the Divine presence, Jonah i. 3. To the port of Joppa the timber for Solomon's temple was floated, 2 Chron. ii. 16. Here Peter raised to life Tabitha, or Dorcas, Acts ix. 36-42. She considered the poor, and the Lord was her helper and deliverer when laid on a bed of languishing, Psa. xli. 1-3. Who would not wish for such a life and death, rather than that of the mere lover of pleasure, dead while she liveth? 1 Tim. v. 6. The name of Dorcas signifies a roe ; an animal distinguished for beauty and comeliness: but Dorcas was an example of the truth stated by the wellknown verse of Dr. Watts,

"Then I'll not be proud of my youth or my beauty,

Since both of them wither and fade;

But gain a good name by well doing my duty, This will scent like a rose when I'm dead.'

Near to Joppa was Lydda, or Lud, where Peter healed Eneas, a man sick of the palsy for eight years, and thus drew the attention of the neighbours to the preaching of Christ crucified, and planted the true Rose of Sharon in the fields from whence the name was derived, Acts ix. 34, 35. This spot has long been known for its fragrant and lovely flowers; and surely the sweetest objects of nature are but faint shadows of their Lord, Song ii. 1, 2.

From Joppa, Peter was sent by God to Cesarea, the residence of the Roman centurion Cornelius. It is now in ruins; but it was then a handsome city, which the elder Herod had built with great magnificence, designing to make it his royal residence, or capital city, calling it after Cesar, the Roman emperor. While celebrating the public games in honour of the emperor, a festival borrowed from the heathens, his grandson met with a sudden and awful death," because he gave not God the glory," Acts xii. 19-23. Cesarea was afterwards the residence of Philip the evangelist; and the scene of a most affectionate parting between Paul and his friends, Acts xxi. 8-15. To this place the same apostle was sent, to preserve his life from the Jews at Jerusalem, and kept in imprisonment for more than two years, being allowed occasional visits from all his acquaintance. Thus he suffered for the truth's sake, and preached the gospel of Christ before kings and rulers, Felix, Festus, and Agrippa, Acts xxii., xxvi.

The ruins of Cesarea are of splendid materials, but nothing more is left; the pomp and grandeur of this world soon passes away. Not so the truths which the apostle preached; of the sufferings and death of Jesus; of remission of sins, through faith in his name; of righteousness, temperance,

and judgment to come; which caused a Roman magistrate to tremble before his pri

soner.

The later history of Joppa must be briefly summed up. When Jerusalem was taken by the Romans, many Jews sought to shelter themselves upon this rocky coast, but in vain. The place was besieged, taken, and destroyed, and 12,000 Jews were put to death. During the crusades, it was attacked and stormed by Richard 1. of England, and rebuilt by Louis Ix. of France; but it was afterwards again destroyed and restored. It was the spot where Buonaparte cruelly and treacherously murdered the thousands of Turkish prisoners who fell into his hands in the year 1799; where, shortly after, his own soldiers were attacked by the plague, unable and unwilling to assist each other. Compelled to retreat, he ordered several of them to be poisoned, with a view, as he said, to shorten their sufferings; but this fact shows the recklessness of feeling, as to life and death, which prevailed in the French army, among soldiers brought up in the infidel times of the revolution. The same cruelty was seen in the slaughter of the 3,000 or 4,000 Turkish prisoners just mentioned, whose bones long remained in whitening heaps, to mark the spot, which is still shown to travellers, as the scene of this act of cruelty. How many causes for

thankfulness arise to the mind while looking on these places in the map! God interposed to stop the hand which desolated kingdoms and destroyed families; just as the same Divine power stills the raging of the sea, saying, “Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed," Job xxviii. 11.

BIBLE READING.

LUCY LINWOOD had a mother - a kind, a prudent, a wise, and pious mother. Oh! such

a mother is worth more than all the world beside. Were all the sparkling gems of the mine, and all the precious pearls of the sea, to be piled up together in a heap, they would not be worth looking at, compared with such a mother.

Lucy had a Bible, and highly did she value it. If all the wisest and the best books which have ever been written, were to be put together, and bound in morocco and gold, their value would not be equal to a hundredth part of the value of the Bible.

One day, Lucy's mother, before she left home, put three Bible questions to Lucy, telling her to look for three texts of Scripture in her absence, by way of reply. Away went Lucy's mother on her errand, and away went Lucy to look for her texts.

Now Lucy had a nice little book, called the Bible Catechism, in which a great many texts were placed under their different heads, so that, in a very short time, by the help of this book, she had found the texts she wanted. Off she ran to her grandmother, to ask her to read them over, and see if they were right.

The old lady took her seat in the old chair, with the Bible before her. She had on a white cap, a white handkerchief, and a white apron; and looked as neat and clean as any one could desire. She read in a very clear voice the text that Lucy had found.