LIBRARY 
 
 OF THK 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 GTF'T OF" 
 
 S*. <7, 
 
 Accession No. 
 
 6 7 . 
 
TRIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE, 
 
 WITH THE 
 
 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE 
 
 TO ITS TRUTH. 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. HENRY TULLIDGE, A.M. 
 
 REV. vi. 2. 
 
 " Science may scale new heights and explore new depths, but she shall bring 
 back nothing from her daring and successful excursions which will not, when 
 rightly understood, yield a fresh tribjito-of Testimony to the Bible." MELVILLE'S 
 Sermons. 
 
 OF 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER, 124 GRAND STREET. 
 1863. 
 
ENTEKED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1863, by 
 
 CHAELES SCKIBNEE, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern 
 District of New York. 
 
 JOHN F. TROW, 
 PRINTER, STEREOTYPER, AND ELECTROTVPER, 
 
 46, 48, & 50 Greene St., New York. 
 
PKEFACE. 
 
 THE following pages are the result of an effort to produce a 
 book of Christian Evidences, adapted to the exigencies of the tunes. 
 Upon a subject which has occupied so many illustrious minds, and 
 given birth to monuments of sanctified genius and learning that 
 rank among the foremost achievements of the human intellect, it 
 might be supposed that nothing more was needed. Yet rich as 
 English literature is in defences of our faith, most of them were 
 written with distinct reference to some particular errors which 
 they opposed in their own day. They are still, and will ever re- 
 main, invaluable to the student, as depositories and armories of re- 
 search and argument, but they are not directly available against 
 the peculiar difficulties with which Christianity is now called to 
 contend. The objections which are brought against the religion 
 of the Bible at the present day, are of a very different character 
 from those which were so conclusively met by the profound and 
 masterly reasonings of Butler, Campbell, Paley, Leland, and others. 
 The adversary has returned to the assault with far deeper artifices 
 and more plausible disguises. "Forms of error more subtile than 
 ever Ebionite propounded or Marcionite devised, are now silently 
 producing their influence on thousands and tens of thousands who 
 bear on their foreheads the baptismal cross of Christ." * " Infidelity 
 of late," said Dr. Croly, " has changed its tone ; it is no longer con- 
 temptuous, insulting, and audacious. It now assumes the pretence of 
 reluctant doubt, laborious learning, and conscientious investigation. 
 Yet more desperate corruptions of the truth of God, more profligate 
 attempts to unsettle the soul, or a more inveterate passion to throw 
 
 > EUicott's Hulseafc Lectures, p. 21, Am. ed. 
 
4 PREFACE, 
 
 man into the grasp of moral death, were never exhibited in the most 
 ostentatious periods of hostility to the Gospel." This warning, 
 littered fifteen years ago, had special reference to the rationalistic 
 developments in Germany, though there were not wanting indi- 
 cations that the errors which were there full blown, had already 
 been transplanted, in their germ at least, to England. It may 
 now be said, that in the latter country, as in Germany before, 
 scepticism has penetrated even into the Sanctuary, donned surplice, 
 gown, and cassock, and speaks from university chairs and parish 
 pulpits. And there also the divine authority of Kevelation is the 
 main object of attack. " One period," says a German writer, " has 
 fought for Christ's sepulchre ; another for his body and blood ; 
 the present period contends for his word." By these preachers 
 of a Gospel "adapted to the wants of the nineteenth century," the 
 Bible is not avowedly rejected. Honeyed words are spoken by 
 them in its praise, and they even profess to esteem it, " as a whole, 
 far the noblest collection of sacred works in the world." But its 
 claim to be received as an inspired and infallible record of divine 
 truth "the law and the testimony" they utterly set aside, and 
 accept its most positive statements only so far as they accord with 
 the oracle within. 1 The Bible, they will admit, contains a revela- 
 tion, but* human reason is to determine what is the truth commu- 
 nicated. As a mathematician would cast out the irrelevant from 
 a treatise on geometry, so do they claim the prerogative, in virtue 
 of a "heaven-taught conscience" and the possession of a "verify- 
 ing faculty," to separate the human from the divine to sift the 
 chaff from the wheat of inspiration. The Bible is thus in effect 
 made a kaleidoscope, to be turned and shaken at the fancy of 
 every man who handles it, presenting at each turn a new and fan- 
 ciful combination of ever- varying truth. The existence of abso- 
 lute, unchanging truth, at least as connected with religion, they 
 do not, indeed, appear to recognise. In their system, the receiv- 
 ed facts of Christianity are sublimated into ideas, while its doc- 
 trines, ever as occasion requires, are to be moulded and conformed 
 to the "new and higher forms of modern thought." 
 
 1 " The Scriptural writers, 1 ' says the Eev. Dr. Kowland Williams, " after all, -were 
 Trat men, and the condition of mankind is imperfect. They spoke of old, but all old 
 times represent, as it were, the childhood of the human race, and therefore had 
 childish things which wo must put away." Rational Godliness, p. 294. 
 
PEEFACE. 5 
 
 This school of error is apparently on the advance. The famous 
 "Essays and Reviews" in which two years ago the fundamental 
 verities of Christianity were impugned by ordained ministers of 
 the Church of England, are now followed by a book written by a 
 prelate of the same church (Dr. Colenso), in which he undertakes 
 to demolish the authority of the Pentateuch and the Book of 
 Joshua, and it is intimated that, in his next effort, he may possibly 
 essay to prove the Gospels to be " unhistorical ! " Truly prophetic 
 is the description which Spenser gives of Doubt, as being clad in 
 "a coat of strange disguise," with "sleeves dependant." Unlike 
 the first illustrious missionary bishop to the heathen, one of his 
 successors in the apostolate thus seeks to destroy the faith he was 
 commissioned to proclaim. For it is vain to say that these " new 
 views " are reconcilable with holding to the essential verities of 
 the faith. The enlightened mind, whose moral and intellectual 
 perceptions have not been clouded by the mephitic vapors of 
 transcendentalism and ideology, clearly sees that the foundation 
 is thus attacked, and that vital interests are at stake. If the sacred 
 vessel that holds the water of life be shattered, its precious con- 
 tents, spilt upon the ground, can never be gathered up again. The 
 " bewildered friends" of Christianity may be unaware of their posi- 
 tion. " With numb and icy fingers they may feel around the cross 
 which they do not grasp," but their Gospel is not that of Paul and 
 of John. If they are not " breaking down the carved work of the 
 sanctuary with axes and hammers," they are assiduously engaged 
 in undermining it. And for what ? That they may overturn the 
 grand and stately temple which through so many ages " the good- 
 ly fellowship of the prophets " and " the glorious company of the 
 apostles" were employed in rearing for us, and of which God 
 himself is the Architect, and raise up in its room the "ever-top- 
 pling fabrics of scepticism" 
 
 " Cloud towers by ghostly masons wrought 
 In shadowy thoroughfares of thought." 
 
 In view of such developments, it is no wonder that the old 
 enemies of the truth are beside themselves with delight. Their 
 interpretation of these " unwonted signs " is that they betoken 
 " the advent of a great spiritual reformation." In its traditional 
 and accepted forms, they already assume Christianity to be a thing 
 
6 PREFACE. 
 
 of the past ; but they console those who would regret its * dying 
 out " with the assurance that " a purer and brighter light is about 
 to dawn upon us." " The gallant ship " (of Christian truth), loosed 
 from " the chains of a dogmatic theology," is now prosecuting " a 
 voyage of discovery and adventure on the dark waters of unknown 
 seas, and the bright light of the rising sun illumines her pathway 
 to the haven where she would be." Already, it would seem, that 
 her prow must have "grated the golden isles" of doubt that the 
 great " discovery " had been made which the " prophetic spirit " 
 of Emerson, the "deep insight" of Carlyle, and the "spiritual ear- 
 nestness " of the younger Newman, so long have waited for. At 
 least such joy is theirs 
 
 " As when to them who sail 
 
 Beyond the cape of Hope, and now are past 
 
 Mbzambic, off at sea northeast winds blow 
 
 Sabean odors from the spicy shore 
 
 Of Arabic the blest." 
 
 The exulting champion of scepticism does not hesitate to claim 
 that " the whole mental food of the day science, history, morals, 
 poetry, fiction, and essay is prepared by men who have long 
 ceased to believe." l It does not appear, however, what it is that 
 has supplied the place of that " old belief " in which such men as 
 Bacon, Newton, and Locke found rest to their souls. There is 
 doubtless great exaggeration in the above statement, which rather 
 expresses the wish of the writer than the condition of things as it 
 actually exists. Still it also contains much truth. And there is 
 not a little in the " signs of the times " to occasion serious appre- 
 hension to those who stand by " the faith once delivered to the 
 saints." 
 
 The believer knows, indeed, that the hopes and aspirations of 
 scepticism are doomed to disappointment knows that the cause 
 of Zion is in safe hands. The bands of error that are now gather- 
 ed against her battlements, like " the midnight host of spectres 
 pale " that once, according to the wild old legend, " beleaguered 
 the walls of Prague," will be scattered by the light of the Morning 
 Star. And even though the enemy succeed in effecting a lodg- 
 ment within the citadel 
 
 ' Duel intra muros . . . et arce locari ' 
 
 1 Westminster Review. 
 
PREFACE. 7 
 
 yet will not that device avail to overthrow the Christian Ilium. 
 " God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved." As from 
 the earliest times the Church has been infested by "false teachers" 
 within her walls, as well as assaulted by foes without, and has 
 ever triumphed over both, so will it be again. Could the Bible 
 be overthrown, then, indeed, would her Palladium be lost ; but as 
 Archbishop Whateley says, " Scripture is in itself invulnerable ; 
 and they who attack it, do but dash themselves to pieces against a 
 rock." Yet, though the Church and the Bible are secure, it is 
 requisite, as far as possible, to prevent error from multiplying its 
 victims. The snares of the enemy must be laid bare and his arti- 
 fices exposed. And this will not be done by alleging that the 
 battle of Christianity has been already fought and won that the 
 vindications of its truth, bequeathed to us by the strong champions 
 of old, are unanswered and unanswerable. It is doubtless true 
 that the objections and theories of modern unbelief are, mainly, 
 but reproductions in novel forms of speculations whose fallacies 
 were long since exposed. Thus the pantheism of Spinosa is re- 
 vived in the oracular utterances of Emerson, and the " absolute 
 religion " of Theodore Parker is but a prosaic version of Pope's 
 Universal Prayer. The "Colossal man" theory of Intellectual 
 progression seems to have been anticipated in Lord Bolingbroke's 
 dictum that there was an " intuitive knowledge " in man, which 
 constituted "a perpetual standing revelation, always made, always 
 making, to all the sons of Adam." And so also the " difficulties " 
 of the Bishop of Ratal's book are but a revival of the old objec- 
 tions of Von Bohlen and Bruno Bauer, long ago met and answered 
 by Hengstenberg and other great German scholars. Still, as a 
 safeguard to those who might otherwise be led astray, such attacks 
 must not be suffered to pass unnoticed. The battle must be fought 
 over again, though substantially with the same weapons that have 
 proved their efficiency in so many former conflicts. If the old 
 works of evidence will not now be read, then new ones should be 
 written with corresponding adaptations to the new modes of attack 
 adopted by the- enemy. And especially should means be taken to 
 convince the promising youth in our halls of learning, that Christian- 
 ity is fully able to " stand the light of the age in which we live " 
 that there is no such " unbridged chasm," as scepticism insinuates, 
 between Science and Eevelation. And though we tannot doubt, 
 that God's watchful care and grace will be over his Church to the 
 
8 PKEFACE, 
 
 end of time, BO that the gates of hell shall not finally prevail against 
 it, yet it should also be considered, that the necessity of human 
 exertion, so long as second causes shall form part of the Divine 
 economy, will not therefore he superseded. If the sceptic will 
 occupy himself in the task of ransacking all ancient and modern 
 learning, for the purpose of discovering some flaw, some incon- 
 sistency, in the charter of our salvation, it is at least incumbent 
 upon the Christian scholar who is "set for the defence of the 
 Gospel," to exercise a like zeal and industry in behalf of a trust 
 BO sacred and so tremendously important. Moreover, as there is 
 the authority of Bishop Butler for the statement that " the evidences 
 of Christianity are a long series of things, reaching from the be- 
 ginning of the world to the present time, of great variety and 
 compass, taking in the direct and also the collateral proofs, and 
 making up all of them together but one argument," it is obvious, 
 that as the materials for that " argument " accumulate, they should 
 be wrought in, in order that its strength, impregnability, and 
 grandeur may be duly apprehended. 
 
 It is not proposed in the present work to survey the whole 
 field of Christian Evidence, nor have I taken more than a passing 
 glance at the great pillars of argument for the truth, such as the 
 prophecies and miracles of the Bible, which have already been 
 elaborated with such surpassing skill. The special object at which 
 I have aimed has been to vindicate the truth and authority of the 
 Divine Word, and prove its harmony with the discoveries of 
 Science, while incidentally, replies are given to some of the more 
 prominent and plausible objections of modern unbelief. In follow- 
 ing out the plan adopted, I have endeavored, first, to show that 
 the "Triumphs of the Bible," i. e. the resistance it has overcome 
 and the marvels it has accomplished in the world, demonstrate it 
 to be from God. This is designed as an introduction to the main 
 portion of the work, of which the three opening chapters are 
 occupied with proofs of the harmony of Physical Science with 
 Kevelation, while in the remainder of the book, the most thorough 
 investigations of what in distinction may be termed Historical 
 Science, are shown to utter a like testimony. The wonderful 
 attestations to the truth of Scripture, which have been obtained 
 in recent years from the " lands of the Bible," and by which its 
 Historic Keatoty is vindicated against the Mythical School of 
 Scepticism, are brought out in the closing chapters. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PART I. 
 
 TRIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 Severity of its ordeal Its preservation a twofold argument Scripture itself a 
 battle-ground Christianity a " Book Revelation "Its achievements Propa- 
 gation of the Gospel Causes assigned by Gibbon for its triumph inadequate 
 The Cross still a conquering sign The Book advancing Its final triumph in 
 the world assured The almoner of temporal blessings Picture of ancient 
 Athens Social tyranny of the people An accomplished Athenian Corres- 
 ponding picture of Roman manners Beneficent changes wrought by Christi- 
 anityGlorious consummation in the future The agent of intellectual ad- 
 vancementSplendor of the ancient civilization Its fatal defect Religion of 
 the Bible the wanting clement Triumphs during the dark ages The great 
 boon of the Reformation Influence of the Bible on Literature, Art, and 
 Science Colossal man hypothesis The Bible's greatest triumph Still an 
 object of hostility Combination of enemies Duty of the Christian The 
 Bible prepared for every scrutiny^ pp. 1371 
 
 PART II. 
 
 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 PRELIMINARY. 
 
 Difference in aim and object of Science and Revelation Phenomenal language- 
 Truths concealed therein, . pp. 7376 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ASTRONOMY. 
 
 The word " firmament" The earth's motion Gravitation implied Uniformity of 
 the earth's rotation Countless number of the stars Sceptical inference and 
 objection Dr. Chalmers Probable extent of the moral influence of redemp- 
 tionGod's ways and thoughts not as ours His glory seen in the minute as in 
 the vast Analogies of Scripture Infidel Cosmogony Nebular Hypothesis 
 Evidences of Creative design Arrangement for the stability of the solar sys- 
 temObliquity of the earth's axis to the equator Acceleration of the earth's 
 motion Resisting medium Other indications of approaching change In har- 
 1* 
 
10 CONTENTS. 
 
 mony with Creation's apparent law Professor Nichol His conjectures antici- 
 pated in the Bible Restitution of all things The Heaven of the Bible Dis- 
 covery of the planet Neptune Surpassed by the achievements of Christian 
 faith" Delectable Mountains" Doctor Payson Giles Fletcher's description 
 of " the Holy City," pp. 77106 
 
 CHAPTER H. 
 
 GEOLOGY. 
 
 Its rank as a science Formerly received opinion of tho date of Creation Wrecks 
 of a former state of nature Cuvier Its leading principles now established- 
 Each of the strata a vast catacomb Immense quantity of fossil remains Tab- 
 let of signs Geology tho key Apparent discrepancy with Scripture Favorite 
 counter-explanation Orderly arrangement cannot be referred to a disturbing 
 agency Simulacra Such resorts unnecessary Difficulty of reconcilement 
 not with Scripture, but with misconceptions of its meaning Coincidences of 
 the Mosaic narrative of Creation with the discoveries of Geology Preparation 
 for man Remarks of Professor Guyot Death in the world before Adam- 
 Vast antiquity of the globe First mode of reconcilement with Scripture 
 Alleged to be no longer adequate Another mode Scriptural difficulty How 
 met Each hypothesis consistent with the letter of Scripture The deluge of 
 Noah No physical evidences remaining Objections' to its extending over tho 
 entire globe Mosaic account examined Probably not literally universal This 
 view supported by Bishop Stillingfleet and Matthew Poole Answers all objec- 
 tions North British Review quoted The " minute philosophers " Dr. Buck- 
 land Geology a witness for Revelation Development hypothesis Infidel ob- 
 jection to miracles overthrown, pp. 107144 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 PHYSICAL SCIENCE CONTINUED. 
 
 A difficulty for the sceptic Scientific absurdities of the ancients Fathers of the 
 Church Kepler Dreams substituted for realities in matters of observation- 
 Credulity of Pliny and Tacitus Virgil Contrast of the Bible Remarkable 
 power of adjustment in its language One hundred and fourth Psalm Baron 
 Humboldt Distinction between primitive and solar light recognized The day- 
 spring Adaptation of light to the atmosphere Weight of the air and measure 
 of the waters" Circuits "Dust of gold " Since man was upon the earth'.' 
 Great principles of science recognized Universal prevalence of law Higher 
 law of progress and development Adaptation Law of type or pattern God's 
 Word verified in all cases by his works Inadequacy of science to our spiritual 
 wants The great question Abiding truth Key to all mysteries, pp. 145172 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE UNITY OF THE HUMAN RACE. 
 
 Theory of primitive centres Inconsistent with Scripture Physical Identity- 
 Moral and intellectual constitution everywhere the same Dr. Prichard's Nat- 
 ural History of Man Influence of Climate Historical Testimony Observa- 
 tions of Bishop Heber in India Baron Humboldt Insufficiency of time ob- 
 
CONTENTS. 1 1 
 
 jected Divine intervention probable Law of deterioration more rapid than 
 restoration Appeal to Scripture Inequality of mental endowment Contrasts 
 no deeper than the surface Comparative Philology a witness for the Bible 
 Dr. Max Muller Fossil remains of languages Summary of arguments by Rev. 
 Dr. Breekinridge, . pp. 173192 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 SACRED CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 Difficulties of the subject Objections to the Hebrew Chronology Reasons for 
 preferring the larger Chronology of the Septuagint Considered a vulnerable 
 point fifty years ago Sanguine anticipations of infidelity disappointed As- 
 tronomical observations of the Hindus Historical records of China and India 
 Egyptian zodiacs Rosetta stone Manetho His dynasties partly contempo- 
 raneous Syncellus Different results arrived at by the learned Extravagant 
 views of Baron Bunsen Mr. Rawlinson quoted A moderate Egyptian Chro- 
 nology established by the researches of Mr. Poole Reconcilable with a remote 
 Egyptian antiquity Estimate of Baron Bunsen's authority Table of Abydos 
 Heliacal rising of the Pleiades Geology a witness to the late appearance of 
 man Bishop Berkeley Sir Charles Lyell's counter theory of man among the 
 mammoths examined His inferences not proven Opinion of Professor Sedg- 
 wick Lucretius, pp. 193211 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 PRIMITIVE HISTORIC TRADITIONS. 
 
 Value of the Bible as a record of the past Infidel objection Shadows of Bible 
 realities Origin of Pagan Idolatry Traditions of chaos and creation The 
 seventh day Age of innocence The serpent Pandora's box Longevity of 
 the first men Four ages The Titans Traditions of a Deluge universal Baron 
 Humboldt Grotius Tower of Babel Burning of Sodom Rite of circumcision 
 Moses Decree ofPergamos Artapanus The Exodus Hermes Miracle of 
 Joshua Infidel charge refuted Bible truths and heathen legends, pp. 212235 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ANCIENT HISTORY. 
 
 Christianity bound np with facts Uncontradicted by the early enemies of the 
 Gospel Unconscious prophecies of Heathendom The Desire of all nations 
 Josephus Archelaus John the Baptist Record sent by Pilate to the Roman 
 Senate Testimony of opponents to Christianity Celsus Tacitus Suetonius 
 Remark of Gibbon Kindred of Christ brought before Domitian Corres- 
 pondence of Pliny and Trajan Apologies of Quadratus and Aristides Por- 
 phyryThe Emperor Julian Completeness of the chain of evidence Tri- 
 umphal arch of Titus at Rome The Jew of the present day, . ^ pp. 236255 
 
 " CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 OBJECTIONS AND REPLIES. 
 
 Charge of discrepancy and contradiction Vanishes upon discovery of the clue Al- 
 leged collision of Scripture and Profane History Minute accuracy of the sacred 
 writers vindicated Medals for the coronation of Louis XIV Title assigned by 
 Luke to Sergius Paulus Silence of Profane History Unity and Harmony of the 
 Bible Undesigned Coincidences Their value as evidences, . pp. 236270 
 
12 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 SACRED GEOGRAPHY TOPOGRAPHICAL ACCURACY OP THE BIBLE. 
 
 The Land and the Book Pictorial Alphabet of spiritual truths Value of this tes- 
 timonyConstant agreement of the history and geography of the Bible Un- 
 changing manners and customs of the East The face of nature Present as- 
 pect of Palestine accounted for Topographical details Land of Goshen On 
 Zoan Passage of the Red Sea Wells of Moses Marah Elim Mount Sinai 
 The Wilderness Approach to Palestine Beersheba Hebron Land of the 
 Philistines Bethlehem Jerusalem Road to Jericho Dead Sea Engedi 
 The Jordan, pp. 271-314 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 TOPOGRAPHICAL ACCURACY OP THE BIBLE (Continued.) 
 
 Gibcon Mizpeh -Shiloh Shechem Samaria Dothan Mount Carmel Jezrcel 
 Nazareth Sea of Galilee Scenery of the Parables Lebanon Hermon 
 Argument of Professor Stuart, pp. 315359 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES OLD TESTAMENT. 
 
 Historic reality of the Bible Special object of infidel attack Rise of a new science 
 Use made of it by infidelity Mythical school of Scepticism Its development 
 and extension Influence and tendency Mackay's Progress of the Intellect 
 His interpretation of the history of Joseph This new phase of infidelity over- 
 ruled to the advantage of the Bible Internal evidence of the early Scriptures 
 A Providential vindication in reserve Its timely disclosure Nature of the 
 testimony illustrated by discoveries in Pompeii Monumental wonders of Egypt 
 Particulars of Abraham's visit corroborated Infidel objections answered 
 Incidents in the history of Joseph The Bondage The " king who knew not 
 Joseph " Shishak and Rehoboam Gates of Mount Seir opened Giant Cities 
 of Bashan Moab Ammon Ancient Nineveh disentombed Range and extent 
 of the Assyrian discoveries Pictorial history of the Empire Summary of its 
 incidental confirmations of Scripture Key to the language found Identifica- 
 tion of Scripture names King of Moab's eldest son Annals of Shalmaneser 
 Sennacherib before Lachish Tribute exacted of Hezekiah Egyptian seals 
 found in the Kouynjuk Palace Ezar-haddon Nebuchadnezzar's " enchant- 
 ment "Anticipation of Mr. Rawlinson Exact fulfilment of prophecy in the 
 respective judgments upon Nineveh and Babylon Old Testament scenes still 
 reproduced in the vicinity, pp. 360409 
 
 CHAPTER XH. 
 
 ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 Attempt to idealize the New Testament Internal evidence Confession of Rous- 
 seauCharacter of Christ Fresh Confirmations brought to light from the 
 Catacombs of Rome-Graffiti Conclusion, .... pp. 410 421 
 
 APPENDIX. Authenticity and Genuineness of the Sacred Scriptures, pp. 422429 
 
PART I. 
 TKIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 AMONG the numerous evidences of the divine origin of 
 the Bible, which the progress of time has accumulated, the 
 persevering opposition it has resisted and overcome, is not, 
 perhaps, the least considerable. So many and formidable 
 are the assaults it has sustained, that its^preservation to 
 this day unimpaired, is an unanswerable proof that One 
 mightier than man must have watched over its safety and 
 integrity. No book has been so attacked and no book has 
 so triumphed as the Bible. Many a volume that once bid 
 fair for immortality has gone down to oblivion. Of the 
 unnumbered thousands that have been written since the 
 dawn of literature, how few, even of those that once filled 
 the trump of fame and were ranked among the chief pro- 
 ductions of human genius, have escaped the ravages of 
 time and the forgetfulness of man ! Though the shelves of 
 mighty libraries groan with the learned labors of the past, 
 yet of the vast majority of the works therein deposited, it 
 may be said, that " like the bodies of Egyptian kings in 
 their pyramids, they retain only a grim semblance of life, 
 amidst neglect, darkness, and decay." Upon the sacred 
 oracles alone, the lapse of ages has gathered no rust. 
 Time has not outdated them. They are as 
 
14 TEIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 now, as when prophets and apostles first indited their burn- 
 ing words, and their power and influence were never be- 
 fore so great as they are to-day. Since they were first 
 given to the world, mighty empires have risen and decay- 
 ed ; proud capitals have flourished and fallen into ruin ; 
 numerous generations have come and gone ; change and 
 revolution have again and again swept over the globe ; yet 
 this citadel of our faith has survived the desolations of 
 ages, umnutilated and undecayed. During these revolving 
 centuries, the Bible has encountered every form of peril. 
 The great men and the mighty men, kings and nations, 
 pagans and papists, have sought its extirpation. Popes and 
 priests have sought to corrupt and deface it, or to substi- 
 tute monkish legends for its words of life. All that learn- 
 ing could discover, all that eloquence could allege, all that 
 wit, cunning, and sophistry could contrive, have been 
 brought to bear against it. The bowels of the earth and 
 the region of the stars have been alike explored to furnish 
 means for its overthrow. Yet all has been in vain. Thou- 
 sands of its friends have suffered martyrdom in its defence, 
 yet, like the mystic bush which it chronicles, it has remain- 
 ed unconsumed. The malignant rage of Antiochus, Decius, 
 and Diocletian, and the labored arguments of Celsus and 
 Porphyry, have been equally powerless against the Word 
 of the Lord. In modern times, the philosophy of Hobbes, 
 tne sceptic doubts of Bayle, the polished sarcasm of Boling- 
 broke, the subtlety of Hume, the learning of Gibbon, the 
 mockery of Voltaire, and the vulgarity of Paine, have all 
 proved unable to invalidate a single statement of the 
 prophets of Israel or the fishermen of Galilee. Like the 
 ark of Noah, upborne and protected by the invisible hand 
 of the Almighty, the Bible has safely ridden " the resistless 
 tide which has set m from the birth of Time," and which is 
 continually overwhelming man and his works. Commenced 
 in the Arabian desert ages before Homer sang, and finished 
 
TRIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 15 
 
 fifteen hundred years afterward on an island in the uEgean 
 Sea, it has come down to us from that remote antiquity 
 unscathed and entire, like the fabled pillars of Seth, which 
 are said to have bid defiance to the flood that swept all 
 things else away. As Sir Thomas Browne has said, " The 
 Bible is too hard for the tooth of time. It cannot perish, 
 but in the general flames, when all things shall confess 
 their ashes." " The grass withereth, and the flower there- 
 of falleth away ; but the word of the Lord endureth for- 
 ever." 
 
 This wonderful preservation presents a twofold argu- 
 ment for the Bible. Its heavenly origin is vindicated by 
 the intense and unremitting hostility it has encountered, 
 and by its success in overcoming it. For it is impossible 
 to assign that hostility to any other cause than the dis- 
 closures which it makes respecting the extreme deadliness 
 of sin, and of the ineffable purity and justice of the Divine 
 nature. These are the stumbling blocks which have in all 
 ages elicited the enmity of the human heart and arrayed 
 against it such powerful and numerous adversaries. Let it 
 then be even supposed that the unaided genius of man 
 could have produced such a volume as the Bible, display- 
 ing, as it confessedly does, in the judgment even of its 
 enemies, 1 such sublimity of thought, such knowledge of 
 the heart, and such amazing depth of wisdom ; is it likely 
 that writers of so extraordinary capacity would have given 
 characteristics to their work which render it an object of 
 such deep and widespread aversion? that they would 
 have been so weak as to represent God and human nature 
 in characters unpalatable to the natural man, and most of 
 
 i The infidel Rousseau was constrained to utter such an eulogium as the 
 following : " The majesty of the Scriptures strikes me with astonishment. 
 Look at the volumes of all the philosophers, with all their pomp, how con- 
 temptible do they appear in comparison with this ! Is it possible that a book 
 at once so simple and sublime can be the work of man ? " 
 
16 TRIUMPHS OP THE BIBLE. 
 
 all, on the supposition that they were impostors, unpala- 
 table to themselves? Such a mixture of weakness and 
 wisdom, we must at once see to be incongruous and im- 
 possible. 
 
 And the fact of the Bible's preservation in the midst of 
 all this hostility ; that it should stand unto this day, amid 
 the wreck of all that is human, substantially entire in every 
 part, is an argument for its divinity which no sophistry of 
 infidelity can explain or overthrow. "The resistance of 
 ages is its crowning legitimation. It is felt and feared by 
 all the rulers of the darkness of this world. It is the visi- 
 ble battle-field of invisible forces, showing in the radiant 
 faces of the martyrs who have died for it, and the unearthly 
 struggles of those who have hunted it from the earth, what 
 mysterious interests are suspended on its safety or destruc- 
 tion." " For could we but see a volume bearing marks of 
 all that these holy oracle shave passed through, what should 
 we behold but an ancient volume exhibiting signs of hav- 
 ing been at one time trampled on by rage, at another 
 moth-eaten by neglect ; now interpolated by error, then 
 erased by pride ; here, scorched by the fires of bigotry ; 
 there, stained with the venom of infidelity ; in every page, 
 sprinkled with the blood of its martyred defenders ; and 
 yet so substantially entire in every part as to show that it 
 has always been in the keeping of Omnipotence in the 
 hollow of His hand." 
 
 There are yet other considerations germane to the above 
 argument, which yield a testimony, perhaps little less con- 
 vincing, of the divine origin of the Bible. "The Scripture 
 itself," says Dean Trench, " is full of remembrances of its 
 own power. He who, tolerably well acquainted with the 
 history of the Church, with the struggles which accompanied 
 the unfolding, fixing, and vindicating of her dogma, he 
 who, furnished with this knowledge, passes over Scripture, 
 may in some moods of his mind pass over it as a succession 
 
TRIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 17 
 
 of battle-fields. He may be likened to a traveller journey- 
 ing through some land which, by the importance of its posi- 
 tion or the greatness of its attractions, has drawn contend- 
 ing hosts to its soil,, and been a battle ground for innumer- 
 able generations. Besides, hi all those pages which speak 
 more directly to himself, they are eloquent to him with a 
 thousand stirring recollections. For at every step which 
 he advances, he recognizes that which has been the motive 
 of some mighty and long-drawn conflict, in which the keen- 
 est and brightest intellects, the kingliest spirits, the Ber- 
 nards and the Abelards of their day, were engaged. Here, 
 there, and everywhere, be it that he wanders among the 
 extinguished volcanoes of controversies which have now 
 burned themselves out, or among those which are flaming 
 still, he meets with that, to maintain their conviction about 
 which, men have been content to spend their lives, to make 
 shipwreck of their worldly hopes, have dwelt in deserts, in 
 caves, and in dungeons, yea, gladly have encountered all 
 from which nature most, and most naturally shrinks. And 
 whatever there may have been of earthly and of carnal 
 mingling in the motives of the combatants, however in some 
 of them he can recognize only the champions of error, yet 
 in these mighty and passionate strivings, in these conflicts 
 which generation has bequeathed to generation, he reads 
 the confession which all past ages have borne, that this 
 Word was worth contending for, being felt by those 
 worthiest to judge, dearer than life itself, and such that 
 things else were cheap by comparison with it." , 
 
 It would, however, convey a very imperfect view of the 
 triumphs of the Bible, if we confined our attention to its 
 having survived the ordeal of all-conquering Time, and 
 escaped uninjured the hostility of its numerous and perse- 
 vering enemies, together with the undying interest it has 
 excited in the noblest intellects of successive generations. 
 The Bible is the document of Christianity, and is indeed 
 
18 TRIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 identified with it ; for we need not repel the imputation 
 of the infidel, though intended as a sneer, that ours is a 
 ',' Book revelation." The wonderful results that Book has 
 achieved, and is still achieving in the world, regarding it as 
 the armory of the Church's weapons, or rather as the con- 
 ductor of those holy influences through which the Church 
 has won all her triumphs, afford a sufficient reply, as well 
 as additional and unanswerable demonstration of its heaven- 
 ly origin. 
 
 First among these is the propagation of Christianity. 
 We cannot imagine an instrumentality in itself more utter- 
 ly inadequate to the effect, than when the first preachers of 
 the Gospel, " with no diadem but the crown of thorns, no 
 sword but the sword of the Spirit," went forth to subdue 
 the nations to the obedience of Christ. A little company 
 of poor, friendless fishermen, what were they, to contend 
 against all the prejudices, sins, and follies of mankind, the 
 weight of learned authority, the advantages of birth, the 
 edicts of the civil power, in a word, against the combined 
 hostility of the world ? The Gospel was a stumbling block 
 to the Jew, and to the Greek foolishness. How could the 
 haughty Pharisee and the worldly minded Sadducee wel- 
 come a religion which destroyed their hopes and humbled 
 their pride ? which required them to recognize the promised 
 Son of David in the lowly Nazarene, and renouncing their 
 delusive expectations of earthly conquest and dominion un- 
 der the banner of Messiah, to embrace a life of poverty, 
 self-denial, and persecution ? No wonder they turned from 
 it with scorn and loathing. Nor were less difficulties to be 
 encountered in the Gentile world. There a cruel and licen- 
 tious idolatry reigned supreme. It has been said, indeed, 
 that the spirit of Polytheism was " mild and tolerant ; " 
 which being granted, it might be inferred that in it Chris- 
 tianity would find no obstacle. The tolerance of the hea- 
 then, however, as in the case of the Romans, only extended 
 
TRIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 19 
 
 to the occasional adoption, from motives of imagined inter- 
 est, of the gods of the countries which they conquered, 
 recognising them as the tutelary deities of their particular 
 districts. The prevailing sentiment of antiquity was that 
 which is depicted by the caustic pen of Juvenal : 
 
 " Summus utrinque 
 
 Inde furor vulgo, quod numina vicinorum 
 Odit uterque locus, quum solus credat habendoa 
 Esse deos, quos ipse colit." l Sat. xv. 
 
 The crime for which Socrates suffered martyrdom in 
 refined and polished Athens, was the promulgation of purer 
 doctrines concerning God and Providence. Cicero but 
 uttered the voice of Roman opinion when he pronounced 
 it " among the most necessary laws of every wise state, 
 that no one, not excepting strangers, should be allowed to 
 offer worship to any gods excepting such as had received a 
 public recognition." If the religion of Jesus could have 
 admitted of a compromise could have consented on the 
 same terms with the worshippers of Isis and Mithras, to 
 share the empty honors of a statue or an altar, the obstacles 
 in the way of its acknowledgment might have been over- 
 come. But, at the bidding of a few unlettered men, to 
 displace the Jupiter of the Capitol for the Crucified of Ju- 
 dea yea, to hurl from their seats all the deities of the 
 Pantheon, and account their whole religious system, 
 though sanctioned by tradition, hallowed by patriotism, 
 and radiant with unrivalled attractions of poetry and art, 
 as a tissue of fraud and fable, this was a requirement which 
 
 * Between two neighboring towns, a deadly hate, 
 Sprung from a sacred grudge of ancient date, 
 Yet flames ; a hate no lenience can assuage, 
 No time subdue, a rooted, rancorous rage ! 
 Blind bigotry, at first, the evil wrought, 
 For each despis'd the other's gods, each thought 
 Its own the true, the genuine, in a word, 
 The only deities to be adored." GIFFOBD'S Trans. 
 
20 TEIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 excited the astonishment and hatred of the heathen world, 
 and especially incensed the pride and arrogance of Rome. 
 In the schools of philosophy also, fresh difficulties were to 
 be met. Those schools were at this time more frequented 
 than ever, and the Portico and the Grove at Athens were 
 the acknowledged thrones of the intellectual world. Be- 
 neath the spell of the subtile and dazzling theories which 
 were there elaborated, all the cultivated minds of heathen- 
 dom cringed in willing thraldom. How vain then, appa- 
 rently, to expect that the disciples of Plato and Aristotle 
 would exchange their lofty speculations, reaching " beyond 
 the utmost bounds of human thought," for the humbling 
 tenets of a religion which taught that "the wisdom of this 
 world is foolishness with God ! " Another element of oppo- 
 sition to the pure and uncompromising Gospel, was found in 
 the vices of an age which, according to all the pictures that 
 have been drawn of it, seems to have exceeded the usual 
 measure of corruption. Amid much exterior refinement, 
 morality was unknown, and the most detestable vices 
 everywhere prevailed. The world was one great temple 
 of pollution. " Darkness covered the earth and gross 
 darkness the people." They did not " like to retain God 
 in their knowledge," and He had given them up to a " rep- 
 robate mind." Statesmen, philosophers, and priests, not 
 less than the great body of the people, were shamelessly 
 depraved. Their very amusements, the gladiatorial shows, 
 eagerly attended by women as well as men, in which hun- 
 dreds and thousands of human victims were 
 
 " Butchered to make a Roman holiday ! " 
 
 sufficiently prove the brutality of their manners and the 
 hardness of their hearts. These human victims, be it also 
 noted, were fed on a succulent diet for some weeks pre- 
 vious to the exhibition, in order that their veins, being 
 full, might bleed more freely, for the greater gratification 
 
TRIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 21 
 
 of the spectators ! The other leading nation of antiquity 
 was not, indeed, stained with the cruelty which, it has been 
 said, asserted the presence of the wolf's milk in the moral 
 constitution of the masters of the world ; but Greeks as 
 well as Romans, not only practised, but gloried in abomi- 
 nations which we cannot even execrate by name. Such 
 was the character of nations among whom the arts and 
 literature flourished ; and facts confirm what might reason- 
 ably be inferred, that nothing could be found in barbarian 
 lands to relieve the sombre shades of the picture. If with- 
 out the vices of a corrupt civilization, other nations were 
 under the spell of idolatries far more revolting 
 
 "Things worse 
 
 Than fables yet have feigned or fear conceived 
 Gorgons and hydras, and chimeras dire." 
 
 Where science and literature had shed their light, there 
 was a point of approach, something to which the teachers 
 of the new faith could appeal. But here " a darkness that 
 might be felt," apparently rendered access hopeless. 
 
 When we consider that such were the obstacles to be 
 overcome, and contrast with them the intrinsic feebleness 
 of the instrumentality employed, nothing would appear 
 more hopeless than the success of the Gospel. Yet in the 
 face of all this complicated opposition, the heralds of the 
 Cross went forward undaunted and undismayed. They 
 allowed of no compromise with sin, but proclaimed the 
 wrath of God against all " ungodliness and unrighteous- 
 ness of men." Mahomet could allure followers to his 
 standard by the promise of a paradise of sensuality ; l but 
 
 i " The progress of Mahometanism is in full contrast," says Bishop 
 Wilson, " in all its causes and characteristics, with that of the Christian faith. 
 It arose in the seventh century among a warlike people, in an age of gross 
 darkness ; was founded by a person of one of the best families of his country ; 
 it was composed of Jewish legends, and the popular superstitions of Arabia, 
 mingled with sentiments and doctrines gathered from the Christian Scrip- 
 
22 TRIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 they required their disciples to " crucify the flesh with the 
 affections and lusts," and to " follow holiness." They en- 
 forced upon all, without distinction, upon Greek and bar- 
 barian, bond and free, learned and unlearned, the same 
 necessity of seeking pardon through a crucified Saviour 
 and the relinquishment of every other ground of hope 
 toward God. And what was the result? Mighty as 
 were' the obstructions, and seemingly weak and inadequate 
 as were the instruments, yet those weak instruments tri- 
 umphed, and those obstructions gave way. The plant 
 which grew out of a dry place became beautiful and 
 glorious; and the stone which the builders rejected was 
 made the head of the corner. Ere the apostles were all of 
 them gathered to their rest, "their line had gone out 
 through all the earth and their words to the ends of the 
 world." Before a century had elapsed, Pliny, writing to 
 
 tures ; and proposing a code of morals comparatively lax, together with sen- 
 sual and voluptuous recompenses in other words, it was a religion adapted 
 to the corrupt taste, indulgent to the passions, and modelled to the ignorance 
 of the times. In all these respects it illustrates, by the contrast, the purity 
 and beneficence and sublimity of the Christian doctrine. Mahomet, further, 
 was entirely destitute of credentials no miracles were even alleged he pre- 
 tended to no prophecies no seal, therefore, of divine authority was appended 
 to his claims. Whatever success then may have attended a debased and vi- 
 cious religion, resting on no one attestation of a divine original, but simply 
 courting the passions of an age of ignorance and depravity, can never be 
 placed in competition with the doctrine of Christianity. But Mahometau- 
 ism, be it noted, had, after all, no success, so long as the peaceful means of 
 persuasion and argument were alone employed ; whereas Christianity con- 
 verted the whole world by meek instruction and patient suffering. Mahomet- 
 anism failed of making any progress, till it renounced the arts of peace, and 
 unsheathed the sword. The design of the Koran was, as we have observed, 
 not to propagate a religion but to form soldiers, and inspire martial courage ; 
 and it was in this way that it obtained prevalence and prosperity. It follow- 
 ed in the train of armies and was propagated at the edge of the scimitar. 
 Such a contrast displays in yet brighter lustre the mild glory of that doctrine 
 which, unaided by human power, and in the midst of sufferings and contempt, 
 surpassed, in the extent and splendor of its conquests, all the sanguinary con- 
 versions of the false prophet." Evidences of Christianity, vol. i, p. 225. 
 
TRIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 23 
 
 the emperor Trajan, reports, that " the contagion of the 
 superstition had seized, not cities only, but the lesser towns 
 also, and the open country ; so that the heathen temples 
 were almost forsaken ; few victims were purchased for sa- 
 crifice, and a long intermission of the sacred rites had, 
 taken place." The most refined and remorseless cruelty 
 was employed by the Roman tyrants to stay the progress 
 of the " superstition," but in vain. Fifty years after Pliny 
 wrote, Tertullian, addressing the rulers of the empire, could 
 affirm : " We were but of yesterday, and have filled your 
 cities, islands, towns, and boroughs, the camp, the senate, 
 and the forum. They (the heathen adversaries of Chris- 
 tianity) lament that every sex, age, and condition, and per- 
 sons of every rank also, are converts to that name." Tor- 
 ture and death were employed with redoubled zeal, but 
 " the blood of the martyrs was still the seed of the Church," 
 until at length the hard-fought field was won. Within 
 three centuries from the death of Christ, the triumphant 
 banner of the Cross was erected on the ruins of the Capitol, 
 and the fanes of heathenism, purified from their idolatries, 
 became temples of the Christian's God. And not only were 
 the oracles hushed, and Jupiter and Apollo with their 
 Olympian compeers driven from their shrines, now 
 
 " Domos Ditis vacuas et mania regna." jEn. vi, 269. 
 
 but philosophy yielded her proud pretensions to that " light 
 divine," which alone can guide the pilgrim of earth on his 
 dim and perilous way. Not only the outcast, the poor, 
 and the ignorant, but the learned and the gifted, the men 
 of intellectual might, surrendered their most cherished 
 convictions, and renounced all hopes of worldly advance- 
 ment, to embrace a faith whose rewards are beyond the 
 tomb. " Spain heard the Gospel voice ; far-off Britain, and 
 those northward and inclement Scandinavian shores, which 
 the lordly Roman shivered when he named, listened to its 
 
24 TRIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 call; Egypt, Ethiopia, and North Africa had apostolic 
 missionaries; Gaul bowed to the Cross; the inhuman 
 superstitions of the Druids faded before its gentle lessons ; 
 the bloody war-gods of the Goths were given up for the 
 rule of the Prince of Peace ; wild Arab tribes and fierce 
 men of Parthia and Bactria were among the converts ; 
 India was not so distant, but some gleams of that primitive 
 light reached her coral strand; many a strange tongue 
 swelled the Church's anthems ; and the noble army of 
 martyrs bore the blood-sprinkled banner farther than im- 
 perial legions had ever carried the victorious standards of 
 Rome." 
 
 Yet the infidel would account for this wide-ext ended 
 spiritual conquest by the operation of merely human means. 
 The historian Gibbon has exhausted his learning and ability 
 in endeavoring to assign causes, which, apart from super- 
 natural agency accompanying the preaching of the Word, 
 would explain so mighty a revolution. But they are mani- 
 festly inadequate. Not " the intolerant zeal of the Chris- 
 tians," or "the clear development of the doctrine of another 
 life," or " the miraculous powers ascribed to the primitive 
 Church," or " the pure and austere morals of its members," 
 or even " the new discipline of the Christian Community," 
 can account for the fact that a religion which entered the 
 world at a most inauspicious period, supposing it to be an 
 imposture which had not one principle in common with 
 the religions which then obtained propagated by a few 
 obscure persons, universally despised and hated, opposed 
 from the very first by Jew and Gentile, and especially by 
 those who held the seats of power and influence a religion 
 hostile to human opinion, human prejudice, human interest? 
 and human nature, should have triumphed over ah 1 oppo- 
 sition, and, after the lapse of eighteen centuries, still have 
 maintained its ground. Surely we are warranted by every 
 sound 'principle of reason in inferring, that such an effect 
 
TRIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 25 
 
 must be due to supernatural power. " A flame living on 
 the very bosom of the deep, opposed by all the winds of 
 heaven, often obscured, nearly extinguished, always re- 
 sisted, yet rising from apparent exhaustion and decay 
 into new brightness, enlarging the circle on which it shines 
 age after age, and smiling on the elements which are bat- 
 tling against its existence, must be sustained by ethereal 
 fires." 
 
 Had the great work gone on according to its glori- 
 ous commencement, the world would have been won, 
 long ages since, to the faith of Christ. Long since would 
 He who "tasted death for every man" have been ac- 
 knowledged and adored by all. But too soon the Gos- 
 pel's triumphant career was checked. Though there were 
 in every age zealous witnesses for the truth for never 
 has the lamp of God gone out in the temple of the Lord 
 yet as a whole, the Church became unfaithful to her 
 trust, ceased to make war on the territories of sin and 
 death, and a night of a thousand years overshadowed the 
 earth. 
 
 That long night passed away, and Zion has risen from 
 the dust. Her slumbering energies have been again aroused 
 to grapple with the mighty work committed to her by her 
 ascended Lord. With the dawn of the present century, 
 she again set forth on her errand of mercy, and has pledged 
 herself to rest no more, until the world has been leavened 
 with the truth and won for Christ. And gladdening results 
 have shown that the Gospel is still mighty through God 
 to the pulling down the strongholds of sin and Satan. 
 Wherever the Cross has been lifted up, it has still proved 
 a " conquering sign," and from the region and shadow of 
 death, among the dark places of the earth and the habita- 
 tions of cruelty, has won its triumphs and its trophies as of 
 old. Look in what direction we may, the horizon of hope 
 2 
 
26 TRIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 enlarges and brightens. The ancient systems of idolatry 
 and superstition have become effete, Mahometanism wanes 
 and " the Cross alone is crescent." Much land indeed re- 
 in aineth to be possessed, and to a merely human view, the 
 obstacles which still impede the universal triumph of the 
 Gospel would even now seem insuperable. So arduous are 
 the difficulties yet to be overcome, so numerous are the 
 strongholds yet to be overthrown, that the enterprise 
 which aims at such a result must appear to a worldly 
 mind more than all others romantic, chimerical, and absurd. 
 But the Christian is encouraged to believe that the same 
 Power which of old wrought such wonders through feeble 
 instrumentalities, is now, in like manner, preparing to 
 achieve a triumph vastly more glorious. It has been said 
 that " the Old Book, the Book of our Redeemer's gift and 
 our fathers' faith, .... has been gradually ascending ; 
 taking to it new tongues, spreading open its page in every 
 land, printed in Chinese camps, pondered in the Red man's 
 wigwam, sought after in Benares, a school book in Feejee, 
 eagerly bought in Constantinople, loved in the kloofs of 
 Kaffir land ; while the voices of the dead from Assyria to 
 Egypt have been lifted up to bear it witness." What 
 earthly or infernal might can arrest its progress or hin- 
 der its predicted triumph? "It shall come that long- 
 expected hour when Christianity is to attain universal 
 dominion. The march around Jericho shall have an end ; 
 the mystic seven shall all have been reckoned; and then 
 shall God specially inspire the Church with a spirit of ex- 
 pectation and prayer, so that a loud shout shall be rais- 
 ed, as though, in ceasing to weary earth with their tread, 
 the thousands had resolved to invade heaven with their 
 voices. And God will answer the cry of His people. He 
 will recompense that patient trust which has been dis- 
 played, century after century, in the encompassing the 
 city, and assailing it with no carnal weapons. On a sud- 
 
TRIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 27 
 
 den shall there be a mighty interference ; the temples of 
 idols shall crumble into dust; every form and feature of 
 falsehood shall vanish away ; every household and every 
 heart shall be a shrine for Christian truth ; and when the 
 vast revolution is surveyed, and its producing cause de- 
 manded by those who would understand the dealings of 
 God, the answer the triumphant answer will be : " By 
 faith the walls of Jericho fell down, when they were com- 
 passed about seven days." 
 
 " The powers of darkness on the hills afar 
 
 Watch for the sun, and bend the listening ear 
 
 To catch the rumbling of the distant car, 
 And ever and anon start lip in fear, 
 As echo whispers of his coming near. 
 
 Hark ! how they wail their tottering shrines around, 
 Warning the slumbering idols as they go. 
 
 See, pale and trembling at the distant sound, 
 Baal boweth down, and Nebo stoopeth low, 
 And haughty Dagon wails his final overthrow." 
 
 An argument akin to the foregoing, yet distinct from 
 it, is found in the temporal benefits which Christianity has 
 already conferred upon the world. These still further 
 illustrate the triumphs and vindicate the divinity of the 
 Bible. Facts innumerable can be adduced to prove that, 
 in whatever place and under whatever circumstances 
 man's lot may be cast, he needs the Gospel, even that he 
 may participate in the comforts and blessings of the present 
 life. 
 
 In order that the strength of this argument may be 
 adequately demonstrated, it will be necessary to take a 
 fuller and more comprehensive view of a subject already 
 briefly glanced at, in enumerating the active elements of 
 opposition to the propagation of the Gospel. We have 
 only to compare the two most polished and refined of 
 
28 TRIUMPHS OP THE BIBLE. 
 
 ancient nations with modern and Christian, in order to per- 
 ceive what the religion of the Bible can accomplish even 
 for the present welfare of man. 
 
 The materials for the comparison are derived from the 
 valuable Boyle lectures of Mr. Harkness, in which every 
 particular statement is verified by references to standard 
 classical authorities. 
 
 " Athens," says Mr. H., " was acknowledged to have 
 been the most lenient government of antiquity. Yet the 
 mind that is refined to gentleness and pity by the spirit of 
 the Gospel, can scarcely bear to dwell on the ruthless exer- 
 cise of dominion, which is exhibited in the pages of its 
 history. The tyranny exercised by the Athenian people 
 over those who were subject to their control, surpasses 
 description or belief. No accumulations of reproachful 
 epithet, or opprobrious metaphor, could compass their 
 savage abuses of authority. The despotism of one is bad : 
 but the despotism of many is incalculably worse. Not to 
 mention their wanton acts of cruelty, of caprice, of aggres- 
 sion, and of injustice, which were as familiar with them 
 perhaps more familiar than with any of the most sanguin- 
 ary tyrants, whose names are infamous in the annals of 
 mankind ; but to confine myself strictly to the enormities, 
 which originated in their political morals, we shall find by 
 looking at the conduct of that brilliant people, that the 
 vaunted democracy of Athens was animated by all the self- 
 ish passions, was directed by all the narrow principles, was 
 supported by all the ignominious arts and iniquitous pre- 
 cautions, which characterize the dominion of the despot. 
 No Dionysius or Agathocles ever exhibited a more timid 
 and ungenerous suspicion of his subjects, or followed up 
 his suspicions with more of the oppressive vigilance of 
 terror. Riches were objects of jealousy : they might be 
 made the means of obtaining too commanding an influence 
 in the republic ; -and the wealthy existed, therefore, in a 
 
TEIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 29 
 
 state of constant persecution and alarm. ' While I had 
 riches,' says Charmides, ' I was obliged to caress every in- 
 former. Some imposition was continually laid upon me; 
 and I was never allowed to travel or be absent from the 
 city. Now I am poor, I look big, and threaten others ; the 
 rich are afraid of me ; I am become a kind of tyrant in the 
 city.' l Fame was an object of jealousy : nothing of excel- 
 lence, or wealth, or reputation, might, with impunity, over- 
 top the level of the democracy. The unrelenting people 
 proscribed every superiority as a thing of dangerous conse- 
 quence. The same cautious politics produced the Ostra- 
 cism of Athens, and the Petaleuin of Syracuse, and expelled 
 every citizen whose fame or power overtopped the rest. 
 Virtue was an object of jealousy; and so susceptible was 
 the prudence of their tyranny, that it instigated them to 
 attack even the honorable distinctions which recompense 
 superior integrity and purity of life ; and Aristides was 
 banished for the celebrity of his justice." 
 
