man and magnificently buried at Jerusalem." Benjamin of Tudela saw in 1170 at a village on the lower Tigris "the sepulcher of Ezra, the priest and scribe, where he died on his journey from Jerusalem to Artaxerxes." Layard, in our day, seems to have found near the junction of the Tigris and Euphrates a tomb of Ezra, in style worthy of his fame. Wherever the scribe's dust may be, his record is on high.

The outlines of Ezra's work are vague and uncertain. This arises partly from the silence of the sacred books concerning their own authorship. Holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, but they were rarely moved to give author, place, or date of the book indited. Who is sure of the date and author of Ecclesiastes? Who knows the writer of Hebrews?

Again, it is easy to assign to an eminent man much that appears in his day or soon after it which agrees with his known acts and tempers, but which would, from the need and temper of the age, have come without him. Thus Ezra is credited with establishing the synagogues. The true germ of the synagogue is found in Samuel's schools of the prophets. In the captivity the gatherings of the devout became more systematic, and Ezekiel assures them that the divine Presence will be to them "as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come." Soon buildings rise, and every village has its synagogue. Simple in its service, attracting the mind and heart rather than the eye, needing no priest, setting forth the prophets of hope as well as the law of obedience, the synagogue strengthened the faith and consolation of Israel, and quietly prepared believers for the disappearance of the temple and the rise of Christian worship. Yet, while the synagogue takes its definite form, and proceeds with its good work in (or soon after) Ezra's time, assigning to him its origin transcends historic probability.

The Great Synagogue is a fiction of later Jewish writers, devised to express the sum of eminent men who after the captivity for two centuries upheld the law and aided the piety of the nation. Of these Ezra was counted first, ranking as president, though Daniel and Malachi are among its hundred and twenty members. Its task was chiefly to guard the form and meaning of the sacred texts, and Ezra, "the scribe,"

might fitly be its head. Its last member, Simon the Just, said, "Set a hedge about the law!" So did the later scribes do and overdo, but their task was noble, and Ezra was truly a scribe instructed unto the kingdom of heaven. The Sanhedrin was reckoned the successor of this unreal Great Synagogne, and then followed the Masoreh, to whose useful labors we to-day owe our confidence in the Hebrew language.

Of the book that bears Ezra's name he could have written but little. Its first chapter, giving the first year of Cyrus, at least the chief event thereof, fits between Dan. ix and x, and is plainly in Daniel's style. Ezra ii, with Ezra iii, 1, coincides with Neh. vii. Ezra iii, 2, to Ezra vii, is by some eye-witness to the building of the second temple, and its style and language suggest Haggai, who acted with Zerubbabel, and would probably record the events in which he took part. Ezra iv, 16–23, with the last four chapters, are clearly by Ezra's hand. The books of Chronicles, with Ezra and Nehemiah, form a definite historic plan. After the captivity there was felt a difficulty in defining and sustaining the national continuity. This rested socially on the genealogical assignment of the lands of Pales tine, and religiously on the performance of the temple-service by the priests and Levites in the order of their courses, and their support by tithes and offerings. One thus finds in Chronicles tables of genealogy prepared, the priestly orders given, and special notice taken of the care given to public worship by the best kings, by David, Josiah, and Hezekiah. The tradition that assigns to Ezra the compiling and editing of Chronicles is well sustained.

Ezra's best work is in the Psalms. The Law was his life-long study, and its sweet influences enlightened his intellect, cheered his heart, and guided his behavior. He could from his own experience frame the majestic preface that sets forth the "blessed" of harmony with the law and the "not so" of variance from it. How "a tree planted by the rivers of water" tells of an irrigated land; of Babylonia, not of Palestine! Ilis hundred and nineteenth psalm, the utterance of an overfull heart, shows every condition of mortal life upheld and cheered by what the lips divine have spoken. In this, so stamped with his mind and attributable to him alone, the word is the stream that makes glad the city of God and sheds freshness

and beauty upon earth. The psalm sets forth the many-sided experiences of a changeful life, its aspirations, its struggles, of its sufferings; the life of one who as Jewish priest and Persian judge, as scholar and as reformer, finds every-where mercy and truth in the divine dealings with mankind, and who utters his soul through full Pindaric lips wet with the dew of inspiration.

