tor
(xix. 1), when the Jordan itself was the eastern boundary of Judea, and
there were no coasts of Judea beyond it.

Again, "But when he (Joseph) heard that Archelaus did reign in Judea, in
the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither,
notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into
the parts of Galilee, and he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth;
that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophets, he shall
be called a Nazarene," is another assertion made by the Matthew narrator
(ii. 22, 23), when--1. It was a son of Herod who reigned in Galilee as
well as Judea, so that he could not be more secure in one province than
in the other; and when--2. It was impossible for him to have gone from
Egypt to Nazareth, without traveling through the whole extent of
Archelaus's kingdom, or making a peregrination through the deserts on
the north and east of the Lake Asphaltites, and the country of Moab; and
then, either crossing the Jordan into Samaria or the Lake of Gennesareth
into Galilee, and from thence going to the city of Nazareth, which is no
better geography, than if one should describe a person as _turning
aside_ from Cheapside into the parts of Yorkshire; and when--3. There
were no prophets whatever who had prophesied that Jesus "_should be
called a Nazarene_."

The Matthew narrator (iv. 13) states that "He departed into Galilee, and
leaving Nazareth, came and dwelt in Capernaum," as if he imagined that
the city of Nazareth was not as properly in Galilee as Capernaum was;
which is much such geographical accuracy, as if one should relate the
travels of a hero, who departed into Middlesex, and leaving London, came
and dwelt in Lombard street.[461:1]

There are many other falsehoods in gospel geography beside these,
which, it is needless to mention, plainly show that the writers were not
the persons they are generally supposed to be.

Of gospel statistics there are many falsehoods; among them may be
mentioned the following:

"Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto
John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness," is an assertion made by
the Luke narrator (Luke iii. 2); when all Jews, or persons living among
them, must have known that there never was but _one_ high priest at a
time, as with ourselves there is but one mayor of a city.

Again we read (John vii. 52), "Search (the Scriptures) and look, for out
of Galilee ariseth no prophet," when th