NOTES AND COMMENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11581, 20 February 1901, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS

To-day is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Though the formal 'observance of

this solemn ecclesiastical season is confined to such churches as the Anglican, Roman Catholic, and Greek, there seems to be a growing tendency among some Protestant denominations to fall in informally with the Lenten spirit. Christian Work, an American Evangelical paper, states that the idea of the penitential season is an ennobling one, full of practical benefit to many people: — "Assuredly the jaded child of fashion needs precisely the lessons taught and the opportunity presented by the Church in this ordinance ; and so every Christian, whether Roman Catholic, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Methodist, or Congregationalist, would do well to yield a measure of observance of the season in spirit and life and this, we are glad to know, not a few do. Certainly Mir thoughts and influences, our desires and aspirations, go on so unceasingly to things of this; World that we shall be made better and happier by directing for a specific period our aspirations heavenward in imitation of

the Master, until we rise to a fuller appreciation at Easter of His resurrection. And it is significant of a marked change that so many not within the E" ; «*opal communion

are glad to avail themselves of the services of that Church during this period, while non-Episcopal churches gladly take advantage of the opportunity to hold Lenten services. It is gratifying to notice the marked favour with which the season of Lent is now regarded by those of the non-Episcopal churches. Gradually but surely the advantages of a period of devotion and abstinence come home to many hearts that once did not care for these things, but who now delight to take refuge from the demands of a life in which festivity claims more honours than are its due, and seek comfort in the services of the sanctuary, in meditation and abstinence."

The recent results of the excavations in the mounds of ancient Nippur, in Asia, Minor, carried on by Professor H. V. Hilprecht, of the University of Pennsylvania, have been much discussed. For 11 years Professor Hilpreeht has carried on his archI aeological researches, but his last year's lab- ! ours have been more fruitful than those of I the previous 10 years. They have been I crowned by the discovery of the library of J the ancient temple of Nippur, which is re- ! garded as probably the most important event j in the history of archaeological research. I Dr. Hilprecht has given an interviewer some I interesting particulars of his work. The ; chief point to be remarked, he says, is the fact that they have found the first Babylonian temple library that has ever been discovered. Hitherto we have possessed nothing more than the knowledge of the probable contents of such a library from copies i found in the Royal library of Ashurbanapal, j in Nineveh, which was discovered 60 years j ago. This Royal library, however, was a j compilation of documents! from all over j Babylonia, so far as was at that time known. | In the library which was unearthed this year at Nippur were got for the first time J an insight, into the arrangement of the I libraries of that early day, and the arrange- ! ment of the rooms, etc., and, what is of j major importance a knowledge of. the I literature of the period. Of special J importance is the fact that the excavators have not only discovered a Babylonian temple library, but that it proves to be the most influential and important, as well as the oldest, in the whole country. No document discovered is younger than 2200 B.C.that is, about the period when the first blossom of the Nippurian civilisation was cut off by an invasion of the Islamites, who descended on Nippur, sacked the city, and carried away many of its treasures. After that event Babylon superseded Nippur as the chief city or metropolis of Northern Babylonia. So far only one wing of the library has been excavated. Nearly 18,000 documents have been rescued from the ruins this year. The size of these inscribed clay tablets varies from lin by 2in to Ift by l£ft. Unfortunately for the decipherer, they were made of unbaked clay, and therefore suffered considerably by the collapse of the building and by the humidity of the ground. But all the fragments have been secured. The library of the temple at Nippur was lost to human knowledge about the time that Abraham went out of Ur into Palestine, and it gives us a clear historical setting for that important event. ' Many other customs and religious notions which existed among the Hebrews will find here their just interpretation. We have known ail along too little of this period. Now competent critics will be able to tell what is purely Babylonian and what is purely Hebrew. The records from the library at Nippur are now on the way from Bassora to Constantinople, where they will arrive in the course

of six months.

In view of the fact that one of the first duties of the House of Commons this session will be to make provision for the maintenance of the rank to which Lord Roberts has been raised, it may be of interest (says the Manchester Guardian) to recall what was done in the same connection when the baronetcy was conferred after the Afghan campaign. The Parliamentary vote in*lßßl was a capital sum of £12,500 (a similar grant being made to Sir Donald Stewart), in addition to which a " distinguished service" pension of £100 was conferred. Lord Wolseley. on the other hand, received a gratuity of £25.000 for the Ashanti campaign and £30,000 for the Egyptian war. For the purposes of comparison it may be noted that since 1835 the following pensions for special military service have been granted to other officers in the Royal and Indian armies from the Consolidated Fund or Civil Service votes:— Seaton £2000 (for three lives), Lord Keame £2000 (for three lives), Lord Gough £2000 (for three lives), Lord Hardinge £3000 (for three lives), Lord Raglan £2000 (for two lives), Sir William F. Williams £1000, Sir H. M. Havelock £1000, and Lord Napier of Magdala £2000 (for two lives). From the revenues of India the following grants have been made :Sir William Nott £1000, Lord Hardinge £5000, Lord Gough £2000, Sir George Pollock £1000, Sir Archdale Wilson £1000, Sir James Outram £1000 (with continuance to his eldest son), and Lord Clyde £2000. It was the lastnamed, by the way, who, in recommending Lord Roberts to the charge of the Viceroy of India's camp in 1859, wrote: "Lieutenant Roberts is a particularly gentlemanlike, intelligent, and agreeable young officer."