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Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent §tre filmds d des taux de reduction diffirents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul clichA, il est TlmA A partir de I'angle supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'imsges nAcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illKStrent la mAthode. 22X 1 2 3 4 5 6 THE TES'flMO^'Y • •1 NINEVEH To Tin; VERACITY OF THE BIBLE. BY THE REV M. IIARVEV, Minister of the Frer Cjiurcii, *S'^ John's, Newfoundland. No dTJcr lvervo,u«rL f °.u'° "'^""^^'^ conquests over wrnni; ftom oblivion oxiated hV^r P»nf.,i-i"°yK^ n-*? ""P^^ "°' ^^■''^'•o it ''"^^ stood, and only tljiit it m uttering no dii^Z dcn^r Lrr^tn^'^ ,''''""";■ »' . '^lo^opotamia. bnl /S'L ./o/m's, Newfoundland, Thomas JUcCoiiiiaii. J. T. jBlrxo>- Prj.vTiir. I These p TO THE CONGREGATION OF FKEE ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH, These pages are respectfully inscribed by tiieik AFFECTIONATE PASTOR. ^f 1 il^< It is rci becoming is adding I and allusio Jiistory. throw ligh to testify V true of our titudes — ir some grcai Transactioi now compr brief porioc been called that they Egypt, witl obeyed the ilinging off dust, have portant of while tiding that the rer commonly s have at len^ ination. Little did monuments of their batt and elueida despised am facts and na mean time, and their in: their walls : V K E F A C E . It \9 rcmarkiiljlc that as the Biblo grow3 older ic 19 every day becoming a bettor understood and attested book. Every year 13 adding to our stores of information regarding its phraseology and allusions, and bringing to light fresh corroborations of itd iustory. Strange and unexpected commentators start up to throw light upon an obscure passage— to remove a difficulty— to testify with striking cRbct to its veracity. This is especially true of our own day, when events seem hurrying on, " in mul- titudes -in multitudes to the valley of decision;" as though some great crisis of our world's destiny were approaching. Iransactions that formerly were the products of centuries, hvq now compressed into a few years or even days. Within a very .)net period, how many extinct nations and buried cities havo been called up from their graves into "the valley of vision," that they might bear witness to the truth of God's word ! i^gypt, with her monuments and hieroglyphics, lias heard and obeyed the divine summons. I'etra, Tyre, T vdon, Thebes, i mging off the crust of ages, and shaking thorns 'Ives from the dust, have stood forth in grim array. And last and most im- por ant of all, ancient Nineveh lifts licr head, hoary with age ; while tidings have recently reached us, which, if true, intimato that the remains of feodom and Gomorrah havo not been, as common y supposed, buried in the waters of the Dead Sea, but have at length been discovered, and are now awaiting exam- ination. ° Little did the Nincvites imagine, when constructing these inonuraents of their own pride and greatness, that thol-ecord^ ot their ba ties and triumphs would, one day, furnish illustrations and elucidations of the sacred books of a nation whom they despised and trampled on. The sacred writers recorded their tacts and narratives in the pages of the Eible— the Assyrians, mean time, were executing their own representations in marble, ami their inscriptions, in the wcdgc-sliapcd characters, along their walls ; and now m thi^s nineteentli- century, the written anothYr'.!! n''° T^'f ^'^'>'^' ''' '^^"f^^^t^J ^ «'Hl tl.o result i. clulll • '"" *\^' ."^'"'^^^^ "^"^^ <^f evidence already ac soJ^Sr'"^ P.?^'' ''''*^i"' '" ^ condensed form, and mih loXofon "^1^^^ P^'-^'^"^ °f a' course of locturos on tho Ruins of Nineveh as illustrative of scrinturo " with thfl hrpv;f! subject. This circumstance, combined St. John's, Novvfoundland, ) -IstNo'.cHiU-r, 1854. ) cuapier i. Chapter ii ClIAITER II] Chapter iv Chapter v.- Chapter vi. Chapter vii Appendix.— d tlio result i.j CO already ac ully (loos (JotI iahmcnt of liia rcasos in age, rm, and with a course of of scripture." I necessary to iportant and ce, combined the compass ch thoy aro t out such of elucidate or C N T J-: N T S . CUAf-rER I. Chapter ii Chapter hi. Chapter iv. Chapter v. Chapter vi. Chapter vii Appendix.— ■Introductory-Importanco of tho discovery of Nmoveh— Its bearing on revelation - -Sketch of the history of Nineveh-Rise, the ruU °f Assyria-Discovery of .—Nature of tho ruins and mode of their preservation. — Sennacherib's palace — Assyrian Art.— No tombs discovered - —The religious system of the Assyrians as ^lustrativo of scripture.— Origin of Paganism— Gods of Assyria -Historical corroborations of scripture from the Nmeveh marbles - _ —Military usages of the Assyrians as illus- trative of scripture. - . _ _ .—Assyrian costumes, Architecture, &c. as J strativo of scripture. ■Latest intelligence regarding the progress of the excavations-IIighway to IndTa— Turkish Cadi's letter. Page. 18 - 25 34 40 40 EURATPM, Tago 2Gth— lino ioth-for '< notions'' read " moihns: No event over the civi the groat Ni it ia very w J.ondou and ;;re",t city th the deluge, a borao fifteen ( (ibjectJ of w I'OssesB intrin strata and or^ earth, to wei een swept up the primary st is ablo, from S( construct the \ form, habits ar tiires and hoar; will bo able to* live and breath CIIAPTEU I. iions."' I INTRODUCTORY. No event of modern times has excited a deeper Interest, all _ver the cmlized world, than the cxlmmation of the remains of lio groat Nineveh, the capital of tlio oldest empire of the clobc t .8 very wonderful to think that now, in the museums of i.ondon and Pans, are deposited fragments of the wreck of a ^'re-t city that was founded in the third or fourth century after the deluge, and existed till the year GOG before Christ-in all Borao hlteen centuries. These remains, however, are not merely objecti of wonder On account of their vast antiquity : thcv J'OssesB intrinsic value. ^ The geologist is able, from the various strata and organic remains embedded beneath the surface of the onr;Ln%''''''\^''°"^''°,"' *''^° regarding tho condition of our planet ages before man's creation. Ho finds a whole his fory accurately written in tho rocky archives beneath our feet Jle can read off the biography of extinct races. Ho can de- nphcr the records of tho rise, decline and fall of dynasties that now exist only m petrified fragments. Ho can describe, as ccur i ely as if ho had been an eye-witness, the convulsive hroes through which old earth has passed. The discovery of !ll?'5' °[ 1^'"- ?^' affords an opportunity for constructing a new and not less interesting chapter in human geolo idor^- Uiw3, liistory and religion. Once those hu-e mounds (n tlir' '^anksoftio Lnphrates and Tigris arc thorou-hlv cvpl;rod t.ioro can be no doubt but wo sliall kno\y tlic A ^-Syrians almost us well as vrc now know the E-vptians, tlic Creeks and the Itoraans. A Ion --missing cbaDtcrwiU thus bo added to the Instory of the human race. Previous to thc?c discoveries nl- mostiiothmg was known with certainty regarding the trrc-^t Assyrian empire. Nineveh was almost a mvth-its liistory"? halt-fabulous fragment. The boundaries of knowledge will thu- bo enlarged, so far as the past is concerned ; and the mists that jrmeiplc of the arch in architecture— the use of the pullcv— 'ZT^'f^'''^^''^;^'^^''^'''^'^' to construct palaces 'and ■a alb that nil us moderns with astonishment. These remains teil us also that Grecian art was but the perfection of what the ^ -j^ ai.., 0..^,... ^,;eu jjunurmance was tho rudiments : tho Orcck borrowed and completed. A great and noble people truly were genuine w conquerors that are no find them t growth froi This rocky interest. stones" — g endeavours, how man, ^^ seemingly, ' force of the gradually f inhospitable one great w tions of men railways, oi driven oceai superstriictu into glass, ir Palace on tli crystal whic Nineveh, is i which we arc laws of the u between old the glowing i ■»vho forged train rushes ( Lawrence. clanging ham present is jus and similarly with our man tombed, in or nourishment 1 remains, as w greater thing,' the past and Cod bound al! as these that mouldering re o conquerors: and coulJ;yo trace out ^f,w ' '""^ ^'''- irrowth from all prcccdin ' a ro, nlVl h. i V^^.F^^^^^^ ^S^ is a rr\ • 11 I'lLLtuiu^ a^cs and bound bv tiot in fTiom oii E'sriL'-i; •t'\,-''- '"i'-™' *"™f ' -al!:;^, ;s and similailjr ,vo are coii.fccfo, v tTt 1 " '» « 1;."'":<1 past : with our.,.ai;,rach„.oa. al'.r:;.'! lu a s^'^^^s ^l,"!' T' tombed, in order that comin- a-cs miv toVn 1 7 i , ^'^" nourishment from a richer and dc^er ^il ^ . ' ;'"^^ '^'"'^ remains, as .v-e over those of Svob h / ^^''-^^ o^'^'' our ..ater things than luvcTJet Ur t 'u Z ?;^ eSif '' ;ti';:^nnliJ:;:':;:;;rt^:::!hrti^^,-^^^^ as theso that sivo ili-nitv an,l°«™rt,' J '^"'■siJoratior.s And then what grave reflections rise in the mind as we moralize over the ruins of tlie old city ! We look back into the long bunal-aislcs of the past, and see how man and his worka have all boon swallowed up and forgotten,— how one generation appears, toils on for a time, dies and is entombed ; while a new one treads upon its ashes, to be buried in its tu/n ; and the thought arises with oppressive force, '* what shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue" ! Here a great people rose, mighty m strength, making the earth quake beneath their tread ; for 1300 years they were masters of the world ; but the rushing tide of time swept them away ; not a vestige remains but these marble slabs ; and of all that they did we are so utterly ignorant that a few pages of universal history tell the whole tale of the great Assyrian Empire. Utter darkness has rushed down over the whole. They had their statesmen, warriors, heroes, poets, philosophers— their Hampdens, Miltons, Luthers doubtless ; but of them we shall never hear " at all, for ever"— Shall we, with all our civilization, literature and art, be one day as completely entombed and lorgotten ;— our history abridged into a few pages, and some antiquarian searching among our ruins, as we are doing now among those of Nineveh ? Who can tell ? We fondly hope for permanency— for immortality. To the Ninevites it must have seemed an impossibility that their jroud race should ever bite the dust. So thought the graceful Greek and the haughty Roman— so think we. But if change be the law of God's universe, shall it be arrested now ? The scheme of the world IS very wide ; and our noble Anglo-Saxon race, brave though they be, are scarcely destined to work out the whole majestic plan. They will be the world's ciTilizers till their ap- pointed work IS done. Let the skeleton remains of Nineveh teach us the folly of national as well as personal vanity. But though to the antiquarian and philosopher these ruins are deeply interesting, yet to the eye of the christian they pos- sess a higher importance. When these unlooked for and start- ling discoveries were first arnounced, the question with those who had at heart the cause of Christianity, was, what bearina; have they on the volume of revelation ? Do they confirm or contradict the statements of the Bible ? Do they furnish new armour for or against infidelity ? Or, if there be nothin" positive on eitner side, do they throw any new light on the meaning of the sacred page— do they make its allusions clearer or illustrato its propheck-s ? Though such questions were asked without any trembling anxiety as to the result, still it is IS most gratlf ruins of Ni most sangui the historic; out of the r uable comir furnished fi really com Christianity luony they 1 That the rc( book of the of for two tl furnish the passes the ( and the Bil by side ; ea( the other in centuries aft book a cunn the lie. Bu testimony wl of science an to the truth find that the Euch progre phic sense, t the inscripti( when the ap these precioi the world. would, in all dust without In their gra' proper mome deeply interc the task. C to say " trul It is no lei very thing w ture. It is Jewish menu usalem has mind as we back into the ind his worka ne generation ; while a new :n ; and the ows we are, people rose, I their tread ; it the rushing ins but these erly ignorant le tale of the id down over leroes, poets, )ubtles8 ; but hall we, with s completely into a few ruins, as we [1 tell ? We he Ninevites froud race 1 Greek and be the law 3heme of the race, brave ; the whole till their ap- of Nineveh lity. these ruins in they pos- r and start- with those lat bearing confirm or urnish new be nothing ?ht on the ions clearer itions were It, still it is most gratifying to find that, in a christian point of view, the ruins of Nineveh possess an interest beyond the hopes of the most sanguine. Some of the most marvellous confirmations of the historical and prophetical parts of scripture have been dug out of tlie ruins of this buried city ; and some of the most val- uable comments in stone, upon the sacred page, have beea furnished from the same dust. These ruins, therefore, do really connect themselves, most closely, with the living Christianity of our churches, homes and hearts. And the testi- mony they bear is truly of the most extraordinary character. That the records of a city and empire, buried before the last book of the Old Testament was written, and utterly lost sight of for two thousand years, should be dug out of their grave, and furnish the most remarkable corroborations of the Bible, sur- passes the conceptions of the wildest imagination. Nineveh and the Bible were contemporar'.es — grew up, as it were, side by side ; each kept its own records — the one in a written book, the other in stone tablets. Nineveh is entombed, and, twenty centuries afterwards, raised to confront the Bible. Were the book a cunningly devised fable, these sculptures would give it the lie. But so far from that, they but add to the accumulating testimony which all research into the past, all the discoveries of science and all the advances of true philosophy are furnishing to the truth of revelation. And, besides, it is very striking to find that these discoveries come to light just at a time when such progress has been in the study of languages, in a philoso- phic sense, that the skilful ingenuity of scholars can decipher the inscriptions of a language utterly unknown before ; 'and when the appliances of modern science can preserve and restore these precious fragments and diffuse a knowledge of them over the world. Had they been discovered at an earlier period, they would, in all probability, have been allowed to crumble into dust without any notice, or with but a superficial examination. In their grave, however, they have been safely kept till the proper moment ; and are then transferred to two nations most deeply interested in their investigation, and best equipped for the task. Can we, in view of all these circumstances, hesitate to say " truly this is the finger of God." It is no less remarkable that these remains supply to us the very thing we most needed for a clearer understanding of scrip- ture. It is singular that not the smallest fragment of any Jewish monument is known to be in existence. Ancient Jcr- usalem has been utterly swept away ; so that net a column, 6 >^oulpt,iro or relic remains to tell «g vvhat it wag. Of all tint the Jews dul m Palestine we poss.ss noD a remnant-no rus ot feolonv.u s te.nplo or of his houso of Lebanon-nothin of the r arc Mtocuro or monuments to illustrate their nmnSor explam the al us.ons of ti.eir writers. We have the ^^^2sZ^d h era ,„.e ot the Jews ; but the want of sueh remains 1 as ,. been lelt. Now, however, it would seem that this mantis aboul to he supphed to a very great extent. The remains of Nine "l >vill fill the gap In manners, arts and modes of life, the As- sjnans rese,ubled the Jews more nearly than any o hernation. iltl er 0^1'''^?" ''^''"' ""'^ ^^''^'"^'^ "'''-^- Abraham So lathci ot te Jewish nation, came from Ur of the Chaldecs iu ti»e land ot Assyria ; so that they had a common ances ry 'J 1 e mtercourse between the two eountries was close aS Ion ' continued. . I enee .t emnes that these remains of Assyria a r^o so valuable in illustrating the literature of the Jews. Sfes. two ot the saered writers were brought into immediate contact With As .v.ian civilisation. Daniel lived and wrote in B^^bylon and Lzekiel in the neighbourhood of Nineveh; while Sonah t d' nlnv '' , '" ^•''''\.t-^- ^^'^ ^^'^^« Circumstances cincur I mvesung the rums of Ninoveh with a profound degree of in- terest 111 the eyes of tho christian. ^ Tlio ol)joct of these pages is not to attempt any account of the discoveries among the ruin, of Nineveh, but s:mply to notice .ucho t cmas appear to Illustrate or corroborate scriptu e! \ cry full and accurate accounts of those discoveries are i.mJ jvubntho^eaohofalig.. if we eau present,rr^n5 ^d loim tre testim.my ot Nn.eveh to the veracity of the Bible it my help o conlinn the faith ot some, to scatter the doubt; oi others and to strengtluM. our conlidcnee in God's wd as " tbe lamp to our feet and the light to our i ath " " Tho I- Whcre I AVlicr.' ^Vax (ai ■\Vl.eri! I And tliii Where t In colon And till' Where t And all, 'Tis the Taking up i of the Persiai of the world 1 united stream tind the point nd following [•ve find its ori_; iiilcs from the liver, 'JOG mih, owing the wos much h)ngor i name tablo-lan ■ho 'I'igris. t ban Nineveh, 3 drained by tl -Teat plain, sti tlio Persian G •ortions of the lope that cnmv ':»ul Qi Persia : CHAPTER II. HISTORY OF NINEVEH. ..r^.