establishment, founded by himself, called 'Our Lady of Zion.' He labours actively to promote the conversion of his brethren according to the flesh; amongst whom, he told us, he had already made 300 proselytes, and do not imagine,' he added, that I have baptised them on slight grounds; even this day I have dismissed two Israelites apparently well disposed, but whom I did not consider sufficiently advanced to enter the Church.'

"This man is proud of the specious unity of his Church; we ought to rejoice in the true unity, and by giving ourselves up entirely to the Lord Jesus, and thereby forming "one body" in Him. This is the unity to which we are called. We spoke to him of this, and also respecting the Evangelical Alliance, to which he listened with interest. Whilst conducting us to the door of the convent, which had been opened by two nuns, probably Israelites he reiterated his assurance of friendship and affection. In an adjoining apartment we heard the voices of children, who, he said, were Jews and instructed by himself. It was the want of faith and love amongst Protestants with whom he was associated, as well as our numerous sects, that determined him to embrace Romanism; in his zeal for which, he has renounced all ideas of nationality. He desires the absolute fusion of his people with Gentiles; in short, he wishes that which his Church calls unity, but which we call chaos.

"The other day at the Oratoire, after an address by my father, Adolphe Monod dwelt with much power and simplicity upon the single word of the Evangelist, Mary. It was the word which our Lord addressed to Mary Magdalen, when weeping at his tomb. Yes! God knows all men by their name. He is the God of an Abraham, of an Isaac, and of a Jacob. He loves Ephraim, He loves Judah; and it is because He knows us all, that He is able to form us into one familyone flock!

"We saw another Israelite, named Salvador, the very reverse, in most respects, of Ratisbon. He believes in the special promises made to Israel; he awaits a Jerusalem, which shall be such as Rome unjustly wishes to be. 'If Jesus,' said he, is the pattern of mankind, His nation ought also to be an example for the nations. Even each individual is required to develope himself according to the laws of his own nature; so also is every nation called to a special development, by which it will be able to contribute to the highest good of humanity, of which it forms a necessary member. Jerusalem shall be the Queen of Cities; not enslaving men's consciences as her rival, Rome, has done, but by favouring the normal and particular development of different peoples by the principle of life and by the lustrous light which she shall reflect around her.' We were happy to find this remnant of the ancient Israelitish faith, and we bless God for having brought Salvador to recognise the Crucified as the pattern of mankind. May this man, who once unhappily celebrated himself by seeking to justify the conduct of the Sanhedrim with regard to the Redeemer, be brought at length to acknowledge Him as his Lord and his God. We spoke with him respecting the Alliance, in which he takes a lively interest, inasmuch as it contrasts the living unity of Protestantism with the pretended oneness of the Roman Church. We also detailed to him what had been done, in London, in favour of the ancient people. He is enabled to perceive that there are brethren among the Christians who, little less

than himself, are attached to the stones of Jerusalem, and weep over her dust! The short time we spent in his society was truly edifying. We intend sending him the two discourses which my father delivered in London. We have had them printed in Paris, that they may be distributed amongst the Jews of France.

"We again saw Monk. The poor man has returned from Germany, whither he went to consult an eminent physician about the disease of his eyes. He is no better, and is obliged to discontinue his important duties. He expressed much gratitude for our visit, and we parted from him with regret. He is yet of those whose understanding the wisdom of this world has obscured. Let us hope that his physical blindness may lead him to seek another light. His principles are, for the most part, sceptical; but he proposes them without bitterness or prejudices against the truth, but with good feeling, humility, and gentleness. The Bible, according to his view, is a human book, of which the multitudinous teachings, inspired often by temporary want and exigency, must necessarily be in subjection to the views of the intelligent being who studies them. There exists neither prophet, nor prophecy, for the simple and convincing reason, according to him, that those only who can foresee can foretell; but that that which is not, cannot be seen-that which credulity calls visibly accomplished prophecy, is only another thing for the isolated words of ancient writers, which they foolishly bring to bear upon subsequent circumstances, or poetical histories, written ages after the events mentioned. Reason is our guide; conscience is our Bible, and to believe in reason and conscience is to be a true Jew. That is the true Judaism to which all men ought to arrive-therein is the Messiah promised to mankindtherein is the end of persecution and violence. From Paganism men pass to Catholicism, from Catholicism to Protestantism, and at last, he gave us to understand, to pure Deism; in which, moreover, he does not educate his children, for the religion of man must be the religion of the people, as far as their reason is capable of receiving it. He has also a plea against Protestantism (which in all other respects he loves and admires), because it allows liberty of examination, and from liberty of examination springs the spirit of sectarianism, and thence the spirit of rebellion and licentiousness which pervades all nations.

