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they are at any rate sufficiently alike in their internal organization to render illustrations drawn from the inscriptions of Babylon applicable to those of Assyria, so far as such illustrations may be of philological value. The Semitic affinities, therefore, of the Babylonian translations at Behistûn are more or less shared by the Assyrian. The pers. pronoun first person sing. in Bab. and Assyr. is anak, Heb. "N; suffixed to nouns, it is uá and i, to verbs ani. The pronoun of the 2d pers. seems to be nanta or anta, Heb.

N; suffixed, it is a simple k; 3d pers. sing. masc. su, Heb. &; among the demonst. pronouns is haga. The author thinks that he recognizes in the Babylonian, Niph., Hiph. or Hoph., and Hithpael conjugations of the Heb., and the Ithpaal, Aphel, Ittaphal, Shaphel, and Ishtaphel of the Chaldee. The Bab. verb in Pret. marks the distinction of persons by prefixes, like the Heb. Fut. Among the Bab. particles are lipenai, before, itta with, ad to, anog in front of. The Babylon. roots are almost wholly biliteral, e. g. ten to give, în; duk to smite, PP; mit to die,; rad to go down, 777; kun, to establish, 775; sib, to dwell, ; am, mother; bar, a son; beth, a house; erts, land; sem, a name, etc.

The earliest records brought to light, written in the cuneiform character, are the inscriptions in the north-west palace of Nimrûd, belonging to a king, whom the author inclines to identify with Sardanapalus, though he was not by any means the first builder or king in Assyria. In the palace just named, there is an inscription of Sardanapalus, repeated more than a hundred times, commencing: "This is the palace of Sardanapalus, the humble worshipper of Assarac," (Nisroch. 1 K. 19: 37,) "and Beltis, of the shining Bar, of Ani, and of Dagon, who are the principal of the gods, the powerful and supreme ruler, king of Assyria, who was the son of Hevenk, the great king, the powerful and supreme ruler, king of Assyria," etc. The inscription goes on apparently to notice the efforts of the king to establish the worship of the gods; incidentally occurs a list of tributary nations, from which it would appear that the coasts of Phoenicia, the high lands of Media, and the upper provinces of Asia Minor were not yet reduced under the power of Assyria. The son of Sardanapalus, Temen-bar II., built the centre palace of Nimrûd, and of whose annals the obelisk supplies us with a notice of singular completeness and detail. It gives a brief statement of the events, mostly warlike campaigns, of thirty-one years of his reign. Above the five series of figures on the obelisk, are epigraphs containing a sort of register of the tribute sent by five different nations to the Assyrian king. The third tribute is from a country called Misr, Egypt?

With two more kings terminates the series of kings immediately connected with Sardanapalus. Mr. Layard thinks that a new dynasty with a new religion, now acquired the kingdom. Mr. Rawlinson suggests that it may be only an interregnum. The Khorsabad dynasty has been thought to be the monarchs mentioned in Scripture, who were contemporary with the kings of Israel and Judah. "My opinion at present," says the author, "is against the identification; but the evidence is pretty nearly balanced; and

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if the great difficulty, the dissimilarity of names, were removed, I might possibly become a convert to the belief that in the three kings who built the palace of Khorsabad, who founded Mespila, and who constructed the lions in the south-west palace of Nimrûd, we had the biblical Shalmeneser, Sennacherib, and Esarhaddon." On these and other points, we must wait for further inquiries. The author supposes that the six continuous kings of the Nimrûd line may have reigned from about B. C. 1250 to 1100, and allowing an interval of 70 years for a suspension of the line, the era of the Khorsabad king would fall about B. C. 1050.

The author names the inscriptions at Vân and its vicinity, Armenian; they are written in the same alphabet as that used in Assyria, but belong to a language radically different, the Scythic, though it has adopted numerous words from the Assyrian. Six kings of the Armenian line, in a direct descent, are named. The monuments, Mr. R. assigns to the seventh and eighth centuries B. C.