^u''!''-*'' •'^''^'^' *• " '^''^ '^ "''^ ^^'"°^^'''' ^^-^ '""St transport )urselvo3, lu luiagmation, to oriental climc8-to the i:lowin'' " TIio laii.l of the cpdar and vino, AJ here the flowers ever blossom, the hoams ever shinn, AVh,n, (ho ,(.ht w.njis of Z.phvr, ..ppres.e.l with pur ume ^\ax (aim o'er the f-anh-ns of (inl in ,1,^,. hl^omr Where the cKroii ai. same river Zab, at an earlier period,] began the world-renowned retreat of thj Ten Thousand Greeks, whose heroism will be rcmombered till the end of time. This region, tlien, has been the scene of the most important events of j world-history. Now, the wandering Arab gallops over parched ' flains and grass grown ruins. But can we not, in imaginatioi/, | people tl: here, for huge citi( streets ai can see t I battle's n I with the I they nov f dust ; des i; isle of tl i Ninevites ' dust of th i the walls ■ of the ext the great planet, fn If we w must go t( sacred wri says, "ar in the ean fore it is s Lord. Ai and Accac land went the margii: Assyria an Calah, the historic fra great-gran strength ai ments, an s or King o » conquered first monar number of entered Ai Shemites, 1 territory, called " a : puted with some consei greatest ma ihia. Tho coun- ling along their lunar, Clialdea, region has been tho sun has ever omewhcre within bright skies of ; its balmy airs 1(1 ther** in the its head covered ts lower langes )wn over a world tut ebbing away, and occupied the ?re they reared dize themselves, —to spread over it their language igrate from the ccupied wastes. J back here in streams for the their harps on] i^zekiel saw his ramie view, the] ; and here tool for the mastery Hence marched ice Sennacheribj ist Judea and er of Macedon *ersia, won the rid. And here] 'is, into which idonian in hoti !atcr conqueror! idth. And let! earlier period,! msand Greeks,! )f time. This •rtant events of! s over parcheil* in imaginatioij, | people them again; can wo not see the tide of human life that here, for centuries, roared along ; and hear the din of those huge citics-Nineyeh and Eabylon ;-and picture their crowded streets and glittering palaces and rattling war-chariots ' We can see tho gayly-clad horsemen and footmen marchin-- on " in battle 3 magnificently stern array" ; and the triumpharTt return, with the long tram ot captives and the rich spoil. Where art' thoy now/ Conquerors and conquered have mingled their dust ; desolation enwraps all ; stillness-death ! From a far oft' isle of the sea— tho name of which was unknown to the i\inevites— a curious traveller comes; and searching amon" the dust of the great city, he picks up a few slabs that once covered the walls of the monarch's palace, and tries to tell us somethinir of the extinct race ; just as a Buckland constructs a history 5 the great Saurian race, that were once the monarchs of our planet, from the stony tablets beneath our feet. If we want information regarding the founding of Nineveh we must go to the oldest book— the Bible. In Gen. X Ch. 8 the sacred writer, speaking of the genealogy of the sons of Ham, says, and Cusn begot Nimrod ; he began to be a mighty one in tne earth ; he was a mighty hunter before the Lord ; whore- tore it IS said even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the plain of Shinar. Out of that land went forth Asshur" ; or as it should be translated, and as ihe margin renders it, " ho" (that is Nimrod) " went out into Assyria and builded Nineveh and the city of Rehoboth and ta ah, the same is a great city." We gather from this brief historic fragment, that, in the age after the flood, Nimrod, a great-grandson of Noah, a man distinguished by prowess, strength and energy, acquired, in virtue of his superior endow- ments, an ascendancy over his fellows ; became a sort of chieftain or llmg ; ruled his generation, as superior natures always do : conquered his weaker neighbours ; and laid the foundation of the first monarchy by founding Babel— afterwards Babylon- and a number of other cities; and that then, pushing northward, he entered Asshur, or Assyria, and built Nineveh, subduing the bhemites, who under Asshur, son of Shem, had settled in this territory. This Nimrod, first of Kings after the deluge, is called « a mighty hunter." In days when the wild beasts dis- puted with man for the sovereignty of earth, it was a matter of some consequence to be a brave and efficient hunter ; and the greatest man would then be the most successful slayer of beas^« •i " one " Amra viceroy or g turics. Tlio the book oft before Chris Nineveh. Jonali was embodied in ho was a pup soon after hii able narrativ( height of its / thno, to have iiiorcial inter( and the inscri 10 Ilis fellows, for whoih he fought the lion or wolf, or slew the wild boar or deer, would do reverence to him as superior to themselves — would obey his word, as that of a higher nature — would range themselves under his command, and feci themselves safe when his stalwart arm led the attack'. Knowing that u bravo man led them on, where ho marched they would follow. Everywhere does man recognize and bow down before true nobleness — before what he believes to be higher and better than himself. ^ And this Nimrod attained to tho dignity of " King," in the original significance of Iho word, because he was the " canning" or able man of his generation. Quick of eye and strong of arm, he gathered followers around him — fought with savage boast or the untamed forest — conquered the dark power.* of nature — cleared a space for action, and brought order out ot confusion. A truly great man was this Nimrod, whose deeds -«...* v..^. .„ov., .•ire ttlling on the world even yet ; for did he not lay the founda- Ithe imperial a tion of what we call " tho state" in these days ? Under him Ireachcd Jude; the old patriarchal, family-rule, merged into the wider one of lof the east. nation ; the tribe became citizens. When we talk of his building Ito pronounce IJabylon and Nineveh, however, we are not to fancy that these ling great city rude men were able to construct a city of palaces and temples, Iboth from the such as ages afterwards they became. Most probably, a few Ithat we are to clay huts, with a prickly fence to keep off tho wild beasts and Iferonce, and tl robbers, formed the beginning of these great cities. Did not lover, is an imr Home begin with a dozen of mud horels, raised by a few brigands iLondon, by fn mode of buildi of the case, upon story, as one story in h( over a largo Sf commonly left was planted wi liege, they cou the population derstand how ] of Jonah farthe score thousand right hand and children, who i obtain 600,000 this moment, cc 'ia less than hal ou tho Palatine hill ? Nineteen centuries ago, the site of what wo now call London, was the camping ground of a host of painted warriors, known to us as tho ancient Britons. Even so, the .gorgeous Babylon and Nineveh grew np from these primitive settlements of Nimrod. Posterity remembered and honoured the founder. Among the ruins that have been explored, the gigantic figure of a man has been found, sculptured in bold relief, representing him in the act of strangling a young lion which he presses against his breast. It is believed that thi,s represents " the mighty hunter"— the founder of the Assyrian monarchy. The Bible thus gives us the only authentic information re- garding the founding of Nineveh and its twin-sister, Babylon : hut of their after history there is no mention for more than a thousand years. A great empire we know grew up, and ex- tended its conquests far and wide, and was mistress of tho world ; but its history for more than a thousand years is an absolute blank. Mention is made in the history of Abraham of or slew the 3 superior to ;licr nature — el themselves lowing that a would follow. , before true id better than of " King,'' he was the of cjc and -fought with dark powcLs order out of whoso deeds y the founda- Undcr him wider one of 'his building 7 that these ind leinples, ably, a few d beasts and }S. Did not few brigands site of what st of painted Even so, the se primitive d honoured :plored, tho ed in bold I young lion i that thi.s le Assyrian rmation re- ', Babylon ; ore than a ip, and ex- ees of the cars is an ^.braham of 11 one *' Amraphcl King of Shinar" ; most probably an Assyrian viceroy or general ; and then comes this liuge f;ap of ten cen- Iturics. The next mention of I^ineveh, in the Jiiblo, occurs iu tho book of tho projihet Jonah, who flourished about 8G0 years before Christ, or about 250 years before the destruction of (Nineveh. Jonah was the earliest of tho prophets whoso books have been embodied in tho canon of scripture. It is not improbable that ho was a pupil of tho prophet Elisha, and commenced his career I soon after his master's course had terminated. In his rcmark- lable narrative, Nineveh bursts upon us at once, in tho very lieight of its greatness and splendour. It would seem, at this Itirao, to have been a place well known to the Jews. The com- Iniorcial intercourse between tho two nations was probably close ; landthe inscriptions on the Nineveh remains make it certain that Ithe imperial arm of Assyria had, even before the days of Jonah, jreachcd Judea ; and that tho Jews wore tributaries to tho mistress lof the east. By tho divine command Jonah was sent to Nineveh I to pronounce its doom, lie found it, wo are told, " an exceed- ling great city of three days' journey," or 60 miles. It is evident, Iboth from the necessities of the case, and other considerations, jtbafc Ave aro to understand it to have been GO miles in circum- ference, and thus its diameter would be 20 miles. This, how- over, is an immense area, such as no city of modern times covers. jLondon, by fur the most populous city of the world, is but 24 Imiles in circumference, and 8 miles in diameter. The eastern jmode of building a city entirely removes the apparent difficulty [of the case. The easterns were not in the habit of piling story ipon story, as we do. To the present day, their houses aro but one story in height, for the most part, and consequently spread over a largo space. Neither did they join house to house, but kommonly left a wide interval between their dwellings, which lyas planted with trees, or used as gardens. Thus, in case of liege, they could pasture flocks and raise grain for the supply of the population within the city wall. We can thus readily un- derstand how Nineveh covered such a wide area. The book of Joaah farther informs U8 that its population comprised " six- Jscore thousand persons who could not discern between their right hand and their left"— that is, 120,000 of the whole were children, who usually form a fifth of the inhabitants. We thus pbtain 600,000 as the entire population of Nineveh. London, at [this moment, contains four times that number, huddled together ia less than half the space of ground on which Nineyeh stood. 12 Tho discoveries of Lnyard confirm, in a most rsraarkall- mnner. tho scripture account of its extent, 'ilio excavator ct JNmeveh finds four great mounds, each covering tho remains oi a palace, so placed that, if connected together, a space almost exacti^^ equal to that ascribed to Nineveh, in the book of Jonah would bo enclosed within such boundaries. Still farther : Wf find an ancient historian, Jiodorus Siculus, corroborating all this m a memorable manner. He tells us that in circumferenco tho city was " three days' journey," or GO miles, and « one day 8 journey in diameter." Such strau-e and unlooked-for witnesses aro raised up to testify to the truth of revelation. That queenly city must have presented a gorgeous spectacle to the eyes of Jonah as ho entered its gates, bearing " tho bur- den of tho Lord." There were its armed soldiers, guardin*' thes battlements—its gay throngs, crowding tho streets, intent ou gam or pleasure— the war-chariots, drawn by prancing steeds boundm* over the pavement— tho gorgeous temple-palaces elevated on their lofty platforms— wealth and luxury on all hands— wickedness and pleasure walking abroad. And, doubt- less, the eyes of the prophet would rest, in some astonishment on those colossal images of winged, compound animals that guarded tho gates. Strange to think that those human-headed bulls and lions, now adorning tho halls of the British Museum looked, with their stony gaze, upon the prophet Jonah— •' Staring right on with calm, eternal eyes." What a different race now gazes on them, and how different the scene that surrounds them amid the roar of mighty London ' The voice of the prophet awes that giddy throng.* He is sent for by the King himself— entered, doubtless, one of the palaces that are now explored ; and saw those very sculptures we now behold— those figures of gods, kings and priests— those battle and hunting scenes, then gorgeously coloured, and forming a spectacle of unequalled splendour. The stern spirit of the prophet might have been awed for a moment by all these evidences of power ; but he felt himself greater than all these • and rising to his full dignity, ho wavered not in delivering God's message, even in the monarch's presence. How mi-^'hty the divine word that bowed that vast, proud city, and °at once brought it to fasting and sackcloth! Their repentance was genuine; and tjen « God repented of the evil that he said he would do unto them, and he did it not." Tho cnti 1 roccodod liud Pul, ai of Monahcr 1 tnns U3, lu Kiu.;3roprt King of Ju( ocssur of Pt I'^yiia, who 'i'iio assistar tlio end, dis of tho Jewis treacherous Tiglath Pile campaign of captive tho ' two cities on lloalso plan room of the ( of the Israeli wo hear in ( hear no mor to identify failed. The next ] of Judah, dc( monarch ; an sion. With i narrative is t( of the Lord s Jerusalem — " Like Thatl Like t That I We shall fii truth of the so the sculptures his sons, and i whose general this time, we i canonical scrij it raraarkall' ! excavator ol tlio remains oi space almos; book of JonnL. ill fartlier : viv •roborating all circumferenco !3, and " one unlooked-for tvelation. loua spectacle, ng " the bur- guarding the ets, intent ou incing steeds,! mple-palaccs, uxury on allj And, doubt-j astonishment, animals that uman-headed tish Museum,! lah — how different ;hty London ! He is sent f the palaces ures we now -those battle d forming a ipirit of the yy all these u all these; /erins; God's mighty the nd at once mtance was : he said he I The entire sul.jugatiou of Judca to Assyria apncars to hav'> , 1 rocoeded rapidly after this date. In the year irCTllO,^. inu Id an Assyrian Kin,, invadir,g J„dea^, during tlj". otMcnahem 'I he name of this Jowi.h monarch, Layard hi .nns us, has been fouud in the Kineveh innciptions, a.non' ho ,. uu,g ropreseuted as tributaries to Assrria. Next ,o li. a£ K.ng ot Judah, nuplo.in;^ help from tiglath Pilcser, tl o u': byua, who hud combined to dctlirono the Jewish monriR.h ihe assistance asked from Assyria was granted, bu Tm .l the end, disastrous; for the application discovor d the we kni s hlt°, ^'"''\f ''^' 'i'*^ ^-^^'^^^'^^ ^''^- ^"'^''i-"« designs of the r leacherous allies. Accordin-dy, bhalmaneser, the successor Tf Iiglath Pilcser, invaded tho Kin,^]om of Israel and a tcr <'ampaign of three years, impn.o.cd thei K n.' atl ca ied captive the Ten Tribes, and placed them in Ilufah and labo wo cities on the river C.'c^u, and in the cities of ?he Medc ' lie also panted some of his own subjects in Samaria, in tt 7Ll.r:Jf^'irV '"'' -^'^'f ' '""'S''"^' ^vith the small'remn n 1 llf ; 'm'"' n?^''"'^^' ^'"'■'^'^ the Samaritans, of whom wo hear in the New Testament. But of tho Ten Tribes we hear no more ; they arc still reckoned lost ; and all atte mms failed! -^ any people as their descendants have hitSo The next King of Assyria was Sennacherib. Ilczokiah, Kin.- of Judah, declined any longer to be a tributary of the great sion. With the details of this campaign all are familiar- the narrative is too striking to be forgotten! In one ni^iTthe an" ••Like the leaves of tho forest when summer is green, That host with their banners at sunset were seen : Like the leaves of the forest when autumn ha'h blown, That host, on tho morrow, lay withered and strown." trulh'oftho 1"-'^ ^"' "'"'' "■ "^""'^ ^vonderfnl testimony to tho th« «.nl ? 