you while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.' The admonition had some effect; and, encouraged by the prophet, the victorious monarch resolved to complete the religious reformation which he had so well begun. A solemn gathering of his people took place, who, entering into a national covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul,' made a law that death should be inflicted on any apostate; -a determination which proceeded on the principle that under a theocracy idolatry was high treason. Such, however, was the height of the gen. eral enthusiasm, that the king cut down and burnt an idol which his grandmother had made for the licentious worship of the grove, and removed her from being queen.' Nevertheless, the evil was not rooted out, so deeply had idolatry struck its roots into the heart of society.

Another war came on after a long interval. In Asa's six and thirtieth year, Baasha, king of Israel, made an attack on Judah. Now was proof given of the folly of Asa in looking for protection to material resources. Distrusting the very power which had given him safety and affluence, he purchased the assistance of Ben-hadad, king of Syria, with treasures that belonged to the temple. Benhadad made an attack on Israel, and so gained for his purchaser a temporary relief. But war was to end only with his life. This is announced to him as a punishment for distrusting the divine aid, by 'Hanani the seer,' whom the infatuated king punished for his honesty by incarceration. Asa was now heavily afflicted with the gout. The agitation of his passions, his trouble of conscience, and the pains of his body, brought his life and his power to a termination. He died in the forty-first year of his reign, and was, after being embalmed in a most sumptuous manner, buried in a sepulchre of his own construction (1 Kings xv. 9. 2 Chron. xiv. xv. xvi. Matt. i. 7).

Asa is spoken of in favourable terms, and presented as an example; nor can it be denied that he had many excellencies of character; while it is to be deplored that he so much degenerated in the latter part of his days. 'A good old age' should be every one's aim; age- - so far as may be-green at heart, as well as in strength. That improvement of mind and affections which terminates not till the last day, is as pleasing to look upon, as it is delightful to experience. And the more to be deplored and blamed, is degeneracy in the autumn of life, when, as in the case of Asa, there is reason to believe, that it is a perverse effect of that prosperity and ease to which early goodness had conduced.

Asa is reproved (2 Chron. xvi. 12) for. having recourse, in his disease, 'not to the

Lord, but to the physicians.' The treatment of disease was in the hands of the priests, as the representatives of Him who woundeth and healeth, killeth and maketh alive; but there was no law prohibiting others from the practice of medicine. Frequently, however, that practice was contaminated by superstitious rites, incantations, and even idolatrous observances, for resorting to which it was that Asa came under condemnation.

ASAPH (H. a collector), a Levite, who was appointed by David chief director of the splendid musical company which he instituted for the worship of God. In 1 Chron. xvi. 7, express mention is made that David delivered a psalm, to thank the Lord, into the hand of Asaph and his brethren.' As leader of the band, Asaph made a sound with cymbals' (1 Chron. xvi. 5). Several of his associates are named, of whom we may specify Heman and Jeduthun (1 Chron. xvi. 41). They are said to prophesy with harps, with psalteries, and with cymbals;' which shows how widely the term prophecy was applied, since here it evidently refers to skill in music or in poetry; perhaps lyric poetry would be a correct description, the rather because, in 1 Chron. xxv. 6, the choir is said to be appointed for song in the house of the Lord with cymbals,' &c. Their office was not merely to play, but to sing also; hence they are called 'singers' (2 Chron. v. 12). When engaged in their duties, they, 'with their sons and their brethren' (probably their pupils and fellow-professors), were arrayed in white linen, and stood at the east end of the altar, and with them an hundred and twenty priests, sounding with trumpets.' This grand orchestra, when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord,' must have produced the most solemnising and ravishing effect. The musical institution of David comprised 4000 singers, under 288 leaders, distributed into twenty-four classes, which, in their turn, week by week, performed the ordinary religious services. From these remarks some idea may be formed of the magnificence of the Hebrew worship, and of the flourishing condition of the sister arts of music and poetry. Worthy alliance of the resources of the highest art for the sublimest of all earthly purposes!

Asaph, as the most distinguished of these gifted men, gave his name to a class who, down to a late period, continued to be called after him 'sous of Asaph' (2 Chron. xxix. 13; xxxv. 15. Ezra ii. 41. Neh. xii. 35), and show how carefully and long this unequalled choir was sustained in Judah. If we are guided by their titles, the following psalms have Asaph for their author; namely, L. and LXXIII. to LXXXIII. Many of these, however, contain obvious allusions to later periods; and the titles, which are by a later

hand, cannot be admitted against internal evidence. Not improbably, many compositions, which came into being after Asaph's day, were, in process of time, ascribed to him, as was the case with other celebrated poets of ancient times.