The Babylonians borrowed their alphabet from the Assyrians, and it requires no little ingenuity at the present day to form a comparative table of the characters. Perhaps the most interesting of all the Babylonian monuments are the bricks. It was a custom borrowed from Assyria, that the bricks used in building the cities on the Lower Tigris and Euphrates, should be stamped with the name and titles of the royal founder. It is hoped that ultimately from these bricks, a chronology of the country may be reconstructed. With regard to Babylonia Proper, it is stated that every ruin from some distance north of Baghdâd as far south as the Birs Nimrûd is of the age of Nebuchadnezzar. Mr. R. has examined the bricks, in situ, be longing perhaps, to one hundred different towns and cities, within the area of about one hundred miles in length, and thirty or forty in breadth, and he never found any other legend than that of Nebuchadnezzar. Lower Babylonia or Chaldea, will probably furnish far more important materials for illustrating the ancient history of the country, than are to be found about Hillah and Baghdâd.

Susiana is rich in ancient sites. The cuneiform character employed on the monuments is the farthest possible from the Assyrian type, and the language appears not to belong to the Semitic stock. Another class of inscriptions is found in Elymais Proper, which varies from all the others.

IV. HARRIS'S PRE-ADAMITE EARTH.1

We have long regarded Dr. Harris as one of the most original, profound and comprehensive Christian writers of our day. The present work is the first of a series of Treatises in which the author is seeking to unfold the successive steps by which God is accomplishing his purpose to manifest his All-sufficiency. It is purely scientific and philosophical; it exhibits good

1 The Pre-Adamite Earth: Contributions to Theological Science. By John Harris, D. D. Third Thousand. Revised and Enlarged. Boston: Gould, Kendall & Lincoln, 1850.

research and power of analysis, clear and profound reasoning, and demonstrations.

"This first volume consists of five parts. The first contains those Primary Truths which Divine Revelation appears to place at the foundation of all the objective manifestations of the Deity; the second presents the Laws or General Principles, which are regarded as logically resulting from the preceding Truths; and the third, fourth and fifth parts are occupied with the Exemplification and Verification of these Laws in the inorganic, the vegetable, and the animal kingdom of the pre-Adamite earth, respectively." A considerable portion of this volume is introductory to the entire series, and should therefore be thoroughly mastered in the scope of its reasoning, by those who would follow the author intelligently along the pathway of his grand conception. The attempt is made, and we think successfully, to show "that there is a theology in Nature which is ultimately one with the theology of the Bible." "The whole process of Divine Manifestation, including nature, is to be viewed in the light of a sublime argument, in which God is deductively reasoning from principles to facts, from generals to particulars." Assuming this, he deduces certain primary principles, and applies them to the successive stages of creation. He shows conclusively the harmony of Scripture and Geology, and traces in a fresh and forcible manner the origin of the material universe up to a wise and intelligent Power, while he refutes and silences the cavils and theories of a false and infidel science. J. M. S.

V. ROWLAND'S MAXIMS OF INFIDELITY.1

"Common Maxims" are the most influential forms of belief, both as it regards error and truth. Infidelity as a public recognized avowed system, is dead and buried beyond the fear of a resurrection. It has now a mere fragmentary being; its errors exist in isolated forms, and float loosely and at random through the public mind. But infidelity is wielding a tremendous power in our land, though not apparent to the sight; and though it wields no potential creed or organized agencies. These "common maxims" are abroad -are "talking" to the unregenerated heart; they do their mischief without alarming the fears of the popular mind. It is a guerilla form of warfare, and all the more dangerous and fatal to individual faith and hope on this account. Mr. Rowland has met infidelity just where its remaining strength lies, and has shivered to pieces the weapons of its present warfare. He has taken up one after another of the popular maxims of Infidelity, thoroughly analyzed them, and shown their error and evil tendency. The execution of the work is certainly happy and able. The style is clear, compact, and forcible; the reasoning is candid and conclusive; and the book is full of good sense and practical utility. Just such a work was unquestionably needed. It will do good in a line and with a class of minds which are not particularly reached by any similar work. It is in many respects preferable to Dr. Nel

1 On the Common Maxims of Infidelity. By Henry A. Rowland. New York: Carter & Brothers, 1850.

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son's Cause and Cure of Infidelity, and every lover of the truth ought to desire and seek for it an extensive circulation. J. M. S.