7^T v^''^^''^ °^ Sennacherib's invasionf among the sculptures lately discovered. Ho was murdered by two of his sons, and succeeded by another son, Eserhaddonf one o f whose generals carried Manasseh cantivo to Eahv^n a rl- iius time, we find no more mention of Assyria in 'the pa-^es^of canomcal scripture ; but the apocryphal book of Judith menL ?s. 14 Nabuchodonosor as King of Nineveh, under whom the cm|)iro iToac to an unpaiallclod pitch of greatness ; but after his reii'u it fee.jau rapidly to decline towards its fall. Tlio last hour of the proud city, whose doom God's prophotg had pronounced, at length arrived. The nations that she had ho long trampled ujion, at last determined to rise a^?^ain?t th*Mr cruel tyrant. And now was heard the mustorin," of tlio h •^ against the great Nineveh ; nearer and nearer r'oMed t'-o din of ■war ; her walls are Icjeagnrod ; and chariots and thundci bearing steeds and a countless host beset her on oil sides. The shouts of battle ascend to heaven ; and in those proud halls there aro palo cheeks, and beating hearts, and tremblings of despair. IJut may iiot Nineveh laugh tho foo to scorn ?— arc not her huge walls imprcgnablo ? For two years the siego goes on, and no impression is made. But hark ! what strange gurgling sound suddenly catches the car ! T^.c river is " become their enemy"; and, rapidly rising, saps their massive walls of clay. All tho godu of Assyria are frantically implored to save, but in vain. Tho waters advance inexorably ; and with a crash, their huge ramparts tumble into tho waves, and they aro at the mercy of the ioo. For had not an inspired prophet, long before, pro- nounced her doom in these words ? " With an overflowing flood shall ho make an utter end of tho place thereof. Tho gates of tho river shall be opened and tho palace dissolved. Nineveh of old is like a pool of water." Thus did the prophet Nahum read her destiny ; and never was prof hecy more accurately fulfilled. An extraordinary rise of tho Tigris, caused by the melting of tho snows in Armenia, opened, in this way, a path for the com- bined armies of tho Modes and Babylonians. The King, to whom tradition gives the name of Sardanapalus, seeing that' all was lost, retired to his pnince. gathered his treasures and wives ,-\ronnd him, fired the u>.^. /ilf^., and perished in tho flames. '• 'luo fire shall devour tin' hiuii" ,^aid the ^ . opuet ; and Layard i2,400 years after, exc;.. :,i "i- among the ruins, declares that ho every where found evidence that fire had consumed the roofs of the palaces ; and that these, falling in, calcined, in many places, the gypsum slabs that lined the walls, and reduced them to lime. Thus, in smoke and flame, the imperial city sank to rise no more. The event occurred B. C. G06— nearly 200 years before Herodotus, tho oldest of Greek historians, began to write. At tliis time Rome was a mere village ; Draco was giving laws to Athens ; and Homer was but some 400 years in his grave. Thus when the smoke of Nineveh ascended*^ to heaYen^ history had not got licr from tho bu As ages tumbled into porislied, ani vaguo truditi 'I'cn Thoiisat (»f a ruined c under wliich 1,'rcat city ; s on the spot k bbcd away f parched and roused into li a nation of i Tho valley ol and in moder standing on t site of ancici German travi the attention that marked 1820, an En mains slightly bricks. iStill vn the top of moJans descri .uiardcd by the founded such spot with th( preached ; ai: lestruction, h from oblivion, Eleven years ; Mosul, and w£ great mounds the first to bri tliese heaps oi named Layarci design, in his vated his thou; shortly after t! iu another moi m tlio cmjiire cr his rci^^u it lod's propliota hat she had so a;';ainpt th-'ir of tlio htLj;3 l!c(l t('o din of undt I bearing Tlio sliouts lalls there aro dcsjiair. But [lot her liugc )C8 on, and no irgling sound tlicir enemy"; lay. All the but in vain. !i, their huge the mercy of before, pro- rflowing flood The gates of Nineveh of : NaLuni read tcly fulfilled, he melting of for the com- be King, to eing that all •es and wives the flames, i and Layard lares that he the roofs of many places, hem to lime, •ise no more. I rears before write. At ring laws to I rave. Thus history had I 15 not got her first pa,i;o written. Twenty four centuries sever ui from tlio burial ui' tlic great tity. As ages rolled on, and one eastern ompiro af(cr another tumbled into ruins, Nineveh was utterly forgotton ; its very name pori.^hcd, and the sito of it was unknown, or only survived ia vnguo tra.lilion. Xenophon, 400 years before Christ, led tho len Ihousand Greeks over tho- plain where it stood. Ho heard of a rumed city culled Larissa, and saw the hu-o earthen mound under which Mm^veh lay buried, but ho heard nothin-' of tlu. great city ; 60 that :200 years after its destruction people livin- on the spot knew not that it had ever existed. The tide of life ebbed away from the banks of tlio Tigris, and tho p'ains becamo parched and deserted. Years rolled on— tho wild Arab people, roused into life and fervour by their prophet Mahor .et, bccnmo a nation of warriors, and spread their conquests far and wide. Iho valley of tho Euphrates and Tigris fell under ti oir sway; and 1.1 modern times wo find a Turkish town, nam. I Mosul. [Standing on tho western bank of tho Tigris, directly oi osito tho site of ancient IS'incvch. A hundred rears ago, Ncibuhr a German traveller, traversed this region, and was tho fir,^ t to call tho attention of tho modern world to the huge mounds ai. 1 ruins that marked tho sites of Babylon and Nineveh. In tho year IS20, an English traveller, named Rich, explored these re- mains slightly, and brought homo with him a few insribed bricks. iStiU no suspicion of the buried treasures was awakened, un the top of one of the mounds was a tomb, which the Ma hom- medans described as that of tho prophet Jonah, and wa re- garded by them as a sacred spot. However foolish and un- toundcd such a tradition might bo, it led men to associate -he spot with the name of tho city in which the prophet ad preached ; and thus, as Jonah saved Nineveh of old fr *m destruction, his name, in this 19th century, rescued tho rema 13 Irom oblivion, by leading to a search in the proper quarttr Eleven years ago a Frenchman named Botta, went as consul to Mosul, and was induced to commence excavations in one of tho groat mounds opposite that city. He has tho honour of bcin- the first to bring to light the precious treasures buried beneath these heaps of earth. Previous to this, an English traveller named Layard, had examined these mounds, and formed tho design, in his own mind, of exploring them. Ho had communi- cated his thoughts to Botta and encouraged him to proceed ; and ^.lorJy .ittor t,!o rroncaman's success, he commenced operations m another mound named Nimroud : and hia success waa great IG and irnmediato. These two men, whoso names will be imJ inortahzcd henceforth in connexion with Nineveh, wrouIStI ^; 1^^^^!? V''"n"'^ perseverance that has commanded tlu ^Nineveh has been accomphshod to a great extent. Ko mar Vnll'T ^T Yr'"'^ ^J"'^''^^^ ^'' ^"^'^^ ^ ^««k than ou thntt r^' ^"i*'"" "^ ^^'Pfy conilination the powers oi1 ti^c^^olld, he has given us throe charming volumes, descriptivoi 1 • "ff f f?f 0!^'^^ f"''"^^^' ,,,,,1,,, ii,„3t,,,tion of the ol, saying that « fact is often stranger than fiction." Ihus we see that when Nineveh was entombed in her owi ashes,--swathed in her burial-robes of sand,-the strange dram, Aal of .,400 years, the curtain is rai-jod and all that remains o ^meveh is exhibited to our gaze. The skeleton-form pre en .self-some fragments of bone as it wero-to tell us how grea he trunk to which they originally belonged. These fragmen irom the wreck of Nineveh enable us to^form some coi ?eS tt!!ii ^^?^*^"V^'>07''fe presented itself to these men o- the olden time-with what kind of eye they looked at thirgrea and'Zrrr^'' '' ^'^^ T'^'.^ ^^^^ r-rpose of existenceiho^ and ^^hat they worshipped, and in what shape societv moulded self in Its infancy We can discover from these remains whicl the diving-bel ot the antiquarian has brought up, in what form and drapery these old Assyrians walked Uie caJth ; and 3 they told upon the world and its destinies. These soul pture^^ s ones are really the representatives of human thoughts an feelings. Here are genuine " foot-prints on the sands of time ^ oZ'Jv ""; 'm ' indentations caused by the strokes of labour Our toiling brothers, in sweat and dust, struck these bbm ^ithm the walls of the great workshop wh^re w oo a ^et^ Zau^'ftrV'"''- ""^' ^'^^^'^ *° -^1'- the imf ens antiquity of these fragments, or to grasp fully the thought tha 8mce they were buried twenty-four centuries have flUtfd ove, the earth ; and that since the first erection of some of them niore than three thousand years have rolled past! fe changes have been witnessed in that immense space of time Whatjoys and woes have heaved the great heart of humaZ Ihe Roman Empire has begun and ended." The Goth ami vandal too have walked off into the dark death-realms At thJ time of Nineveh's interment, Britain, the future Se of Anglo ?ax( sweep than swamps ; he side — wild c no smoko f: oven the bli there, iu the I hour of the higher grow done. In ( merce, her '. off-shoot in i ever does d( And now to Assyria— the time-£^! brothers wal now the fin^ millions that C3 will be im eveh, wrougliii coinmanclcd tli' I rxhumatioa oil tent. Ko mail task than ouil the powers oil and the man o( les, dcscriptivtl ion of tho ol4 !d in her owe strange dramil after an inter] that remains o:j ■form present] 1 us how greaJ hose fragmentif )niG conceptioij :>i' her inhabi- these men o| 'd at this grea'j xistence — ho\i cietv moulded) remains whiclJ in what forni th; and ho\^| !se sculptureu thoughts andi mds of time.' 'lies of labour. ; these blo^ oo are gettin the imraensi i thought tha 3 flitted ovei •mo of them past ! Whatj ace of time, >f humanity!! I'he Goth and! Ims. At the home of the IT Anglo i^axon race, whose dominions were to be fiiv wider in sweep than those of Assyria, was covered with forests and swamps ; her iron and coal beds sleeping, undisturbed, side by side— wild cattle roaming through her valleys, fearless of man— no smoko^ from tall chimneys darkening the air — perhaps not even the blue vapour from some naked savage's hut. But away there, iu the far cast, preparation was making for the birth- hour of the present. A great empire sinks into ruins ; but a higher growth springs up over its remains, now that its work is done. In due time rises Britain with her colonics and com- ! mercc, her Indian Empire in the east, and America, her great off-shoot iu tho west— her arts, literature and religion. Thus ever does death pass into life — " From the dark and troubled surces Of the roaring sea of time, Evermore a world emerges Solemn, beautiful, sublime." And now is dug up tho wreck of this old world— linking us to Assyria— linking us with Noah and Adam— bridging over the time-gulfs of tho past. Here are the halls where our brothers walked — where they worked and prayed ! Where arc now_ the fingers that sculptured these fragments— vrhere the millions that trod these pavements ! " Oblivion's pall alike is spread O'er slave and lordly tomb, The sad, the gay, the old, the young, The warrior's strength and beauty's glow, Resolved to that from which they sprung, Compose the dust below." CHAPTER III. NATURE OF THE RUINS AND MODE OF THEIR PRESERVATION. In Older to get an idea of these discoveries and the mode of | their preservation, we must picture in our minds enormous | mounds of earth standing isolatt-d on a plain. Selecting one of these mounds, we find its dimensions as follows : — lenj:th nearly 1000 feet: breadth 983:— height 40 to 50 feet. Upon this artificially constructed mass of earth the excavators set to work— sinkmg shafts into the interior, and driving tunnels through it in various directions. Very soon they struck on walls panelled with slabs of gypsum, elaborately scilptured ; and found them- selves exploring chambers, halls and courts of vast dimensions. As the accumulated rubbish of centuries is cleared awav, they discover that they are tenants of a palace under ground ; and ore surrounded by evidences of grandeur and magnificence that fill them with astonishment. They find that it is the basement- story of an Assyrian f.alace they are excavating, which, with its contents, is still in a wonderfully perfect state of preservation. The upper portion of the walls, they discover has fallen in ; and, having been built of sun-dried bricks, has returned to earth, and completely encased the lower portions of the building, and thus most effectually secured their | reservation. 'Jhey also find that this palace was originally erected on a platform " 30 feet high, formed of sundried bricks, and cased, on the outside, with stone, in order to render it capable of sustaining the super-incumbent mass. This at once exulains the nature of the immense earthenj mound. On its summit, brightly glancing in gay colours, and! adorned outside with rich sculptures, stood the gorgeous palace,! rising story upon story. The platform served to ^ive it a com- manding position when in existence ; and, being formed ofj perishable materials, furnished u soft and secure bed in which its ruins were safely entombed. Kageily the exr.lorers drive vr\\ their operations ; and they arc delighted to find' the inside of the walls, to the height of ten feet from the floor, com|.leteIy cased wi'.h thin slabs of gypsum, a kiiid of stone that abotnKis! ia the neiijhbourhood ; and covered with sculptures and luscrip ' tiuns in th( their palac( ! Fortunately I along the V left picturei Here are n These sculj full equipmi their arrows his throne, frightful del tell, from tl their bows, these great knowledge < thoir gO(U a social habits life. And i that cover tl under the s are compelh sculptures. man in his c telling us wl The great oi once it had were once t( cans now ar noblest and their centre what were o The magi: of, to some ( volume, of t palace, whic second visit. by hin^s der restoration o sentation of within. Th a broad fligh front set to work icis through it avails panelled d found them st dimensions, ed away, the^? • ground ; anrj jnificence that the basement Ahich, with its preservation, alien in ; and, I to earth, and ling, and thus also find that 30 feet high, le, with stone, )er-incumbent dense earthen 1 colours, and geous palace, _'ive it a com g formed of bfd in which )rers diive ( n he inside of ', com|.letcIjr that nbouiKiij and iuscri} • 19 tionsin the language of the Assyrians. 