all the great gods; Anu . . . the lord of the countries; Bel, the exalted, the father of the gods; Ea, the creator, the king of the ocean, the appointer of fate; Sin, . . . the exalted and fearful; . Samas, the judge of heaven and earth, the director of the universe; . . . . . Adar, the hero the almighty god; Nergal, the perfect one, the king of battle; Nusku, the bearer of the brilliant scepter, the wise god; Belit, the spouse of Bel, the mother of the great gods: Istar, the firstborn of heaven and earth, whose bravery is perfect; the great gods who appoint fate, who have made my kingdom mighty."

Samsi-Ramman III. begins an inscription with nearly the same words. Later he says:

"The terror of the brilliancy of Assur and Marduk, the great gods, my lords cast them down and they embraced my feet."

Rammannirari III. says of himself:
"Rammannirari, the mighty, the ex-

alted, to whom Assur, Samas, Ramman and Marduk have come as helpers and whose dominion they have enlarged. . . ."

On a little statue of the god Nabu this king has written words of the greatest praise. To him this god was a noble shepherd, whose care was over everything in heaven and on earth, the all-wise, the merciful, the majestic, gracious to the penitent. The inscription ends with the words: "O future man, trust in Nabu, place not your trust in another gcd."

Tiglath-pileser III. says:

"To Assur, Sirua, Bel, Zirbanit, Nabu, Tasmit, Nana, the queen of Babylon, Nergal, Laz, I made precious offerings."

And from Sargon numerous references show that the faith of this king was not unlike that of his predecessors.

It should be thoroughly understood that these few quotations are but illustrations of the thousands which might be given, taken from almost every year of Assyrian history. No nation can show a higher

regard for the gods, or a firmer faith than it is known that the Assyrians possessed and retained. Not for an instant can the student of Assyrian religion believe that the people ever forsook their gods, or regarded any foreign god otherwise than as the most devoted Christian would now regard Jove or the Great Spirit of the American Indian. As the Assyrian inscriptions show, there is no place in Assyrian history for the worship of a foreign god, nor did the Ninevites ever bow in submission to Yahveh the god of the Hebrews.

5-JONAH'S DESCRIPTION

OF NINEVEH

COMPARED WITH THE RUINS OF THE

CITY.

The book of Jonah describes Nineveh as an exceeding great city of three days' journey, and says that Jonah began to enter a day's journey or about twenty miles into the city; that it was the abode

of royalty and its inhabitants numbered more than six score thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle." However explicit the writer intended this description of the city to be, it has taxed the ingenuity of biblical students of the past to tell the exact size of a city of three days' journey and which contains 120,000 of the class of people mentioned. It has been claimed that the city was three days' journey in circumference; for how, said the students, could a city'be sixty miles in diameter, and contain but so few inhabitants? It has also been been said that it was a city of three days' journey, because that time would be required for one to pass through all of its streets and shout to the people. A glance at the statement that Jonah "began to enter" into the city a day's journey is convincing that the author had in mind a city of three days' journey in diameter, or that the distance between one gate and the

opposite gate was about sixty miles. If the city was but sixty miles in circumference, and circular in shape, a day's journey would have taken Jonah through the city into the fields beyond. The story implies that after the prophet had traveled one day, the greater part of the distance through the city was still before him. The author would certainly have us believe that the exceeding great city was more than 180 miles in circumference, or a third larger than the modern city of London with its 4,000,000 of inhabitants. The " persons " of the city who could not "discern between their right hand and their left hand " have been supposed to be the children whose innocence would exempt them, as well as the beasts, from punishment, and yet many of the preachers of the past generations, who believed that the children of Nineveh were innocent, have been loud in preaching "Infant Damnation." Dr. Pusey says that the city contained 120,000 children under