 Hume, in his Essays, gives the following account of an 
 accomplished Athenian : " I think I have fairly made it 
 appear, that an Athenian man of merit might be such a 
 one as with us would pass for incestuous, a parricide, an 
 assassin, an ungrateful perjured traitor, and something else 
 too abominable to be named ; not to mention his rusticity 
 and ill manners. And, having lived in this manner, his 
 death might be entirely suitable ; he might conclude the 
 scene by a desperate act of self-murder, and die with tho 
 most absurd blasphemies in his mouth. And, notwith- 
 standing all this, he shall have statues, if not altars, erected 
 to his memory ; poems and orations shall be composed in 
 his praise ; great sects shall be proud of calling themselves 
 by his name ; and the most distant posterity shall blindly 
 continue their admiration. Though, were such a one to 
 
 1 Xenophon, Banquet of Socrates. 
 
30 TRIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 arise among themselves, they would justly regard him with 
 horror and execration." 
 
 To exhibit a corresponding picture of Roman manners, 
 Mr. H. presents his readers with the observations of a 
 Christian stranger, who might have visited Rome in the 
 first century after our Saviour's ministry on earth : 
 
 " The door of the house in which he is received, to the 
 distress of every Christian sentiment, is opened by a chain- 
 ed slave. He is conducted to the master of the house, who 
 is at supper, and is invited to take a place at the banquet. 
 Instead of that liberal equality which has been introduced 
 by the general prevalence of the Christian dispensation, and 
 which has smoothed the irregularities of society, and ren- 
 dered persons of a more distinguished opulence and rank 
 attentive to the sensibilities of the poorer and more hum- 
 ble classes of society, he finds the inferior guests studiously 
 reminded of their subordinate condition, removed to a 
 distance from the luxurious table of the master of the feast, 
 aud insulted by the offensive coarseness of their entertain- 
 ment. During a scene of the greatest gluttony and in- 
 temperance, he is opprest, as the spirits of the party 
 become elevated, by the most appalling licentiousness of 
 conversation. A father speaks of the difficulty he had 
 found in persuading his wife to the murder of their new 
 born infant. The young men boast of their successful 
 rapes, their perilous adulteries, or their unnatural attach- 
 ments. Disgusted with these appalling circumstances, the 
 Christian visitor might omit remarking on the unbridled 
 ^sensuality with which his new companions surrender them- 
 selves to the protracted pleasures of the table, as if to eat 
 were the first privileges of existence, and they had arti- 
 ficially increased their appetites, that they might lengthen 
 their capacity of indulgence. Wearied of such society, he 
 retires to his chamber, but not to rest ; for his repose is 
 broken by the noise of whips and lashes, and the cries of 
 
TBIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 31 
 
 the chastised slaves, whom the master of some neighboring 
 mansion is rigorously correcting. In the morning he pre- 
 pares to accompany his host to the exhibitions of the 
 Circus. As they are departing from the house, an aged 
 and half-starved slave timidly endeavors to elude their 
 observation ; he is detected ; his master notices his infirmi- 
 ties, and orders that he should no longer be retained as an 
 unprofitable expense and incumbranceto his household, but 
 should be exposed to die of starvation, in recompense for 
 the labors of his youth. The Christian remonstrates against 
 this act of cruelty ; he assures his host that not a single 
 individual of his own religion would be guilty of such bar- 
 barity, even to one of the inferior creatures to the aged 
 hound, or the drooping war horse if it had been service- 
 able to his interests or his amusements. The heathen can- 
 not comprehend his sentiments. He informs his guest that 
 this is the usual method of disposing of all superannuated 
 domestics ; that some masters suffer them to starve to 
 death about their houses ; that others leave them to perish 
 on an island in the Tiber ; that others cast them alive into 
 their preserves to fatten their fish ; that, in short, the prac- 
 tice was universal among his countrymen, and adopted 
 without remorse, sanctioned by the example of the illus- 
 trious Cato, and one from which, as it was extremely con- 
 venient, he could see no reason for departing. The Chris- 
 tian is silenced ; they proceed to the theatre. On their 
 way, they pass a company of Patrician youths, one of whom 
 is on the point of exhibiting his dexterity in the use of the 
 broad-sword. A poor wretch, suffering from the deep 
 afflictions of domestic misery, has been bribed, by the offer 
 of a few mina3, to devote himself as the victim of the bar- 
 barous experiment, on condition that the necessities of his 
 family should be relieved by the stipulated purchase-money 
 of his murder. They arrive at the Coliseum. There is 
 great difficulty in securing situations. Nearly forty thou- 
 
32 TRIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 sand persons are already impatiently assembled. It is a day 
 of extraordinary expectation. Many celebrated gladiators 
 are to be brought on the arena. It is anticipated that 
 some hundreds will be slaughtered in the various conflicts 
 which are appointed to succeed each other in the progress 
 of the entertainment ; but a more than usual curiosity and 
 interest is excited for those contests, in which the ill-fated 
 wretches are to be exposed in opposition to the wild beasts 
 of the desert or the forest, as on this occasion the lions and 
 the panthers have been fed on human flesh, for the purpose 
 of sharpening their thirst of blood, and stimulating the keen- 
 ness of their ferocity. Unable to sustain the sight while 
 the first victim is expiring, unpitied and unregarded, amid 
 the thunders of acclamation that reward the exertions of 
 his competitor the Christian visitor of the heathen capital 
 hastily withdraws himself from the scene of sanguinary festi- 
 val. He is immediately followed by his host, who ridicules 
 his compassion on the authority of the most approved phi- 
 losophers, and interrupts his eloquent lamentations over the 
 departure of the ancient virtue and simplicity of the Roman 
 character, by assurances, that the people have not degene- 
 rated ; that vice may have varied in its form, but not increas- 
 ed in magnitude ; that its ratio has been permanent and 
 equal ; and that, whatever enormities may have been engen- 
 dered of power and luxury and refinement, at all events, 
 those ruder ages could never be deserving of regret, during 
 which a supposed pestilence, that appeared to be depopulat- 
 ing the city, was discovered to be effected by the prevalency 
 of the art of poisoning ; a practice which was so accordant 
 to the morals and sentiments of the people, that the praetor 
 in a single province, after having capitally punished three 
 thousand persons for the offence, still complained of the 
 increasing number of the accusations. 
 
 " In the above sketch of the private morals of the ancient 
 Romans, I have studiously cast a veil over that horrible and 
 
TEIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 33 
 
 undisguised impurity which saturated the whole body of 
 society; which haunted the precincts of their temples; 
 which mingled with their religious rites and festivals; 
 which so frequently made the subject^of their conversation 
 and their poetry; which addressed the grossness of the 
 public mind in the signs exhibited in their streets, and in 
 the monuments that defiled their gardens, and of which the 
 images were constantly before the eyes, to pollute and debase 
 the soul, engraved on the common utensils of daily existence, 
 on their lamps and their vases and their drinking vessels." 
 
 Such was the social condition of those celebrated nations, 
 ere the Gospel had put forth among them its renovating 
 power and purified the fountains of domestic life. In the 
 monuments of sanctified benevolence alone with which 
 Christian lands are studded, we have abundant evidence of 
 the tendency of Christianity to confer blessings upon man. 
 
 " Her coming found the heathen world without a single 
 house of mercy. Search the Byzantine Chronicles and the 
 pages of Publius Victor ; and though the one describes all 
 the public edifices of ancient Constantinople, and the other 
 of ancient Rome, not a word is to be found in either of a 
 charitable institution. Search the ancient marbles in your 
 museums ; descend and ransack the graves of Herculaneum 
 and Pompeii ; and question the many travellers who have 
 visited the ruined cities of Greece and Rome ; and see, if 
 amid all the splendid remains of statues and amphitheatres, 
 baths and granaries, temples, aqueducts and palaces, mauso- 
 leums, columns and triumphal arches, a single fragment or 
 inscription can be found, telling us that it belonged to a 
 refuge for human want, or for the alleviation of human 
 misery." * All the asylums on earth for poverty, decrepi- 
 
 1 Dr. Harris's " Great Commission." The progress of the moral triumph 
 
 which Christianity ultimately achieved in Rome is thus finely delineated in 
 
 the great work of Dean Milman : " Rome must be imagined in the vastness 
 
 and uniformity of its social condition, the mingling and confusion of races, 
 
 2* 
 
34 TRIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 tude and disease, are to be traced to the influence of the 
 Bible. Yet this is but a small part of the benefits it has 
 conferred on all those countries where it has been received 
 and according to the degree in which it has prevailed. 
 What but the religion of the Bible has banished vices and 
 abominations of classic Paganism, practised and avowed by 
 the great and the respected, to hide themselves from pub- 
 lic scorn, if they still exist upon earth? What else has 
 abolished serfdom in modern Europe, and is bringing on 
 the time, slowly it may be, but surely, when whatever ine- 
 qualities of condition may still exist, man shall universally 
 recognize a brother in man ? 1 And though it has not yet 
 made wars to cease, what else has softened war's horrors 
 and rendered comparatively unheard of the barbarities of 
 
 languages, conditions, in order to conceive the slow, imperceptible, yet con- 
 tinuous progress of Christianity. Amid the affairs of the universal empire, 
 the perpetual revolutions which were constantly calling up new dynasties, or 
 new masters over the world, the pomp and state of the imperial palace, the 
 commerce, the business flowing in from all parts of the world, the bustle of 
 the Basilicas, or courts of law, the ordinary religious ceremonies, or the more 
 splendid rites on signal occasions, which still went on, if with diminishing 
 concourse of worshippers, with their old sumptuousness, magnificence and 
 frequency, the public games, the theatres, the gladiatorial shows, the Lucul- 
 lan or Apician banquets, Christianity was gradually withdrawing from the 
 heterogeneous mass some of all orders, even slaves, out of the vices, the ig- 
 norance, the misery of that corrupted social system. It was instilling hu- 
 manity, yet unknown, or coldly commended by an impotent philosophy, 
 among men and women whose infant ears had been habituated to the shrieks 
 of dying gladiators ; it was giving dignity to minds prostrated by years, al- 
 most centuries, of degrading despotism ; it was nurturing purity and modes- 
 ty of manners in an unspeakable state of deprivation ; it was enshrining the 
 marriage-bed in a sanctity long almost entirely lost, and rekindling to a 
 steady warmth the domestic affections ; it was substituting a simple, calm 
 and rational faith and worship for the worn-out superstitions of heathenism ; 
 gently establishing in the soul of man the sense of immortality, till it became 
 a natural and inextinguishable part of his moral being." Latin Christianity, 
 vol. i, p. 26. 
 
 1 " Christianity," the profound De Tocqueville has remarked, " is the 
 companion of liberty in all its conflicts the cradle of its infancy, and the 
 divine source of its claims." 
 
TRIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 35 
 
 former conflicts ? What has raised the female sex from the 
 degraded position which they still occupy in lands unblessed 
 with the light of revelation ? What has united liberty and 
 law, and thrown a sanction and security around the rights 
 and possessions of the weak and the defenceless, the widow 
 and the orphan, which did not formerly exist ? What has 
 shed such benign efficacy on the social relationships of life, 
 on the ties which bind together husband and wife, parent 
 and child, and thus made " home " a sacred electric word ? 
 The only answer that can be given is, that it is the religion 
 of the Bible which has scattered such countless blessings in 
 its path. Nothing else will explain these beneficent changes 
 but the cause which the eminent Chancellor Kent thus as- 
 signs : " The influence of Christianity has been very efficient 
 toward the introduction of a better and more enlightened 
 sense of right and justice among the several governments 
 of Europe. It taught the duty of benevolence to strangers, 
 of humanity to the vanquished, of the obligation of good 
 faith, of the sin of murder, revenge, and rapacity. The 
 history of Europe, during the earlier periods of modern 
 history, abounds with interesting and strong cases, to show 
 the authority of the Church over turbulent princes and 
 fierce warriors, and the effect of that authority in melior- 
 ating manners, checking violence, and introducing ?i system 
 of morals which inculcated peace, moderation, and justice." 1 
 Where the Bible is unknown, man is still sunk in debasing 
 ignorance, idolatry and superstition, "without God and 
 without hope in the world." Where it is unknown, woman 
 is still degraded and enslaved, and infanticide and other 
 crimes against nature, are tolerated if not enjoined. Wher- 
 ever it has come, like the healing gale of spring changing 
 the scene of wintry desolation into one of life and loveliness, 
 it has caused the moral desert to rejoice and blossom as the 
 rose. It has renovated the character of individuals, fami- 
 
 Kent's Commentaries, vol. i, p. 9. 
 
36 TEIUMPHS OP THE BIBLE. 
 
 lies, and nations ; and in the proportion in which its influ- 
 ence has been felt, it has banished sin and misery from the 
 abodes of men. " Give me," said the old Christian father 
 Lactantius, " a man who is choleric, abusive in his language, 
 headstrong and unruly ; with a very few words, the words 
 of God, I will render him as gentle as a lamb. Give me a 
 greedy, covetous, parsimonious man, and I will presently 
 return him you a generous creature, freely bestowing his 
 money by handfuls. Give me a cruel and bloodthirsty 
 man; instantly his ferocity shall be transformed into a 
 truly mild and merciful disposition. Give me an unjust 
 man, a foolish man, a sinful man ; and on a sudden he shall 
 become honest, wise, and virtuous. So great is the efficacy 
 of divine wisdom when once admitted into the human 
 heart." In what innumerable instances has that pledge 
 been redeemed ! Bringing with it " the promise of the life 
 that now is," as well as " of that which is to come," Chris- 
 tianity diffuses order and happiness over the whole surface 
 of human society, and even adds features of additional love- 
 liness to the scenery of nature. " The swamp and the mo- 
 rass disappear before the labors of industry and the habita- 
 tions of men. The pride of cities and the monuments of art 
 now dazzle and surprise, where nothing was once beheld but 
 the rude cairn, piled in loneliness and silence to mark the 
 scene consecrated to infernal offerings, and rights of pollu- 
 tion and death. Temples and palaces glitter amidst the 
 waste, and commerce gladdens with her ships, her harbors 
 and her merchandise, shores once abandoned to solitude 
 and desolation. Ferocity gives place to gentleness, steril- 
 ity to beauty ; and while it changes the desert into fruitful- 
 ness, it elevates the savage into a man." And all this is 
 even now being exemplified. In lands which but a few 
 years since lay in heathen darkness where devils were 
 worshipped and crime was hallowed where men roved un- 
 tamed as the beasts of their forests, and revelled in deeds 
 
TRIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 37 
 
 of cruelty and bloodshed, under the auspices of Christian 
 missionaries, this blessed transformation may even now be 
 seen. Thousands of once wretched beings, emerging from 
 their moral degradation, at this moment are ascribing their 
 enfranchisement to that benign interposition. The rude 
 Bushman of South Africa, the painted savage of Polynesia, 
 advanced to the privileges and blessings of civilized life, are 
 living witnesses of what the religion of the Bible can accom- 
 plish even for man's temporal welfare. And if a tree is 
 known by its fruits, may we not confidently point to such 
 effects as a proof which can not be controverted, of the 
 divinity of its origin? "Men do not gather grapes of 
 thorns or figs of thistles." 
 
 It is true that compared with the vastness of the field 
 for which it is designed, the beneficial effects of Christianity 
 are as yet but limited, and there is much in the present as- 
 pect and condition of the world to counterbalance the aus- 
 picious signs of progress. " Contrary to rash expectations, 
 gleams of light and hope, alternating with massive clouds 
 and shadows, have passed over the stage of the civilized 
 world like dissolving views, one melting into another, fleet- 
 ing by while we are gazing, and that so swiftly, that we are 
 kept in breathless uncertainty what will come next." When, 
 indeed, we consider the unrest and turbulence which during 
 the present age have characterized the most civilized nations 
 the outbreakings of human passion and lawlessness that 
 have threatened the demolition of the social fabric " the 
 winds and the waves roaring and men's hearts failing them 
 for fear," it would at times even seem that we were re- 
 ceding from rather than approaching a brighter day. But 
 seen in the light of prophecy, these apparently disastrous 
 omens indicate that the long deferred hope of ages is hasten- 
 ing to its fulfilment. The groan and travail of the world 
 will yet have a glorious consummation ! Through all the 
 seething fermentation which society exhibits, and which is 
 
38 TEIUMPHS OP THE BIBLE. 
 
 a consequence of the emancipation of the general mind from 
 blind unreasoning acquiescence in whatever wore the sem- 
 blance of authority, under the ever present agency and con- 
 trol of that Divine Spirit who of old brooded over Chaos, 
 the process still goes on, which is to bring it to its destined 
 form and law. The mission of the Bible will be accom- 
 plished its ideal be realized. " The chemist has his solu- 
 tion that requires but one added drop to bring out its crys- 
 tals, yet that solution may grow purer and purer, and so at 
 the moment of completion may form a finer gem than had 
 it come before. So also year by year one error after 
 another is precipitated and the world's thought grows 
 clearer, though it cannot rest, until at length the magic 
 moment of the Bible's spiritual alchemy will arrive, when 
 its hand shall drop the living truth, and the waiting world 
 shall flash into solid order and crystalline beauty." l The 
 last vestiges of sin and misery shall then disappear, and 
 throughqpt a regenerated earth shall arise " scenes surpass- 
 ing fable" to bear witness that its work is done. "For 
 as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, and 
 return eth not thither, but water eth the earth, and maketh 
 it bring forth and bud .... so shall My word be that 
 goeth forth out of My mouth ; it shall not return unto Me 
 void .... instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, 
 and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree." 
 
 "Methought there were long ages come and gone, 
 Pale worlds were crumbling to their last decay. 
 Far in the East a coming glory shone, 
 And morning broke, the morning of that day 
 Never again to set ; a slanted ray 
 Bridged earth and heaven with its quivering flame, 
 Thereon an angel trod his rushing way, 
 
 i For the above beautiful illustration, I am indebted to a speech of remark- 
 able power delivered before the Am. Bible Society, by the late Rev. A. D. R. 
 Mercein, a gifted minister of the Methodist Communion. 
 
TEIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 39 
 
 And folding a white wing and flashing came, 
 
 Sounded a golden blast, and hastened to proclaim,- * 
 
 *' Glory to God, salvation and release ! 
 Tell it among the nations, tell it wide, 
 * Glory to God on high, on earth be peace.' 
 So shouted he, so sang ; from side to side, 
 ' Amen ! Amen ! ' the morning stars replied ; 
 The winds were heralds of their minstrelsy, 
 The clouds upbore it till the echoes died, 
 Answered the billowy voices of the sea, 
 And utmost earth's acclaim formed meet antistrophe." 
 Cambridge Prize Poem. 
 
 By J. S. GIBSON. 
 
 But we also claim for the Bible, that not only is it the 
 great almoner of temporal blessings to mankind, alleviating 
 the lot of the afflicted, the destitute and the oppressed, not 
 only is it the civilizer of manners and elevator of morals, 
 but it has been the great agent of man's intellectual advance- 
 ment. Inquire where intelligence is most diffused among 
 the people, where the arts and sciences have made the 
 greatest advancement, where literature is most cultivated 
 and progress the most realized, and it will be found that 
 the favored lands are those in which the Bible is circulated 
 and has most obtained sway. 
 
 It is true that long previous to the Christian era, and 
 among nations upon whom the light of revelation had not 
 dawned, a high state of civilization had been attained. 
 There were in the old classic world, poets of undying fame, 
 philosophers of wonderful subtilty and profundity of 
 thought, orators whose eloquence still transmits its thrill- 
 ing echoes down " the corridors of time ; " there were 
 magnificent works of art and stately palaces and temples, 
 
 "Skill of noblest architects, 
 
 With gilded battlements conspicuous far, 
 Turrets and terraces, and glitt'ring spires. 
 
40 TRIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 Many a fair edifice besides, more like 
 
 ,. Houses of gods, ***** pillars and roofs, 
 
 Carv'd work, the hand of fam'd artificers 
 In cedar, marble, ivory, or gold." Paradise Regained. 
 
 No brighter eras of intellectual achievement have since 
 appeared than the ages of Pericles and Augustus. The 
 lays of Homer and Virgil the orations of Demosthenes and 
 Cicero the histories of Thucydides and Tacitus the Par- 
 thenon, the Venus de Medici and the Apollo Belvidere, 
 are still types of ideal excellence in Literature and in Art. 
 "The poetic legend, the gleaming marble, the pillared 
 temple, the speaking statue, the graceful robe, the mystic 
 fillet, the tragic cothurnus, the symbolic procession, the 
 bearded pontiff, the mighty orator, the crowned monarch, 
 the visioned sage, the charm of the scenery, the clearness 
 of the atmosphere, the beauty of the climate, the imagina- 
 tion of the multitude, dome bending itself to the azure 
 concave above it, pediment sculptured with the dreams of 
 the classic antiquity, the intermixture of all with the insti- 
 tutions of education and policy, its ever present recollec- 
 tion in gymnasium as well as sanctuary, the romance and 
 pageant, the exhaustion of taste, genius, and splendor 
 upon its fables and ceremonies, even to our times, consti- 
 tute the ancient Paganism a marvel of all that was attrac- 
 tive and magnificent." l But in all that refined culture and 
 
 * Prize Essay on Christian Missions by Dr. Hamilton, of Leeds. In this 
 connection, a very remarkable but undeniable historical fact may be stated, 
 which certainly claims a place among the ''difficulties of Infidelity:" 
 " Whilst all the surrounding world lay immersed in the profoundest moral 
 darkness ; whilst Egypt, which has been celebrated as the instructress of 
 mankind, lay grovelling before her oxen, her birds, her reptiles, and her 
 potherbs; whilst Grecian and Roman altars, even at a moment when heathen 
 refinement was at its highest, were smoking before the emblems of the gross- 
 est appetites and of the rankest intemperance ; there in an obscure corner 
 of the globe, overlooked and despised by the surrounding nations, was to be 
 seen the astonishing spectacle of one small people, with no literature but 
 their own sacred books, no arts but those derived from a most limited and 
 
TRIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 41 
 
 splendid civilization, there was a worm at the core,- 
 vital, irremediable defect. As unconsciously but signifi- 
 cantly expressed in the Athenian symbol of the golden 
 grasshopper, it was of the earth earthy. This world and 
 its regalements for the life of sense, were its all. The 
 beautiful was there in an unequalled development, but it 
 lacked the good and the true. " There was no provision 
 for the wants of the inner man. Heathenism had no line 
 to reach the depths of human depravity, and no power to 
 raise up man from his degradation, to break the spell by 
 which he was bound to sensual objects, and to set his spirit 
 free. It had no object of religious worship fitted to call 
 forth love, veneration, gratitude; and no body of truth 
 that could be instrumental in purifying and ennobling man's 
 mental powers, in connecting him with the higher world, 
 and renewing him after the image of God." Some portion 
 of primitive truth and traditional morality it had indeed 
 possessed, and while this was retained, it was the salt which 
 kept it from corruption, the cement which held it from 
 dissolution. But when, by the increase of luxury and vice, 
 these had become obliterated, then literature, philosophy 
 and art, all hastened to decay. The fire went out upon its 
 altars. Destitute of those higher influences which Christian 
 faith alone can supply, it was like a magnificent structure 
 built upon the sand, and when the barbarian torrent came, 
 it was already tottering to its fall. 
 
 But from the first, the religion of the Bible proved itself 
 to be the true element, both of intellectual progress and 
 conservation. Even amid the decaying embers of the 
 ancient civilization, it kindled a flame which gave evidence 
 
 unwilling intercourse with their neighbors, celebrating as they had done for 
 ages the praises of the great unseen immaterial Creator of the universe, in 
 sentiments the justness and sublimity of which poetry in her highest flights 
 has never to this day been able to equal, nor philosophy in her utmost pride 
 of discovery to improve." BISHOP SHUTTLEWORTH. 
 
42 TRIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 of its heavenly descent. Dispelling the gloom which had 
 rested on the future, it supplied fresh motives for the exer- 
 cise of the mental powers, roused faculties which had long 
 lain dormant, and gave vitality to reason and thought. 
 The master spirits of the world soon ranged themselves on 
 its side, and after the second century of the Christian era, 
 with few exceptions, the literature of Greece and Rome is 
 to be looked for in the pages of the Christian fathers alone. 
 With the introduction of Christianity among the various 
 nations of Europe, knowledge was its inseparable attendant. 
 The most assiduous cultivators of learning in those early 
 ages were the pioneers and advocates of the Gospel. In 
 the fourth century Ulphilas, bishop of the Moesian Goths, 
 introduced a written language as well as translated the 
 Scriptures into the vulgar tongue for his illiterate country- 
 men. And so great was their improvement under his in- 
 structions, that some of the Goths soon made such attain- 
 ments as to be able to compare their version with the 
 Latin, the Greek, and the Hebrew originals. Before the 
 Gospel was brought to its shores in the fifth century, Ire- 
 land was almost utterly uncivilized. Its natives were with- 
 out an alphabet, and rude ballads committed to memory 
 were the only vehicles to preserve any knowledge of their 
 history and antiquities, the genealogies of their kings and 
 the exploits of their heroes. The ability to recite a num- 
 ber of these verses was considered as a high accomplish- 
 ment, and the bard who made any addition to them was 
 certain of fame and reward. The coming of Christian mis- 
 sionaries, however, redeemed them from ignorance, and so 
 rapid was their progress that in the next age Ireland was 
 called the country of saints and of learned men. During 
 the eighth and the early part of the ninth centuries, when 
 learning had been driven from her ancient seats, Ireland 
 was, as Aldhelm, Bede, and Carnden inform us, " the sacred 
 mart of letters," whither " troops of scholars were daily 
 
TKIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 43 
 
 transported to be initiated by her learned masters in the 
 treasures of the Greek and Roman classics and of divine 
 knowledge." And with Ireland, let lona also be mention- 
 ed, designated by Johnson as "-that illustrious island, which 
 was once the luminary of the Caledonian regions, where 
 savage clans and roving barbarians derived the benefits of 
 knowledge and the blessings of religion." Nor was Eng- 
 land reclaimed from barbarism until the conversion of her 
 Saxon conquerors in the sixth century to Christianity. 
 "When, by the preaching of the Word, the fierce tribes of 
 Hengist and Horsa were persuaded to exchange " dark idol 
 prayer and hoarse battle-cry" for the "hallelujahs" of 
 Christian worship ; then, and not till then, did the " sceptred 
 isle " enter upon the career, to be made so illustrious by 
 the masters of science and of song. 1 The Danes, Swedes, 
 and Cimbri of the North, were still in heathen ignorance, 
 when, in the ninth century, Ansgarius, the chief apostle of 
 the Scandinavians, came to bring them the Gospel and to 
 establish schools for the instruction of their youth. During 
 the same century, two Greek monks, Cyril and Methodius, 
 sons of Leo, a Greek nobleman, were the instruments not 
 only of Christianizing, but of civilizing the Bulgarians, 
 Moravians, and Bohemians. To the zeal of these mission- 
 aries, were those nations indebted for an alphabet as well 
 as for the knowledge of revealed truth. So late as the 
 latter part of the ninth century, the people of Russia were 
 
 i The civilization of the Roman conquerors of ancient Britain in the course 
 of four centuries had made so little impression on its inhabitants that in the 
 reign of Constantino that famous island was regarded, says Macaulay, in the 
 polished East " with mysterious horror a region inhabited by the ghosts of 
 the departed, where the ground was covered by serpents, and the air was 
 such that no man could inhale it and live." 
 
 The successors of the Romans were the savage worshippers of Woden, 
 and until the Gospel of Christ came to them, " England knew no church 
 within the limits of their sway, but the temple of an idol ; no priesthood but 
 that of Paganism ; no god but the sun, the moon, or some hideous image." 
 Sermon preached before the University of Cambridge, A. D. 1573. 
 
44 TEIUMPHS OP THE BIBLE. 
 
 still in savage barbarism, nor were they rescued from it 
 until the teachers of Christianity brought with them, at the 
 same tune, the Gospel and letters, the rudiments of the 
 arts, of law and of order. And thus with all the once bar- 
 barous nations of Europe; their introduction, to letters was 
 simultaneous with their conversion to Christianity. 
 
 When it is considered that these intellectual triumphs 
 accompanying the propagation of the Gospel were achieved 
 during those centuries, when a night of ignorance, deep as 
 Egyptian darkness, had settled over the dismembered frag- 
 ments of the Roman Empire, we must feel that the great 
 historian only utters the voice of truth when he says : " The 
 Church has many times been compared by divines to the 
 ark of which we read in the book of Genesis ; but never 
 was the resemblance more perfect than during that evil 
 time when she alone rode, amidst darkness and tempest, 
 on the deluge beneath which all the great works of ancient 
 power and wisdom lay entombed, bearing within her that 
 feeble germ from which a second and more glorious civili- 
 zation was to spring.'-* 1 As the barbarian flood receded, 
 the seeds proceeding from that " feeble germ " were scat- 
 tered over the new and virgin soil which it left. Gradual- 
 ly, with whatever perversions and admixtures, the trutl^ 
 and principles of the Bible were diffused among the rising 
 nations, and thus was a foundation laid for social and civil 
 advancement. By a necessary consequence, intelligence 
 was quickened and learning revived; this effect reacted upon 
 Christianity, and we know from History that the daybreak 
 of letters was coeval with the dawn of the Reformation. 
 When the long night was passed, the sun of* righteousness 
 and the sun of science rose together, and to that blending 
 and interfusing of moral and spiritual with intellectual light, 
 the marvellous career of the human mind which was then 
 inaugurated, and the triumphs of research and discovery 
 1 Macaulay's History of England. 
 
TEIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 45 
 
 which have made illustrious the ages since, must be ascribed. 
 For the greatest boon of the Reformation was to remove 
 the Papal Interdict from the Bible and bring it within the 
 reach of the people. And what was the effect of this upon 
 literature? It is indisputable that "the study of the 
 Scriptures in the vulgar tongue by the mass of the people, 
 and by scholars in the original Hebrew and Greek, was the 
 initiatory step to various other departments of knowledge, 
 and led to investigations in History, Laws, Geography, and 
 Antiquities, not less than in Theology. Amid the intellec- 
 tual excitement thus occasioned, principles were evolved, 
 destined to change the face of society, to lead society for- 
 ward to the great discoveries of modern times, and to 
 impart to literature a degree of vigor, originality, and in* 
 fluence on the progress of society hitherto unexampled." 
 And how could it be otherwise ? There are a power and 
 majesty breathing from the sacred page which must needs 
 have expanded and ennobled the mind once emancipated 
 from the errors of superstition. Its sublime doctrines, its 
 pure and lofty precepts, imposing as they then were from 
 their novelty as well as from their grandeur, could not fail 
 to have taken the strongest hold upon the intellect, the 
 imagination and the heart, upon every faculty and every 
 affection of our nature. The surpassing literary attractions 
 of the Bible, moreover, were well fitted to strengthen and 
 deepen the impression. "The Scriptures contain," says 
 Sir William Jones (whose competency to pronounce such a 
 judgment cannot be impugned), "independently of a di- 
 vine origin, more true sublimity, more exquisite beauty, 
 purer morality, more important history, and finer strains 
 of poetry, than could be collected within the same compass, 
 from all other books that were composed in any age, or in 
 any idiom." Here was opened a poetic fountain more in. 
 spiring far than any at which the Grecian Muse 1 ever drank. 
 
 i There is a fine passage in the preface to Cowley's Davideis on the un- 
 rivalled superiority of the sacred oracles, which may here be cited : " What 
 
46 TRIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 Another accomplished scholar 1 says, " In lyric flow and 
 fire, in crushing force, in majesty that seems still to echo 
 the awful sounds once heard beneath the thunder-clouds 
 of Sinai, the poetry of the ancient Scriptures is the most 
 superb that ever burned within the breast of man. The 
 picturesque simplicity of their narration gives an equal 
 charm to the historical books. Vigor, beauty, sententious- 
 ness, variety, enrich and adorn the ethical parts of the col- 
 lection." "What is there equal in romantic interest to the 
 story of Joseph and his brethren ; of Rachel and Laban, of 
 Jacob's dream, of Ruth and Boaz, the descriptions in the 
 book of Job, the deliverance of the Jews out of Egypt, or 
 the account of their captivity and return from Babylon ? 
 There is in all these parts of Scripture, and numberless 
 more of the same kind, to pass over the Orphic hymns of 
 David, the prophetic denunciations of Isaiah, or the gorgeous 
 visions of Ezekiel, an originality, a vastness of conception, a 
 depth and tenderness of feeling, a touching simplicity in the 
 mode of narration," 2 unmatched and unapproachable even 
 by classical antiquity. The whole story of redeeming love, 
 the Son of God incarnate, the cradle and the manger, the 
 cross and the crown in heaven, the spiritual warfare and 
 
 can we imagine more proper for the ornaments of wit aud learning, in the 
 story of Deucalion, than in that of Noah? Why will not the actions of Sam- 
 son afford as plentiful matter as the labors of Hercules ? Why is not Jephthah's 
 daughter as good a woman as Iphigenia? and the friendship of David and 
 Jonathan more worthy celebration than that of Theseus and Pirithous? Does 
 not the passage of Moses and the Israelites into the Holy Land yield incom- 
 parably more poetic variety than the voyages of Ulysses or ^Eneas ? Are 
 the obsolete, threadbare tales of Thebes and Troy half so stored with great, 
 heroical, and supernatural actions (since verse will needs find or make such), 
 as the wars of Joshua, of the Judges, of David, and divers others? Can all 
 the transformations of the gods give such copious hints to flourish and expa- 
 tiate upon, as the true miracles of Christ, or of his prophets and apostles? 
 What do I instance in these few particulars ? All the books of the Bible are 
 either already most admirable and exalted pieces of poesy, or are the best 
 materials in the world for it." 
 
 > Sir Daniel K. Sandford. a Hazlitt. 
 
TRIUMPHS OF TH-E BIBLE. 47 
 
 the final triumph, when his people shall reign with Christ, 
 are fraught with deeper wonder and sublimer romance, 
 than ever thought of man conceived. They are replete 
 with poetic as well as with evangelic inspiration. " Indited 
 under the influence of Him, to whom all hearts are known, 
 and all events foreknown, they suit mankind in all situa- 
 tions, grateful as the manna which descended from above 
 and conformed itself to every palate. The fairest produc- 
 tions of human wit, after a few perusals, like gathered 
 flowers wither in our hands, and lose their fragrancy ; but 
 these unfading flowers of Paradise become, as we are ac- 
 customed to them, still more and more beautiful; their 
 bloom appears to be daily heightened, fresh odors are 
 emitted, and new sweets extracted from them." Here at 
 Siloa's brook and not at the Pierian spring, Dante and Mil- 
 ton drank their copious draughts of unearthly sublimity, 
 and were animated for their noblest flights. Here Michael 
 Angelo and Raphael filled their golden urns, and by their 
 labors, Art emancipated from the sensualism of Pagan 
 dreams, vindicated her heavenly origin. 
 
 That was indeed a timely vindication, and the result 
 was a triumph of Scripture truth deserving of special com- 
 memoration. For although the revival of art and literature 
 in Europe was under Christian auspices, yet at the era of 
 the Reformation, the classical school had become the ruling 
 power in both, and no themes but those of Greek and 
 Roman story were thought worthy to employ the powers 
 of genius. This reaction is thus accounted for by Henry 
 Heine in his work on German literature : " The arts are 
 nothing but the mirrors of life, and as Catholicism was 
 extinguished in life, so also did it grow faint and die away 
 in art .... A contemporary Protestantism at that time was 
 stirring in art equally as in life .... It was then as if men 
 felt themselves suddenly freed from an oppression of a 
 thousand years ; the artists above all breathed freely again, 
 
48 TRIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 as the Alp of Catholicism seemed rolled from the breast ; 
 they plunged enthusiastically into the sea of Greek glad- 
 ness, out of whose foam the Goddess of Beauty again 
 emerged for them ; the painters painted again the ambro- 
 sial joy of Olympus, the sculptors chiselled again, with the 
 same pleasure as of old, the ancient heroes out of the marble 
 block ; the poets celebrated again the house of Atreus and 
 Laius ; the period of the new classical poetry arose." 
 
 Yet vain was the endeavor to impart spirit and life 
 to the faded forms and shadows of antiquity. " Phoebus' 
 chariot course was run," Pan was dead, the sacred fire of 
 Vesta could not be rekindled. But the unequalled pro- 
 ductions of the mighty masters who sleep in Santa Croce 
 and the Pantheon, proved that the true Promethean spark 
 was in the Bible, and that art lost nothing by becoming 
 Christian, even though all the mythic fancies which " live 
 no longer in the faith of reason," should vanish into the 
 mists of the past. 
 
 " Then sculpture and her sister arts revive, 
 Stones leaped to form and rocks began to live ; 
 With sweeter notes each rising temple rung, 
 A Raphael painted and a Vida sung." POPE. 
 
 Thus was the returning wave of classicism arrested, 
 and now what Homer was in the ancient world, that has 
 the Bible become in the modern, in relation to poetry and 
 all the imitative arts the inspiring source of beauty and 
 sublimity the model and archetype of expression. Under 
 its influence modern art has developed a power to minister 
 to the desire of the elevated and the beautiful, which the 
 boasted productions of the classic school, and even such of 
 the chef-d'ceuvres of antiquity as have come down to us, 
 cannot approach. " Look," says an eloquent writer, " at 
 the sepulchral monuments of Grecian art the frigid mys- 
 teries, the abhorrent ghosts, yet too corporeal, shrinking 
 from Lethe, and the dismal boat the unpromising, un- 
 
TRIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 49 
 
 pitying Charon : then turn to some of the sublime Christian 
 monuments of art that speak so differently of that death 
 the coronation of the virgin, the ascension of saints. The 
 dismal and the doleful earth has vanished choirs of angels 
 rush to welcome and support the beatified, the released : 
 death is no more, but life breathing no atmosphere of earth, 
 but all freshness, all joy, and all music ; the now changed 
 body glowing, like an increasing light, into its spirituality 
 of form and beauty, and thrilling with 
 
 "That undisturbed song of pure consent, 
 
 Aye sung before the sapphire-color'd throne 
 
 To him that sits thereon," 
 
 Then shall we doubt, and not dare to pronounce the 
 superior capabilities of Christian art, arising out of its sub- 
 ject-poetry ? We prefer, as a great poetic conception, 
 Raphael's Archangel, Michael, with his victorious foot 
 upon his prostrate adversary, to the far-famed Apollo 
 Belvidere, who has slain his Python ; and his St. Marga- 
 ret, in her sweet, her innocent, and clothed grace, to that 
 perfect model of woman's form, the Venus de Medici. Not 
 that we venture a careless or misgiving thought of the 
 perfectness of those great antique works : their perfectness 
 was according to their purpose. Higher purposes make a 
 higher perfectness. ISTor would we have them viewed 
 irreverently ; for even in them, and the genius that pro- 
 duced them, the Creator, as in " times past, left not Him- 
 self without witness." In showing forth the glory of the 
 human form, they show forth the glory of Him who made 
 it, who*is thus glorified in the witnesses ; and so we accept 
 and love them. But to a certain degree they must stand 
 dethroned, their influence faded. Graces and Muses in 
 their perfectness of marbled beauty, what are they to faith, 
 hope, and charity, and the veiled virtues that like our 
 angels shroud themselves ? These virtues of the soul, far 
 greater in their humility, in the sacred poetry of our 
 3 
 
UMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 Christian faith, shine like stars, even in their smallness on 
 the dark night of our humanity ; and they are to take place 
 in the celestial of art ; and we feel that it is His will, who, 
 as the hymn of the blessed Virgin that type of all these 
 united virtues declares, " hath put down the mighty from 
 their seat, and hath exalted the humble and the meek." 1 
 
 The triumphs which Christianity has achieved in Liter- 
 ature and Art, were, in the beginning of her career, the 
 least to have been expected. In the felicitous words of 
 Dean Trench : " How many things Christianity might, at 
 first sight, have threatened to leave out, to take no note of, 
 or indeed utterly to suppress, which, so far from really 
 warring against, it has raised to higher perfection than 
 ever in the old world they had attained. With what 
 despair, for example, a lover of art, one who at Athens or 
 at Rome fondly had dwelt among the beautiful creations 
 of poet and of painter, |jfould have contemplated the rise 
 of the new religion, and the authority which its doctrines 
 were acquiring over the hearts and spirits of men. What 
 a death-knell must he have heard in this to all in which his 
 soul so greatly delighted. He might have been ready, per- 
 haps, to acknowledge that our human life, under this new 
 teaching, would be more rigorously earnest, more severe, 
 more pure ; but all its grace and its beauty, all which it 
 borrowed of these from the outward world, he would have 
 concluded, had been laid under a ban, and must now vanish 
 forever .... Little, indeed, could friend or foe of the 
 nascent faith, have forecast that out of it, that nourished 
 by the Christian books, by the great thoughts which Christ 
 set stirring in humanity, and of which these books kept a 
 lasting record, there should unfold itself a poetry infinitely 
 greater, an art infinitely higher, than any which the old 
 world had seen; that this faith, which looked so rigid, so 
 austere, even so forbidding, should clothe itself in forms of 
 1 Blackwood's Magazine. 
 
TRIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 51 
 
 grace and loveliness, such as men had never dreamt of be- 
 fore ; that poetry should not be henceforward the play 
 of the spirit, but its holiest earnest ; and those skilless 
 Christian hymns to Christ as to God," of which Pliny 
 speaks, so rude probably in regard of form, should yet be 
 the preludes of strains higher than the world had listened 
 to yet. Or, who would have supposed that those artless 
 paintings of the catacombs had the prophecy in them of 
 more wondrous compositions than men's eyes had ever 
 seen or that a day should arrive when above many a dark 
 vault and narrow crypt, where now the Christian worship- 
 pers gathered in secret, should arise domes and cathedrals, 
 embodying loftier ideas, because ideas relating to the 
 eternal and the infinite, than all those Grecian temples, 
 which now stood so fair and so strong, but which aimed 
 not to lift men's minds from the earth which they adorned ? 
 " How little would the one or other, would Christian or 
 heathen have presaged such a future as this that art was 
 not to perish, but only to be purified and redeemed from 
 the service of the flesh, and from whatever was clinging to 
 and hindering it from realizing its true glory, and that 
 this book, which does not talk about such matters, which 
 does not make beauty but holiness, its end and aim 
 should yet be the truest nourisher of all out of which any 
 genuine art has ever proceeded; the truest fosterer of 
 beauty, in that it is the nourisher of the affections, the sus- 
 tainer of the relations between God and man; which affec- 
 tions and which relations are indeed the only root out of 
 which any poetry or art worthy the name, ever have sprung. 
 For these affections being laid waste, those relations being 
 broken, art is first stricken with barrenness, and then, in a 
 little while, withers and pines and dies as that ancient art, 
 w r hich had been so fertile while faith survived, was, when 
 the Church was born, already withering and dying under 
 the influence of the scepticism, the profligacy, the decay of 
 
52 TRIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 family and national life, the extinction of religious faith, 
 which so eminently marked the time ; only having a name 
 to live, resting merely on the traditions of an earlier age, 
 and on the eve of utter dissolution. Such was its condi- 
 tion when Christ came, and cast in his Word, as that which 
 maketh all things new, into the midst of an old and decre- 
 pit and wornout world." 1 
 
 The late professor Wilson has also written eloquently 
 on this theme. Comparing the Christian with the old clas- 
 sic world, he says in his " Kecreations : " " We seem to feel 
 more profoundly than they to see, as it were, into a new 
 
 world Since the revelation of Christianity, all moral 
 
 thought has been sanctified by religion. Religion has given 
 to it a purity, a solemnity, a sublimity which, even amongst 
 the noblest of the heathen, we shall look for in vain. The 
 knowledge that shone by fits and dimly on the eyes of 
 Socrates and Plato, c that rolled in vain to find the light,' 
 has descended over many lands into the ' huts where poor 
 men lie ; and thoughts are familiar there, beneath the low 
 and smoking roofs, higher far than ever flowed from Grecian 
 sage meditating among the magnificence of his pillared tem- 
 ples." 
 
 " Christ hath sent us down the angels ; 
 
 And the whole earth and the skies 
 
 Are illumed by altar candles 
 
 Lit for blessed mysteries ; 
 
 And a Priest's hand, through creation, 
 
 Waveth calm and consecration 
 
 And Pan is dead." Mrs. BROWNING. 
 
 The triumphs of modern science, also, are due to the 
 Bible. Not only did it communicate the intellectual im- 
 pulse which led to their achievement, but the true method 
 of investigation, without which all or most of them would 
 have remained in impenetrable darkness, is to be ascribed 
 to its influence. In all ages of the world, heathen and 
 
 1 Hulsean Lectures, Am. ed., pp. 132-3. 
 
TKIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 53 
 
 Christian, down to the revival of letters, when the Bible 
 first reached the intellectual ascendency it has ever since 
 maintained, the only test and standard of truth which men 
 knew and recognized was human reason. The profoundest 
 thinkers confounded physics with metaphysics, and without 
 troubling themselves to observe the processes of nature as 
 carried on in the mighty laboratory of the universe, pro- 
 . posed to possess themselves of her secrets, by using the 
 rules of syllogistic art. 
 
 " Previous to the publication of the Novum Organon 
 of Bacon," says Sir John Herschel, "natural philosophy, 
 in any legitimate and extensive use of the word, could 
 hardly be said to exist. Among the Greek philosophers, 
 of whose attainments in science alone we have any positive 
 knowledge, and that but a very limited one, we are struck 
 with the remarkable contrast between their powers of acute 
 and subtile disputation, their extraordinary success in ab- 
 stract reasoning, and their intimate familiarity with subjects 
 purely intellectual, on the one hand ; and, on the other, with 
 their loose and careless consideration of external nature, 
 their grossly illogical deductions of sweeping generality 
 from few and ill-observed facts, in some cases ; and their 
 reckless assumption of abstract principles having no foun- 
 dation but in their own imaginations, in others ; mere forms 
 of words with nothing corresponding to them in nature, 
 from which, as from mathematical definitions, postulates, 
 and axioms, they imagined that all phenomena could be 
 derived, all the laws of nature deduced." Thus 
 
 " Sages after sages strove 
 In vain to filter off the crystal draught 
 Pure from the lees, which often more enhanced 
 The thirst than slaked it, and not seldom bred 
 Intoxication and delirium wild." 
 
 But from the time that the reign of the Bible began, the 
 dominion of false principles of inquiry and research in the 
 
54 ^ TRIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 realms of physical science began to pass away. In the light 
 of revelation men learned that reason was but a blind guide 
 in such high matters as the laws and order of the universe. 
 They had found and recognized in the Bible an unimpeach- 
 able standard for moral duty, and thus was the desire 
 awakened to obtain a basis of equal certainty for the facts 
 of the physical world. In the progress of human thought, 
 the true province of reason with respect to revelation had 
 at length been defined, and it was now understood that 
 man's convictions of what is divine truth must be conse- 
 quents upon and not antecedents to his examination of the 
 divine word. , It was perceived that man might be able to 
 understand and interpret such statements and disclosures 
 as the wisdom of God might see fit to make known to him ; 
 but that, without that aid, to discover what should be the 
 principles and laws of the divine order and government, is 
 beyond his power. This lesson applied with equal direct- 
 ness and force to the moral and to the physical government 
 of God. It furnished the lever 1 by which Lord Bacon 
 overthrew the long-established scholastic philosophy, and 
 " substituted induction for syllogism, fact for theory, prac- 
 tical experiment for abstract speculation." Utterly discard- 
 ing the idea that the human mind could determine on purely 
 theoretic and a priori grounds, what facts of nature are to 
 be allowed or disallowed, he showed the office of man in 
 search of truth to be that of servant or interpreter, by 
 patient observation and comparison to decipher what God 
 has written in the great book of nature, and thus climb 
 truth's ever-ascending pathway, which, if it be steep, is yet 
 open and accessible. Armed with this principle, the mighty 
 genius of Bacon, like the magic wand of Prospero, dislimned 
 
 1 " The road to true philosophy is precisely the same with that which 
 leads to true religion ; and from both one and the other, unless we would en- 
 ter in as little children, we must expect to be totally excluded." Nov. Org., 
 lib. i, aph. 68. 
 
TRIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 55 
 
 the " airy charms and unsubstantial pageants " of abstract 
 conceptions and subtile distinctions, among which man had 
 so long been lost and bewildered, and brought him forth into 
 a world of real existences. Finely and truly has Cowley 
 said: 
 
 "From these and all long errors of the way, 
 In which our wandering predecessors went, 
 And like th' old Hebrews, many years did stray 
 
 In deserts of but small extent, 
 Bacon, like Moses, led us forth at last; 
 
 The barren wilderness he past 
 
 Did on the very border stand 
 
 Of the blest promis'd land, 
 And from the mountain's top of his exalted wit 
 
 Saw it himself, and show'd us it." 
 
 The Bible, therefore, is the great intellectual elevator 
 of mankind. Its influence has enlightened and schooled 
 philosophy, stimulated science, ennobled poetry and art, and 
 at the same time has touched all things, human life most of 
 all, with sublimity and grandeur. Coeval with the infancy 
 of Time, it still remains and widens in the circle of its in- 
 telligence. " It adapts itself with facility to the revolutions 
 of thought and feeling which shake to pieces all things else, 
 and flexibly accommodates itself to the progress of society 
 and the changes of civilization. Even conquests, the dis- 
 organization of old nations, the formation of new, do not 
 affect the continuity of its empire. It lays hold of the new 
 as of the old, and transmigrates with the spirit of humanity ; 
 attracting to itself, by its own moral power, in all the com- 
 munities it enters, a ceaseless intensity of effort for its pro- 
 pagation, illustration, and defence." " King and noble, 
 peasant and pauper are delighted students of its pages. 
 Philosophers have humbly gleaned from it, and legislation 
 has been thankfully indebted. Its stories charm the child, 
 its hopes inspirit the aged, and its promises soothe the bed 
 of death. The maiden is wedded under its sanction, and 
 
56 TRIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 the grave is closed under its comforting assurances. Its 
 lessons are the essence of religion, the seminal truths of 
 theology, the first principles of morals, and the guiding 
 axioms of political economy. It is the theme of universal 
 appeal. In the entire range of literature, no book is so 
 frequently quoted or referred to. The majority of all the 
 books ever published have been in connection with it. 
 The Fathers commented upon it, and the subtile diviners 
 of the middle ages refined upon its doctrines. It sustained 
 Origen's scholarship and Chrysostom's rhetoric. It whet- 
 ted the penetration of Abelard, and exercised the keen in- 
 genuity of Aquinas. It gave life to the revival of letters, 
 and Dante and Petrarch revelled in its imagery. It aug- 
 mented the erudition of Erasmus, and roused and blessed 
 the intrepidity of Luther. Its temples are the finest speci- 
 mens of architecture, and the brightest triumphs of music 
 are associated with its poetry. The text of no ancient 
 author has summoned into operation such an amount of 
 labor and learning, and it has furnished occasion for the 
 most masterly examples of criticism and comment, gram- 
 matical investigation, and logical analysis. It has also in- 
 spired the English .muse with her loftiest strains. Its beams 
 gladdened Milton in his darkness, and cheered the song of 
 Cowper in his sadness. It was the star which guided 
 Columbus to the discovery of the !NTew World. It fur- 
 nished the panoply of that Puritan valor which shivered 
 tyranny in days gone by. It is the magna charta of the 
 world's regeneration and liberties. The records of false 
 religion, from the Koran to the Book of Mormon, have 
 owned its superiority, and surreptitiously purloined its jew- 
 els. Among the Christian classics it loaded the treasures 
 of Owen, charged the fulness of Hooker, barbed the point 
 of Baxter, gave colors to the palette and sweep to the pen- 
 cil of Bunyan, enriched the fragrant fancy of Taylor, sus- 
 tained the loftiness of Howe, and strung the plummet of 
 
TRIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 57 
 
 Edwards. In short, this collection of artless lives and let- 
 ters has changed the face of the world, and ennobled my- 
 riads of its population." 1 Not only do we owe to it our 
 social and moral advantages, but the brilliant achievements 
 of modern science, the miracles of modern art, and the 
 master works of modern literature, are to be reckoned 
 among its trophies. 
 
 To these claims for the Bible, infidelity would, however, 
 object, that the mighty change which has been wrought 
 in man's moral condition, and also his intellectual advance- 
 ment, are due, not to the influence of Revelation, but to 
 the unfolding of our nature from its own inherent vigor 
 and natural growth in its progress toward perfection. 
 The philosophers of the modern " positive " school argue 
 that, as an individual passes through the different stages of 
 infancy, childhood, and manhood, so society, under the in- 
 fluence of natural law, progresses from one generation to 
 another. The whole human race is to be viewed as "a 
 colossal man, whose life reaches from the creation to the 
 day of judgment," 2 arid to whose education, "in the econo- 
 my of Providence, the poetical and legendary mythology 
 of Greece and Rome, the animal worship of Egypt, the sun 
 worship of the East, with their various systems of law and 
 civil government," have as truly contributed as the religion 
 of the Bible. Under all these means and agencies, man has 
 been gradually approximating toward that goal and consum- 
 mation which Creative wisdom designed he should attain. 
 
 There is a mixture of truth with the error of this 
 hypothesis, that lends it plausibility. For it is undeniable 
 that man is a creature of progress and expansion, and there 
 is a sense in which the philosophic poet truly says : 
 
 " I doubt not through the ages one increasing purpose runs, 
 And the thoughts of men are widened with the process of the suns." 
 
 TENNYSON. 
 
 1 Dr. Eadie. 8 Dr. Temple in the Essays and Reviews. 
 
58 TRIUMPHS OP THE BIBLE. 
 
 There are bounds of limitation for the inferior creation. 
 The bee constructs its cell, the eagle builds its eyrie, the 
 nautilus hoists its membrane sail, as they did in the early 
 morning of the world, without change or improvement. 
 They, and all others of every species, soon reach the full 
 maturity of their being, and can rise no higher in the scale. 
 But the faculties of man are not thus hopelessly circum- 
 scribed. He is capable in himself of boundless improve- 
 ment, and of appropriating " the long result of time," the 
 accumulated treasures of knowledge and thought, which the 
 ages have transmitted 
 
 " Augescunt aliae gentes, alia; minuuntur, 
 Inque brevi spatio mutantur scecla animantum, 
 Et quasi cursores vital lampada tradunt." LUCRETIUS. 
 