ASCEND (L. to climb up to) describes the fact that Jesus, after his resurrection, left this state, and entered into the invisible world, which lies on all sides of the globe, and pervades space, as the substance and reality, of which the outer world is only the shadowy form, or the dim and imperfect image. Undue pretensions defeat their own ends. Divines claimed for the Bible to speak in scientific phraseology. The ene mies of revelation, availing themselves of the discoveries of science, attempted to show, that, being wrong in its astronomy, it was wrong altogether. The real claims and the true merits of the Bible are now better understood. They stand uninjured, whatever theories may prevail in physical science, because they are entirely independent of physical truth-adapting themselves to the view which it presents in the nineteenth century, as well as to that which prevailed in the first. In fact, the reference of the New Testament to physical science is merely by implication and allusion. Thus, in the word ascend, the idea implied is, that heaven, or the invisible world, is above the earth. But say unbelievers, 'If above by day, it is, relatively to the revolving earth, beneath by night; therefore the Bible is in error.' Would it be right to deny the truth of modern astronomy because it still uses language borrowed from exploded theories, talking, for instance, of the sun's rising and setting? The simple truth is, that the speakers and writers of the New Testament used the phraseology which was current in their day, and could not have acted differently if they wished to be understood. And, in a period when men believed the earth to be stationary, what other conception could they form but that heaven was over head? Hence, to go to heaven' was to ascend. And still, since we speak as from the day, and not from the night, such is the ordinary usage of language, we cannot do better than to continue the custom, and talk and write of the ascension of Christ. In this we have the example of our Lord himself, who says, 'I ascend to my Father and to your Father, and to my God and your God' (John xx. 17). In the ancient church the ascension was celebrated on a set day, and with solemn

rites.

The spot from which our Lord ascended, tradition identifies with the Mount of Olives, the top of which is occupied by what is termed the Church of the Ascension, built in commemoration of the great event from which the building takes its name. This church is in the occupation of Latin Chris

tians. The account given by the evangelists seems to be in substance the following: After having by appointment met the apostles on a mountain in Galilee (Matt. xxviii. 16), Jesus returned to Jerusalem; and having led his disciples out to Bethany on Mount Olivet, -a spot whence, as being well known there, it was most suitable he shouid ascend, -he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven (Luke xxiv. 50).

ASHDOD (H. the strong).

This place, which the Greeks and Latins termed Azotus, was one of the chief cities of Philistia, the capital of one of its five princes, and the centre of the worship of the god Dagon, who had a temple there (Josh. xiii. 3. 1 Sam. vi. 16, 17; v. 1—5). It lay about midway between Jamnia and Gaza, somewhat inland, as appears from its ruins, which still bear the name (Esdud). It was allotted by Joshua to the tribe of Judah (Josh. xv. 46, 47), but was never long in the hands of the Israelites, though it must have been comprised in Solomon's empire (1 Kings iv. 21). It appears in the Bible generally as a heathen, Philistian town, hostile to the Hebrews. From its position it was subject to constant attacks, which it underwent till it was laid in ruins. Uzziah destroyed its walls (2 Chron. xxvi. 6). Tartan, sent by Sargon king of Assyria, took it (Isa. xx. 1). It was besieged for twentynine years by Psammeticus, king of Egypt, and at length captured: accordingly, in Jer. xxv. 20, the remnant of Ashdod' is spoken of. Judas Maccabæus defeated near Ashdod the Syrian commander Gorgias (1 Macc. iv. 15): his brother Jonathan, however, plundered the city, and destroyed the temple of Dagon (1 Macc. x. 77-84). Ashdod was restored by the Roman general Gabinius. Philip here preached the gospel (Acts viii. 40). According to Neh. xiii. 23, 24, a species of dialect or patois was spoken here; for children, issue of Ashdod women by Jewish fathers, spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language: being used to their mothers' tongue, the Philistian, they were ignorant of the Hebrew or Chaldee, spoken by their fathers, though they were all cognate dialects.

ASHER (H. happy), the second son of Jacob, by Zilpah, Leah's maid, whom she gave to the patriarch when she herself had left off bearing: her happiness on the birth of this son was the occasion of his name (Gen. xxx. 12; xxxv. 26). He was born while his father was in Padan-aram. His elder brother, on the mother's side, was Gad. He had four sons and one daughter (Gen. xlvi. 17. 1 Chron. vii. 30). He was the sire of the tribe which bears his name. When the Israelites quitted Egypt, the tribe numbered, of those that were able to go to war, 41,500, whose captain was Pagiel, the son of Ocran (Numb. ii. 27). The country

ASHIMA (H. evil), an idol of the men of Hamath,' who formed a part of those whom the king of Assyria planted in the cities of Samaria, instead of the children of Israel. This divinity, of which nothing more is said in Scripture, the Jews asserted to have borne the shape of an ape, an ass, or a goat: the last would remind the student of Mendes or Pan of the Egyptians. Others hold that it was some visible image of the sun, which was certainly worshipped in Assyria. The name appears to denote the evil principle, or devil; and there is a strong probability that this idol formed a part of that worship of the heavenly bodies which prevailed in the parts whence these colonists were brought (2 Kings xvii. 30).

The more we know of the religious systems of the surrounding nations, the more important do we feel those regulations to have been which were designed to keep the Israelites aloof from their contaminations; the higher must be the estimation in which we hold the Mosaic religion; the greater need do we see there was for it; and the more resplendent appears the grace of God in his plan of educating and redeeming the world by the agency of a monotheistic nation.

