y gar ghy qrogyux TRANSLATION. In the month Bul, in the fourteenth year of my reign, of me Eshmunazar, King of the Sidonians, the son of King Tabnith, King of the Sidonians. King Eshmunazar, King of the Sidonians, spake, saying; I was taken away before my time, [literally, without my time,] in the flowing off as of waters; then I placed a building for my death, and I am lying in this coffin, and in this sepulchre which I have built. My prohibition to every royal person and to every man is, not to open this tomb, and not to seek for treasure near me, because there is no treasure near me: nor to lift this coffin of my tomb, nor to carry me from this tomb to the tomb of another: even if men should command thee [to do so], thou shall not hearken to their judgment; for every royal person and every man who shall uncover this tomb, or who shall lift this coffin of my tomb, or who shall carry me from this tomb, let no tomb be established for him among the dead, neither let him be buried in a sepulchre, neither let son nor seed be established to them in their stead: let the holy gods forsake them, and the powerful Monarch who shall reign over them, cutting off that Monarch or man who shall uncover this tomb, or who shall lift this coffin, and the seed of that Monarch or man whoever he may be : let not a root be established to them downwards, neither fruit upwards; and let him be cursed among the living under the sun, because I am to be comforted. I was taken away before my time, in the flowing off as of waters; then I placed a building for my death. For I am Eshmunazar, King of the Sidonians, son of King Tabnith, King of the Sidonians, [and] son's son of Eshmunazar, King of the Sidonians, and my mother [was] Immi-ashtoreth, the Priestess of Ashtoreth, our lady, the Queen daughter of Eshmunazar, King of the Sidonians: we [are they] who built the house of the gods in Sidon, the land of the sea; and the powerful heavens made Ashtoreth favourable to us, and we are they who built a house to Eshmun, and the holy [place] of Ene Dalil in the mountain; and the powerful heavens seated me [on the throne]. And we [are they) who built houses for the gods of the Sidonians, in Sidon, the land of the sea; a house for Baal of Sidon, and a house for Ashtoreth the glory of Baal. Moreover, the lords of the Kings bestowed on us Dor and Japhia, vast corn-lands which [are] at the foot of Dan, to increase the might which I have wrought; and they have added these to the borders of the land, to establish them to the Sidonians for ever. My prohibition to every royal person, and to every man, is, not to uncover me, and not to make me naked, and not to carry me from this tomb, and not to lift the coffin of my tomb, lest the holy gods should forsake them and should cut off that royal person, and that man, whoever he may be, and their seed for ever. There is a second inscription on the coffin itself, besides that now deciphered. The purport is similar to that of the above, but it abruptly comes to an end in the seventh line. On the side of the sarcophagus two letters are found engraved, beth and tsaddi, being an abbreviation to show that the work was executed in Sidon. The Phoenicians were world-wide navigators, and the most enterprising merchants and colonists of ancient times. They founded Carthage, and thus ruled over a great part of Northern Africa. They traded along the coasts of the Black Sea, and the Mediterranean. They have left traces of their existence and power as far as France and Spain, and are said to have visited the British Islands for purposes of trade, and especially to obtain tin, which was found only in those islands. Although they were zealous worshippers of Baal and Ashtoreth, yet, speaking the Hebrew language, it is obvious to conclude that they had some acquaintance with the Hebrew Scriptures, or, at all events, with many of the facts recorded in those holy books. It has been suggested, with great probability, that the traces of Divine knowledge found among the Heathen nations of antiquity may have been derived mediately by their intercourse with the Phœnicians: any readers who have access to Bagsters' "Bible of every Land" will find a very learned article, and a beautiful map illustrating this subject. The discovery of a Phoenician inscription at Sidon, the only city of Phœnicia mentioned by Moses, excited a great sensation in the learned world, and its decipherment was looked for with impatience. Some affirmed that the inscription was as old as the time of Moses; others carried it back to the time of Abraham: but the most hardy conjecture was, that it was anterior to the deluge, and contained a reference to that event as about to come to pass. By an ingenious process, too long to be detailed here, it has been shown with strong probability that Tabnith, the father of Eshmunazar, is the same as Tennes, mentioned by Diodorus Siculus; and that Eshmunazar was the last of his race who reigned in Sidon. Admitting this to be the correct date of the