 "Nations by turns increase, by turns decay : 
 Like Racers, bear the Lamp of life and live, 
 And their Race done, their Lamp to others give." 
 
 Individuals and nations perish, but the progress of humanity 
 is continued. Or, to use another illustration than that 
 supplied by Lucretius : " The whole gigantic growth of 
 human knowledge and science may be compared to those 
 deposits which geologists describe, full of the remains of 
 vegetable and animal life, beautiful once and beneficial 
 still. The luxuriant foliage and huge forest growth of 
 science and literature which now overshadow us, are them- 
 selves rooted in strata of decaying or decayed mind, and 
 derive their nourishment from them ; the very soil we turn 
 is the loose detritus of thought, washed down to us through 
 the long ages." The great increase in knowledge of the 
 physical globe, the greater acquaintance with the powers 
 and forces of the created universe, the marvellous progress 
 in the inventive arts, that characterize the present age, 
 have doubtless, in part at least, sprung from this accumula- 
 tion. But this admission by no means implies the progress 
 
TRIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 59 
 
 of the race in such a sense as the school of writers referred 
 to contend for. Their hypothesis entirely ignores the 
 necessity of such a remedial process for the restoration and 
 development of man as Christianity contemplates and de- 
 signs. And when we examine history, we find that that 
 hypothesis completely fails as it respects the vast majority 
 of our race. Where there has been progression, it can be 
 shown that it has always been due, not to the operation of 
 a blind inherent law, but to agencies and impulses acting 
 upon it from without, and in accordance with the 'develop- 
 ment of that " increasing purpose " or divine plan recog- 
 nized by the poet. " God," it has been said, " is in history," 
 and in the mighty scheme which under the superintendence 
 of his ever-present agency is continually evolving, all events 
 are included. The rise and fall of states and empires are 
 but among the subordinate means and instrumentalities for 
 promoting " the uuhasting yet unresting progress of a king- 
 dom, ordained ere time began, to be completed when time 
 shall be no more." l If there were such a " natural law of 
 historic progress," as writers like Hegel, Comte, and" Buckle 
 contend for, it ought, like all the laws of nature, to be 
 constant in its tendencies and uniform in its results. But 
 how is this reconcilable with the fact that many of the 
 countries most civilized in the days of Augustus are now in 
 a state of hopeless barbarism ? It is certain that the only 
 true law and the only direct line of the world's sure and 
 stable progress, which can be traced in all the annals of the 
 past, have been coincident with the advancement and 
 prevalence of Bible truth and knowledge. If this be denied, 
 how shall we solve the problem presented by such countries 
 as China and Hindostan, where letters and philosophy 
 flourished in those remote ages, when the cruel rites of 
 Druidism were practised in Britain, and the savage tribes 
 who then inhabited Germany, worshipped Odin and Thor, 
 1 Prof. H. B. Smith. 
 
60 TEIUMPHS OP THE BIBLE. 
 
 if we contrast them as they now are, with what Christen- 
 dom has become ? To what can we refer the difference, 
 but to the influence of Bible truth in the latter, and its 
 absence in the former? Where that has been wanting, 
 after a certain point has been reached, the progress has 
 ever been in the direction indicated in the well-known lines 
 of the Roman poet : 
 
 "Damnosa quid non imminuit dies? 
 ^Etas parentum, pejor avis, tulit 
 Nos nequiores, mox daturos 
 
 Progenicm vitiosiorem." Hon., Od. iii, 6. 
 
 " Our fathers' race, 
 More deeply versed in ill 
 Than were their sires, hath borne us yet 
 More wicked, duly to beget 
 A race more wicked still." MARTIN'S TRANS. 
 
 " The downward tendencies of human nature, which con- 
 stitute the substance of Secular, as distinguished from 
 Sacred History ; the acknowledged deterioration of lan- 
 guages, literatures, religions, arts, sciences, and civiliza- 
 tions; the slow and sure decay of national vigor, and return 
 to barbarism ; the unvarying decline from public virtue to 
 public voluptuousness ; in short, the entire history of man," l 
 so far as he is or has been left to his natural development, all 
 titter the same testimony. In the teeming vices of the 
 great cities of Europe and America, there is abundant proof 
 that man is the same now as when Horace wrote. And 
 if modern communities have not sunk into the very lowest 
 depths of that almost incredible profligacy that marked the 
 declining years of Roman greatness, it is to no growing 
 perfectibility of human nature that we owe it, but to that 
 Gospel which modern scepticism affects to despise. It is. 
 the moulding, modifying influence of the precepts and 
 
 1 Professor Shedd's Philosophy of History. 
 
TRIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 61 
 
 truths of the Bible, wrought into all our institutions, like 
 the name of Phidias in the shield of Minerva, that has 
 produced the superiority of modern to ancient civilization. 
 In the presence of that element, we have a safe assurance 
 that the world's progress henceforth shall be onward that 
 humanity is being restored to the heights whence it fell 
 that the light of improvement now kindled, shall never 
 expire. 
 
 Were such confirmation needful, the position above 
 taken might be fortified by numerous testimonies of great 
 and illustrious men. On such a point, who so qualified to 
 utter an opinion as England's "scholar, metaphysician, 
 bard," Samuel Taylor Coleridge ? It is the recorded judg- 
 ment of that imperial mind, that " for more than a thousand 
 years the Bible, collectively taken, has gone hand in hand 
 with civilization, science, law in short, with the moral and 
 intellectual cultivation of the species always supporting, 
 and often leading the way. Its very presence, as a believed 
 Book, has rendered the nations emphatically a chosen race, 
 and this, too, in exact proportion as it is more or less gener- 
 ally known and studied. Of those nations which in the 
 highest degree enjoy its influences, it is not too much to 
 affirm, that the differences, public and private, physical, 
 moral, and intellectual, are only less than what might have 
 been expected from a diversity of species. Good and holy 
 men, and the best and wisest of mankind, the kingly spirits 
 of history, enthroned in the hearts of mighty nations, have 
 borne witness to its influences, have declared it to be beyond 
 compare the most perfect instrument of Humanity." 
 
 To this eloquent utterance, may be added a similar 
 testimony from America's accomplished orator and states- 
 man, the Hon. Edward Everett. He says, " The highest 
 historical probability can be adduced in support of the 
 proposition, that, if it were possible to annihilate the Bible, 
 and with it all its influences, we should destroy with it the 
 
62 TKIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 whole spiritual system of the moral world all our great 
 moral ideas refinement of manners constitutional govern- 
 ment equitable administration and security of property 
 our schools, hospitals, and benevolent associations the 
 press the fine arts the equality of the sexes, and the bless- 
 ings of the fireside ; in a word, all that distinguishes Europe 
 and America from Turkey and Hindostan." 
 
 But the greatest triumph of the Bible is the power 
 which its truth imparts to fortify the believer against the 
 ills of life and the fear of death. It is an affecting and 
 impressive incident that is related of the closing hours of 
 the most eminent and popular author of the present 
 century. A few days before his death, during an interval 
 of comparative ease from his malady, turning to his son-in- 
 law, he expressed a wish that he should read to him. 
 " From what book shall I read ? " said he. " Can you 
 ask ? " the dying Scott replied ; " there is but One." No 
 page of his own matchless romances or enchanting poetry 
 could minister comfort to him then. And to all of living 
 men, there is coming a time, when they will be shut up to 
 a like necessity. Life may now appear like a fairy scene, 
 all nature wear a smile of gladness, and the heart be filled 
 with joy, 
 
 " Youth on the prow and pleasure at the helm ; " 
 
 but the spell will be broken and the enchantment disap- 
 pear. For there is a reverse to the picture. " Though a 
 man live many years and rejoice in them all, yet let him 
 remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many." 
 There is a train of inevitable evils from which the most 
 favored lot is not exempt. In the garden there is a sepul- 
 chre. Sickness and sorrow, weariness and pain, disappoint- 
 ment and separation from those we love, and " death the 
 end of earth," who shall escape these ? Unto these troubles 
 man is born as the sparks fly upward. The last of them 
 
TKIUMPHS OP THE BIBLE. 63 
 
 has been expressively termed " the king of terrors." Apart 
 from the hope which Revelation proffers, he is and ever 
 has been, since the entrance of sin marred our inheritance, 
 a skeleton at life's richest banquet, in its sunniest path, a 
 serpent among the flowers, in its clearest sky, an ever- 
 i threatening cloud. What though the votary of ambition 
 achieve the glittering prize of " youth's dreaming hope, and 
 labor's midnight oil," yet the inevitable hour will come to 
 close the scene and extinguish his fairest prospects. For 
 what is human life ? 
 
 " A flower that does with opening dawn arise, 
 And flourishing the day, at evening dies ; 
 A winged eastern blast, just skimming o'er 
 The ocean's brow, and sinking on the shore ; 
 A fire, whose flames through crackling stubble fly ; 
 A meteor, shooting from the summer sky ; 
 A bowl, adown the bending mountain rolled ; 
 A bubble breaking, and a fable told : 
 A noontide shadow, and a midnight dream ; 
 Are emblems, which, with semblance apt, proclaim 
 Our earthly course." PRIOR'S Solomon. 
 
 Viewed in this aspect alone, life seems an undesirable 
 possession. When we consider only its trials and vicissi- 
 tudes, its pains, sorrows, and disappointments that man's 
 greatness ripens but to fall, and " the paths of glory lead 
 but to the grave," we are ready to say with the afflicted 
 patriarch, " I loathe it, I would not live alway," or with the 
 world's despairing votary 
 
 " Known were the bill of fare before we taste, 
 
 Who would not spurn the banquet and the board ? 
 Prefer th' eternal but oblivious fast 
 
 To life's frail fretted thread, and death's suspended sword ? " 
 
 These lines are from a poem written by the gifted 
 author of " Lacon," just before with his own hand he termi- 
 nated his miserable life. To them may be appended the 
 melancholy confession of that great but perverted genius 
 
64 . TKIUMPHS OP THE BIBLE. 
 
 Rousseau, as he approached the shores of eternity : " I 
 now found myself," says he, u in the decline of life, a prey 
 to tormenting maladies, and believing myself at the close 
 of my career without having once tasted the sublime 
 pleasures after which my heart panted. Why was it that, 
 with a soul naturally expansive, whose very existence was 
 benevolence, I have never found one single friend with feel- 
 ings like my own ? A prey to the cravings of a heart 
 which have never been satisfied, I perceived myself arrived 
 at the confines of old age, and dying ere I had begun to 
 live. I considered destiny as in my debt, for promises 
 which she had never realized. Why was I created with 
 faculties so refined, yet which were never intended to be 
 adequately employed ? I felt my own value, and revenged 
 myself of my fate, by recollecting and shedding tears for 
 its injustice." l 
 
 Is then this life wholly a labyrinth of confusion and dis- 
 order ? a flat, and stale, and unprofitable scene of guilt and 
 misery ? of power exerted without an object ? of energies, 
 of hopes, of sympathies, terminating in nothing ? Can it 
 be that the benevolent Author of our being has left us with 
 no provision for our deepest necessities no balm for our 
 sufferings no medicine to soothe our griefs ? No ; God 
 has not left his work unfinished. He has provided a remedy 
 for all these ills. There is that which if cast into these 
 bitter waters, they will become healthful and pleasant. 
 There is that which, when all earthly hopes vanish, can re- 
 place them with visions of secure and everlasting joys. 
 Let a man truly believe the Bible, let him receive it as an 
 authoritative revelation from God, and bow his mind and 
 heart in willing submission to its blessed teachings and he 
 will find that life's gloom will soon disperse and " all thing.i 
 become new." The fairest boons that earth can offer, likq 
 the Dead Sea fruit, may turn to ashes on the lips, but th* 
 1 Rousseau's Confessions. Part ii, book 9. 
 
TRIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 65 
 
 talisman hence obtained will cause the water of this world 
 to become wine of heaven, and the common bread of this 
 life to prove angels' food. For here is abundant provision, 
 exquisitely adapted, as light to the eye and music to the 
 ear, to all the necessities and exigencies of our condition, in 
 whatever aspect it may be viewed. " Here is authority in 
 which the feebleness of the soul may rest, yet tempered 
 with such an exquisite sympathy for every human weak- 
 ness as the experience of a God incarnate could alone sup- 
 ply. Not a doubt that is not solved ; not a fear that is not 
 removed ; not a want that is not satisfied ; not a sorrow 
 incident to life that is not cheered by its appropriate com- 
 fort, till even life's darkest passages become beautiful in 
 that flood of heavenly light and love that streams from the 
 cross of Christ. Here we find pardon for sin ; reconcilia- 
 tion with God ; a new life in the soul divinely implanted, 
 and that beats pulse to pulse with the heart of God him- 
 self; sonship with the Almighty, with those privileges of 
 free intercourse, constant protection, and future inheritance 
 that belong to sonship ; a new charm thrown over life ; all 
 fear taken from death ; the veil of the further world up- 
 lifted, and such a glimpse given of unutterable bliss that 
 human language has no words to utter it, human hearts as 
 yet no experience by which to measure it. All this blessed 
 revelation is not an outward communication dependent for 
 its effect on the vigor of the human understanding, but is 
 instinct with a Divine Spirit that sustains with almighty 
 strength the feebleness of the human will, and directs the 
 waywardness of the human affections." 
 
 " Of all the boons which God has bestowed on this apos- 
 tate and orphaned creation, we are bound to say that the 
 Bible is the noblest and most precious. "We bring not into 
 comparison with this illustrious donation the glorious sun- 
 light, nor the rich sustenance which is poured forth from 
 the storehouses of the earth, nor that existence itself which 
 
66 TKIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 allows us, though dust, to soar into companionship with 
 angels. The Bible is the development of man's immortali- 
 ty ; the guide which informs him how he may move off 
 triumphantly from a contracted and temporary sphere, and 
 grasp destinies of unbounded splendor, eternity his life- 
 time, and infinity his home. It is the record which tells us 
 that this rebellious section of God's unlimited empire is not 
 excluded from our Maker's compassion ; but that the 
 creatures who move upon its surface, though they have 
 basely sepulchred in sinfulness and corruption the magnifi- 
 cence of their nature, are yet so dear in their ruin to Him 
 who first formed them, that He hath bowed the heavens in 
 order to open their graves." " It is this that has nerved 
 the faith which has overcome the world ; this has strength- 
 ened the martyr's heart till he has gone to death as to a 
 victory, and made the valley of the shadow of death glo- 
 rious with hallelujahs ; this has bound up the mourner's 
 bleeding wounds, and made the tongue of the dumb to 
 sing ; this has rendered the tender woman and the feeble 
 child more than conquerors over all at which unassisted 
 human nature shudders ; this has brightened life and sweet- 
 ened death, till the pallid brow of the dead saint has be- 
 come glorious as a conqueror's, and the coffin and the 
 winding-sheet have been the investiture of a blessed im- 
 mortality. These are the triumphs of the Bible." 1 
 
 " Most wondrous book ! bright candle of the Lord ! 
 Star of eternity ! the only star 
 By which the bark of man could navigate 
 The sea of life, and gain the coast of bliss 
 Securely ; only star which rose on Time, 
 And, on its dark and troubled billows, still, 
 As generation, drifting swiftly by, 
 Succeeded generation, threw a ray 
 Of heaven's own light ; and to the hills of God, 
 The everlasting hills, pointed the sinner's eye." POLLOK. 
 
 1 Garbett's Boyle Lectures. 
 
TRIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 67 
 
 But great as have been the triumphs and achievements 
 of the Bible ; though through so many centuries its adver- 
 saries have assailed it in vain ; though its victories have 
 been far more wonderful than those of Ca3sar or Alexander ; 
 though it has moulded anew the life of nations, and wher- 
 ever its mission has been welcomed and its influence has 
 had " free course," has renewed the face of the earth ; 
 though it is man's guide in the morning and noon of life, 
 and both his staff and telescope when its evening shadows 
 fall ; though in that dread hour when man's flesh and heart 
 fail and all earthly things recede, it has so oft exhibited its 
 power to light up death's glazing eye with immortal 
 hope, and arm the departing believer to meet the " king 
 of terrors" unappalled, yet let us not suppose that its 
 earthly warfare has ceased. Its pure uncompromising doc- 
 trines still call forth the enmity of the carnal mind and cor- 
 rupt heart of man. "The religion which imposes self- 
 restraint upon the wilful, humility upon the arrogant, mercy 
 upon the cruel ; which would bend the knees of the self- 
 righteous philosophers before the cross of a crucified Re- 
 deemer, and which would quell all the tumultuous desires 
 which attach us to this world, that it may plant the sublime 
 hopes and aspirations of eternity in their room ; that re- 
 ligion can never hope to command the willing deference of 
 an unconverted world. So long as a single sophism can be 
 found to justify disobedience to its dictates ; so long as 
 man will continue to argue from the suggestions of passion 
 rather than of cool and impartial reflection ; so long as the 
 scanty area of man's knowledge will be too narrow for the 
 difficulties with which it is beset, and the bad passions of 
 mankind shall be ready to take advantage of those difficul- 
 ties ; so long as any one branch of science shall remain un- 
 investigated, and the obscurities of ancient literature afford 
 the slightest ground for plausible speculation ; so long, we 
 may confidently assert, will Christianity see, not only the 
 
68 TEIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 proud, the violent, and the sensualist, but even scholars 
 and philosophers drawn up in array against her." Infideli- 
 ty, so often repulsed, still keeps the field, and if she inter- 
 mit her efforts, it is only to recruit her forces for a new 
 campaign and to assault positions hitherto unattempted. 
 " There is," says an able writer, " there is coming upon the 
 Church a current of doubt, deeper far and darker than 
 ever swelled against her before a current strong in learn- 
 ing, crested with genius, strenuous yet calm in progress. 
 It seems the last grand trial of the truth of our faith. 
 Against the battlements of Zion, a motley throng have 
 gathered themselves together. Socinians, atheists, doubt- 
 ers, open foes and bewildered friends are in the field, al- 
 though no trumpet has openly been blown, and no charge 
 publicly sounded. There are the old desperadoes of infi- 
 delity the last followers of Paine and Voltaire ; there is 
 the stolid, scanty and sleepy troop of the followers of 
 Owen ; there follow the Communists of France, a fierce, 
 disorderly crew ; the commentators of Germany come, too, 
 with pick-axes in their hands, crying, * Raze it, raze it to 
 the foundations.' There you see the garde-mobile, the 
 vicious and vain youth of Europe. On the outskirts of the 
 fight hangs, cloudy and uncertain, a small but select band, 
 whose wavering surge is surmounted by the dark and lofty 
 crest of Carlyle and Emerson. ' Their swords are a thou- 
 sand ' their purposes are various ; in this, however, all 
 agree, that Christianity and the Bible ought to go down 
 before advancing civilization." 1 Since this graphic descrip- 
 tion was penned, indications have multiplied that "the 
 last conflict of great principles, the final contest between 
 truth and error, the mystic Armageddon, it may be, of the 
 Apocalypse has, indeed, commenced. As never, since the 
 Apostolic age, have the triumphs of the Bible been greater 
 nor its friends more sanguine ; so never have its enemies 
 i British Quarterly Review. 
 
TRIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 69 
 
 been more numerous and determined. To the old open 
 warfare, have been added weapons of attack far more sub- 
 tile and dangerous. These have been skilfully adapted to 
 the refinement and intelligence of the age ; and with a 
 great show of learning and science, and not seldom under 
 the garb of reverence for the Bible and adherence to 
 Christianity, modern sceptics and unbelievers have aimed 
 the most deadly blows against the records of our faith, and 
 no conceivable appliance has been left untried for the pur- 
 pose of uprooting that tree whose leaves are for the healing 
 of the nations. But as the storm which beats upon the 
 oak only causes it to strike its roots and fibres deeper in 
 the soil, so shall these assaults continue to prove innocuous 
 and unavailing. The tree which a Divine hand hath 
 planted, shall still flourish in undecaying vigor and immor- 
 tal beauty, when the last dagon of infidelity shall have 
 fallen. The prophet of scepticism may talk contemptuously 
 of " old Jew-stars gone out ; " * but the Bible yet lives. 
 " Every age has more than one Erostratus ; but while 
 they are quarrelling for preeminence, the temple stands 
 and their torches expire. Strauss abolishes Paulus : and 
 Ewald declares that in Strauss there is absolutely nothing 
 new. The giants, sprung from the dragon-teeth of scep- 
 ticism, slay each other, while the Bible, like the immortal 
 letters of Cadmus (which are indeed its own), passes on to 
 mingle with the thought and speech of all lands and all 
 centuries." 
 
 But while the experience of the past and the Almighty 
 care which unceasingly watches over it, assure us of the 
 ultimate triumph of the Bible over all its enemies, it is the 
 manifest duty of eVery Christian, especially in view of the* 
 craft and subtilty of modern unbelief, to be armed in its 
 behalf; not only to be himself convinced of "the certainty 
 of those things which are most surely believed among us," 
 
 Carlyle. 
 
70 TRIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 but to be able to answer the cavils of the gainsayer, and to 
 show that his faith rests not upon " cunningly devised fables." 
 It is essential to our happiness and security, that we should 
 steadfastly believe the sublime doctrines and undoubtingly 
 rest on the consoling promises of the Bible ; but it is also 
 requisite that we have an intelligent persuasion of the 
 firmness and stability of the foundation on which they rest. 
 We are not to sit idly and at ease, in unquestioning reliance 
 upon lessons of custom and authority ; but we must " walk 
 about Zion, and go round about her, and tell the towers 
 thereof; we must mark well her bulwarks and consider 
 her palaces, that we may tell to generations following, this 
 God is our God forever and ever." 
 
 As an humble aid to the performance of this duty, and 
 in view of the peculiar exigencies of the Christian at the 
 present time, the following pages have been written. It is 
 proposed to confront the " oppositions of science falsely so 
 called," and the doubts and difficulties of modern scepti- 
 cism, and to establish the Harmony of the Bible with the 
 facts of Physical Science, and also the Historical Accuracy 
 and Reality of its statements and narratives. Against these 
 positions, the utmost efforts of infidelity have been directed. 
 As the wonders of modern science have been unfolded, each 
 new discovery, it was hoped by the enemies of Christianity, 
 would convict the sacred writers of ignorance and error. 
 As antiquarian research has brought to light new and un- 
 expected facts from long-buried monuments of the past, 
 each fresh accession has been eagerly pounced upon with 
 the view of extracting from it some contradiction of the 
 inspired records. And if at any time, some apparent dis- 
 crepancy could, for a moment, be sustained, the cry of the 
 enemies of the Bible then was, ' Falsus in uno, falsus in om- 
 nibus,' false in one respect, false in all. How can a book 
 which is thus proved erroneous, claim our confidence? 
 How can it be the word of the infallible God ? But it will 
 
TRIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE. 71 
 
 here be shown that those paeans of triumph were prema- 
 ture, and that there is no cause for apprehension in the 
 Christian camp, that the Bible is able to resist every 
 assault, from whatever quarter it may come that it is pre- 
 pared for every scrutiny of philosophy or of history, and 
 that every fresh discovery which has the remotest bearing 
 upon its authority and veracity, but adds to the " cloud of 
 witnesses " which attest that " the words of the Lord are 
 pure words ; as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified 
 seven times." 
 
PART II. 
 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 PEELIMINARY. 
 
 IN undertaking to demonstrate the harmony existing 
 between the statements of Revelation and the discoveries 
 of Science, it seems proper that their difference in aim and 
 object should first be distinctly recognized. It has been 
 said by one of the oracles of human wisdom 1 that " the 
 scope or purpose of the Spirit of God is not to express 
 matters of nature in Scripture otherwise than in passage, 
 for application to man's capacity, and to matters moral and 
 divine." Had this indisputable maxim been borne in mind, 
 many of the unhappy controversies which have occurred 
 between the votaries of Science and the friends of the 
 Bible would have been avoided. For it enunciates a prin- 
 ciple which is the true key to the relations of Scripture and 
 Science. It was no part of the design of the sacred writers 
 to communicate scientific truth. The mission with which 
 they were charged was of a far higher character. It was 
 to announce the claims and declare the will of God as the 
 moral Governor of the universe, and to prepare a chart 
 whereby man might be guided in reference to his eternal 
 destiny. It was to unfold the mysteries, not of the kingr 
 dom of nature, but of grace. Hence, when they have occa- 
 
 1 Lord Bacon. 
 4 
 
74 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 sion to refer to " matters of nature in passage," they simply 
 mention a fact as it appears, without any regard to scien- 
 tific accuracy of expression. They never use the dialect of 
 the schools, but speak of all the appearances and phenomena 
 of nature in popular and optical language, "not as they 
 would be seen by us were we placed in the sun ; but as 
 they are represented by our human senses in our present 
 relative position." l It is thus they tell us that " the sun 
 stood still over against Gibeon, and the moon in the valley 
 of Ajalon." For it was only such an expression that would 
 be understood by those for whom it was intended. It is 
 the common language which mankind have used in all ages, 
 and will continue to use. And if the most profound as- 
 tronomers of the present day had occasion to speak of such 
 phenomena as the rising and the setting sun, they would 
 doubtless ignore the true theory of the solar system. More- 
 over, it should also be considered that for the inspired 
 writers to have done otherwise, to have taught the truths 
 or corrected the errors of science, and thus have thrown 
 light upon the paths of physical research, would have coun- 
 teracted the divine plan for the disciplining and training of 
 man, and the gradual and timely development of the activi- 
 ties of his intellect. 
 
 The divine wisdom is manifested, therefore, in ordering 
 that the references in the Bible to the facts and phenomena 
 of the natural world should be, as the nature of the case 
 demanded, conventional, not scientific, expressed in the uni- 
 versal language of appearances, and therefore capable of 
 being understood by the unlettered, and in ages wholly 
 ignorant of science. The absence of scientific accuracy by 
 no means involves any real discrepancy or contradiction. 
 There may be a seeming variance between the glowing 
 allusions of the sacred writers to the beautiful phenomenon 
 of the dew and the true theory of its formation, but it is 
 
 1 Coleridge's Aids to Reflection. 
 
TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 75 
 
 seeming only. While, however, there are passages of this 
 sort, in which strictly philosophical language, until com- 
 paratively recent times, would have made Scripture a 
 stumbling block both to the learned and unlearned, there 
 are also numerous others containing statements which ex- 
 hibit a remarkable agreement with modern discovery. The 
 laws and processes of nature are unfolded nowhere in its 
 pages, so as to render human inquiry and toil unnecessary ; 
 but by the light of modern science we are now enabled to 
 perceive that in the pregnant expressions uttered ages ago 
 by the inspired writers, truths lay concealed, the discovery 
 of which by slow and laborious processes of investigation, 
 has immortalized not a few of the world's master minds. 
 The secrets which they have won from the domain of the 
 material universe were already in the sacred word, " not 
 indeed in all the minute particulars which the wants and 
 wishes and growth of human society should age by age 
 develop, but there in evidence to show that the hundred 
 gates of Science, as applied to nature, were opened by a 
 divine and gracious hand, that man might enter in, and 
 walk its golden streets, or reap its wide-spread fields." 1 
 
 It is proposed, therefore, in the three following chapters 
 of the present work, to vindicate the Bible against the 
 objections which have been drawn from the discoveries of 
 Physical Science, not merely by showing that seeming con- 
 tradictions may be explained by referring to the use of 
 optical and conventional language, but that many of thoso 
 discoveries have been anticipated in its statements, in a 
 manner which unmistakably indicates the presence of an 
 Omniscient Mind. As Astronomy and Geology have been 
 supposed to be especially antagonistic to Revelation, the 
 testimony of those sciences will be separately examined ; 
 after which another chapter will be occupied with a setting 
 
 i Lecture on Religion and Science by Rev. H. M. Mason, D.D. 
 
76 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 forth of the contrast which the Bible exhibits, viewed in 
 its scientific relations, to the religious books of the heathen 
 and ancient systems of philosophy, additional allusions to 
 physical phenomena, and its recognition of those great 
 primary and leading principles which are the ultimate results 
 of Science. 
 
CHAPTEE I. 
 
 ASTRONOMY. 
 
 THE Heavens, which " declare the glory of God," have 
 been invoked by the infidel to disparage the authority of 
 His word, and the unenlightened zeal of not a few of its 
 advocates for a time favored the idea that a real hostility 
 did exist between that sublime science which seeks an in- 
 telligent acquaintance with the hieroglyphics of the sky, 
 and the sacred oracles. The progress of scientific discovery 
 and the establishment of the true principles of interpreta- 
 tion have, however, as will be shown, removed the apparent 
 contradictions and demonstrated their entire harmony. 
 
 A seeming collision between the Bible and Astronomical 
 Science was found in the use of the word which in our 
 translation is rendered " firmament." It is well known that 
 according to the philosophy of the ancients, the heavens 
 are a mighty and vaulted arch of transparent solid matter 
 in which the fixed stars are firmly riveted, and which with 
 them performs a daily revolution round the earth as a 
 centre. The planets which move in an opposite direction 
 were supposed to belong to a lower and nearer region. In 
 'accordance with this view, the Latin Vulgate renders the 
 original Hebrew word " firmamentum," which is an exact 
 synonym of the word " stereoma " used in the Greek Sep- 
 tuagint, and both signify something firm and solid. Jose- 
 phus also (Antiquities, Book I, c. i, 1) evidently under- 
 stood the Scriptures to teach that at the creation the earth 
 
78 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 was surrounded with a " crystalline firmament " or vault. 
 While the true system of the universe remained unknown, 
 the language of the Bible on this point seemed to accord 
 with what was then known of science. But when, in the 
 light of advancing discovery, the figment of a crystalline 
 vault above us vanishes like a dream of the night, a seem- 
 ing contradiction is disclosed between the "Word and the 
 Works of God. How is it to be met ? The usual explanation 
 has been that Moses here used the language of appearances, 
 and that he accommodated the expression to the notions 
 current in the time in which he lived. This has generally 
 been acquiesced in as satisfactory. Recently, however, Mr. 
 Goodwin, one of the contributors to the celebrated " Essays 
 and Reviews," apparently supposing that the word admitted 
 of no other interpretation, has taken pains to show that it 
 is " irreconcilable with the discoveries of modern Astron- 
 omy." This is an instance, however, of misdirected zeal, 
 for upon turning to the Hebrew Bible, we find that the 
 word originally used by the inspired writer, does not 
 necessarily mean a solid mass, but should be translated 
 " expanse." " And God said, Let there be an expanse in 
 the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from 
 the waters. And God made the expanse. . . . And 
 God called the expanse heaven." We thus find that the 
 sacred historian of the Creation has been misunderstood, 
 and that the word he employs is the best possible that 
 could have been selected to express both the appearance 
 and the actual celestial arrangement. Instead of contra- 
 dicting, the Bible has here anticipated science. 
 
 A like result has attended the once famous controversy 
 respecting the motion of the earth. Three centuries ago, 
 another principle of the scientific creed of the ancients that 
 the earth was the immovable centre of the celestial mech- 
 anism, and that all the heavenly bodies were created for its 
 use remained undisturbed. Under the influence of Aris- 
 
ASTRONOMY. 79 
 
 totle, it had become an indisputable axiom in the human 
 mind, and his dogma was supposed to be the doctrine of 
 the Bible. When, therefore, the discoveries df Copernicus, 
 Kepler, and Galileo overturned the error of the Stagirite, 
 and demonstrated the motion of our planet round the sun, 
 the innovation upon the established opinions of mankind 
 was denounced as inconsistent with the Christian faith. 
 The Bible was held to be committed to the Aristotelian 
 dogma, by such passages as that in which David has sung 
 that " God hath established the earth upon its foundations ; /) 
 it shall not be moved forever and ever. The going forth f/j /-g t 
 of the sun is from end of the heaven, and his circuit unto 
 the ends of it." Solomon also had said : " One generation 
 passeth away, and another generation cometh ; but the 
 earth abideth forever." The promulgation of the supposed 
 heresy elicited the thunders of the Vatican, and " the illus- 
 trious Galileo was sent to the dungeons of the Inquisition 
 for thinking," as Milton says, "in Astronomy otherwise 
 than the Franciscan and Dominican licensers thought." 
 And among Protestants, divines of such ability, learning, 
 and piety as Calvin and Turretin, held it to be antiscriptu- 
 ral to disbelieve the immobility of the earth. Yet out of 
 this supposed conflict with what is now universally re- 
 garded as a true Astronomy, the Bible has come unscathed. 
 It is now seen that there is no real collision. The solution 
 is, that in this case as in others, the sacred writers avoided 
 scientific phraseology and used the language of appearances. 
 They were guided to speak intelligibly to learned and un- 
 learned. 
 
 But more than this can be claimed. In one of the 
 very passages above cited, which was supposed to contain 
 a contradiction to science, one of the greatest discov- 
 eries of science is plainly recognized, or at least implied. 
 In order to make this appear, it should be stated that the 
 sacred writers elsewhere teach the globular form of the 
 
80 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 earth, and that it is suspended upon nothing, or on a bot- 
 tomless space. "When, therefore, the Psalmist says that 
 God hath laid the foundations of the earth that it should 
 not be removed forever, what is this but a recognition of 
 the mighty law of gravitation, demonstrated by Newton, 
 whereby the planets are held in their orbits ? 
 
 i 
 
 " All intellectual eye, our solar round 
 First gazing through, he by the blended power 
 Of gravitation and projection saw 
 The whole in silent harmony revolve." THOMSON. 
 
 This view finds further corroboration in the sublime in- 
 terrogatory addressed by the Deity to the patriarch in the 
 38th chapter of the book of Job : " Who shut up the sea 
 with doors when it rushed forth and came out of the womb ? 
 When I made the cloud its garment, and the haraphel or 
 thickest darkness its swathing band ? When I brake upon 
 it my decree, and put bars and doors, and said, Hitherto 
 shalt thou come and no farther, and here shalt thou stop in 
 the proud swelling of thy waves." What is this but the 
 same universal law impressed by the Almighty upon matter 
 at the Creation, by which the relation between land and sea 
 is permanently established, and without which the waters 
 would toss and overspread the earth, so as to render it un- 
 inhabitable. This exquisite adjustment thus sublimely set 
 forth in the world's oldest poem, it has been one of the 
 greatest triumphs of modern science to demonstrate and 
 establish. 
 
 In the following interrogatory in the same chapter, we 
 find another anticipation of one of the remarkable achieve- 
 ments of modern discovery : " Hast thou commanded the 
 morning and made the day-spring to know his place ? " 
 The reference here is to two facts which modern science 
 has ascertained, but which could have been known then 
 only to an Omniscient Mind the stability of the earth's 
 
ASTKONOMY. 81 
 
 axis and the uniformity of the earth's rotation. The mean- 
 ing of the question may be thus expressed : " Hast thou so 
 constituted the earth that it should revolve on its axis, and 
 made it to move with such wonderful precision ? " It is 
 now known that the earth preserves a perfect uniformity in 
 its rotation on its axis. And but for this it is evident that 
 the morning would not know its place, nor would there be 
 any regularity in the rising or setting of the stars, which 
 depended on the above conditions. But with such unerr- 
 ing exactness has. this uniformity been preserved, that cal- 
 culation has shown that for two thousand years it could 
 not have varied the one hundredth part of a second of time. 
 And God's covenant of the day and night is elsewhere 
 brought forward in Scripture as the peculiar emblem of 
 God's faithfulness to his promises. " If ye can break my 
 covenant of the day and my covenant of the night, and that 
 there should not be day and night in their season, then may 
 also my covenant be broken with David my servant." 
 Change is written on all the other phenomena of the uni- 
 verse ; this is the only ordinance of fixed, immutable sta- 
 bility. But certainly in the times of the patriarch Job, 
 that fact could have been known only to God. 1 
 
 When the Scriptures speak of the stars in the aggre- 
 gate, the same supernatural knowledge is revealed. It 
 compares their number to the sand. "As the hosts of 
 Heaven cannot be numbered nor the sands of the sea 
 measured." l (Jeremiah xxxiii, 22.) But this is a fact which 
 has only been known since the discoveries of modern 
 science have made us aware how vast the scale on which 
 the universe is built. The ancient astronomer Hippar- 
 chus fixed the number of stars at 1022, which was in- 
 creased by the later observations of Ptolemy to 1026. It 
 is now ascertained that in our latitude, during the clearest 
 night, only 1160 stars are visible to the naked eye, while 
 1 Prof. Mitchell's Lectures on Astronomj. 
 
82 TESTIMONY OP SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 an observer watching all night at the equator, may be able 
 to number about three thousand. But the discoveries of 
 the telescope, still recent, have enabled us to realize that 
 the declaration of Holy Scripture uttered so many ages 
 back, is more than a figure of speech. It is calculated that 
 the mighty disc of Lord Rosse's instrument has augmented 
 the magnitude of the stellar universe 125,000,000 times. 
 " God," says Sir John Herschel, after a telescopic survey 
 of the groups of stars and nebulae in the vast fields of space, 
 " has scattered them like glittering dust on the black ground 
 of the general heavens." 
 
 " Depth, height, breadth, 
 
 Are lost in their extremes, and where to count 
 The thick sown glories in these fields of fire 
 Perhaps a seraph's computation fails." 
 
 From this wondrous disclosure of science, infidelity has 
 drawn, however, what has been considered as one of the 
 most formidable objections against Revelation, requiring, 
 therefore, a somewhat extended examination. 
 
 When from the improvements in the telescope and the 
 discoveries of Galileo and his successors, the illimitable ex- 
 tent and marvellous grandeur of the physical universe had 
 dawned upon human conception, the sceptical objection 
 was soon advanced that it was extravagant and incredible 
 to suppose that amid the millions of globes which are scat- 
 tered through the vast domains of space, one of the least 
 considerable should be singled out as a special scene of the 
 Creator's care and kindness. Is it probable, the sceptic 
 argued, that the infinite Ruler of such a multiplicity of 
 worlds and systems, many of them far grander than our 
 own, is it probable, that He would send his coequal Son to 
 die for a single rebellious race, the entire loss of which 
 would no more be missed, than the fall of a withered leaf 
 impairs the honors of the forest or the removal of a single 
 gram would diminish the sand of the sea shore ? " Is it 
 
.ASTRONOMY. 83 
 
 not as absurd to maintain this, as it would be to hold at the 
 present day the old Ptolemaic hypothesis, according to 
 which the earth is the centre of the vast mechanism of the 
 universe, instead of the newer Copernican doctrine, which 
 teaches that the earth revolves round the sun ? And is not 
 the book in which so incredible an assumption is to be 
 found, thereby necessarily disproved ? " 
 
 To the answering of this objection, Dr. Chalmers ad- 
 dressed himself in his celebrated discourses on " the Modern 
 Astronomy." A brief abstract of his course of argument 
 may serve to show how conclusively he demonstrated its 
 fallacy. 
 
 After a brilliant sketch of the wonders of the heavens, 
 he enters upon his reply by showing that the objection is 
 utterly alien to " the modesty of true science," that it in- 
 deed violates the first rule of the now universally accepted 
 inductive philosophy, since it must necessarily rest upon an 
 unproved assertion. How does the infidel know that 
 Christianity was designed for this world only ? If he can- 
 not demonstrate*this primary fact, all his reasoning falls to 
 the ground. Who is authorized by the possession of super- 
 human information, to tell us that in any of the bright 
 worlds that stud the firmament above us, the name and 
 religion of Jesus are unknown ? On the contrary, it is 
 probable, that the moral influence of the wondrous plan 
 of Redemption is felt and was designed to be felt, to the 
 remotest bounds of Creation. We are justified in believing 
 that the Cross of Christ not merely secures a glorious sal- 
 vation to perishing sinners of earth, but attracts the won- 
 dering gaze of other worlds, and may, by the lessons which 
 it teaches, be the means of confirming myriads of unfallen, 
 sinless beings in their allegiance to God. In the divine 
 moral government of the universe a problem had been pre- 
 sented, to the solution of which the highest created intelli- 
 gence was unequal. Man created perfect and in the image 
 
84 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 of God, had transgressed. How shall he be restored? 
 Infinite justice demanded the death of the offender. Yet 
 the misery of his creature appealed to the mercy of God. 
 How shall these jarring claims be reconciled ? u A medium 
 is required ; it is found. The Word, the Revealer and the 
 Glorifier of the Father, is made flesh ; he lives on earth, he 
 suffers, he dies ; but in dying, as his bleeding head falls on 
 his quivering breast, the divine harp is struck ; and while 
 the curtain is darkly descending on Nature and her dying 
 Lord, the chords of justice and of mercy roll forth their 
 blended notes that echo through every circling sphere, to 
 the most distant regions of the peopled universe." Those 
 glorious and happy intelligences, who, safe in their original 
 purity, had beheld with transport the wonders of Creation 
 and Providence, were now called to see the still greater 
 wonders of Grace and salvation. The unfolding of such a 
 mystery might well employ their eager and delighted con- 
 templation. Were it possible for a planet by some convul- 
 sion to be driven from its orbit, and tl^n restored by 
 Omnipotence to its allotted pathway in the heavens, such a 
 phenomenon would be observed with the deepest interest 
 and regarded by men of science as worthy of the most 
 profound investigation. But as far as mind is superior to 
 matter, such an event shrinks into insignificance when 
 compared with the restoration of an alienated, rebel race 
 of accountable beings, wandered far from holiness and God, 
 to the one, harmonious, unchanging system of love and 
 righteousness. 1 The poet only echoes the common voice 
 of mankind when he says : 
 
 " Behold this midnight splendor, worlds on worlds ; 
 Ten thousand add, and twice ten thousand more, 
 
 1 The thought contained in the above illustration has been thus impres- 
 sively presented by an eminent living preacher, the Rev. Newman Hall of 
 London : " God is the grand centre of attraction, the only fountain of life and 
 love to all holy souls. Toward Him they adoringly look round Him they 
 
ASTRONOMY. 85 
 
 Then weigh the whole : one soul outweighs them all, 
 And call the seeming vast magnificence 
 Of unintelligent creation poor." 
 
 Moreover, we are expressly informed in the inspired 
 word, that "the angels" do "desire to look into" the 
 mysteries of Redemption, and that among the ends con- 
 templated by the mighty plan of Grace, it was designed, 
 " that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly 
 places might be known ^by the Church the manifold wisdom 
 of God." 
 
 If these considerations are thought insufficient to meet 
 the difficulty, it is also to be remembered that "God's 
 ways and thoughts are not ours," and we shall greatly err, 
 if we suppose that our estimate of what is small or great, 
 
 reverently revolve in His radiance alone they shine. Obeying his laws 
 they move in harmony with the great universe they roll on without rub in 
 the grand mechanism of the diviae purposes ; and with voices more real and 
 jubilant than the music of the spheres, they evermore, in rapturous hallelu- 
 jahs, express their own gladness and their Creator's praise. But should any 
 of these, in wilful disobedience, break loose from that spiritual gravitation, 
 which, being voluntary, is capable of being resisted should any soul turn 
 away from the Central Sun to gaze on other objects in regions beyond its 
 orbit should the hist after forbidden objects, wilfully and wickedly encour- 
 aged, engender an anomalous centrifugal force, causing it to break loose from 
 that gravitation toward the Deity on which the order and happiness of the 
 moral universe depend, could such a soul expect to enjoy the same privileges 
 and security as before? Rushing from the light, must it not now roam on in 
 gloom one degree of darkness ever leading to another more deep? The 
 golden chain of love which hitherto bound it to the Eternal Throne being 
 broken, instead of circulating around that throne radiant in its glories, must 
 it not now pursue its solitary, ignominious course ; and having forsaken the 
 happy path of obedience, plunge wildly on in its own self-chosen* career, 
 destruction its final and inevitable doom ? 
 
 " If a planet under such circumstances could not be brought back ; yet, 
 thanks be to God, a wandering sinner can. For the Sun of Righteousness 
 comes after the wanderer to draw him once more into his true orbit the at- 
 tracting centre pursues the guilty fugitive as he rushes away from light and 
 joy. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. Yield to the attractions of 
 His cross, and He will replace you in your true orbit." Exeter Hall Lectures, 
 1859. 
 
 " OT 
 
86 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 can be entertained by a Being who is infinite in all perfec- 
 tions. To us, indeed, the cedars of Libanus may seem more 
 striking and majestic than the little hyssop which spring- 
 eth out of the wall ; arid the Leviathan which " maketh the 
 deep to boil like a pot," more than the conies which are a 
 " feeble folk and make their dwelling among the rocks." 
 But .let us not imagine that He who made them all, is influ- 
 enced in his care and attention to all, by the respective 
 magnitude of each. The inconceivable extent of his do- 
 minions does not necessarily lessen the interest which he 
 feels in particular portions. He can at the same moment 
 watch over the revolutions of worlds and the fall of a spar- 
 row ; and it is in keeping with what we elsewhere see of 
 the glory of God in the minute as well as in the vast, not 
 only in the sublimities of Alps and Andes, but also in the 
 lustre of an insect's wing, and in the curious aqueducts by 
 which a leaf is nourished, that He should thus lavish the 
 treasures of his wisdom and his grace, to rescue from a ruin, 
 otherwise irretrievable, even this humble province of his 
 universal empire. As the largest telescope is insufficient 
 to carry the power of human vision to the remotest bounds 
 of creation, but leaves it where mighty systems dwindle to 
 a faint nebulous speck of light, so have we reason to be- 
 lieve that the most powerful microscope that ever has been 
 or will be constructed, will be altogether unable to guide 
 our views to the utmost limits in the descendiny scale of 
 creation. If the one has brought into view worlds as nu- 
 merous as the drops of water which make up the ocean ; 
 the other has brought into view a world in almost every 
 drop of water. 1 And in the mechanism of that h'ttle world 
 
 1 " Professor Ehrenberg," says Mrs. Somerville, " has discovered a new 
 world of creatures in the infusoria, so minute that they are invisible to the 
 naked eye. He found them in fog, rain, and snow, in the ocean and stagnant 
 water, in animal and vegetable juices, in volcanic ashes and pumice, in opal, 
 in the dusty air that- sometimes falls upon the ocean ; and he detected 
 eighteen species twenty feet below the surface of the ground in peat earth, 
 
ASTRONOMY. 87 
 
 and its myriads of inhabitants, we behold the same display 
 of wisdom and benevolence, the same elaborate skill and 
 contrivance, which are shown in the construction of the 
 elephant or the whale, or in those mighty globes that float 
 around us in the sky. If the telescope has more fully un- 
 folded to us the meaning of the inspired declaration, " He 
 telleth the number of the stars and calleth them all by their 
 names ;" the microscope enables to perceive a deeper sense 
 in the answering utterance, " Even the very hairs of your 
 head are all numbered." And the combined lesson of both 
 is that " we are in the midst of being, whose amount, per- 
 haps, we cannot estimate, but which is yet all so exqui- 
 sitely related, that the perfection of its parts has no depend- 
 ence upon their magnitude ; of being within whose august 
 bosom the little ant has its home, secure as the path of the 
 most splendid star ; and whose mightiest intervals if Infi- 
 nite Power has built up its framework Infinite Mercy 
 and Infinite Love glowingly fill, and give all things warmth, 
 and lustre, and life the sense of the presence of God, to" 
 whom an atom is a world, and a world an atom." There 
 would certainly be force in the objection we are considering, 
 if man were to rest his claim to such an astonishing display 
 of mercy and love as the scheme of Redemption unfolds, 
 upon any excellency of his own or upon the importance of 
 the position which he holds in the scale of creation. But 
 his claim, if so it can be called, is of a far different kind and 
 derived from a different principle, and becomes so much 
 the stronger as science extends its empire. His title is 
 
 which was full of microscopic live animals ; they exist in ice, and are not 
 killed by boiling water. This lowest order of animal life is much more ^bun- 
 dant than any other, and new species are fonnd every day. Magnified, some 
 of them seem to consist of a transparent vesicle, and some have a tail ; they 
 move with great alacrity, and show intelligence by avoiding obstacles in their 
 course ; others have silicious shells. Language, and even imagination, fails 
 in the attempt to describe the inconceivable myriads of these invisible inhab- 
 itants of the ocean, the air, and the earth." Physical Geography. 
 
88 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 derived from his own necessity on the one hand, and on the 
 other from the infinite love and compassion of Him who 
 came from Heaven to save. If that love could be measured 
 by a human standard, if the goings forth of its tenderness 
 and mercy could be elicited only by the high qualities of 
 the being in whose behalf it is exercised, it might be in 
 harmony with man's conceptions and estimates, but it would 
 not be the mercy of God. It would not be that mercy of 
 which man knoweth not the height nor depth, nor length 
 nor breadth, a mercy which left the angels to perish while- 
 it redeemed man, and which is so touchingly illustrated by 
 our Lord's parables concerning the " lost piece of silver," 
 and the " one lost sheep," to seek and to save which, the 
 shepherd left " the ninety and nine which went not astray." 
 The lower the place assigned man in the scale of the 
 Creator's works, and the more Science expands that crea- 
 tion in widening circles around him, the more his redemp- 
 tion becomes in harmony with the Creator's attributes, and 
 the deeper and more profound the meaning we can recog- 
 nize in the language with which the Psalmist expresses his 
 astonishment at the Divine Condescension : " When I con- 
 sider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and 
 the stars which Thou hast ordained ; what is man that 
 Thou art mindful of him ? and the son of man that Thou 
 visitest him ?" " As is His majesty, so is His mercy." 
 
 The infidel objection from the vastness of the material 
 universe has been thus conclusively met and answered by 
 considerations drawn from science itself. Yet another ar- 
 gument, perhaps, not less convincing, may be deduced from 
 the analogies of the word of God. The stupendous humilia- 
 tion*bf the Incarnation is in entire harmony with all the 
 other facts which marked the early life of Immanuel. It 
 was wholly destitute of human pomp and grandeur. "No 
 unearthly palace was let down from the skies to be his 
 dwelling place. No monarch was driven from his throne 
 
ASTRONOMY. 89 
 
 % 
 
 for him to occupy it. A stable was his first habitation and 
 his first couch was spread among the beasts of the stall. The 
 far greater portion of his life was spent in obscurity, and 
 all in poverty. A few poor fishermen were his attendants ; 
 his only crown, a crown of thorns ; a reed given him in 
 derision was his sceptre ; a cross of ignominy was his 
 throne. If then the mystery of godliness is great, it is so 
 throughout. From the manger to the cross and the grave, 
 it is one harmonious whole. But from all these scenes of 
 wondrous humiliation a divine glory streams, conveying to 
 the mind of every earnest seel*er after truth irresistible 
 conviction that in that lowly suffering form, God taber- 
 nacled with men. Let it be then that our earth is but a 
 little world that, like its own Bethlehem Ephratah, it 
 shrinks from comparison with thousands of its sister spheres 
 that " it does not swell so largely to the eye, or shine so 
 brightly to the night," yet since it has been ennobled by 
 the events of Gethsemane and Calvary, not the less may 
 we feel assured that as an object of interest it eclipses them 
 all. Since it received the visit of the Son of God, in the 
 eye of the universe, the entire globe is a Holy Land. 
 
 But not only have the discoveries of Astronomy been 
 urged as inconsistent with the revealed plan of Redemption, 
 modern infidelity has sought to find in the same sublime 
 science proofs and arguments wherewith to assail the Bible 
 doctrine of creation. The great Lord Bacon " would rather 
 believe all the fables in the Legend, and Talmud and Al- 
 coran, than that this universal frame is without a mind ; " 
 but philosophers of the present age have sought to demon- 
 strate and establish an hypothesis, whereby the system of 
 the universe with all its varied phenomena might be ex- 
 plained and accounted for by the operation of physical laws 
 to the exclusion of divine*, creative agency. " By the aid 
 of the so-called ' Nebular Theory,' unnumbered assaults 
 have been made upon the Old Testament ; and we were 
 
90 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 assured, a quarter of a century ago, that it would soon be 
 exploded altogether. Feeling himself impregnable while 
 standing upon that theory for his basis, 'the inductive 
 Philosopher' very confidently asserted 'that there never 
 had been such a thing as creation, in the generally received 
 sense of the term ; ' and transferred us from the dominion 
 of Jehovah to that of some unintelligent and inexorable 
 ' law,' or of some Oriental boodha, who, having called the 
 principles of nature into existence, and set them a-going, 
 retired into quiescence forever." l 
 
 As the doctrine of an* all-wise and almighty God, the 
 Creator of all things visible and invisible, is the fundamen- 
 tal truth of all religion, natural and revealed, it will be per- 
 tinent to the design of the present work to examine this 
 theory, and also to bring forward some of the evidences of 
 creative design which Astronomy presents. 
 
 The idea that nebulae or loose masses of fiery vapor, 
 which seemed to be floating in the depths of remote space, 
 might form the materials out of which were gradually 
 elaborated suns and planets, was an original conception of 
 the illustrious discoverer, Sir William Herschel, though- 
 without any thought by him of the use to which it could 
 be applied. It was caught at and adopted by the great 
 French Astronomer Laplace, and having been by his labors 
 brought into definite and tangible form, as a theory it is 
 associated with his name. It supposes that loose masses of 
 nebulous vapor, at first without definite form or movement, 
 gradually assumed by virtue of gravitation, a regular sphe- 
 roidal and rotating form, lightest at the circumference and 
 gradally increasing in density toward the centre, at which 
 point the greatest density is attained. This was the nucleus 
 from which suns were gradually evolved, around which by 
 the combined processes of rotation and further condensation, 
 successive and concentric rings were formed on the outer 
 1 Christian Observer. 
 
ASTRONOMY. 91 
 
 limits of the nebulous disks, of which, it is supposed, we 
 have a faint illustration in the rings of Saturn. These 
 rings, according to the theory, subsequently became broken 
 up and detached, when the matter composing them natural- 
 ly agglomerated into spheres, which by an analogous pro- 
 cess of condensation and evolution of rings, produced 
 planets and their satellites. 
 
 Such is the celebrated Nebular Hypothesis, which has 
 enjoyed a great popularity, and, for a time, threw the Mo- 
 saic Cosmogony into the shade. Infidel philosophy seemed 
 to have achieved the triumph of showing how the universe 
 could be formed without a God. Physical law was alleged 
 to have unfolded that wondrous magnificence and beauty 
 which we behold in the Heavens and in the earth, instead 
 of Him who liveth forever. 
 
