for the people of China of the gospel of Jesus Christ. From Far Formosa was the greatest missionary book of last season. A Cycle of Cathay, which is produced in uniform binding, will almost certainly be the greatest missionary book of this.

TWELVE SERMONS ON PRAISE. By C. H. SPURGEON. (Passmore & Alabaster. 8vo.) Twelve only out of all the volumes, and on so great a subject as Praise,—they cannot but be good.

BY-PATHS OF BIBLE KNOWLEDGE.

THE ARCH OF TITUS. BY WILLIAM KNIGHT, M.A. (R.T.S. Crown 8vo, pp. 128.) The Arch of Titus is much, but there is more than the Arch of Titus here. There is a graphic narrative of the fall of Jerusalem, and an accurate account of the sacred vessels that were found in it. The Arch of Titus and all that it suggests deserved a special study, for much uncertainty hangs around it. Canon Knight had evidently studied it carefully. And the Bishop of Durham happily introduces the little posthumous volume.

OUR JOURNEY TO SINAI. BY MRS. R. L BENSLY. (R. T.S. Crown 8vo, pp. 185.) The interest of the great manuscript discovery of our day knows no ending. This is the easiest to read of all the books that have come out of it. All the women and the men who shared that memorable pilgrimage have had their say, except Mrs. Bensly; this is Mrs. Bensly's now. It is the easiest and most attractive of them all for the great world that knows no Syriac. And the illustrations give it added attractiveness.

THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE. By THE REV. FRANCIS BOURDILLON, M.A. (R.T.S. Crown 8vo, pp. 160.) Under this title Mr. Bourdillon takes a few of the commonest proverbs -'Make hay while the sun shines'; 'Man proposes, God disposes'; 'Well begun, half won,' and the like-and tells us what their moral is. The proverbs are good or bad as the case may be, Mr. Bourdillon's remarks are indifferent. On the whole we sympathise with the Sunday-school boy who said, 'Never mind the moral, mister; give us another story.'

THE CROSS IN THE LAND OF THE TRIDENT. BY HARLAN P. BEACH. (R.T.S. Crown 8vo, pp. 127.) A primer of India, with special reference to the preaching of the gospel there. It is well arranged, well written, and for those who would pursue the fascinating subject further, lists of reliable works are furnished. A valuable little book; made up of facts and figures, and yet as pleasant to read as it is profitable.

HOW TO STUDY WILD FLOWERS. BY THE REV. GEORGE HENSLOW, M.A., F.L.S. (R.T.S. Crown 8vo, pp. 224.) This is not the time. But this is the book, and the time will come. It is a scientific book, full of terrible names, and all so accurate and orderly. But it is also a beginner's book, and the terrible names have their teeth taken out by the homely English that follows them. It is a student's book, and some severity of study is demanded. But even that is brightened and greatly lessened by the woodcuts on every other page.

THE STORY OF OUR RAILWAYS. BY W. J. GORDON. (R.T.S. Crown 8vo, pp. 159.) A popular narrative, which is intended to supplement the author's Everyday Life on the Railroad. It is pleasantly written and illustrated.

THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE. ST. MATTHEW. EDITED BY THE REV. A. E. HILLARD, M.A. (Rivington, Percival, & Co. Crown 8vo, pp. 146.) This new series (for only one volume has previously appeared) is meant for schools, not colleges, and seeks to give such information as an average schoolboy needs to enable him to read the narrative intelligibly. Anything beyond intelligent reading is beyond the scope of the series. Mr. Hillard has done his work very well. No doubt he has had experience. He knows what boys do not know, and he never commits the mistake of wishing them to read him instead of St. Matthew.

MEDITATIONS ON FAITH AND PRACTICE. BY CLARE LANGTON. (Elliot Stock. Fcap. 8vo, pp. 47.) These meditations are interesting but scarcely eventful. Indeed, it is only the greatest who can write meditations; there is no harder task that man or woman can be set to endeavour.

On the other hand, the notice of Gomer and his sons, and probably of Magog and Madai as well, must belong to a much later epoch. Gomer is the Gimirrâ of the Assyrian inscriptions, the Kimmerians of the Greeks, who first made their appearance on the horizon of Asiatic history and geography in the seventh century B.C. And Madai or the Medes seem not to have been known to the Assyrians and their Western neighbours till the ninth century B.C.

