Azorus is the same as Ashdod.

It was not taken by Joshua; and being surrounded by a wall of great strength, it became a place of much importance, and one of the chief cities of the Philistines. Here Philip was found after he had converted the eunuch.

GAZA, the same as Gath, signifying a wine-press, was a city of the Philistines, and one of their principalities, and the birth place of Goliath. It was eighteen miles south of Joppa, and thirty-two west of Jerusalem. David conquered Gath in the beginning of his reign, and it remained subject to his successors till the downfal of the kingdom of Judah. Rehoboam rebuilt and fortified it, but it was afterwards recovered by the Philistines, and retaken by Uzziah.

These are the principal cities and villages of note in Judea. Nearly every one has its own tale of history and adventure, given us in the first instance in the Word of God, and secondly, by the testimony of travellers and eye-witnesses. We shall next proceed to give some account of the Cities of Samaria and Galilee.

BAPTISM.

It is a

"THE blessings and excellencies of Baptism are these, It separates us from Adam and engrafts us in Christ. resurrection from sin to grace. It discharges us from the debt owing to the justice of God, by our sins, now fully satisfied by faith in the sufferings and death of Christ. It cancels the law of death and malediction which was against us."-Bp. Wilson.

THE PRIVILEGES OF BAPTISM." Now we begin to be reckoned in a new account, God is become our Father; Christ our elder brother; the Spirit the earnest of our inheritance; the Church our Mother; our food is the body and blood of our Lord; faith is our learning, religion our employment, our whole life is spiritual, heaven the object of our hopes and the mighty prize of our high calling."-Bishop Jeremy Taylor.

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CHRISTIAN COURAGE.

CHRISTIANITY is well termed a warfare; for a warfare it is, wherein no danger can be prevented, no enemy conquered, no victory obtained, without much courage and resolution. I have not only many outward enemies to grapple with, but I have myself, my worst enemy, to encounter and subdue. As for those enemies which are not near me, by the assistance of God's Spirit, I can make pretty good shift to keep them at sword's point: but this enemy that is gotten within me, has so often foiled and disarmed me, that I have reason to say, as David did of his enemies, "It is too strong for me;" and as he said of the chief of his, "I shall one day fall by the hand of Saul," so have I too much occasion to say, I shall fall by myself, as being myself the greatest enemy to my own spiritual interest and concerns. How necessary is it then that I should stir and muster up all my force and courage, put on my spiritual armour, and make myself strong in the Lord and in the power of His might! I know I must strive before I can enter in at the strait gate;' I must win the crown, before I can wear it; and be a member of the church militant before I be admitted into the church triumphant. In & word, must go through a solitary wilderness, and conquer many enemies, before I come to the land of Canaan; or else I must never be possessed of it. What then? Shall I let go my glorious and eternal possession, to save myself from a seeming hardship, which the devil would persuade me to be a trouble and an affliction ? Alas! if Christ had laid aside the great work of my redemption, to avoid the undergoing of God's anger and man's malice, what a miserable condition had I been in! And, therefore, whatever taunts and reproaches I meet with from the presumptuous and profane, the infidel and atheistical reprobates of the age-let them laugh at my profession, or mock at what they are pleased to term my preciseness; let them defraud me of my just rights, or traduce and bereave me of my good name and reputation; let them vent the utmost of their poisonous malice and envy against me-I have this comfortable reflection still to support me, that if I suffer all this for Christ's sake, it is in the cause of one who suffered a thousand times more for mine, and therefore, it ought to be matter of joy and triumph, rather than of grief and dejection to me; especially considering that "these my light afflictions, which are but for a moment, will work out for me a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."

A TALE OF DEATH.

TWAS on a golden morn in spring,
The time of song and mirth,
When beauty, like a robe, is spread
O'er the rejoicing earth,

A boy upon a holyday

Went forth along the fields to stray.

He wandered where the cowslips spring
And the brook went singing by,
And lingered till the clouds grew red
Upon the western sky;

The bright spring day was almost gone,
And still the School-boy wandered on.

He came where stood an old gray Church
In a churchyard still and lone,
And many a grass-green grave was there
With turf and flowers o'er grown;

But one small mound was dark and bare
Nor flower nor turf was springing there.

An old man stood by the little grave,
And as the boy drew nigh

He saw that grief was in his face
And a tear was in his eye,
And his pale lips a movement made
As if within himself he prayed.

The pitying boy a moment gazed,
Then turned to go his way,
But the poor mourner signed to him
And kindly bade him stay:
"Come hither, gentle boy," said he,
"I have a tender tale for thee."

"A simple tale, but very sad,

A tale of grief and woe,

Yet it may do thee good to hear

Of one who rests below,

Whom God hath taken, of His grace,

To serve Him in a better place.

"She was my only daughter's child,
Her parents both are dead;—
But she was very dear to me

I loved her in their stead,-
But now, alas! she too is gone,
And other children have I none.

"She waited on me day by day
With ever willing mind,
And all the village loved her well,
She was so good and kind,
For never from her lips was heard
A bitter or an angry word.

"So past our lives from year to year,
And though our home was poor
God bless'd us both, and turned away
Dark sorrow from our door,

And every hour my darling grew
More gentle and more lovely too.

"One sad, one well-remembered day(She knew not I was nigh,) Her little chamber open stood As I was passing by,

And as I paused a moment there

I heard a well-known voice in prayer:

""O blessed Jesus, give him grace,' Said she in faltering tone,

'To put bis hope and trust in Thee When he is left alone

And I am taken to my rest

Then, Lord, do Thou as seemeth best.'

"And then I knew my child must die Even as her mother died,

Who fell beneath Consumption's stroke
And faded from my side;

I bowed beneath the chastening rod
And sought to yield her up to God.

"Paler and weaker still she grew
But never spoke of pain,
Nor ever cherished in her mind

Fond hopes and longings vain;
"I knew," she said, "That it must be,
And if I mourn, 'tis but for thee."

"Then by her bed she made me sit,
And begged me not to fret,

For God who is so kind and good
Would not forsake me yet;

And she would take the Book of Prayer
And bid me seek for comfort there;

"And as in gentle tones and low
The Bible's page she read,

A peace which was not of the earth
Upon my soul was shed;

And blessed rays of heavenly light
Broke in upon my sorrow's night.

"One day I heard her whisper low, As close my hand she prest,

'Lord, Thou hast called me, and I come, O take me to Thy rest!'

She turned her face to me and smiledI was bereaved of my child!

"We laid her here this very morn
Beneath this old beech tree :-

Father in Heaven! Thy will be done!
I yield her back to Thee,

Thou gav'st and Thou didst take away;-
Blest be Thy Name till life's last day!"

He paused:-Then to the Boy he spoke, "She once was gay as thou;

The day hastes on when thou shalt be

Silent as she is now,

And in some Churchyard's quiet shade Thou must by mourning friends be laid.

S