 With the advancement of discovery, however, this bril- 
 liant theory has been losing ground. The searching ken 
 of Sir John Herschel's powerful telescope at the Cape of 
 Good Hope, disclosed the fact that some of the nebulae were 
 resolvable. Faint patches of light as seen through feebler 
 instruments, now assumed a grandeur beyond the dreams 
 of science. The giant telescopic eye framed by Lord Rosse 
 has made discoveries even more remarkable. The nebulous 
 light in the northern region of the milky way was at once 
 resolved into " distinct stars and star dust," and the white 
 fleecy cloud of Orion which had hitherto baffled all attempts 
 to disclose its texture, was shown to be " a gorgeous bed 
 of stars." And many other dim, faint, misty spots put off 
 their nebulous features, and assumed the glories of sidereal 
 bodies. Thus has the idea been gradually matured in the 
 scientific mind, that all those hieroglyphics in the sky be- 
 token inconceivably distant and "countless myriads of firma- 
 mental star-clusters, which are themselves, severally, what 
 the cluster is that is seen by the naked eye to spangle the 
 surrounding heavens at night; that there are families of 
 
92 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 firmairients, as there are groups and associated clusters of 
 stars or suns." This magnificent conception cannot be 
 numbered among the fixed results of science, and is not, 
 therefore, to be urged as a direct argument in disproof of 
 the Nebular Hypothesis. But from what has already been 
 discovered, it is now conceded, that could another instru- 
 ment of considerably greater power than that of Lord 
 Rosse, be constructed, that ingenious theory already so 
 much damaged, might be completely destroyed. "As 
 advanced y Laplace," says Professor Whewell, " it was a 
 mere conjecture. It is a mere conjecture still. Hitherto 
 it has lost ground in the progress of Astronomical research- 
 es." And says Dr. Lardner, "Such an hypothesis" (as 
 that of diffuse luminous matter) " is not needed to explain 
 appearances which are so much more obviously and simply 
 explicable by the admission of a gradation of distances." 
 
 But even if, for argument's sake, we grant the hypothe- 
 sis to be correct, that out of a " diffused luminosity " were 
 gradually evolved suns and planets, it does not prove, or 
 even necessarily suppose that anything has been done with- 
 out the intervention of intelligence and design. Its only 
 effect is to transfer our view of the skill exercised and the 
 means employed to another part of the work. It is related 
 of Epicurus that when, as a boy, he was reading with his 
 preceptor the verses of Hesiod, which tell us that 
 
 " Eldest of beings, Chaos first arose, 
 Thence earth-wide stretched the steadfast seat of all 
 The immortals" 
 
 the young scholar first betrayed his inquisitive genius by 
 putting the inquiry, " And Chaos whence ? " And thus is 
 it in the case before us. The attempt to erect a physical 
 system which shall explain how the beauty and grandeur 
 of the universe were gradually producedj only places the 
 necessity of divine interposition and creative agency farther 
 
A.STKONOMY. 93 
 
 back* Unless that be granted, innumerable questions and 
 difficulties will still arise, for which an answer will be sought 
 in vain. " Why," it may be asked, " must the primeval 
 condition be one of change at all ? Why should not the 
 nebulous matter be equally diffused through space, and 
 continue forever in its state of equable diffusion, as it must 
 do, from the absence of all cause to determine the time and 
 manner of its separation ? Why should this nebulous mat- 
 ter grow cooler and cooler? Why should it not retain 
 forever the same degree of heat, whatever heat be ? If 
 heat be a fluid if to cool be to part with this fluid, as 
 many philosophers suppose what becomes of the fluid heat 
 of the nebulous matter, as the matter cools down ? Into 
 what unoccupied region does it find its way ? " These and 
 numerous similar questions can only be met by admitting 
 that the nebulous mass diffused throughout space, supposing 
 such to have existed, came not there without the fiat of the 
 Almighty ; and suns and planets were not formed out of 
 that mass without the intervention of infinite wisdom. 
 " Let it be supposed," says Professor Whewell, " that the 
 point to which the hypothesis leads us is the ultimate point 
 of physical science ; that the farthest glimpse we can obtain 
 of the material universe by our natural faculties, shows it 
 to us as occupied by a boundless abyss of luminous matter ; 
 still we ask how space came to be thus occupied, how mat- 
 ter came to be thus luminous ? If we establish by physi- 
 cal proofs, that the first fact which can be traced in the 
 history of the world is that l there was light ; ' we shall 
 still be led even by natural reason, to suppose that before 
 this could occur, c God said, Let there be light.' " 
 
 But whatever method the Divine Architect may have 
 chosen whereby to frame and build up this magnificent 
 universe, and make it a temple to his praise, the wonderful 
 provision He has made for its stability and permanence, 
 which it has been one of the most brilliant triumphs of 
 
94r TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 modern science to unfold and demonstrate, bears so unmis- 
 takably the impress of his infinite wisdom, that none but 
 those who are incapable of reasoning from effect to cause, 
 or by some anomaly in the laws of intellect, are insensible 
 to the clearest evidence, can resist the conviction, that here 
 is the finger of God ! ' 
 
 Since the laws which govern the movements of the 
 heavenly bodies have been understood, certain irregulari- 
 ties and disturbances have been perceived in the planetary 
 orbits, arising from the mutual attraction of the different 
 planets upon each other, which suggest the arrival of an 
 epoch in the course of revolving ages, when the effects of 
 these irregularities, now minute, shall have accumulated 
 suificiently to derange the whole order of nature and reduce 
 our system, now harmonious, to chaos and confusion. 
 Actual observation, moreover, of the state of the Heavens 
 at different periods, has established the fact, that hi conse- 
 
 1 The validity of the argument that the evidence of design demonstrates 
 the existence of God, has, indeed, been called in question by the recklessness 
 of modern scepticism. It is, says the infidel, the " petitio principii of dialec- 
 tics," and he denies that there is any such evidence. To this it may be re- 
 plied that the greatest intellects whom the world has known have acquiesced 
 in it as an axiom or self-evident proposition, which requires no demonstra- 
 tion. The noble passage which Baron Humboldt has quoted in his Cosmos 
 from Aristotle (a passage from a lost work, preserved by Cicero), expresses, 
 in a heathen form, the inextinguishable conviction of every intelligent mind, 
 in which " the light" has not become " darkness." It runs thus : "If there 
 were beings who lived in the depths of the earth, in dwellings adorned with 
 Statues and paintings, and everything which is possessed in rich abundance 
 by those whom men esteem fortunate ; and if these beings could receive tid- 
 ings of the might and majesty of the gods, and could then emerge from their 
 hidden dwellings through the open fissures of the earth to the places which 
 we inhabit ; if they could suddenly behold the earth, and the sea and the 
 vault of heaven ; could recognize the expanse of the cloudy firmament, and 
 the might of the winds of heaven, and admire the sun in its majesty, beauty, 
 and radiant effulgence ; and lastly, when night veiled the earth in darkness, 
 they could behold the starry heavens, the changing moon, and the stars ris- 
 ing and setting in the unvarying course ordained from eternity, they would 
 surely exclaim, There are gods, and such great things must be the work of 
 their hands.' "Cosmos, Amer. ed., vol. ii, p. 29. 
 
 . 
 
ASTRONOMY. 95 
 
 quence of these perturbations great changes in the relative 
 position of the heavenly bodies have taken place, rendering 
 the conclusion irresistible, that we are apparently gradually 
 approaching such a catastrophe. 
 
 It becomes, therefore, a question of deep interest, 
 whether, in the mechanism of the universe, this contingency 
 has been provided for and any adjustment prepared where- 
 by to avert its consequences. This is a problem which 
 could not be solved when the difficulty was first perceived. 
 Its decision required such progress in the invention and im- 
 provement of mathematical methods, as occupied the best 
 mathematicians of Europe the greater part of the last 
 century. Even Sir Isaac Newton could devise no other 
 solution than the special interference of the Almighty to 
 arrest the ruin of his work. The combined researches of. 
 Lagrange, Laplace and others have, however, by means of 
 a refined analysis, demonstrated the wondrous fact that the 
 solar system itself contains an element of self-conservation 
 that this contingency has been provided for, and that at 
 the very moment when these perturbations shall have 
 reached (heir maximum, and the crash of worlds appear 
 inevitable, a series of compensations will commence which 
 will precisely bring back the system to the state in which 
 it existed before. Like the oscillations of a pendulum, 
 " each orbit undergoes deviations on this side, and on that 
 of its average state ; but these deviations are never very 
 great, and it finally recovers from them, so that the average 
 is preserved. The planets produce perpetual perturbations 
 in each other's motions, but these perturbations are not in- 
 finitely progressive, they are periodical ; they reach a maxi- 
 mum and then diminish. The periods which this restora- 
 tion requires are for the most part enormous ; not less than 
 thousands, and in some instances millions of years ; and 
 hence it is that some of these apparent derangements have 
 been going on in the same direction since the beginning of 
 
96 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 the history of the world. But the restoration is in the sequel 
 as complete as the derangement ; and hi the mean time the 
 disturbance never attains a sufficient amount seriously to 
 alter the adaptations of the system." 
 
 " Thus," says Professor Mitchell, " do we find that God 
 has built the heavens in wisdom, to declare his glory, and 
 to show forth his handy-work. There are no iron tracks 
 with bars and bolts, to hold the planets in their orbits. 
 Freely in space they move, ever changing but never 
 changed ; poised and balancing, swaying and swayed, dis- 
 turbing and disturbed, onward they fly, fulfilling with 
 unerring certainty their mighty cycles. The entire system 
 forms one grand, complicated piece of celestial machinery ; 
 circle within circle, wheel within wheel, cycle within cycle ; 
 revolutions so swift, as to be completed in a few hours ; 
 movements so slow, that their mighty periods are only to 
 be counted by millions of years. Are we to believe that 
 the Divine Architect constructed this admirably adjusted 
 system to wear out, and to fall into ruin, even before one 
 single revolution of its complex scheme of wheels have been 
 performed ? "No I I see the mighty orbits of the planets 
 rocking to and fro, their figure expanding and contracting, 
 their axes revolving in their vast periods ; but stability is 
 there. Every change shall wear away, and after sweeping 
 through the grand cycle of cycles, the whole system shall 
 return to the primitive condition of perfection and beauty." 
 
 And can this exquisitely contrived plan of compensation 
 and adjustment be the effect of chance, or produced by a 
 process of natural laws working in them and by them ? 
 Surely, the contemplation of so amazing a contrivance must 
 compel us to declare with Newton, that " this beautiful 
 system could have its origin no other way than by the 
 purpose and command of an intelligent and powerful Being, 
 who governs all things, not as the soul of the world, but as 
 the Lord of the universe ; who is not only God, but Lord 
 
ASTRONOMY. 97 
 
 and Governor ; " or, in the still more expressive language of 
 the inspired Hebrew historian : " In the beginning God 
 created the heavens and the earth." 
 
 There is another admirable arrangement, equally sugges- 
 tive of divine wisdom, whether we adopt or reject the 
 hypothesis of Laplace. In the annual motion of the earth 
 round the sun, its axis is inclined from the perpendicular 
 to its orbit at an angle of twenty-three degrees, and re- 
 mains constantly parallel to this direction. By this arrange- 
 ment the changes of temperature on the earth's surface, 
 and of the seasons are produced. Had the axis of the earth, 
 instead of being so inclined, been perpendicular to the plane 
 of its orbit, as is the case in Jupiter, the sun would always 
 have been vertical to the same line of places, the equatorial 
 regions would have been parched by the heat, while the 
 regions, called temperate in the present arrangement, would 
 have been consigned to utter desolation. By the existing 
 disposition, the various parts of the earth are brought more 
 fully under the solar influence, and we have all the delight- 
 ful and beneficent effects which flow from the variety of 
 climates. 
 
 " Again, the earth is nearer the sun at one season than 
 at another, and without some counteracting influence there 
 would be an inconvenient increase both of the cold of 
 winter and the heat of summer in the southern hemisphere, 
 and the climate of the two hemispheres would be rendered 
 altogether unlike each other. But any injury which might 
 arise from this cause is made to disappear, chiefly by means 
 of the circumstance that the point of the earth's orbit which 
 is nearest the sun is that over which it moves with the 
 greatest speed. It is ascertained that the quantity of heat 
 which is conveyed by the sun to the earth, is the same 
 during the passage from the vernal to the autumnal equi- 
 nox, as in returning from the latter to the former. The 
 much longer time which the sun takes in the first part of 
 5 
 
98 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 his course is exactly compensated by its proportionally 
 greater distance, and the quantities of heat which is con- 
 veyed to the earth are the same, whether in the one hem- 
 isphere or the other, north or south." * 
 
 Surely, the denial of divine wisdom in such exquisite 
 adjustment, can only be accounted for by wilful blindness. 
 That mind must be closed to conviction which does not 
 respond to the declaration of the apostle, that " the invisi- 
 ble things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly 
 seen, being understood by the things which are made, even 
 his eternal power and Godhead." 
 
 But with all the evidences of design that are manifested 
 in the construction of the material system, and the provis- 
 ion which Infinite Wisdom has made for its stability, there 
 are not wanting indications that it is still of a temporary 
 nature, and that a period is destined to arrive in the cycles 
 of the universe, when it shall come to an end. 
 
 Among the agencies which may be considered as point- 
 ing to such a result, is the resisting medium whose exist- 
 ence throughout the boundless space traversed by the 
 heavenly bodies, is now generally recognized among as- 
 tronomers as the cause of the long observed acceleration 
 in the motions of the comet of Encke. The excessive 
 tenuity of such bodies fitting them to be readily affected 
 by its action, evidently, can afford us no clue as to the 
 period which must elapse, ere its effects could derange the 
 mechanism of the solar system. Still, granting the exist- 
 ence of a resisting medium, it necessarily follows that there 
 must be such a period. " It may be millions of millions of 
 years," says Professor Whewell, " before the earth's retar- 
 dation may perceptibly affect the apparent motion of the 
 sun ; but still the day will come (if the same Providence 
 which formed the system, should permit it to continue so 
 long), when this cause will entirely change the length of 
 1 McCosh on Typical Forms and Special Ends in Creation. 
 
ASTBOXOMY. 99 
 
 the year, and the course of our seasons, and finally stop the 
 earth's motion round the sun altogether. The smallness 
 of the resistance, however small we choose to suppose it, 
 does not allow us to escape the certainty. There is a 
 resisting medium ; and, therefore, the movements of the 
 solar system cannot go on forever. The moment such a 
 fluid is known to exist, the eternity of the movements of 
 the planets becomes as impossible as a perpetual motion on 
 the earth." 
 
 Not in the least, however, does this oppose or weaken 
 the evidence of a Supreme, Creative Intelligence exhibited 
 by the arrangements of the universe. For does it not 
 furnish an unanswerable proof that the present order of 
 things which must have an end, must also have had a be- 
 ginning ? " There must have been a period in which the 
 impulse now proceeding originated. A period of com- 
 mencement implies a cause ; the order and regularity of 
 the system imply an Intelligent Cause ; and thus the idea 
 of Creator is forced upon us ; and instead of an eternal 
 operation of mechanical powers, and an eternal succession 
 of organized existences, which is the dream of the atheist, 
 we see a system, glorious with the impress of a Divine hand, 
 and rejoicing in the smile of a present Deity." 
 
 For the permanence of that system during the period 
 which Almighty Wisdom intended it should occupy, as we 
 have seen, an exquisite arrangement has been made. So 
 long as the heavenly bodies continue to revolve, this pro- 
 vision will rectify the irregularities of their orbits and 
 counteract the tendencies to derangement ; nor will this 
 result be affected by the action of the resisting medium, 
 the action of which does not tend to increase or diminish 
 the eccentricities of the celestial motions. Still its ultimate 
 effect must be to arrest those motions and bring this mighty 
 universe to an end. And in addition to this cause, " the 
 constant radiation of heat from the sun into space, and the 
 
100 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 absorption of vital power by the mutual action of the moon 
 and the tide wave, together with the fragments of broken 
 planets, the descent of meteoric stones upon our globe, the 
 wheeling comets welding their loose materials at the solar 
 surface, the volcanic eruptions of our own satellite, the 
 appearance of new stars and the disappearance of others," 
 all seem to foreshadow the approaching termination of our 
 present system. 
 
 And is no.t this catastrophe in harmony with what ap- 
 pears to be creation's universal law ? Absolute permanence 
 is written nowhere on the face of nature. The oak of the 
 forest wears for centuries its leafy honors and then decays ; 
 the stupendous mountains crumble and wear away ; " where 
 the long street roars, hath been " (so Geology teaches us), 
 " the stillness of the central sea ; " and it now appears that 
 the law of change reaches even to the firmament, and the 
 unwearied circuits of the planets have an end. 
 
 " What does not fade ? The tower that long had stood 
 The crush of thunder, and the warring winds, 
 Shook by the slow but sure destroyer Time, 
 Now hangs in doubtful ruins o'er its base ; 
 And flinty pyramids and walls of brass 
 Descend ; the Babylonian spires are sunk ; 
 Achaia, Rome, and Egypt moulder down. 
 Time shakes the stable tyranny of thrones ; 
 And tottering empires rush by their own weight. 
 This huge rotundity we tread grows old, 
 And all those worlds that roll around the sun. 
 The sun himself shall die, and ancient night 
 Again involve the desolate abyss." AKENSIDE. 
 
 "But after all," says Professor Nichol, "why should 
 such an anticipation be painful ? The fact of change merely 
 intimates that, in the exhaustless womb of the Future, un- 
 evolved wonders are in store. The phenomena referred to 
 would simply point to the close of one mighty cycle in the 
 history of the solar orb the passing away of arrangements 
 
ASTRONOMY. 101 
 
 which have fulfilled their objects, that they might be 
 changed into new. Thus is the periodic death of a planet, 
 perhaps, the essential of its prolonged life ; and when the 
 individual dies and disappears, fresh and vigorous forms 
 spring from the elements which composed it. Mark the 
 chrysalis ! It is the grave of the worm, but the cradle of 
 the sun-born insect. The broken bowl will yet be healed 
 and beautified by the potter, and a voice of joyful note will 
 awaken one day even the silence of the urn." 
 
 " Nay, what though all should pass ? What, though the 
 close of this epoch in the history of the solar orb should be 
 accompanied, as some by a strange fondness have imagin- 
 ed, by the dissolution and disappearing of all these shining 
 spheres ? Then would our universe not have failed in its 
 functions, but only have been gathered up and rolled away, 
 these functions being complete. That gorgeous material 
 framework, wherewith the Eternal hath adorned and varied 
 the abysses of space, is only an instrument by which the 
 myriads of spirits borne upon its orbs may be told of their 
 origin, and educated for more exalted being ; and the time 
 may come when the veil can be drawn aside when spirit 
 shall converse directly with spirit, and the creature gaze 
 without hindrance on the effulgent face of the Creator." 
 
 The final catastrophe of the present system of things 
 (using a limited acceptation of that phrase) to which Science 
 points, is in perfect harmony with the teachings of the 
 Bible, while the anticipations of what is to follow, so glow- 
 ingly expressed in the brilliant words of Professor Xichol, 
 are but the echo of the far sublimer descriptions of the 
 future inheritance prepared for the righteous, to be found 
 in the inspired Word. Long ago had the royal bard of 
 Judah sung : " The Heavens are the work of thy hands. 
 They shall perish, but Thou shalt endure ; yea, all of them 
 shall wax old like a garment, as a vesture shalt Thou 
 change them and they shall be changed." And long ago 
 
102 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 from the rocky shores of Patmos, the beloved apostle had 
 seen, in prophetic vision, the new heavens and the new 
 earth which are to succeed the dissolution and passing 
 away of the heavens and the earth that now are. By that 
 awful and tremendous catastrophe, though it is to be ac- 
 complished by the agency of fire, whose materials, as 
 Science tells us, are laid up in the composition of the 
 atmosphere, of the waters, and of the earth itself, we are 
 not authorized to suppose that the glorious works of God 
 shall literally be destroyed. But, as the records of the 
 rocks reveal that our planet has already undergone mighty 
 transformations, so shall it be at the predicted period of 
 "the restitution of all things." And when the fires of 
 purification shall have swept over its surface, and the me- 
 morials of man's art and man's iniquity have alike been 
 destroyed in the avenging flame, the earth shall emerge 
 from the conflagration, not consumed, but emancipated 
 from the thraldom of the curse, and, as we cannot doubt, 
 arrayed in a garb of loveliness, far more glorious than it 
 wore, even ' in that hour when God first pronounced His 
 work to be " good," and " the morning stars sang together 
 and all the sons of God shouted for joy." This is a result 
 which the statements of Holy Scripture lead us to antici- 
 pate, and which the discoveries of Science, as to past 
 changes of the earth, confirm. It does not follow, how- 
 ever, from this, that the renovated earth is to be the exclu- 
 sive seat or boundary of the future heaven of the righteous; 
 though it is far from improbable, that, associated as it is 
 and ever must be, with such imperishable recollections, it 
 may be one among the " many mansions," which they shall 
 be permitted from time to time to visit and occupy. 
 Neither the Bible nor Science indicates to us the locality 
 of the special home of the sanctified family of God, the 
 " place " which the Redeemer went " to prepare ; " but 
 through the discoveries of the marvellous grandeur of the 
 
ASTRONOMY. 103 
 
 universe opened up by Modern Astronomy, faith may be 
 assisted to descry, what now the material eye cannot see, 
 the spires and turrets of that celestial city, in which " there 
 shall be no night, and they need no candle nor light of the 
 sun." They can give us no positive information whatever, 
 yet the views of the inexhaustible resources of the Creator 
 which those discoveries suggest, are in harmony with the 
 scattered intimations of Scripture on this deeply interesting 
 subject. These are necessarily indefinite, yet their careful 
 consideration will, perhaps, lead us to adopt the conclusion, 
 thus eloquently expressed by Bishop Pearson : " This first 
 aerial heaven, where God setteth up his pavilion, where 
 ' he maketh the clouds his chariot, and walketh upon the 
 wings of the wind,' is not so far inferior in place as it is 
 in glory to the next, the seat of the sun and moon, the two 
 great lights, and stars innumerable, far greater than the 
 one of them. And yet that second heaven is not so far 
 above the first as beneath the third into which St. Paul was 
 caught. The brightness of the sun doth not so far surpass 
 the blackness of a wandering cloud, as the glory of that 
 heaven of presence surmounts the fading beauty of the 
 starry firmament. For in this great temple of the world, 
 in which the Son of God is the High Priest, the heaven 
 which we see is but the veil, and that which is above, the 
 holy of holies. This veil indeed is lich and glorious, but 
 one day to be rent, and then to admit us into a far greater 
 glory, even to the mercy seat and cherubim. For this third 
 heaven is the proper habitation of the blessed angels, who 
 constantly attend upon the throne." 
 
 One of the grandest achievements of modern science has 
 been the discovery of the new planet Neptune, in October, 
 1846 a discovery not by accident, but to which the ob- 
 servers were led by scientific theory and deduction alone. 
 Some time previous to the verification of Leverrier's anal- 
 ysis, Sir John Herschel predicted with undoubting confi- 
 
104 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 dence the great astronomical triumph in the following 
 beautiful language addressed to the meeting of the British 
 Association : " Among the remarkable events of the last 
 twelvemonth, it has added a new planet to our list. 1 It 
 has done more it has given us the probable prospect of 
 the discovery of another. We see it, as Columbus saw 
 America from the shores of Spain. Its movements have 
 been felt, trembling along the far reaching line of our anal- 
 ysis, with a certainty hardly inferior to ocular demonstra- 
 tion." This anticipation has been realized, and by the aid 
 of the telescope, the eye of the astronomer has actually 
 descried a new and mighty planet of our system, so remote 
 in the depths of space as to include within its orbit the 
 farthest range of the comet of Halley, which requires 
 seventy-five years for its period of revolution. The faith 
 which is " the evidence of things unseen," can, however, 
 far surpass this wondrous achievement and realize to the 
 spiritual vision a world far more remote and inconceivably 
 more glorious. True, our knowledge of its existence is 
 derived from different sources than was the persuasion of 
 the Genoese mariner, who saw in the floating trees and 
 plants borne by the gulf stream of the tropics to the shores 
 of Europe, tangible evidence of the western continent. Nor 
 can we hope to verify our belief by our material vision, 
 even though aided by " the philosophic tube, that brings 
 the planets home into the eye of observation." Yet with 
 an assurance more firmly grounded than that of the great 
 navigator, or the astronomer, we may know and believe, 
 that beyond the azure canopy above us, there is " a better 
 an heavenly country." It is remarkable, that the prog- 
 ress of astronomical discovery seems now to be tending 
 toward the recognition of a grand centre of the universe, 
 around which suns and planets, stars and constellations, in 
 one mighty system, harmoniously revolve. Should this 
 1 Astrea, discovered by Mr. Drencke of Dreisen, Dec. 8, 1845. 
 
ASTRONOMY. 105 
 
 sublime theory, which, indeed, already appears to rest upon 
 a scientific basis far above mere conjecture, 1 be certainly 
 demonstrated, perhaps, it were not absurd to imagine, that 
 there in its great and awful reality might be the Throne of 
 God, and that there might be the spot where abides the 
 ascended Redeemer in his glorified humanity, the centre 
 of unity at once to the physical and moral creation. And 
 although the most costly and gigantic telescope of science 
 cannot avail to give us the faintest glimpse of " that land 
 very far off, where dwelleth the King in his beauty ; " 
 where stands his throne of glory, more radiant than the 
 sun, and his shining palace brighter than the light ; and 
 where his shining peers and princely subjects are ever to 
 live with him and behold his glory ; yet even here there 
 are " detectable mountains," known to Christian experience, 
 as favored pilgrims have assured us, whence the far off city 
 of God with its gates of pearl and its streets of gold may 
 almost be descried through the mists of earth, and " sweet 
 echoes of unearthly melodies " dimly fall upon the ear. As 
 he approached the confines of the eternal world, the dying 
 Payson said: "The eternal city is full in my view. Its 
 glories beam upon me, its breezes fan me, its odors are 
 wafted to me, its sounds strike upon my ears, and its spirit 
 is breathed into my heart." A view so strong and clear as 
 
 1 " The two great laws of gravitation and inertia, by which our own sys- 
 tem is regulated and maintained, have been proved to exist with precisely 
 the same powers, at least in some of the fixed stars. The probability, there- 
 fore, is, that all these are universal qualities inherent in all material objects. 
 This being granted, seems to imply the necessity of a balanced rotatory mo- 
 tion in every system of worlds, for preserving the general equilibrium of the 
 whole ; because the universal attraction must prevent any body from remain- 
 ing stationary. Now, the same principle appears to apply to groups of sys- 
 tems which applies to systems themselves. Hence we may infer a complica- 
 tion of movements of the most wonderful and extensive kind, combining not 
 merely worlds with worlds, and systems with systems, but nebula} with 
 nebula?, embracing the whole material creation and extending to infinity." 
 Eclectic Magazine. 
 
 5* 
 
106 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 this, few can hope to attain from these mortal shores. Yet 
 the glass of Scripture is open to all, and from the " glorious 
 things " it reveals to our faith of the " city of God," every 
 believer may form and cherish an ideal of the future home 
 awaiting -him at the close of his pilgrimage, to which the 
 Pagan dreams of Elysian fields, Hesperian gardens, and 
 Islands of the Blest, are as tapers to the sun. 
 
 "About the holy city rolls a flood 
 
 Of molten chrystal, like a sea of glass, 
 On which weak stream, a strong foundation stood ; 
 Of living diamonds the building was, 
 That all things else, besides itself, did pass ; 
 
 Her streets, instead of stones, the stars did pave, 
 And little pearls, for dust, it seem'd to have, 
 On which soft-streaming manna, like pure snow, did wave. 
 
 " In midst of this city celestial, 
 
 Where the Eternal Temple should have rose, 
 Lightened the Idea Beatifical 
 
 End and beginning of each thing that grows ; 
 
 Whose self no end nor yet beginning knows, 
 
 That hath no eyes to see, nor ears to hear, 
 
 Yet sees and hears, and is all eye, all ear ; 
 
 That nowhere is contained, and yet is every where. 
 
 " A heavenly feast, no hunger can consume ; 
 
 A light unseen, yet shines in every place ; 
 A sound no time can steal ; a sweet perfume 
 No winds can scatter ; an entire embrace 
 That no satiety can e'er unlace : 
 Ingraced into so high a favor, there 
 The saints, with their beau peers, whole worlds outwear, 
 And things unseen do see, and things unheard do hear. 
 
 " No sorrow now hangs clouding on their brow, 
 
 No bloodless malady empales their face, 
 No age drops on their hairs his silver snow, 
 No poverty themselves and theirs disgrace, 
 No fear of death the joy of life devours, 
 No loss, no grief, no change wait on their winged hours." 
 
 REV. GILES FLETCHER. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 GEOLOGY. 
 
 FEOM that sublime science which traverses the fields of 
 immensity and presents to our contemplation the glories of 
 the firmament, and which claims an antiquity coeval with 
 the infancy of society, we will now turn to another hardly 
 less attractive, but of comparatively recent origin, which 
 calls our attention to evidences of Creative power, wisdom, 
 and goodness, hidden in the deep recesses of the earth. 
 "In the magnitude and sublimity of the objects of which 
 it treats, Geology," says Sir John Herschel, " undoubtedly 
 ranks, in the scale of the sciences, next to Astronomy." 
 " If the discoveries of Astronomy are vast, the discoveries 
 of Geology are no less vast : they extend through time, as 
 those of Astronomy do through space. They carry us 
 through millions of years, that is, of the earth's revolutions, 
 as those of Astronomy do through millions of the earth's 
 diameters, or of diameters of the earth's orbit. Geology 
 fills the regions of duration with events, as Astronomy fills 
 the regions of the universe with objects." 1 Let us interro- 
 gate its discoveries respecting their harmony with revela- 
 tion. 
 
 Until near the commencement of the present century, it 
 was, perhaps, the generally received opinion, sanctioned, it 
 was supposed, by Holy Scripture, that the earth, if not the 
 whole universe, dated from an epoch of about six thousand 
 
 i Plurality of Worlds. 
 
108 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 years ago, and that previous to that period, the matter of 
 which it is composed, was not in existence, much less was 
 it the home of animal or vegetable life. It was supposed 
 also, that previous to the fall of man, decay and death 
 were unknown in the creation, and that the beasts of the 
 field were partakers of our immortality. But modern 
 science has contradicted these suppositions ; and innumer- 
 able wrecks of a former state of nature, wonderfully pre- 
 served (" like ancient medals and inscriptions in the ruins 
 of an empire ") have been brought from the deepest caverns 
 of the earth and the bottoms of the mountains, "from 
 scarped cliff and quarried stone," to prove the immeasur- 
 able antiquity of our globe, and that death was a law among 
 its animal tribes, ages before man had made his appearance 
 upon its surface. 
 
 From a careful study of some fossil organic remains 
 found in the gypsum quarries near Paris, the celebrated 
 French naturalist Cuvier was the first to establish an order 
 of facts pointing to the above conclusion. Since his time, 
 the various strata of the earth and their embedded con- 
 tents, which had been for centuries the occasion of won- 
 der and perplexity, have been laboriously investigated by 
 the ablest scientific minds, and with great and surprising 
 results. And, contrary to a too prevalent notion respect- 
 ing the science of geology, those results cannot be impugned 
 on the ground that the principles of the science are unset- 
 tled and constantly changing. If there were cause for the 
 imputation, while it was yet in a state of immaturity, the 
 case is different now. Geology is still a youthful science, 
 but is no longer immature. Its principles are as clearly 
 ascertained and " as well settled as the theory of the earth's 
 diurnal and annual motions in astronomy, or the doctrine 
 of definite proportions in chemistry." 
 
 " The most important of these principles are the follow- 
 ing : The whole accessible crust of the globe has undergone 
 
tflv 
 
 GEOLOGY. 109 
 
 
 entire, and oftentimes repeated metamorphoses, since the 
 rocks were created ; enormous erosions have taken place 
 upon the earth since it was consolidated ; existing continents, 
 by slow vertical movements, have been below the ocean 
 several times ; processes are now going on around us, capa- 
 ble of producing nearly all the known varieties of rock, with 
 the aid of water and heat ; water and heat have been the 
 grand agents of all geological changes ; the whole globe has 
 once been in a state of igneous fusion ; there was a time 
 when no animals or plants existed on the earth ; several dis- 
 tinct economies of ttfe, or groups of animals and plants, have 
 occupied the surface, each adapted to the altered condition 
 of things ; these ancient races have been unlike one another, 
 and, with a few exceptions in the highest formations, unlike 
 those alive, the resemblance between the living and the fos- 
 sil types becoming more unlike as we descend ; some ten or 
 twelve miles in thickness of fossiliferous rocks were deposit- 
 ed previous to the creation of man, who was among the last 
 of the animals that have appeared upon the globe ; and 
 finally, amid all the diversities of organic structure, and 
 change of species, genera, and families, in different forma- 
 tions, the feature of one grand system can be seen running 
 through the whole series, linking all past minor systems to- 
 gether, and to the existing races, and showing the one grand 
 plan of creation, as it lay originally in the Divine Mind." l 
 
 The most important geological fact in the above enumer- 
 ation in its bearings upon Revelation, is the existence of 
 organic remains embedded in the rocks. These are sub- 
 divided into several strata, and each of the strata is a vast 
 catacomb in which lie buried innumerable generations of 
 creatures that have lived and died during the period of its 
 deposition. " The quantity of fossil remains is so great," says 
 Mrs. Somerville, " that probably not a particle of matter 
 exists on the surface of the earth, that has not at some time 
 1 Bibliothcca Sacra. 
 
110 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 formed part of a living creature. Since the commencement 
 of animated existence, zoophytes have built coral reefs ex- 
 tending hundreds of miles, and mountains of limestone are 
 full of their remains all over the globe. Mines of shells are 
 worked to make lime ; ranges of hill and rock, many hun- 
 dred feet thick, are almost entirely composed of them, and 
 they abound in every mountain chain throughout the earth. 
 The prodigious quantity of microscopic shells discovered 
 by Ehrenberg, is still more astonishing ; shells not larger 
 than a grain of sand form entire mountains ; a great por- 
 tion of the hills of Casciano, in Tuscany, consists of cham- 
 bered shells, so minute, that Saldani collected 10,454 of 
 them from one ounce of stone. Chalk is often almost 
 entirely composed of shells ; the polishing portion of tripoli 
 is owing to their silicious coats ; and there are even hills 
 of great extent consisting ol this substance, the debris of 
 an infinite variety of microscopic insects." l For such vast 
 accumulations, the geologist claims It as unquestionable 
 that incalculable periods of time must have been required, 
 compared with which the antiquity of man upon the earth 
 dwindles to an insignificant point. 
 
 The inductive process which has led to the conclusions 
 of Geology is thus forcibly stated by Hugh Miller : " All 
 nature is a vast tablet, inscribed with signs, each of which 
 has its own significancy ; and Geology is simply the key by 
 which myriads of these signs, hitherto undecypherable, can 
 be unlocked and perused. We are told by travellers, that 
 the rocks of the wilderness of Sinai are lettered over with 
 strange characters inscribed during the forty years' wander- 
 ings of Israel. They testify in their very existence, of a 
 remote past, when the cloud-o'ershadowed tabernacle rose 
 amid the tents of the desert ; and who shall dare say 
 whether, to the scholar who could dive into their hidden 
 meanings, they might not be found charged with the very 
 i Physical Geography. 
 
GEOLOGY. Ill 
 
 song sung of old by Moses and by Miriam, when the sea 
 rolled over the pride of Egypt ? To the geologist every rock 
 bears its inscription engraved in ancient hieroglyphic char- 
 acters, that tell of the Creator's journeyings of old, of the 
 laws which He gave, the tabernacles which He reared, and 
 ithe marvels which He wrought, of the mute prophecies 
 wrapped up in type and symbols, of the earth gulfs that 
 opened and of reptiles that flew, of fiery plagues that de- 
 vastated on the land, and of hosts more numerous than that 
 of Pharoah, that ' sunk like lead in the mighty waters.' " 
 
 It must be granted that there is an apparent discrepancy 
 between the teachings of Geology and the statements of 
 the Bible, and it is not surprising that apprehension was 
 excited in religious minds when they were first advanced. 
 Cowper no doubt expressed the general sentiment of serious 
 Christians of his day, when he wrote : 
 
 u Some drill and bore 
 The solid earth, and from the strata there 
 Extract a register, by which we learn, 
 That He who made it, and revealed its date 
 To Moses, was mistaken in its age." 
 
 Inspired by the supposed necessity of vindicating the truth 
 of Scripture, numerous attempts have been made to over- 
 throw the interpretations which Geology has given to the 
 records found in the stone book of nature. The favorite 
 counter-explanation has been the effect produced by the 
 deluge of Noah. That mighty catastrophe, anti-geologists 
 have maintained, is sufficient to account for all the deposits 
 of fossil remains in the rocks, without resorting to such 
 incalculable periods of time as necessary to their produc- 
 tion. This hypothesis, however, is readily overthrown by 
 the application of scientific tests and the ordinary laws of 
 nature. Unless that awful event is to be viewed as in every 
 respect removed from the sphere of natural law, it is evi- 
 
112 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 dent that whatever marks of physical action, if any, it may 
 have left upon our globe, must have been confined to its 
 surface, or at farthest to its upper strata. No ordinary 
 laws of natural agency will identify its eifects with those 
 organic remains which are buried more than a thousand 
 feet deep in the hardest rocks, and which in many instances 
 are covered by overlying strata of a flinty hardness, which 
 no passing flood of waters could possibly penetrate, and 
 particularly a flood of such short duration as that of Noah. 
 Evidently its effects must have been mechanical, not chem- 
 ical, but in a very small degree. It might disturb the rela- 
 tive position of rocks or denude their surface, but it could 
 not make them. It might deposit a bank of sand or gravel, 
 but we can not conceive of its power being sufficient to dis- 
 solve or disturb or affect to any considerable degree, a bed 
 of rock thousands of miles in geographical extent, and 
 thousands of yards in thickness. Moreover, if in the face 
 of these objections, we still refer the fossil remains of or- 
 ganic life in the various primary and secondary rocks to 
 such a cause, how can we account for their orderly and 
 regular distribution ? They are not found in any part of 
 the earth in that confused and disorderly mass to which 
 they would be reduced By such a violent mechanical agita- 
 tion. They are almost as scientifically arranged, according 
 to their genera and species, throughout the different forma- 
 tions, as they would be in the museum of a naturalist the 
 most ancient and the extinct species in the lower, the re- 
 cent and existing species in the upper strata of the earth. 
 Such an arrangement, it is evident, can not be attributed to 
 a disturbing agency. " Rushing waters were not the scene 
 for calm deposits, where all the bones and spines of the 
 most deh'cate structures, and the forms of leaves and plants 
 in endless variety, could be laid and kept unhurt. A del- 
 uge, and that, too, of only one hundred and fifty days' 
 duration, was not the workshop in which strata ten miles 
 
GEOLOGY. 113 
 
 thick could be formed and packed with their teeming pop- 
 ulation ; neither had it time to do the work, nor had it room 
 to hold the materials." 1 Yet to this, as well as other ab- 
 surd conclusions, we are driven, if we maintain that all the 
 mighty changes which the records of the rocks reveal, took 
 place in the short period which the Noachian deluge lasted. 
 Another class of writers have sought to remove the 
 difficulty, by arguing that since it is possible for God to do 
 all things, it was possible for Him by a single fiat to create 
 all those skeleton structures that have been supposed to 
 indicate creatures of 
 
 " Monstrous shapes that one time walk'd the earth, 
 Of which ours is the wreck." 
 
 According to this theory, the myriads of sea shells, the 
 impressions and fossil specimens of plants, and skeletons of 
 the higher animals, which we find in their progressive order 
 of super-position in the rocks, were but accompaniments 
 of the creative act, mere illusions and shadows, " deceptive 
 simulacra," which never had any answering realities in the 
 vegetable or animal world ! All the wonders of intelli- 
 gence which great scientific minds have recognized in the 
 stratified rocks of the earth, are thus held to reveal (says 
 the eminent Professor Owen) " an elaborate d'esign to de- 
 ceive and not to instruct." The only argument which is 
 used to support this attempt to " untie the Geological 
 knot," must indeed be conceded. The Divine Power is 
 certainly competent to such a creation. But infinite wis- 
 dom being an attribute of the Deity as truly as his omnip- 
 otence, how can we conceive of such a creation as forming 
 a part of his glorious plan ? Where can be found the 
 intelligible purpose in the production of forms which, in 
 ouch a case, would have been to human conceptions so 
 evidently useless ? It is equally undeniable that God could 
 
 1 Archdeacon Pratt' s " Scripture and Science." 
 
114 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 have created Herculaneurn and Pompeii under their vol- 
 canic beds of lava and ashes, and the Egyptian mummies 
 in their tombs and sarcophagi, just as we now find them / 
 but reason at once turns from the supposition as to the last 
 degree improbable. And the same reason compels us to 
 place a theory of equal if not greater improbability, resorted 
 to in order to defend the authority of the Bible against the 
 supposed hostility of Geological discoveries, on a par with 
 the folly of the Bramin, who dashed the microscope in 
 pieces when it crossed his superstitious practices by the 
 wonders it revealed. 
 
 Such absurd resorts to explain undeniable phenomena 
 have proved as unnecessary as the alarm occasioned in the 
 Vatican by the discoveries of Galileo. They have only 
 served to wound religion in the house of its friends. Here 
 again, the discrepancy is only apparent, and the true and 
 consistent exposition of the inspired record of Moses has 
 established its perfect harmony with the disclosures of geolo- 
 gy. The difficulty in effecting their reconcilement has 
 been not with Scripture itself, but with misconceptions of 
 its meaning. " It should be recollected," says Dr. Buck- 
 land in his Bridgewater Treatise, " that the question is not 
 respecting 1jie Mosaic narrative, but of our interpretation 
 of it ; and still further, it should be borne in mind that the 
 object of this account was, not to state in what manner, 
 but by whom, the world was made. As the prevailing ten- 
 dency of men in those early days was to worship the most 
 glorious objects of nature, namely, the sun, moon and 
 stars, it should seem to have been one important point in 
 the Mosaic account of creation to guard the Israelites 
 against the polytheism and idolatry of the nations around 
 them, by announcing that all these magnificent celestial 
 bodies were no gods, but the works of the Almighty 
 Creator, to whom alone the worship of mankind is due." 
 Had he done this in the language of science, it is obvious 
 
GEOLOGY. 115 
 
 that he must have used that language in its farthest devel- 
 opment, which would have rendered his sublime disclosures 
 a hopeless enigma to all but a comparative few of our race. 
 It not being his object to teach science, he has entirely 
 avoided its terms and phraseology, yet has he so written as 
 to stand the test of science. His simple yet lofty and ma- 
 jestic narrative is so worded as to be intelligible to all 
 generations of men from the beginning to the end of time, 
 and yet the utmost scrutiny of modern discovery can find 
 in it nothing to impugn. 
 
 But as in the instances already given under the head of 
 Astronomy, much more than this can be justly claimed for 
 the Mosaic record of Creation. Not only is it free from 
 scientific error, not only does the most searching investiga- 
 tion fail to discover any discrepancy or contradiction be- 
 tween its statements and the discoveries of Geology ; there 
 are also to be found remarkable coincidences between the 
 language of that narrative and those discoveries. By ac- 
 curately following the very words of Moses, without wrest- 
 ing them in the least degree beyond their plain and obvious 
 import, we obtain, as it respects the order of creation, an 
 exact parallelism with the language which geologists, many 
 of them sceptics, indifferent to Moses and hostile to Reve- 
 lation, have laboriously decyphered from the rocks and 
 strata of the earth. They have found the fossil remains of 
 animal and vegetable life deposited beneath the surface of 
 the globe in the very succession in which the lawgiver of 
 Israel declared them to have been created. It has been 
 said, that if one should try to give a sketch in the very 
 fewest words of the Celestial Mechanism of Laplace, the 
 Cosmos of Humboldt, and the geology of the latest and 
 best authorities, he would do so in the very language of 
 Moses. A brief comparison of his statements with the 
 " testimony of the rocks " will show that this statement is 
 not unfounded. 
 
116 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 Thus from Scripture we learn, that cc in the beginning 
 God created the heavens and the earth, and that the earth 
 was without form and void (invisible and unfurnished), and 
 darkness was upon the face of the deep." From Geology 
 we know, that there was a petiod in the ceaseless flow of 
 time, when the earth, which is now clothed with verdure 
 and throbs with animated nature, was a watery waste, de- 
 void of physical life, and enveloped with muddy vapors and 
 dense clouds of mist and fog which effectually shut out the 
 rays of the sun from its surface. 
 
 From Scripture we learn, that while darkness was yet 
 upon the face of the deep, the creative Spirit of God brood- 
 ed upon the waters, and life preceded light. By Geology 
 we are taught that the Spirit of the Creator terminated the 
 lifeless state of our planet in the next succeeding period of 
 time, by pouring submarine life into the expanse of the 
 primaeval ocean, and the earliest created specimens of ani- 
 mal life, anemones, zoophytes and coral animalcule, from 
 the combination of whose tiny labors the vast beds of lime- 
 stone have proceeded which are found in every part of the 
 world, first made their appearance, but all of them had this 
 peculiarity that they were devoid of organs adapted to the 
 perception of light; thus leading to the conclusion, that 
 according to the Mosaic narrative, light did not dawn upon 
 the globe when life first stirred in the waters. 
 
 From Scripture we learn, that on the second day the 
 Atmosphere was formed, and that a canopy of clouds was 
 suspended above the firmament, veiling the heavenly nost 
 of sun, moon and stars, from the face of the globe ; that 
 afterwards, on the third day, dry land and vegetation ap- 
 peared ; and finally, on the fourth day, the canopy of clouds 
 being dissolved, the heavenly bodies were for the first time 
 discerned, to be from thenceforth l for signs and for seasons, 
 and for days and for years.' From Geology we know that 
 at the close of the Silurian submarine creation vast moun- 
 
GEOLOGY. 117 
 
 tains were upheaved by volcanic forces from the deep, and 
 land vegetation made its first appearance, attesting the 
 previous existence of an atmosphere ; and from the same 
 source disclosing to us the mineral contents of the great 
 coal measures, we know that the nature, quantity and 
 quality of the vegetation which then sprang up, were such 
 as demonstrate the growth to have taken place under cir- 
 cumstances of long continued shade, which must at last have 
 been dispelled by the dispersion of the superincumbent 
 clouds, and the admission of the direct rays of the sun to 
 the earth's surface. The plants of the great carboniferous 
 epoch are such as never have "been touched by a sun beam. 
 They are such precisely as would have grown in a humid 
 atmosphere ; their wood is not hardened, as that of plants 
 on which the pure sun-light falls. Thus, both the Mosaic 
 and Geological records concur in testifying that the order 
 of creation was a clouded atmosphere, a dry land and its 
 vegetation, succeeded by the direct and unimpeded radiance 
 of the sun, moon and stars. 
 
 From Scripture we learn, that the next display of 
 creative power was an abundance of great sea monsters, 
 terrestrial reptiles and winged creatures ; and Geology ex- 
 poses to our view in the next succeeding strata, the organic 
 remains of the then existing tyrants of the ocean, the land 
 and the air ; and we behold profuse swarms of the gigantic 
 Saurians which peopled the earth in " the age of Reptiles. 
 Elaniosauria, tyrants Of the deep ; Dinosauria, tenants of 
 the land ; and Ptero-dactyles arid feathered birds, the flying 
 of wing through the firmament above the earth. 
 
 " From Scripture we learn, that the next step was the 
 creation of cattle and creeping things, and beasts of the 
 earth (the Mammalia). From Geology we know, that the 
 race of quadruped Mammals did not come into existence 
 until after the age of Reptiles ; that the Saurian monsters, 
 with the other oviparous reptiles and birds, had been ten- 
 
118 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 ants of our globe for ages before we find any traces of a 
 quadruped Mammal. 
 
 " Lastly, from Scripture we learn, that the closing and 
 completing work of the Creation was Man ; and Geology 
 trumphantly confirms the revealed fact, that submarine 
 animals, land vegetation, Reptiles, Birds and quadruped 
 Mammals, were all of them in existence successively and 
 collectively, ages before the first of the human race. It is 
 only in the latest diluvial deposits of the tertiary period 
 and which are the newest on the earth's crust, that the 
 remains of man are to be found." J Yet had the human 
 race existed in the primaeval ages of our planet, unquestion- 
 ably their remains would have been found intermingled 
 with the countless fossils of extinct plants and animals 
 which the rocks have preserved. Our bones, composed of 
 the same elements as those of the animal races, are equally 
 capable of being kept from destruction. 
 
 But in the absence of these or any traces of man in any 
 save the most superficial deposits, we are compelled to ac- 
 knowledge that Science confirms what Revelation had 
 previously declared that the palace was prepared ere the 
 king appeared ; that the empire was put in order ere the 
 sovereign was appointed. "For him volcanic fires^had 
 fused and crystallized the granite, and piled it up into lofty 
 table lands. For him the never wearied water had worn 
 and washed it down into extensive vallies and plains of 
 vegetable soil. For him the earth had often vibrated with 
 
 O 
 
 electrical shocks, and had become interlaced with rich 
 metallic veins. Ages of quiet had succeeded each revolu- 
 tion of nature, during which the long accumulating vegeta-, 
 bles of preceding periods were, for him, transmuted into 
 stores of fuel some of the deposits of primaeval waters were 
 becoming iron and successive races of destroyed animals 
 
 1 This comparison of the two records, Mosaic and Geological, is mostly 
 derived from McCausland's " Sermons in Stones." 
 
GEOLOGY, 119 
 
 were changed into masses of useful material." Thus through 
 all these varied operations, ordered and arranged by Crea- 
 tive power, wisdom and benevolence, the earth was gradu- 
 ally framed and furnished as a habitation for man. When 
 the foundations of the house had been fixed, and its walls 
 reared, and its star-spangled canopy overhung, and its floor 
 carpeted with soft green, and fuel and water laid up in 
 store -houses, then, and not till then, did man appear, 
 
 " the master work, the end 
 
 Of all yet done, a creature who not prone 
 And brute as other creatures, but endued 
 "With sanctity of reason, might erect 
 His stature, and upright with front serene 
 Govern the rest, self-knowing ; and from thence 
 Magnanimous to correspond with heaven, 
 But grateful to acknowledge whence his good 
 Descends, thither with heart, and voice, and eyes 
 Directed in devotion, to adore 
 And worship God supreme, who made him chief 
 Of all his works." MILTON. 
 
 Thus the Record of Moses and Nature's Record bear 
 each other witness in every particular. The same narra- 
 tive told by the ruler of Israel four thousand years ago, is 
 also told in its own expressive and intelligible language by 
 the very earth on which we tread, as it were " graven with 
 an iron pen and lead in the rock forever." " To a sincere 
 and unsophisticated mind, it must be evident," says Profes- 
 sor Guyot, " that the grand outlines sketched by Moses are 
 the same as those which modern science enables us to trace; 
 however imperfect and unsettled the details furnished by sci- 
 entific inquiries may appear on many points. Whatever 
 changes we may expect to be introduced by new discover- 
 ies, in our present view of the universe and the globe, the 
 prominent traits of this vast picture will remain. And 
 these only are traced out in this admirable account of Gen- 
 
120 TESTIMONY OP SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 esis. These outlines were sufficient for the moral purposes 
 of the book ; the scientific details are for us patiently to in- 
 vestigate. They were no doubt unknown to Moses, as the 
 details of the life and of the work of the Saviour, were un- 
 known to the great prophets who announced his coming, 
 and traced out with master hand his character and objects 
 centuries before his appearance on earth. But the same 
 Divine hand which lifted up before the eyes of Daniel and 
 of Isaiah the veil which covered the tableau of the time to 
 come, unveiled before the eyes of the author of Genesis the 
 earliest ages of the creation. And Moses was the prophet 
 of the past, as Daniel and Isaiah and many others were the 
 prophets of the future." 
 
 As it regards the supposed difficulty of death's being in 
 the world previous to the sin of Adam, it should be con- 
 sidered that the Bible is nowhere committed to the state- 
 ment that the death of the animal creation is a consequence 
 of the Fall of man. The assertion of the apostle that "by 
 one man sin entered into the world and death by sin," does 
 not necessarily mean that the sin of Adam brought death 
 upon the irrational tribes as well as upon the human race. 
 While the facts which the Book of Nature reveals were un- 
 known, such a conclusion from the Apostle's words was not, 
 perhaps, unreasonable ; yet long before the discoveries of 
 Geology, Jeremy Taylor considered man to have been 
 created mortal. "They are injurious to Christ," he writes, 
 " who think that from Adam we might have inherited im- 
 mortality. Christ was the giver and preacher of it ; he 
 brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel." 
 By the aid of science we now learn that the Apostle's true 
 meaning is, not that Death had never appeared in the irra- 
 tional world before the fall of man, but that in that fearful 
 event sin had degraded God's intellectual creature to the 
 level of the brutes in his animal nature, and in his spiritual 
 to that of a lost fallen being. If the fact of death's being 
 
GEOLOGY. 121 
 
 already in the world seem to us inconsistent with its being 
 the happy abode of innocence, the difficulty will be re- 
 moved when we reflect that Infinite Wisdom foresaw what 
 man would become, and therefore may have adapted the 
 world to his permanent rather than his temporary condi- 
 tion. It is certain that carnivorous instincts were implant- 
 ed in the animal tribes from the very first, and perpetual 
 destruction has been followed by continual renovation. 
 The wise benevolence of this divine arrangement is thus 
 conclusively vindicated by Dr. Buckland : " The law of uni- 
 versal mortality being the established condition on which it 
 has pleased the Creator to give being to every creature 
 upon earth, it is a dispensation of kindness to make the 
 end of life to each individual as easy as possible. The most 
 easy death is, proverbially, that which is least expected ; 
 and though, for moral reasons peculiar to our own species, 
 we deprecate the sudden termination of our mortal life, 
 yet, in the case of every inferior animal, such a termination 
 of existence is obviously the most desirable. The pains of 
 sickness and decrepitude of age, are the usual precursors of 
 death, resulting from gradual decay; these, in the human 
 race alone, are susceptible of alleviation from internal 
 sources of hope and consolation, and give exercise to some 
 of the highest charities and most tender sympathies of hu- 
 manity. But, throughout the whole creation of inferior 
 animals, no such sympathies exist ; there is no affection or 
 regard for the feeble and the aged ; no alleviating care to 
 relieve the sick ; and the extension of life through linger- 
 ing stages of decay and of old age, would to each individual 
 be a scene of protracted misery. Under such a system, the 
 natural world would present a mass of daily suffering bear- 
 ing a large proportion to the total amount of animal en- 
 joyment. By the existing dispensations of sudden destruc- 
 tion and rapid succession, the feeble and disabled are 
 speedily relieved from suffering, and the world is at all 
 6 
 
122 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 times crowded with myriads of sentient and happy beings ; 
 and though to many individuals their allotted share of m 
 life be often short, it is usually a period of uninterrupted 
 gratification ; whilst the momentary pain of sudden and 
 unexpected death is an evil infinitely small, in comparison 
 with the enjoyments of which it is the termination." 
 
