WAYS

in Scripture, means conduct: for example: “Make your paths
straight.” The paths of the wicked are crooked. To forsake the ways of
the Lord, is to forsake his laws. Ways also signifies custom, manners,
and way of life: “All flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth,” Gen.
vi, 12; xix, 31; Jer. xxxii, 19. The way of the Lord expresses his
conduct to us: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways
my ways, saith the Lord,” Isa. lv, 8. We find through the whole of
Scripture this kind of expressions: The way of peace, of justice, of
iniquity, of truth, of darkness. To go the way of all the earth, Joshua
xxiii, 14, signifies dying and the grave. A hard way represents the way
of sinners, a way of impiety, Judges ii, 19. Jesus Christ is called the
Way, John xiv, 6, because it is by him alone that believers obtain
eternal life, and an entrance into heaven. The psalmist says, “Thou wilt
show me the path of life,” Psalm xvi, 11; that is, Thou wilt raise my
body from death to life, and conduct me to the place and state of
everlasting happiness. When a great prince in the east sets out on a
journey, it is usual to send a party of men before him, to clear the
way. The state of those countries in every age, where roads are almost
unknown, and, from the want of cultivation, in many parts overgrown with
brambles, and other thorny plants, which renders travelling, especially
with a large retinue, very incommodious, requires this precaution. The
emperor of Hindostan, in his progress through his dominions, as
described in the narrative of Sir Thomas Roe’s embassy to the court of
Delhi, was preceded by a very great company, sent before him to cut up
the trees and bushes, to level and smooth the road, and prepare their
place of encampment. Balin, who swayed the imperial sceptre of India,
had five hundred chosen men, in rich livery, with their drawn sabres,
who ran before him, proclaiming his approach, and clearing the way. Nor
was this honour reserved exclusively for the reigning emperor; it was
often shown to persons of royal birth. When an Indian princess made a
visit to her father, the roads were directed to be repaired, and made
clear for her journey; fruit trees were planted, water vessels placed in
the road side, and great illuminations prepared for the occasion. Mr.
Bruce gives nearly the same account of a journey, which the king of
Abyssinia made through a part of his dominions. The chief magistrate of
every district through which he had to pass was, by his office, obliged
to have the roads cleared, levelled, and smoothed; and he mentions, that
a magistrate of one of the districts, having failed in this part of his
duty, was, together with his son, immediately put to death on the spot,
where a thorn happened to catch the garment, and interrupt for a moment
the progress of his majesty. This custom is easily recognized in that
beautiful prediction: “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness,
Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway
for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill
shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the
rough places plain; and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all
flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it,”
Isa. xl, 3–5. We shall be able, perhaps, to form a more clear and
precise idea, from the account which Diodorus gives of the marches of
Semiramis, the celebrated queen of Babylon, into Media and Persia. In
her march to Ecbatane, says the historian, she came to the Zarcean
mountain, which, extending many furlongs, and being full of craggy
precipices and deep hollows, could not be passed without taking a great
compass. Being therefore desirous of leaving an everlasting memorial of
herself, as well as of shortening the way, she ordered the precipices to
be digged down, and the hollows to be filled up; and at great expense
she made a shorter and more expeditious road; which to this day is
called, from her, the road of Semiramis. Afterward she went into Persia,
and all the other countries of Asia subject to her dominion; and
wherever she went, she ordered the mountains and the precipices to be
levelled, and raised causeways in the plain country, and at a great
expense made the ways passable. Whatever may be in this story, the
following statement is entitled to the fullest credit: “All eastern
potentates have their precursors and a number of pioneers to clear the
road, by removing obstacles, and filling up the ravines and the hollow
ways in their route. In the days of Mogul splendour, the emperor caused
the hills and mountains to be levelled, and the valleys to be filled up
for his convenience. This beautifully illustrates the figurative
language in the approach of the Prince of Peace, when every valley shall
be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the
crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain.”