's head. To them, the curse of man's |