 The Biblical objection which has been supposed to con- 
 flict with this divine arrangement, is thus conclusively met 
 by Professor Hitchcock : " Physiology teaches us that death 
 is a general law of organic natures, from which law, as we 
 infer from Revelation, man was exempt so long as he obey- 
 ed the law of God. As a special favor he was to remain 
 unaffected by the decay and dissolution to which other 
 beings were subjected. The penalty of disobedience was, 
 that he would forfeit this enviable distinction, and be sub- 
 jected to a death more revolting than the brutes. The 
 reward of obedience was a continued immunity from evil, 
 and a final translation, without suffering, to a more exalted 
 condition. A presumptive argument in favor of this view 
 is, that if Adam had not seen death in the animal tribes, it 
 is difficult to perceive, how he could have any idea of the 
 nature of the threatening. And we may be sure that God 
 never promulgates a penalty without affording his subjects 
 a means of comprehending it." l 
 
 But there still remains the difficulty of reconciling the 
 vast antiquity of the globe which the various geological 
 phenomena have unanswerably demonstrated, with the 
 chronology of the Mosaic record, which has been supposed 
 to teach that the earth is nearly coeval with the appearance 
 of man. There are two schemes by which this objection is 
 met and obviated, each of which has had the advocacy of 
 learned and able writers, and which are equally admissible, 
 without resorting to any forced construction, by the lan- 
 guage of Scripture. 
 
 The first supposes that the opening verse of the first 
 i Hitchcock's Religion of Geology, p. 92. 
 
GEOLOGY. 123 
 
 chapter of Genesis refers to the original fiat which called 
 the material universe into existence, after which an unde- 
 fined and enormous interval of time took place ; and that 
 the globe was then cast into the chaotic state of emptiness 
 and waste described in the second verse as preceding the 
 six days, each of twenty-four hours' duration, in which it 
 was fitted and arranged as a habitation for man. 
 
 It is claimed for this hypothesis, that there is nothing in 
 it which is not entirely consistent with the discoveries of 
 geology. " Here, (say its advocates,) we find a beginning, 
 old enough for all that geology can require. These open- 
 ing sentences, separated off from the rest of Genesis, imply 
 no date whatever ; they do not " fix the antiquity of the 
 globe." Between them and the subsequent narrative, 
 there is ample duration for the discoveries of Geology to 
 intervene. All the pre-Adamite formations may be allowed 
 to follow this first opening statement. The earth may have 
 been brought into shape, replenished with living creatures, 
 and again reduced into chaos, as often as the needs of sci- 
 ence demand. Periods of whatever duration it requires, 
 may have elapsed in those successive creations, before that 
 at which the inspired historian takes up the narrative to re- 
 late how, at a time when the earth was again " without 
 form and void," the Spirit of God again moved upon the 
 face of the waters, to inaugurate the creation of which man 
 is the distinguishing feature. And here, it is claimed, we 
 have all the facts concerning the origin of man and the hab- 
 itation in which he is placed, which the wisdom of God saw 
 it fitting to communicate, or which it was needful for man 
 to know. It was a matter of deep and vital interest to man 
 to know how he came upon this earth and who was the 
 Author of his being. It did not concern him to know the 
 number of the planets, or the nature of the laws of the solar 
 system, and upon these points Scripture is silent. Nor was 
 it needful for him to know how many revolutions this our 
 
124 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 globe had gone through before he himself was created, or 
 what strange beings had walked its surface, before the last 
 great convulsion ; and accordingly no allusion was made to 
 his long past history. And surely this silence as to other 
 worlds and other states of this world, matters which had 
 no bearing on man's own interests, ought to be ranked as 
 one among many internal evidences of the Mosaic narra- 
 tive. An impostor would have sought to minister to the 
 cravings of the human intellect for " things hidden and 
 marvellous" and spoken upon many points concerning 
 which the oracles of God are dumb ; but the inspired writer 
 gives us only the simple record of the progressive work 
 of creation. Saying nothing of the intermediate condi- 
 tion in which the earth may have lain and the changes 
 it may have undergone, during a long series of ages, he 
 takes up its history where Geology leaves it, after the great 
 convulsion which closed the Tertiary period, and shows us 
 how in six days Almighty wisdom and benevolence fitted 
 the globe as a residence for man. Thus, without encroach- 
 ing in the least degree upon the literalities of the Mosaic 
 narrative, we may yet allow the widest scope to the geolo- 
 gist, and at the same time believe that the globe was in ex- 
 istence for immeasurable ages before man appeared, that it 
 underwent a long series of revolutions, was tenanted by 
 animals and clothed with vegetation, until at length a stop 
 was put to these changes by the ushering in the birth-day 
 of a higher and more glorious creation. 
 
 It must be allowed that these are forcible and weighty 
 considerations, and the theory which they are brought to 
 support, was for a long time thought to meet all the re- 
 quirements of Geology. It has numbered among its advo- 
 cates by far the greater number of those who have sought 
 to harmonize the language of Scripture with the discoveries 
 of science, and is still, probably, that which is most gene- 
 rally received. But it is now contended by eminent geolo- 
 
GEOLOGY. 125 
 
 gists, many of whom are the earnest friends of Revelation, 
 that this scheme of reconciliation is no longer adequate. It 
 requires, in order to maintain its ground, that there should 
 be a "break " or chaotic period, at the end of the Tertiary 
 period and just previous to the creation of man. But it is 
 asserted that all the facts of Geology go to show that there 
 was no such universal catastrophe at that epoch, but that all 
 the different tribes and species of animals and plants have 
 been gradually introduced, and that one unbroken chain of 
 organic existence connects the modern world with those 
 pre- Adamite worlds that have passed away. If these alleged 
 facts have an established scientific basis, 1 the theory in ques- 
 tion must be relinquished, unless it is maintained that vast 
 numbers of the animal and vegetable races now existing 
 were exterminated just previous to the appearance of man, 
 and then recreated ; but in such a procedure, it is forcibly 
 urged that we can not recognize the signature of infinite 
 wisdom. It becomes, therefore, of the highest importance 
 to ascertain if there be not another hypothesis, which will 
 at once harmonize with the statements of Revelation and 
 meet the requirements of Geology. Such a one has been 
 brought forward by the late Hugh Miller, and sustained by 
 him with great power of argument and illustration in his 
 " Testimony of the Rocks," though it was held by some 
 previous to hie day, and even dates back to the age of St. 
 Augustine, being found in his celebrated treatise on "the 
 City of God." The support of Origen is also claimed for 
 it, and that of the venerable Bede. This scheme of recon- 
 ciliation agrees with the former in prefixing the opening 
 sentence of Genesis to the geologic periods ; but instead of 
 
 1 It should here be stated, that some of the present advocates of the first 
 hypothesis maintain that the required "catastrophe" has been found. In 
 his "Science and Scripture," Archdeacon Pratt cites the authority of the 
 "Podrome de Palaeontologie " of. M. d'Orbigny, for the statement, that 
 " between the termination of the Tertiary period and the commencement of 
 the Human or Recent period, there is a complete break." 
 
126 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 imagining those periods to be omitted from the subsequent 
 narrative, it supposes them to be successively indicated in 
 the work of the several days recorded by Moses. Accord- 
 ing to its interpretation of the sacred text, those days were 
 periods of great and indefinite extent, instead of being 
 natural days of twenty-four hours each. By this theory, 
 sufficient time is afforded for any duration which the neces- 
 sities of Geology require, while it has the advantage of 
 presenting to us the works of creation in precisely the same 
 order in which, as we have seen, they are disclosed to us 
 by the succession of strata and the development of organic 
 life. The only obstacle to its admission seems to be the 
 generally limited acceptation of the word " day " and the 
 difficulty of deviating so far from its ordinary meaning. 
 But for this interpretation, it is able to quote the authority 
 of Scripture itself, which in texts innumerable, uses the 
 word " day " to indicate some appointed period of indefinite 
 length appropriate to a particular purpose ; hence " the day 
 of salvation," " the day of Jerusalem," " the day of Christ," 
 " the day of visitation," and many others. This use of the 
 word is indeed so well established, that we find St. Peter 
 guarding his disciples against the unbelief of their times by 
 the consideration that "one day is with the Lord as a 
 thousand years, and a thousand years as one day ;" a prov- 
 erb so directly connected with the received Jewish belief 
 concerning the first chapter of Genesis, that we are told the 
 Rabbis regarded each of the six days there mentioned to 
 be (at least) emblematic of a thousand years. Nor can it 
 be said that the word is limited to the duration of a solar 
 day by the words "morning and evening," with which it 
 has been supposed to be synonymous. For there could be 
 no apparent rising and setting of the sun, so as to afford a 
 periodic measure of time, before his beams were made to 
 penetrate the clouds and vapors that enveloped the earth, 
 which was not until the fourth day. It is r em askable, 
 
GEOLOGY. 127 
 
 moreover, that whereas at the end" of each of the six work- 
 ing days of creation we find an evening, the morning of the 
 seventh, which is mentioned at the close of the sixth, is not 
 followed by such a sequel, leading to the inference that it 
 is still open. There is, therefore, no absolute and insur- 
 mountable difficulty in our interpreting the word " day " to 
 mean a period of time, which was occupied in the produc- 
 tion of certain events upon the earth, and which is com- 
 mensurate with the rise and decline of a definite order of 
 existence upon its surface. And if there are no other rea- 
 sons to forbid the interpretation, it appears to render the 
 reconciliation of the facts of Geology with the Mosaic nar- 
 rative at once simple and complete. 
 
 There is, however, a Scriptural difficulty in the way of 
 this hypothesis, which to some minds appears insurmount- 
 able. This is found in the reason given in the book of 
 Genesis and repeated in Exodus (xx. 11) for the institution 
 of the Sabbath. We are commanded to work for six days, 
 and rest on the seventh, because in six days God created 
 the universe, and rested on the seventh. The days of the 
 first part of the commandment are obviously those which 
 compose the natural week. Then similar, it is argued, must 
 be the days in the latter part ; otherwise the same word is 
 used in two different significations in one passage of Scrip- 
 ture. And if the meaning is not the same, how could the 
 analogy hold good or where could be the legality of the 
 inference ? 
 
 To this objection Hugh Miller makes the following re- 
 ply : " Is there any real difficulty," he asks, " in conceiving 
 that the smaller divisions of human time are to be ordered 
 after the larger ones employed by the Creator ? Work for 
 six days and rest on the seventh, is the law which God has 
 prescribed to himself and to us. But must his days and 
 ours necessarily be of the same duration ? Must He be 
 held to have crowded all the diversified phenomena of na- 
 
128 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 
 
 ture, past, present, and to come, into an hundred and forty- 
 four hours, because ihat is the measure of a man's weekly 
 labor ? As a vast continent or the huge earth itself is 
 very great, and a map or geographical globe very small ; 
 but if, in the map or globe, the proportions be faithfully 
 maintained, and the scale, though a minute one, be true in 
 all its parts and applications, we pronounce the map or 
 globe, notwithstanding the smallness of its size, a faithful 
 copy ; so may it be in regard to the divine and human pe- 
 riods. The vastness of the one does not contradict the 
 smallness of the other." 
 
 In addition to this, " it may be maintained," says Mr. 
 Bayne, " that the Age theory alone exhibits, in all their 
 Scriptural and scientific breadth, the grounds of the Sab- 
 batic rest. The scheme of the geologic periods points to 
 the resting of God as a fact. Since the appearance of man 
 in the world, the work of creation has ceased. No species 
 is known to have come into existence since the procession 
 of being was closed by its king. Here, then, is direct con- 
 firmation of Scripture. And if the redemption of man is 
 God's Sabbath day's work, and the reasoning head of this 
 lower creation is permitted, on each recurrent Sabbath in 
 the natural year, to praise and magnify His greatness in 
 that work, shall we say that the sanctions attached to the 
 Sabbath day have become, on account of the light cast 
 by science on God's word, less binding or less sacred ? " 
 
 In support of the same hypothesis, Professor Silliman 
 says, "The allusion in the commandments and in other 
 parts of the Scriptures to the six days would of course be 
 made in conformity with the language adopted in the nar- 
 rative, which being for the masses of mankind was neces- 
 sarily a popular history, although of divine origin ; and the 
 historian adopted a division of time that was in general use, 
 although as to half the time at least, it was inconsistent 
 with astronomical laws. Extension of the time so as to 
 
GEOLOGY. 129 
 
 cover the events by the operation of physical laws, re- 
 moves every difficulty, and interferes with no doctrine of 
 religion." l 
 
 Each of these hypotheses, let it be observed, is perfectly 
 consistent with the letter of Scripture, and if in consequence 
 of the advancement of discovery, the former is rendered 
 untenable, the latter will remove the difficulty, satisfactorily 
 meet all the discoveries of the Geologist, and at the same 
 time, sustain the Mosaic account of the Creation. 2 Eitker 
 of them will harmonize with the indefinite periods of dura- 
 tion, through which, as science has shown, our planet must 
 have passed anterior to the appearance of man. There is, 
 therefore, no ground for the objection of the infidel that 
 
 1 Lecture on Geology before the Smithsonian Institute. 
 
 3 Another scheme of reconciliation has been proposed by a learned dis- 
 senting divine of England, Dr. J. Pye Smith, in his " Relations of Scripture 
 to Geology." He agrees with the first hypothesis in holding that the Mo- 
 saic days were natural days, and that a vast undefined interval elapsed be- 
 tween the commencement of these days and the original universal crea- 
 tion announced in the first verse of Genesis, during which an almost un- 
 limited series of changes in the structure and products of the earth may 
 have taken place. After this, at a comparatively recent epoch, a small por- 
 tion of the earth's surface was brought into a state of disorder, ruin and 
 obscuration ; out of which the creation of the existing species of things, 
 with the recall of light, and the restored presence of the heavenly bodies, 
 took place literally, according to the Mosaic narrative, in six natural days. 
 Outside the area of that limited creation, and during the period of its evo- 
 lution, many of our present lands and seas may have enjoyed the light of 
 the sun, and been tenanted by animals, and occupied by plants, the descend- 
 ants of which still continue to exist. 
 
 This theory, though supported by its author with great learning and in- 
 genuity, has failed to win wide acceptance, and has now, probably, few, if 
 any supporters, which may be accounted for by the fact that it is open to 
 objections fully as grave as those which it removes. We find it hard to 
 believe that the majestic sentences of the inspired historian require so great 
 a diminution of the meaning we have been accustomed to attach to them. 
 Moreover, as Hugh Miller has observed, "although creation can not take 
 place without a miracle;. it would be a strange reversal of all our previous 
 conclusions on the subject, should we have to hold that the dead, dark blank 
 out of which creation arose was miraculous also." 
 
 6* 
 
130 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 \ * 
 
 the results of science contradict the cosmogony of Moses. 
 It is for him to show that their reconciliation is impossible. 
 If there is one mode of reconcilement, the authority of 
 Scripture is sustained. 
 
 Another point of contact between Geology and Scrip- 
 ture, is the deluge of Noah. Until the discoveries of re- 
 cent years, it was supposed that the inspired account of 
 that awful judgment of God, was sufficiently vindicated by 
 the* organic remains which are found alike on the mountain 
 summits and in torrent worn valleys of the earth. In this 
 view geologists formerly acquiesced, and one of the most 
 learned and able of their number, the author of the Bridge- 
 water Treatise on Geology, wrote a book on the subject, 
 describing a cave at Kirkdale, in Yorkshire, where bones 
 of numerous animals had been accumulated, it was sup- 
 posed, by the waters of the Noachian deluge. This view 
 he afterwards retracted, and it is now held by all geologists 
 that such conclusions were premature. A more rigid scru- 
 tiny of the supposed diluvial evidences has assigned them 
 to a far remoter epoch than the flood of Noah, and it is 
 now considered as an established result of scientific research 
 that no traces of a comparatively recent and temporary del- 
 uge are now to be found on the earth's surface. The em- 
 bedded shells and other fossils which are found on different 
 tracts of the earth's surface, and which are probably to be 
 ascribed to diluvial action of some kind, can not be, it is 
 said, the results of one universal simultaneous submergence, 
 but of many distinct local aqueous forces, for the most part 
 continued in action for long periods, and of a kind precisely 
 analogous to those now at work. This final result of geo- 
 logical research has been eagerly seized upon by the ene- 
 mies of Revelation, and because there are no physical evi- 
 dences of such a catastrophe as the flood whose history 
 Moses has transmitted, they would impugn its credibility as 
 an historical fact. " But is it not unreasonable to expect 
 
GEOLOGY. 131 
 
 to find any traces of such an event at the present day so 
 many ages after its occurrence ? Any marks it left, must 
 have been long since obliterated, or so mixed up with the ef- 
 fects of subsequent gradual changes as to be undecipherable, 
 even if they ever possessed any characteristic features. pecu- 
 liar to themselves." The really strong objections are those 
 which are urged against the deluge being in the widest 
 sense universal ; and it must be conceded that some of 
 these have considerable weight. The submersion of the 
 entire globe would have been, it is said, an event for which 
 there was no adequate reason ; and moreover, all the re- 
 sources of nature would not have been sufficient to pro- 
 duce it, and miracles are never resorted to unless demanded 
 by some special exigency. The entire atmosphere condensed 
 into rain, and the depths of the ocean utterly exhausted, 
 would not have been sufficient, it is asserted, to envelop 
 th globe with water to the height of fifteen cubits (twenty 
 or more feet) above the summits of the loftiest mountains. 
 The inmates of the ark raised above the earth to the eleva- 
 tion of five miles, would have found an atmosphere, from 
 its extreme tenuity or intense cold, fatal to animal life. If 
 the omnipotence of Him to whom " all things are possible," 
 be presented as a sufficient answer to such objections, yet 
 there are certain facts (it has been urged), which go to 
 prove that Almighty power was not on this occasion put 
 forth to the extent supposed. These are found in the ap- 
 pearance of various volcanic regions in different countries, 
 especially in the province of Auvergne in the south of 
 France. Here are to be seen the craters of volcanoes, ex- 
 tinct long before the period when History commences, sur- 
 rounded by beds of scoriae and cinders, which it must have 
 taken ages to accumulate, but which if the waters of Noah's 
 deluge overflowed them, must have been entirely -swept 
 away. Difficulties are also started about the capacity of the 
 ark to contain pairs of all the different species of animals, 
 
132 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 including the peculiar and unique zoology of Australia and 
 New Zealand, about the possibility of nourishing them 
 with appropriate food, and of their being dispersed from 
 one point, the mountains of Ararat, across seas and oceans 
 over the whole face of the earth. In view of these grave 
 objections, it becomes important to ascertain whether the 
 commonly received interpretation of the Mosaic account 
 of the deluge is necessarily the correct one. Does the 
 sacred writer intend to say that the entire globe, with its 
 continents and islands, its hills and mountains, was all buried 
 beneath the waters of the flood ? Certainly, he speaks of 
 the purpose of God to " destroy the earth." He says, 
 " All the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. 
 But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, for the 
 icaters were on the face of the whole earth. And I will es- 
 tablish my covenant with you ; neither shall all flesh be cut 
 off" any more by the waters of a flood, neither shall there 
 be any more a flood to destroy the earth." But similar 
 terms are employed in other passages of Scripture in an 
 evidently restricted sense. In another place in which it is 
 evident that only Palestine and the countries in its immediate 
 neighborhood can be meant, the language used by the in- 
 spired writer is, " This day will I begin to put the dread 
 of thee and the fear of thee upon the nations that are un- 
 der the whole Heaven, who shall hear report of thee, and 
 shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee." (Deut. ii. 
 25.) And in other passages we read : " And the famine 
 was over all the face of the earth. And all countries came 
 into Egypt to Joseph to buy corn ; because that the famine 
 was so sore in all lands." (Gen. xli. 56, 57.) Obadiah de- 
 clares to Elijah, " As the Lord thy God liveth, there is no 
 nation or kingdom whither my lord hath not sent to seek 
 thee." In these instances universal terms have most clearly 
 a limited signification. By what principle are we, then, to 
 determine the extent of the signification of universal terms? 
 
GEOLOGY. 133 
 
 Where are we to look for the key of the interpretation? 
 Most clearly we must seek it in the general scope and pur- 
 pose of the writer. What then are that scope and purpose 
 in the case in question ? Are they to teach physical or 
 moral truth to write the natural history of the earth or 
 the moral history of man ? The same writer who says : 
 " In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," 
 says, " And behold I will destroy them with the earth."* 
 Would it not seem that the language in the latter case is 
 of as wide a signification as in the former ? If we regard 
 the words, we must answer in the affirmative ; if the spirit 
 in the negative. In the history of the creation, the great 
 purpose of the author was to teach the existence of one 
 God, the Creator of all things, as a moral, however, rather 
 than as a, natural truth. Were there no moral relations 
 between man and his Creator, were we not bound to wor- 
 ship, love, serve, and obey Him as the source of all things, 
 the doctrine would have found no place in a book whose 
 object is to communicate to man religious knowledge. But 
 the terms, the heavens and the earth, must here be taken 
 in their widest sense. If not, the writer has failed of ex- 
 pressing the idea of a one Creator. The earth, without 
 any doubt, signifies the entire earth. Whatever be its 
 form and dimensions, whether it be the earth of the He- 
 brews, 
 
 " Founded upon the seas, 
 And established upon the floods," 
 
 a stationary plain, or the revolving globe of modern science, 
 it matters not ; it was all made in the beginning, by one 
 God the Creator. . Let us apply the same rule of interpr*- 
 tation to the history of the deluge* What in this history 
 was the great object of the writer ? Obviously, to record 
 a most important era in the dealings of God with mankind. 
 It was to exhibit, as a moral example, the destruction of 
 the human race by the hand of the Creator, repenting that 
 
134 TESTIMONY OP SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 He had made man upon the earth, so great had become his 
 violence and corruption. The destruction of the earth and 
 of the brute creation was incidental to the major purpose. 
 It would not have been mentioned, had it not been con- 
 nected with the destruction of man. Aside from its moral 
 bearings, it was as unimportant for the writer's great pur- 
 pose, as the history of Sirius, or the changes which may 
 have occurred on the planet Jupiter. What was the earth, 
 which was corrupt, the earth which was filled with vio- 
 lence ? Was it the entire terrestrial surface of the globe, 
 inhabited or uninhabited, or was it rather that earth which 
 was the abode of man the theatre of human life ? Plainly 
 the latter. Now this was the earth God announced his 
 purpose to destroy. If the human race had become diffused 
 co-extensively with the antediluvian earth, which might 
 have been the fact, then, without doubt, the entire surface 
 of the dry land was comprehended in the threatened de- 
 struction of the earth. But if this was not the fact, then 
 we can not fairly extend the sense of the sacred writers to 
 include every portion of the terrestrial surface of the globe, 
 inhabited or uninhabited, unless such a destruction was 
 incidentally necessary for the accomplishment of the great 
 object. 1 
 
 Most probably, however, the occupation of the earth's 
 surface at that time was very limited, and the late Hugh 
 Miller, in his " Testimony of the Rocks," has shown how 
 all the phenomena of the Deluge might have been produced 
 by the gradual submergence and rising again of the country 
 comprised within a radius of a few hundred miles around 
 the dwelling place of Noah, so as to include the portion of 
 the globe then inhabited. This phenomenon of the change 
 of level of large portions of the earth's surface, by depres- 
 sion or elevation, is not unknown to geologists; though the 
 periods in which these vast oscillations occur are of im- 
 measurably longer duration than that of the Deluge. He 
 
 i Fellowe's History of the Deluge. 
 
GEOLOGY. 135 
 
 shows that the depression during the first forty days might, 
 nevertheless, have been so gradual as to be almost imper- 
 ceptible, except from the effects the pouring in of the 
 mighty waters from the neighboring seas into the growing 
 hollow, and the disappearance of the mountain tops. And 
 when, after a hundred and fifty days had elapsed, the de- 
 pressed hollow began slowly to rise again, the boundless sea 
 around the ark would flow outwards again towards the 
 distant ocean, and Noah would see that " the fountains of 
 the deep were stopped, and the waters were returning from 
 off the earth continually." 
 
 The above hypothesis, which was supported in former 
 times by such eminent authorities as Bishop Stillingfleet and 
 Matthew Poole, 1 furnishes a complete answer to all the ob- 
 
 1 Said Bishop Stillingfleet, " I can not see any urgent necessity from the 
 Scripture to. assert that the flood did spread over all the surface of the 
 earth. That all mankind, those in the ark excepted, were destroyed by it, 
 is most certain, according to the Scriptures. The flood was universal as to 
 mankind ; but from thence follows no necessity at all of asserting the uni- 
 versality of it as to the globe of the earth, unless it be sufficiently proved 
 that the whole earth was peopled before the flood, which I despair of ever 
 seeing proved." Origines Sacrce, B. 3, c. 4. 
 
 The eminent commentator, Matthew Poole, in his Synopsis on Gen. 7:19, 
 has the following observations: "It is not to be supposed that the entire 
 globe of the earth was covered with water. Where was the need of over- 
 whelming those regions in which there were no human beings? It would 
 be highly unreasonable to suppose that mankind had so increased before 
 the deluge, as to have penetrated to all the corners of the earth. Absurd 
 it would be to affirm that the effects of the punishment inflicted upon men 
 alone, applied to places in which there were no men. If then we should 
 entertain the belief that not so much as the hundredth part of the globe 
 was overspread with water, still the deluge would be universal, because 
 the extirpation took effect upon all the part of the world which was then 
 inhabited." 
 
 To the above may be added the following remarks by Dr. King of Glas- 
 gow, in-tiis " Principles of Geology Explained." " If we adopt," he says, 
 (p. 61,) "the principle which the Scripture itself so unequivocally sanctions 
 that general terms may be used with a limited sense the whole account is 
 simple and consistent. A deluge of great extent inundated the dry land. In 
 respect to men, whom it was designed to punish for their wickedness, it was 
 
136 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 jections which were supposed to lie against the Mosaic his- 
 tory of the Deluge, and derives from Geology a presumption 
 in its favor, inasmuch as that science demonstrates that our 
 globe at various periods must have been subjected to the 
 operation of similar agencies. It is said that a recent ex- 
 amination of a large tract of Asia, comprising Armenia, 
 Georgia, and part of Persia, and of certain marine deposits 
 which are found therein, is strongly corroborative of the 
 same view. Not impossibly, we may be approaching the 
 era of a more interesting discovery than that which has 
 called forth ancient Nineveh from her long entombment. 
 Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction, and it may be, 
 says an able writer in the North British Review, that " the 
 first city the city of Enoch, may yet be surveyed in stone 
 or in dust, beneath some nameless heap where the Arme- 
 nian shepherd now feeds his flocks ; and the brass and iron 
 utensils of Tubal Cain may yet exhibit to us the infant in- 
 genuity of our race. The planks of Gopher wood which 
 floated Noah over the universe of waters may yet rise 
 from the flanks or the base of Ararat in lignite or in 
 coal ; and the first altar that which Noah builded to his 
 Maker and Preserver, may yet be thrown up from its 
 burying place by the mighty earthquakes that shake the 
 plain of the Araxes." 
 
 Whether these brilliant conjectures shall ever be realized 
 or not, it is certain, that with the advancement of discovery, 
 the. opposition which had been supposed to exist between 
 Revelation and Geology has disappeared, and of the eighty 
 theories which the French Institute counted in 1806, as hos- 
 tile to the Bible, not one now stands. " The minute philos- 
 phers, to borrow an epithet of the great Berkeley, may 
 
 universal, excepting only Noah and his family, whom it pleased God to spare 
 alive. Along with them were preserved such animals as were most useful to 
 them, and such as were fitted to fulfil the purposes of Providence after the 
 waters should have retired." 
 
GEOLOGY. 137 
 
 think for a time, that their boasted discoveries are irrecon- 
 cileable with revelation. They may raise the sand hills of 
 their systems, and think from them to demolish the fortress 
 of the divine word. Vain and impotent the attempt ! Some 
 fortunate discovery, as science advances, demolishes the 
 whole by a single roll of its mighty waters, and the next 
 wave dashes it into oblivion." "Shall it any longer be 
 said, that a science which unfolds such abundant evidence 
 of the being and attributes of God, can reasonably be viewed 
 in any other light than as the efficient auxiliary and handmaid 
 of religion ? Some there still may be, whom timidity, or 
 prejudice, or want of opportunity, allow not to examine its 
 evidence ; who are alarmed by the novelty, or surprised by 
 the magnitude and extent of the views which geology forces 
 on their attention ; and who would rather have kept closed 
 the volume of witness which has been sealed up for ages 
 beneath the surface of the earth than to impose on the stu- 
 dent in natural theology the duty of studying its contents 
 a duty in which for lack of experience they may antici- 
 pate a hazardous or laborious task, but which, by those en- 
 gaged in it, is found to be a rational, and righteous, and 
 delightful exercise of the highest faculties in multiplying 
 the Evidence of the existence, and attributes, and Provi- 
 dence of God. The alarm, however, which was excited by 
 its first discoveries, has well nigh passed away ; and those 
 to whom it has been permitted to be the humble instruments 
 of their promulgation, and who have steadily persevered, 
 under the firm conviction that " truth can never be opposed 
 to truth," and that the works of God when rightly under- 
 stood, and viewed in their true relations, and from a right 
 position, would at length be found to be in perfect accord- 
 ance with his word", are now receiving their high reward 
 in finding difficulties vanish, objections gradually withdrawn, 
 and in seeing the evidences of geology admitted into the list 
 of witnesses to the truth of the great fundamental doctrines 
 
138 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 of Christianity." Bridgewater Treatise on Geology, vol. i. 
 p. 593. 
 
 The claim which Dr. Buckland here asserts in behalf of 
 his favorite science, finds still farther vindication in the im- 
 portant services rendered by the discoveries of Geology to 
 the cause of Revelation, in the unanswerable refutation they 
 have furnished to the development hypothesis of Lamarck, 
 Oken and others, and the once boasted argument of Hume 
 against the miracles of the Bible. Akin to the nebular 
 theory by which suns and planets are supposed to be grad- 
 ually evolved by the condensation of a widely diffused 
 vapor or fire-mist, a system has been devised and elabor- 
 ated by a certain school of modern philosophers, supported 
 by ingenious arguments and an imposing show of science, 
 by which in place of the Almighty fiat calling them into 
 existence, all vegetable and animal forms of organic life are 
 accounted for by the agency of natural laws. Man has not 
 been created but developed. " We call in question," says 
 the author of the "Vestiges of Creation," "not merely the 
 simple idea of the unenlightened mind, that God fashioned 
 all in the manner of an artificer seeking by special means 
 to produce special effects, but even the doctrine in vogue 
 among men of science, that ' creative fiats ' were required 
 for each new class, order, family, and species of organic 
 beings, as they successively took their places upon the 
 globe, or as the globe became gradually fitted for their 
 reception." According to the Bible, " God said, Let us 
 make man in our image, after our likeness. So God 
 created man in his own image, in the image of God created 
 He him." But according to this theory, a " primary cause," 
 which philosophy does not venture to define, created at 
 first only microscopic monads or embryonic points, and 
 from these, by a process of natural development extending 
 through vast, indefinite periods of duration, arose all the 
 various tribes of animated being. Creatures of " the sun- 
 
GEOLOGY. 139 
 
 plest and most primitive type gave birth to a type superior 
 to it in compositeness of organization and endowment of 
 faculties ; this again produced the next higher, and so on 
 to the highest ; the advance being in all cases, small, but 
 not of any determinate extent." Thus one unbroken chain 
 connects the animalcule with man ! Such is the theory by 
 which " science falsely so called " would remove the Crea- 
 tor from his throne to be replaced by a blind necessity 
 called the law of development. But how does it agree 
 with the stubborn facts of inductive science? Ask the 
 geologist what witnesses he has found in the primitive 
 records of the rocks, and he will tell you that "he has 
 gone down in his search to the foundations of the earth, 
 where the igneous rocks have warned him that he had 
 reached primaeval creation ; and in his upward journey he 
 has met with mosses and ferns and palms, and higher vege- 
 table productions ; each of which, as standing at the head 
 of a species, he is bound to regard as having been brought 
 into existence separately and independently. 1 Ascending 
 
 1 The following valuable observations on this point are from a recent 
 scientific work of the highest authority. " There are no doubt differences in 
 the individuals of a species, depending on soil, and on different conditions of 
 heat, light and moisture. But these differences are not incompatible with 
 the idea of a common origin ; and, moreover, we find that there is always a 
 tendency to return to type. What is called a variety, is an individual of a 
 species exhibiting variations which are not in general of a permanent char- 
 acter, and which can not be kept up in the natural state, or, in ordinary cir- 
 cumstances, by seed. By means of buds or slips such varieties may be con- 
 tinued ; but if their seeds are sown in ordinary soil, and left to grow wild, 
 the plants tend to return to the specific type. In certain plants, such as 
 cereal crops and culinary vegetables, varieties have been perpetuated from 
 seed by the art of cultivation ; and thus races are kept up by artificial means. 
 But when the seeds of such plants are sown in ordinary circumstances, and 
 the plants are allowed to grow wild, we then see that there is a return to the 
 parent type. In illustration of this statement, we may refer to ordinary 
 vegetables, such as cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, etc. (Brassica Oleracea.) 
 This plant grows wild on our sea shores in certain places, and when culti- 
 vated it assumes peculiar forms. Thus it forms a heart, as in ordinary cab- 
 bage ; its flower stalks become thickened or shortened, as in cauliflower or 
 
140 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 higher still, he has discovered various forms of animal life, 
 higher and lower ; and he confesses that he knew no other 
 or scientific way of accounting for their existence, than 
 that of a new creation the action of a power above nature 
 bringing them into nature. Ask him if " development " is 
 not equal to the production of those forms? and he will 
 tell you, that in all his scientific observations he has never 
 known the occurrence of the transition of one of these 
 forms of life to another, he has never witnessed the oper- 
 ation, and the earth has disclosed to him no case in which 
 it was progressing or performed. But, as Cuvier asks, 
 " why, if such transformations have occurred, do not the 
 bowels of the earth preserve the records of *such a cu- 
 rious genealogy ? " That they are wholly unknown to the 
 realms of nature is a point upon which the most distin- 
 guished geologists and anatomists are unanimous. At 
 each arrangement of organic life after the creation, says 
 Professor Sedgwick, " tribes of sentient beings were created 
 and lived their time upon the earth. At succeeding epochs, 
 new tribes of beings were called into existence, not merely 
 as the progeny of those that had appeared before them, but 
 as new and living proofs of creative interference, and 
 though formed on the same plan and bearing the same 
 marks of wise contrivance, often as unlike those that pre- 
 
 broccoli ; or its cellular tissue is largely developed, so as to give rise to the 
 curled appearance of greens. These varieties are continued by cultivation ; 
 and after a series of generations, the seeds of the varieties propagate, more 
 or less completely, plants of a similar nature. But if they are allowed to 
 grow wild, then in the progress of time the variations disappear, and the 
 original type of the species is reverted to. The varieties of apples and pears 
 are continued by the art of horticulture and the process of grafting ; but the 
 seeds of these plants, when allowed to grow wild, produce the original stock, 
 viz., the crab apple or crab pear, whence all the varieties have been pro- 
 duced. All these facts show the permanency of species in nature, and con- 
 tradict the crude ideas of those so-called naturalists, who state that one 
 species can be transmuted into another in the course of generations." Botany 
 and Religion, ly Prof. BALFOUR. 
 
GEOLOGY. 141 
 
 ceded them, as if they had been matured in a different 
 portion of the universe, and cast upon the earth by the 
 collision of another planet." " For myself," says Agassiz, 
 " I have the conviction that species have been created suc- 
 cessively at distant intervals, and that the changes which 
 they have undergone during a geological epoch are very 
 secondary, relating only to their fecundity, and to migra- 
 tions dependent on epochal influences." Lyell gives it as 
 the result of careful inquiry, " that species have a real ex- 
 istence in nature, and that each was endowed at the time 
 of its creation with the attributes and organs by which it is 
 now distinguished." " Everything," says Sir Charles Bell, 
 in his Bridgewater Treatise, " declares the species to have 
 its origin in a distinct creation, not in a gradual variation 
 from some original type ; and any other hypothesis than 
 that of a new creation of animals suited to the successive 
 changes in the inorganic matter of the globe the condition 
 of the water, atmosphere, and temperature brings with it 
 only an accumulation of difficulties." 1 That new species 
 of living creatures were introduced at various periods in 
 the history of the ancient earth, is one of the most certain 
 of the discoveries of geology, and as no cause can be found 
 among natural agents fitted to produce the effect, we are 
 compelled to recognize the only known cause capable of 
 producing it the fiat of the Creator. " Nature is but the 
 name for an effect whose cause is God." a 
 
 1 Pearson on Infidelity. 
 
 3 In a recent inaugural address at Edinburgh University, Sir David Brew- 
 ster thus scatters the air-woven speculations of Mr. Darwin : " As Mr. Dar- 
 win has appealed to facts and principles in support of his theory, we must 
 appeal to facts and principles for its refutation. He maintains : 1. That va- 
 riations in species actually arise in the course of descents from a common 
 progenitor. 2. That many of these variations are an improvement on the 
 original stock. 3. That, by a continued natural selection, from among these 
 improved specimens, occasioned by a struggle for life, the most vigorous in- 
 dividuals become the progenitors of the next generation. 4. That there is a 
 power in nature everywhere affecting this selection. Naturalists of high 
 
142 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 The same geological discoveries strike also at the root 
 of every sceptical argument against miracles. As these 
 constitute a main pillar of Christian evidences, the enemies 
 of the Bible have taxed all their resources of wit and 
 sophistry to break down their testimony. Hume argued 
 against their probability on account of their being opposed 
 to what he calls " the uniform experience of mankind," and 
 his followers in the school of doubt, at the present day, 
 deny the possibility of supernatural interposition in any 
 case whatever. Because a certain order and arrangement 
 have been impressed upon the face of nature, in accordance 
 with which, as by an inevitable necessity, fire will burn and 
 a body will sink in water, and other physical causes pro- 
 duce their customary effects, therefore, the sceptic argues, 
 " the antecedent improbability of a miracle or a deviation 
 from the laws of nature is so great, that no testimony in its 
 behalf can ever possibly amount to a probability, much less 
 to a proof." By various learned pens, the fallacy of this 
 
 authority have followed Mr. Darwin through all his arguments, and have 
 shown in the clearest manner that his theory is inconsistent with the very 
 facts upon which he has rested it. It is out of my sphere, and yours also, to 
 discuss this question as one of natural history ; but even in this aspect of it, 
 we may allow that species do admit of great variations, and may, by new 
 methods of feeding and culture, rise to a higher scale, and yet deny that 
 there is any evidence even of one species of the same genus having passed 
 into another, and still less that fish have passed into fowl, or birds into 
 beasts, or quadrupeds into men. We have absolute proof, indeed, of this 
 immutability of species, whether we search for it in historic or geological 
 times. The cat and dog embalmed in Egypt four thousand years ago, are 
 the same as the cat and dog of the present day ; and in the fossil remains of 
 the pre-Adamite ages, there is not the slightest proof of any variations in the 
 successive inhabitants of the earth. Mr. Darwin himself admits, to use his 
 own words, 'that this is the most obvious and grave objection to his 
 theory ; ' but yet he conjectures that rocks still undiscovered, and myriads 
 of years older than the Cambrian or azoic strata, may still bear testimony to 
 his views. When such strata with such indications are discovered, when 
 the instinct of the elephant shall have expanded into reason, and the chatter 
 of the parrot have its climax in speech, we may then claim kindred with the 
 brutes that perish." 
 
GEOLOGY. 143 
 
 reasoning has been most thoroughly and ably exposed. It 
 has been shown that the objection confounds general with 
 universal experience, and that nothing can be more un- 
 founded and irrational than to assume that all things which 
 are or can be, must fall within the measure of the finite 
 understanding of man. As well might a blind man assume 
 that, through the senses he possesses, he gains all possible 
 knowledge of creation. Miracles are not a breaking in 
 upon the order of nature " in any other sense than that in 
 which the will of man, in every moment of man's conscious 
 existence, is a breaking in upon the order of nature. In 
 this sense all the world is a scene of perpetual confusion 
 it is a chaos of ' violences ; ' foy wherever man comes in 
 upon the material world, he comes in to turn aside its 
 course, or to interrupt, or to give a new direction to, its 
 order. The order of nature allows the bird to wing itself 
 from East to West, or from tree to tree ; but the shaft of 
 the savage, or the gun of the sportsman, brings its plumage 
 to the dust." But apart from reasoning, here is " testi- 
 mony" from " the rocks" which cannot be gainsayed or 
 eluded. Geology furnishes evidences, in the changes both 
 of the globe itself and of its successive living creatures, 
 that the course of nature has not always been what it is 
 now. It is certain that the whole globe has once been in a 
 state of igneous fusion ; that there was a time when no an- 
 imals or plants existed on the earth ; that several distinct 
 economies of life, or groups of animals and plants, have 
 occupied the surface, each adapted to the altered condition 
 of things ; that these ancient races have been unlike one 
 another, and with a few exceptions in the highest forma- 
 tions, unlike those alive, the resemblance between the liv- 
 ing and fossil types becoming more unlike as we descend ; 
 and that man's appearance on the globe has been compara- 
 tively recent. Thus through the measureless ages before 
 the appearance of man, the history of the creation had 
 
144 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 been the history of the miraculous. And is it philosophi- 
 cal to conclude, that on the creation of man everything of 
 this nature abruptly and forever ceased? May we not 
 more rationally infer that if God has so frequently inter- 
 posed by special acts in the ages preceding the present 
 state of the globe, it forms a strong presumption that He 
 has done so at that most wondrous epoch of the world's 
 history the introduction of Christianity ? The miracles 
 of the Bible are in themselves worthy of His infinite wis- 
 dom, majesty and grace, they are authenticated by the 
 clearest and most commanding evidence, and Geology has 
 now shown that there is no antecedent improbability which 
 should forbid their reception. 
 
CHAPTEE III. 
 
 PHYSICAL SCIENCE CONTTNTJED. 
 
 WE have thus far seen that there is no real discrepancy 
 or contradiction between the teachings of Astronomy and 
 Geology and the statements of the Bible, and that as those 
 sciences have advanced, previous difficulties have vanished, 
 and the closer has the harmony been manifested that exists 
 between the records of revelation and the operations of 
 the Creator in the material world. Our object in the 
 present chapter will be to show that this harmony is capa- 
 ble of yet wider illustration, and that the more thoroughly 
 we investigate the relations of the Sacred Scriptures with 
 Physical Science, the clearer and more convincing will be 
 the evidence that the Author of nature and of revelation 
 is the same. 
 
 How can the sceptic account for the undeniable fact 
 that no errors or absurdities connected with science, are to 
 be found in the Bible ? The Mosaic records date back to 
 the infancy of our race, and the entire sacred canon was 
 closed ages before the wondrous march of scientific dis- 
 covery can be said to have commenced ; yet in the numer- 
 ous references and allusions which the inspired writers 
 make to physical facts, though expressed in language suited 
 to all time, and capable of being understood in ages wholly 
 ignorant of science, not all the light which, in the present 
 and preceding centuries, has been thrown upon the secrets 
 of nature, has been able to detect a single blunder or dis- 
 crepancy. 
 
 7 
 
146 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 This is a test which the Zendavesta, the Koran and the 
 Shaster, with all the oracles held sacred by the heathen, 
 cannot stand. As soon as they touch upon the domains . 
 of science, their statements reveal the grossest ignorance, 
 so that it has been said that the spread of scientific knowl- 
 edge ensures the overthrow of all the religions of heathen- 
 dom. The slightest examination of the sacred books of the 
 heathen, and even of the systems of their most renowned 
 philosophers, will show that their science was no less absurd 
 than their theology. 
 
 Thus in Greek and Latin philosophy, the heavens were 
 a solid vault over the earth, a sphere studded with stars, as 
 Aristotle called them. The sages of Egypt held that the 
 world was formed by the motion of the air and the upward 
 course of flame ; Plato that it was an intelligent being ; 
 Xenophanes that God and the world were the same thing. 
 Empedocles maintained that there were two suns ; Leucip- 
 pus that the stars were kindled by their motions, and that 
 they nourished the sun with their fires. 
 
 Some of the followers of Pythagoras supposed the 
 milky way to be an old disused path of the sun, out of 
 which, some said, he was frightened by the banquet of 
 Thyestes. Anaxagoras is said to have thought it was the 
 shadow of the earth ; Aristotle believed it to be sublunary, 
 and to consist of exhalations of the same matter as comets. 
 Posidonius took it for a band of fire ; Theophrastus for a 
 solid and luminous band, joining together the two hemi- 
 spheres ; while Diodorus thought it was a celestial fire 
 shining through the cliffs of the solid heavens. 
 
 Another class of Greek philosophers conjectured that 
 matter is eternal, and that all the beauty, order, and gran- 
 deur of the universe, are the result of chance or a fortui- 
 tous concourse of atoms ! 
 
 All Eastern nations believed that the heavenly bodies 
 exercised powerful influence over human affairs, often of a 
 
PHYSICAL SCIENCE. 147 
 
 disastrous kind, and that all nature was composed of four 
 elements, viz., fire, air, earth and water, substances cer- 
 tainly not elementary. 
 
 In the Hindoo Philosophy, the* globe is represented as 
 flat and triangular, composed of several stories, the whole 
 mass being sustained upon the heads of elephants, who in 
 turn were supported by a huge tortoise. Their shaking of 
 themselves was supposed to be the cause -of earthquakes. 
 Mahomet taught that the mountains were created to pre- 
 vent the earth from moving and to hold it as by anchors 
 and chains. The Fathers of the Church themselves teach 
 doctrines scarcely less absurd. "The rotundity of the 
 earth is a theory," says Lactantius, " which no one is igno- 
 rant enough to believe." And even the great Kepler, who 
 made some of the most important discoveries ever achieved 
 in science, was not freed from those strange and to us child- 
 ish imaginings, which were current in former times as ex- 
 planations of difficult problems in the phenomena of nature. 
 In 1619 he published a work in which he affirmed that the 
 earth was a living animal, for that "when a stone was 
 thrown into the deep clefts of a high mountain, a sound 
 was returned from them ; and when it was thrown into one 
 of the mountain lakes, which, without doubt, were bottom- 
 less, a storm immediately arose ; just as a ticklish animal 
 would shake its head, or run shuddering away, when a straw 
 was thrust into his ear or nose." This was the extravagant 
 conception of one of the world's master minds, the observer 
 for whom (according to his own famous boast) the universe 
 so long had waited. Yet the same work contains a defence 
 of the view that the orbs of heaven are engaged in perform- 
 ing a concert of music, in which Jupiter and Saturn take 
 the bass ; Mars, the Earth, and Venus, the tenor ; and Mer- 
 cury the treble. 
 
 In their observation of those positive facts which are 
 the basis of natural science, we find the same credulity and 
 
148 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 extravagance. " If the theologians of pagan antiquity were 
 poets, as Bacon observes, their naturalists were even worse. 
 Animals that crowded about their steps, and which they 
 could not move their eyes without seeing, are the heroes of 
 the most extravagant legends. The whole world is meta- 
 morphosed by superstition. Truth is ignominiously swept 
 out, and dreams substituted for reality. Writers stride 
 forward from prodigy to prodigy, with the arrogance and 
 self-esteem of authors who scorn to be observers. 
 
 " According to the doctrine of the Metempsychosis, 
 introduced into Greece by Pythagoras and Timgeus, the 
 brute animals are human beings in altered forms. In their 
 new shape, they preserve a recollection of their former 
 condition. They were believed by some philosophers to 
 possess three souls the sensitive, rational, and vegetative 
 soul corresponding to what, in recent times, has been 
 termed intellectual, organic, and animal life. A book was 
 written by Plutarch, to prove that animals possess reason, 
 inasmuch as the operations of our boasted understanding 
 are more liable to error than the mysterious operations 
 of instinct. Poets, and even philosophers, regarded them 
 as our earliest teachers of the useful arts. 
 
 "According to Pliny, fishes with horses' heads were 
 often seen in the Arabian Sea, out of which they crawled 
 at night to graze in the fields. The same learned writer 
 testifies to having seen a centaur, embalmed in honey, ex- 
 hibited in Rome in the reign of Claudius, while the earliest 
 Christian writers, Justin, Cyprian and Jerome, admit their 
 existence, and believed them to be fallen angels, condemned 
 to wander through dismal solitudes and uninhabited forests, 
 until the day of judgment. 
 
 " The existence of the phoenix also was an object of the 
 firmest belief in the ancient world, and is attested by the 
 very gravest historians. The appearance of a phoenix in 
 the consulship of Paulus Fabius, and Yitellius, or the thir- 
 
PHYSICAL SCIENCE. 149 
 
 ty-fourth year of our era, is described by Tacitus as an 
 event of the first importance, and worthy of transmission 
 to the remotest posterity. " Every five hundred years the 
 phoenix," says Tacitus, " comes into existence, though it is 
 true," he adds, " some assign four hundred and sixty-one 
 years as the true period. ^ The first phoenix appeared in 
 the reign of Sesostris ; the second was seen in the reign 
 of Amasis; and the last under Ptolemy III. This last 
 phoenix, surrounded by a crowd of feathered attendants 
 whom it far outshone in splendor of plumage, took its 
 flight to Heliopolis, the city of the sun." 
 
 Pliny also gravely informs us that " it is not generally 
 known, what has been discovered by men eminent for their 
 learning, in consequence of their assiduous observations of 
 the heavens, that the fires which fall upon the earth, and 
 which receive the name of thunderbolts, proceed from 
 the three superior stars, but principally from the one (Ju^ 
 piter) that is placed in the middle." 
 
 To this list of absurdities which the most gifted and cul- 
 tivated minds once mistook for science, a list which might 
 be indefinitely extended, we will only add that Virgil has 
 anticipated the famous " discovery " of Mr. Crosse. In his 
 fourth Georgic, he gives a recipe for the production of bees 
 where the hive may have lost its usual colony, whereby a 
 brood of the ingenious insects may be " spontaneously gen- 
 erated " from the blood of a slaughtered heifer. 1 
 
 How striking a contrast to this mass of error and ab- 
 surdity, is presented in the pages of the Bible ! Though 
 composed long before the dawn of science, and though few 
 of its writers could lay claim even to the learning and 
 culture that were attainable in the times in which they 
 lived, they have yet so written as to stand the test of sci- 
 ence. No crude theories or exploded principles of Astron- 
 omy, Geology, or any of the sciences, no story of the four 
 1 Georgics, iv, 308. 
 
150 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 elements, no legend of such terrestrial supporters as the 
 tortoise and the elephant, are to be found within its com- 
 pass. While the stars are frequently introduced in Scrip- 
 ture language in magnificent comparisons, there is no men- 
 tion of their benign or malign aspects ; we have none of 
 the nonsense of Astrology, which pervaded all reference to 
 the heavenly bodies in the writings of learned men until 
 two centuries ago. There is not a shadow of this in the 
 Bible ; star-gazers and prognosticators are mentioned there 
 only to be derided. And of such monstrous absurdities 
 respecting the facts of the kingdom of nature, as those 
 which, as we have seen, received the undoubting credence 
 of the best minds of antiquity, there is not the slightest trace. 
 " And to what can this immeasurable superiority of the 
 sacred writers be ascribed, but to the direct influence and 
 control of an Omniscient Mind, w r hose instruments they 
 were ? Must we not be compelled to perceive the infinite 
 wisdom of God overruling their thoughts and guiding their 
 expressions ; guarding their ignorance against intruding into 
 a domain foreign to their subject ? so that, whether they 
 pursue the course of sober narrative, or pour forth the out- 
 bursts of prophetic song, they never imperil or degrade 
 the truth of God by entwining around it the foreign growth 
 of human prejudices and misconceptions in science. In 
 their writings, the tree of life shoots up like the palm tree 
 in the desert, with straight tapering stem, free from every 
 meaner undergrowth and parasitical appendages, waving its 
 verdant crown in the pure air and calm light of Heaven." l 
 And not only is the Bible free from every shade of er- 
 ror; its language possesses another remarkable charac- 
 teristic, which has already received partial illustration. 
 Though it is the language of appearances and carefully 
 avoids scientifical technicalities, it can yet be readily ad- 
 justed to every new scientific discovery, and harmonized 
 
 1 Thompson's Lectures on Inspiration. 
 
PHYSICAL SCIENCE. 151 
 
 with every successive stage of human advancement. " As 
 each new world of wonders has risen upon our view, and 
 each grand discovery has added its light to the firmament 
 of our science, the language of the Bible has opened to re- 
 ceive it, as if endued with the power of an endless life, and 
 the expansive power of an infinite intelligence. In a mul- 
 titude of passages, its pregnant oracular words, enigmatical 
 and dark at first, have become luminous with the lapse of 
 time." 1 As obscure prophecies have been made plain by 
 the events which fulfilled them, so the progress of science 
 enables us now to see that its brilliant discoveries were al- 
 ready anticipated in the sacred word. 
 