The compiler of the chart shows a considerable knowledge of Egypt. But he shows an equally considerable knowledge of Canaan and Southern Arabia, and there are several indications that his geography was not derived from an Egyptian source. Had it been so, for example, mention would have been made of the land of Pun or Punt, on either side of the Straits of Bab el-Mandeb, which played an important part in Egyptian trade and literature from an early period.

The continuity of the chart is broken by the episode of Nimrod, which has nothing in common with the rest of the chapter except the geographical notes attached to it. But even these are not in harmony with the character of the chart, as they describe the foundation of cities in the two countries of Assyria and Babylonia instead of the geographical position of countries and tribes. Moreover the two countries in question are misplaced from the point of view of the rest of the chapter, as they ought to be included in the central and not in the southern zone, and accordingly the chart itself makes Asshur and Arphaxad the sons of Shem. The episode is clearly an insertion, occasioned by a confusion between Cush or Kas, the Egyptian name of Ethiopia, and Cush or the Kassites of Babylonia. When we come to the verses, however, which contain the episode, we shall find that they, too, must be referred to the Mosaic age. If, therefore, they have been inserted in the chart -whether by the author of it himself or by a later editor is immaterial-it follows that the chart must be at least as old, in its earliest shape, as the period of the Exodus.

2. Gomer is the Gimirrâ of the Assyrian inscriptions, the Kimmerians of the Greeks. According to Herodotos, they were driven by the Scyths from their original seats on the Dniester and the Sea of Azof, and first settled north of the Araxes, from whence their name made its way in an atmosphere of myth to the poet of the Odyssey (xi. 14). In

B.C. 677 they attacked the north-eastern frontier of Assyria, but were defeated, and the main body of them forced to turn westward into Asia Minor. Others turned southward and overran the kingdom of Ellipi, where they established themselves in the city of Ekbatana. Those who marched westward sacked the Greek colony of Sinôpê and devastated Lydia.

Madai, the Assyrian Madâ, are the Medes of classical history. Inscriptions of Esar-haddon speak of the Medes and the people of the Minni and Saparda or Sepharad joining with the Gimirrâ in attacking Assyria, and as Ellipi adjoined the Median territory, the mention of Gomer or the Gimirrâ would naturally be followed by that of Madai or the Medes. The Medes are first referred to in the Assyrian texts about B.C. 840, when they are called the Amadâ and placed in Media Atropatene. The name is written Matâ on the monuments of Samas-Rimmon II.; but his successor Rimmon-nirari III. (B.C. 810-781), who invaded their territory, makes it Madâ, and from this time forward no other form of it is found. Greek writers confounded Madâ with Manda, 'nomads,' the name under which the Gimirrâ in Ekbatana were known to the Assyrians. Like the Gimirrâ, the Medes spoke an Indo-European language.

As the Gimirrâ were in contact with the Medes in the east, so they were in contact with the Ionian Greeks in the west, and accordingly the name of Javan, 'the Ionian,' comes after that of Madai. In the earlier Egyptian inscriptions the name is written Huinivu, which becomes Uinim in demotic, and as far back as the age of the fifth and sixth dynasties the Mediterranean was already known as 'the circle which surrounds the Huinivu.' In the Tel el-Amarna tablets mention is made of 'an Ionian' (Yivana) who was serving in the territory of Tyre, and Dr. W. Max Müller has shown that the name of the people who were included among the subject-allies of the Hittites in their war with Ramses II., which has been read 'Ilion' and 'Mæonia,' is really 'Yevan,' the Ionians. In the later Assyrian inscriptions, Cyprus is called the land of the Yavnâ or 'Ionians.'

Between the names of Gomer and Madai that of Magog is inserted. In Ezekiel (xxxviii. 2), Gog is associated with the land of Magog, and consequently it is possible that the latter is the Assyrian mat-Gugi, 'the land of Gugu,' or Gyges, ¿.e. Lydia. Gyges sent an embassy to Assur-bani-pal at Nineveh

to ask his help against the Gimirrâ; subsequently he withdrew his allegiance from Assyria and assisted the Egyptians in shaking off the Assyrian yoke. As a punishment for this, according to Assur - bani - pal, Gugu (Gyges) was afterwards defeated and his head cut off by the Gimirrâ, who occupied a large part of Lydia and besieged the capital, Sardes.

