Bethsaida, Julias.—Instead of crossing the Jordan at the lake, we turn up along its eastern bank to visit the ruins of this ancient city. They cover a conspicuous tell at the northern end of the plain near the side of the river, and about 2 m. from its mouth. Heaps of unhewn stones, and a few rude houses used as stores by the Arabs, are all that have hitherto been seen on the spot; but it is probable a careful search among the rank weeds and rubbish that cover the surface would bring to light some vestiges of former grandeur. Bethsaida was at first but a village, chiefly inhabited, as the name (“House of Fish”) would seem to imply, by fishermen. “Philip, tetrarch of Ituræa and of the region ' of Trachonitis ” (Luke iii. 1), enlarged and adorned it in the first years of our era, giving it at the same time ‘the name Julias, in honour of Julia, daughter of Augustus; and here he died and was buried in a costly tomb. It was “in a desert place” near this Bethsaida—probably on the hill-side at the south-western angle of the little plain—that our Lord fed the 5000 men with 5 loaves and 2 fishes. (Luke ix. 10-17.) And it was to the other Bethsaida, near Capernaum, He sent away his disciples in a boat after the miracle (comp. Mark vi. 32 and 45, with Luke ix. 10, and John vi. 15-17), while he dismissed the multitude, who could return to their homes by the ford of the Jordan and the northern shore. “ And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up into a mountain apart to pray ; and when the evening was come He was there alone’’—on some point along that ridge, that rises over lake and plain. A western gale sprung up in the night, and the disciples strove against it in vain, until Jesus appeared on the stormy sea, and the ; wind ceased; and “immediately the ship was at ‘the land whither they went.” Every scene and circumstance of the miracle is here brought vividly before us—the Saviour and His disciples coasting eastward in a boat; the eager multitude keeping pace with him along the shore, and receiving Him with joyful acclamations as He landed ;—during the long day He taught them; in the evening He fed: them, and then sent them home. One can picture the vast crowd on its way back scattered along the beach —some absorbed in deepest thought ; some moving with lingering footsteps, and looking round to where they had left Him, apparently uncertain whether to turn back or to advance homeward; others in close groups discussing the doctrines they had heard; others again wondering at the miracle of the loaves and fishes, And then with our minds we follow Jesus to the hill-top, where He spent the night in prayer, and then again over the sea to where He reached His disciples at the morning watch. At this Bethsaida another miracle was performed at a somewhat later period, when a blind man was restored to sight. (Mark, viii. 22-26.)