 A striking example of the Bible's entire avoidance of 
 error in its allusions to the grand phenomena of nature is 
 found in the 104th Psalm. This magnificent composition, 
 than which, says Bishop Lowth, " nothing can be conceived 
 more perfect of its kind," demonstrates the glory of the 
 Creator from the wisdom, beauty, and variety of his works. 
 It may be considered as a poetical version of the narrative 
 of creation in Genesis. Like Moses, the inspired Psalmist 
 begins with God, the Almighty King of kings, whose rai- 
 ment is the light, whose palace is in the heavens, whose 
 chariots are the clouds, and whose retinue are angelic spir- 
 its, who hasten like the wind and the lightning to fulfil his 
 pleasure. He then glances to the earth and tells us who 
 " laid its foundations that they should not be moved for- 
 ever." " From the inanimate creation he makes a transition 
 by the springs and streams of water to the living creatures 
 which quench their thirst and rejoice in their Creator's 
 bounty. He speaks of the provision made for such crea- 
 tures as the wild asses of the desert, and* the fowls of heaven 
 which sing among the branches of the trees. And then he 
 speaks of man, of the provision made for man, and of the 
 adaptation of all things to man, the chief of all these lower 
 1 Literary Attractions of the Bible, by Dr. Halsey. 
 
152 TESTIMONY OP SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 works of God." The whole psalm is written in the highest 
 style of poetry, and yet in all this wide range of topics, the 
 keenest eye of science cannot discern the slightest error, 
 while the phenomenal language respecting the earth's im- 
 movability, as has already been shown, contains an implied 
 recognition of a great scientific truth. How remarkable a 
 testimony to the Bible this accuracy is, will be felt when it 
 is remembered that Milton, who wrote his immortal poem 
 hardly two hundred years ago, speaks of the " five other 
 wandering fires," supposing that to be the number of the 
 planets which with the earth and sun make up our system. 
 No such charge of ignorance can be fixed upon David or 
 any other of the sacred writers. Baron Humboldt, who 
 cannot be accused of any undue partiality for the Bible, 
 thus speaks of this sacred hymn : " We are astonished to 
 find in a lyrical poem of such a limited compass, the whole 
 universe the heavens and the earth sketched with a few 
 bold touches. The calm and toilsome life of man, from the 
 rising of the sun to the setting of the same when his daily 
 work is done, is here contrasted with the moving life of the 
 elements of nature. This contrast and generalization in 
 the conception of natural phenomena, and the retrospection 
 of an omnipresent invisible Power, which can renew the 
 earth or crumble it to dust, constitute a solemn and exalted 
 form of poetic creation." 
 
 Surely a sketch of the " Cosmos " which was written 
 when science, at least what is now recognized as such, can 
 hardly be said to have existed, and which yet elicited the 
 admiration of a mind like Humboldt's, familiar with the 
 whole range of science, must have been penned under the 
 guidance of Omniscience. 
 
 But there are also other instances in the Bible of what 
 we can now perceive to be anticipations of the brilliant 
 discoveries of science. 
 
 Thus the Bible has anticipated science in the distinction 
 
PHYSICAL SCIENCE. 153 
 
 which Moses makes between the primitive light and that 
 whose benefits we derive from the sun. He has represented 
 it to us as an element independent of that luminary, having 
 been called forth by the Almighty fiat on the first day, 
 whereas he seems to ascribe the creation of the sun and 
 moon to the fourth day. This statement was long regarded 
 by believers in Revelation as a great difficulty, and was 
 pointed to by the sceptic as a palpable contradiction to 
 physical facts. It was thought impossible that light could 
 have existed apart from that great luminary which presides 
 over the day. But the advance of science has dispelled the 
 difficulty and established the accuracy of the Mosaic narra- 
 tive. The exhumed remains of animals belonging to ages 
 long preceding man's appearance on earth, had eyes, which 
 by a necessary inference argued the co-existence of light. 
 It is now known also, that the gigantic vegetation which 
 produced the coal deposits could not have grown under the 
 blaze of solar light. This conclusion is a result of botani- 
 cal considerations. Moreover, the fossils of plants and an- 
 imals which are found in the rocks of the carboniferous 
 period in all latitudes, being analogous only to those which 
 now flourish between the tropics, reveal a state of climate 
 which could not have been governed in any great degree 
 by the rays of the sun, . Late discoveries also of certain 
 peculiarities in the nature of light have given additional 
 strength and probability to the theory of vibrations, accord- 
 ing to which there is an ethereal fluid diffused throughout 
 the universe of inconceivable rarity and elasticity, and that 
 light and heat are phenomena evolved from it by the ac- 
 tion of the sun. In harmony with this hypothesis, a more 
 critical examination of the original language of the Scrip- 
 tures, has shown that it is not said that light was created 
 or made, but it was called forth, i. e., commanded to shine 
 out of the darkness which was upon the face of the deep ; 
 and the sun and moon are styled, not lights, but " light 
 7* 
 
154 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 bearers," intimating that they were but reflectors of light 
 to the earth, and that it existed independently of them. 
 
 In the twenty-eighth chapter of Job, which has already 
 been quoted, we find also a remarkable anticipation of 
 modern discovery in relation to the laws which govern 
 light. " The day spring " is there said " to take hold of 
 the ends of the earth," and " it is turned as clay to the 
 seal, and they stand as a garment." In this beautiful figure 
 there is an allusion to the cylindrical seals that were used 
 in ancient Babylon. Just as such a seal rolls over the blank 
 and formless clay, and there instantly starts up in relief a 
 fine group of objects, so the day spring revolves over the 
 space which the darkness made empty and void ; and as if 
 created by the movement, all things stand forth in brilliant 
 attire. 
 
 But there is evidently here a reference to that adapta- 
 tion of light to the earth's atmosphere and to that property 
 of light by which it is refracted, bends down, and takes 
 hold of us by slow degrees. The action of the atmosphere 
 upon the course and direction of the sun's rays, is the cause 
 of the day's breaking upon us with such delicacy and gen- 
 tleness. If there were no atmosphere, the sun would burst 
 upon us suddenly, and we should pass in an instant from 
 the darkness of night to the full blaze of day; but now 
 the air waits for his coming, and " takes hold " of his rays, 
 and bending and refracting them, gradually spreads them 
 over the horizon, thus gently drawing aside the curtain of 
 night, and revealing the radiance of the sky, the verdure 
 of the fields, the tints of flowers, the lovely diversity of 
 the landscape, all clad in 
 
 " Nature's resplendent robe ! 1 
 Without whose vesting beauty all were wrapped 
 In unessential gloom." 
 
 1 A remarkable illustration of the fundamental doctrine of the Holy Trin- 
 ity, which has been developed by modern researches into the laws and prop- 
 
PHYSICAL SCIENCE. 155 
 
 Iii like manner, Scripture first informed us that God 
 " gave to the air its weight, and to the waters their just 
 measure." l The property which is here assigned to the 
 invisible but potent fluid which surrounds the earth, re- 
 mained unknown, even to such students of nature as Aris- 
 totle and Bacon, until the experiments of Galileo and Tori- 
 celli demonstrated a truth which had lain uncomprehended 
 in the Bible for ages. The " measure of the waters " ex- 
 presses that existing proportion of land and sea which the 
 advancement of physical knowledge now enables us to per- 
 
 erties of light, claims an insertion here. " Light is easily separated into its 
 component colors, by transmitting it through a glass prism, where it is re.- 
 solved into red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet, which consti- 
 tute, when combined, white or ordinary light. This band of colors is called 
 spectrum. Now it will be perceived that red, yellow and blue are its primary 
 or essential colors, the others being merely produced by the admixture or 
 overlapping of two adjoining primary colors ; thus, orange is found between 
 the red and yellow, green between the yellow and blue; so that, in fact, we 
 have only the three primary colors to deal with, each of which has its peculiar 
 properties and attributes distinct from the others ; thus, the red is the calor- 
 ific or heating principle ; the yellow is the luminous or light-giving principle ; 
 while it is in the blue ray that the power of actinism, or chemical action is 
 found. Now, it is this trinity of red, yellow and blue, which constitutes, 
 when combined, the unity of ordinary or white light. When separated, this 
 unity of light is divided into the trinity of colors. Although one and the 
 same, neither can exist without the other. The three are one, the one is 
 three. Thus we have a unity in trinity, and a trinity in unity exemplified in 
 light itself; and " God is light." Plants will live and grow luxuriantly un- 
 der the influence of the red and yellow rays ; but however promising the 
 appearance, the blossom dies, and no fruit can be produced without the en- 
 livening power of the blue rays. When this invisible action is wanting, the 
 trinity and unity is incomplete. Life is unproductive until the three, united 
 in one, bring all things to perfection. Thus each member of the trinity in 
 unity of light has its especial duty to perform, and is in constant operation 
 visibly or invisibly, although one power. Even far beyond the visible violet 
 ray of the prismatic spectrum, the spirit of actinism prevails. Its chemical 
 influence can be proved to extend beyond the limits of our vision. Thus there 
 is in light an invisible agency always in action ; and the more the subject is 
 investigated, the more striking is the illustration between the Holy Spirit of 
 God made manifest, and the wonderful properties of jight which have been 
 gradually unfolded bythe researches of man." Temple Bar Magazine. 
 1 Job xxviii, 25. " Ruach" in this passage evidently means air. 
 
156 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 ceive to be just that which is essential to the maintenance 
 of both animal and vegetable life. 
 
 The superior weight of the atmosphere is the interme- 
 diate cause by which " vapors ascend from the ends of the 
 earth," enumerated by David in the 135th Psalm, among 
 the special reasons for thankfulness to God. Yet it is only 
 by the aid of modern science that we are enabled to under- 
 stand the importance of this arrangement. We .now per- 
 ceive that if this wonderful and extensive process of nature 
 were to cease, there would be no rains or dews to fertilize 
 our fields, and the consequence would be, the earth would 
 be parched, and the vegetable productions which afford us 
 subsistence would wither and decay, the whole system of 
 terrestrial nature would be deranged, and man, and all the 
 other tribes of animated nature deprived of those comforts 
 which are essential to their existence, would in a short time 
 perish from the earth. 
 
 Science has of late endeavored to investigate the laws 
 which govern the winds and rule the sea, and has arrived 
 at some interesting conclusions ; but in a few words, the 
 royal Solomon has expressed truths which volumes have 
 been written to illustrate. He tells us that " the wind goeth 
 toward the south, and turneth about unto the north ; it 
 whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again 
 according to his circuits." That is, various and capricious 
 as their movements may appear, they are yet governed by 
 laws as fixed and certain as those which regulate the tides 
 of the ocean or the orbits of the planets. The same All- 
 wise and Almighty Ruler who hath set bounds to the 
 waters of the deep, and said to them, " Hitherto shalt thou 
 come, and no further," hath assigned " their circuits " to 
 the winds of heaven, from which they cannot deviate, and 
 within which they are perpetually confined. Again he 
 says, " all the rivers run into the sea ; yet the sea is not full ; 
 unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they 
 
PHYSICAL SCIENCE. 157 
 
 return again." What is this but a setting forth of that 
 wonderful and beautiful economy of nature, according to 
 which the thirsty air is continually drinking up the sea . 
 sucking up the waters of the deep in spongy clouds, and 
 bearing them away upon the wings of the wind, and dash- 
 ing them against the lofty ridges of the land, and thus 
 filling the far off lakes and far up fountain heads whence 
 the rivers come ; and thereby maintaining, undisturbed and 
 unaltered from age to age, that ceaseless circulation of the 
 watery element, by virtue of which the rivers continually 
 flow, while yet no increase is ever made to the volume of 
 the deep a perfect balance being thus preserved between 
 them. Science is beginning to unfold the wisdom and 
 harmony of cosmical arrangements, but it is evident that 
 some at least of her discoveries had been " searched out " 
 by Solomon long ago. 
 
 An interesting example of the correctness of Scripture 
 allusion to physical facts has been recently pointed out by 
 one of the most distinguished of living geologists. It has 
 been found that the distribution of gold in its original vein- 
 stone, or parent rock, differs from that of every other metal 
 in the superficial range of its particles or threads. Lodes 
 of iron, copper, and argentiferous lead ores, when followed 
 downward, generally become more and more productive 
 the reverse being the case with gold. " The indisputable 
 fact is, that the chief quantities of gold, including all the 
 considerable lumps and pepitas, having been originally 
 embedded in the upper parts of the vein-stones, have been 
 broken up and transported with the debris of the mountain 
 tops into slopes and adjacent valleys. . . . Modern science, 
 instead of contradicting, only confirms the truth of the 
 aphorism of the patriarch Job, which thus shadowed forth 
 the downward persistence of the one and the superficial 
 distribution of the other : " Surely there is a vein for the 
 silver. . . . The earth hath dust of gold." (Job xxviii, 1, 
 6.) Murchison's Siluria, p. 457. 
 
158 TESTIMONY OP SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 A very remarkable expression occurs in the Apocalypse 
 (xvi, 18), bearing on the work of preparing the earth for 
 man before man was made : " And there was a great earth- 
 quake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so 
 mighty an earthquake and so great." There the advent of 
 man as an inhabitant of this earth, is formally given as the 
 epoch after which great earthquakes did not occur. It is 
 well known now that earthquakes must have rent this 
 globe before the birth of man, which make all that have 
 occurred since sink into insignificance ; but how was John 
 the fisherman led to employ, eighteen hundred years ago, 
 a phraseology which the researches of our own day have 
 now for the first time shown to be philosophically exact ? 
 Speaking of this verse and quoting it freely, John Banyan 
 (Reign of Antichrist) says, " For the earthquake, it is said 
 to be such as never was, so mighty an earthquake and so 
 great." He thought the phrase " since men were upon the 
 earth," was equivalent to " never,", and was thus led into 
 what we now see to be an error. What but the superin- 
 tendence of the Omniscient Spirit preserved John the 
 Apostle from the mistake into which John Banyan fell ? 
 
 Still other facts of Physical science that are indicated in 
 the Bible might be enumerated. But enough have been 
 given to justify the remark of the illustrious Sir John Her- 
 schel, "that all human discoveries seem to be made only 
 for the purpose of confirming more strongly the truths 
 come from on high, and contained in the sacred writings." 
 
 This does not, however, exhaust the testimony of Phys- 
 ical science to the Bible. Not only are the primary facts 
 of the kingdom of nature accurately delineated in the pages 
 of Scripture, but those great principles which are the ulti- 
 mate results of science, and which have been obtained by 
 long and laborious processes of induction, are there recog- 
 nized and frequently and plainly asserted. 
 
 Thus, it has been one of the great achievements of 
 
PHYSICAL SCIENCE. 159 
 
 modern science to demonstrate the universal prevalence of 
 law that it extends where the uninstructed mind sees only 
 caprice or supernatural agency that it regulates not only 
 the motions of the planets, the succession of the seasons, 
 and the tidal vibrations of the ocean, but every fitful 
 breeze, every forming cloud, and every falling shower. 
 Yea, even 
 
 " The very law that moulds a tear, 
 
 And makes it trickle from its source, 
 That law preserves the globe a sphere, 
 And guides the planets in their course." 
 
 This is also the doctrine of the Bible. It knows nothing 
 of fortuitous occurrences, but everywhere asserts the do- 
 minion of invariable, natural law, extending to things ani- 
 mate and inanimate, the heavens and the earth. It teaches 
 us that according to the ordinances which God has estab- 
 lished, there is a decree for the rain and a way for the 
 thunder flash the sea " passeth not " its bounds and the 
 earth abideth forever the sun serveth for a light by day, 
 and the moon and the stars for a light by night. Seed time 
 and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, 
 and day and night, do not cease. The hawk is said to " fly 
 by his wisdom ; the eagle mounteth up at his command, 
 and maketh her nest on high, from whence she seeketh her 
 prey, and her eyes behold it afar off." " The stork in the 
 heavens knoweth her appointed times ; and the turtle, the 
 crane and the swallow observe the times of their coming." 
 "Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. Thou 
 hast established the earth and it abideth. They continue 
 this day according to thine ordinance ; for all are thy ser- 
 vants." While, however, atheistic philosophers have en- 
 deavored to deduce an argument from the uniform processes 
 of nature against the possibility of supernatural interference, 
 as if "the laws of nature" were an inexorable chain of 
 adamant (an inference, which, as we have seen, both As- 
 
160 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 tronomy and Geology disprove), the Bible accords with 
 the discoveries of science in ascribing immutability to the 
 Mind of Him who constituted the natural order of things 
 and not to that order itself. " God," says Sir Isaac New- 
 ton, " acteth in what is called nature according to accurate 
 and uniform laws, except when it be good for Him to act 
 otherwise." And the Bible teaches us : " He doeth what- 
 soever pleaseth him in heaven and in earth, in the sea and 
 in all deep places." It was not by the blind operation of 
 mere lifeless laws that this glorious universe sprang into 
 being, nor is it by them alone that it is still upheld. There 
 is a wise and beauteous order of cause and effect, a law 
 whose "voice is the harmony of the world, and to which all 
 things in heaven and earth do homage," but " her seat is 
 the bosom of God." The highest link of the golden chain 
 is in his hand. " Tell me not," says an eloquent writer, 1 
 " of forces centripetal and forces centrifugal tell me not 
 of gravitation holding the invisible reins by which the un- 
 resting steeds of the sky are by strong curb restrained 
 within appointed bounds, and compelled to keep their path ; 
 will these forces account for the first propulsion ? Who at 
 the beginning launched forth those stupendous orbs ? Who 
 impressed on them that primeval force ? Who gave them 
 their first direction ? Who weighed them in scales, regu- 
 lating their orbit and their speed? And who ordained 
 these relationships between the various forces of nature, so 
 that the tendency to rush to the centre might be so coun- 
 terpoised by the impulse to rush from the circumference, 
 that a steady motion along the same path is the result ? 
 By whose arrangement and upholding power is it that we 
 never dread the moon dashing against the earth, the earth 
 hastening to terrible collision with the sun, the planets 
 rushing madly through space, and the sky becoming thus a 
 vast battle field, strewn with the fragments of stars and 
 satellites ? 
 
 i Rev. Newman Hall. 
 
PHYSICAL SCIENCE. 161 
 
 " Have ye not known hath it not been told you from 
 the beginning have ye not understood from the founda- 
 tion of the earth ? It is He who sitteth upon the circle of 
 the earth, and the inhabitants of the earth are as grasshop- 
 pers ; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and 
 spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in. Lift up your 
 eyes on high, and behold who hath created all these things, 
 that bringeth out their host by number ? It is He who 
 meted out the heavens with a span, and comprehended the 
 dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains 
 in scales and the hills in a balance. It is He who stretcheth 
 out the North over the empty place, and hangeth the 
 earth upon nothing. By His Spirit He hath garnished the 
 heavens. He telleth the number of the stars, He calleth 
 them all by their names. He commandeth the sun, and it 
 riseth not, and sealeth up the stars. He bindeth the sweet 
 influences of Pleiades, and looseth the bands of Orion. He 
 bringeth forth Mazzaroth in his season, and guideth Arctu- 
 rus with his sons. Lo ! these are but a part of His ways, 
 but the thunder of His power who can understand?" 
 
 By the aid of geologic discovery, Science has proved 
 that in addition to those unvarying physical laws, by which 
 in accordance with a wise and benevolent arrangement 
 uniformity is preserved in the present system of things, 
 there is also a higher law of progress and development. 
 The " testimony of the rocks " has taught us that through 
 the unmeasured ages of the past, the mineral, vegetable, 
 and animal kingdoms of nature have exhibited continually 
 fresh manifestations of creative power, wisdom, and good- 
 ness. " From the lowly seaweeds of the Silurian strata and 
 marsh plants of the old red sandstone, we rise (speaking in 
 general terms) to the prolific club mosses, reeds, ferns, and 
 gigantic endogens of the coal measures ; from these to the 
 exagons or true timber trees of the tertiary and current 
 eras. So also in the animal kingdom ; the graptolites and 
 
162 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 trilobites of the silurian seas are succeeded by the higher 
 Crustacea and bone-clad fishes of the coal measures ; the 
 sauroid fishes by the gigantic saurians and reptiles of the 
 oolite ; the reptiles of the oolite by the huge mammalia of 
 the tertiary epoch ; and these in time give place to exist- 
 ing species, with man as the crowning form of created ex- 
 istence." 1 
 
 At the very commencement of the Bible (as has in effect 
 been already shown) we have this identical principle em- 
 bodied in the gradual elaboration ot all things in the six 
 creative days or periods, rising from the formless void of 
 the beginning, through successive stages of inorganic or 
 organic being up to man. This culmination reached, how- 
 ever, the process was arrested by that fatal act which broke 
 the harmony of creation when 
 
 " Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her seat 
 Sighing through all her works gave signs of woe, 
 That all was lost." 
 
 The golden link was then broken which bound man and ah 1 
 the lower creatures with Him to the throne of God. Here 
 Science fails us, and unaided by revelation is unable even 
 to read the traces v/hich the moral ruin of our race has 
 stamped upon the face of nature. And of the developments 
 of the Creator's boundless and inexhaustible resources to be 
 unfolded in the future, she can tell us nothing. The uni- 
 form confession of her votaries is that, respecting these, it 
 were vain to offer the wildest conjecture. 
 
 " Reason's spell might not disclose 
 
 The gracious birth to come." 
 
 But here Revelation comes to our aid and teaches us 
 that " the whole creation groaneth and travaileth " in hope 
 of a glorious regeneration. It teaches us that the broken 
 link has been restored and the unending progression is to 
 
 i Advanced Text Book of Geology, by David Page, F.G.S. 
 
PHYSICAL SCIENCE. 163 
 
 
 
 be resumed. This is finely shown in the Hulsean Lectures 
 of Dean Trench : " The Heaven which had disappeared 
 from the earth since the third chapter of Genesis, reappears 
 again in visible manifestation, in the latest chapters of the 
 Revelation. The tree of life, whereof there were but faint 
 reminiscences in all the intermediate time, again stands by 
 the river of the water of life, and again there is no more 
 curse. Even the very differences of the forms under which 
 the heavenly kingdom reappears are deeply characteristic, 
 marking as they do, not merely all that is won back, but won 
 back in a more glorious shape than that in which it was 
 lost, because won back in the Son. It is no longer Paradise, 
 but the New Jerusalem no longer the garden^ but now 
 the city of God, which is on earth. The change is full of 
 meaning ; no longer the garden, free, spontaneous and un- 
 labored, even as man's blessedness in the state of a first in- 
 nocence would have been ; but the city, costlier indeed, 
 more stately, more glorious, but at the same time, the result 
 of toil, of labor, of pains reared into a nobler and more 
 abiding habitation, yet with stones which, after the pattern 
 of the " elect corner stone," were each in its time laborious- 
 ly hewn and painfully squared for the places which they 
 fill." Such the prospect to which the eye of faith looks 
 
 forward, 
 
 " At return of Him, the Woman's Seed, 
 Last in the clouds, from heaven to be revealed 
 In glory of the Father, to dissolve 
 Satan with his perverted world, then raise 
 From the conflagrant mass, purged and refined, 
 New heavens, new earth, ages of endless date, 
 Founded in righteousness, and peace, and love, 
 T* bring forth fruits, joy, and eternal bliss." 
 
 Modern science has delighted to unfold the wonderful 
 adaptation of natural laws and objects to each other, to the 
 happiness of the animal creation and to the use and service 
 of man. Everything, it has been shown, serves an end. 
 
164 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 Throughout the animal and vegetable kingdoms, there is a 
 wonderful series of special adjustments irresistibly sugges- 
 tive of a designing, infinite Intelligence. Thus the atmos- 
 phere is essential to the respiration, without which no indi- 
 vidual of either kingdom can prolong its life. It furnishes 
 oxygen to animals, carbon to vegetables. Had it been 
 constituted of other gases, neither kingdom could have 
 existed. It is also the vehicle for the conveyance of water 
 from the ocean to the land. For the earth to receive its 
 supply of ram, it is necessary that the water rise in vapor 
 from the ocean as well as from the land, be diffused over 
 the surface of the continents, and again descend from the 
 atmosphere in its liquid condition. The tendency of water 
 to constant evaporation supplies the air with moisture. 
 The variations of temperature and of electrical condition 
 again condense the vapor and precipitate it in the form of 
 rain or dew. These and numberless other arrangements 
 and adaptations are not only exquisitely contrived in them- 
 selves, but serve to make the earth a fitting habitation for 
 man. This deduction of science is a principle entirely famil- 
 iar to the inspired writers. While they recognize God as 
 the great end of all things, by whom and for whose pleasure 
 they are and were created, they fail not to point out the 
 subordinate purposes of wisdom and benevolence which 
 they subserve. They tell us that the tempest is ordered 
 and the clouds arranged by wisdom, to give water to the 
 wilderness where no man is, to cause the bud of the tender 
 herb to shoojb forth. They tell us how perfectly God has 
 fitted the various animal tribes to their several localities. 
 And finally they represent man as the chief created being 
 for whom this earth has been prepared and designed. To 
 " replenish the earth and subdue it " was the commission 
 with which he was invested in the hour of his creation. In 
 these words we have another instance of the expansive 
 power of the language of the Bible which has already been 
 
PHYSICAL SCIENCE. 165 
 
 illustrated. Their full import could not be understood, 
 until the facts respecting man and nature to which they 
 refer were brought to light. "What the earth is, and 
 what man is that the one is a compact globe under the 
 dominion of uniform laws, and that the^other, by his pow- 
 ers, mental and physical, his capacity of knowledge, inven- 
 tion, construction and execution, is equal to the task of ex- 
 ploring and understanding the material world, and of mas- 
 tering and transforming its various substances and forces 
 from their natural employments to the service of his own 
 superior nature are facts that could not even be thought 
 of till they were brought before our eyes. Now, however, 
 man's conquests have been carried so far, that society has 
 become aware of the end to which all the separate lines of 
 progress are steadily tending. The prophecy of Moses is 
 fulfilling ; man is subduing the earth ; the earth is placing 
 herself under the feet of man. What the great Hebrew 
 saw afar off, from that mount of God to which he was lifted 
 up three thousand years ago, is present with us and plain 
 to cur senses. Restored by the second Adam to the powers 
 lost and the rights forfeited by the first, the human race is 
 taking possession of the dominion given to it by God in 
 Paradise. This is the end to which all science and all art, 
 all the labor and all the thought of men in all ages and in 
 all places, have been, and are still steadily and unconscious- 
 ly contributing ; the predicted end, toward the achieve- 
 ment of which not the least efficient laborers have been 
 some of those very sons of science, who have laughed to 
 scorn both the prophet and his inspirer." 1 
 
 Another principle, the truth and importance of which 
 have but recently been distinctly recognized by the philo- 
 sophic student of nature, though in all ages it has more or 
 less dimly dawned upon the minds of profound thinkers, is 
 the law of type or pattern. It is now understood that as 
 
 1 " Nuggets from the Oldest Diggings." Edinburgh. Constable & Co. 
 
166 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 in the production of human works of design, the skilful 
 artist keeps in view some pattern, style or order, according 
 to which the whole is arranged, and the mutual relation of 
 the parts adjusted, so is it in" the works of the Almighty. 
 In the kingdoms of vegetable and animal nature, we find 
 the same idea exhibited and carried out. Numerous as are 
 their orders and varieties, there are a few leading types of 
 structure, under which they may all be arranged. Thus in 
 respect to the vertebrate skeleton, or the bony framework 
 of ail tliat class of animal forms that have a backbone, as 
 distinguished from, shell fish and the other creatures where 
 the hard skeleton surrounds the fleshy and soft parts, it has 
 been shown that all these animals, from the fish and reptile 
 up to man, are made on one pattern, varied to suit their 
 different peculiarities ; and that a fundamental or general 
 skeleton can be assigned as a point of departure for the 
 whole. Man, the highest of the vertebrates, is thus the 
 archetype representing and including all the lower and 
 earlier members of the vertebrate type. "All his parts 
 and organs," says Professor Owen, "had been already 
 sketched out in anticipation in the inferior animals," a phil- 
 osophic deduction which strikingly illustrates the declara- 
 tion of the inspired Psalmist : " In thy book were all my 
 members written, which in continuance were fashioned, 
 when, as yet, there were none of them." This great prin- 
 ciple is, moreover, plainly implied and illustrated in the 
 whole order of creation, as set forth in the first chapter of 
 Genesis, where we have specific type in the production of 
 plants and animals after their kinds or species, each rising 
 step a prophecy of something nobler yet to come. As 
 thence deduced, it has been thus expressed by Coleridge, 
 and embellished with the felicitous touches of genius: "Let 
 us carry ourselves back in spirit to the mysterious week, 
 to the teeming work-days of the Creator ; as they rose in 
 vision before the eye of the inspired historian of ' the gen- 
 
PHYSICAL SCIENCE. 167 
 
 erations of the heavens and the earth, in the days that the 
 Lord God made the earth and the heavens.' And who 
 that hath watched their ways with an understanding heart, 
 could contemplate the filial and loyal bee : the home-build- 
 ing, wedded and divorceless swallow; and above all, the 
 manifoldly intelligent ant tribes, with their commonwealths 
 and confederacies, their warriors and miners, the husband- 
 folk that fold in their tiny flocks on the honeyed leaf, and 
 the virgin sisters with the holy instincts of maternal love, 
 detached, and in selfless purity, and not say to himself, Behold 
 the shadow of approaching humanity, the sun arising from 
 behind, in the kindling morn of the creation ! " 1 As the glo- 
 ries of that morn unfold, there arises from under the Divine 
 hand, and stands erect, a being formed in the very image 
 of the Creator, in whom all those mute prophecies that had 
 gone before found a wondrous fulfilment. 
 " From harmony to harmony, 
 Through all the compass of the notes it ran, 
 T-he diapason closing full in Man." DRYDEN. 
 
 But when man being in honor abode not in it when 
 the image of God was defaced and broken, and creation's 
 crown fallen dishonored to the dust, what then can Science 
 teach us? Here, again the Bible comes to our aid and 
 directs our thoughts to a far more glorious ideal of human- 
 ity. Not only does it harmonize with the teaching of 
 Science, that before the creation of the first man, all nature 
 was preconfigured to him and a mute prophecy of .what 
 he would be, but where Science can teach us nothing, it 
 introduces us into a new world of wonders. It teaches us 
 how "from the time of the Fall everything symbolized 
 and supposed the coming of the second man. Everything 
 assumed a position pointing, preconfigured to him. The 
 first sinner himself; why is he not destroyed ? why kept in 
 being? Another Adam is coming to expiate the guilt 
 1 Coleridge's Aids to Keflection. Aph. xxxvi. 
 
168 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 and remedy the evil. His sinful posterity I see them 
 rapidly increase in numbers, but more rapidly in guilt ; 
 why, when punishment overtakes them, is it always arrest- 
 ed in its course, always partial in its infliction ? A second 
 man is on the way to endure and exhaust it for them. 
 Sinai is kindled and the law proclaimed ; but why is this, 
 when man has made himself notorious chiefly as its trans- 
 gressor ? Another is expected to fulfil it. I pass into the 
 land of Canaan and find it cleared of its ancient heathen- 
 ism, and planted over with types and symbols ; who is to 
 be the anti-type of all these figures, the substance of all 
 these shadows ? I pass into the temple, but everything I 
 see is pointing to the future ; here is an altar, but where is 
 the sacrifice? for 'the blood of bulls and. goats cannot 
 take away sin ; ' here is a sanctuary, but the entrance is 
 closed, the veil ' is down ; and worshippers, but they are all 
 in the attitude of unsatisfied expectation. And here on 
 Zion is an empty throne. Everything appears unfinished 
 and waiting." 1 " Far off His coming shone " through a 
 long processional train of objects and events and typical 
 persons like Moses and David and the high priests of Israel, 
 until in the fulness of time, " God sent forth his Son," in 
 the form of God and equal with God, and yet " found in 
 fashion as a man," in the " body which had been prepared 
 for him," the glorious Archetype of redeemed humanity. 
 " The first man is of the earth earthy ; the second man is 
 the Lord from heaven." And have we not here more than 
 an intimation that the unity of the Divine plan which Science 
 teaches us has been preserved through the remote ages 
 past, will remain unbroken in the future, though carried 
 out to a more glorious ideal ? " The advent of man, simply 
 as such, was the great event prefigured during the old 
 geologic ages. The advent of that divine man, ' who hath 
 abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light,' 
 
 3 " The Second Adam," by Dr. John Harris. 
 
PHYSICAL SCIENCE. 169 
 
 was the great event prefigured during the historic ages. 
 It is these two grand events, equally portions of one sublime 
 scheme, originated when God took counsel with himself in 
 the depths of eternity, that bind together past, present, and 
 future the geologic with the Patriarchal, the Mosaic, and 
 the Christian ages, and altogether with that new heavens 
 and new earth, the last of many creations, in which there 
 shall be no more death nor curse, but the throne of God 
 and the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve 
 Him." 1 
 
 " But still in One, whose soul, aloof from wrong, 
 
 Was fill'd with earnest unpolluted good, 
 Resounds thy voice an undiscordant song, 
 And tells Thy will as at the first it stood. 
 
 " Thy word fulfill'd was He, forever shown,^ 
 
 To man the living Archetype of Life, 
 In whose embodied light our spirits own 
 
 A certain hope a rest secure from strife." STERLING. 
 
 The examination we have thus given has, we trust, made 
 it clear that, as it respects physical science, Revelation 
 has no reason to fear the light ; but that, on the contrary, 
 the brilliant trophies which the human mind in these recent 
 ages has won from the outward world, have been triumphs 
 for the Bible. Has Astronomy been invoked to aid in its 
 overthrow ? The very stars in their courses have fought 
 against the infidel attempt. Has Geology been summoned 
 to enter the field against it ? The earth has literally " dis- 
 closed her dead " to attest the truth of Moses, and to silence 
 the cavil of the rationalist who would banish the Creator 
 from his works. In every instance where they have come 
 in contact, God's works have verified his word. 
 
 Apart from the hopes with which that Word inspires 
 the believing heart, of what permanent value are the 
 splendid achievements of science to man ? Viewed in the 
 
 Testimony of the Rocks, p. 216. 
 8 
 
170 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 light of his threescore years and ten, are they not almost 
 as evanescent as the palace of the Arabian enchanter? 
 And how utterly do they fail to meet the yearning wants 
 of the soul ! They cannot soothe a troubled conscience, or 
 lift the burden of remorse from an aching heart. Truly 
 has the world's favorite poet said that 
 
 " Knowledge is not happiness ; and science 
 But an exchange of ignorance for that 
 Which is another kind of ignorance." MANFRED. 
 
 " Thousands of years ago, as one of the most ancient of 
 the holy writings tells us, the question was asked : l Where 
 shall wisdom be found ? and where is the place of under- 
 standing?' and in many works that have been written 
 since, men have tried in one way or another to answer it. 
 The thoughtful patriarch who proposed it, sought in vain 
 from all the wisdom and knowledge of his time a reply 
 that would give peace to his restless spirit. And if we 
 turn to the more mature science of our own day, and re- 
 peat the question: Whence then cometh wisdom, and 
 where is the place of understanding ? what is the answer ? 
 Even as it was ages ago. The geologist drills and bores 
 through stratum after stratum, and digs and delves far 
 4 deeper than plummet ever sounded,' only to return and 
 tell that ' the Depth saith, It is not in me.' The voyager 
 covers the sea with ships. With sail, and paddle-wheel, 
 and Archimedes' screw, they speed north and south, and 
 east and west, and round about the pendent globe. Many 
 run to and fro, and knowledge increases. What the foam- 
 crested waves will not tell, the abyss may reveal ; and with 
 net, and dredge, and diving-bell, the 'dark unfathomed 
 caves of ocean ' are searched through, and gazed into, and 
 4 gems of purest ray,' and monsters who never saw the sun, 
 are brought into the ' light of common day.' But, above 
 all the stir and strife of man's endeavor, the murmuring 
 
PHYSICAL SCIENCE. 171 
 
 billows lift their voices, and l the Sea saith, It is not with 
 me.' The chemist gathers together every object which 
 has shape, or weight, or volume, living or dead, and with 
 fire, and furnace, and potent agent, and electric battery, 
 tests and assays it. But when ' victorious analysis' has 
 done its best, he replies, ' It cannot be valued with the 
 gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx or the sapphire. 
 The gold and the crystal cannot equal it. The price of 
 wisdom is above rubies.' The naturalist wanders through 
 the pathless forests of far distant lands, and with pain and 
 toil grows familiar with the habits of everything that lives; 
 but after he has gone the round of all creation in search 
 of wisdom, he answers with mournful aspect, * It is hid 
 from the eyes of all living, and kept secret from the fowls 
 of the air.' The anatomist makes the writhing animal 
 agonize under his torturing hand, and slays it, that per- 
 chance in the page of death the mystery of life and of wis- 
 dom may be found written ; but he will venture in reply 
 to say no more than that ' Destruction and Death say, W.Q 
 have heard the sound thereof with our ears.' 
 
 " But while all the oracles of science are silent on this 
 great question, lo ! through the thick darkness a ray of 
 light descends, and a voice, solemn but benignant, pro- 
 claims to us as it did to the first anxious seeker after Truth, 
 * The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom ; and to depart from 
 evil is understanding.' 1 
 
 " To have my understanding opened to my own nature, 
 origin, and destiny ; to know that I am alien from perfect 
 good ; to tremble before the consequences of such an alien- 
 ation ; but at the same time to have arrived at a clear con- 
 viction of the immortal properties of that accursed and 
 self-accusing spirit this is knowledge, this is truth. To 
 have brought home to my understanding and more to my 
 heart, that this perfect good which alone is God, has been 
 1 British Quarterly Review. 
 
172 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 reconciled in the mysterious process of assuming and sacri- 
 ficing itself for the imperfect and spotted nature that is 
 within me, this is love ; finite indeed, but responding to 
 infinite love ; and what is truth and love together, but the 
 religion of the cross ? The lowliest of the sons of men is 
 capable of this ; the burning seraph of no more. All other 
 science the science of this earth must pale before it, 
 because all else may die ; this never. Those brilliant fires 
 which light up yonder sky, and utter mystic music revolv- 
 ing in their spheres, as day unto day uttereth speech and 
 night unto night showeth knowledge, shall, in the progress 
 of ages vanish and be stricken from the creation of God. 
 With them this globe, and all that is material, must one 
 day be dissolved. Where then shall live the science born 
 of matter and of earth? That only portion will remain, 
 which has so operated on the immortal mind in this por- 
 tion of its existence, as to prepare and fit it for a better, 
 happier, and endless state beyond the grave." l 
 
 " Welcome, dear book, soul's Joy and food ! The feast 
 
 Of Spirits ; Heav'n extracted lyes in thee, 
 Thou art life's Charter, the Dove's spotless nest 
 Where souls are hatch'd unto Eternitie. 
 
 ** In thee the hidden stone, the Manna lies ; 
 
 Thou art the great Elixir rare and Choice ; 
 The Key that opens to all Mysteries, 
 
 The Word in Characters, God in the Voice." 
 
 HENRY V AFGHAN. 
 
 1 Lecture on Science and Religion, by Rev. H. M. Mason, D.D. 
 

 CHAPTEE IY. 
 
 THE UNITY OF THE HUMAN EACE. 
 
 IN passing from the Physical to the Historical sciences, 
 our attention is naturally first arrested by a subject which 
 is related perhaps equally to both, and which has of late 
 years been the source of the most persistent assaults against 
 the Bible. 
 
 The peculiarities of form and color which are now found 
 among the different human races, are irreconcilable, it has 
 been alleged, with the identity of ancestral origin claimed 
 by Moses for all the tribes and families of men. Instead 
 of a common descent from a single pair, it has been argued 
 from scientific considerations, that several pairs of human 
 creatures were either created by Almighty power, or came 
 up into humanity from some lower order of being ; and 
 that from these, occupying different localities from one an- 
 other on the earth's surface, must the diverse races of man- 
 kind have descended. " The negro at least " (we are told) 
 " is a distinct race, and must have had a separate origin. 
 Negroes cannot have sprung from the same stock as the 
 white man ! A celebrated Professor of Natural History 
 remarks: "Men were primitively located in the various 
 parts of the world they inhabit, and they arose everywhere 
 in those harmonious proportions with other living beings, 
 which would at once secure their preservation, and con- 
 tribute to their welfare." He also affirms that the Bible 
 professes to give " the history of the Jews ; " and by a 
 
174 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 strange oversight, ventures to assert that "nowhere the 
 colored races, as such, are even alluded to ; " while he chal- 
 lenges those who maintain that mankind originated from a 
 single pair, to " quote a single passage in the whole Scrip- 
 tures, pointing at those physical differences, which may be 
 adduced as evidence that the sacred writers regarded them 
 as descended from a common stock." 
 
 Could these startling assertions be substantiated, a fatal 
 blow would be struck at the authority of the Scriptures. 
 If they are true, the whole of the Bible history must be 
 surrendered. They would destroy the brotherhood of man, 
 and thereby render worthless the inspired account of his 
 ruin and remedy. They would falsify the Bible explanation 
 of the entrance of sin and death and deny the universah'ty 
 of that atonement, which proclaims that " as in Adam all 
 die, so in Christ shall all be made alive." 
 
 But, fortunately, the greater weight of scientific author- 
 ity is still on the side of the Bible, while, from unexpected 
 sources, strongly corroborative testimony has been obtained. 
 
 We know from an investigation of the laws of nature, 
 and from the anatomy and physiology of the human frame, 
 that all the varieties of the race, numerous as they are, 
 possess the same physical properties. In the structure of 
 his body, and in tha physical organization which distinguish 
 him from every other species of animals, man is the same 
 being in China and South America, on the shores of the 
 Polar Sea, and on the burning sands of Africa. " Change 
 his condition ; transplant him from his natural soil and 
 climate ; take him in the wilds of the forest, or under the 
 culture of civilized and polished life ; and he has every- 
 where the characteristics which designate the same species. 
 These characteristics are obvious, striking and permanent, 
 even to the number of teeth and bones, the number and 
 arrangement of the muscles, and the digestive, circulatory, 
 secretory, and respiratory organs. There is no difference in 
 
i 
 THE UNITY OF THE HUMAN KACE. 175 
 
 these particulars which has as yet been detected among the 
 different races ; there is the same uniformity in the white 
 and the black, the Mongolian, the Malay, and the Ameri- 
 can. They are 'all omnivorous, and capable of living on all 
 kinds of food, and of inhabiting all climates ; while all have 
 the same period of gestation, the same slow growth, are 
 subject to the same diseases, possess the same average lon- 
 gevity, and in every shade of amalgamation, produce a 
 fertile offspring." 
 
 And not only is there this physical identity ; but the 
 moral and intellectual constitution of the different races is 
 everywhere the same. Whether we search the page of 
 history sacred or profane, back to the remotest times, or 
 traverse countries savage or civilized, heathen or Christian, 
 to the ends of the earth ; though in different degrees of 
 development and cultivation, we ever find the sam'e won- 
 drous capacities, the same universal lineaments of the human 
 soul, which distinguish man from the beasts that perish. 
 
 By collection of numerous interesting facts illustrating 
 this remarkable uniformity in the conditions of species 
 which is to be found in all the tribes and races of mankind, 
 under all the peculiarities and varieties of form and color, 
 Dr. Prichard, in his great work on the Natural History of 
 Man, has constructed a powerful and conclusive argument 
 for the derivation of the whole human species from one stock. 
 If the unity of the race is not to be made out genealogically, 
 because profane history does not ascend so high as to meet 
 the historical narrative of Moses, in reference to Gentile 
 nations, he demonstrates that unity by the fact that it is 
 essential to the nature of man. Agreeing with Buffon and 
 Cuvier, to define species as " a constant succession of indi- 
 viduals capable of reproducing 'each other," he goes on to 
 prove that there is a law, prevailing alike iu the vegetable 
 and animal creation, which renders the perpetuation of 
 hybrids, so as to produce new and intermediate species, im- 
 
176 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 possible. The facts adduced lead, with the strongest force 
 of analogical reasoning, to the conclusion that, as the various 
 tribes of men may, by intermarriage, perpetuate their race, 
 they belong to the same species. Additional light is thrown 
 on the subject by his careful analysis of collected evidence 
 on the nature and origin of varieties. In answer to the 
 great question, How could such various nations and tribes 
 as are now existing among men, have all sprung from the 
 same stock, he proves by an inductive appeal to facts, that 
 sporadic or accidental varieties may arise in one race, tend- 
 ing to produce in it the characteristics of another ; that these 
 varieties may be perpetuated ; and that food, climate, em- 
 ployment and other secondary causes, account for the 
 existing varieties of the human race and for the perpetua- 
 tion of those varieties. And he comes to the conclusion, 
 that there are no permanent lines of demarcation separating 
 the different tribes or nations ; that there is scarcely an in- 
 stance in which the actual transition cannot be proven to 
 have taken place ; and that there is every reason to infer, 
 quite irrespectively of the Scripture testimony, that all the 
 families of the earth are descended from common parents, 
 and that at no very distant period. 
 
 No fact of science can, indeed, be considered as more 
 certain, than that man, and not only man, but the inferior 
 animals, acquire certain changes of color, hair and form, 
 when removed from one climate or locality to another, or 
 when subjected to any great change in manner or habits of 
 life. " Whether," says another writer, " the external con^ 
 dition of these changes be the chemical solar rays ; the alti- 
 tude or depression of the general level ; the difference of 
 geological formations ; the varying agencies of magnetism 
 and electricity ; atmospheric peculiarities ; miasmatic ex- 
 halations from vegetable or mineral matter ; difference of 
 soils ; proximity to the ocean ; variety of food, habits of 
 life and exposure all of which perhaps at times come iq 
 
THE UNITY OF THE HUMAN KACE. 177 
 
 play or other causes yet, more occult ; there can be no 
 question about the fact that such causes are at work. The 
 general fact is, that when the other physical conditions are 
 the same, tribes living nearest the equator, and level of the 
 sea, are marked with the darkest skin and the crispest hair. 
 Thus, we make a gradual ascent from the jetty negro of the 
 line to the olive-colored Arab, the brown Moor, the swarthy 
 Italian, the dusky Spaniard, the dark-skinned Frenchman, 
 the ruddy Englishman, and the pallid Scandinavian." In 
 regard to the duration or permanence of these varieties, it 
 appears to be a general fact that when once acquired, they 
 are transmitted through successive generations, " under the 
 influence of the law of assimilation between parent and off- 
 spring, even though the causes which originally determined 
 the variation from the original type should have ceased to 
 operate." l 
 
 The following decisive Historical testimony as to the 
 effects of climatic and geographical changes, after a long 
 continued period, upon the physical constitution of man, is 
 given by an eminent writer on Physiology, Dr. W. B. Car- 
 penter, as the result of the researches of Prichard, Latham 
 and others. He says that " the Magyar race in Hungary, 
 which is not now inferior in mental or physical characters 
 to any in Europe, is proved by historical and philological 
 evidence to have been a branch of the great northern Asiatic 
 stock, which was expelled about ten centuries since from 
 the country it then inhabited (bordering on the Uralian 
 mountains), and in its turn expelled Slavonian nations from 
 the fertile parts of Hungary, which it has occupied ever 
 since. Having thus exchanged their abode, in the most 
 rigorous climate of the old continent a wilderness in which 
 the Ostiaks and Samoiedes pursue the chase during only 
 the mildest season for one in the South of Europe, amid 
 fertile plains abounding in rich harvests, the Magyars grad- 
 1 Professor Cabell's " Unity of the Human Race." 
 
178 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 ually laid aside the rude and sav/ige habits which they are 
 recorded to have brought with them, and adopted a more 
 settled mode of life. In the course of a thousand years, 
 their type of cranial formation has been changed from the 
 pyramidal (or Mongol) to the elliptical (or Caucasian) ; and 
 they have become a handsome people, with fine stature and 
 regular European features, with just enough of the Tartar 
 cast of countenance, in some instances, to recall their origin 
 to mind. Here it may be said that the intermixture of the 
 conquering with the conquered race has had a great share 
 in bringing about this change ; but the Magyars pride 
 themselves greatly on the purity of their descent ; and the 
 small infusion of Slavonic blood which may have taken 
 place from time to time, is by no means sufficient to account 
 for the complete change of type which now manifests itself. 
 The women of pure Magyar race are said by good judges 
 to be singularly beautiful, far surpassing either German 
 or Slavonian females. A similar modification, but less in 
 degree, appears to have taken place among the Finnish 
 tribes of Scandinavia. These may be almost certainly 
 affirmed to have had the same origin with the Lapps ; but 
 whilst the latter retain (although inhabiting Europe) the 
 nomadic habits of their Mongolian ancestors, the former 
 have adopted a much more settled mode of life, and have 
 made considerable advances in 'civilization. And thus we 
 have in the Lapps, Finns and Magyars, three nations or 
 tribes, of whose descent from a common stock no reason- 
 able doubt can be entertained, and which yet exhibit the 
 most marked differences in cranial characters, and also in 
 general conformation, the Magyars being tall and well 
 made, as the Lapps are short and uncouth." 
 
 The observations of Bishop Heber in India, are in har- 
 mony with the above conclusions. That country, he says, 
 "has been always, and long before the Europeans came 
 hither, a favorite theatre for adventurers from Persia, 
 
THE UNITY OF THE HUMAN RACE. 179 
 
 Greece, Tartary, Turkey and Arabia, all white men, and 
 all in their turn possessing themselves of wealth and power. 
 These circumstances must have greatly contributed to make 
 a fair complexion fashionable. It is remarkable, however, 
 to observe how surely all these classes of men in a few gen- 
 erations, even without any intermarriage with the Hindoos, 
 assume the deep olive tint, little less dark than a Negro, 
 which seems natural to the climate. The Portuguese na- 
 tives form unions among themselves alone, or if they can, 
 with Europeans. Yet the Portuguese have, during a three 
 hundred years' residence in India, become as black as 
 Kaffirs. Surely this goes far to disprove the assertion, 
 which is sometimes made, that climate alone is insufficient 
 to account for the difference between the Negro and the 
 European. It is true that in the Negro are other peculi- 
 arities which the Indian has not, and to which the Portu- 
 guese colonist shows no symptom of approximation, and 
 which undoubtedly do not appear to follow so naturally 
 from the climate, as that swarthiness of complexion which 
 is the sole distinction between the Hindoo and the Euro- 
 pean. But if heat produces one change, other peculiarities 
 of climate may produce other and additional changes, and 
 when such peculiarities have 3,000 or 4,000 years to operate 
 in, it is not easy to fix any limits to their power. . . . Thus, 
 while hardships, additional exposure, a greater degree of 
 heat, and other circumstances with which we are unac- 
 quainted, may have deteriorated the Hindoo into a Negro, 
 opposite causes may have changed him into - the progres- 
 sively lighter tints of the Chinese, the Persian, the Turk, 
 the Russian, and the Englishman." 
 
 The researches of travellers in Africa corroborate the 
 same view. The Rev. John Campbell, who some years 
 ago travelled on a missionary exploring tour several hun- 
 dred miles north of the Cape of Good Hope, remarks that 
 the complexion of the inhabitants assumed a deeper hue 
 
180 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 uniformly becoming darker, till it became quite black as 
 he approached the equator. It is also a well ascertained 
 fact that there is a colony of Jews at Cochin, upon the 
 coast of Malabar, who are now as black as the other Mala- 
 barians, who are hardly a shade lighter than the people of 
 Guinea, Benin, or Angola. 
 
 That the legitimate deductions of science tend to cor- 
 roborate the Scripture doctrine of the unity of the human 
 race, we have the distinguished authority of Baron Hum- 
 boldt. " Whilst attention was exclusively directed to the 
 extremes of color and form," says that profound student of 
 nature, " the result of the first vivid impressions derived from 
 the senses, was a tendency to view these differences as char- 
 acteristics, not of mere varieties, but of originally distinct 
 species. The permanence of certain types, in the midst of 
 the most opposite influences, especially of climate, appeared 
 to favor this view, notwithstanding the shortness of the time 
 to which the historical evidence applied ; but, in my opin- 
 ion, more powerful reasons lend their weight to the other 
 side of the question, and corroborate the unity of the human 
 race. I refer to the many intermediate gradations of the 
 tint of the skin and the form of the skull, which have been 
 made known to us by the rapid progress of geographical 
 discoveries in modern times ; to the analogies derived from 
 the history of varieties in animals, both domesticated and 
 wild ; and to the positive obsen^ations collected respecting 
 the limits of fertility in hybrids. The greater part of the 
 supposed contrasts to which so much weight was formerly 
 assigned, have disappeared before the laborious investiga- 
 tions of Tiedemann on the brain of negroes and of Euro- 
 peans, and the anatomical researches of Vrolik and Weber 
 on the form of the pelvis. When we take a general view 
 of the dark-colored African nations, on which the work 
 of Prichard has thrown so much light, and when we com- 
 pare them with the natives of the Australian Islands, and 
 
THE UNITY OP THE HUMAN EACE. 181 
 
 with the Papuans and Alfourans, we see that a black tint 
 of skin, woolly hair and negro features are by no means 
 associated." . . . "Mankind are therefore distributed in 
 varieties, which we are often accustomed to designate by 
 the somewhat vague appellation of races." * 
 
 Thus it appears that according to the principles ad- 
 mitted by the most eminent physiologists and naturalists, 
 whether friendly or not to Christianity and the Bible, there 
 is nothing in the natural differences observable between 
 different parts of the human race distributed over the 
 globe, which is incompatible with the Scripture statement 
 which claims for all these parts a common origin. " Simple 
 diversity within limits hitherto reached cannot be claimed 
 as proving an original diversity of races. 
 
