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a question deserving of the minutest investigation. For ourselves, we cannot but regard the similarity as of a most rare and truthful kind, while the sturdiest dissentient must at least acknowledge it as a most singular coincidence in the history of the human mind, when moved by the same impulse, although under different and modifying circumstances.

There are three things, however, which somewhat militate against the identity of the simple kipos and the cuneiform writing, although a common origin is almost certain, and all the difference may be but a higher and unexplained development in the Assyrian one. 1. The discovery of the phonetic properties of the latter character, which the orginal quipus-knots do not seem to have possessed. 2. Their use alone in commemorative tablets, as in one of the two marble columns Darius erected on the shores of the Bosphorus. 3. The perfect sense of Rawlinson's translations. Admitting, then, the primary importance of the writing, these bas-reliefs do not seem to have been used as necessary adjutors, but as mere artistical displays, as, in fact, we employ modern engravings. To the Assyrian, these monuments were what the scriptural paintings and illuminations on the church walls were to the people of the middle ages. The one incited earthly admiration; the other heavenly devotion; and both gave to the mind a broad idea of the past, in which whatever was dim assisted in the magnitude of the impression.

A word or two on a second form of Assyrian writing. Used on a smaller scale for private documents, and stamped upon bricks and cylindrical tiles, it was called cursive, from its running flow, and hieratic, from its exclusive use by the priests. Unlike the cuneiform, it was written from right to left, in this respect resembling the Arabic and Hebrew. It was written very minutely, and even Layard himself had some trouble in deciphering it. There can be no doubt that reference is made to it in the book of Ezra (iv. 7), some 500 years B.c. We there learn that the adversaries of the building of the temple wrote to Artaxerxes to stop it, "and the writing of the letter was written in the Syrian tongue, and interpreted in the Syrian tongue."

E.

SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATED.

ABRAHAM'S BOSOM,-Luke xvi. 22, 23.

THERE was no name which conveyed to the Jews the same associations as that of Abraham. "To be with Abraham " implied with them, to share the same felicity in the other world; and "To be in Abraham's bosom," meant to be in repose and happiness with him. The latter phrase is obviously derived from the custom of sitting or reclining at table, which prevailed among the Jews, in and before the time of Christ. By this arrangement, the head of the person was necessarily brought almost into the bosom of the one who sat above him, or at the top of the triclinium, or couch that ran round three sides of a table; and the guests were so arranged that the most favoured were placed so as to bring them into that situation with respect to the host, (compare

* Pictures were also impressed upon tiles. Hence Ezekiel iv, 1. tile ** and portray upon it the city, Jerusalem."

"Take thou a

John xiii. 23; xxi. 20.) It was quite usual with the Jews to describe a just person as being with Abraham, or lying on Abraham's bosom ; and as such images were unobjectionable, Jesus accommodated his speech to them, to render himself the more intelligible by familiar notions, where, in the beautiful parable of the rich man and Lazarus, he describes the condition of the latter after death under these conditions.-Kitto.

The phrase," Abraham's bosom," says Dean Trench, adopting another mode of exposition, has sometimes been explained as though Lazarus was brought into the chiefest place of honour and felicity, such as the sons of Zebedee asked for themselves, (Matt. xx. 23) that he was admitted, not merely to sit down with Abraham in the kingdom of heaven, at the heavenly festival, whereunto all the faithful should be admitted, but to lean on his bosom,-an honour of which only one could partake, as John, the beloved disciple, leaned on Jesus' bosom at the paschal supper. This explanation, however, starts altogether from a wrong assumption, since the image underlying "Abraham's bosom is not that of a feast at all. This passage is not parallel to Matt. viii. 11; Luke xiii. 29, 30; but rather is to find its explanation from John i. 18, where the only begotten Son is declared to be in the bosom of the Father: it is a figurative phrase to express the deep quiet of an innermost communion. Besides, the Jews, from whom the phrase is borrowed, spoke of all true believers as going to Abraham as being received into his bosom. To be in Abraham's bosom was equivalent with them to the being " in the garden of Eden," or "under the throne of glory," the being gathered into the general receptacle of happy, but waiting spirits. (See Wisd. iii. 1-3) Language already existing among them received here the sanction and the seal of Christ and has come thus to be accepted by the church, which was understood by it in like manner the state of painless expectation, of blissful repose, which shall intervene between the death of the faithful in Christ Jesus, and their perfect consummation and bliss at his coming in his kingdom. It is "the Paradise of Luke xxiii. 43; the place of the souls under the altar, (Rev. vi. 9); it is, as some distinguish it, blessedness, but not glory. Hither, to this haven of rest and consolation, Lazarus, after all his troubles was safely borne.

