already one of the national proverbs in the days of our Lord.

All this may appear irrelevant to the critical exposition of this verse; but the consideration may help to clear up an apparently obscure passage in the New Testament, namely, Matt. xvi. 16-19. When Simon made the declaration in verse 16., "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," he might have thought of or expressed the inspired proverb:

Thinking, or expressing, that concealment of the Messiahship of Jesus was impracticable.

"And Jesus [to whom word, thought, and deed were alike patent] answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Caphis; and upon the Ebhen I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven," &c.

The play (if so common an expression might be used in so sacred a theme) is not on the word Peter, but on the word כפיס‎ (Caphis), which signifies a rafter, a cross beam, a binder; or, as the margin (on Habak. ii. 11.) has it, "a fastener," from the verb כפס‎ (Caphas), to bind, to connect, to join.

That our Lord never used the Greek word σὺ εἶ Πετρος all must admit; that Κηφᾶς is not the Syriac word for stone is well known to every Oriental scholar. The proper Syriac word for stone is כאפא‎. However, there is a resemblance between the respective words, which may have been the origin of Simon's second surname—I mean to that of Cephas—Peter.

The import of Matt. xvi. 16-19. seems to me to be this: Christ acknowledges Simon to be part and parcel of the house, the Church; nay, more, He tells Simon that He intends him to be a "master-builder," to join, or bind, many members to that Church, all of which would be owned of Him. But the Church itself must be built upon the Ebhen, the Stone; by which Jesus evidently alluded to Ps. cxviii. 22.:

(Compare Matt. xxi. 42.)

May I ask whether the words ὅ ερμηνεύται Πετρος are to be considered as the words of St. John, or of his transcribers? The question may appear startling to some, but my copy of the Syriac New Testament is minus that sentence.

Moses Margoliouth.

Wybunbury, Nantwich.

EPITAPHS, ETC.

Epitaphs.—There is, or was, one at Pisa which thus concludes:

Nearer home, in Shoreditch churchyard:

"Sacred to the memory of Sarah Micci, who departed this life April 7th, 1819, aged 50 years.

Memento judicii mei, sic enim erit mihi heri, tibi hodie."

Not far from this is the following laconic one:

"Dr. John Gardner's last and best bed-room, who departed this life the 8th of April, 1835, in his 84th year."

Which reminds me of one at Finedon:

B. H. C.

Curious Inscription (Vol. iv., p. 88.).—In the first edition of Imperatorum Romanorum Numismata Aurea, by De Bie, Antwerp, 1615, at the foot of a page addressed "Ad Lectorem," and marked c. ii., are the following verses, which may be noted as forming a pendant to those referred to:

W. H. Scott.

Edinburgh.

Epitaph in Lavenham Church, Norfolk.—