inscription, we have evidence of the Hebrew language being in use among the Canaanites, or Phœnicians, from the time of Abimelech and Phichol, who conversed with Abraham in that language, (Gen. xxi. 22,) down to the reign of Alexander the Great, or more than one thousand five hundred years. It is a curious fact, that, when this inscription was executed in Hebrew, the Hebrews themselves in Jerusalem, recently returned from Babylon, had so far forgotten their own language, that when Ezra read the law to the congregation, interpreters were necessary "to give the sense and to cause them to understand the reading." (Neh. viii. 8.) Will it not be allowed that the good providence of God, which has mercifully preserved for our comfort and instruction the invaluable books of the Old-Testament Scriptures, is devoutly to be acknowledged, also, in the preservation and modern discovery of those monuments of the Heathen nations mentioned in Scripture, which more or less directly illustrate the sacred narrative, and serve to recall the attention of a busy world to Divine revelation, to the "word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever?" London, May 29th, 1857. ELIJAH HOOLE. A WORD ABOUT THE CLASS-MEETING. TIME rolls on, and the spiritual benefits following from this institute are still precious, beyond my power to describe: but the old objections are repeated over and over, and by the same parties. Wesleyans are told that this religious ordinance is an ordinance of man, nowhere required or recommended in holy Scripture; that it involves a curious prying into those secret matters which are between God and the soul; that it narrows up church-membership, and makes it too restrictive; that all good men can do very well without it; and that communicating at the table of the Lord is the proper test of church-membership. Wesleyans boldly tell them in reply, that to say class-meetings are not set forth in Scripture is mere trifling about a name; that so neither are Presbyteries, nor Synods, nor Sunday-schools set forth: yet, that, nevertheless, mutual counsel and oversight among Ministers, in the one case, and the feeding of Christ's lambs in the other, are obligations which no Christian ever thinks of doubting; that, although we do not find the name in Scripture, we find numerous exhortations to Christians that they edify, and comfort, and watch over one another; that they bear each other's burdens,-their burdens of spiritual anxiety and contrition, which can only be known, and therefore only borne, by serious converse, mingled with prayer, or it may be with hymns; and that the house-to-house fellowship of the early church was the exemplification of all this, the supplying of a want which all awakened and earnest men are sure to feel, and which public ordinances cannot supply. They say further, in reference to the supposed prying just spoken of, that there is no further scrutiny than the object which all have in view requires; that no man tells more than his free heart prompts him to; and that, so far as there is inquiry at all, it is like the inquiry of a kind father, who asks his anxious children what it is that ails them. They tell the objectors, that, so far as the charge of narrowing up church-communion is concerned, this is no other than holding to the popular cry for a broad church; that "a broad church" means a church with easy terms of admission, loosely defined doctrines, and no discipline,-one that may comprehend all sorts of decent moral men; which sort of church was never known to cherish ardent piety, nurture the gifts of the Holy Ghost, and answer the purposes of Christianity in the world; nay, nor even to stand apart from the world ;-that, as to men doing well without class-meeting, if it ever were so, it cannot thence be concluded that they might not do better with it; but, assuredly, with regard to those who have declined from it, we testify that, according to our observation, they have become less holy, patient, spiritual, and benign than they were before ;-and that, although the attendance of Wesleyans is required on this means of grace, it is not less required that they attend the Supper of the Lord; that the former, indeed, is a preparation for a profitable attendance on the latter, a "fencing of the tables" which gives the best assurance, perhaps, that human beings can have, that those who draw nigh are those whom Christ has invited, and not a motley mixture of Christians and worldlings. God forbid that I should say that there is no spiritual fellowship in other communions! On the contrary, many a devoted Pastor in the Establishment will often meet a little circle of the most serious or earnest of the flock, for prayer and holy counsel: and in Independent and Presbyterian churches there are people who, by force of mutual attraction, are drawn together with the same object in view. But then all this is casual and uncertain; and its existence can never do away with the necessity of making provision for the stated