But if God hides the things of heaven from the wise, He reveals them unto babes. While spending the Sabbath at the house of Adolphe Monod, a young man entered the apartment and requested to speak with our host, who at that moment was absent, and my father profited by the opportunity to converse on serious subjects with the young man, in whom he was not slow to discern religious dispositions; and, as the conversation became more and more open and confidential, he ventured to speak of his work among the Jews. I am a Jew,' said he, with emotion; which my father might have perceived at once, had he not been near sighted, and seated at too great a distance to distinguish his features. The Israelite then related his history, which I now give. He had taken lessons, in company with ten of his co-religionists, from a Christian teacher, from whom he heard the word of truth, which had touched his conscience. 'Some time after,' he told us, 'I heard a sermon which made a lively impression on my soul, and, afterwards, I found a pamphlet, entitled 'The Conversion of M. Cappadose,' which I read and re-read, which has been to me like a ray of light. God then, said I, has not abandoned me. I am pressing on towards my Saviour; I have been baptised, and for the last year I have been in

6

normal school, which, if it please God, I shall quit, to go forth as a teacher.' 'Do you know who published the Conversion of M. Cappadose,' asked my father. 'No.' 'It was I,' said my father. You may imagine his emotion. You are going into the South,' said the young man, do not speak of me to my family. My father, in the despair which my conversion occasioned him, so far resented it as frequently to illtreat me. He is dead now; but my brothers hate me, and, if they knew that I am here, they would come and use violence, for I have not yet attained my majority.' He then gave us some account of the Jews of the south of France, whom we are about to visit. It is fortunate that we know something of the fanaticism of these people, that we may prepare ourselves for any trial which may await us. Pray for us, we have each our own difficulties to surmount; but we have a Master who directs from on high all the operations of His servants, and who holds the promises in His hand. Let us look to Him."

NINEVEH AND ITS REMAINS.

NINEVEH, the ancient capital of Assyria! what emotions pass over the mind of the believer in Scripture, and the lover of research in ancient things, when contemplating the theme! To think, that upwards of two thousand years ago, before the conquest of Persia by Alexander, Nineveh was no more; and now to behold its ruins re-opened, its sculptures exposed to view, and its remains transported, first to India, and then to the shores of distant Albion, an island unknown when Assyria flourished, when Nineveh was alive with a multitude of men, with kings and conquerors dwelling in its palaces! See an adventurer coming from the west to contemplate the mounds which are the sepulchres of an ancient empire, and then behold him removing with patient industry, directed by skill and science, the accumulated earth which forms the tomb of former greatness. It is curious, it is marvellous, and nevertheless true, that the feat has been accomplished, and this by the adventurous, roving spirit, who feels himself at home amidst the Arab's tents, and the worshippers of the Spirit of Evil, no less than among the mountaineers who profess the same faith with himself.

Let it not be imagined that the volumes before us have only antiquarian value; far from it; they have an important bearing on Scripture, and Scripture history; and they afford another evidence, that where the contents of our blessed Bible are brought in comparison with historical events correctly ascertained, and where the ethnographic descriptions alluded to are subjected to a searching investigation, the Book of books

is always triumphantly vindicated as true in fact and theory. We are apt to consider that the expressions of the Bible are figurative, when employing large numbers. For instance, when we are told that Jonah was sent to Nineveh, a city which was great before God, and three days' journey in extent, we suppose that this could not be so; that the extent may have been large indeed, but hardly as large as here indicated. Now, however, the researches of Mr. Layard go to confirm the idea, that the dimensions in Jonah are accurate, not supposititious. He says, in a note to vol. ii. p. 196

"From the northern extremity of Kouyunjik to Nimroud, is about eighteen miles; the distance from Nimroud to Karamles, about twelve ; the opposite sides of the squares the same: these measurements correspond accurately with the elongated quadrangle of Diodorus. Twenty miles is a day's journey of the East, and we have, consequently, the three days' journey of Jonah, for the circumference of the city.”

