The Races of the Old Testament. By A. H. Sayce,
LL.D.
(Religious Tract Society.)—This volume is one of the series en- titled "By-Paths of Bible Knowledge." Dr. Sayce thinks that the Mongolian type does not occur in the Old Testament, not being inclined to attribute the Hittites to this stock. All Old Testament races, "with the exception of the Negroes and Nubians, are divisions of the white race." These races were the Semites, the Egyptians, the Peoples of Canaan, and the Hittites. Dr. Sayce brings to the difficult subject of his book an abundance of learning, and though constrained to leave many points unsettled, makes a considerable contribution to the student's knowledge of it.—Dr. Sayce has also edited Records of the Past, Vol. V. (Ragster and Sons), containing translations of various Egyptian and other inscriptions of the Ancient Empires of the East. All are interesting, but perhaps the most curious is Chap. v., containing correspondence between Palestine and Egypt in the fifteenth century B.C.; and of this the most re- markable portion is that which bears on the person and position of Melchizedek. The Governor of Jerusalem, Ebed-tob, writes to King Amenophis IV., and begs for help against the Hittites, and, it is probable, the Bedouins. Here is what he says of his title to his authority : "Behold, neither my father nor my mother have exalted me to this place." What could illustrate better "without father or mother" ? He was a priest-king, not the representative of a dynasty. Scarcely less interesting are the "Inscriptions relating to the Rise of Cyrus and his Conquest of Babylonia."
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