VI. CHALMERS'S MEMOIRS.1

The first volume of these Memoirs awakened in us an intense desire to see the second, and having now read the second, we are impatient to reach the third. Certainly we have not read so intensely interesting and instructive a work, in the department of biography, in a long while. It has given us new ideas of the transcendent ability, and of the social and moral elevation of character, of that great man. This volume comprises the period of his Glasgow settlement, first as the Minister of the Tron Church, and then of the parish church of St. John's, -eight years of the prime and vigor of his life, when his mind was at full maturity, when he was at the height of his popularity as a preacher, and when all the resources of his great intellect and of his benevolent heart were laid under full contribution, to honor his calling, and make it powerful for good. And a more brilliant and effective ministry was perhaps never exercised in our world. The Tron Church was often the theatre of scenes seldom witnessed under the preaching of the Gospel. There it was that he preached his celebrated Astronomical Discourses, which drew together, on week-days and during business hours, nearly all the professional and business men of Scotland's commercial metropolis, and held them spell-bound by the power of his eloquent thoughts. His correspondence too during this period with many of the master-minds of his day, is exceedingly valuable; it gave birth also to some of his most famous productions. And not the least interesting part of his labors during this period, was his successful attempt to establish and maintain a mission church in his extensive parish, and a thorough system of education for the numerous poor contained in it, as well as for his well-known experiment of pauper management, in which he worked out one of the most perplexing problems in political economy. We earnestly commend these Memoirs as among the most charming and valuable books of the season. J. M. S.

VII. LIFE OF JOHN FOSTER.2

The Life and Correspondence of such a man as John Foster possess pecu liar claims to our attention. We regret that our space, after omitting entirely to notice the majority of the new books laid upon our table, will allow but little more than the bare announcement of the appearance of the work. The work throughout bears the impress of Foster's great and original, but

1 Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Thomas Chalmers, D. D., LL. D. By his son-in-law, the Rev. William Hanna, LL. D. Vol. II. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1850.

2 The Life and Correspondence of John Foster; edited by J. E. Ryland. With Notices of Mr. Foster as a Preacher and a Companion. Two volumes in one. Boston: Gould & Lincoln, 1850.

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somewhat gloomy and one-sided mind. The staple of the volume is his own Letters, in which he not only portrays his private and domestic life, but opens his mind freely to his friends on various topics of general interest and matters of faith, and discusses with his characteristic originality of view and comprehensive power of thought, many of the profoundest subjects of human inquiry and investigation. It is not only deeply interesting but solemnly instructive to follow the great Foster through this mass of correspondence, much of which we think might have been omitted to advantage. However valuable and useful his writings, as a preacher it is a surprising fact that he accomplished little, and may be said to have made a perfect failure of it. Resembling Hall and Chalmers in many traits of his mind, and wielding a pen quite as vigorous and potential as either, we cannot account for the fact that he had so little power or reputation as a preacher. There is something affecting even in contrasting him with such contemporaries; in seeing him, after various fruitless attempts to succeed, wholly laid aside from the ministry during the greater part of his life, or exercising it only occasionally in obscure villages to illiterate audiences. Well did Hall compare him to "a great lumbering wagon, loaded with gold." He was too unwieldly for the pulpit; not enough practical and in sympathy with the outward, living world. But his pen has immortalized his name and influence. His Essays are among the most valuable in our language.

J. M. S.

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VIII. WILLIAMS'S RELIGIOUS PROGRESS.1

These Discourses are on the following subjects: Religion as a principle of growth-Faith in its Root-Virtue - Knowledge - Temperance Patience Godliness-Brotherly Kindness Charity.

We do not think the present volume, either in purity of style, or vigor of thought, equal to the previous productions of Dr. Williams, which have placed him in the first rank of the thinkers and writers of the country. Still the topics embraced in it are ably handled, and the teaching is sound and Christian. The progress the Author advocates is in the right direction; its basis is eternal truth; its elements and laws are found in the Gospel of the grace of God; and its goal is an eternity of holiness and bliss. It is refreshing in these days, when the multitudes who are shouting "progress" know not what they want, nor in what direction they are going, to hear a bold and manly voice from the heights of Zion giving utterance to the inspired teachings on this great subject. J. M. S.

1 Religious Progress: Discourses on the Development of Christian Character. By William R. Williams. Boston: Gould, Kendall & Lincoln, 1850.

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