GABBATHA.—John xix. 13.

John tells us in this verse that Pontius Pilate, alarmed at last in his attempts to save Jesus, by the artful insinuation of the Jews, "If thou let this man go, thou art not Cæsar's friend," went into the prætorium again, and "brought Jesus forth, and set him down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha." The Greek word, signifying literally stone-paved, is an adjective, and is generally used as such by the Greek writers. It is also frequently used to denote a pavement formed of ornamental stones of various colours, commonly called a tessalated or Mosaic pavement. The partiality of the Romans for this kind of pavement is well known. It is stated by Pliny, that after the time of Sylla, the Romans decorated their houses with such pavements. They also introduced them into the provinces. Suetonius relates that Julius Cæsar, in his military

expeditions, took with him the materials of tessalated pavements, ready prepared, that wherever he encamped, they might lay down the prætorium, (the general's tent, or official residence of the governor.) From these facts it has been inferred by many eminent writers that "the pavement," or place where Pilate's tribunal was set on this occasion, was covered by a tessalated pavement, which, as a piece of Roman magnificence, was appended to the prætorium at Jerusalem. The emphatic manner in which John speaks of it agrees with this con jecture. It further appears, from his narrative, that it was outside the prætorium; for Pilate is said to have "come out" to the Jews, who, for ceremonial reasons, did not go into it, on this as well as on other occasions. (John xviii. 28, 29, 38; xix. 4, 13.) Besides which, the Roman governors, although they tried causes and conferred with their council (Acts xxv. 12,) within the prætorium, always pronounced sentence in the open air. May not then this tessalated pavement, on which the tribunal was now placed, have been inlaid on some part of the terrace, running along one side of the prætorium, and overlooking the area where the Jews were assembled, or upon a landing-place of the stairs, immediately before the grand entrance?

It is not certain that St. John intends the Greek word rendered in our version "the pavement, as a translation or interpretation of Gabbatha. He may simply mean that the same place was called by these two names in Greek and Hebrew respectively.—Denham

THE MUSTARD-SEED.-Matt. xiii. 32.

Irby and Mangles, in their travels, mention a tree which they suppose to be the mustard tree of Scripture. They met with it while advancing towards Kerek, from the southern extremity of the Dead Sea. It bore fruit in bunches resembling the currant, and the seeds had a pleasant, though strongly aromatic taste, nearly resembling mustard. They say, "We think it possible that this is the tree our Saviour alluded to in the parable of the mustard seed, and not the mustard plant we have in the North, and which, even when growing large, can never be called a tree; whereas the other is really such, and birds might easily, and actually do, take shelter under its shadow."

In hot countries, as in Judea, the mustard tree attains a size which it is never known to reach in our colder latitudes, sometimes so great as to allow a man to climb up into its branches, or to ride on horseback under them, as a traveller in Chili mentions that he has done. Maldonatus assures us, that in Spain he has himself seen great ovens heated with its branches. He mentions further, that birds are exceed. ingly partial to the seed, so that when it is advancing to ripeness, he has often seen them lighting in very great numbers on its boughs, which, however, were strong enough to sustain the weight without being broken.-Trench.

"Small as a grain of mustard seed" was a proverbial expression among the Jews for something exceedingly minute; and Christ was ever ready to avail himself of such proverbs. The Rabbins call the mustard seed only sort of seed. "Like a mustard seed" is proverbial with them for any very small thing. Maimonides (in More Nebochim) contrasts the circle of the heavens with the mustard seed, as the smallest possible thing

Many accounts are to be found in their writings of the occasionally great size of the mustard plant in the East. One tree is mentioned with three branches, another covered a potter's tent, and a third was so large that the owner climbed up into it as into a fig-tree.

The expression "least of all seeds," says Sir Thomas Browne, "will not appear strange, if we recollect that one mustard seed, though it be not simply and in itself the smallest of seeds, yet may very well be believed to be the smallest of such as are apt to grow into a ligneous substance, and become a kind of tree."

CHAIRMAN'S ADDRESS AT THE ANNUAL ASSOCIATION.*

BELOVED CHRISTIAN BRETHREN,-At this, the Ninetieth Annual Association of the Ministers and Representatives of the General Baptist New Connexion, my heart presents unto you Christian salu

tation.