 An attempt has been made, however, to evade this 
 conclusion. The objectors, under the pressure of the facts 
 and arguments brought against their theory, now generally 
 admit that notwithstanding the varieties at present exist- 
 ing among the several tribes and nations of the earth, all 
 races may have sprung from an original stock, if we allow 
 a sufficient duration to have elapsed for the causes of 
 change in operation to produce such results. But they 
 contend that the time in which the earth was repeopled 
 after the flood, according to the reckoning of the Bible 
 Chronology, falls very far short of meeting the require- 
 ments of the case. It is claimed that on the monuments 
 
 1 Humboldt's Cosmos, vol. i, p. 351. As to the value of Dr. Morton's 
 observations in support of the theory of original diversity of races, the emi- 
 nent philosopher, Sir "William Hamilton, makes this observation : " What 
 first strikes me in Dr. Morton's Tables, completely invalidates his conclu- 
 sions he has not distinguished male from female crania. Now, as the 
 female encephalos is, on an average, some four ounces Troy less than the 
 male, it is impossible to compare national skulls with national skulls, in 
 respect of their capacity, unless we compare male with male, female with 
 female heads, or at least, know how many of either sex go to make up the 
 national complement." Extract from Sir W. Hamilton's Lectures on Meta- 
 physics. Appendix ii. (c). 
 
182 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 of Egypt there are pictorial delineations of the Negro, 
 Egyptian and Asiatic, executed as far back as the age of 
 Thothmes III, fifteen centuries before the Christian era, in 
 which the peculiarities of race in form, color and hair, are 
 as perfectly distinct as they are now. Such marked national 
 diversities could not, say the objectors, have been produced 
 in so short an interval of time as the 850 years which had 
 elapsed between the Deluge and the reign of that monarch, 
 supposed to synchronize with the Exodus of the Israelites, 
 if all the races had their origin from one man the patri- 
 arch Noah. Nothing short of a miracle, it is urged, could, 
 during that time, have effected such a commutation,, which 
 the subsequent experience of thirty centuries has proven 
 to be a physical impossibility. 
 
 This objection has at^first sight a formidable appear- 
 ance ; but upon examination, the difficulty soon loses its 
 dimensions. Let it be granted that a miracle was neces- 
 sary to effect the change into different races from one, yet 
 who can affirm that the required miracle was not wrought ? 
 In the brief record of the earliest times given in Genesis, 
 there is a statement by which this very difficulty is met 
 and amply provided for. "We are there informed that when 
 the descendants of Noah had become sufficiently numerous 
 to commence the occupation of the different portions of 
 the earth, there was a direct intervention of the Almighty 
 to "confound the language" of men, and hence necessitate 
 that result. When by supernatural power this change 
 was wrought, may not the same agency have been em- 
 ployed to effect such diversity in the appearance and struc- 
 ture of the different branches of one human family, as to 
 adapt them to the diversified localities, climates and con- 
 ditions they were destined to occupy ? This is an hypo- 
 thesis which can be regarded as untenable, only by those 
 who reject the possibility of a miracle, an objection which 
 has already been answered. To a believer in Revelation 
 
THE UNITY OP THE HUMAN KACE. 183 
 
 and the Divine Omnipotence, it satisfactorily accounts for 
 all the phenomena presented in the varying races of man- 
 kind without doing violence to a single passage or a soli- 
 tary word of Holy Writ. 
 
 Yet apart from a Divine intervention to produce this 
 i result, there are other considerations which will go far to 
 obviate, if they do not entirely remove the difficulty. The 
 objection is based upon the presumption that the rate of 
 change in man's physical condition, is the same now that it 
 \vas in those early patriarchal ages. But instances are not 
 wanting even now of remarkable peculiarities of form and 
 structure which have been propagated for several genera- 
 tions. It is said that certain reigning families of Europe 
 can readily be distinguished by singularities of feature 
 which have marked them for centuries. And it is quite 
 conceivable that in those primitive times, physiological 
 changes might take place much more rapidly than they 
 have done since. It must be granted that there is a strik- 
 ing contrast in those early paintings appealed to by the 
 objectors, between the portraiture of the red Egyptian and 
 that of the jet-black Negro, yet let this be taken with the 
 fact that on the borders of the Red Sea tribes are to be 
 found constituting a series of links between the two, and 
 therefore pointing to a common origin. And if the negro 
 be regarded as a wide departure from the Caucasian or 
 primitive type of man, it appears to be a law of human 
 nature that deterioration should take place much more rap- 
 idly than restoration or improvement. Moreover, it has 
 been ascertained that color is an uncertain mark of origin 
 and descent. The offspring of European and Hindoo pa- 
 rents may be either white or colored ; and if the children 
 be white, the grandchildren may be colored, showing that 
 as it respects the transmission of color, there is an apparent 
 want of all law. And although the earth was repeopled by 
 the descendants of one man, there were three fathers of the 
 
184 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 race, and they or their wives may have possessed some of 
 those marked features which distinguish their descendants 
 Ham of the African, Japhet of the European, Shem of the 
 Asiatic. Noah is not, therefore, the only starting point of 
 the renovated world, and national characteristics of form 
 and feature may be traced back to the centuries antecedent 
 to the deluge. 
 
 But there is an attempt to justify this anti-scriptural 
 theory by an appeal to Scripture itself, which demands a 
 passing notice. In the fourth chapter of Genesis we read, 
 " And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and 
 
 dwelt in the land of Nod and he builded a city 
 
 and called the name of the city after his son Enoch." 
 Hence it has been inferred that there must have been men 
 to form this city ; whereas now that Abel was dead, Cain 
 and his son, as far as Scripture acquaints us, were the sole 
 descendants of Adam. Upon this flimsy basis, it has been 
 sought to people the land of Nod. with descendants of 
 another race distinct from Adam, in the face of the plain 
 and decisive declarations of the Bible that " Eve was the 
 mother of all living," and that " God hath made of one 
 blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the 
 earth." Yet the slightest acquaintance with Scripture 
 should be sufficient to teach us that all the children of 
 Adam are not mentioned by name, any more than of the 
 patriarchs after him. In Genesis v. 4, we are expressly told 
 that Adam " begat sons and daughters ; " but no daughters 
 are anywhere named. Between Cain's birth and Abel's 
 death, 127 years elapsed, during which interval several sons 
 and daughters must have been born to our first parents, 
 who in all probability ere its expiration, became the pa- 
 rents of many children also. In the " Dissertations " of the 
 learned Saurin, there is a calculation which makes it out 
 that at the time of the death of Abel (which the writer sup- 
 poses to have been .in the year of the world 128), there 
 
THE UNITY OF THE HUMAN KACE. 185 
 
 might have been 32,768 persons, descended from eight 
 children of Cain and Abel, born before the year 25 ; and 
 that, adding other subsequent children of Cain and Abel, 
 their children and children's children, there might have 
 been 421,164 men descended from them, without reckoning 
 women and children. Yet without implicitly adopting such 
 calculations, or in the least transcending the limits of 
 probability, it is certain that Cain and Abel may have had 
 a considerable number of children and grandchildren at the 
 time indicated ; and allowing for other possible children of 
 Adam and Eve, there must have been at the time a consid- 
 erable number of persons in the world quite sufficient to 
 account for Cain's dread of being slain for the murder of 
 Abel ; and also for his building a city so soon after his 
 migration from the paternal roof. 
 
 An apparently more formidable objection than any of 
 the foregoing to the unity of mankind, is presented by the 
 vast inequality of mental endowment and capacity which is 
 found in the different human races. It would, perhaps, be 
 difficult to place this in a stronger light than has been done 
 by Dr. Prichard. He says : " Let us imagine for a moment, 
 n stranger from another planet to visit our globe, and to 
 contemplate and compare the manners of its inhabitants, 
 and let him first witness some brilliant spectacle in one of 
 the highly civilized nations of Europe, the coronation of a 
 monarch, the installation of St. Louis on the throne of his 
 ancestors, surrounded by an august assembly of peers and 
 barons, and mitred abbots, anointed by the cruse of sacred 
 oil, brought by an angel to ratify the divine privilege of 
 kings ; let the same person be carried into a hamlet of Ne- 
 gro land, in the hour when the sable, race recreate them- 
 selves with dancing and barbarous music ; let him then be 
 transported to the saline plains, over which bold and tawny 
 Mongols roam, differing but little in hue from the yellow 
 soil of their steppes, brightened by the saffron flowers of the 
 
186 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 tulip and the iris ; let him be placed near the solitary den 
 of the Bushman, where the lean and hungry savage crouches 
 in silence like the beast of prey, watching with fixed eyes 
 the creatures which enter his pitfall, or the insects and rep- 
 tiles which chance brings within his grasp ; let the traveller 
 be carried into the midst of an Australian forest, where the 
 squalid companions of kangaroos may be seen crawling in 
 procession, in imitation of quadrupeds ; can it be supposed 
 that such a person would conclude the various groups of 
 beings whom he had surveyed to be of one nature, one 
 tribe, or the offspring of the same original stock ? It is 
 much more probable that he would arrive at an opposite 
 conclusion." 
 
 The contrasts, however, which are apparently so irre- 
 concilable with unity of origin, lie no deeper than the sur- 
 face. The learned author proceeds to show at length how 
 much more cogent and convincing is the proof, that " the 
 mind is the same in different countries and in different 
 races of men." 
 
 The result of his examination is thus expressed : " We 
 contemplate among all the diversified tribes, who are en- 
 dowed with reason and speech, the same internal feelings, 
 appetencies, aversions ; the same inward convictions, the 
 same sentiments of subjection to invisible powers, and, 
 more or less fully developed, of accountableness or respon- 
 sibility to, unseen avengers of wrong and agents of retribu- 
 tive justice, from whose tribunal men cannot even by death 
 escape. We find everywhere the same susceptibility, 
 though not always in the same degree of forwardness or 
 ripeness of improvement, of admitting the cultivation of 
 these universal endowments, of opening the eyes of the 
 mind to the same clear and luminous views which Chris- 
 tianity unfolds, of becoming moulded to the institutions 
 of religion, and of civilized life ; in a word, the same inward 
 and mental nature is to be recognized in all the races of 
 
THE UNITY OF THE HUMAN RACE. 187 
 
 men." " In the busy cities of Europe, with all their rest- 
 less competitions ; then across the Atlantic, where the 
 haunts of wandering Indians have grown, with a rapidity 
 that startles the mind, into busy towns and far-spreading 
 villages of peaceful industry ; amid the sunny isles of the 
 Pacific, where the beauty of the Creator's works has stood 
 in strange contrast with the ferocity of man ; in the throb- 
 bing heart of populous Africa ; in the hold of yonder slave- 
 ship, and in the breasts of the unhappy beings which it 
 bears ruthlessly away from liberty and home, in each and 
 all, is there not the same wondrous constitution,- the same 
 sensitive frame, the same feeling soul ? Savage or civil- 
 ized, heathen or Christian, the universal lineaments are not 
 to be mistaken ; it still is man ! " When we compare this 
 fact with the established identity of specific instincts and 
 physical endowments of all the distinct tribes of mankind, 
 how can we resist the conclusion, that all human races are 
 of one species and of one family ? 
 
 Another argument for the unity of the human race is 
 to be found in a source of evidence, which was formerly 
 claimed by the sceptic as militating strongly against it 
 viz., the great diversities of language which prevail among 
 the different nations of the globe. The opponents of reve- 
 lation have asserted that the variety of languages is so 
 great, and their differences of character so wide, and 
 history is so far from furnishing any example of even one 
 new language, that it is inconceivable that mankind could 
 ever have spoken only one tongue ; and they deny that 
 " the fable " (as they term it) of the dispersion on the 
 plains of Shinar is sufficient to explain the endless and wide 
 variations which at present prevail. The problem here 
 presented was far more difficult of solution than any ques- 
 tions pertaining to Ethnology proper or descriptive. At 
 first sight it would seem impossible, out of the apparent 
 chaos, to bring anything to rebut the objection. The sub- 
 
188 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 ject has, however, received the attention of the most emi- 
 nent philologists, and the result of their labors has been a 
 new science, Comparative Philology, the principles of which 
 are in every respect accordant with the statements of the 
 Bible. The discoveries made in this direction have, in- 
 deed, been among the most remarkable of the present age. 
 It was soon found, to the surprise of those who had entered 
 upon the investigation, that languages grouped themselves 
 into families, and that there were so many affinities and re- 
 semblances among all of them, that there was a strong 
 possibility at least of a common origin. Referring to the 
 conclusions of Humboldt, Klaproth, Schlegel, Niebuhr, 
 Balbi, Pott, Adelung and Vater, Dr. Wiseman observes : 
 " It was found that the Teutonic dialects received consid- 
 erable light from the language of Persia ; that Latin had 
 remarkable points of contact with Russian and the other 
 Sclavonic idioms ; and that the theory of the Greek verbs 
 in mi could not be well understood without recourse to 
 their parallels in Sanscrit or Hindoo Grammar. It was 
 demonstrated that one great speech, essentially so called, 
 pervaded a considerable portion of Europe and Asia, and 
 stretching across in a broad sweep from Ceylon to Iceland, 
 united in a bond of language nations possessing the most 
 dissimilar institutions, and bearing but a slight resemblance 
 in physiognomy and color. This family has received the 
 name of Indo Germanic, or Indo European. Its great 
 members are the Sanscrit and Persian, ancient and modern ; 
 Teutonic with its various dialects ; Sclavonian, Greek and 
 Latin, accompanied by numerous derivatives ; and to these 
 must now be added the Celtic dialects." Further research- 
 es have not only confirmed these conclusions, but have 
 disclosed wider coincidences. And the crowning result 
 has been that the learned Klaproth, one of the greatest 
 of modern philologists, says, with a confidence which his 
 vast attainments will excuse and justify, that he flatters 
 
THE UNITY OF THE HUMAN RACE. 189 
 
 himself that " in his works, the universal affinity of lan- 
 guages is placed in so strong a light, that it must be 
 considered as completely demonstrated." " This," he adds, 
 " does not appear explicable on any other hypothesis than 
 that of admitting fragments of a primary language yet 
 to exist." " It is only out of the tombs of dead languages 
 that new languages arise, like new towns, built on the ruins 
 of ancient cities. The bricks with which the modern city 
 of Baghdad is built on the borders of the Tigris, bear all, 
 as Colonel Rawlinson teUs us, the cuneiform legend of Ne- 
 buchadnezzar, stamped upon them, for they had been taken 
 from the ruins of ancient cities built by this Assyrian mon- 
 arch. In the same way, if we examine the structure of 
 modern dialects, we shall find that each word bears still 
 the unmistakable stamp of an older language whose de- 
 cayed fragments have furnished the materials for a new 
 structure." 
 
 The result to which the discoveries of Comparative 
 Philology point, is thus forcibly stated by one of its most 
 eminent and successful investigators, Dr. Max Muller : 
 "The evidence of language is irrefragable, and it is the 
 only evidence worth listening to, with regard to ante -his- 
 torical periods. It would have been next to impossible to 
 discover any traces of relationship between the swarthy 
 nations of India and their conquerors, whether Alexander 
 or Clive, but for the testimony borne by language. What 
 authority would have been strong enough to persuade the 
 Grecian army that their gods and hero ancestors were the 
 same as those of King Porus, or to convince the English 
 soldier that the same dark blood was running in his veins 
 and in those of the dark Bengalee ? And yet there is not 
 an English jury nowadays which, after examining the 
 hoary documents of language, would reject the claim of a 
 common descent and a legitimate relationship between 
 Hindu, Greek and Teuton. Many words still live in India 
 
190 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 and in England that have witnessed the first separation of 
 the northern and southern members of the Arian family ; 
 and these are witnesses not to be shaken by any cross- 
 examination. The terms for God, for house, for father, 
 mother, son, daughter, for dog and cow, for heart and 
 tears, for axe and tree identical in all the European 
 idioms are like the watch-words of soldiers. We chal- 
 lenge the seeming stranger ; and whether he answer with 
 the lips of a Greek, a German, or an Indian, we recognize 
 him as one of ourselves. Though the historian may shake 
 his head, though the physiologist, may doubt, and the poet 
 scorn the idea, all must yield before the fact furnished by 
 language." 
 
 Thus as the " testimony of the rocks " has verified the 
 statements of revelation, so have the " fossil remains " of 
 the different languages of the earth been found to bear 
 witness to the common origin of the nations speaking 
 them. For when it is considered that according to the 
 laws of combination, millions of chances lie against the ap- 
 plication of a few similar unexceptionable words in different 
 languages to the same objects, we may be said to possess 
 mathematical evidence of the common origin of all lan- 
 guages, and consequently of the original unity of all man- 
 kind. Thus by the investigations of the learned, without 
 in the least intending it, the philological result is in exact 
 accordance with the teachings of Moses, who says, that 
 while the descendants of Noah dwelt in the plains of 
 Shinar and were planning the erection of the tower of 
 Babel, " the whole earth was of one language and of one 
 speech." 
 
 The following admirable summary of the arguments 
 which assert the common origin of mankind, is from the 
 able pen of the Rev. Dr. R. J. Breckinridge. In his " dis- 
 course on the Black Race," he says : " The unity of the 
 human race must be considered a fundamental and an ac- 
 
THE UNITY OP THE HUMAN EACE. 191 
 
 cepted truth. Every department of knowledge has been 
 searched for evidence, and all respond with a uniform testi- 
 mony. The physical structure, constitution, and habits of 
 the race the mode in which it is produced, in which it 
 exists, in which it perishes everything which touches its 
 mere animal existence, demonstrates the absolute certainty, 
 of its unity so that no other generalization of physiology 
 is more clear and more sure. Rising one step, to the high- 
 est manifestation of man's physical organization his use 
 of language and the power of connected speech the most 
 profound survey of this most complex and tedious part of 
 knowledge, conducts the inquirer to no conclusion more 
 indubitable than that there is a common origin, a common 
 organization, a common nature, underlying and running 
 through this endless variety of a common power, peculiar 
 to the race and to it alone. Thus a second science phi- 
 lology has borne its marvellous testimony. Rising one 
 more step, and passing more completely to a higher region, 
 we find the rational and moral nature of men of every age 
 and kindred, absolutely the same those great faculties by 
 which man alone and yet by which every man perceives 
 that there is in things that distinction which we call true 
 and false, and that other distinction which we call good and 
 evil ; upon which distinctions and upon which faculties rests 
 at last the moral and intellectual destiny of the entire race; 
 belonging to us as men, without which we are. not men, with 
 which we are the head of the visible creation of God. So 
 has a third science a science which treats of the whole 
 moral constitution of man, embracing in its wide scope 
 many subordinate sciences delivered its testimony. If we 
 rise another step, and survey man as he'is gathered into 
 families, and tribes and nations, with an endless variety of 
 development, we still behold the broad foundations of a 
 common nature reposing under all the grand principles of 
 a common being ruling in the midst of all. So a fourth, 
 
192 TESTIMONY OP SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 and the youngest of the sciences ethnology brings her 
 tribute. And now, from this lofty summit, survey the 
 whole track of ages. In their length and in their breadth, 
 scrutinize the recorded annals of mankind. There is not 
 one page on which one fact is written which favors the 
 historical idea of a diversity of nature or origin while the 
 whole scope of human story involves, assumes and proclaims, 
 as the first and grandest historic truth, the absolute unity 
 of the race. And then mounting from earth to heaven, ask 
 God the God of truth, and he will tell you, that the 
 foundation truth of all his work of creation and of provi- 
 dence is the sublime certainty that our race was created in 
 his own image, and of one blood ; and thereupon, when 
 they had fallen, he offered to them a common salvation, 
 through his only begotten Son, made manifest in their 
 common nature. 
 
 " A bond of common brotherhood unites every portion 
 of the race ; it is felt the most keenly by those who are 
 most exalted; and even in the most abject its weak pulsa- 
 tions will still live to attest the depth of the truth, that our 
 race is one. It is in the life and doctrine of Jesus Christ 
 that this profound instinct of human nature finds itself ex- 
 alted into one of the grandest truths of religion, and in- 
 vested with the sanction of heaven. In Him, the concep- 
 tion of this universal brotherhood, which nature teaches, 
 and all knowledge fortifies, becomes a precious,, living 
 truth." 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 SACRED CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 ALTHOUGH, compared with the antiquity of the globe 
 itself, the whole period of man's existence upon it is of 
 brief duration, yet to fix the exact epochs of his early his- 
 tory is a matter of great, if not insuperable difficulty. The 
 learned Scaliger complained that no two systems of ancient 
 Chronology could be found to agree, and that he arose 
 from the study more doubtful than ever. And though the 
 profound genius of Sir Isaac Newton was occupied with 
 investigations of this subject during the greater part of the 
 last thirty years of his life, he did not succeed in settling 
 the disputed points in such a manner as to obtain general 
 acquiescence. 
 
 The system of Chronology adopted by the English 
 translators of the Sacred Scriptures, and placed in the 
 margin of our Bibles, is derived from the Hebrew text. 
 According to it, the deluge was 1,656 years from the crea- 
 tion, from thence to the birth of Abraham 292 years, to 
 his leaving Haran 134 years more, and the whole period 
 between the flood and the birth of our Lord was 2,348 
 years. This system is considered as open to grave objec- 
 tions, and it is especially urged against it that it allows of 
 too short a period for so advanced a state of political civi- 
 lization as appears to have been attained in the days of 
 Abraham. This difficulty is not, however, so great as has 
 been supposed, for "there is nothing surprising in a 
 9 
 
194 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 high civilization, even within a very short time from the 
 deluge ; for the arts of life, which flourished in the ante- 
 diluvian world, would have been preserved by those who 
 survived the catastrophe, and might rapidly revive among 
 their descendants. Rather, it is surprising that, except in 
 Egypt, there should be so few traces of an early civiliza- 
 tion." 1 But we are not restricted to the chronology of 
 the Hebrew text. There are valid reasons for preferring 
 the Septuagint chronology, which fixes the date of the 
 deluge at B. C. 3,159, and the birth of Abraham at 1,002 
 years afterward. It is now, perhaps, the general opinion 
 of Biblical scholars, that the modern Hebrew text has been 
 greatly vitiated in the department of chronology, and 
 more especially in the genealogical tables which respect 
 the antediluvian patriarchs, as well as of the generations 
 after the flood. " The Septuagint version," says Mr. Raw- 
 linson, " was regarded as of primary authority during the 
 first ages of the Christian Church ; it is the version com- 
 monly quoted in the New Testament ; and thus, when it 
 differs from the Hebrew, it is at least entitled to equal 
 attention. The larger chronology of the Septuagint would, 
 therefore, even if it stood alone, have as good a claim as 
 the shorter one of the Hebrew text, to be considered as 
 the* chronology of Scripture. It does not, however, stand 
 alone. For the period between the flood and Abraham, 
 the Septuagint has the support of another ancient and 
 independent version -the Samaritan. The identity of the 
 numbers in these two versions, it is difficult to account 
 for but on the supposition that they are the real num- 
 bers of the original." And these numbers deprive the 
 sceptical objections which have been raised on this point 
 of all their force. If perfect certainty here were essen- 
 tially important, doubtless He who has so unceasingly 
 watched over His Word, would have provided ample means 
 1 Rawlinson's Essay on the Pentateueh. 
 
SACKED CHRONOLOGY. 195 
 
 for our attaining it. But the Bible was not given to teach 
 all things that man might desire to know with certainty, 
 and as the literary value of the Iliad is not lessened be- 
 cause scholars have always disagreed as to the time when 
 Homer flourished, so neither does it touch the authority of 
 Revelation, because the learned have not as yet been able 
 to construct from it an unchallenged system of chronology. 
 Still the antiquity of the human race and important 
 epochs of early history must be regarded as approximately 
 fixed by the Bible within certain limits of time, and its autho- 
 rity may be considered as in some degree committed to their 
 correctness. Fifty years ago, this was thought to be a vul- 
 nerable point, and even Christian men trembled lest some 
 discovery in the ruins of dead empires, should evoke a past, 
 the length of whose bygone ages would disprove the sacred 
 record. Says an eloquent writer : " The infidel boasted his 
 assurance that every unwound papyrus would furnish refu- 
 tation. He regretted that the sibyl's books were lost, or 
 they would have been unanswerable. But the Egyptian 
 Hieroglyphics were his favorite resource. Here was a store 
 to be opened up of arguments against our religion, a quiver 
 full of shafts. The Pyramid was to be the monument of 
 Deism ; the Mummy from its cerements should start up as 
 its advocate ; ancient Zodiacs would glow anew to illus- 
 trate it ; and a sepulchral blast, scattering the hope of ages, 
 must sweep from the cities of the dead. ' Memphis ' 
 should bury it. When the Rosetta stone was found, the 
 free thinkers were thrown into a tumult of delight. They 
 could now extort the secret, Silence should speak, and 
 Death confess ! The heart of the mystery once more beat ! 
 The long-imprisoned voice essayed its earliest articulations ! 
 The first ray had been touched, after a lingering night ; 
 Memnon's statue, and its lyre awoke ! Compare the re- 
 searches of a Belzoni and the readings of a Champollion, 
 and what is their result? The chronology of Moses is 
 
196 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 there figured. Though the dynasty of the Pharaohs has 
 perished and the line of the Ptolemies is consumed, yet out 
 of these relics there is deciphered a demonstration of an 
 authentic tale and date, to which the scrolls of Hercula- 
 neum are but as letters of yesterday, and the cycles of Be- 
 nares and Ujjayani, the almanacs of a few bygone years. 
 c The reproach of Christ ' lives through all these i treas- 
 ures of Egypt.' " * 
 
 The story of the attacks which were made on the Bible 
 in this quarter, and their entire discomfiture, forms an in- 
 teresting chapter of Christian Evidences. 
 
 Toward the close of the last century, the Astronomical 
 works and tables of the Hindoos furnished materials for 
 assault. These tables professed to record observations 
 conducted through many thousands of years. Attempts 
 were made to verify this remote chronology, and to show 
 that there was internal proof that the observations must 
 have been made at the time specified. One table in par- 
 ticular was adduced, the epoch of which was the commence- 
 ment of the Cali-yuga or iron age of the Hindoo Mythol- 
 ogy, 3,102 years before the Christian era and more than 700 
 years before the Deluge ! A conjunction of the sun, moon, 
 and planets is recorded in the Hindoo books, as having 
 then occurred, and is mentioned in such a manner as to 
 imply that the matter was one of direct observation. 
 
 These claims were conceded by several philosophers of 
 note in Europe and in Britain ; they were advocated by 
 some of the leading journals, and for a time infidelity 
 seemed to have gained a victory. Its triumph, however, 
 was short. By Bentley, Delanibre, Laplace and others, 
 these tables to which the Bramins had assigned so high an 
 antiquity, were subjected to more exact and scientific 
 scrutiny. It was then ascertained that the Hindoos had, 
 ages ago, made respectable attainments in Astronomy, and 
 Hamilton's Prize Essay on Missions. 
 
SACKED CHRONOLOGY. 19T 
 
 that the rules which they followed in their calculations were 
 approximately true, but that they were approximately true 
 only. By observations of the sun, moon, and planets, they 
 had discovered cycles, in which, after a long period of seem- 
 ing irregularities, the heavenly bodies returned to the same 
 relative positions. This enabled them to predict before- 
 hand the occurrence of eclipses and certain configurations 
 of the planets ; and by the same method they could also 
 retrace the past and determine what similar astronomical 
 phenomena had occurred thousands of years ago. They 
 could thus, if disposed, falsify their history, and confirm the 
 falsification by Astronomical evidence, and as long as the 
 laws which govern the sidereal motions, were imperfectly 
 understood, there was no means of detecting the fabrica- 
 tion. But since these have been ascertained, the test of 
 rigid calculation disclosed the fact that the Hindoo cycles 
 having been calculated backward on insufficient data, 
 though nearly exact, were not quite so. They contained 
 an error which made the cycle at every revolution of its 
 period when it was applied to past ages more and more 
 wrong ; so that, through the accurate methods of modern 
 Astronomy, it has now been shown that the phenomena 
 of such a conjunction, as is pretended to have been ob- 
 served, could not have taken place at the date assigned, nor 
 at any period near it. It has. also been demonstrated on 
 scientific grounds, upon internal evidence drawn from the 
 Table itself, that higher antiquity cannot be claimed for it 
 than the 12th century of our era. Upon this point it is 
 sufficient to cite the explicit testimony of the eminent as- 
 tronomer Laplace, who cannot be accused of any special 
 veneration for the Bible. " The origin of Astronomy," he 
 says, " in Persia and India, is lost, as among all other na- 
 tions, in the darkness of their ancient history. The Indian 
 tables suppose a very advanced state of Astronomy ; but 
 there is every reason to believe that they can claim no very 
 
198 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 high antiquity." He adds, as the result of his own exami- 
 nation, that " they were not grounded on any true observa- 
 tion." It has also been proved that " the Surya Siddhanta," 
 which the Hindoos consider as their most ancient Astro- 
 nomical treatise, and pretend to have been revealed to their 
 nation more than two millions of years ago, must have been 
 composed within the 750 years last past. It is, indeed, 
 considered by scholars as more than probable that the 
 Astronomy of the Hindoos was wholly derived from the 
 Greeks who were colonized in Bactria by the conquests of 
 Alexander. The coincidence between it and the Greek 
 Astronomy is, at all events, both remarkable and suspi- 
 cious. Thus, the days of the week are seven in number, 
 and named after the seven planets ; while they follow in 
 the same order as they do in the Greek. The ecliptic is 
 divided as among the Greeks into twelve signs, with the 
 same names, emblems, and arrangement ; and the signs are 
 also divided into thirty degrees. As these matters are 
 purely arbitrary, they cannot but have had the same source. 
 The confirmation, therefore, which the Astronomical labors 
 of the Hindoos were supposed to lend to the fabulous na- 
 tional antiquity claimed by the Bramins, and the objection 
 to the Chronology of the Bible from that source, are shown 
 to be baseless and void. 
 
 Simultaneously with the foregoing objection, a similar 
 difficulty was discovered by French infidel writers in the 
 historical records of China and India. Long lists of kings 
 were produced, with dynasty upon dynasty of reigning 
 families, extending back, it was claimed, for ages beyond 
 the period which the Scriptures assign for the creation of 
 man. The authenticity of these lists being assumed ; here, 
 it was thought, an objection had at length been found 
 against the credibility of the Scriptures, which could not 
 be overcome. For a time Infidelity triumphed and the 
 friends of the Bible were alarmed. But the result showed 
 
SACEED CHRONOLOGY. 199 
 
 that the triumph was premature and the alarm groundless. 
 Subsequent researches of the learned into the history and 
 literature of China, have clearly shown that such preten- 
 sions to incalculable antiquity are as unfounded as they are 
 extravagant. The eminent missionary Gutzlaff, who had 
 probably better opportunities than any other foreigner has 
 possessed for obtaining the truth on the subject, says, in 
 his " Sketch of Chinese History " : " Not only is the fabu- 
 lous part of Chinese History very uncertain, but even the 
 first two dynasties, Hea and Shang, labor under great diffi- 
 culties, which have never been entirely removed. We 
 must in fact date the authentic history of China from Con- 
 fucius, 550 years B. C., and consider the duration of the 
 preceding period as uncertain. Chinese ancient astronomy 
 has been celebrated by many ; but if we suppose their cal- 
 culations to have been correct, the ancient Chinese, who 
 lived, according to their historians, four thousand years 
 ago, greatly surpassed their posterity of the present day, 
 who, after so much instruction from foreigners, still betray 
 a childish ignorance on many essential points of this diffi- 
 cult science. Confucius evidently labors to refer the origin 
 of his doctrines (which either originated with himself or 
 were transmitted to him by tradition) to the remotest an- 
 tiquity, for the purpose of inspiring his countrymen with 
 veneration for them. In order to effect this, he had to 
 create for his nation an authentic history out of the mate- 
 rials furnished by tradition. As there were no regular 
 annals, or any celebrated historiographer who flourished 
 before his era, he was not able, notwithstanding the most 
 laborious researches, to avoid error. The destruction of 
 the greater part of Chinese books by Che-hwang-te, the 
 first universal monarch of China (whose reign commenced 
 246 years B. C.), who hoped by this means to transmit his 
 name to posterity as the founder of the empire, doubtless 
 contributed likewise to render the chronology more erro- 
 
200 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 neous." It is remarkable that, as in the case of the Hin- 
 doos just considered, the record of a similar Astronomical 
 phenomenon has been found among what has been pre- 
 served of ancient Chinese annals, which helps us to fix the 
 limits of their antiquity. The Chinese have ever had a 
 custom of inserting in their calendars remarkable eclipses 
 or conjunctions of the planets, together with the name of 
 the emperor in whose reign they were observed. To these 
 events they have also affixed their own dates. A singular 
 coDJunction of the sun, moon and several planets, is record- 
 ed in their annals as having taken place nearly at the very 
 commencement of their history. The celebrated Cassini, 
 to ascertain the fact, calculated back, and decisively proved 
 that such an extraordinary conjunction actually did take 
 place at China on the 26th of February, 2,012 years before 
 Christ. This would take them back to something like 
 three centuries after the Deluge, or 150 years after the 
 confusion of tongues at Babel, in which event the primitive 
 pictorial language of the Chinese has not improbably been 
 supposed to have originated. There is nothing in the in- 
 dependent testimony of their historians irreconcilable with 
 the sacred history, but rather corroborative of its state- 
 ments. China refuses to contradict the Bible. As it re- 
 spects the Hindoos it is now fully admitted that they have 
 no history. Among an incalculable number of books of 
 mystical theology and abstruse metaphysics, they do not 
 possess a single volume that is capable of affording any 
 distinct account of the various events of their national 
 career. This remarkable fact is thus accounted for in the 
 learned work of Mr. Hardwick on " The Religions of the 
 Ancient World " : " One peculiarity in the mental condition 
 of the Hindus prevented both the ancients and ourselves 
 from gaining any accurate knowledge of their aboriginal 
 condition. Rich as their literature is found to be in other 
 products, it has never given birth to formal histories ; and 
 
SACKED CHRONOLOGY. 201 
 
 what is even more remarkable, the Hindu scholar is de- 
 ficient in those very qualities which indicate the presence of 
 historic consciousness. He gazes with a cold, if not con- 
 temptuous spirit on the varieties of sense and time ; and 
 therefore is disposed to treat all questions of chronology 
 with arrogant indifference. He lives, or rather dreams 
 away his lifetime, in the midst of intellectual problems ; la- 
 boring hard to measure the immeasurable, to circumscribe 
 the absolute. Compared with such recondite speculations 
 every incident of life is but a mere ripple upon a boundless 
 ocean, as fleeting as phenomenal. What now is, may, for 
 aught he cares, have been a thousand times already, and 
 may frequently come round afresh. The object of his in- 
 terest is reunion with Divinity, a re-absorption of the finite 
 soul into the primal source of being ; and that destiny, ac- 
 cording to the various creeds of Hindostan, implies obliv- 
 iousness in reference to all earthly knowledge, and entire 
 abstraction from all shadows and illusions of the past." In 
 addition to this, we have the high authority of Forbes' 
 Oriental Memoirs for the statement that " The origin of 
 the Hindus, like that of most other nations buried in ob- 
 scurity and lost in fable, has baffled the researches of the 
 most persevering investigators." The learned Sir William 
 Jones, after the fullest examination, pronounced it as his 
 firm conviction that no established dynasty in the East, can 
 be traced farther back than 2,000 years before the Chris- 
 tian era, the age of Abraham. The Pre- Adamite and Ante- 
 diluvian dynasties of China and India have vanished, there- 
 fore, before the light of investigation, like frost-work in the 
 sunbeam, and the objection is heard no more. 
 
 But again the note of triumph was heard in the infidel 
 camp, in token of a fresh assault upon the citadel of Divine 
 truth, the materials for which were found among the mys- 
 terious and colossal remains of Egypt. The celebrated sci- 
 entific expedition which, under the auspices of the first 
 9* 
 
202 TESTIMONY OP SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 Napoleon, explored the wonders of that ancient land, met 
 with some monuments, which to them spoke of times long 
 anterior to the records of history, whether sacred or pro- 
 fane. These were the zodiacs of Esneh and Denderah, 
 which were supposed to represent the state of the heavens 
 at the time when the temples in which they were found 
 were erected, and to indicate a very remote antiquity. 
 The presumed discovery was at once made public, as de- 
 cisive of the question, and as assigning a period to Egyp- 
 tian civilization far beyond the time of Abraham, or even 
 the deluge. French savans eagerly claimed it as a demon- 
 stration that the statements of Moses were erroneous. 
 " M. Jomard proved to his own satisfaction that these zodi- 
 acs were three thousand, and M. Dupuis that they were, at 
 the very 'least, four thousand years older than the Christian 
 era, while M. Gori would not abate a week of seventeen 
 thousand years." The discrepancies in their conclusions 
 proved the unsound ness of their theories, and investiga- 
 tions of learned and scientific men exposed the fallacy of 
 their assumptions. Still the adversaries of Revelation were 
 unwilling to acknowledge defeat, and persisted in ascribing 
 to the zodiacs an antiquity of more than six thousand 
 years. The apprehensions of the Christian world from this 
 source were, however, soon relieved. In August, 1799, a 
 French artillery officer, named Bouchard, belonging to that 
 army under whose protection Denon and his company of 
 savans had made their explorations, when digging near 
 Rosetta in Egypt for the foundation of a military work, 
 came upon a huge block of basalt, marked with various 
 strange characters and hieroglyphics. These characters 
 were found to exhibit three inscriptions,- in three different 
 languages, one in Greek, another in hieroglyphic or sacred, 
 and a third in the ancient Coptic, called also enchorial or 
 demotic, like the trilingual inscription affixed by Pilate to 
 the Cross. This was the celebrated Rosetta stone, now in 
 
SACKED CHRONOLOGY. 203 
 
 the British Museum, which has been the subject of dili- 
 gent investigation by learned antiquarians of every nation 
 in Europe ; and this stone, under the ingenious labors of 
 Doctor Young in England, and Champollion in France, 
 yielded, by a comparison of the characters found in the 
 different inscriptions, a key to decipher the hieroglyphics 
 that covered the obelisks, temples, and tombs of Egypt. 
 A small obelisk discovered on the Isle of Philoe in the Nile 
 in 1816 by M. Caillaud, containing the names of Ptolemy 
 and Cleopatra in the Enchorial and Greek characters, still 
 farther aided these researches, and at length the veil of 
 mystery which had so long covered the monumental re- 
 mains of the land of Mizraim, was lifted. That language 
 which had been unknown for ages, and whose meaning it 
 was supposed was forgotten forever, now disclosed the fact 
 that the celebrated zodiacs extended no farther back than 
 the times of the early Roman emperors. On the walls of 
 the great temple at Denderah, in the ceiling of which the 
 zodiac or planisphere had been placed, Champollion read 
 the titles, names and surnames of the emperors Tiberius, 
 Claudius, Nero and Domitian ; and on the portico of 
 Esneh, the zodiac of which was reputed to be older than 
 that of Denderah, he read the imperial names of Claudius 
 and Antoninus Pius. Consequently, these monuments for 
 which Volney and other infidel literati had claimed an in- 
 calculably remote antiquity, belong to that period when 
 Egypt was under the domination of the Romans, and they 
 cannot be dated earlier than the first or second century of 
 the Christian era. As soon as the Rosetta stone furnished 
 the key to the hieroglyphics, the objections from the zodi- 
 acs, and the temples of Egypt, with their fabulous anti- 
 quity, lost their power and are heard no more. 
 
 But it has been sought on other grounds to establish an 
 antiquity for Egypt irreconcilable with the Chronology of 
 
204 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 the Bible. The means for this have been supplied by the 
 fragments of the Chronicles of Manetho, an Egyptian priest 
 and historian, who lived 300 years B. C. Though his state- 
 ments were once considered as almost wholly fabulous, he is 
 now recognized by scholars as a reliable authority as far as it 
 respects his honesty of intention and opportunities for infor- 
 mation. His history has been lost, but his dynasties remain 
 tolerably entire. These appear to claim a national exist- 
 ence for Egypt of nearly 30,000 years previous to this time ! 
 Twenty-five of .these millenniums, however, are ascribed to 
 the time when gods, demi-god's and spirits bore rule on 
 earth ; while the actual history of Egypt does not commence 
 until Menes, the first human king, ascended the throne. 1 
 He is considered as identical with Mizraim, the son of 
 Ham, and Manetho fixes the date of his accession, accord- 
 ing to Lepsius, at 3,892 B. C. ; while Baron Bunsen, correct- 
 ing Manetho by the numerical data of a fragment of Era- 
 tosthenes, places it at B. C. 3,643. Other authorities, such 
 as Brugsch and Bockh, following different methods of 
 computing the dynasties, assign that era, respectively, to 
 4,455 B. C. and 5,702 B. C. The lowest of these dates, that 
 of Bunsen, involves a discrepancy with the Scripture 
 chronology, even if we follow the system of the Septua- 
 gint. This, however, is disposed of by the statement of 
 Syncellus, a Byzantine monk of the ninth century, who 
 informs us that in a corrected list of the Egyptian dynasties, 
 fifteen hundred years were stricken off by Manetho him- 
 self. The remoter dates have been obtained by regarding 
 
 1 Berosus, a Chaldean writer of whom Eusebius has preserved some frag- 
 ments, has a yet more extravagant Chronology. He undertakes to give the 
 annals of the Medes and the Chaldeans for upward of 400,000 years ! But 
 omitting from his scheme what is plainly mythic computation, the eras of 
 gods and demi-gods, we have remaining a period which mounts up no higher 
 than 2,458 years before Christ. If the accuracy of this be assumed, it can 
 readily be reconciled with the Septuagint Chronology. 
 
SACRED CHRONOLOGY. 205 
 
 the dynasties of Manetho as consecutive ; but later investi- 
 gations have proved that several of them were in reality 
 contemporaneous lists of petty sovereigns of parts of Egypt. 
 While admitting this, Baron Bunsen, upon a theory of his 
 own founded upon mere fancy, claimed that the historic 
 records of Egypt "reached far beyond the accession of Me- 
 nes, up to the year B. C. 9,085. But, says Mr. Rawlin- 
 son, " if it be still thought that the mere opinion of men 
 so well acquainted with the Egyptian monuments, as Bun- 
 sen and Lepsius, ought to have weight, despite the weak- 
 ness of the argumentative grounds on which they rest their 
 conclusions, let it be remembered that others, as deeply 
 read in hieroglyphic lore, and as capable of forming a 
 judgment, have come to conclusions wholly different. Sir 
 Gardner Wilkinson inclines to place the accession of Menes 
 about B. C. 2,690, and Mr. Stuart Poole gives as his first 
 year B. C. 2,717. These writers believe that the number 
 of contemporaneous dynasties has been much underrated 
 by the German savans, who have especially erred in re- 
 garding the Theban dynasties as, all of them, subsequent 
 to the Memphite. They consider that Manetho's first and 
 third Theban dynasties were contemporary with his third, 
 fourth, and fifth Memphite ; that the first and second Shep- 
 herd dynasties ruled at the same time in different parts of 
 Lower Egypt ; and that the dynasty of Chortes (Manetho's 
 14th) was contemporary with the two Shepherd dynasties 
 above mentioned, and with the second Theban. They do 
 not deny that their arrangement of the dynasties is to 
 some extent conjectural ; but they maintain that, while the 
 idea of it was derived from a close inspection of Manetho's 
 lists, it is also strikingly confirmed by the monuments. 
 While names of such weight can be quoted on the side of 
 a moderate Egyptian chronology, it can not be reasonably 
 argued that Egyptian records have disproved the Biblical 
 
200 ESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 narrative." The remote antiquity of Egypt is, indeed, in- 
 disputable ; but this is perfectly reconcilable with the state- 
 ments of the Mosaic narrative, which imply that the 
 Egyptians had attained a high point of arts, government 
 and knowledge, when Abraham, the father of the Hebrew 
 nation, was still leading a nomadic life. 
 
 It should also here be noted, that the high reputation 
 of Baron Bunsen as a scholar gave an authority to the long 
 lists of kings and dynasties and the consequent vast antiquity 
 of Egypt, which they would not otherwise have had. But, 
 says an eminent authority, l " when we come to examine the 
 researches of Bunsen, we actually find that to this day he 
 has never discovered the true Hieroglyphic alphabet. His 
 whole system is built on a series of conjectures and assump- 
 tions, which, moreover, he varies and contorts, without rule 
 or order, at every new sentence." 
 
 Another fragment of antiquity called "the Table of 
 Abydos," from its discovery in 1818, by Mr. William Bankes, 
 among the ruins of Abydos, an ancient city of note on the 
 western bank of the Nile, corroborates the above conclu- 
 sion. Having been deciphered by competent scholars, it 
 was found to yield evidence of only twenty-five sovereigns 
 predecessors of Rameses-Sesostris ; and allowing to each 
 of these an average of twenty years, we shall have five 
 hundred years from the first king, probably Menes. Now, 
 if the great monarch, to whose honor this tablet was en- 
 graven, died about fifteen hundred years before theJChris- 
 tian era, a short time before the Exodus, we bring the reign 
 of Menes to about three hundred and fifty years after the 
 deluge, a period when the descendants of Mizraim the son 
 of Ham, would have become sufficiently powerful to form a 
 great nation. And so far is this monument from confirm- 
 
 Rev. J. L. Porter, the able author of " Five Years in Damascus and 
 Murray's Hand Book for Syria and Palestine." 
 
SACRED CHRONOLOGY. 207 
 
 ing the theories built upon the statements of Manetho, 
 that, so far as it goes, it is a witness against them, and con- 
 firmatory of the Chronology derived from sacred history. 
 
 But while infidelity has appealed to the zodiacs and 
 hieroglyphics of Egyptian temples for evidence wherewith 
 to overthrow the authority of the Bible, a remarkable veri- 
 fication of the date of its most ancient portion has been 
 deciphered in the starry vault above us. 
 
 In the same striking chapter of Job, to which repeated 
 reference has already been made, we find another interrog- 
 atory : " Canst thou bind the sweet influences of the Plei- 
 ades or loose the bands of Orion ? Canst thou bring forth 
 Mazzaroth in his season or canst thou guide Arcturus with 
 his sons ? " The rising and setting of certain constellations 
 with the sun, were to the ancients marks for determining 
 the seasons, * and it is known that the heliacal rising of the 
 Pleiades was by the Egpytians associated with the spring. 
 Accurate calculations, founded on the usual precession of 
 the equinoxes, have ascertained that the star Taigette, the 
 northernmost of the constellation, was precisely on the co- 
 lure of the vernal equinox 2,136 years before Christ. This 
 was before the birth of Abraham according to the common 
 Chronology, and in his youth, according to the Chronology 
 of Dr. Hales. And consequently, for several centuries 
 thereafter, in the same latitude, the Pleiades would be es- 
 teemed as the cardinal constellation of spring. "Mazza- 
 roth" designated the zodiac, or series of constellations 
 through which the sun passes, bringing on the seasons in 
 their annual order. Arcturus was the pole-star, and his 
 sons the stars that move with him. Job is asked if he 
 could hinder those "sweet influences" to which nature 
 yields when the rising of the Pleiades announces the ap- 
 proach of spring; or whether he could loosen or retard 
 that rigidity which contracts and binds up her fertile 
 bosom, when the approach of winter is made known by 
 
208 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 the appearance of Orion. There is abundant internal evi- 
 dence for assigning the book of Job to a very early period 
 in the history of the world, and the patriarch is generally 
 held by scholars to have lived not far from the time of 
 Jacob. l As the calculations of Astronomy, carried back to 
 that period, confirm this conclusion, they assist in dispelling 
 the cloud of fabulous antiquity with which infidelity would 
 obscure the credibility and authority of the Bible. 
 
 And not only in the heavens above, but in the earth 
 beneath, may evidence be found to overthrow the infidel 
 theories of the vast antiquity of man. 
 
 " To any one," wrote Bishop Berkeley, more than a cen- 
 tury ago, " who considers that, on digging into the earth, 
 such quantities of shells and, in some places, bones and 
 horns of animals, are found sound and entire, after having 
 lain there in all probability some thousands of years ; it 
 should seem probable that guns, medals, and implements 
 in metal or stone might have lasted entire, buried under 
 ground forty or fifty thousand years, if the world had been 
 so old. How comes it then to pass that no remains are 
 found, no antiquities of those numerous ages preceding the 
 Scripture accounts of time ; that no fragments of buildings, 
 no public monuments, no intaglios, no cameos, statues, 
 basso-relievos, medals, inscriptions, utensils, or artificial 
 works of any kind are ever discovered, which may bear 
 testimony to the existence of those mighty empires, those 
 successions of monarchs, heroes, and demi-gods for so many 
 thousand years ? Let us look forward and suppose ten or 
 twenty thousand years to come, during which time we will 
 suppose that plagues, famine, wars and earthquakes shall 
 have made great havoc in the world, is it not highly 
 probable that, at the end of such a period, pillars, vases, 
 and statues now in being, of granite or porphyry or jasper 
 (stones of such hardness as we know them to have lasted 
 two thousand years above ground, without any consider- 
 
SACRED CHKONOLOGT. 209 
 
 able alteration), would bear record of these and past 
 ages? Or that some of our current coins might then 
 be dug up, or old walls and the foundations of buildings 
 show themselves, as well as the shells and stones of the 
 primeval world, which are preserved down to our own 
 times." 
 
 Tip to a recent period, this conclusion was supposed to 
 be unimpeachable by Geological evidence. The "testi- 
 mony of the rocks," as read by its most eminent exposi- 
 tors, was, that if there be any fact well established in Geol- 
 ogy, it is that the advent of man upon earth can not be 
 dated further back than about six thousand years. Sir 
 Charles Lyell, after quoting the above passage from Bishop 
 Berkeley with approval, adds to the same effect : " That 
 many signs of the agency of man would have lasted at 
 least as long as 'the shells of the primeval world,' had 
 our race been so ancient, we may feel as fully persuaded as 
 Berkeley ; and we may anticipate with confidence that 
 many edifices and implements of human workmanship, and 
 the skeletons of men, and casts of the human form, will 
 continue to exist when a great part of the present moun- 
 tains, continents, and seas have disappeared. Assuming 
 the future duration of the planet to be indefinitely pro- 
 tracted, we can foresee no limit to the perpetuation of 
 gome of the memorials of man." * This distinguished au- 
 thor has since withdrawn his support from the Scriptural 
 view, and is now a strenuous advocate for an opposite the- 
 ory. In a work which he has recently published on the 
 " Geological Evidence for the Antiquity of Man," he main- 
 tains that "memorials" have been found, establishing a 
 period of duration for the past existence of our race on 
 the earth, so vast, that even the extravagant chronology of 
 Baron Bunsen would be inadequate to fill it. A considera- 
 ble amount of details respecting discoveries of " flint im 
 
 * Lyell's Princ. of Geol. 8th edit. p. 740. See also pp. 144, 145, 773. 
 
210 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 plements " near Amiens and Abbeville, in France, and of 
 human remains in caves near Liege, Dusseldorf, at the foot 
 of the Pyrenees, and in other places, is brought forward in 
 the volume in justification of this hypothesis. 1 It is alleged 
 that proofs have been thus obtained "that remains of 
 mammoths occur in undisturbed alluvium, so imbedded with 
 works of human art, and sometimes with human bones, as 
 to admit of no doubt that man and mammoths co-existed." 
 As the mammalian tribes are supposed to have been ex- 
 tinct ages before the era of Adam, the inference is that 
 the " popular," i. e. the Biblical chronology is altogether 
 deficient and unreliable. But the premises from which it 
 is sought to draw this conclusion are still matters of 
 doubt and dispute among men of science. An able writer 
 in Blackwood's Magazine [No. 540, pp. 422-439], has 
 clearly shown, that before extreme human antiquity can 
 be predicated of the " remains " discovered in the " drift 
 deposit," there are two questions yet to be solved. 1. Are 
 they of the same age as the formation in which they are 
 found ? And 2. Is that formation itself of an antiquity 
 very remote ? The affirmative of these questions, he 
 claims, is "not proven." And even granting that man 
 was contemporaneous with ancient elephants and mam- 
 moths no longer found among the animal tribes of our 
 globe, is it certain and beyond doubt that those gigantic 
 races did not live down to a much later period in the 
 earth's history, than has been hitherto supposed? "All 
 these are problems awaiting solution. Meanwhile, it would 
 be presumptuous and unwarrantable, on tke part of any 
 man, to assert the high antiquity of our race upon such 
 
 * As it respects the recent discoveries of peat deposits and Ejoeclcken 
 madding (kitchen leavings) in the Scandinavian peninsula, and of lake 
 dwellings in Switzerland, although, unquestionably, memorials of pre-his- 
 toric races, it is conceded that they furnish no data to militate with the 
 Scripture chronology. 
 
SACKED CHRONOLOGY. 211 
 
 slight and insufficient evidence. All the negative testi- 
 mony, even of geological science, omitting these alleged 
 exceptions, is in favor of that comparatively modern epoch 
 known as the annus mundi. We have no wish to contend 
 for any very strict interpretation of the Scripture chronol- 
 ogy ; but the addition of a few thousand years would go 
 only a little way to meet the hypothesis of those who con- 
 tend that these are human relics of vast antiquity, while 
 all profane as well as sacred history utters a silent but 
 consistent protest against an extension so indefinitely great. 
 We have every reason, then, to suspend our final judg- 
 ment. If divines have their prejudices, so philosophers 
 have their moments of enthusiasm ; and it is only just that 
 time should be allowed to arbitrate between them." 1 
 
 On this subject, it is believed, that the great majority 
 of scientific men still accord with the opinion expressed by 
 the eminent Professor Sedgwick in his Discourse on the 
 Studies of the University : " Geology tells us, out of its 
 own records, that man has been but a few days a dweller 
 on the earth ; for the traces of himself and of his works 
 are confined to the last monuments of its history. Inde- 
 pendently of every written testimony, we therefore believe 
 that man, with all his powers and appetencies, his marvel- 
 lous structure and his fitness for the world around him, 
 was called into being within a few thousand years of the 
 days in which we live." 
 
 Even the heathen poet, Lucretius, though an advocate 
 of the Epicurean hypothesis of the formation of the world 
 by a fortuitous concourse of atoms, could see reasons for 
 believing that the present system of things could not be of 
 unlimited antiquity. 
 
 1 Eclectic Mag. June, 18GO. 
 

 
 CHAPTEE YL 
 
 PEIMrnVE HISTORICAL TRADITIONS. 
 