'Jhesc panellings of their palaces reveal all that we can learn of this ancient race. Fortunately for us they were in the habit of writing tlicir history along the walls of their national edifices; and thus they have left pictures of themselves, in stone tablets, to enli-hien us. Here are records of their exploits in war and in the chase. These scul|,tiiro3 contain representations of their warriors, in full equipments, attacking a city— scaling the wails, shooting their arrows or fdying their battering rams. Then the King, on his tlirono, receives the captives and the plunder ; and all the frightful details of barbaric warfare are represented. We can tell, from those remains, of what kind were their war chariots, their bows, spears, swords and shields. Their mode of building these great works is also discoverable ; and thus we le"anv their knowledge of the mechanical arts. Here too are represented thi'xT gods and religious ceremonies. Some glimjses into their social habits are afforded, and some indications of their domestic life. And then tliose strange looking arrow-headed characters that cover the walls, contain the records of the extinct race ; and under the skilful treatment of a IJincks and a llawlinson, they are compelled to tell their tale, and help us to comprehend the sculptures. Thus these relics show us some of the first stejs of mm in his career of industry and labour. Here is a tide-mark telling us where the waves of progress once broke on the strand. The great ocean-swell has advanced far beyond it now ; but once it had come " hitherto and no farther." The Ninevitea were once to the world, wliat the English, French and Ameri- cans now are. They led the van. All that was then greatest, noblest and most beautiful in art, industry and civilization, had their centre and source in Assyria. These are indications of what were once man's noblest achievements. The magnificonco of the Assyrian palaces may be concei\'ed of, to some extent, from the representation, in Layard's third volume, of tlie t'ayade and grand entrance cf Sennacherib's palace, which he was fortunate enough to discover during hia secoiid visit. Bv means of what remains of this entrance, and by hin*s derived from the sculptures on the walls, a complete restoration of it has been effected, so that we have now a repre- sentation of Sennacherib's palace as it stood when he resided within. The lofty platform on which it stood was ascended by a broad flight of steps, and a wide terrace stretched along, in, front of the entrance, which was no less than 180 feet in extent. Guarding the several portals were three groups of colossal, 20 human-Iicaded bulls, each twenty feet -long, and nearly twenty feet in height— in all ten in number ; and six human figures o! gigantic proportions, representing Nimrod strangling the lion, were distributed between these groups. The outside wall was encased with gypsum slabs to the height of fifteen or twenty feet; and these were elaborately sculptured with historical scenes, recording the great battles and victories of the raonarch'f^ reign. Above these rose the upper stories of the palace ; tlie whole being painted in gay colours, and presenting an appear- ance of grandeur and magnificdnce with which it would be diflicult to find any thing in modern times to compare. This appears to have been the principal entrance to the royal abode , but in addition to this, there were two others but little inferior in grandeur, guarded in the same manner, and affording admis- sion to other parts of the immense structure. In the interior three large halls, 200 feet in length and forty or fifty in breadth.: were discovered, on the walls of which the records of the empire' were sculptured. The whole of the other apartments were grouped around these three principal halls. Parallel with them, on each side, were narrower chambers ; these opened into others still smaller ; and these in turn led to others having no outlet.] Some idea of the extent of the structure may be formed froni' the following paragraph, in which Layard sums up what he hadi done m excavating Sennacherib's palace. " In this magnificent! edifice I had opened no less than 71 halls, chambers and pas-l sages, whose walls, almost without an exception, were panelledj with slabs of sculptured alabaster. By a rough calculation,! about 9,880 feet, or nearly two miles of bas-reliefs, with 27 portals, formed by colossal winged bulls, and lion-sphinxes, were uncovered in that part of the building explored during my re- searches,^ Only a part of the palace was explored, and much st!ll remains under ground of this enormous structure. The greatest length of the excavations was about 720 feet : the! greatest breadth about 600 feet. The pavement of the chamber! was from 20 to 35 feet below the surface of the mound." A question arises as to the mode of lighting these apartments, At first Layard thought the palaces were but one stcry ml height ; and in his first work on Nineveh, ho supposes 'tha* square openings in the roof admitted the light. In his nevi, work, however, he informs us that he was mistaken in this con-l JQcture ; and that it is rendered certain by later discoveries that| the palaces had more stories than one. Consequently li^hti must have been admitted elsewhere than by the roof or ceiling,' Layard cxf I who has fui I His suggcsl few feet ab( ] was formed Imitting a fr I the ceiling : [curtains dra jof thesun ; the sculptut J this theory, [could reach I secure cooli j beams. Wo are as I ted by tlic i 1 comparing tl [delineations [perfection; s tures a high was but the rant people children ; sti great attenti discern manj Grecian chis from Assyria The Germar Ijudges, rema Persian war ; So that the ( were but poo So far as we the marble ir In a know] all the nation they used an tables ; and t like our own, Their cups ai duced. The; of enamels ; s it with paiati 21 Layard expresses Ins concurrence ^vith tlio theory of Ferguson hvuo has turnishcd such a One restoration of these buildin<^8.' 11,3 suggestion 13 that the solid Avail of the palace terminated a few feet above the sculptures, and that the upper portion of it hvastormed of woden pillars, with openings between thera ad- mitting a free circulation of light and air. Upon these pillars the ceiling rested, as well as the upper stories. An awning and curtains drawn over these side openings would ward off the rays of the sun ; and thus a beautiful and softened light would fall on the sculptures. Many of the inner chambers, however, even oa this theory, must have been artificially lighted, as few rays could reach them. In the hot climate of the cast, in order to beams "" '' '^ '' ^^^^^^^^ary almost to exclude the sun's Wo are astonished at the very high knowledge of art indica- ted by iie sculptures, ho one would for a moment dream of comparing them with the productions of Grecian art, which in delineations of forms of beauty, may bo said to have reached perfection; still, the best judges assign to the Assyrian sculp- tures a high place. True, indeed, many things indicate that ic was but the mfancy of art-the rudimentary efforts of an igno- rant people reminding us occasionally of the attempts of children ; still It discovers a most exact study of nature and great attention to fidelity of form. Still farther-we clearly discern many striking resemblances to the productions of the U-ecian chisci, and proof incontrovertible that Greece borrowed from Assyria-carrying on to perfection what she bad begun. JIhe German historian ^^lebuhr, one of the most compelent judges, remarks that " there was no Grecian art till alter the Persian war ; but afterwards it advanced with rapid strides." fco that the Greeks got their first hints from the Persians, who were but poor imitators of their predecessors, the Assyrians. I tt t rbVinto^fJo!'^ ^"^"^" '"^ ''^''' ^^"^-^ '° -''^^- I J!^^ 'f^P'^^edge of the decorative arts the Assyrians surpassed all the nations of antiquity. We find from the sculptures that bey used arm-chairs and stools, and ate, like ourselves, off ables ; and that their tables and chairs wez'e richly ornamented Ike our own, with lions' feet and the heads of vaiius animals, Iheir cups and vases were equal in shape to anything yet pro- I duced. Ihey were acquainted with glass and the vaitus kind= i of enamels ; and with the art of varnishing pottery and covering I It with paintings, by means of coloured enamels. They were 9 also workers In metals of various kinds ; and a bronze Hon has been found, proving their acquaintance with the art of casting. A curious series of sculptures has recently been discovered,, representing in its various stages, the whole process of raising to its place one of the human-headed bulls. Cables, wedges, pulleys and immense levers are employed ; and a superintendant stands on the mass, giving his orders to the workmen through a speaking-trumpet. Numerous gems and cylinders that have been found, prove the Assyrians to have been skilful engravers on stone. Their palaces testify to their skill in architecture ; and the remains of their canals, and other great works for irrigation, astonish even those acquainted with modern en- gineering. Quantities of bronze caldrons, bells, dishes, plates and bowls, of elegant design, have been brought to light. Thus advanced in all the arts of life were the men of twelve hundred years before Christ. It is very remarkable that among all the ruins yet explored, no trace of an Assyrian tomb has been discovered ; nor, in any of the sculptures, do we discover a funeral procession, or any ceremony connected with the interment of the dead. " We are thus" savs Layard " quite unable to say how they disposed of their dead ;- -whether they burned them and scattered their ashes to the winds— or exposed them till nothing remained but the bleached bones. In this resject they contrast strikingly with the ancient Egyptians, who bestowed such care upon the remains of humanity that we have in our museums at present bodies that must have been embalmed 8000 years ago ; and on almost every temple wall of Egypt are portrayed ceremonies observed after death and even the events of a future state." But there are no embalmed Assyrians— no " statues of flesh- immortal of the dead," to awaken our sympathies as having! once had human hearts beating " beneath their leathern breasts;" and "in lusty life," as having traversed these halls in the days! of their glory. Not a bone, or urn holding human dust, has turned up ; and stranger still, these marble pictures represent no funeral rite or tomb. Did these proud Assyrians avoid all allusion to death— did they ignore the King of Terrors— did thej got rid of every remnant of humanity hastily, so soon as the vital spark had fled, lest the monuments of the dead should dis- turb the pleasures of the living ? Or, like one of the Kings of France, did they affect to believe there was no death ? If so, it waa but the poor resource of the ostrich that hides its head in the sand, when hard pressed by the hunters, and would fain I forget that il could not shi arm. To ea senger came palace-buildi 'whether rulh I lever or oar inexorably be discover the i jare in their g ishall come foi Here, then Jtheir records [great univers [itaelf to their their palaces, jure up the sc '• The (la Of the y( Liko to a Of summ Throngin Of the I Towers, t Imperial la all he' Her swar Her sprig Airily boi Her lusty Her warr I hear the I hear the The poet's j bearts beating [shouts of revel: Imusic, and the ;hese palace-ha [their hearts hi^ the multitude r captive has lool with tremulous o. )ron2e Hon has art of casting. 3n discovered, 3e8S of raising' ables, wedges,: superintendantj men through a] lers that havej Iful engravers! architecture ; Jat works for| I modern en- dishes, plates! 5 light. Thus! velve hundred! yet explored, red ; nor, in procession, or I dead. « We they disposed icattered their remained but| Eist strikingly care upon thel ms at present! ago ; and on d ceremonies uturo state."! ues of flesh— I IS as having lern breasts;"! Is in the daysj nan dust, has pes represent ians avoid a)! jrs — did thej/j soon as the ,d should dis^l the Kings ofj tath ? If so, 33 its head in I would fain forget that Its body ,3 not hidden. All their pomp and pride could not shie d thorn from thu sweep of death's all-subduin- aim. lo each of them, in some shape or other, the pale jies- sengercame: and whether they were warring or huntin palace-building or acting the courtier in the halls of Kinr^s- hvhether ruling an empire, or tugging as poor captives at^'tho lever or oar, it mattered not; tho wan shadow came and inexorably beckoned them away. A day too is coming that will discover the restmg-place of their dust-a day when " all that are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of Man and Ishall come forth." Here, then, was the earthly stage of these millions— hero aro their records telling us, in a dim way, what they made of this great universe ; and how the mystery of existence unfolded litself to their eyes. As we gaze upon those huge guardians of their palaces, with their grave magestic countenances, we con- lure up tho scenes on which they have looked. '• The daya of old return.— I breathe the aii- Of the young world ; I see her giant sons, Lika to a gorgeous pageant in tho sky Of summer s evening— cloud on fiery cloud Thronging up-heaved : before me rise the wails Of the Titanic city,— brazen gates, Towers, temples, palaces enormous piled ;— Imperial Nineveh, the earthly queen, In all hef golden pomp, I see her now— Her swarming streets— her splendid festivalj— Her sprightly damsels to the timbril's sound Airily bounding, and their anklet's chime ; Her lusty sons, like sunimcr-morniiig gay Her warriors stern— her rich-robed rulers grave, I hear the music of her banquetings ; I hear the laugh, the whisper and the sigh !" h Jrl\l?f-'' P- '*r' ^V'"'- Men and women, with human I ears beating in their bosoms, have inhabited these walls. The \tnt f„;7,^'^^T*^«J°"So^victory-the voice of soft, sweet music, and the wail of woe and despair hare re-echoed through these palace-halls. Warriors with stately step have been hcre- their hearts high-swelling with triumph-tho welcome shout of Ithe multitude ringing m their ears ; and the poor condemned captive has looked out here for the light of a last morning, and. ytith tremulous heart, thought of absent wife and child Be- n-; 24 twecn those stony guardians Iiavo marched tho fettcrerl Israolites, dragged away from home and fatherland ; and as slaves may hare helped to rear these walls. Tho haughty iSonijachcrib, too, after his awful defeat, trod the same entrance, to fall soon after by tho hands of his own sous. The children of Israel are a living race to-day ; their oppressors, centurio? ago, have utterly perished ( ItHE RELIOIOl CHAPTER IV. ItHE religious system op the ASSYRIANS AS ILLUSTRATIVE OF ' SCRIPTURE. Tho various religious systems we collectively name Pa-anism Csuchltr' ''^ P'^.^l^'^S P^^blem. Ho^ can we ac oun^ ^r such a faith, or conceive of the rise of such a belief ?~ J^hence the multitude of gods that crowded the heaven of in rr/, ^/**.*'"^°'"S r^" «'* <^°^^ and deUberately i^: k? 11 i ^1®^ ^ 'i°P°^® **" ^"""^ superstitious creduHty ? or is Ul n 0.7'"?"'*/^?*'^ ^'°'*^''^'°^-* fever-dream, confused hnd meaningless ? We cannot quite adopt either of these ways k)f explaining tl.at mysterious system of thought. What men InvcDt and propagate, conscious of its falsehood, seldom obtains fe.TrT*^.''1."P°''^r^"^«^'^f- Had cunning priests kgreed together to frame a false system of religion, its duration [vould have been very brief. Unless a religious system bo? to bme extent, an expression of the faith and modes of be ief tlready existing m the minds of men,-unle33 it embody thdr ctua thinkings It cannot obtain currency, or draw votaries litter it. And of this wuch we may feel assured-that once aen did, with their whole hearts, believe in this very Paganism Ihat to us seems so strange and revolting ;-once it was, to livin- fcl? '''°^*^''°^'*^'^ of existence-an explanation of ■he great, encompassing umverse, that to ourselves is still so ^1 of wonder. Haying fallen from the knowledge of the true Sod, men actually did form such beliefs regarding themselves fcnd their relation to the unseen and eternal ; thus demonstrating fce insufficiency of reason when unaided by revelation. The ^ible declares that man was originally gifted with a knowledge f the true God; and that all idolatry it a fall from thrpufe Ind spiritual worsbp of this Being~a worshipping of "the Ireature mstead of the Creator." The corruption, however, N gradual ; men did not at once sink into the grossness of h. Xi"" rrT'^S^P ' ^u*' '*l^ ^y '*'P' *^«y ^«°t down into he abyss. The Nineveh marblea confirm and illustrato most ^nkingly the Bible's account of man's gradual degeneracy II - ^1 2») There 13 abundant evidence in these sculptures to prove that the older forms of worship and systems of faith were com- paratively pure. The earliest religion, of which any trace^ remain, was Sabeanism or the worship of the heavenly bodies , and this was probably the first decline from the spiritual idea ot God. The testimony of history is uniform in pointing to the Mcsopotamian plains as the place where this religious systenij originated. Hero, owing to the clearness of the atmosphere, the brilliancy and beauty of the stars far exceed our conceptions;- and the night is even lovlier than day. These primitive meii: gazed at their gorgeous firmamtr't blazing with the glitterin;; stars shining down upon thera with diamond brightness — " like eyes looking on them from the mysterious deeps of eternity,' and revealing something of the inner splendours ; they markedS history bein^ their mysterious notions and their connections with the seasons :1 erected to hi and their wonder grew into a kind of worship. And at lengtlil thus see the they said these shall be to us symbols or types of the majestjl supposing it and greatness of the Lord of All, and let us do reverence to thenil is altogether as such. But mark the danger of setting up any visible object— 1 upguided by enlightens I of the cunie tlif" soul of miration of morning bri guidance, bounds and comes raanif tiling grows are there t( medium of who served 1 into a god al even such as " tL<5 host of heaveu" in all their beauty — a3| symbols through which to adore the Creator. That first falser step led on to errors more gross and degrading. The Creator Avas forgotten, and the 7isible object alone was worshipped Star-worship rapidly degenerated into fire-worship ; and flame a thing of man's creation, from its resemblance to the luminarie of the sky, was made a symbol of deity. Here was a stc]. lower- from the stars to the fire on the altar. The