Tubal and Meshech are the Tabali and Muskâ of the Assyrian monuments, the Tibareni and Moschi of classical geography. In the Assyrian period the Tabali inhabited South-Eastern Kappadokia adjoining Kilikia, while the Muskâ were to the north-east of them in Lesser Armenia. But in the classical age they had retreated northwards towards the shores of the Black Sea. Both the Tabali and the Muskâ were divided into a number of tribes under independent chiefs.

What Tiras represents is unknown. It may be 'the Tursha of the sea' of the Egyptian monuments, who took part in the invasions of Egypt by the northern barbarians in the reigns of Meneptah, the son of Ramses II., and of Ramses III.; or it may be Mount Taurus, which formed the southern boundary of the Tabali.

3. Ashkenaz seems to be the Asguza of Esarhaddon, who places it between the Medes and the Mannâ (east of the Kotur mountains in Armenia), since in Jer. li. 27, 28, Ashkenaz is similarly associated with the Minni and the Medes.

3. Elishah seems to be Hellas.1 Tarshish is probably Tartessos in Spain, near the modern Gibraltar, the farthest limit of Phoenician voyages in the Mediterranean, whence the name of 'ships of Tarshish' given to merchant-vessels. Kittim is Kition in Cyprus, now Larnaka. Kition was a Phoenician colony; but as the Greek element was predominant in Cyprus, Kittim, which represented Cyprus to the Canaanite and Hebrew, is considered to be a son of Javan. For Dodanim we should probably read Rodanim or Rhodians.

6. Cush is the Egyptian Kas, the Ethiopia of the Greeks, south of Egypt. In the Tel el-Amarna tablets it is called Kási; in later Assyrian, Kúsi.

Mizraim, Egypt, is 'the two Mazors,' Mazor being the name of the Delta in the Old Testament (Isa. xix. 6, xxxvii. 25, where the A.V.

1 W. Max Müller has recently proposed to identify the Alasia of the Tel el-Amarna tablets with Cyprus. If the identification is correct (which, however, is doubtful), Elishah would probably be Alasia.

mistranslates 'defence' and 'besieged places'). Mazor denoted the line of 'fortification' which protected Egypt from attack on the Asiatic side, and is thus synonymous with Shur, 'the wall,' a Semitic translation of the native Egyptian name. In the Tel el-Amarna tablets Mazor appears as Mizir, Mizri, which is applied to the whole of Egypt. This form of the name continued in use in Babylonia, but in Assyria it was superseded by Muzri, through a confusion with the name of the district of Muzri north-east of Nineveh. Southern or Upper Egypt was properly Pathros in Hebrew (Isa. xi. 11), the Egyptian Pa-to-ris, 'the land of the south,' Paturissu in the later Assyrian texts; but it was included in the dual term Mizraim.

Phut is mentioned in a fragment of the annals of Nebuchadrezzar which records his campaign against Egypt in the thirty-seventh year of his reign. He there says that in the course of his campaign he defeated 'the soldiers of Putu-Yâvan' (Phut of the Ionians), which was 'a distant land in the midst of the sea.' In the inscription over the tomb of Darius Hystaspis at Naksh-i-Rustem Putu (Persian, Putiya) is named among the Persian provinces between Yavanu, the Greeks, and Kûsu or Cush. As in the annals of Nebuchadrezzar, so in the Old Testament (Ezek. xxx. 5), Phut is described, along with Lud, the Lydians, as serving as mercenaries in the Egyptian army.

Canaan, 'the lowlands' of the sea-coast of Palestine and the valley of the Jordan (Num. xiii. 29), is called Kinakhna and Kinakhkhi in the Tel elAmarna tablets, where the meaning of the name has already been extended so as to include the whole of Palestine. Kinakhkhi is the Khna of Greek writers. Canaan for several centuries was under the government or influence of Babylonia, but it was conquered by Thothmes III. of the eighteenth Egyptian dynasty (B.C. 1503-1449), and organised into an Egyptian province. It was finally lost to Egypt in the closing days of the nineteenth dynasty, after which date it could not have been coupled with Mizraim geographically and politically, or included in the southern zone of Ham.