The criticism which directly interrogates the production itself finds little fault with what tradition ascribes to Ezra. His language is what should be used by one versed in the Hebrew of Moses, but in contact with the ruder Chaldee of Mesopotamia. His work is what his time demanded, and some one certainly performed; and if tradition exaggerates it has a reasonable basis. The great scribe, the first of that industrious profession who, five hundred years later, were so proud and so poor as to instruction unto the kingdom of heaven, is the first of a far longer line of laborers in the word. His platform, from which he read the Law and gave the sense, has become our pulpit. The exposition, illustration, and enforcement of Scripturethe unfolding of the divine system of justice and mercy for men. -was Ezra's task on that far September morning. The same task, aided by the fuller revelations of the Gospel, is laid upon the preacher of to-day, and his hearers are not the sunbright throngs below the temple yard, but are every kindred and nation and tongue and people.

A. B. Hyde

ART. II.-RECENT EXPLORATIONS IN EGYPT. EGYPT is doubtless the most magnificent archæological huntingground in the world. In no other land is the chase so fascinating and so exciting; from no other land does the hunter return with so varied and so rich spoils. Sometimes, indeed, he is disappointed, even after many days and nights of laborious search; more frequently he is treated with glad surprises which serve to rouse his enthusiasm and fire his heart.

The museums of the world have been enriched from the spoils of old Egypt. Fields already again and again swept of their treasures upon more thorough exploration have yielded further and richer harvests. New sites have been brought to light in the midst of the desert sands and the Nile mud. From the time of the French expedition under Napoleon Bonaparte to the present, Egypt has been despoiled of antiquities which are the only representations of the departed glory of her ancient history; and yet the supply seems to be exhaustless. The pick and the spade are ever active, and ever astonish the world by their brilliant discoveries. Especially during the last decade the explorer has been abundantly rewarded.

The sojourn of Abraham in Egypt, the official work of Joseph, the long and bitter bondage of the Israelites, and the connection of Egypt with Palestine and the East, both preceding and subsequent to the conquest of Canaan-these endow the land of the Nile with a peculiar and perennial interest for the Bible student. The ten plagues of Egypt cannot be explained in the fullness of their import without the aid of the Egyptian gods. The route of the exodus can be studied only in the light of recent discoveries. Certain passages from the prophets can be understood only when read by the rocky tombs and temples of Egypt.

Three wonders meet us as we enter the portals of this subject. We wonder that so many antiquities have been rescued; we are astonished that so many have been ruthlessly destroyed; and we are amazed that so many remain to reward the zeal of future explorers. A mere list of important objects recently discov ered would extend this article far beyond our limits. There are sites of cities, walls, plans of temples and palaces, private

residences, contents of pyramids, cemeteries and rock-tombs, mummies of sacred animals and of royal and other personages, decorative designs, types of architecture, sphinxes, obelisks, statues, portraits, utensils for the toilet and the kitchen, pottery, idols, scarabæi, inscriptions, priceless papyri, ornaments, textile fabrics, weights, coins, and osirids.

We may look into the very eyes of the Pharaoh who "knew not Joseph," walk through his favorite temples, enter sepulchers of royalty, bury ourselves within mighty pyramids, and tread the very soil once pressed by the feet of the enslaved Israelites.

Complicated, vexed, and unanswered chronological questions are approaching solution under the light of recent discoveries. The history of the dynasties of the middle kingdom is slowly assuming form and proportions. The names of new kings are brought to our attention, and we are able to fix their places in the lists. New chapters are added to history, and much has been learned concerning the old Egyptian religion. We must pass over much of this, and confine ourselves in this article to a study of a few of the prominent sites which have been opened by the explorer, and the tribute they have yielded.

I. PITHOм.

The Sweet-water Canal runs from Cairo to Suez through the Wady Tumilat. On the south side of this canal, and about twelve miles a little south of west from Ismailia, is situated Tell el Maskhutah, "the mound of the statue," so called from a monolithic group representing Rameses II. seated between the two solar gods Ra and Tum. Le Père, at the end of the last century, described the group as follows:

It consists of a monolith of granite cut in the form of an armchair, on which are seated three Egyptian figures, apparently belonging to the priestly order, as one may judge from their costume and the caps they wear. The monument is still standing upright, and the figures are turned toward the east. They were buried up to the waist; but, having dug down to the feet, we have been able to see the whole of them and to measure them. The back of the arm-chair is entirely covered with hieroglyphics, which have the appearance of a regular and complete picture.

While workmen were digging in the garden another group of the same size was discovered, and M. Papenot, to whom the