earlier monuments of Nineveh contain evidences of the practice of star worship ; some of later date discover traces of fire-worship. A visible symbol having once been introduced, the corrupt heart of man rapidly advanced in degeneracy. The next step was the deification of mortal men. How this arose it is difficult, if not impossible for us, at this distance of time, to explain. The case of Dagon, the fish-god, whose name occurs in the 01 Testament, and whose image we find among the Nineveh sculp tures, may help us in obtaining a slight glimpse into the matter. The tradition ran that he rose out of the Persian Gulf, and wa the first to teach men the rudiments of the arts and sciences, Let us suppose now that, at some period or other, a warlike chieftain, from some isle of the ocean where the light of civiliza tion had dawned previously, sailed, with his followers up tb Euphrates. He suodues but also instructs the savage teaches them to build and to cultivate the soil ; ele^ formed for " Asshur." strong forest- too was consc of Paganism being obscure without supp( mere knaves It is very e must sink int( genuine worsl of the being v and, without < condition of tl weak, impure these respects Idolatry, ther and ruinous - The divine cu from the eartj We find sev scripture. TJ the ruins of N their worship. to prove that ,h were com- h any tracch ivenly bodies , tiritual idea ot )ointing to the igious pysteiii mosphere, the ' conceptions; )rimitive men the glitterini; itness — " like of eternity," ; they marked 1 the seasons : ^nd at lengtli )f the majestj srence to then isible object— r beauty — as 'hat first false The Greater I worshippeil. p ; and flame, the luminaric) was a stc]. The earlier actice of star- worship. , the corrupt 'he next step ) it is difficult , to explain irs in the OM ineveh sculp to the matter irulf, and wa: and sciences )r, a warlik ;ht of civiliza )wers up th vage people i elevates an 27 enlightens them, to somo extent ; perhaps gives them the letters of the ounieform alphabet. Tho rude people arc grateful ; for th^ soul of man welcomes light. Thev rise into glowing ad- miration of their benefactor who has changed their nighl into morning bright and beautiful ; and make his word their lifo's- guidance. lie dies ; and then their admiration transcends all bounds and grows into adoration. Great while living, ho be- comes manifold greater when dead. It is marvellous how a thing grows in the human imagination, when love and worship are there to encourage it, and vague tradition is tho only niedmm of transmitting information regarding it. Tho hero who served his fellows, by hand or brain, when on earth, rises into a god after death. Thus Dagon, the sea-King, his real history being lost, becomes Dagon— the fish-god ; has statues erected to his memory, and is devoutly worshipped. We can thus see the possibility of such a thing growing up, without supposing it to be the result of madness or conscious lying. It IS altogether a human process, supposing man to grope his way upguided by a revelation. Thus too, may these Assyrians have formed for themselves a supreme deity whom they named " Asshur." One of Nimrod's lieutenants waa so named ; a strong forest-feller, or beast-tamer, or men-conqueror ;— and he too was consecrated by death as a deity. We can thus conceive of Paganism growing up, the knowledge of the one true God being obscured or lost ; and we can account for it, in a dim way, without supposing all who have gone before us to have been' mere knaves or madmen. It is very evident that, with such gods to worship, the people must sink into gross immorality. The inevitable tendency of all genuine worship is to assimilate the worshipper to the character of the being worshipped. Tell us the gods a nation worships and, \yithout enchantment, we will be able to tell you the moral condition of the people. If the object of adoration be imperfect, weak, impure or cruel, the worshipper will resemble his god in these respects ; he cannot rise higher than the being he adores. Idolatry, therefore, in all its forms, was debasing, corrupting and ruinous— dishonouring to God and destructive to man. The divine curse rests upon it ; and it is doomed to bo rooted from the earth. We find several of the Assyrian idols mentioned by name in scripture. The question arises whether the discoveries among the ruins of Nineveh corroborate the Bible's representations of their worship. Isaiah informs us (37 ch., 38 t.) that Senna- 28 ohorib was slain vrhilo worshipping in the tomplo of his gO(l Nisroch. Now in all langua^'os boloaging to the same family .13 tho Ilebrow, tho word " Nisrh" moans an eagle, and the syllable " Och" is intensive ; so that the word " Nisroch" means " tho great eagle." One of tho first objects discovered at Nmoveh was a conspicuous idol, having a human figure with tho head of an eagle ; and Layard immediately and justly con- eluded that here ho had found Sennacherib's god Nisroch. In confirmation of this he cites a fragment of one of tho oracles of Zoroaster, which declares that " God is he who has tho head of a hawk." There can bo no reasonable doubt that this eagle- headed and winged idol is the Nisroch of the Bible. The probability is that this deity was a personification of the sun, the eagle in most of the ancient systems being u symbol of the sun , and thus its introduction was a corruption of pure Sabeanism. However this may be, we have hero a striking testimony to the truth of tho scriptural representation. Another sacred emblem of frequent occurrence among the sculptures is a winged figure in a circle. " Sometimes the figure is human and holds a bow relaxed in one hand, and a sword or dagger in the other ; at other tiuies the human form and circle are dropped, and there is seen merely a winged globe or disk." This is the only object that the King is represented as worshipping. It hovers over him in battle, and attends his triumphal return. Layard concludes that this was tho type of the supreme god of the Assyrians, by whatever name he waa worshipped. In his first work ho conjectured it to be the re- presentation of Baal ; but in his more recent volume we are told that the inscriptions which have been deciphered render it more probable that Asshur was their supreme deity ; and that ho is always typified by the winged figure in the circle. Ezekiel, who lived and prophecied by the river Chebar, (now called Khabour) not far from Nineveh, and whose eyes must have been familiar with the Assyrian palaces and idols, describes, in the first chapter of his prophecies, his vision of the four living creatures, and adds that " by them was at it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel." The figures of " the living creatures," as we shall soon see, were suggested by certain forms on the, Assyrian monuments; and "the wheel within a wheel" may have been drawn from this winged figure in the circle — the typo of Assyria's supreme deity. We find again and again, throughout the Old Testament, tho I children of Israel accused of worshipping " groves" when the loll into iJulu involve I in 6, vident from ages. Thua But thorn uj) i ivery green I > said to hav( lade in tiie Ik tvliat is called ;roup of trees t' this, iu 2 1\ :Iio grove itsel fCedron, " unc iLcreof upon t r idol thorefo s'iueveh soem lorshipper aln lioe, adorned 'egetablo prod , along with t ion ; and at on 'lien tho Isra( [eighbours, th( lat this sacrci Ashtaroth," ( iripture — kno ssyrian Venu; male form of 'idely observed 'ence the grov the prophets " It is not lik aded lions an ilaces were ol le union of gre; lay have awed lany ages passe ilation, they k •propriately ch( le body of tho ] ings of the hire lay have been oi iptiyes, and bel 29 lo of his go Ki,w ' ^"^'nT"^' r "", '^''^'''- ^" confirmation , lu - jv iig,, .u Oh. I) v.— Josiah IS said to have brought .0 grove Use! out of the Iruwle, and burnt it at Iho brook k (Iron, " am stumped it small to powder, and cast th V^ S Leroot upon the graves of the children of Israel. " An emblem Tidol horeforo must bo referred to. Now the sculptreg o^- snieveh seem to cast light ou this obscm-ity. I ?o!e Jverv orshipper almost is placed a sacred emblem in tho form ot^ roe adorned with flowers, but not resembling any Tnovn 'egetable production ; and enclosed in a kind of^shS. TIds along with the winged figure in the circle, an object of ado a n ; and at once suggests " the grove" or symbohc tree which -„-„.„,>en the Israelites fell into tho idolatrous practices onS represented |e.gI;bours, they aro accused of worshipping^ It TsVeieve^ i attends his l-at his sacred treo was the emblem of tile Assyrian cfoddess tho type of 'Ashtaroth,"or "tho Queen of Heaven" as slfe is callc h issyrian Venus She was also known as Jieltis, as beina the =nm e form of the great divinity Baal. Her worship was mo t ^idely observed ; and was impure and degrading in the extreme X Xiro?a:^^ '-- '"^' ^^^^ --^ --^^ ^---i " It IS not hkely" says Layard "that tho win'^ed huraan- laded hons and bulls that kept tho gates of the A Triau ilaces were objects of direct adoration^ They wereIZs o le union of great physical and intellectual power ; and af such ay have awed and instructed tho rude minds of hose who fb' any ages passed before them." Destitute of any divine ro >lation, they ooked for a type of spiritual power,^an not n )propriatcly chose the human head-of streLth and h "v h o e body of the lion or bull-of ubic,uity, and fomid it I ho mgs of the bird; and thus those gigan'tic compou d a-o ur " ay have been originated. EzekieU who was one of the A.sydau )alacc-tcmples in aU their splendour. name he was be the re lime we are red render it y ; and that 1 the circle. Jhebar, (now ) eyes must Is, describes, le four living a wheel in ; creatures," forms on the wheel" may le — the typo itament, tho when they 30 in typifying certain divino attributes, naturally draws liis figures from objects with which ho was familiar. In the first cJiaptcr of his prophecies he tells us, that ho saw in his vision four livini; creatures, who had four faces, four wings, and the hands of a man under their wings, on their four sides. Their faces wero those of a man, a lion, an ox and an eagle ; precisely those w find among the Assyrian monuments. Hero then wo have .inother curious illustration of the prophetic language ; and an indirect confirmation of the accuracy of the sacred Avriters. In the first book of Samuel, 5th Chapter, we find a reference to one of the gods worshipped by the Plulistines under the nam Dagon. Tho ark of God having been taken by the Philistines, they set it up in triumph in tho temple of Dagon, at AshdocI In the morning, however, they found Dagon prostrate on tlit earth before tho ark — struck down by an unseen hand. Sup-j posing that it was merely the result of accident, they set hiiul again on his pedestal ; but " on the morrow" we read, " bcholil Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark ol the Lord ; and the head of Dagon, and both tho palms of hi; hands were cut off upon tho threshold ; only the stump Dagon was loft to him." The margin supplies a more corrcc rendering of tho Hebrew : — " only the fishy part of Dagon re mained." The best scripture commentators had long sinct conjectured, from the incidents recorded here, and from th testimony of history, that the image of Dagon was a kind c merman — the upper part human with a fishy extremity. Tlic word " Dag" in Hebrew signifies fish ; and it is a well establisl <"d fact that the neighbouring Phoenicians had an idol of tlii shape. It is very striking to find the Nineveh sculpture furnishing a comment upon this passage which at once remove: donbt ; and shows that the worship of Dagon was practised als on the banks of the Tigris. In the ruins of Sennacherib's palac Layard found bas-reliefs of the fish-god. *' The head of a fish' he says in describing the sculpture, " formed a mitre above tha; of tlie man ; while its scaly back and fan-like tail fell as a cloal boliind, leaving th j human feet and limbs exposed." An ol tradition, presenred by Berossus, states that a being callci Oannes, or the sacred man-fish, issued at one time from thi Erythrean sea, and instructed the Chaldeans in all wisdom, ii the sciences and fine arts ; and was afterwards worshipped as goil. We have already seen how, in all probability, the mytliii tnlft of a god rising out of the Traves, having a fish's extremitij united to a human head, was woven out of the fact of the con (|U03t of C who curao of Dagon cities of th giant arms lias discov( so that tho confirmatic thus atartii hut feel sal mony to hii is brin obtained a mitigation of its horrors, — a mingling pf humanity and mercy with destructicn ; but the day is seem- ingly far distant when the sword shall become the ploughshare. It is not yet forty years since the smoke of Waterloo darkened the heavens ; and now the flame of war is rekindled in the heart of Europe, and may enwrap the world. While we deplore the horrors and deprecate the advent of war, let us not overlook, at the same time, how, out of the evil, Providence has evolved a higher good. This scourge of the world, rightly viewed, is found to have an element of good pervading and underlying it ; as indeed, in a certain sense, all evils have. It has, in many cases, if not in all, been over- ruled, so as to work out some benefit to the world. There can be no doubt, for example, that man's physical nature has been strengthened and developed by war. The will, too, has been called into energetic action ; and the inventive faculties tasked to provide offensive and defensive weapons. The art of fortifi- cation evoked mechanical genius ; and when peace came round, the mental faculties, thus awakened into life, produced roads, JSTRATIVE or 41 ridges, spinning and weaving machines, railways and steam- oata ; and in this way the arts of destruction wore made to roduce something to comfort and bless mankind. Still more — le very sufferings and horrors of war called forth pity, tender- ess and benevolence towards the sufferers. It is beyond doubt at generosity, honour, chivalrous feeling, a scorn of the mean !id base — all these nobler feelings, did actually spring up in le practice of warfare ; and these very feelings, in the end, are lose that put an end to war ; so that in fact war is self- estructive. " Misery brought in love,— in passions' strife Man gave his heart to mercy, pleading long. And sought out gentle deeds to gladden life." Thus living, human action, is never wholly bad. A benign ^evidence has arranged it so that whatever is evil in it perishes ; [rhatever is good lives and produces fruit. The wrath of man made to praise God. Consider one of these ancient nations, ich as the Assyrians, whose trade was war and conquest — the suit after all was not whoUj evil. If they conquered their beaker neighbours, they also taught them their arts and virtues, nd imparted their civilization. Plutarch successfully shows hat the conquering march of Alexander over the east was a eal benefit. It bore the arts, ideas and civilization of polished Jreece into the sluggish and barbarous nations of Asia. It fitroduced the sacredness of marriage among them ; built leventy cities ; established humane laws and united hostile lations under one government. So also, when the crusaders lung themselves on Asia in fierce conflict, they returned embued, jo some extent, with the learning and science of the east, which Iroved the germs of our modern civilization. The wars which Dllowed the French Revolution act3d as an electric shock all the world ; broke the slumber of ages, and gave an impulse thought which will be felt for centuries. In point of fact, lierefore, wax may be fairly ranked among the agents of civili- ition. It is a rude instrument ; but so is the thunder-storm liat purifies the atmosphere. Still, war is an evidence of bar- larism ; and civilization is its foe. Whatever evokes mind lenders brute-force unnecessary. Imposing as are the armies Ind fleets of the world, an idea created them and an idea can pnmake them. Let men's ideas be changed, and the cannon ' become street-posts. The religion of love will one day bring it the age whea " the nations shall learn war no more." rk 4S Throughout the Old Testament, frequent references occur t« prophetical i the horsemen and chariots of the Assyrians. From the ternu from actual ( m which the sacred writers speak of these, we learn, if theii ard to their reprepentations be correct, that the Assyrians supported ama<'. lifted up hot nificent cavalry force, and also employed war-chariots ven accordance ^ largely. Indeed Assyria is spoken of as remarkable for it! with the bm beautiful breed of horses, just as Arabia now is ; and to the The rider is Jews their cavalry was an object of the greatest terror. Having later period, httle or no force of this kind themselves, the sight of the As' i»re unkno- Syrian horsemen would impress the Hebrews the more ; and tb« consider the Assyrians, on the other hand, despised them and held them ic horseback, ii opnternpt from this very deficiency. We learn this from the The Assyria, bitter taunt otRabshakeh, when his master Sennacherib seni horseman wh him to demand submission of Hezekiah :-" Now therefore give guided his st pledges I pray thee to my master, the King of Assyria, and] Jrohers, in tl will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able, on thy part against the t to put riders upon them.'' ^ That the Jews considered tK Xerwlds'v .ayrians remarkable for their cavalry, we also learn from Hosei regarded, ev( will not ride upon horses." The prophet Habbakkuk is stil "Anditshal Boore emphatic, bpeaking of the Chaldeans he says (I Ch. 8 v. for the fly th "their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and more fierci ind for the I than the evening wolves ; and their horsemen shall spread them of E.'Tpt and rarrL.T' V''"" ffl£"i«»ja» % as the eagle thai mecH mtl hasteth to eat; The prophet Ezekiel, who from his residcnc, wn^ency of r2?JrX fiTvTfT' (r."'"' ^'^^ *^'*f appearance, speak, hem ; Jbee and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen ridin. he bee was n TLaT ^^^'*^««' >« the picture drawn in the Bibli J.'ceo?sh of the Assyrians. Let us see whether their own portraitures in arrow to tl m the Nineveh sculptures, confirm or contradict the scriptura Th« chario wprosentat.on. Nothing strikes us more, in examining .hlach was cap sculptures, than the great number of mounted cavalry thS aplde were fa pear to compose their armies. So numerous are they thatCooked bow! judging from these alone, we should come to the conclusion tha|^ppin.