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One thought, however, would chiefly occupy the mind of Mary her child was safe. She would probably hear of the slaughter which had rent the hearts of so many mothers in Bethlehem. She would picture to herself the scenes of that frightful cruelty, and, under the consequent feeling of horror, press her child more fondly to her bosom. From time to time, the thought of Nazareth and home would recur. Months went on, however, and still there was no hope of return. At length there arrived the news of Herod's death. Yet he was succeeded by Archela'us, who was too much like his father not to excite fear. Mary and Joseph, however, determined to make an attempt to reach home. In order to keep at a distance from Archelaus, they avoided Bethlehem and Jerusalem, and appear to have journeyed along the sea-coast.

If they pursued this way, they would pass Pelusium, called by the Israelites, Sin-a very ancient city, and correctly described in Holy Scripture (Ezekiel xxx. 15) as the strength of Egypt.' It was a strong fortification, and the eastern key of the country. It is now only a heap of ruins. In Pelusium was born the famous astronomer Ptolemy, who, in the second century after Christ, lived in Alexandria. The boundary of Palestine on this side was Ra'phia. To the north was Gaza (strength), a very ancient place (Gen. x. 19) in the land of the Philistines, near the sea, and near the mouth of the stream Bezor. Gaza was the capital of Phili'stia. Its strength and its trade gained it a name. The place calls to mind Samson and his extraordinary deeds. It also makes us think of the difficulty which the Israelites had in vanquishing its citizens and their fellowcountrymen. No wonder, for the Philistines were a free and a commercial people. But its inhabitants were idolaters, and idolatry with them destroyed morals, and so undermined the basis of social life. Therefore they fell before the more virtuous Israelites. The Canaanites would have fallen by some other sword, had that of Joshua never been drawn. No earthly power can save a licentious and depraved people from ruin. When God commands their destruction, it is only an outward token of an overthrow already begun and sure to be completed. The Jews in their turn, when, according to Josephus, they had become exceedingly wicked, perished under the sword of Rome.

North of Gaza, the next considerable place was Askelon (Judg. i. 18), distant from it about six hours or fifteen miles, an ancient Philistian city, lying in a fruitful district not far from where the brook Sorek runs into the sea. In this place, Venus, under the Syrian name of Astarte, or Derceto (Judg. ii. 13), as she was called by the natives, was worshipped with rites of the most polluting kind. When religion is made a pander to lust, the anger of God may well inflict dire punishment.

Another famous Philistian town, Ashdod (Azotus, Acts viii.

40), lay still more to the north, being one of five confederated cities (Joshua xiii. 3) which once held undisputed sway on the southern coast of Palestine, and appear to have risen to high external culture. Ashdod, however, as well as the rest, wanted the only preservative against decay and downfal, namely, a pure, vital, practical religion. Could forts, towers, and warriors, have preserved the place, it would yet have stood in prosperity; for such was its strength that it took Psammeticus, king of Egypt, nine-and-twenty years to subdue and capture it.

Proceeding along the coast, the traveller comes to a wretched village, which occupies the place where once stood another member of the Philistian confederacy, 'Ekron, with her towns and her villages' (Josh. xv. 45)—a description which of itself shows how considerable these ancient cities were. Indeed, each one was a political centre, a metropolis, having its own dependencies, while all five were combined together for mutual protection. What a busy scene must all this line of coast have once been! Now, it is as silent as the grave. Human voices have died away from that guilty land, and the only sound is the moaning of the sea as it seems to reproach the departed with their evil doings. Nor are you to suppose the district too narrow to support a dense population. The soil is most prolific. Even now, after the neglect of centuries, many parts are covered with the richest vegetation; and when the treasures of the West were brought to those shores, and the treasures of the East conveyed from them down the coasts of the Mediterranean, there would exist abundant supplies for a very large number of human beings, the rather because life in the East is supported at far less cost than in these cold, moist climes.

Passing the Jamnia of the Greeks and Romans, called Jabneel in the Bible (Joshua xv. 11), we come on the Map to the wellknown Joppa (Jaffa), a town which we must consider very ancient, even if we should not accede to the opinion of Jerome that it was founded by Japhet. The Hebrews termed it Japho, or Beauty (Josh. xix. 46), for it lies on an elevation from which there is a very fine prospect over the sea and over the surrounding country. Joppa may serve to intimate the union which exists between Greek and Eastern legends, for there, tradition affirms, was Andro'meda set at liberty by Pe'rseus. The rock to which she was chained is still pointed out. Joppa is of the more importance because it has the only good harbour which the Jews of old possessed. The want of sea-ports on the coast of Palestine was not without its effect in preventing the Israelites from becoming a trading people. Moses intended that agriculture should be the basis of their commonwealth; and it was only so long and so far as they kept faithful to the fundamental idea of their legislator, that they gave his institutions a fair trial or realised their own highest good. At later periods, Joppa was

made use of by the Israelites for procuring from Tyre articles of use and luxury (2 Chron. ii. 16), for conducting a considerable maritime trade, and even for piracy. For ever-memorable will Joppa remain as having been the place where was effected that which, next to the conversion of the Apostle Paul, is the greatest change of mind recorded in the Bible, and, we may add, in any book. We refer to the lesson which Peter learnt when, having, as a Jew, held that Jehovah was the God of Israel only, and that all the rest of mankind were aliens from his favour, he was led to declare-'Of a truth, I perceive that God is no respecter of persons. But in every nation, he that feareth him and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.' Well were it did we all enter into the full meaning of those words which came to Peter from above: 'What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common' (Acts x.).

