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iv Assemanni, was not because he had more confidence in his own abilities, but because he deemed it more satisfactory to draw from the original Syriac, and to quote from the manuscript rituals which are in use among the Nestorians and Chaldeans at the present day, the authority of which is not liable to be contested.

In the work of translation the author has had the valuable help of the Reverend Michael Giamala, whose name has already been mentioned in the preceding volume, and who is considered one of the best Syriac scholars in Mesopotamia. It is sincerely to be hoped that the Church of England will eventually avail herself of his services for the reformation and restoration of the Nestorians, by whom, as well as by their Patriarch, he is held in high esteem.

An apology may be judged necessary for the publication of the Nestorian offices entire, especially the marriage and burial services, some parts of which consist of frequent repetitions, and are composed in a very loose and verbose style. Three reasons decided the author to give them unmutilated: First, in order that the wary might not suspect any reserve. Secondly, because the omission of a part would in many instances destroy the connexion existing between the whole. And, thirdly, because although the repetitions complained of might seemingly be rejected without affecting the essentials of the offices in question, yet the dogmas therein inculcated are not without their use in contributing to the principal design of this work, viz., the exposition of the theology of the Nestorians.

On the plan adopted in the execution of this object more will be said in the body of this volume; suffice it to remark here, that in collating the doctrines of the Nestorian rituals with those taught in the Book of Common Prayer, it has been the author's aim to afford an easy medium of comparing the agreement or difference existing between the two, and of show-