^8 of t their mam dependence was upon this branch of the serviceF JMot onlj so, but in the juJ.^oient of Layard «' the horse of the sculptures is well formed and apparently of noble blood." Hi declares that no one could look at the horses of the early As Syrians without being convinced that they are drawn from th finest models. The head is small and woU shaped-the nostrilAhariots." Th 11 the detail: 'hile embroid f the horses i il." Thep rhen ho says 48 bpenccB occur t prophetical representations, proving them to have been drawn '■'"" '""" ffo«n actual obaeivation, and to be true to the very letter. Ir. re- gard to their armour, Nahum (III Ch. 3 v.) savs, " the horsemea afted up both the bright sword and the glittering spear." In accordance with this the sculptures represent them armed either with the sword and bow, or with the sword and long spear. The rider is seated on the naked back of the animal ; but at a later period, a kind of pad appears to have been used. Stirrups i»re unknown till comparatively modern times. Wo would TJ''u ?."•?' T''?®' '^'® ^""^ '^ ^^'3^ awkward weapon for a warrior on I this from thi From the ternu ve learn, if the upported a mag ar-chariots ven mark able for itj is ; and to tht .error. Havin ight of the As- horseback, in as much as it required the use of both bis hands. The Assyrians, we find, obviated the difficulty by having a second ennacherib seni horseman who, in battle, rode by the side of the archer and V therefore gm gmded his steed. There is one curious sculpture representing Assyria, and I archers, in their flight on horseback, shooting arrows backward •J^^'^iZ^'l" against the pursuing enemy; as we find the Parthians, lon^ isirtered the Aj afterwards, were accustomed to do, and were, on this accouni irn tromHosej regarded, even by the Romans, as formidable foes. Peihaps )t save us ; w (his may serve to throw a little light on Isaiah, 7th Ch. 18 v •bakkuk is stil '« And it shall como to pass, in that day, that the Lord shall hiss iyay Oh. S v.] for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of E^vrt • and more fierce ind for the bee that is in the land of Assyria." The armiei all spread them, of Egypt and Aflnria are here compared to swarms of thes© the eagle thai nsects, wif' .eference to their immense numbers and the a his residcnci wngency of their stings. To " hiss" for them is to call for earance, speak hem ; aa bee-keepers in the east are accustomed to sumraoa a blue, captain hem from their hives by the sound of a whistle. It is probable wsemen ridim he beo was made the emblem of Assyria in reference to this wn m the Jiibli waotice of shooting their arrows backward— the resemblance of rn portraitures m arrow to the sting of a bee, in such case, being obvious. ; the scnpturaB The chariots of the Assyrians were constructed of wood ; and examining hspach was capable of containing two or three persons. « To each lide were fastened two quivers contaiuing arrows, a small JTooked bow, a javelin and a battle-axe." " The harness and irappings of the chariot horses were extremely rich and elegant. Ml the details of the harness were elaborately ornamented ; tile embroidered cloths were frequently thrown over the backa r *i. 1 * ■ *^® ^°'*'®* *"*^ *'°*°^' covered the body from the ears to the f the early A#a.l." The prophet Ezekiel refers to these (27th Ch. 20th v.) irawn from tli#rhen he says " Dedan was thy merchant in precious clothes for a— the nostrilfjhariots." These representations, then, are exceedinelv valuable, S aou She leg«s enabling us to form some adequate conceptions "of the As- omneAt oa tb#ynaQ forces which inyaded Israel and Judah; and to which wo avalry that ap are they that, conclusion thai >f the service, xe horse of th 9 Wood." H 44 find such frequent references in the pages of the Old Testament. Every fresh discovery shows how rigidly correct were all these references. We find, in the prophetical books, several references to the Assyrian mode of conducting the siege of a fortress or city. One of the most minute of these references occurs in Isaiah 87th Ch. 33rd v. The threats of Sennacherib had alarmed Hezekiah ; and in order to allay his fears the prophet is sent to him with this message : " Thus saith the Lord, he shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it.'* A similar descrip- tion occurs in Ezekiel 4th Ch. 2nd v, " Lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it ; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about." These passages are descriptive of the Assyrian method of laying siege to a city ; and though we had all some general conception of their meaning before, yet they acquire an addi- tional interest after we examine the Nineveh sculptures, and find pictorial representations of these operations, according exactly with the accounts of the Bible. It is very wonderful to find the walls of Sennacherib's palace furnishing, in our day, illustrations of the jprophet's words, in reference to his intended siege of Jerusalem. In ancient times, all fortresses were placed either on natural or artificial eminences. The first step, there- fore, in attacking a fortified place, was to construct an inclined plane, formed of earth, stones and trees, reaching to the summit of the eminence on which it stood. The besiegers were then able to drag their ponderous battering-rams and other military engines, up this inclined way, to the foot of the walls ; and also to escalade the walls. The Nineveh marbles represent . this process ; and show us the besiegers pushing their engines up the artificially constructed bank. It is to this operation Isaiah refers, when he speaks of " casting a bank against the city"— or Ezekiel has it, <' casting a mount ;" — constructing a causeway to reach the foot of the walls. The battering-rams were mount- ed on either four or six wheels ; and, in some cases, were joined to moveable towers which held armed men, and rose to a level with the turrets of the besieged city. In other cases these towers were unconnected with the battering-rams, and were built of wood — being either moveable or stationary. From their summits archers discharged their arrows against the besieged. To this the prophet alludes when he speaks of " building a fort against the city," Two warriors are usually seen ocgupying| the artificial i shield for th illustration oj not shoot an These archer show themsel tection the i fired the gat( seated again seen falling on the walls outside the w besieged. There are prophetical pi Jews, when, 1 lonians, they scriptural ace nation was, t( own land. '1 but it is not c extent of thei pensive to ke( subdue them such a distani weaken it, so by carrying o and men of in poorer classes ality of the ] leaders or m remiiiin in qu strengthened most distingui well as the sli the repeated ' Testament, not kept prise kind of free c the land to wl turn to their f did not find tl attached to tfa lid Testament, ivere all these srences to the tress or city, irs in Isaiah had alarmed het is sent to he shall not come before milar descrip- 3ge against it, ist it ; set the unst it round Syrian method some general [uire an addi- ulptures, and aa, according wonderful to in our day, > his intended s were placed t step, there- t an inclined to the summit rs were then >ther military ills ; and also epresent . this ngines up the Isaiah refers, city"— or as I a causeway i were mount- , were joined ose to a lerel cases these s, and were From their ;he besieged, uilding a foit u occupying 46 the artificial tower ; one shoots his arrows, the other holds up a shield for the protection of his companion. How exact the illustration of the prophet's words we obtain hence ! " he shall not shoot an arrov there, nor come before it with shields." These archers kept harassing such of the enemy as ventured to show themselves on the walls and towers ; and under this pro- tection the storming party advanced and scaled the walls or fired the gates. All the incidents of such a siege are repre- sented again and again in the sculptures. Warriors are seen falling from the towers or lying dead ; women appear on the walls tearing their hair and imploring mercy; while outside the walls prisoners are impaled to strike terror into the besieged. There are frequent references throughout the historical and prophetical parts of the Old Testament to the condition of the Jews, when, having been subdued by the Assyrians or Baby- lonians, they were led away captive. We learn from the scriptural account, that the constant policy of this conquering nation was, to remove the people whom they overcame to their own land. This appears to us a singular mode of procedure ; but it is not diflBcuIt to account for it. Owing to the immense extent of their empire, they found it very troublesome and ex- pensive to keep the more distant provinces in subjection, or to subdue them when they revolted. Hence, when they subdued such a distant country as Judea, their obvious policy was to weaken it, so as to render revolt impossible. This they effected by carrying off the flower of the population— the nobility, priests and men of influence and station — to Assyria, leaving only the poorer classes to till the soil. They thus destroyed the nation- ality of the people. The poor who remained, being without leaders or men of influence to direct them, would be likely to remain in quiet subjection. Still farther— the same process strengthened themselves, by drawing to their seat of power the most distinguished statesmen, generals, warriors and priests, as well as the skilled artisans of the conquered nations. Hence the repeated " carryings away," of which we read in the Old Testament.^ Those who were thus led away into captivity were not kept prisoners, or even held as slaves ; but were rather a kind of free colonists, permitted to pursue their occupations in the land to which they were brought, though forbidden to re- turn to their fatherland. In such circumstances the Jews often did not find their condition unpleasant ; and after a time became attached to the land of their captivity. We have a proof of 46 this in the fact that when, by the decree of Cyrus, they were permitted to return, there was a general indisposition ta leave, and the most influential part of the nation preferred to remair. Still, to the generation who had been removed from the land of their fathers, even such captivity must have been bitter. Those born iu captivity would feel it less irksome ; but the poor captive who remembered Zion, would mourn sadly when he thought that for him there was no return. We all know Low strong is the love of fatherland in the human breast. " Breathes there a man with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land !" And how often does it happen, after years of exile, that a passionate longing will sieze upon the wanderer to look once more upon the loved land of his birth ; and among the scenes of Lis boyhood he will grow young again, and feel comforted by the thought that he will sleep with his fathers. In the breast . the Jew, especially, this feeling burned intensely. His was " land of promise" — the birth-place of the coming Messiah — tucj^ spot where their " holy and beautiful house" stood — its veryi m dust was sacred. To be torn from it was misery indeed. To them the prophet's words had a peculiarly mournful meaning :— " Weep not for the dead, neither mourn for him ; but weep sore for him that goeth away ; for he shall leturn no more, nor see Lis native country." The Nineveh sculptures furnish most touching illustrations of all this ; and are, at the same time, most strikingly confirmatory of the scriptural representations. Whatever may have been the condition of the captives, when finally settled iu the land of their conquerors, their march thither, driven by brutal soldiers- young and old — women and children — under a burning eastern sun, must have been dreadful in the extreme. Layard describes, in his recent work, a series of sculptures representing the cap- tives on the march, which forcibly realizes all this. " The captives, bearing skins, probably containing water and flour to nourish them during a long and harassing march, were fettered in pairs and urged on by their guards. The women were parUy on foot, and partly with their children on mules, or in carts drawn by oxen. Mothers were represented holding the wate^ skins for their young ones to quench their thirst ; whilst in some instances fathers had placed their weary children on their shoulders, for they were marching during the heat of a Meaopota- mia r 48 pre-eminent for cold-blooded cruelty. How accurately all this corresponds with Jeremiah's picture of them— Chap. 6, 23 v. :— " They shall lay bold on bow and spear ; they are cruel and\ have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea ; and they ridel upon horses ; set in array, as men of war, against thee daughter of Zion.'* ASSYRIAN C Nothing ii I progress, thj I the close of the Assyrian away with si J Nineveh. I I when, amon^ enemy, is re, cruelty is c( been born in those who ar [to fancy tha preceding ag able. Woul Imperial Rot butchered m Would any ( crusades wer during the ^ I persecution, branded and science ? H I and social coi veniences th ' apostolic or e Did not the ( Bible printed British piety millions of th age, let us pc what is the c: for thou dost CHAPTER VII. [ASSYRIAN COSTUMES, DECORATIONS, ARCHITECTURE, &c. LUSTRATIVE OF SCRIPTURE. AS IL Nothing is more calculated to give us a vivid idea of human progress, than an examination of the sculptures referred to in I the close of last chapter, representing the cruelties practised by the Assyrians. These savage barbarities, from which we turn away with shivering horror, were matters of national glory in Nineveh. How greatly our race has advanced in moral feeling, when, among all civilized nations, cruelty, in any form, to an enemy, is regarded as a mark of barbarism, and cold-blooded cruelty is considered infamous! Who would prefer to have been born in the age of Nineveh, rather than the present ? Let those who are inclined to think badly of the present time, and to fancy that the human race are degenerating, fix on any preceding age in which existence would have been more desir- able. Would any of us like to have been an inhabitant of Imperial Rome, where, such was the taste for blood, that man butchered man, as a means of affording popular amusement ? Would any of us choose to have been alive when the mad crusades were deluging the earth with blood ? or to have lived during the wars of The Roses in England ? or in the days of persecution, when ears were cut off and noses slit, and flesh branded and burned for holding an opinion sanctioned by con- science ? Had any preceding age a tithe of our advantages and social comforts ? The peasant of to-day has more con- veniences than the monarch of a former day. Patriarchal, apostolic or mediaeval times were all poor compared with ours. Did not the Crystal Palace, among other wonders, contain the Bible printed in 148 different languages— a noble monument of British piety,— making the glad tidings intelligible to many millions of the human family. Before we despise the present age, let us ponder the caution of Solomon : — " Say not thou what is the cause that the former days were better than these ? for thou dost inquire wisely concerning this." 60 Still JO have no right to look contemptuously on the past, orl tojgard all who have lived before ug as barbarous savages or' tTinT"; •. .u' ?