Hiram, King of Tyre, is said to have sent cedars of Lebanon by sea to
Joppa, for the building of Solomon's Temple; and from Joppa the
disobedient Jonah embarked, when ordered by God to go and preach to the
people of Nineveh.

It was at Joppa that the apostle Peter lived, for some time, with one
Simon, a tanner, whose house was by the sea-shore; and it was on the
flat roof of this dwelling that he saw the wonderful vision, which
taught him not to call any man common or unclean.

[Illustration: JOPPA.]

Tabitha or Dorcas, the pious woman who spent all her life in working for
the poor, and in giving alms to those who needed relief, lived in Joppa;
and here it pleased God that she should be taken ill and die, and her
body was laid out in the usual manner before burial, in an upper chamber
of the house where she lived. The apostle Peter, to whom this pious
woman had been well known, was then at Lydda, not far from Joppa, and
the disciples sent to tell him of the heavy loss the Church had met with
in the death of Dorcas, and begged that he would come and comfort them.
The apostle directly left Lydda and went over to Joppa. He was, by his
own desire, taken to the room where the corpse lay, and was much moved
when he saw the tears of the poor women who had been fed and clothed by
the charity of Dorcas, and who were telling each other how much good she
had been the means of doing them.

Peter desired to be left alone with the body, and then he knelt down and
prayed, and, receiving strength from God, he turned to the body and
cried, "Tabitha, arise!" She then, like one awaking from sleep, opened