understanding quite up to the level of our times: for example,-"The love of the many has waxed cold: we live in an age of smooth, civilized, unbelieving indifference, and we keep trying to get that work done by subscription lists, and meetings, and clap-trap speeches, and votes, the silly appliances of modern agitation, which nothing can do but the Spirit of God working on men at home and abroad through believing, loving hearts. Our worship is a mechanical, lifeless, form, having nothing to do with our character and daily lives, performed for us once a week by the clergyman." Homely truths like these, must not be rejected because they are distasteful. There are passages where the style seems to be a little inflated, and the general tone of the book seems to favour a certain broadness of views on some questions; but it is certainly not destitute of life, spirit, and earnestness, which is more than we can say of all the sermons which are printed. If the pulpit is to have more power, sermons must not only be of respectable merit from a literary point of view; they must speak with emphasis, and must be imbued with vital Christian truth.

We have also received the following, some of which arrived too late for notice in the present Number :

Studien zur Kritik und Erklärung der Biblischen Urgeschichte (Gen. i.-ix.) Drei Abhandlungen von Dr. Eberhard Schrader. Mit einem Anhange. Zurich: Meyer and Zeller.

Kirchengeschichte von F. R. Hasse.

sic: Engelmann.

Herausgeg. v. Dr. A. Köhler.

Vol. I. Leip

Commentar über das Evangelium des Johannes. Von W. Bäumlein. Stuttgart: Metzler.

Bardesanes von Edessa nebst einer Untersuchung überdas Verhältniss der Clementinischen Recognitionen zu dem Buche der Gesetze der Länder. v. Dr. A. Merx. Halle Pfeffer.

:

Proposed Water Supply and Sewerage for Jerusalem: with Description of its Present State and Former Resources. By J. I. Whitty, C.E., D.C.L., etc. London. The Divine Treatment of Sin. By Jas. B. Brown. London.

The Rise and Progress of Religious Life in England. By S. R. Pattison. London. The Book of Ruth in Hebrew, with a Critically Revised Text, Various Readings, including a new collation of twenty-eight Hebrew MSS. (most of them not previously collated), and a Grammatical and Critical Commentary: to which is appended the Chaldee Targum, with Various Readings, Grammatical Notes, and a Chaldee Glossary. By Charles H. H. Wright, M.A., of Trinity College, Dublin, and Exeter College, Oxford; British Chaplain at Dresden, London and Edinburgh : Williams and Norgate. 1864.

MISCELLANIES.

Simonides once more.-The following appeared in the Literary Churchman (Nov. 1), and the Guardian (Nov. 11). The Guardian printed the Greek originals of the letters signed "Callinicus," and of the answers of Dionysius to the queries of Mr. Wright.

"Greeting in the Lord.

"On my arrival in the island of Rhodes, from Beyrout, I found in circulation many absurd and ridiculous stories (for which I was not prepared) attacking the genuineness of my letter, which I sent to you from Alexandria. I pity those who have published falsehoods so unfounded; for it appears to me, that these men attempt to mislead public opinion for the sake of individual interests; but I understand that the golden fountains are babbling,' as the proverbs say.

"And so I say to you boldly, for the sake of sacred truth, that I sent three letters from Alexandria, one to the editor of the Guardian, a second to the Times, and a third to the Literary Churchman. I wrote them myself, my subordinate, Eusebius, copied them, and then I signed and forwarded them, and sent the original to Simonides; and they who say the contrary, utter a manifest falsehood, for Simonides had no previous knowledge about these letters, but when he found from me what I had done, reproved me for it properly, because he did not wish the matter to be borne testimony to by me, for political reasons. "And further, I repeat, that the MS. in dispute is the work of the unwearied Simonides, and of no other person. A portion of this was secretly removed from Mount Sinai, by Professor Tischendorf, in 1844. The rest, with inconceivable recklessness, he mutilated and tampered with, according to his liking, in the year 1859. Some leaves he destroyed, especially such as contained the Acrostics of Simonides; but four of them escaped him, viz., one in the Old Testament, and three in Hermas, as 1 long since informed Simonides: many palæographical symbols also [escaped his notice], but I do not know whether these were eventually overlooked with the acrostics.

