carried away, whilst the heavy stones were turned over by our living crowbar, a man of great strength, with a short neck, who appeared to have been born for the purpose. He would dig a hole at the foot of the great limestone blocks to receive his head and shoulders, and then raising his feet against the face of the stones, exert all his power to move them, rarely failing to do what he attempted.

The Synagogue, built entirely of white limestone, must once have been a conspicuous object, standing out from the dark basaltic background; it is now nearly level with the surface, and its capitals and columns have been for the most part carried away or turned into lime. The original building is 74 feet 9 inches long by 56 feet 9 inches wide; it is built north and south, and at the southern end has three entrances. In the interior we found many of the pedestals of the columns in their original positions, and several capitals of the Corinthian order buried in the rubbish; there were also blocks of stone which had evidently rested on the columns and supported wooden rafters. Outside the Synagogue proper, but connected with it, we uncovered the remains of a later building, which may be those of the church which Epiphanius says was built at Capernaum, and was de. scribed by Antoninus, A.D. 600, as a Basilica enclosing the house of Peter. It may be asked what reason there is for believing the original building to have been a Jewish synagogue, and not a temple or church. Seen alone there might have been some doubt as to its character, but compared with the number of ruins of the same character which have lately been brought to notice in Gali. lee, there can be none. Two of these buildings have inscriptions in Hebrew over their main entrances ; one in connection with a seven-branched candlestick, the other with figures of the paschal lamb, and all without exception are constructed after a fixed plan, which is totally different from that of any church, temple, or mosque in Palestine. For a description of the very marked peculiarities which distinguish the synagogues from other buildings I would refer the reader to an article on the subject in the Second Quarterly Statement of the Palestine Exploration Fund. If Tel Hum be Capernaum, this is without a doubt the synagogue built by the Roman centurion (Luke vii. 4, 5), and one of the most sacred places on earth. It was in this building that our Lord gave the well-known discourse in John vi., and it was not without a certain strange feeling that on turning over a large block we found the pot of manna engraved on its face, and remembered the words, “I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead."

Round the Synagogue, and stretching up the gentle slope be

CENIONOLLS TEL HUM-THE RUINS OF CAPEKNAUM. (From a Photogr arh, by permission of the Committee of the“ Palistine Faplcration Fund.")

hind, are the ruins of the ancient town, covering a larger extent of ground than we had been led to expect. The whole area, half a mile in length by a quarter in breadth, was thickly covered with the ruined walls of private houses, amongst which we thought we could trace a main street, leading in the direction of Chorazin. At the northern extremity of the town two remark. able tombs were found, one constructed with limestone blocks below the surface of the ground, which must have been a work of great labour, as the hard basalt on the surface had first to be cut away; the other, a rectangular building capable of holding a large number of bodies, which is above ground, and appears to have been whitewashed within and without. It is possibly this description of tomb to which our Lord refers in Matt. xxiii. 27, where He compares the scribes and Pharisees to “whited sepulchres,” beautiful in outward appearance, but within “ full of dead men's bones ;” a similar building may also have been the home of the demoniac at Gergesa.

The shore was eagerly searched, but without success, for traces of an artificial harbour. The boats which formerly belonged to the town must always have taken shelter at Et Tabigah, or, as is just as probable, have been drawn up on the bank when not in use. There are, however, along the shore several fish-traps made by the Bedawin, which some travellers have taken for the remains of piers; they consist of enclosures, made with large stones, in the shallow water, an opening being left for the fish to enter by; in this manner a few fish are caught each night.

Before leaving Capernaum we cannot help drawing attention to the additional force and beauty which our Lord's words in Matt. xi. 23 derive by adopting the reading of the two oldest known MSS. of the New Testament (the Sinaitic and Vatican): “And thou, Capharnaum ! shalt thou be. exalted unto heaven? thou shalt be brought down to hell.” There is a reproach con. veyed in this question to “His own city" which is lost in the rendering of the Authorized Version; and it is impossible to draw from it the fanciful conclusion that Capernaum was on a hill, as a late writer has done from the words, “And thou, Caper. naum, which art exalted unto heaven.”—Captain Wilson, R.E., in “Narrative of Explorations in Holy Land.”