*^' endeavour to understand tlie pa^, and I ''^''^Jl'^^l^^^ tolerant, genial and sympathising^egard ' All that God has permitted to exist in former days is the pos session of the present ; and is sacred as .yarning or example-a^ something to be shunned, or admired and imitated. If it haS , erved no other purpose, at least it has laid a foundation ou earntrl '' ^'f'l ^°'^ ^""''^ ^^' ^^^" ^^^^- ^0 thoughtful, SoulhtTtTf«r^^ ^'V T ''''''^ *^^ P^^*- Human land I vrought at Its construction-human jojs beautified it-a brother's n!?J'^ f^l''''^''^^^^'^^'^"'^^'^*^' «°d a bu-ther's tears' oJnZ ''-.^^ f'-'A. ^''^ ^' ^*' t^^'-^for^' kindly and inf ^ TT-r^^ ^ charitable eye towards its failings and sins : but not Avith bitter contempt or shallow self-conceited scorn. Tha toi P''^' k'" "^^^^ mouldering remains you gaze, has en- tombed your benefactors who suffered and wrought for you- though you know not even their names. Every spot of it is therefore hallowed ground. Earth's great ones have laid them S"'X':v,^ *^"l^°"S ^leepLtreadligntl^uponSr ashes ! T t while we look reverentiaHy and kindly on the past let us not cherish a mere blind, superstitious venLtion! s^o as llln^ m-^ '"'^j''*^? *^^*' '' '' ^' t« undervalue the present. ^ While we guard against the destructive spirit, let us over cherish the progressive spirit. Whatever the pa t mav ^rJcZh *^' ^T't ^?.^ ^^'"^^^^"S greater to be de^velopTd ; for as Galileo said of old « the worid moves"-the tide of " Eve I But! Forei Faire " In th Lies But e Deity « Lifo t DeatL Best t Peace " Not enjoyment and not sorrow Is our destined end or way ; But to act that each to-morrow Finds us farther than to-day. " Ti'ust no future, howe'er pleasant !— Let the dead past bury its dead !— Act— act in the living present ! Heart within and God o'er-head !" When wo ^ oe, almost all. e are incline hee:.-ng and ieemed to be •treaks of ligl ^lity, goodness murky blackn men seem to 1 ;hat emblem r ienting an eml 'lie, as vanqui md lovely, the his may have trothers ! Wl Qidnight hour- lope in a brigl rould shine c iromise — perh fbich cheered >ut enmity bet ■nd her seed ; i eel." To our ay may never entation of th< on the past, or "ous savages or d the past, and hising regard. 73 is the pos- r example — a? Jd. If it has foundation ou ^0 thoughtful, Eluman hands it— a brother's wether's tears , kindly and 1 and sins ; but scorn. That gaze, has en- ht for you — spot of it is ive laid them- tly upon their yon the past, eration, so as dervalue the spirit, let us le past may 3 developed ; -the tide of ige is before f greatness ; ward. The but godlike 61 " Evermore the worlds are fading, Evermore the worlds will bloom, To refute our weak up-braiding, To throw brightness on the gloom. " Ever the imperfect passes But the perfect ever grows, Forests sink to drear morasses Fairer landscapes to disclose. " In the infinite creation Lies no dead unmeaning fact • But eternal revelation — Deity iu endless act. " Life that works and pauses never, Death that passes into life, Eest that follows motion ever, Peace that ever follows strife." When wo gaze on these Assyrian monuments, and see them to be, almost all, records of violence, tyranny, cruelty and 1^01 weareinclmed to turn away in shudderhg horror But it is >hee:.ngand hopeful to find, even in thesi dark a4 hat .erned to be " of night;s black arch the keystone,'' some 1 ttL ;t eaks of hght-some tints of a coming dawn-soie touch s of .ifcy, goodness and faith, shining cheerily in the midst of the murky blackness. Is it not wonderful to find, at a time Uen ^ n seem to have been given over to wickedness or bruTe-force ha emblem raised of which we have already spoken, reprei entmg an embodiment of the principle of evil, all hideous and 'lie, as vanquished and driven out by another' beL b aut^ul ind lovely, the embodiment of intelligence and goodne s ? IIow his may have spoken to the faith and hope of our Assyrian brothers! What a gleam of light-like a solitary tar afSe iidmght hour--.it may have shed upon their path ! It indicated iopem a brighter and purer future, when love and goodness uld shine out triumphant. It was a sort of s^cr p?uro ■omise--perhap3 the Assyrian rendering of that very pS o hich cheered God's saints from the days of Adam -iS^ 11 »a enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed , d her seed ; it shal bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruL 1 ^ eel. To ourselves it is still full of meaning ; and we tru^t the entatioK of the wmged and radiant angel overthrowing and O ml driving out the brute-fiend, Yrithout a glojv of faith in the perpe tual supremacy and final triumph of good over evil — now that the " seed of the woman" — the Great Deliverer has come And then, too, consider these winged human-headed bulls — emblems of intellectual and physical power — with their grave, majestic countenances, indicating no mean apprehension ot mental force and moral beauty. Do they not intimate a per- ception of the omnipotence cf mind over matter, and of the value of strength when guided by thought. Is not the steam-engine, in our own day, an embodiment of the same idea — might guided by mird — destined to subdue the world before it ? These ancient men had glimpses of the profoundest moral truths ; and felt that to them too w; s put the question, " wilt thou take part with the powers of darkness or of light — wilt thou side with the evil or with the good ?" Let us not despise them. One would like to know what was the personal appearance of these Assyrians, and in what kind of dress they trod the eartli, All this we can learn from the sculptures. We see them hert in the'" war-dresses, court-dresses and working-dresses, and at their banquets, pledging one another in the wine-cups. A pro' cession of musicians, in full costume, marches out to greet the conquerors ; just as wo read of the women of Israel going out " with singing and dancing, and instruments of music, to mee David and Saul returning from the slaughter of the Phihstines.' AVe find on the bas-reliefs representations of the harp with teii' strings (probably a kind of dulcimer) — of the tabor and pipe so often referred to in scripture as being used on such occasions The women appear singing and clapping their hands to the measure. Some of them wear their hair in long ringlets — sonic plaited or braided — and others have it confined in a net. Little do our modern ladies, who dress their hair after the same fashions, imagine what old customs they are following. Tht prophet Isaiah speaks of " caps of net-work," among the articlei of dress .of the Jewish women. Most probably, in these mac ters, Assyria set the fashions, as Paris and London now do ; the Jews imitated their more refined and aristocratic neighbours and thus the thing has floated down to us. Human nature i the same to-day as three thousand years since. In the 23rd Chapter of Ezekiel's prophecies we have a num- ber of very minute and striking allusions to the dress an ornaments of the Assyrians. In the 12th verse they are thus described : — " She doted on the Assyrians, her neighbours captains and rulers clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, l-^th verse ii exceeding ir to look upo appearance '• princes to jiressive in i The Nineve! descriptions. are evidentlj born for dom sides, the pro and wore " ( and ooatlines; There is a pi la nothing to or suggesting graceful and Their dresses vantage at th concerned. speaks of ** d Chaldeans po: very striking closed by reci vails of the A and thus pres variously col colours red, b sculptures, an most part, efii Syrian red wai proaches verr " men portray speaks of theii remarkable tl coverings. T accustomed to however, repr( of their highly sculptures con and rioMyom ti in the perpe 3vil — now tluu er has come, leaded bulls— h their grave, ^prehension of ;imate a per- id of the value steam-engine, -might guided e it ? These al truths ; ami thou take part 1 side with the 3. appearance of rod the eartli. 3ee them heit resses, and at cups. A pro- lit to greet the rael going out nusic, to meet e Philistines." harp with ten- ibor and pipe, iuch occasions hands to the •ingiets — some a net. Littli 'ter the same Uowing. Tl ing the article! in these mac Q now do ; the Q neighbours man nature \i 3 have a num he dress and ;hey are thu: 3r neighbours. [•SQmen ridin; 5ft upon horses ~-n11 of them desirable young men'».-And in the ].th verso ,t,a added-" girdled with girdles upon their loins, exceeding m dyed attire upon their heads-all of them princes to look upon " Tins prophet was familiar with the personal appearance of the Assyrians, and represents them here as '• princes to look upon," « desirable young men ;"— that is im- j^n-ess^e in aspect and drportmeiit, and handsome in person, lie Nineveh sculptures correspond exactly to the prophet's descriptions. 1 he men we find portrayed along the palace walls are evidently a warlike race, possessed of great physical strength, born for dominion ; and having a noble and striking mein. Be- sides, the prophet tells us they were " clothed most gorgeously," and wore " dyed attire." Nothing could exceed the splendoir and costliness of the garments represented in the sculptures. Ihere IS a profusion of ornament on their dresses, and yet there 19 nothing to offend the most refined taste-nothing out of place or suggesting the idea of tawdriness. Their robes are at once gracetul and favourable to the freest movements of the body J heir dresses, weapons and utensils might be studied with ad- vantage at the present day as models, so far as ornamentation is concerned. In the 14th verse of the same chapter the prophet speaks of men portrayed upon the walls— the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion." This passage receives a very striking confirmation and illustration from the fact dis- closed by recent discoveries, that these sculptures round the walls of the Assyrian palaces were not left, as ours, uncoloured. and thus presenting a dull gray tint, but were gorgeously and variously coloured, in order to heighten their effect. The colours red, blue and black are traceable on many parts of the sculptures, and even on the bricks ; but time or fire has, for the most part, effaced the colours. Layard tells us that the As- syrian red was very brilliant; and in one of the palaces ap- proaches vermilion. How accurate the prophet's account-- '•men portrayed upon the wall with vermilion!" He farther speaks of their having " dyed attire upon their heads." It is remarkable that almost all eastern nations wore no head- coverings. The Jews, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans were accustomed to go bare-headed for the most part. The Bible however represents the Assyrians as an exception, and speaks of their highly ornamented head-dresses. The figures in the sculptures correspond to this precisely, having very beautiful and rioMy •ornamented coverings on the head. w C 64 A very interesting chapter in Layarrl's recent ;vork is devoteii to a description of bronze objects found in ono clianiber. - 'J'hr'so consist of caldrons, bowla, bells, j in^g, cups and dishes ; beside. soma iron mstrumcnts, ivory remains and buttcnp, in mother of pearl, scattered among them. Tlie bionzo bells have iron tongues and were probably atcached to the necks of the horses— /echanah, 14tU Ch. 20th v. speaks of the " bells of the horses," and the sculf)tures represpht them as fastened to the collars of the horses, for the purpose, doubtless, of warning the passon^ cubits long— 20 cubits broad, and 30 cubits high. The Jew cubit was a foot and a half; so that the temple was 90 feet long— 30 feet broad and 45 feet high. The dimensions [were thus very much smaller than an Assyrian temple-palace. Solomon's own palace, however, was considerably larger, and approached more nearly, in its proportions, to those of the Kin^s of Nineveh ; for it was 100 cubits long— 50 broad and 30 high. The chambers of the Jewish temple wore exceedingly smal^— the largest being but 10^ feet in breadth. Tho greater number of the chambers in the Assyrian palaces arc also very narrow compared witli their bngth, in order that tho beams may bo supported without tho use of pillars. It is probable that tho same cause produced tho same arrangement in Solomon's temple— J illars for supporting the beams not having come into use. In the second chapter wo mentioned that various chambers were grouped around a large central hall, with which they communicated. Such too appears to have been the plan ibl- |lo\yed in Solomon's Temple— the smaller rooms arc described as built round a large central chamber called " the oracle," which was 20 cubits square— smaller far than the Nineveh halls. IWithin this oracle wo are told were two ch.crubim of olive wood, ten cubits high, with wings, onoh five cubits long. The less Biblical commentators tell us that the cherubim were ccrfain symbolical figures, uniting the human head with the body of m 66 ox or lion and tho wings of an eaglo. " Their wings" it is added, ' tonched ono another in the midst of the house." So, in like manner, in the Assyrian balls stood tho winged, Imman-headed bulls, with wings meeting in the centre. Their dimensions too were nearly alike— 10 cubits being 15 feet. The doors too yiv are farlher told were carved with cherubim and palm-trees and open flowers— corresponding with thoao of the Assyrian palaces Ihere was this important difference, however,— no visible object of worship— nothing to be bowed down to or adored, was per- mitted in tho temple of Jehovah, who amid Sinai's awful thunders said « thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image." Josephus, describing one of Solomon's palaces sayB— ' Solomon built some of these houses with stones of 10 cubits— and wainscotted the walls with other stones that were sawe^. Ihe arrangement of the curious workmanship of these stones was m three rows ; but the fourth was pre-eminent for the beautv of its sculpture, for on it were represented trees and all sorts of plants. ' Such, precisely, we have seen, was the mode pursued in building the Nineveh palaces. Moreover, Solomon's temple was seven years in building ; and from the inscriptions it appears bennachenb's was about the same time in building his great palace. The ceiling roof and beams of the temple were of cedar from Lebanon. Layard dug up fragments of the same precious wood ; and some of the inscriptions declare that the King em- ployed men to cut wood in mount Lebanon ; so that Solomon and Sennacherib got their wood-materials in the same spot. One more coincidence may be mentioned ;— in Solomon's temple was a brazen sea supported by twelve oxen. Layard found two bronze caldrons, each six feet in diameter and two feet in depth, which, he says, reminded him of Solomon's brazen sea ; and in the s'julptures he found represented large metal cauldrons sup- ported on brazen oxen. So close are the resemblances already discovered; and doubtless fresh coincidences will be daily coming to light, *' The discoveries at Nineveh that have any important bearing on the illustration or corroboration of scripture, have now been brieay passed in review. It would be difficult to over-estimate their value as casting additional and clearer light upon the sacred page, and as affording corroborative testimony, of the most unexceptionable and convincing character, to the truth of revelation; and thus adding a fresh buttress to the bulwarks of our faith, and leaving the gainsayer still more palpably « with- out excuse." Should we not lift our hearts in devout gratitude to Hod, in ^v licon prcscn explored, an in its infancj may justly c labours of th; tlio purpose pcndix No. ] Who can ] remains ? 1 length raised of two nation burial. Dou England and as a portion c are in safer h art has mult! Crystal Palac have describe civilized work though accido and French si I Perizzites, — tl over-run Eurc the printing-pi ' entombed. T tory, and arc study of unbor 57 to Go,], in U1.0.C wondcr-^vorldng rroviacncc these n mains havo boon proscrvca an.l brought to light ! Tiiough hut iun.orfcctly oxporcc , an.l though the interpretation of tho inscriptions is y/t m Its infancy, wo have soon how valuable aro the results \Vo may justly expect far more important discoveries soon from tho labours of that noblo society, organised and now in operation, for cndk^NTn' "^ *^" I^iosopotamian ruins. (Sec Ap- Who can predict vyhat may be the ultimate destiny of thcso remains ?