If Mr. Layard had brought us no other illustration of Scripture, we should be gratified with this single fact; but he has, in his somewhat desultory narrative, added much more than he, perhaps, himself supposed, to elucidate the Word of God. It will be perceived that, in his first chapter, he speaks of the accidental discovery, by Mr. Botta, the French consul at Mosul, some time in the year 1842 or 1843, of the ruins at Khorsabad, a village to the north of Mosul. And, after saying how he had been led thither whilst excavating the mound at Kouyunjik, opposite Mosul, to Khorsabad, Mr. Layard continues:

"He directed a wider trench to be formed, and to be carried in the direction of the wall, (which had been discovered previously, in sinking a well in the mound.) He soon found that he had opened a chamber, which was connected with others, and constructed of slabs of gypsum, covered with sculptured representations of battles, sieges, and similar events. His wonder may be imagined: a new history had been suddenly opened to him-the records of an unknown people were before him. He was equally at a loss to account for the age and the nature of the monument. The art shown in the sculptures, the dresses of the figures, their arms, and the objects accompanying them, were all new to him, and afforded no clue to the epoch of the erection of the edifice, and to the people who were its founders. Numerous inscriptions were cut between the bas-reliefs, and evidently contained the explanation of the events there recorded, in sculpture. They were in cuneiform, or arrow-head character. The nature of these inscriptions afforded, at least, evidence that the building was of a period preceding the conquest of Alexander; for it was generally admitted, that after the subjugation of the west of Asia by the Macedonians, the cuneiform writing ceased to be employed. But too little was then known of these characters to enable Mr. Botta to draw any inference from the peculiar arrangement of the wedges (the letters formed by the arrow-head or wedge) which distinguished the varieties used in different countries. However, it

was evident that the monument appertained to a very ancient and very civilised people; and it was natural from its position to refer it to the inhabitants of Nineveh, a city which, although it could not have occupied a site so distant from the Tigris, must have been in the vicinity of the place. Mr. Botta had discovered an Assyrian edifice, the first, probably, which had been exposed to the view of man since the fall of the Assyrian empire.

"Mr. Botta was not long in perceiving that the building, which he had thus partly excavated, unfortunately owed its destruction to fire; and that the gypsum slabs, reduced to lime, were rapidly falling to pieces on exposure to the air. No precaution could arrest this rapid decay; and it was to be feared that this wonderful monument had only been uncovered to complete its ruin. The records of victories and triumphs, which had long attested the power and swelled the pride of Assyrian kings, and had resisted the ravages of ages, were now passing away for ever. They could scarcely be held together until an inexperienced pencil could secure an imperfect evidence of their former existence. Almost all that was first discovered thus speedily disappeared; and the same fate has befallen nearly everything subsequently found at Khorsabad. A regret is almost felt, that so precious a memorial of a great nation should have been thus exposed to destruction, when no precaution could keep entire and secure the greatest part of it; but, as far as the object of the monument is concerned, the intention of its founders will be amply fulfilled, and the records of their might will be more widely spread and more effectually preserved by modern art, than the most exalted ambition could have contemplated."

So far the account. Now however we may differ from the conclusions of Mr. Layard, that though the fabric of the Assyrian king crumbled into dust at its first exposure to the light of day, his ambition will be more gratified by the diffusion of his fame through modern art, that is, always provided the inscriptions will be deciphered, which hitherto they have not been; there can be no doubt of the accomplishment of prophecy, and of prophecy verified by the discovery. We refer our readers to the prediction of Nahum respecting Nineveh, of which Khorsabad doubtless formed a portion or dependency. The prophet says (iii. 13), "Behold thy people, in the midst of thee, are women; unto thine enemies are opened the gates of thy land; fire hath devoured thy bars." He next speaks of the manners of the Assyrians: "Water for the siege draw unto thyself; fortify thy strongholds; tread the clay, stamp the mortar, lay hold of the brick-mould. There the fire shall devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off; it shall consume thee like the canker-worm. Thy shepherds slumber, O King of Asshur; thy mighty ones shall rest, thy people are scattered on the mountains, and there is none to gather them." The fire, the prophet said, should reach the strongholds of the mighty kings of Assyria, the heroes should perish, the people be scattered; and the discoveries of the