"I have to add, that some of the more foolish among our monks at Cairo were bribed to copy and sign certain letters sent from Leipzig and England, containing many things adverse to Simonides. I do not know, for certain, what came of it; but I warn you not to fall into the meshes of those who are systematically plotting against humanity, for the sake of lifeless gold. "Farewell, pardon the old man, "KALLINIKOS HIEROMONACHOS.

66

Rhodes, September 17, 1863."

(Translation.)

"TO THE EDITOR OF THE GUARDIAN,' GREETING. "Joy unto thee.

"I am astonished that they are not ashamed who give out that Simonides wrote the letter which I addressed to thee last year from Alexandria, concerning the MS. taken away from Mount Sinai by Professor Tischendorf.

"I, friend editor, wrote that letter of my own accord and through the medium of my clerk, Eusebius, and I signed it with my own hand; and this I did for truth's sake, and that I might free humanity from Tischendorf's error. I also wrote two more letters on the same subject, one to the editor of the Times and another to that of the Literary Churchman, and I also sent the originals of those letters to Simonides; and besides these I wrote also others to Simonides on the same subject.

"And as regards the letters, I wrote them all. But Simonides wrote the Codex that was taken by Tischendorf from Mount Sinai, and which was corrupted by Tischendorf himself. Let, therefore, those give over that distort truth for the sake of worldly interest.

"Know also that lately two pseudo-monks have been hired that they may write against Simonides, and make their nonsense known through the English press, as at other times also those miserable men did in Germany, France, and Turkey. "Good health unto thee in the Lord, and excuse

"Rhodes, September 27, 1863.

66

+ CALLINICUS THE MONK, Who blesseth thee with all his heart.

"[We print the above letter of Callinicus for fairness' sake. In any case it would not do his cause or that of Simonides any good. But after the letter from Mr. Wilkinson, which we give below, it is to be presumed that we shall hear no more of either of them.]"

"M. SIMONIDES AND HIS UNCLE.

"Sir,-On the 5th of June last I wrote to Mr. Wilkinson, Her Brittanic Majesty's Consul at Salonica, requesting him to obtain for me from the monks of Mount Athos answers to seven questions respecting Simonides. His reply reached me this morning. I enclose a copy of my questions, which you will see bear upon the story of Simonides as told by himself in the Guardian of Sep. 3, W. ALDIS Wright.

1862.

66

Trinity College, Cambridge, Nov. 8."

"Salonica, Oct. 23, 1863.

"Dear Sir, I have delayed replying to your letter of the 5th of June last, as I was in hopes of visiting Mount Athos in September. My occupations here having prevented me from carrying out my intention, I have been obliged to request the Archimandrite Dionysius of the monastery of Xeropotami, a person well acquainted with the history of the Holy Mountain, to furnish me with the information you require respecting Simonides. I have now the pleasure to enclose the Archimandrite's replies to your queries, from which you will perceive that your suspicions were but too well founded. The Archimandrite Dionysius is now, and has been for many years, the spiritual head of the monks of the Monastery of Xeropotami. He is a well-informed man, and his statement may be relied upon as correct. The Monastery of Xeropotami is situated close by the Rossico,' or St. Panteleemon. I send you the Archimandrite's own letter, but being written in rather barbarous Greek, I have added to it an English translation....-Believe me, dear sir, yours faithfully,

"W. Aldis Wright, Esq., etc., etc., etc., Cambridge."

"Questions sent by me to Mr. Wilkinson, the English Consul at Salonica, to be answered by the monks of the Rossico Monastery.-W. A. W.

"1. Was one named Benedict the spiritual head of the monastery between the years 1837 and 1840?

"2. Did he die in the year 1840, in the month of August?

"3. Was Simonides his nephew, and was he resident in the monastery between November, 1839, and August, 1840?

"4. Did Benedict discover a hidden library in the year 1837?

66

"RICHARD WILKINSON.

Copy of answers, as translated by Mr.
Wilkinson.-W. A. W.

"1. Benedict belonged to the Russian monastery, but he was never the spiritual head of the monks.

"2. The said Benedict died in 1840, in the month of April, and not in August. "3. Simonides was neither his nephew, nor was he otherwise related to him.

"4. The alleged discovery by Benedict of a library is entirely false.