From Gaza to Joppa stretches a plain which the Jews called Sephe'la, or, emphatically, the Plain' (now Falestin), which extends some twelve miles in breadth. In many parts this large plain is very productive, resembling a garden with fruit-trees and flowering shrubs, as well as excellent melons and cucumbers. Palestine, in the time of its bloom, was a very lovely as well as a very fruitful land. Even in ruins it is beautiful and productive. This remark is strikingly exemplified in the plain of Sharon, which, towards the north, succeeds that of Sephe'la. The plain of Sharon (oak-grove) extends beyond Cesare'a to Mount Carmel,

and in breadth from Joppa to Ramatha, or Ramleh. Isaiah celebrates the excellency of Carmel and Sharon' in connection, when he speaks of the glory of Lebanon.' The terms he employs are peculiarly descriptive of Sharon: The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose; it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing' (Isaiah xxxv. 1, 2). Though many parts of the plain are now barren, for want of man's nurturing hand, yet the rich meadows and lovely flowers which adorn other parts suffice to show what the district was of old, and what, under proper culture, it would be again. A poor modern village, named Saron, offers a sad contrast to the royal city of the same name which once flourished in this fine and fertile country (Josh. xii. 18, comp. Acts ix. 35).

From Sharon, the road to the north lay through Anti'patris, a town which Herod the Great built and called after his father, Anti'pater. It lay in a district which water and trees combined to make very pleasant to live in. Hither came Paul when sent by Claudius Lysias to the procurator Felix, in Cesarea.

Cesare'a, or Cesare'a Palesti'na, as it was called, to distinguish it from Cesarea Phili'ppi, which lay at the foot of Lebanon, was seven hours distant from Antipatris. At a later period it received the name of Strabo's Tower, probably from an officer of the Persian monarch Darius, who built a fort there, around which in time grew up a small town. This town having been given by the emperor Augustus to king Herod, was augmented and adorned by him, dedicated to his Roman patron, and after that patron denominated Cesarea, or Cæsar's city. The town was of heathen origin; naturally was it inhabited by heathens.__At first, Syrians and Greeks, by degrees Jews, settled in it. Diversity of blood and religion gave rise to ill-will. The enmity went on increasing till it ended in the massacre of the Hebrew population. This was the last drop, which made the bucket overflow. The Jews rose in rebellion, and were overcome by the Roman armies under Titus (see p. 63).

With an exact observance of peculiarities of time and place, of which so very many instances are found in the New Testament, and which are sufficient to prove that its authors wrote from a knowledge of actual facts, Luke places in Cesarea the Roman officer Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band' (Acts x. 1). Now, Cesarea was the head-quarters of the Roman authorities, whose power in Palestine rested on a military basis. In Cesarea lay a body of Roman soldiers, consisting of five cohorts, or about two thousand men. Here, being under the shield of Rome, Paul found protection from the murderous designs of his countrymen; and his imprisonment here for two years must have done much for the spread of the gospel in the town and its neighbourhood. After the destruction of

Jerusalem, Cesarea was raised to the dignity of the metropolis of the whole land. Such it remained till the emperor Justinian established the Christian patriarchate in Jerusalem. At present this once splendid city is, under the name of Kaisarie, represented by a few fishermen's huts, having on all sides around them ruins which bear full traces of former grandeur. The place lies on a peninsula, about thirty hours north-west of Jerusalem.

About five hours north of Cesarea, there are found on the shore the ruins of the very ancient town Dor, which in Joshua's time had a king of its own (Josh. xii. 23). These kings of Canaan, compared with the queen of England, whose dominions are so wide that it is said the sun never sets on them, were undoubtedly petty monarchs. Political power was then much divided, and kings were more like the barons of the middle ages, each of whom had supreme power over his own castle and its environs. Yet does the fact of a Canaanitish city being said to have a king of its own, serve to show that, relatively to the age, it was considerable in size and power, and that in regard to other ages it was by no means contemptible.

After Mary and Joseph had reached Dor, they had not far to go in order to regain their home at Nazareth. Once arrived there, how must they have enjoyed its repose! With what pleasure would they talk over the perils and scenes through which they