Lake Asphaltites, or Dead Sea, with such violence and rapidity, that the strongest and most expert swimmer could not swim across its embouchure. Doctor Shaw computed it to be about 30 yards broad, and nine feet deep; and states, that it discharges daily into the Dead Sea 6,090,000 tons of water. Anciently the Jordan overflowed its banks, about the feast of the Passover, when the snows dissolving upon the mountains discharged themselves into its channel, with great rapidity. But a traveller who visited it at the beginning of last century, could discern no signs or probabilities of such inundations. The bank is so beset with bushes, reeds, and willows, that the water is not discernible till you have made your way through these obstructions. The passage of this deep and rapid river by the Israelites, is as surprizingly miraculous as that of the Red Sea for here there was no mighty winds to sweep a passage: no reflux of the tide on which sceptical philosophers might fasten to lessen this wonderful miracle. Then ye sceptics! silence and cavil no more at the mighty or wonderful changes which the God of the universe can effect on nature. All your cavillings and your paltry murmurings are only like the impetuous

dashing of breakers against a rock, which bears its rude head against the whirlwinds and the hurricanes for ages, unmoved and firmer for their buffetings! There are many other streamlets, which although they do not roll so proudly, so smoothly, or majestically along, and are only rivulets compared to it, yet they are rendered sacred and holy by being the scene of many remarkable events, and hallowed by the presence of the Redeemer. Yet THEIR fame shall stand firmer than those of the Amazon or the Danube, the Wolga, or the Plata. Among the lakes mentioned in Scripture, two are particularly worthy of notice that of Galilee, and the lake of Sodom.

:

The lake of Galilee was anciently known by the name of the sea of Chinnereth, from its vicinity to the town of that name and in the time of Christ it was called Genesareth, from a neighbouring district of the same name; and also the sea of Tiberias, from the contiguous city of Tiberias. The ancient inhabitants called every large body of water a sea, and the modern still retain that appellation. This immense lake is almost equal in grandeur and sublimity of scenery to that of Geneva.

Josephus, whose intimate knowledge of his country claims our attention, says, that its breadth is 40 furlongs, and its length 140. The waters are sweet and agreeable for drinking, as they are finer than the thick waters of other fens. The lake "is also pure, and on every side ends directly at the shore, and at the sand. It is also of a temperate nature when drawn up, and softer than river or fountain water, and yet always cooler than one could expect in so diffuse a place as this. It is divided in two parts by the river Jordan." Mr. Buckingham states, that its "appearance is still grand; its greatest length, north and south, is from twelve to fifteen miles, and its breadth from six to nine: the borders of the lake still end at the sand, and its waters are still sweet and temperate."

The lake, or Sea of Sodom, or the Dead Sea, has been celebrated by profane authors, as well as the sacred writers. By Josephus and others, it is called "Asphaltites," from the great quantity of bitumen found in it: and the "Dead Sea," by erroneous, though generally received traditions, that no living creature can exist in its stagnant and hydro-sulphurated waters:

they are, however, in the highest degree salt, bitter, and nauseous, and of such a degree of specific gravity, as will enable a man to float without motion on its surface. The acrid saltness of its waters is much greater than that of the sea, and the land surrounding the lake, is so impregnated with saltness, that very few plants can grow there. A profound silence, awful as death, hangs around this lake. No verdure is to be seen on its margin, nor even a pleasant vestige of green to delight the eye of the beholder, but an arid and barren waste, while majestic desolation reigns over its scenery. The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah stood where the lake now stands when they were consumed by fire from heaven: there are many allusions to this event in the scriptures, as displaying in a most awful manner the certainty, the suddenness, and the terrors of the divine anger. Of the present state of this now most desolate region, we have an account in the book of Genesis, where Lot having become "rich in flocks and herds and tents, lifted up his eyes and beheld all the plain of Jordan, where these cities formerly stood. Then it was well watered every where," as fertile and

66

E

productive as the richest parts of the land of Egypt, "like the land of Egypt, as the goest to Zoar:" not only so, but it was even "like the garden of the Lord."

How different the prospect when Abraham "gat him up early in the morning," and looking towards the land of the plain, "saw the smoke of the country going up as the smoke of a furnace." Age after has rolled away since that morning dawned so heavily. The country of which it is a part has repeatedly changed its inhabitants, but this spot has remained the same.

age

Terrible was that fire which destroyed Jerusalem, but another city has arisen on its ruins. Though the furnace has grown cold, and the smoke has dispersed, yet to "this day," to use the language of the apostle Jude, "Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities of the plain, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

Although there are many plains mentioned in holy writ, yet none are of any consequence, or that require especial notice. But we cannot forbear adverting to the Desert of Arabia, which, though out of the limits of the Holy