Assyrian and Egyptian Monuments in Syria.-The Prince of Wales visited these remarkable memorials of bygone times, still existing near the mouth of the Dog River. Dean Stanley, who accompanied His Royal Highness, makes the following observations regarding them :

"When I had visited this spot in 1853, the inscriptions and sculptures, which have made it so famous, had been very imperfectly deciphered. Since that time, the researches and the contests of scholars have fixed the attention of travellers on these curious memorials, here alone in the world united, of the three ancient empires of Egypt, Assyria, and Rome —to which, in more modern times, have been added the marks of the early empire of the Turks and the present empire of the French. These two more recent inscriptions may be briefly dismissed. The first, left by Selim I., the conqueror of Egypt and Palestine, is near the bridge which spans the river. The second was written to commemorate the occupation of Syria by the French army in 1860. But those of the three former empires are of permanent interest, the more so, as their gradual resuscitation from the neglect of centuries has kept pace with the gradual advance of a more critical knowledge of the ancient world; and they have thus become, as it were, water-marks of its rising tide. The first that attracted the attention of modern travellers was the Latin inscription of the Emperor Antonius to commemorate the cutting of the Roman road through the pass. This, which remained unobserved through the middle ages, was not beyond the comprehension of the travellers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and they accordingly have all noted and copied it. But the others, which have within the last few years rivited the regards of Europe, were then hardly thought worth a passing remark. Maundeville imagined them to be 'perhaps the representations of some persons buried hereabouts.' Pococke saw in them only some small figures of men in

a It has sometimes been said that the French army erased one of the ancient inscriptions in order to substitute their own. This is not the case. The tablet on which their inscription (questionable perhaps under any circumstances) is written, though ancient, was blank. It is the one marked by Dr. Robinson (Lat. Res., p. 619), who saw it in 1852, as "No. 1, square at top; no figure, apparently no sculpture."

relief.... very much defaced by time." The Egyptian scholars first demanded for them the celebrity which they have since acquired. M. De Sauley afterwards denied that any were Egyptian, and claimed them all for Assyria. It is now certain that of the nine tablets three are Egyptian, and six Assyrian; although it may be argued further that Egyptian tablets have been, in some instances, appropriated by the Assyrian invaders six centuries afterwards, as one, at least, has been appropriated by the French invaders nearly three thousand years afterwards. It is on these tablets alternating along the face of the cliff upon the ancient road, that the interest of the Biblical student is chiefly fixed. There, side by side, we encounter the figures of the earliest and latest oppressors of Israel,-Rameses and Sennacherib. Rameses must have passed by that road at a time when the course of sacred history had hardly penetrated into Syria. His memorials can scarcely seem more ancient to us than they did to the first Grecian travellers who saw and recorded these or like vestiges of his conquests. When we trace the well-known figuresexactly as we see them on the temples of Thebes,d-the king and the god, as usual, giving and receiving offerings-it is with much the same sense of remote antiquity as that with which Herodotus (if so be) must have climbed the same pathway, and 'in the part of Syria called Palestine (to use his own words), himself saw the monuments of Sesostris still in existence

"But the Assyrian tablets, if they do indeed contain the name, as they undoubtedly represent the country and empire, of Sennacherib, have a still more striking connection with the ancient history of Israel and of Syria. In the speech which is reported as delivered by his messenger in the historical narrative of the prophet Isaiah, the king of Assyria thus describes his march into Palestine :- By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the "edge," of Lebanon ; and I have cut down the height of his cedars and the beauty of his firtrees; and I entered into the height of his border and the forest of his "park." I have digged and drunk water; I have made a "bridge."'g

"The multitude of his chariots,' such as they are seen on the Assyrian monuments of the further east, must have wound their difficult way through these romantic passes up to the very heights of the mountain ranges, and along the extreme edges of Lebanon,-along the banks of the streams which he drained off by his armies, or over which he threw bridges for them to pass. But there was one spot more sacred than all, to which the conqueror boasts that he had penetrated. He had gone

a See Robinson's Lat. Res., p: 623.

• Ibid. 622.

See Lectures on the History of the Jewish Church, p. 90. The Egyptian sculptures are less distinct than the Assyrian. But the figures are unmistakeably Egyptian; and though, as I saw them, it was difficult to conceive how Dr. Lepsius could have read the hieroglyphics, yet it was equally difficult to conceive how Dr. Robinson (p. 620) and others should have failed to see the figures. The fact is that, as he himself suggests, "under different conditions of light and shade," both sculptures and inscriptions become more or less visible or invisible.

Herod, ii. 106.

Isaiah xxxvii. 25 (in the LXX.)

Isaiah xxxvii. 24, 25.