7. As the sons of Cush, enumerated in this verse, properly belonged to the Arabian side of the Red Sea, it is clear that South Arabian settlements had already been made in Africa, and that the name of Cush had been in consequence extended from Africa to the opposite coast of Arabia. Mr. Bent

has found Sabæan inscriptions at Yeha (the ancient Ava) in Abyssinia, which date from the eighth century B.C. according to Professor D. H. Müller, or the sixth century B.C. according to Dr. Glaser. The names of Seba and Raamah are found in an early Minæan inscription of Southern Arabia, and Havilah was the great 'sandy' desert of the Arabian peninsula (see Gen. xxv. 18). Sheba is the Saba of the native inscriptions, the Sabæans of classical geography, who inhabited Yemen, the south-eastern portion of Arabia. Numerous inscriptions and

The

other monuments of the Sabæans have been preserved, more especially on the site of their capital, Mariaba (now Mârib). Among their seaports were Muza near Mocha, and Adana (Aden). Inscriptions show that the kings of Saba were preceded by Makârib, or 'high priests.' kingdom, however, went back to an early period : Tiglath-Pileser III. of Assyria received tribute from it, as did also Sargon from its king Ithamar in B.C. 721. At that time the authority of its kings reached from the extreme south to the north of Arabia, touching Babylonia on the east and Gaza on the west, and thus extending along the caravanroads by which the spices of Arabia Felix were brought to the north. The visit of the queen of Sheba to Solomon shows that the Sabæan kingdom was already in existence in the tenth century B.C., and that it stretched sufficiently far to the north to be in communication with Palestine. That queens were permitted to rule in Arabia, we know from other sources: the annals of Tiglath-Pileser III. mention two queens of 'the Arabs,' and in the time of the eighteenth Egyptian dynasty the people of Punt who were either the inhabitants of

Southern Arabia or Arabian emigrants to Somaliland-were governed by a queen. The Sabæans were known in Babylonia as early as the age of Abraham, since a contract-tablet of the time of Khammurabi (Amraphel) mentions among the witnesses Sabâ, 'the Sabæan.'1 Dr. Glaser and Professor Hommel seem to have shown that the kingdom of Saba was preceded by that of Ma'in, whose name was preserved in that of the Minæans of classical geography, and who spoke a dialect differing from that of Saba. Minæan inscriptions are found on sites interspersed among those of Sabæan cities, a fact difficult to explain except on the supposition that Saba superseded Ma'in. Moreover there is no reference in the Sabæan texts to the kingdom of Ma'in. Of the thirty-three Minæan kings whose names are known to us from inscriptions, three have been discovered near Teima (the ancient Tema, Gen. xxv. 15), in North-Western Arabia, showing that the power of Ma'in must have been acknowledged throughout the larger part of the Arabian peninsula, and an early Minæan inscription refers to the frontier of 'Egypt.' As there is no allusion to the kingdom. of Ma'in in Genesis or elsewhere in the Old Testament, it would seem that its place had been taken by Sabæans before Gen. x. was compiled.

Dedan is mentioned in Minæan and Sabæan texts. It was properly a district in Southern Arabia, but the Dedanites formed part of the caravans which made their way northward and traded with Palestine.

1 His son bears a Babylonian name. The contract is dated in the year when Rim-Agu or Eri-Aku, the Arioch of Genesis, destroyed Dur-ilu.

EXPOSITION.

'If any man willeth to do his will-As in vi. 67 and viii. 44, 'will do His will' is too weak; it is not the simple future, but the verb 'to will.' If any man willeth to do His will.-PLUMMER.

An appeal to the original language of this gospel at once determines that the declaration is, not that if any man will actually perform, or continue to perform, the will of God, he shall know the doctrine,' but that if any man sincerely wish to perform that will, he shall discover the divine. original and descent of the doctrine.-BUTLER.

He who lacks fundamentally the moral determination of his mind towards God, and to whom, therefore, Christ's teaching is something strange,