when drawn within its influence, have been heard to utter their groans of terror, conscious of their coming destruction.

John. I think Goldsmith relates the death of a celebrated diver, who was drowned in this gulf.

Mamma. You may inform us how that awful event occurred, and as it is growing late, that relation must conclude our conversation for the present.

John. The king, it is said, threw a purse of gold into the vortex; the diver plunged immediately in, and soon returned with the purse in his hand, which he said, had lodged on a ledge of rock, and thus facilitated his obtaining it. With difficulty, he was prevailed on to venture his life again, to recover a golden bell, which, if he brought out, he would be further rewarded with a purse of money more valuable than the first. He paid his life for his temerity and love for gold; for, plunging into the boiling cauldron, he was dashed to pieces by the rocks, and seen no more.

THE PRAYER OF CORNELIUS.

BY REV. CHARLES A. GOODRICH.

WHAT are we to gather in respect to prayer from the case of Cornelius? May we not hope that there are thousands in heathen lands, who do pray with the faith and sincerity of Cornelius; and, like him, are accepted of God? In lands where the gospel shines, prayer, in order to be acceptable, must be offered in the name, and in the faith of Jesus Christ. To this, there is no exception, unless it be in those cases where the mind is darkened through unintentional ignorance or prejudice. But, in heathen countries, where the name of Jesus is unknown, prayer, in his name or in reliance upon him, is not to be expected. And yet, the "spirit of faith" may exist, we hope-those dispositions of the heart which would embrace a Redeemer, were a Redeemer revealed. Cornelius embraced the Saviour when he was offered to him and prayer, ascending from any soul, and every soul

which would embrace him, wherever it exists, in the heathen world, must be acceptable to God.

Let this thought comfort us in those dark and gloomy hours which every Christian experiences, when pondering upon the state of the heathen world. There are there, indeed, thousands and tens of thousands of altars erected to Moloch and to the host of heaven. Yet, may we not hope that there are other altars here and there--not a few in the aggregate-where prayer, according to the dim light of nature, is offered, and is acceptable to God?

But were there a thousand more such altars than we have reason to believe there are, our efforts to extend the full blessings of the gospel to them should not be lessened. Rather should Christians, who appreciate the blessings of a throne of grace, increase their exertions in behalf of those who dwell in pagan lands.

pagan

darkness

O'er the realms of
Let the eye of pity gaze;

See the kindreds of the people

Lost in sin's bewild'ring maze.

Darkness brooding

On the face of all the earth.

Light of them that sit in darkness!

Rise and shine-thy blessings bring;

Light to lighten all the Gentiles !

Rise with healing in thy wing;
To thy brightness

Let all kings and nations come.

Bible History of Prayer.

TRIUMPH OF FAITH.-During an earthquake that occurred a few years since in the South, the inhabitants of a small village were generally very much alarmed, and at the same time, surprised at the calmness and apparent joy of an old lady whom they all knew. At length, one of them, addressing the old lady, said, "Mother are you not afraid?"

"No," said the mother in Israel; "I rejoice to know that I have a God that can shake the world."

That mother in Israel still lives in Mississippi, an ornament to the Presbyterian Church.-Presbyterian.

GAZA is a principal city in ancient Geography, and was one of the five satrapies of the Philistines.

It was situated about twelve miles from the Mediterranean, which sea is called by Moses the Great Sea. It is said to have been built upon an artificial mount, strongly walled around. Alexander the Great destroyed it, but it was afterward rebuilt, and ransacked by Antiochus, the king of Syria.

In the time of the Maccabees, it was a strong and flourishing city, but was again destroyed by Alexander Janneus, the king of the Jews. Remains of its ancient grandeur appear in the pillars of Parian marble which are found in different parts of its streets.

On the top of the hill, at the northeast corner of the town, are the ruins of large arches sunk low in the earth, as also other foundations of stately buildings. It was captured during the French Revolution by that people, under General Kleber, in the year 1799. Of late it has been the residence of a Turkish governor, to which power it now belongs; and is situated about fifty miles southwest of Jerusalem.

It is now called Razzah, and travellers frequently pass it in going from Syria to Egypt. It has always been a place of some

importance. Its present number of inhabitants is said to be about two thousand. Its location being upon an eminence, renders it conspicuous. It is beautified by stately and luxuriant palm-trecs, as also by a number of large gardens kept in the most complete order. Figs, pomegranates, apricots, peaches, and almonds are raised here in great perfection.

The first mention of Gaza in Scripture is in Genesis 10th chap. 19th verse where Moses describes it as on the border of the Canaanites, from Sidon, leading to Gerar. Joshua speaks of it in connection with Ashdod, as a city "with her towns and her villages."

Gaza is remarkable, especially in the history of Samson. Here he was watched by his enemies, who intended to take him prisoner. He arose at midnight, and the sacred historian says, "took the doors of the gates of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of a hill that is before Hebron."

Here also, it appears, was located a house, perhaps a sort of amphitheatre, where a large company of the Philistines were assembled with their lords and rulers, and three thousand persons were promenading upon the roof, when the multitude, excited by wine and revelry, had Samson introduced among them to make sport for them. Standing between the pillars, he requested the lad who led him that he might feel these pillars. This request being granted, he prayed for a return of his great strength, which God then gave him, and he pulled the building down upon himself and his enemies, and thus destroyed more of his country's foes at his death, than he had slain all his lifetime.

Milton has written a beautiful drama upon the death of Samson, which, with Hannah More's works of the same nature, are among the few productions of this class, that we dare, with confidence, recommend to the perusal of our readers.

Pride emanates from a weak mind; you never see a man of strong intellect who is proud and haughty.

Original.

KINDNESS AND LOVE DUE TO PARENTS.

BY REV. ANSEL D. EDDY, D.D.

THERE is a tender ministry in offices of kindness, in which virtue is never more lovely, embodying a sense of gratitude, calling to mind the long past favors of parental care, and giving the highest excellence and commendation to the most important and charming scene this earth ever knew. "How delightful is the spectacle, when, amid all the temptations of youth and beauty, we witness some kind and gentle heart that gives to the couch of the feeble, and perhaps of the thankless and repining, those hours which others find too short for the successive gayeties with which an evening can be filled, and that prefers to the smile of universal admiration, the single smile of enjoyment, which, after many efforts, has, at last, been kindled on one solitary cheek." The utmost kindness, my youthful reader, which you can feel and express, with all the care you can bestow on the wants and weaknesses of your infirm and aged parents, you never can return one half of that which you have so liberally received. They can never lie so helpless and so long on your arm as you have rested on theirs, nor press upon your hearts with that unabated solicitude with which they watched your infant days. Yet it is by kindness and care of them that you make the most valuable returns that you can render, and nothing is more grateful to the infirmities of age, and nothing so commands the admiration of the world. "The hero of heathen poetry is made most noble in bearing his aged father from the burning city; and what can be more unlovely than a son or daughter unkind, and showing negligence to an aged father or mother. And how beautiful a scene was exhibited in the palace of Pharaoh, when Joseph, the prime minister of state, led in a poor old shepherd to the presence of the king, and before all the lords of the Egyptian court introduced the decrepit and careworn pilgrim as his father. Who, after looking at this, will be ashamed of a parent because clad in the garb of