These yearly gatherings ought not to come and pass away without leaving traces of their being and influence upon us. If we are wise and thoughtful they cannot do so. They are as so many milestones, indicating our annual progress-so many halting places in our upward pathway to the city of our Heavenly Jerusalem. However much one Association may resemble another, yet there are striking changes, and ever fresh aspects to distinguish the present from all preceding ones. We visit the same towns, and meet in the same places of worship, and there is much of the past ever with us, but how strikingly we are admonished, that not only the fashion of the world, but the scenes of the churches are passing away. Whether as we advance in life this thought is more present with us I know not, but I feel myself deeply impressed with it this morning. With three exceptions, I have been present at each Association for the last twenty-three years. At Bourne, in 1826, I was first privileged to meet with the brethren. I had then been a recognized minister with you for one year. I was then in my thirtieth year. As a stranger, I was deeply interested in the doings of that Association. I saw many faces for the first time. It was then that a large code of rules, for the government of the body, was introduced, and earnestly discussed. But how changed the whole Connexion since then. Only some ten or eleven ministers occupy the same spheres of labour. Some forty-eight ministerial brethren have finished their course at home, and two of our illustrious missionary brethren abroad. All the active influential spirits of the Association at Bourne, with few exceptions, are gone, the chairman, Mr. Ingham,-the deputychairman, Mr. Wallis,-the preachers and the moderators-brethren Ingham; Bissil, of Sutterton; Goadby, of Ashby, &c. The writer of the Association letter, Mr. Jarrom, too feeble to read it himself, the then vigorous active reader of it, Mr. Joseph Goadby-all gone. All the ministers who preached, or presided, or were officers of the next Association, in 1837, are also deceased. So, also, those who officiated

At our request Dr. Burns has kindly handed the above admirable address to us for publication.-ED.

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in 1838. In these removals, what eminent men have fallen. What fathers and leaders of the people are no more with us. The main founder of the Foreign Mission, so long the honoured pastor of this church, and the Richard Baxter of the denomination, Mr. Pike. The earlier missionaries too, Lacey, Peggs, Sutton, and the successive tutors of the schools of the prophets, Jarrom, Stevenson, Wallis, &c. And within the last year, two brethren, whose spirits and labours were eminently connexional, and who were ever found at the service of the body, brethren Judd and Goadby-the latter of whom had been the active mind, whose learning and talents had been interwoven with the monthly periodical of the denomination for so many years. O yes, these are our losses, the losses of the churches and of the world, over which we may well shed the tear of fraternal sympathy and affection. But the denomination exists-the churches survive. e-our Association is still extant. But the Rock of our Salvation, the Head of the Church, ever liveth, and is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. Well may we take up the memorable saying of one of the sainted founders of another Christian section of the church, the best of all, "God is with us." We have His gospel in our pulpits-His Spirit in our churchesHis gracious presence with us this day, in our Association. The theme on which I would dwell for a few moments is the Association itself. No doubt this annual meeting has ever, on the whole, accomplished its mission. But it may not be unnecessary to ask, has it effected this to the fullest extent? Has it done it in the most effective way? Such gatherings are interesting, very interesting: but are they profitable, useful, and to such an extent as is possible?

It is well known we meet, not to legislate for the government of the churches, recognizing, as we do, the thorough independency of each congregation. We meet, not to exhibit priestly power, or lordly authority, being believers in the one priesthood and divine authority of the Lord Jesus, and in the common and equal fraternity of all Christian brethren. We meet, not for mere sectarian glorification, as though we were holier than the other tribes of the Lord's spiritual Israel, for no where, I trust, would the benediction be more heartily pronounced than here, "Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and truth." But as brethren in common with independent Christian churches, we assemble for mutual counsel, and for united co-operation, more especially for sustaining and extending the public institutions of the churches-such as missions to the heathen and among our home population, and the education of young men, for the exercise of the Christian ministry. Other objects may be summed up as including general sympathy with each other, and counsel and aid, as far as practicable, to the weaker churches, and that we may take decided action in the great moral and ecclesiastical and benevolent questions of the day. Here, evidently, is our Associational standing. And it should never be forgotten, that this position is one in which should be carried out to the utmost liberty, equality, fraternity. The chairman, and moderators, and scribes, and other officiating brethren are merely called more prominently forth, not to be ministered unto, but to minister. A remembrance of this would influence us in our discussions, and lead us to avoid all that would have the semblance of personal pre-eminence, or dictatorial assumption.