ASHKENAZ, in the genealogical table (Gen. x. 3), a son of Gomer and offspring of Japheth; found, in Jer. li. 27, in union with Ararat, in Armenia. From the latter fact, this people have been placed to the

ASHTORETH, a plural form of the word Astarte, seems to be of Phoenician origin, and to signify the goddess of good fortune. By the name Ashtoreth, we are directed to that corrupt form of the idolatrous worship of the heavenly bodies which prevailed in very early times in Canaan, which did so much to counteract the aims of Moses, and to pollute and degrade the Israelites, and which was with extreme difficulty, and only after a long time, rooted up and destroyed. And when the reader is, as he may well be, revolted and grieved at the cost of life, by which the promised land was gained by the monotheistic Hebrews, he should in justice bear in mind, that the idolatry of the country was hopelessly corrupt and debasing, and that progress in civilisation was impossible in conjunction with its prevalence. Idolatry, in these days and in these lands, is only known as a dark, distant shadow. In Canaan it was a dismal reality, entering into all the relations of life, and all the movements of society, and leaving poison and death wherever it came. indispensable on any spot of land where true Its extirpation was religion and true happiness were to flourish The benevolent may wish that idolaters could have been spared, while their idolatry was destroyed; but evil and good are so closely intertwined, that in this world the one can rarely be had without the other. ASTARTE.

Baal the Jupiter, and in Astoreth the Juno, of the Greeks and Romans. Under the title of 'Queen of heaven' (Jer. vii. 18; xliv. 17), the same Ashtoreth is thought to be intended. Classic writers found in her their aphrodite Urania, or heavenly Venus; chiefly because her worship among the Babylonians, by whom she was named Mylitta, resembled that which was paid to the Paphian Venus. Among the Arabs she is called Alitta, and Anaitis with the Armenians. The utmost licentionsness prevailed in her rites, which were connected with grove worship (2 Kings xxiii. 4-7, 15). She is represented on coins by a woman's head with a crescent; sometimes by the head of a cow with horns, which were intended probably to denote the

horned moon, and may also have been regarded as symbolical of power: hence, a place on this side the Jordan, in the land of Bashan, one of the residences of king Og (Deut. i. 4. Josh. ix. 10; xii, 4; xiii. 12), was denominated Ashteroth Karnaim, or Horned Ashteroth (Gen. xiv. 5), in honour of this idol. Her full figure is clad in a female dress, standing erect, in the attitude of majesty, holding a staff or sceptre in her right hand: thus was she honoured at Tyre. She also appears on coins placed on a kind of state car, with a canopy: her image, thus drawn forth and exhibited on special occasions, was in this way worshipped in Sidon. The following cuts are copied from Phonician coins, only somewhat enlarged:

ASIA is the name of one of the three great divisions or portions into which geographers divided the old world, or the Eastern hemisphere; Africa and Europe being the other two. Considered in a general way, Asia offers points of interest possessed by no other part of the world. Africa, indeed, has its Egypt, where civilisation made very early and very distinguished progress; but Asia is the great mother of nations. To Asia, as to the cradle of the human race, indications, almost as diverse as they are numerous, clearly point. If the precise spot where man was first placed, remains undecided, it is still true that we can look for paradise in no very distant region from that in which tradition places it. And though, again, antiquarians may be found to claim for Egypt and for India the honour of affording the first home to man, nevertheless we have no guide equally trustworthy with the Scriptural narratives, which set the origin of human society on or near the banks of the Euphrates and the Tigris. Asia certainly has from the very first been renowned for great monarchies and high culture. This was the field on which the most splendid and the darkest acts of man have been transacted; where human associations were formed on the grandest scale; where the pomp and pride of power were most dazzling and most intoxieating; and where there sprung up, declined, became corrupt, or flourished, those religions

which have mastered, and done something to refine and bless, the world.

In ancient times, the term Asia denoted very different extents of country, according to the prevailing knowledge of geography in each period. In the Roman era it was used only of some districts of what is now termed Western Asia. In the Bible it denotes nothing more than our Asia Minor. Thus, in 1 Maccabees (viii. 6), Antiochus the Great is called king of Asia, because, besides Syria, he was master of certain portions of Asia Minor. Indeed, the term was loosely employed, now denoting a greater, now a less. portion of the world. When the Roman power had gained its ascendancy in the East, Asia, as a province, signified Asia on this side the Taurus; that is, Mysia, Lydia, Phrygia, and Caria, or the sea coast of Asia Minor. This province was governed by a prætor, until Augustus converted it into a consular province. In this condition it bore the name of Asia Proper. In this early Christian period, the comprehension of the term was by no means something determinate and fixed. In several places, Asia appears as the province so called in union with other districts of Asia Minor. Thus, in Acts vi. 9, it is joined with Cilicia, another province of Asia Minor, lying to the extreme southeast; and in Acts ii. 9, with Cappadocia, Pontus, Phrygia, and Pamphylia; and in 1 Pet. i. 1, with Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,