fulfilment of this law of Christ, which law these parties in this form, as I know, do often long to fulfil. Thus do we answer those who are without; and as to our own people, we tell them in all truth, that, if they trifle with this privilege, or even talk lightly of it, they tamper with the most precious boon, of an economical kind, that God ever gave to a Christian community. If there be some here and there, who are of a too shrinking and timid temperament to join in meetings for Christian experience, let these cases be kindly dealt with as exceptions; but let them not lower the influence and authority of a rule which, in its powerful sway, has brought thousands and tens of thousands into the enjoyment of Gospel peace in life, and triumph in death. Rather than have a broad church on the terms just mentioned, let us have a narrower though more vital one, and leave the widening process to its Head. Recollections of the Rev. John Pearson, by the Rev. Alfred Barrett, MORAVIAN MISSIONS IN MONGOLIA. EARLY in 1851 it occurred to the Moravian community of Herrnhut that the Mongolian races had as yet been unvisited by Missionaries. They resolved to remedy the deficiency, and the lot fell on two of the brethren, M. Pagell, of Stettin, and M. Heyde, of Middle Silesia. They accepted the duty "gladly," and after a few months spent in diligent study of Mongolian, they arrived via England, in Calcutta. In January, 1854, they had reached Koteghur, whence they hoped, via Ladakh, to penetrate into Mongolia. There they remained twelve months, studying Thibetan, a language necessary not for their Mission but for their journey to the Mission-field. They left Koteghur in March, and by June had arrived, by Kallee, Lahol, and Sangskar, at Leh, the point beyond which the British Government is powerless. There they were informed that their next step lay through Radox, a Thibetan province, never traversed by Europeans. Permission to enter the territory was, of course, refused, but official difficulties do not retard Herrnhuters. They pressed on, and it was not till they were stopped by force of the Chinese authorities that they returned, via Spiti and Runawur, to Koteghur. There they awaited instructions from Herrnhut. The Society ordered them to remain, to acquire Thibetan perfectly, to translate the Scriptures into that tongue, and, if possible, hereafter to penetrate into Great Thibet. They settled, therefore, in Lahol, built a bungalow, and established schools. And there, at the top of the highest Himalayas, beyond all civilization, and almost beyond the ken of civilized men, the two Herrnhuters remain, teaching, preaching, spreading everywhere at once education and the light of the Christian faith. Now and then a traveller struggles up to their mountain-seat, and sees a dawning civilization beyond the range even of geographers. One such visiter has told us how he thought, " with some emotion, of those two Moravian Missionaries, who have pitched their tents in Lahol, and given themselves up to preaching the faith which they hold, in regions where they may safely boast that they are 'not labouring in other men's line of things made ready to their hand." All Missionaries may, as a rule, claim credit for readiness to go to unfrequented parts of the earth; and if this be praise, these good Moravians may be considered Missionaries of the Missionaries. They have taken up their station, are learning the language, something which we Hindostani talkers dream not of, and are quietly conciliating the people. Whatever may be their success in their particular object, it is impossible to think without interest of those two sentinels posted in the extremest face of the civilized world. The great tide of European life and energy and knowledge which is ever flowing from the heart, the great western capitals, is carried in a still diminishing stream to distant Asia; it travels up to the north-west; it trickles into the Himalaya Mountains; and here, in a wild region far beyond the most remote outlying European hill-station, beats its last faint pulse. In a small house in Lahol may be found European manners, the European face, western learning, and the Christian religion. Leaving these behind, how many thousand miles might we proceed northward before finding the other end of the chain, before stumbling on the first Russian peasant who might claim in some imperfect degree to represent Europe! It is a very simple story that, and, told in the German-English in which we have read it, it seems simpler still; yet we think it will be read by few Englishmen without a thrill of sympathy. Our countrymen have, or were wont to have, some admiration for strong faith, for quiet, persistent energy such as these men have shown. It is no light thing for two peasants, bred in the more than monkish seclusion of a Moravian village, to fling themselves, at the first call of duty, to the other end of the earth, take their lives in their hands, and carry into regions which even English |