_ Entombed for twenty four centuries, thoy aro at length raised, borne across the ocean and become the possession two nations hat ho-^ no existence till centuries after thci? burial. DouMess Uioy a> . in safe keeping at present-that of England and Fra' oe ; and - m bo preserved by them faithfullv i l^P°'^r °^ *^ r . 03t pre.ious public possessions. But they I If J" safer hands s.'if. Li* ;ature has taken charge of them- art has multiplied p;; e^ and fac-similies of them-the New Crystal Pa aco has its « Assyrian Court"-and eloquent vZ have described them. The/ are now the posse sion of ^ho cmhzed world-embodied in its literature and history and though accident may destroy the originals-though the Enclish and l^rench should disappear as completely as the Jebusites and Perizzites -though a tide of northern barbarians should again over-run Europe and extinguish its civilization, yet, thanks to the printing-press, Nineveh can never again be forcotten or entombed The discoveries now form a chapter in human his- S;!f r *^' PT''^°" '^ *^« "^ace-a subject for tho study of unborn generations. •' The folio- ' since the prt ! our expectat I plains, and I " I hasten to Babylonian hif illustration. "Mr.J.Ta: the British mui tendance, has 1 Um-Geer, (the capital of Sook have already ri the works exec Chaldaea. The orisinally built and further no I Kebuchadnezzi is, that the e!de was admitted I undoubtedly th the explanatioi solution. We < father, may ha\ by the combine in the assault relief of the pl« bouring town o resistance, and I J curable retirem of Bel'shar-ezai first time, enab Herodotus and '. or the fables of one of the bulwi " In conclusio actively pursued APPENDIX. No. I. The following letter, which has appeared in the public prints j since the preceding pages were written, will show how just are our expectations of important discoveries in the Mesopotamian I plains, and how rapidly they are likely to be realized :— «' I hasten to <56inmumoat« a discovery whicu I have recently made in ilisfrS" and which 18 of the utmost importance for Scriptural it "¥':'{l ^^y'o'' ^^° ^as >een employed during the wmter in conducting he British museum excavations in Southern Chaldaa under my superin- tendence, has lately disinterred a number of clay cylinders, in the ruins of SlS'^f%^'l^ ''""r* R' "^•'l.* SH^^*"' «»^ "«>»' the modern Arab capital of Sook-ess-Shookh on the Euphrates.) Two of there cylinders have already reached me, and I have found them to contain a memorial ot the works executed by Nabonidus (the last king of Babylon), in Southern thaldasa. Thev describe among other things the restoration of temples, originally built by the Chaldean monarehs, at least 1000 years previously and further notice the re-opening of canals dug by Nabopolassar and Nebuchadnezzar. The most important fact, however, which they disclose, IS, that the eldest son of Nabonidus was named Bel-shar-ezar, and that he was admitted by his father to a share in the government. This name is undoubtedly the Belshazzar of Daniel, and thus furnishes us with a key lo the explanation of the great historical problem which hitherto defied solution. We can now understand how Belshazzar, as joint king with his father, may have been governor of Babylon, when the city was attacked by the combined forces of the Medes and Persians, and may have perished '"r r /I""". '*"*''* followed; while Nabonidus, leading a force to the relief of the place, was defeated, and obliged to take refuge in the neigh- touring town of Borsippa (or Birs-i-Nimrud)j capitulating, alter a short resistance, and being subsequently assigned, according to Berosus, an hon- curable retirement in Carmania. By the discovery, indeed, of the name of Bel-shar-ezar, as appertaining to the son of Nabonidus, we are, for the first time, enabled to reconcile authentic history (such as it is related by Herodotus and Berosus, and not as we find it in the romance of Xenophon or the tables of Ctesias), witli the inspired record of Daniel, which forms one of the bulwarks of our religion. •' In conclusion,! have only to state that, as excavations are being now actively pursued m Cbaldwa, upon both banks of the Euphrates, by Mr. m !f 11. Loftos, at Sonkerch and Warkg, on account of the Assyrian Fund Society and by Mr. Taylor, at Um-Qcer, Abu Shabrein, and Nawaweis, on aocouni ot the Untish Museum, there is every reason to expect (hat, duiiiig tho present season, materials will be collected that shall enable us to cfissify the kings of the Chaldaean dynasty, from b.c. 1976 to B.C. 1418, with as much certainty as has been attained in the classification of the Assyrian kmgs from b.o. 1273 to B.C. 625, and that we shall thus have an historical tableau of Western Asia ascending up to the twentieth century bc, or anterior to the Exodus of Abraham from Chaldaea, far more determinato and contmuous than has been obtained for the sister kingdom of Egypt from a compansoix )f the hieroglyphic records with tho thirty dynasties ot Manetho. I am only awaiting the result of the labours of Mr. Loftus and Mr. Taylor, to proceed to England with the fruits of the last two years' re- searches in Assyria and Babylonia, and 1 thus hope to arrive in London by the end cf April or beginning of May.— H. C. Bawunson." "Assyrian Researches and Discovebies— From an aceonnt of Assyrian researches and discoveries in the last annual report ot the Royal Asiatic Society, made by Colonel Rawlinson, we learn that the most recent, as well as the most important discovery, in an historical and geographical pointofview, is that of another obelisk, in the south-east corner of tho great mound of Nimrud, and erected by Shamasphul, the son of Shalambara, or Shalamchara, who raised the similar and well-known obelisk in the British Museum. The Colonel states that he has been down the river to Bassorah, whence he has shipped off several cases to the British Museum and Crystal Palace, by the Acbar steam-frigate, which was sent up from Bombay for that purpose. A further very curious discovery made by Colonel xvowlinson is, that the employment of the Babylonian cuneiform writing was continued down at least so low as the time of the Macedonian dominion in Asia, the commencement of the third century B.C." Ko. II. In the opinion of Layard a more direct and speedy route to India will soon bo found indispensable ; and he considers that it must be sought by the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates, where railways and steam navigatio:! can be advantageously combined. A glance at the map shows that a line through the Mediterranean to a port of Syria— on through Mesopotamia to the Persian Gulf and across the Indian Ocean to Bombay, marks the most direct route that can be desired. Thus it is not impossible that the Mesopotamian plains may again become the medium of com- munication between the east and the west; and commerce return once more, to its old highways. » The thing that hath been, it 13 that which shall be ; and that which is done is that which shall Ic done : and there is no new thing under the sun." These barreii was the weit m like the ros Th( Wh Coi Of Of Ble Ov( The folio his recent ^ written, he reply to sc remains of s of the law. « My lilt « The thing Eassed all my ave I inquire person loads c ship, that is n( of this city, Gi infidels may h unprofitable fi " Oh my sc thee not. Th "Of a truth for tho speake thy people tho happy and cor never desire h course betweei ings ? God I'c Listen Oh n lie created the penetrate into slar spinneth i Cometh in so n guidi' and dire "But thou ) than thou art, in this iTspcct III. an Fund Society, aweis, on accounl; I; that, (iuiiiig tlio able U3 to ej^ssily 3.C. 1418, with as ti of the Assyrian bave an hiatorical 1 century u.c, or noTQ determinato ingdom of Egypt hirty dynasties of f Mr. Loftus and ist two years' re- irrive in London »f [NSON. sni an aeconnt of tort ot the Royal t the most recent, and qeograpbical t corner of the n of iSbalambara, 'n obelisk in the !Own the river to British Museum IS sent up from overy made by juian cuneiform the Macedonian B.C." cedy route to nsidcrs tbat it hrates, where sly combined, 'leditenanean Persian Gulf, le most direct 3ible that the dium of com- merce return, hath been, it at which shall iun." These ban-en wastes may bloom again. The christian enterprize of the we»t may make the er,stern desert " rejoice and blossom like the rose." « I think I hear The sound of that advancing multitude Which soon shall fill these deserts. From the ground Comes up the laugh of children, the soft voice Of maidens, and the sweet and solemn hymn Of Sabbath-worshippers. The low of herds Blends with the rustling of the heavy grain Over tha dark-brown furrows." No. HI. The following letter, which Layard introduces at the close of his recent volume, is interesting for many reasons. It was written, he informs us, to a friend of his by a Turkish Cadi, in reply to so'^.e inqtiiries as to the commerce, population and remains of antiquity of an ancient city, in which dwelt the head of the law. « My Illustrious Friend and Joy of my Liver ! " The thing you ask of me is both difficult and useless. Although I bave passed all my days \r this place, I have neither counted the houses nor have I inquired into tne number of the inhabitants ; and as to what one person loads on his mules and the other stows away in the bottom of his ship, that is no business of mine. But above all, as to the previous 'jistory of this city, God oniy knows the amount of dirt and confusion that the infidels may have eaten before the coming of the sword of Islam. It we'*- - unprofitable for us to inquire into it. " Oh my soul 1 Oh my lamb ! seek not after the things which com rn thee not. Thou camest unto us and we welcomed thee : go in peace. " Of a truth thou hast spoken many words ; and there is no harm done, for the speaker is one and tiic listener is another. After the fashion of thy people thou hast wandered from one place to another, until thou art happy and content in none. We (praise bo to God) were born here and never desire to quit it. Is it possible then that the idea of a general inter- course between mankind should make any impression on our understand- ings ? God forbid ! Listen Oh my Son ! There is no wisdom equal unto the belief in God. He created the world, and shall we liken ourselves unto him in seeking to penetrate into the mysteries of his creation '? rhall we say, behold this star spinneth round that star, and thii other star with a tail goeth and Cometh in so many years ! Let it go ! lie from whose hand it came will guidi.' and direct it. " But thou wilt say unto me, stand aside Oh man for I am more learned than thou art, and h'.vc sei'ii more tliinjjs. if thon fl.iiikest that Xhon art in this rtspcct belter than 1 um thou art wekoiuc. 1 i»iaiio God that I r i I I IV. ^^K^^^ ^} ^^r^ ^ '«^»''« not Thou art learned in the things I care not for; and a: for that which thou hast seen, I defile it. Will much SSe e M?*"^'^ * ''®"^' °^ ^'^^ ^°^ '^^ Paradise with « Oh my friend I if thou wilt be happy, say there is no God but God ! iott? wST CO*" I °®**'***^ °"^ °®' ^^^ ' *" '"®'y ''""^ The me^ ia spirit (El Faeib) IMAUM ALI ZADE." t ?^? V® ®"^® ^* *^* ®P^*^®» «® *"^y oriental in spirit, and at the lofty, complacent scom mth which the writer looks down upon the strivings of us restless, unenjoying Europeans, with ?"J c**?°®!®^^ cravings after knowledge and toilings for wealth— defiling" the whole— let us also mark and admire the spirit of childlike piety that runs throughout— mingled though it be with Belf-satisfied ignorance ; and let us, too, ponder the closing words. The apathetic eastern spirit, that is more inclined to contemplate and enjoy than produce, is not to be commended ; and yet, in an age like this, of excessive and often phrenzied struggle and toil, that crush man's nobler faculties and mar his happiness, it were well if we could lay hold of a little oriental wisdom to temper our passion for accumulation. « The Gospel of leisure" wquires to be preached, no less than « the Gospel oftork." '^ Finis. the things I care I le it. Will mucli ek Paradise with ]0 God but God ! I ; for surely thine ) LI ZADE." 1 in spirit, and ber looks down aropeans, with 8 for wealth- re the spirit of ugh it be with r the closing t>re inclined to I commended ; ten phrenzied I and mar his little oriental " The Gospel " the Gospel I ^' I I BY THE S<\ME AUTHOR: THOUIillTS Oi\ THE FOETRY \m LITERATUReI OF THE BIBLE. T, McC>.^:vNAN, St. Jobn'3. N. F. 't^i! _ " TLese lectures are biglilj' lonourabJo to il^;ji) r.uthor. Full of literary cnthu- Biasm, they exhibit a hapDy :ippreciati«t of tlio chief ctiaracteristics of sacred I poety ; and iu the glow oi' symp.ithetic eloquence the lectures have themselves become poetical. They are calculated to send the reader to some portions of soripturo with fresh eyes, because with new expectations."— ^firZw/t Presbyterianl Metsenffer, ' " A very superior production . The writer is thoroughly in love with his subject ; I his style finely harmonizes wi'h it; and over the whole discussion he throws a richl glow of religious fervour, whici: s very refreshing and instructive. One naturally is led to put this little treatise alongside of a similar thing which lately came from the pen of Dr. Hamilton of London J and it is saying a good deal of Air. Harvey's tract when we give it as our opinioi that it can stand -such a comparison. As regards mere stylo we greatly preft-rit. \Vc commend this litUo treatise most heartily, hoping that it is only the iirst-fruits of much that is yet to come to us from the colonies,"— /Sco«!s/i Gnardian. ' " He must, indeed, be possessed of little emotion who can rise from the perusal of the pamphlet before us without a deeper reverence for the Bible, and a longing desire to become more conversant than ever with the precious truthi it unfokis to our view."— /fa^j/aa; Witness. ITERATIIRE 1 of literary enthu- teristics of sacred I I have themselves I some portions of I igliiti Presbyterianl e with his subject J >n he throws a rich I '8. One naturally I 1 lately came from I al of iMr. Harvey's I comparison. As I itlo treatise most! 3t to come to ml WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR. " Thoughte on the Poetry and literature of the Bible." PRICE NINE PENCE. th;'?zirXTaJs^^^^^^^^ chiiSrr-- /^^'V' "^"-^ -»•>---. the glowofsympatLtio eloauZfifhl iJ oharao'er.gtics of sacred poetry; and in are ealculated to .end ?h?Zder to some Zlnf 'r '^Tf^^'^ become ^etica'l. The? with new e.pectation8.''_£:S*AT;SXL4:7'"~ "'"^ '''''' 'y''' "««»"«« atyl^fin'SEtiriithr-an^d'^ «■•• -bjeet; hia religious fervour, which is veri refresh fn., I J^f discussion he throws a rich glow of this little troatisi alongside of ^Sa^thi^^^WhTV?' ^^^ ""t-^'lj » Iod^t» put m.lto„ of London; and it is saji"g rgUSeaTorM "naCvT/'"? '^^ P*° '^^'- "*" come^^e^conversant than ever ^-l^rr^^^^^^^^^ th:s:a?yTbu^J;a^^l^^;l%^^^^^^ '"»«* "-'^''*w° «p--- o^ t ons are now in course rbS ^upp kd ™ «^t/ ^ Ti'T T' T'**"* "«'«•"»' "to- fhc General A..cm6ly of the FrefcSLj^t^ ^ "" ^"^'""^ Comm.t'ce pre.enUd to IW^ treiS httun'l trrteefleerr i-^T '''"' " ^'''"'^- "r- critic and a scholar. Without ortl?! A-f^ '*^®^'* "** highest credir on him, as a duced th,-s pampWe . Bu^he brin« t^thSoid '^■^"^'i.'^ '^^. ^' ««"''' "«» b»ve?ro* cessary as ioholarshi^-a right aSation of th~ ff b'" j«bject whar is quite as re- ef the Bible. It is the sp^Snh^ thL/fV * •'*' 8.'*".<1«"'' the spiritual beauties and beauty to its poetry. The author r«S?,^! ^?' ^'T ^'P'^y ^ '*« »t«rature and life. /mA Presbyterian. ^ ' "^^"'' *'"' •""* '""''M his readers feel it too."- i^ 9 from the perusal )lc, and a longing [ ruthi it uafokis to " Tesfimoiiy of Mimeh to the Veracity of the Bible." PRICK ONE SHILLING AND THREE PENCE wJu^pStTt! '^£^fe?;,i;i?„^t:iim^tr:7'''''^'^'" ^" r "-' «-p'''° -^ so'f;i»,^5a^^^^^^ a pamphlet of and embellished ^th the jrodSteoflfin^^^^ detail of facts, but garnished style. We have Xn thought m we iJ^kJZ'r'^ imagination, and of a chaste, elegant stantial account of "very ."ab a^ hrerSvnh.V .^^''''♦k ^^P'""''^^ *o'k and itsoiro^- it would prove an immeio boon to the Jia'" '-^^^^^ '"'"'' *''** small compass those part, that ap^rtei^rredfrLt^rto^fe'lVfi'''''^^" have within a volume, or to the elucidation of some of ite Zrn tnllTi. confirmation of the sacred oomplished by Mr HarvaT in 1 w«!f »ii T '"*""»*« passages. This has been ac- tainments."_^"Jb" W?Jr ^ "''''' "*''•**''"' *" ^'' ^^'"^^^ ''^^ ^gh "terary at- * •? jiri