"LET THE DEAD BURY THEIR DEAD." MATTHEW viii. 21, 22._" And another of His disciples said unto Him, Lord,

suffer me first to go and bury my father. But Jesus said unto him, Follow Me, and let the dead bury their dead.”

Tuis passage does not imply any disregard on the part of our Lord to the claims of natural sympathy and affection. He who wept at the grave of Lazarus, and who remembered His own sorrowing mother while He hung upon the cross, could not be destitute of natural affection himself, nor could he treat with indifference the filial sympathies and duties of others. Nor can the term dead, as twice used in the text, be understood in the same sense; for one corpse could not inter another. The term dead, as applied to the disciple's father, was literal in its meaning, for he was really a corpse at the time; but the same term applied to others—to those who were ordered to bury him, was used in a spiritual sense, for they were not dead literally, but dead in trespasses and sins.

But why does our Lord leave the task of burying a dead father to them, and not allow the disciple to return to look after the funeral of his father? For this reason, our Lord had other and more important work for him to do, and our Lord took this impressive occasion to teach men that the less duty must give place to the greater; that obedience to Him was the first and not a secondary thing; and that the ministry to which the disciple was called was paramount to all other duties. Moreover, there was no danger of the dead father being neglected as to the rites of sepulture, for even unconverted relations were fit to bury the dead with decency and care, though they were not fit to preach the gospel. Probably, however, there would have been danger to this disciple if he had then returned to his home on a funeral occasion; for look at the facts : our Lord describes the man's relations by a very ominous character-they were “dead,” therefore unconverted, worldly persons, and as such they had no sympathy with Christ or His mission; and if the disciple had returned home he must have mingled with those persons, and have come under the influence of their sympathies and affections; all of which, on the exciting occasion of the funeral of a father, might have been brought to bear upon him to abandon Christ, and

cleave to the family profession of Jewish formality and unbelief in Christ. Our Lord, therefore, seeing all things at one view the disciple's temptations and dangers at home, and the greater safety of the man in the path of religious duty, and especially in the high and solemn duties of his spiritual calling as a minister, said unto him in mercy and love, “Let the dead bury their dead” (see Luke ix. 59, 62).—“Explanations of Difficult Por. tions of Scripture,” by W. Cooke, D.D.

HEBREW ALLUSIONS TO THE SACERDOTAL ROBE. PSALM cxxxix. 15.—“My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in

secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.” “THE latter clause has been well rendered, “When I was wrought with a needle in the depths of the earth. This is a proof, with many others, of the frequency of allusions amongst the Hebrews to the sacerdotal robes (see Exod. xxviii. 2). Hence the frequent references to them in the poetry of the prophets. The undescribable texture of the human system is therefore, with much propriety, compared to the exquisite needlework of the high priest's vestments.”—DR. Mason Good.

NEUTRALITY IN RELIGION DANGEROUS. LUKE xi. 23.-"He that is not with Me is against Me: and he that gathereth

not with Me scattereth.” Yet, in a former chapter (ix. 50) it is said, “He that is not against us is for us." These two statements seem inconsistent with one another, though not absolutely contradictory. Their recon. ciliation is to be found by attending to the purpose and design of each. One gives the rule which is to regulate our judgment of others. We are to hope the best; and though “they follow not with us,” yet, if so be that they are casting out devils in the Master's name, instead of forbidding them, we are to wish them God-speed. They may be in error, and so need instruction or even correction; yet, if they are not against Christ, let us hope and believe that they are for Him. The other passage gives the rule for self-judgment. We are surrounded by those who igno. rantly or maliguantly are blaspheming Cbrist. Neutrality, therefore, would not only be sinful and dangerous, but fatal. We are "to come out and be separate.” We must not attempt to satisfy ourselves by not taking part with His enemies; “He that is not with Me is against Me.” As a general principle, hope the best concerning others, suspect the worst concerning yourself.

Scraps from an Interleaved Bible" in Baptist Magazine.