 THE shadowy uncertainty which the preceding results 
 of Chronological research have shown to rest upon the 
 early history of the most ancient nations, naturally sug- 
 gests the obligations we owe to the Bible considered sim- 
 ply as a record of the past. Man is a being who looks 
 both before and after, and as the mind awakens to the real- 
 ities of the scene in-which we find ourselves placed, the de- 
 sire is irresistibly excited to know something of those who 
 have occupied it before us, and by the monuments of whose 
 existence and labors we find ourselves surrounded. " Not 
 to know what happened before we were born," as Cicero 
 has said, " is to remain always children." " Human and 
 mortal though we are, we are, nevertheless, not mere in- 
 sulated beings, without relation to the past or future. 
 Neither the point of time nor the spot of earth, in which 
 we physically live, bounds our rational and intellectual en- 
 joyments. We live in the past by a knowledge of its his- 
 tory, and in the future by hope and anticipation. By 
 ascending to an association with our ancestors ; by con- 
 templating their example, and studying their character ; by 
 partaking their sentiments, and imbibing their spirit; by 
 accompanying them in their toils; by sympathizing in 
 their sufferings and rejoicing in their successes and their 
 triumphs, we mingle our own existence with theirs, and 
 seem to belong to their age. "We become their contempo- 
 raries, live the lives which they lived, endure what they 
 
PRIMITIVE HISTOEICAL TRADITIONS. 213 
 
 endured, and partake in the rewards which they enjoyed." * 
 We cannot comprehend the part we are called to act our- 
 selves, unless we know the character of those whose places 
 we take. History, therefore, must ever possess an undying 
 fascination for the minds of men, for its subject is the story 
 of their race and the gradual unfolding of that mighty 
 scheme of Providence and Grace, which, beginning with 
 the creation and fall of man, " runs onward through suc- 
 cessive generations, binding together the past, the present 
 and the future, and terminating, at last, with the consum- 
 mation of all things earthly, at the throne of God." 
 
 But while this interest is attached to Universal History, 
 it is especially felt with respect to that period with which 
 the poets have linked the legends of the golden age, the 
 world's childhood and early youth. Those opening scenes 
 of our race have a charm with which none other can vie, 
 and every line, every word, is eagerly welcomed that bears 
 their faintest impress. But were it not for the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, our knowledge of those scenes would be scant indeed. 
 Take away the books of Moses, and the early history of 
 mankind is almost utterly a blank. But for them, " the 
 patriarchs of the infant world, with kings, the powerful of 
 the earth, the wise and good, fair forms and hoary seers " 
 of those long vanished ages, would have left no trace to 
 tell us that they once had been. 
 
 *' Yixere fortes ante Agamemnona 
 Multi ; sed omnes illacrimabiles 
 
 Urgentur ignotique longa 
 Nocte, carent quia vate sacro." 
 
 H&r. Car. L. iv. c. 12. 
 
 Before great Agamemnon reign'd 
 
 Reigned kings as great as he and brave, 
 
 Whose huge ambition's now contain'd 
 In the small compass of a grave : 
 
 1 Daniel Webster. 
 
214 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 In endless night they sleep, unwept, unknown : 
 No bard had they to make all time their own." 
 
 FRANCIS' Trandatwn. 
 
 " The reptiles that crawled upon the half finished sur- 
 face of our planet have left memorials of their passage en- 
 during and indelible, but the line of march of mighty con- 
 querors and their armies which once desolated the earth, 
 has been utterly obliterated." And so of ancient empires 
 and the primitive seats of power. Barbaric dwellings oc- 
 cupy the shattered sites of their vanquished grandeur, from 
 the scattered symbols of their old renown the meaning has 
 departed, and the tongue of gray tradition has long ceased 
 to utter their once memorable names. Chaldea was the 
 earliest seat of science ; but the sun of Babylon has set ; 
 the golden city has ceased ; and her lofty towers, her hang- 
 ing gardens, her impregnable walls, are but as the memory 
 of a dream. The populous Nineveh is extinct, and only 
 tells the tale of her ancient glory in the ruins which have 
 recently been uncovered from the dust of ages. The mon- 
 umental records of Egypt, it is true, carry us back to the 
 morning of the world, and sustain the traditions of her 
 early wisdom and proficiency in the arts ; but though the 
 Hieroglyphic key has drawn from them highly valuable and 
 important confirmation of the statements of Holy Writ ; 
 yet, as even Baron Bunsen acknowledges, "Egypt has, 
 properly speaking, no history." "In those monuments," 
 says Stanley, and the same is true of recent Assyrian dis- 
 coveries, " the traveller sees great kings and mighty deeds 
 the father, the son, and the children, the sacrifices, the 
 conquests, the coronations. But there is no before and after, 
 no unrolling of a great drama, no beginning, middle and 
 end of a moral progress, or even of a mournful decline." 
 Phoenicia, Tyre, Sidon, and Carthage, were early seats of 
 commerce and of letters, but have left no historian to de- 
 tail their discoveries or record their fame. The rock-built 
 
PRIMITIVE HISTORICAL TRADITIONS. 215 
 
 
 
 palaces and temples of Petra, and the splendid and exten- 
 sive ruins of Persepolis and Palmyra testify the skill of 
 their architects and the magnificence of which they were 
 once the abodes ; but the names and deeds of their princes 
 and heroes, unconsecrated by the muse of History, have 
 faded from the knowledge of men. The civilization and 
 refinement of the ancient Etruscans have left no traces 
 save in the painted tombs of their chiefs and nobles. The 
 imperishable writings of Greece and Rome appear at first 
 to present a torch to illumine the midnight of the past, but 
 upon examination we find that there is only light to render 
 "darkness visible." The early annals of Rome, which, 
 though called " the Eternal City," compared with the He- 
 brew polity was but of yesterday, perished during its cap- 
 ture by Brennus and his Gauls ; and Grecian History be- 
 yond the Olympiads, which commenced but 776 years 
 before the Christian era, about 23 years before the founda- 
 tion of Rome, .is involved in an impenetrable tissue of cloud 
 and fable. 
 
 Thus, says Sir Thomas Browne, " Time sadly overcometh 
 all things, and is now dominant, and sitteth on a sphinx, 
 and looketh upon Memphis and old Thebes, while her sister 
 Oblivion reclineth demi-somnous on a pyramid, gloriously 
 triumphing, making puzzles of Titanian erections, arid turn- 
 ing old glories into dreams. History sinketh beneath her 
 cloud. The traveller as he paceth amazedly through these 
 deserts, asketh of her, who builded them, but what it is he 
 heareth not." 
 
 4 The spider has woven his web in the imperial palace, 
 And the owl has sung her watch song on the towers of Afrasiab." 
 
 From this silence of Profane History respecting the 
 primitive ages of mankind, infidelity has drawn the objec- 
 tion that the writings of Moses are corroborated by no con- 
 curring testimony. To this assertion of Hume, Dr. Camp- 
 
216 TESTIMONY OP SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 * 
 
 bell, of Aberdeen, has replied, " neither are they invalidated 
 by any contradictory testimony ; and for the plain reason 
 that there is no human composition that can be compared 
 with them in point of antiquity." The " Father of history " 
 lived more than a thousand years posterior to Moses, and 
 Thucydides has declared that there were no authentic an- 
 nals of his nation prior to the Trojan war. But although 
 the Mosaic records are not corroborated by the concurrent 
 testimony of any coeval histories, because if there were 
 any such histories, they are not now extant ; they are not, 
 therefore, destitute of all collateral evidence. "In the 
 theogonies of Greece and Rome, in the puranas and vedas 
 of the East, the shasters of ancient Mexico, the mythology 
 of Egypt, and the sagas of the Scalds, are to be found 
 glow-worm glimmerings of truth, flickerings of light among 
 clouds of error " or rather " shadows of realities contained 
 in that Book, whose shadows themselves are true. Chaos 
 the beginning of all things ; darkness preceding light ; the 
 spirit of deity infused into the mass ; the world so fashioned 
 as the bird comes from its egg ; man formed out of clay and 
 touched with the Promethean spark of Heaven ; the domin- 
 ion he claims over the brutes ; the golden age ; the deluge 
 of Ogyges ; a race of giants engaged in warfare with the god* 
 and attempting to scale Olympus ; the descent of One to 
 bring back his bride from Hades ; the recognition of a triple 
 deity, and of the power of sacrifice to free from sin, and 
 of a brighter hope to fallen man, what are these but myth- 
 ical versions of the facts and disclosures of the Bible ? " * 
 The learned Faber has shown that " the various systems of 
 Pagan Idolatry in different parts of the world correspond 
 so closely, both in their evident import and in numerous 
 points of arbitrary resemblance, that they cannot have been 
 struck out independently in the several countries where 
 they have been established, but must all have originated 
 
 1 Lecture on Religion and Science, by Rev. H. M. Mason, D. D. 
 
PEIMITIVE HISTORICAL TRADITIONS. 217 
 
 from some common source. But if they all originated from 
 a common source (he argues), "then either one nation must 
 have communicated its peculiar theology to every other 
 people in the way of peaceful and voluntary imitation, or 
 that same nation must have communicated it to every other 
 people through the medium of conquest or violence ; or, 
 lastly, all nations must in the infancy of the world have 
 been assembled together in a single region, and in a single 
 community, must, at that period and in that state of society, 
 have agreed to adopt the theology in question, and must 
 thence, as from a common centre, have carried it to all 
 quarters of the globe. These are the only three modes. 
 . . . . As the incredibility of the first, and as the equal 
 incredibility and impossibility of the second, may be shown 
 without much difficulty, the third alone remains to be 
 adopted." 1 
 
 Some of the more important of the "broken echoes 
 and memorial fragments" which have floated down to us 
 from the wreck of bye-gone ages and have been collected 
 by the labors of the learned, will now be given. Examin- 
 ation of them will prove* that they are strongly corrobora- 
 tive of the inspired narrative. 
 
 Thus, the wide spread tradition of a primeval chaos 
 from which the world arose the production of all living 
 creatures out of water and earth by the efficiency of a 
 supreme Mind the formation of man last of all in the 
 image of God, and his being vested with dominion over 
 the inferior animals, so strikingly concurs with the first 
 chapter of Genesis, that Ovid, in whose pages it is recount- 
 ed, seems to be the paraphrast of Moses. (Metamorphoses, 
 lib. i., v. 5-86.) This tradition can be traced in whole or 
 in part to the ancient Chaldeans, Egyptians, Phoenicians, 
 Hindoos, Chinese, Etruscans, Greeks, and the Indians of 
 America. 
 
 1 Faber's Origin of Pagan Idolatry. 
 10 
 
218 TESTIMONY OP SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 Grotius says that " the nations which most rigidly re- 
 tained ancient customs, reckoned by nights, darkness hav- 
 ing originally preceded light, as Thales taught from the 
 ancients. The remembrance of the completion of the work 
 of creation on the seventh day was preserved by every na- 
 tion of whom any records or traditions have come down to 
 us. Hesiod, who lived about nine hundred years before 
 the Advent of Christ, says : " The seventh day is holy." 
 Homer, who sang about the same period, and Callimachus, 
 likewise a Greek poet, who flourished about seven hundred 
 years later, allude to the seventh day as holy. Theophilus 
 of Antioch says, concerning the seventh day, *' The day 
 which all mankind celebrate." Porphyry says,' " The Phoe- 
 nicians consecrated one day in seven as holy." Lucian re- 
 marks, u The seventh day is given to schoolboys as a holi- 
 day." Eusebius observes, " Almost all the philosophers and 
 poets acknowledge the seventh day as holy." Clemens 
 Alexandrinus says, " The Greeks as well as the Hebrews, 
 observe the seventh day as holy." Josephus, the Jewish 
 historian, says, " No city of Greeks or barbarians can be 
 found which does not acknowledge & seventh day's rest from 
 labor." Philo testifies, " The seventh day is a festival to 
 every nation." It was found (as ancient authors testify) in 
 the calendars of the Hindus, Egyptians, Arabs and Assyri- 
 ans. All these vestiges unquestionably point to the insti- 
 tution of the primeval Sabbath in Paradise, which has sur- 
 vived the fall of empires, and has existed among all suc- 
 cessive generations, another proof, in addition to those 
 already given, of the common origin of mankind. 
 
 From the Egyptians we have a tradition that man's life 
 at the beginning was simple or innocent, and that his body 
 was naked ; hence the golden age, in which holiness and 
 happiness prevailed, and the garden of the Hesperides with 
 its golden apples, so beautifully sung by ancient poets. 
 Maimonides has remarked that the history of Adam, of 
 
PRIMITIVE HISTORICAL TRADITIONS. 219 
 
 Eve, of the tree, and of the serpent, existed in his time 
 among the idolatrous Indians ; and witnesses likewise of 
 our own age (says Grotius) testify that the same tradition 
 exists among the inhabitants of Peru and of the Philippine 
 islands, who derived their origin from India. In the my- 
 thology of Egypt, the serpent bears an important character ; 
 represented in an upright form, it entered into all its rites 
 and ceremonies. Among the coins of Augustus there is a 
 remarkable one of a female with a mural crown, a palm 
 branch in her hand, and a dove by her side, while her feet 
 trample upon a serpent. Upon a Tyrian coin there is the 
 figure of a serpent twisted round a tree ; and upon a silver 
 medal found in one of the sepulchral monuments of Mex- 
 ico, a man and woman are represented in a garden with a 
 serpent near them. This is obviously a picture record of 
 the first pair in Eden, the serpent and the fall. 
 
 " In the ancient mysteries of Greece, it is well known 
 that the people used to carry about a serpent, and were 
 instructed to cry out Eva, whereby the devil seemed to 
 exult over the fall of our first mother. Even now, says 
 Stackhouse, in idolatrous nations, there are evidences of 
 the triumph of the devil under the form of a serpent. 
 
 " Plutarch says the great serpent Python signifies de- 
 struction, and that serpent Greek mythology represents to 
 have been slain by the son of Zeus or Jupiter. Porphyry 
 and others among the Greeks, speak of " evil demons," 
 whose wish is to be gods, and the power which presides 
 over them aspires to be the greatest of gods; but the 
 Most High, with a mighty arm, restrains their machina- 
 tions. 
 
 " In the Gothic theology, the god Thor, whom they es- 
 teem as their middle divinity, or mediator between God and 
 man, is said to have ' bruised the head of the great ser- 
 pent with his mace, but so severe was to be the contest, 
 that he himself would be suffocated with the floocl of venom 
 
220 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 from the mouth of the serpent.' What can this mean but 
 the seed of the woman bruising the serpent's head, and the 
 serpent biting his heel ? 
 
 " In India, also, two sculptured figures are yet extant, 
 in one of their oldest pagodas, one of which represents 
 Chrishna, an incarnation of Vishnu, trampling on the crushed 
 head of the serpent, while the other exhibits the poisonous 
 reptile encircling the deity in its folds and biting his 
 heel." l 
 
 And in the ancient legend of Pandora's box, on the 
 opening of which by the hand of a woman, all evils spread 
 throughout the world, we recognize a significant emblem 
 of the origin of evil ; while hope at the bottom, was as sig- 
 nificant a symbol of the prophetic promise, that by the seed 
 of the woman, evil would finally be destroyed. 
 
 Grotius farther informs us, that " Berosus, in his history 
 of the Chaldeans, Manetho, in that of the Egyptians, HOBS- 
 tiseus, Hcecateus, Halbanicus, in their histories of Greece, 
 and Hesiod among the poets, have related that the life of 
 those who were descended from the first man extended to 
 nearly a thousand years, which is the less incredible, as the 
 histories of a great many nations, and especially Pausanius 
 and Philostratus among the Greeks, and Pliny among the 
 Romans, relate that the bodies of men in ancient times 
 were much larger, as was found by opening the tombs. 
 Catullus, following many of the Greek writers, relates that 
 divine visions appeared to man before the frequency and 
 enormity of his offences secluded him from converse with 
 Deity and his angels." 
 
 In his valuable work on " the Bible and the Classics," 
 already quoted, Bishop Meade says, " The ancient poets 
 and philosophers speak of four successive ages through 
 which the world passes, the Golden, the Silver, the Bra- 
 zen, and the Iron, representing their characters by the 
 1 The Bible and the Classics, by Bishop Meade. 
 
PRIMITIVE HISTORICAL TRADITIONS. 221 
 
 comparative value of the pure metals. The last is the 
 worst, and ends in the destruction of the world by the 
 deluge. But in many of the ancient writings there are 
 two series of such ages, set forth by the same four metals, 
 gold, silver, brass and iron. The facts mentioned show 
 clearly that the second series commenced immediately after 
 the flood, with Noah and his family as the first did with 
 Adam and his, immediately after the creation. That the 
 first age in each was the purest ; that each successive period 
 was marked by gradual deterioration, sacred and profane 
 history attest most clearly. As to the event terminating 
 the first series, there is no doubt. The deluge was sent to 
 purify the earth from the deep corruption which covered 
 it. The human race began anew with the family of Noah, 
 and was for a time comparatively pure in religion and 
 morals. 
 
 Sometimes the ancients confound together the two 
 series of ages, those before and those after the flood, as 
 they do indeed (according to their doctrine of a succession 
 of worlds) Creation and the Deluge, Adam and his children 
 with Noah and his. We only state the general result of 
 the researches of such men as Sir William Jones and 
 others, in saying that they abound with references to the 
 comparative character and condition of the different ages. 
 The first, as we have said, was that of paradise itself, when 
 all things abounded spontaneously, when men were called 
 " the supreme and happy inhabitants of the earth." Then 
 came a time when they were called the " moderately hap- 
 py " inhabitants of the earth ; and then a time when the 
 least happy inhabitants of the earth lived. Then came the 
 iron age, the age of war, and lust and violence and ra- 
 pine ; of heroes and giants, of which Ovid says, 
 
 " De duro est ultima ferro, 
 Protinus erupit venae pejoris in aevum 
 Omne nefas : fugere pudor verumque fidesque. 
 
222 TESTIMONY OP SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 Vivitur ex rapto. Non hospes a hospite tutus, 
 
 Non socer a genero. Fratrura quoque gratia rara est. 
 
 Victa jacet pietas." 
 
 " Stubborn iron, the last : 
 Then blushless crimes, which all degrees surpast. 
 All live by spoil : the host his guest betrays, 
 Sons, fathers-in-law, 'twixt brethren love decays : 
 Foiled piety, trod under foot, expires." 
 
 The daring wickedness of these giants in sin as well 
 as in stature, has given rise to poems in ancient days called 
 the " Wars of the Titans," in which they are represented 
 as actually assaulting heaven as we assault a stronghold 
 upon earth ; but there are circumstances in the war which 
 have led to differences of opinion as to the time and place 
 of the same. Some think it to be the rebellion of the wicked 
 antediluvians, which led to their overthrow by the deluge ; 
 others, that it was the rebellion of the builders of Babel, 
 which ended in the confusion of language and their disper- 
 sion through the earth. In either case we have the testi- 
 mony of Pagan poets to two most important events in Mo- 
 saic history. 
 
 The tradition of a deluge has been found in every na- 
 tion from one extremity of the globe to the other ; it 
 mingles with the legends of countries the most remote ; 
 and whose striking diversity of language would seem to 
 have interdicted any interchange of communication. The 
 Hindu and the Mexican, the Greek and the Roman, all 
 attest and acknowledge a penal flood, which has swept 
 their forefathers away and consigned them to destruction. 
 
 The Jewish historian Josephus says, that " all the writ- 
 ers of the barbarian histories make mention of the ark and 
 of this flood." He instances Berosus, collector of the Chal- 
 dean monuments, Hieronymus, an Egyptian, who wrote the 
 Phoenician antiquities, Mnaseas, and Nicolaus of Damascus. 
 He adds, a great many more make mention of the same 
 
PEIMITIVE HISTORICAL TRADITIONS. 223 
 
 event. Berosus, who was contemporary with Alexander 
 the Great, in his history of the Babylonians, relates the fol- 
 lowing circumstances in regard to a general deluge : " It 
 happened in the reign of King Xisuthrus, who was the tenth 
 in descent from the first created man. Saturn advised him 
 of the approaching calamity in a dream. He instructed 
 him to build an immense ship, to furnish it with provisions, 
 and to enter it with his family and friends, and a number 
 of quadrupeds and birds. These instructions he obeyed. 
 Then the flood began. The whole world perished. When 
 the waters began to abate, Xisuthrus sent out some of the 
 birds. They could find neither food nor resting place and 
 immediately returned. In a few days he sent them out 
 again. They returned with their feet covered with mud. 
 He sent them out a third time and they returned no more. 
 He concluded, from this, that the earth was reappearing, 
 made an opening in the side of his vessel, and saw that it 
 was approaching a mountain on which it soon rested. He 
 then came forth, adored the earth, erected an altar, and 
 offered sacrifices to the gods. Xisuthrus himself having 
 suddenly disappeared, a voice in the air informed his family 
 that the country in w r hich they were was Armenia, and 
 commanded them to return to Babylon." 
 
 The account given by the witty Lucian, a professed 
 scoffer at all religions, who lived in the second century, is, 
 perhaps, still more remarkable. In a treatise entitled " The 
 Syrian Goddess," while speaking of a very ancient temple 
 to her honor at Hierapolis, he remarks, " It is generally 
 believed that this temple was erected by Deucalion, the 
 Deucalion in whose time there was an immense mass of 
 waters." He proceeds to give the history of this Deuca- 
 lion, as he had heard it in Greece from the Greeks them- 
 selves. The present race of men (they said) was not the 
 original race. That race entirely perished, with the excep- 
 tion of Deucalion, from whom the present inhabitants of 
 
2 14 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIELE. 
 
 the earth, numerous as they now are, all descended. That 
 former race were men of a contumelious bearing, who per- 
 petrated the most heinous crimes. They neither listened 
 to the voice of the suppliant, exercised the rites of hospi- 
 tality, nor regarded the sanctions of an oath. They were, 
 therefore, surprised by an overwhelming calamity. Sud- 
 denly, the waters burst forth from the earth, immense rains 
 fell from the skies, the rivers overflowed their banks, the 
 ocean discharged its stores upon the dry land, there was 
 one universal scene of waters. All men perished. Deuca- 
 lion alone, preserved for his justice and for his piety, was 
 left to repeople the earth. He placed his children and his 
 wives in a great Ark, which he had, and also entered it 
 himself. Then came to it by pairs, swine, and horses, and 
 lions, and serpents, and other terrestrial animals, and he ad- 
 mitted them within the Ark. There they remained harm- 
 less. Through a divine influence a friendship arose between 
 them, and they all sailed together in harmony while the 
 waters remained upon the earth. This, Lucian remarks, is 
 what the Greeks say of Deucalion. But the inhabitants of 
 Hierapolis relate a wonderful event which subsequently 
 happened. In their country, the earth opened and ab- 
 sorbed all the water. Deucalion observing it, erected al- 
 tars, and built a temple to Juno over the chasm. The 
 chasm, says Lucien, I saw, now small, and whether it ever 
 was greater I know not. In commemoration of this event, 
 not only the priests, but all Syria and Arabia, twice a year, 
 bring water from the sea to this temple. Men go even from 
 the Euphrates to the sea for this purpose. They pour it 
 into the temple. It descends into the chasm, which, though 
 small, receives it in great quantity. This rite, they say, 
 was instituted by Deucalion in memory at once of the del- 
 uge and of his preservation. Plato believes that there was 
 a universal deluge, which occurred before the partial inun- 
 dations celebrated by the Greeks. Plutarch, in a treatise 
 
PRIMITIVE HISTORICAL TRADITIONS. 225 
 
 upon the sagacity of animals, has this remark : "The dove 
 sent out of the Ark, it is said, by returning gave Deucalion 
 a sure indication of the continued existence of the storm ; 
 by not returning, she assured him of restored serenity." A 
 similar legend to that related by Lucian, no doubt bor- 
 rowed from the Greeks, is found in the pages of the Roman 
 poet Ovid, who has adorned it with the embellishments of 
 fancy. 
 
 Nicolaus of Damascus, to whom Josephus refers, has 
 this passage : " There is a great mountain in Armenia over 
 Minyas, called Baris, upon which it is reported that many 
 who fled at the time of the deluge were saved ; and that 
 one who was carried in an Ark, came on shore upon the 
 top of it ; and that the remains of the timber were a great 
 while preserved. This might be the man about whom 
 Moses the legislator of the Jews wrote." 
 
 With the foregoing accounts, it will be interesting to 
 compare the ancient Aztec tradition as given by Humboldt. 
 According to this, " Ooxcox, or Tezpi, the American Noah, 
 embarked in a spacious acalli or ark, with his wife and 
 children, many animals and grain, the preservation of which 
 was dear to the human race. When the Great Spirit com- 
 manded the waters to retire, Tezpi sent forth from his bark 
 a vulture. This bird, nourished by dead flesh, did not re- 
 turn, on account of the great number of carcasses which 
 were scattered upon the newly-dried earth. Tezpi sent 
 out other birds, of which the humming-bird alone returned, 
 bearing in its beak a branch covered with leaves. After 
 which Tezpi seeing that the soil began to be covered with 
 new verdure, left his bark near the mountain of Cothuacan." 
 " Everywhere," adds Humboldt, " the traces of a common 
 origin, the opinions concerning cosmogony, and the primi- 
 tive traditions of nations, present a striking analogy even in 
 minute circumstances. Does not the humming-bird of Tezpi 
 call to mind the dove of Noah, that of Deucalion, and the 
 10* 
 
226 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 birds, according to Berosus, which Xisuthrus sent forth from 
 the Ark, to try if the waters had subsided, and if as yet he 
 could erect altars to the gods of Chaldea ? The raven no 
 less than the dove and the order no less than the name ; the 
 first the ravenous beast not returning ; the second, forever 
 afterward the bird of peace, re-appearing and re-entering, 
 identify each narrative as that of the selfsame fact with a 
 speciality of circumstances which sober reason cannot mis- 
 interpret or mistrust." 
 
 From the same high authority, we have also this strik- 
 ing acknowledgment : " These ancient traditions of the 
 human race, which we find dispersed over the surface of 
 the globe, like the fragments of a vast shipwreck, are of the 
 greatest interest in the philosophical study of our species. 
 Like certain families of plants, which, notwithstanding the 
 diversity of climates and the influence of heights, retain the 
 impress of a common type, so the traditions respecting the 
 primitive state of the globe, present among all nations a 
 resemblance that fills us with astonishment : so many differ- 
 ent languages, belonging to branches which have no con- 
 nection with each other, transmit the same facts to us. 
 The substance of the traditions respecting the destroyed 
 races and the renovation of nature, is everywhere almost 
 the same, although each nation gives it a local coloring. 
 In the great continents, as in the smallest islands of the 
 Pacific Ocean, it is always on the highest and nearest 
 mountains, that the remains of the human race were saved ; 
 and this event appears so much the more recent, the more 
 uncultivated the nations are." l 
 
 There is manifestly but one natural and satisfactory ex- 
 planation of this wonderful harmony in the traditions of all 
 nations in all parts of the earth nations, the most diverse 
 in language, religion, laws, and manners ; and that is, that 
 all of them must have had their origin in one event, whose 
 * Humboldt's Travels and Researches, pp. 190-92. 
 
PEIMITIVE HISTORICAL TRADITIONS. 227 
 
 memory neither the power of time nor the dispersion of the 
 human family over all the continents and islands of the 
 earth, has been able to obliterate, though as the stream 
 advanced from its source, it necessarily became mingled 
 with many absurdities and fictions. 
 
 As we proceed, we find other traces and resemblances 
 which point unmistakably to succeeding facts and events 
 in the sacred history. Grotius farther says, that u Japhet, 
 primogenitor of the Europeans, and from him Jon, or as it 
 was formerly pronounced, Javon of the Greeks, also Ham- 
 mon of the Africans, are names to be found in the writings 
 of Moses, and others are traced by Josephus and other 
 writers in the names of nations and places. Which of the 
 poets does not mention the attempt to climb the heavens ? " 
 The following remarkable confirmation of the Scripture 
 narrative of the Tower of Babel and the confusion of 
 tongues is given by Mr. Rawlinson from an old writer, 
 Abydenus, who either drew directly from the Chaldean 
 historian Berosus, or had access to the sources which he 
 used : " At this time the ancient race of men were so 
 pufied up with their strength and tallness of stature that 
 they began to despise and contemn the gods, and labored 
 to erect that very lofty tower which is now called Babylon, 
 intending thereby to scale heaven. But when the build- 
 ing approached the sky, behold the gods called in the aid 
 of the winds, and by their help overturned the tower and 
 cast it to the ground. The name of the ruins is still called 
 Babel, because, until this time, all men had used the same 
 speech, but now there was sent upon them a confusion of 
 many and diverse tongues." 
 
 The burning of Sodom is mentioned by Diodorus Sicu- 
 lus, Strabo, Tacitus, Pliny, and Solerinus. Tacitus relates 
 that " a tradition still prevailed in his days of certain pow- 
 erful cities having been destroyed by thunder and lightning, 
 and of the rich plains in which they were situated having 
 
228 TESTIMONY OP SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 been burnt up. He adds, that evident traces of such a 
 catastrophe remained, while the parched and burnt soil 
 had lost its fertility. This historian concludes with express- 
 ing his own belief in that awful judgment, derived from an 
 attentive consideration of the country in which it was said 
 to have happened. In a similar manner, Strabo, after de- 
 scribing the nature of the lake Asphaltis, adds, that the 
 whole of its appearance gives an air of probability to the 
 prevailing tradition, that thirteen cities, the chief of which 
 was Sodom, were once destroyed and swallowed up by 
 earthquakes, fire, and an inundation of boiling sulphurous 
 water." 
 
 " Herodotus, Diodorus, Strabo, and Philo Biblius bear 
 testimony to the very ancient custom of circumcision, 
 which was practised among the descendants of Abraham ; 
 not the Hebrews only, but also the Iduma3ans, Ishmaelites, 
 and others. The history of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and 
 Joseph, in accordance with that of Moses, formerly existed 
 in Philo Biblius, taken from Sanchoniathon, in Berosus, 
 Hecata3us, Damascenus, Artaphanus, Eupolimus, Deme- 
 trius, and partly in the very ancient writers of the Orphic 
 songs, and something is still extant in Justin taken from 
 Trogus Pompeius." 
 
 References to Moses, the Hebrew lawgiver, are found 
 in various Pagan historians : Diodorus Siculus calls him a 
 man of most superior wisdom and courage. He mentions 
 the departure of Israel from Egypt ; of their advance into 
 Palestine, and seizure of a number of cities, particularly 
 Jerusalem. He speaks of their worship, their tribes, their 
 code of laws, by which they were kept separate from every 
 other people ; of the priesthood established in one family ; 
 of judges, instead of kings, being appointed to decide all 
 their controversies, and the supreme authority being vested 
 in the chief priest ; he adds, that Moses concluded the vol- 
 ume of his laws by claiming for them divine inspiration. 
 
PRIMITIVE HISTORICAL TRADITIONS. 229 
 
 Strabo also mentions various particulars respecting Moses. 
 Eupolimus likewise celebrates him as being the first wise 
 man, and the inventor of letters, which the Phoenicians re- 
 ceived from the Jews, and the Greeks from the Phoenicians. 
 The Orphic songs also expressly mention that he was drawn 
 out of the water, and the two tables were given him from 
 God. 
 
 In the decree issued by the magistrates of Pergamos, 
 forty-four years B. C., the following statement is found : 
 " Our ancestors were friendly to the Jews, even in the days 
 of Abraham, who was the father of all the Hebrews, as we 
 have also found it set down in our public records." 
 
 We have also the testimony of Josephus already noticed 
 that in the public records of different nations, and in a 
 great number of books extant in his time, evidences were 
 to be found that the most remarkable events in the history 
 of Israel were admitted generally by the Heathen world, as 
 veritable and indisputable facts. 
 
 Not a few of the memorable incidents in the career of 
 the great Hebrew lawgiver are mentioned in the pages of 
 Artapanus, a Greek historian of uncertain, but very ancient 
 date. The oppression of the Israelites ; the flight of Moses 
 into Arabia, and his subsequent marriage; a circumstance 
 similar to that of the burning bush ; his Divine commission 
 to deliver his countrymen ; the transformation of his rod 
 into a serpent ; the various plagues of Egypt ; the spoiling 
 of the Egyptians ; the passage through the Red sea ; the 
 destruction of Pharaoh and his host ; and the support of 
 the Israelites by manna in the wilderness, are all related in 
 his narrative. Moses is further said to be the person 
 whom the Greeks call Musasus, the preceptor of the cele- 
 brated Orpheus. The same author asserts, that the passage 
 of the Israelites through the Red sea was not unknown to 
 the Heliopolitans, who gave the following account of that 
 supernatural transaction : " The king of Egypt, as soon as 
 
230 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 the Jews had departed from his country, pursued them 
 with an immense army, bearing along with him the conse- 
 crated animals. But Moses having by the Divine command 
 struck the waters with his rod, they parted asunder, and 
 afforded a free passage to the Israelites. The Egyptians 
 attempted to follow them, when fire suddenly flashed in 
 their faces, and the sea, returning to its usual channel, 
 brought a universal destruction upon their whole army." 
 The circumstance of the Egyptians being struck with 
 lightning, as well as being overwhelmed by the waves, is 
 mentioned in the 77th Psalm, although not noticed in the 
 Pentateuch. 
 
 From Diodorus Siculus we learn that the Ichthyophagi, 
 who lived near the Red sea, had a tradition handed down 
 to them through a long line of ancestors, that the whole 
 bay was once laid bare to the very bottom, the waters 
 retiring to the opposite shores; and that they afterward 
 returned to their accustomed channel with a most tremen- 
 dous revulsion. Even to this day, the inhabitants of the 
 coast of Corondel preserve the remembrance of a mighty 
 army having been once drowned in the bay which Ptolemy 
 calls Clysma. 
 
 In the fragments of Manetho, we meet with a distinct 
 though distorted notice of the departure of the Israelites 
 out of the house of bondage. The Hebrews are represent- 
 ed as leprous and impious Egyptians, who, under the con- 
 duct of a priest of Heliopolis, named Moses, rebelled on 
 account of oppression, occupied a town called Avaris, or 
 Abaris, and having called in the aid of the people of Jeru- 
 salem, made themselves masters of Egypt, which they held 
 for thirteen years ; but who were at last defeated by the 
 Egyptian king, and driven from Egypt into Syria. Upon 
 this passage Mr. Rawlinson remarks : " We have here the 
 oppression, the name Moses, the national name Hebrew, 
 under the disguise of Abaris, and the true direction of the 
 
PRIMITIVE HISTORICAL TRADITIONS. 231 
 
 retreat ; but we have all the special circumstances of the 
 occasion concealed under a general confession of disaster ; 
 and we have a claim of triumph which consoled the 
 wounded vanity of the nation, but which we know to have 
 been unfounded. On the whole, we have perhaps as much 
 as we could reasonably expect the annals of the Egyptians 
 to tell us of transactions so little to their credit ; and we 
 have a narrative fairly confirming the principal facts, as 
 well as very curious in many of its particulars." 
 
 In the characteristics ascribed to Hermes or Mercury 
 in the Grecian Mythology, we find some remarkable coin- 
 cidences with the Scripture narrative of the life and char- 
 acter of Moses, which it is difficult to account for except 
 upon the supposition that the heathen legend is an adapta- 
 tion of the inspired account of the illustrious leader of the 
 Hebrews. The Caduceus of Hermes, with the serpents 
 twining around his rod, is at once suggestive of the appear- 
 ance of Moses armed with the credentials of his mission. 
 If Moses descended from the Mount with the commands of 
 Go.d, and was emphatically God's messenger, so was Her- 
 mes the messenger from Olympus ; his chief office was that 
 of messenger. If Moses is known as the slayer of the 
 Egyptian, so is Hermes (and so is he more frequently called 
 in Homer) Argiphontes the slayer of Argus, the overseer 
 of a hundred eyes. Moses conducted through the wilder- 
 ness to the Jordan, those who died and reached not the 
 promised land ; nor did he pass the Jordan. So was Her- 
 mes the conductor of the dead, delivering them over to 
 Charon (and here note the resemblance of the name with 
 Aaron, the brother and associate of Moses) ; nor was he to 
 pass to the Elysian fields. In the hymn of Hermes ascribed 
 to Homer, other coincidences may be found. 
 
 The remarkable miracle by which Joshua was enabled 
 to complete the overthrow of the confederate enemies of 
 Israel, is also another event corroborated by tradition, and 
 
232 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 in such a manner as to shame the cavils of the scorner. It 
 is recorded that Joshua commanded the sun to stand still 
 on Gibeon. The slaughter of the armies of the five kings 
 commenced after he had " gone up all night from Gilgal." 
 He came upon the enemy " suddenly." It was during the 
 pursuit which immediately commenced, that Joshua, in the 
 strength of the God of Israel, uttered the command which 
 must have confounded the worshippers of the sun and 
 moon. The sacred writer declares that " there was no day 
 like that, before it or after it." The fabled fall of Phieton 
 and the history of Hercules both establish the fact, that it 
 was known to the recorders of ancient tradition, that there 
 had been a night^ like which was no night before it or after 
 it. In the history of Hercules, it is fabled that Jupiter 
 caused a long night a night equal to three ordinary nights. 
 Now, in consequence of the miracle wrought in Palestine, 
 it is obvious that throughout the greater part of the known 
 world, instead of the return of the day, they had continued 
 night. At the time the revolution of the globe was sus- 
 pended, while " the sun stood still in the midst of Heaven," 
 over the land of Canaan, the western world must have re- 
 mained in darkness. To this then may be traced the fabled 
 destruction of Phaeton, when he attempted to direct the 
 chariot of the sun. Conflicting accounts would, however, 
 be received from the more eastern countries, some of which 
 would have had twilight, and part even might have just 
 seen the sun arrested in his rising, or heard that it might 
 be seen during the period of their long night. 
 
 " But still more extraordinary testimony to the occur- 
 rence of the miracle has been lately brought to light from 
 the records of Hindoo mythology. As in the fables of 
 "Western Paganism, we read of an extraordinary night, so 
 in the traditions of the eastern hemisphere, we hear of a 
 day of extraordinary length. This fact is incontestably 
 proved by the Skanda Purana, where it is related, that at 
 
PRIMITIVE HISTORICAL TRADITIONS. 233 
 
 the end of the Suttya Jug, or golden age, a mountain 
 arose, and for a time impeded the progress of the sun, till 
 by miraculous agency, at the prayer of Agastya, the ob- 
 stacle was removed, the mountain sunk into its place, and 
 the sun was permitted to pursue his wonted course." 
 
 In addition to the above, it has been suggested that the 
 sacrifice of Iphigenia is a mythical version of the story of 
 Jephthah's daughter, and that the Prometheus Bound of 
 JEschylus is a Pagan conception of the promised deliverer 
 whose sufferings would accomplish the reconciliation of di- 
 vine justice and divine love. 
 
 Such are the most important traditionary fragments that 
 have come down to us from profane sources, respecting the 
 early ages of the world. They are at least sufficient to re- 
 fute the infidel charge that the principal facts related in the 
 books of Moses depend merely upon his solitary testimony. 
 On the contrary they show that the concurrent voice of all 
 nations witnesses hi their behalf. From the Nile to the 
 Ganges, and from China to Peru, whatever of ancient rec- 
 ord or tradition can be found, supports the truth of the 
 facts recorded in the Bible. And though the enemies of 
 Christianity, with the most perverse ingenuity, have ran- 
 sacked all the archives of antiquity, their efforts have been 
 in vain. Not the slightest contradictory evidence can be 
 produced. And can this be the work of chance ? Can we 
 believe that the combination of the traditions of all heathen 
 nations in support of the truth of Scripture is nothing more 
 than a curious coincidence ? Surely, the Epicurean hypoth- 
 esis, according to which a fortuitous concourse of atoms 
 produced the glorious universe, is hardly more absurd. 
 Testimony from such sources cannot be impeached, and it 
 is impossible to reconcile it with any other conclusion than 
 that the Bible is the Book of God. 
 
 But though valuable as auxiliary evidence, these classic 
 and heathen legends are in themselves shadowy and unsub- 
 
234 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 stantial. They do not dispel the darkness of primeval his- 
 tory, and, had we no other source of information, we should 
 know nothing respecting the dawn of the human race. In 
 the Bible we find the realities of these shadows and are 
 brought out of darkness into light. It has no mythical 
 ages of gods and demi-gods, claims no fabulous antiquity 
 for its people, asserts no divine origin for its heroes. As 
 it is free from the absurdities of false physical science, so 
 neither does it contain even an allusion to the fabulous ani- 
 mals and races in which the Greeks and Romans believed. 
 It tells of no nation of Pigmies, or Cimmerians, who live in 
 perpetual darkness ; no men " whose heads grew beneath 
 their shoulders ! " no griffins or phoenixes or other mon- 
 sters. It has no tales of water carried in a sieve or of 
 olive trees transplanting themselves, like those which Pliny 
 relates with such trustful credulity. It relates, indeed, many 
 marvels and wonders, but they are all wrought by the hand 
 of the Omnipotent Creator, and are worthy in themselves 
 of the putting forth of his might. It takes us back to what 
 was ere Time began his career, and enables us to behold the 
 Heavens and the Earth arise out of nothing at the word of 
 God. It tells us when and where the original man emerged 
 from the dust under the forming hand of the Creator. It 
 tells us of his glorious original endowments, how he was 
 made upright and in the image of God. It then tells the 
 sad story of his fall, and thus solves that enigma so perplex- 
 ing to the lofty piercing intellects of Pagan sages, who saw 
 that some terrible disaster, some dire calamity, must have 
 happened to the physical and moral system of the world, 
 but who could not interpret " the groans of nature." The 
 numerous and wide spread traditions of the flood., which 
 left to ourselves we should have guessed in vain, here in the 
 graphic description of the inspired Hebrew historian find 
 their true significance. By the same volume we are assist- 
 ed in accounting for the multiplicity of languages which 
 
PRIMITIVE HISTORICAL TRADITIONS. 235 
 
 now exist in the world, and for that remarkable method of 
 attempting to appease the divine wrath by sacrifice, once 
 so universal, until the light of Christianity made known the 
 only prevailing sacrifice of the Redeemer. Here also is 
 recorded the original dispersion of those primitive races, 
 whose descendants now people the globe, and here we read 
 of the rise and fall of ancient empires which had run their 
 race of glory ere Greece and Rome had won a place in his- 
 tory. And here, above all, are recorded the gradual un- 
 foldings of that wondrous plan of grace, whose consumma- 
 tion " kings and prophets waited for," which reveals hope 
 to those who were ready to perish, and a way to everlast^ 
 ing joys to those who " sat in darkness and the shado\y of 
 death." 
 
 Thus while the legends of the primitive ages which are 
 found in the Heathen writers are " but a tissue of dream 
 and fable, and may be compared to the scanty shrubs of 
 the desert in a mirage, which will often enlarge themselves 
 into distant groves of palms and cedars, watered by clear 
 lakes, and cheat the eye with their grandeur and beauty ; 
 the early history of the Old Testament stands out alone, 
 like a solitary column amidst broken ruins, or one opening 
 of clear sky amid the dense mists of the morning, which 
 everywhere else conceal the origin of nations and primeval 
 antiquity in mysterious darkness." 1 
 
 Truly then does ancient Fuller say : " Without this his- 
 tory the world would be in total darkness, not knowing 
 whence it came or whither it goeth. In the first page of 
 this sacred book a child may learn more in one hour, than 
 all the philosophers of the world in a thousand years." 
 
 1 Christian Observer. 
 
CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 ANCIENT HISTORY. 
 
 As the era of the New Testament falls considerably 
 within the historic period, it becomes a matter of high and 
 grave importance to ascertain whether the facts which it 
 relates bear the undeniable impress of authenticity and 
 truth. As far more abundant materials are at hand, where- 
 with to sift and verify its statements, than in the case of the 
 Old Testament, the more imperative the necessity to show 
 that it is prepared to sustain the scrutiny. This is a point 
 which modern scepticism has assaulted with all its resources 
 of subtilty and art. It has labored to show that we know 
 nothing of the rise of Christianity " as a matter of certain 
 history that it was not till a comparatively late period 
 tliat some floating legends, half romance and half parable, 
 spun in the brain of Asiatic visionaries, assumed at last a 
 definite form, and came to be mistaken for history, when it 
 was too late to look back and test historically whether or no 
 the things reported had really occurred." Evidently, this 
 objection, if it could be maintained, would be a fatal one to 
 the cause of revelation ; for it is a peculiar feature of our 
 religion that it is indissolubly bound up with facts, so that 
 it must stand or fall with them. " We may concede," says 
 Mr. Rawlinson in his Bampton Lectures, " the truth of the 
 whole story of Mahomet as it was related by his early fol- 
 lowers, and this concession in no sort carries with it even 
 the probable truth of the religion. But it is otherwise with 
 
ANCIENT HISTOEY. 237 
 
 the religion of the Bible. There, whether we look to the 
 Old or the New Testament, the Jewish dispensation or the 
 Christian, we find a scheme of doctrine which is bound up 
 with facts ; which depends absolutely upon them ; which is 
 null and void without them ; and which may be regarded 
 for all practical purposes, established, if they are shown to 
 deserve acceptance." Let the advent and life of Jesus 
 Christ, his miracles, his resurrection from the dead, and the 
 miracles wrought by his apostles after his ascension to Hea- 
 ven, be disproved as matters of fact, and the whole fabric 
 of Christianity, with all its peculiar doctrines, is a manifest 
 imposture. 
 
 A point of no little importance is gained, toward estab- 
 lishing the historic verity of those facts, when it is shown 
 that in the times of the New Testament, with the exception 
 of our Lord's resurrection, they were uncontradicted. For 
 let it be noted that in those times detection in case of error 
 or fraud was inevitable. The events of Scripture are de- 
 tailed with the greatest minuteness as to time, place, and 
 circumstances, connected with numerous public facts, and 
 names of public men. The occasions also on which the 
 miracles were wrought are stated, and the names of the 
 persons who were the subjects of them, some of them well 
 known characters, with their places of abode, are often 
 given, while the general facts respecting Jesus Christ, as 
 claiming to be the Messiah, were of the most public nature, 
 connected with the government, and involving the interests 
 and characters of the whole Jewish nation, especially of the 
 chief men and rulers. 
 
 Can it be supposed then that with all the intense malig- 
 nity and opposition that were enkindled by the Christian 
 religion, those facts would have remained unchallenged, if 
 their truth could have been successfully impugned ? That 
 the numerous enemies of the Gospel in the early ages of our 
 faith, refrained from attacking the truth of the facts upon 
 
 
238 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE, 
 
 which Christianity rested, is a tacit admission that their 
 notoriety rendered a contradiction hopeless. 
 
 But there is also abundance of positive testimony. " As 
 an historical question," says Isaac Taylor, " Christianity is 
 distinguished from others of a like nature by nothing, un- 
 less it be the multiplicity and the force of the evidence it 
 presents. The Gospels demand a verdict according to the 
 evidence, in a firmer tone than any other ancient histories 
 that can be put to the bar of common sense. From those 
 who are convinced of its truth, Christianity does, indeed, 
 ask the surrender of assent to whatever it reveals of the 
 mysteries of the unseen world; but to its impugners it 
 speaks only of things obvious and palpable as the objects 
 and occupations of common life ; and in relation to matters 
 so simple, it demands what cannot be withheld the same 
 assent which we yield to the same proof in all other cases." 
 
 Dr. Lardner and others have filled numerous volumes 
 with evidence drawn from the writings of the early cen- 
 turies, Jewish, Profane, and Christian, corroborating the 
 matters of fact recorded in the Gospels. A brief abstract 
 of the more important portions of this evidence is all that 
 can here be given. 
 
 The remarkable fact will be first adverted to, of the 
 wide spread anticipation of the coming of some illustrious 
 Personage, which prevailed in the world contemporaneous- 
 ly with the Advent of Christ. Not only were the Jews 
 looking for the fulfilment of the Messianic prophecies, but 
 throughout the Roman empire there was an anxious expec- 
 tation of some wonderful event, and even the oracles and 
 sybils of heathenism became instinct with prophetic mutter- 
 ings of a new dawn in human affairs. Whether this expec- 
 tation is to be attributed to lingering traditions of the 
 original promise made to our fallen progenitor, or to 
 knowledge of the prophecies derived from the dispersed 
 Jews or the Greek version of the Old Testament Scrip- 
 
ANCIENT HISTORY. 239 
 
 tures, there is the most unexceptionable historical evidence 
 of its existence. The beautiful lines in the fourth Eclogue 
 of Virgil are well known. He begins the poem with say- 
 ing, that " the last age of the Cumean prophecy is come ; 
 the great order of ages again commences; the virgin is 
 already returning, and the Saturnian reign." 
 
 " The last great age, foretold by sacred rhymes, 
 Renews its finished course ; Saturnian times 
 Roll round again ; and mighty years, begun 
 From their first orb, in radiant circles run. 
 The base degenerate iron offspring ends ; 
 A golden progeny from heaven descends ; 
 0, chaste Lucina, speed the mother's pains, 
 And haste the glorious birth ! " 
 
 According to this eclogue, the son to be born was to be 
 the offspring of the gods, the great seed of Jupiter. He 
 was to command the world, and to introduce peace. He 
 was to abolish violence and injustice, and to restore the 
 life of man to its original innocence and happiness. He 
 was to Kill the Serpent. The blessings of his reign were 
 to extend to the animal and vegetable kingdoms. The lat* 
 ter was to be purged of its noxious poisons, and the nature 
 of the most savage beasts was to be changed, so that the 
 lowing herds should feed secure from lions. Still there 
 were to remain some traces of ancient fraud. Great cities 
 should still be encompassed with walls, and war should be 
 excited ; but at length, under this Sovereign, all was to be 
 composed and happy, when 
 
 " No plough shall hurt the glebe, no pruning hook the vine. 
 The Fates, when they this happy web have spun, 
 Shall bless the sacred clew, and bid it smoothly run. 
 Mature in years, to ready honors move, 
 0, of celestial seed ! foster son of Jove ! 
 See, lab'ring Nature* calls thee to sustain 
 The nodding frame of heaven, and earth, and main : 
 See to their base restor'd, earth, seas, and air, 
 And joyful ages from behind, in crowding ranks appear.' 
 
 TJNI 
 
240 TESTIMONY OP SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 This poem proves, not only the expectation which at 
 that time prevailed of the great king who was to arise, but 
 describes the precise features of Messiah's reign, as deline- 
 ated by the Hebrew prophets, and especially the peculiar 
 characteristics of its effects on the world, which were to be 
 most remarkable, not at the commencement, but after the 
 conclusion of a certain period. 
 
 The flatterers of Vespasian professed to find the fulfil- 
 ment of this general expectation in the accession of that 
 emperor to the throne of the Caesars. Josephus expressly 
 assigns it as the principal cause of the revolt of the Jews 
 against the Roman government, and of the provocation of 
 that war which terminated in the destruction of Jerusalem. 
 
 Tacitus, speaking of the time when Vespasian waged 
 war with the Jews, asserts that " a firm persuasion prevailed 
 among a great many that it was contained in the ancient 
 sacerdotal writings, that about this time it should come to 
 pass that the East should prevail, and that those who should 
 come out of Judea should obtain the empire of the world." 
 
 Suetonius, in his life of the Emperor Vespasian, relates 
 that "there had prevailed, all over the East, an ancient 
 and constant opinion, that it was in the fates, that at that 
 time there should come out of Judea those who should ob- 
 tain the empire of the world." 
 
 " It is thus established as an undoubted fact, that at the 
 period of the Advent of the Redeemer, there existed a gen- 
 eral expectation of the coming of some great and distin- 
 guished Personage ; that it was uniform, that it was ancient, 
 that it was founded on what was believed to be the decree 
 of heaven, and contained in the sacerdotal writings, that he 
 who should appear was to come out of Judea, and that he 
 was to obtain the empire of the world. And this gives a 
 striking significancy to the declaration of the prophet, which 
 in ' the fulness of time ' was fulfilled at Bethlehem, that c the 
 Desire of all nations should come.' " 
 
ANCIENT HISTOKT. 241 
 
 Josephus, the celebrated Jewish historian, was contem- 
 porary with the Apostles, having been born in the year 37. 
 His abilities were considerable, and he had the best oppor- 
 tunities for information respecting the early rise of the 
 Christian Religion. 
 
 In his Antiquities there is a remarkable passage respect- 
 ing the character and claims of Jesus, which, however, as 
 it is objected to by the enemies of Christianity as spurious, 
 though upon insufficient grounds, we will not urge it as 
 evidence. 1 His silence elsewhere respecting the Founder 
 of our faith and the Christian religion is accounted for by 
 his being a Jew, and is confirmatory of Christianity. Had 
 he told what he knew he would have condemned himself. 
 The minute description he has given of the other religious 
 sects in Judea, fully proves that this important omission 
 was one of design, to which he was compelled by circum- 
 stances. 
 
 The account, however, which Josephus has given us in 
 his Antiquities and in his history of the Jewish War, of the 
 state of Judea, civil, political, and moral during his times, 
 is in perfect accordance with the representations which we 
 have in the Gospels. He supplies, moreover, a fact which 
 had been passed over in the Gospel account, probably as 
 belonging to secular history, but which is strikingly cor- 
 roborative of the sacred narrative. We read in St. Mat- 
 thew, that on the death of Herod, Joseph " arose and took 
 the young child and his mother, and came into the land of 
 
 1 The passage is as follows : " Now there was about this time Jesus, a 
 wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man ; for he was a doer of wonderful 
 works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew 
 over to him both many of the Jews amd many of the Gentiles. He was (the) 
 Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men among us, 
 had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not 
 forsake him ; for he appeared to be alive again the third day ; as the divine 
 prophets had foretold these, and ien thousand other wonderful things con- 
 cerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not ex- 
 tinct at this day." 
 
 11 
 
242 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in 
 Judea, in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go 
 thither." The particular cause of this sudden fear, the 
 evangelist does not mention. But Josephus relates, that 
 the first act of Archelaus was the cruel murder of three 
 thousand Jews at the festival of the Passover a deed of 
 savage atrocity, the knowledge of which, on the return of 
 the Jews to their respective cities, could not fail of being 
 instantly carried to every part of Judea, and which accounts 
 most naturally for the suspension of the sacred journey. 
 
 The testimony of Josephus to the appearance of John 
 the Baptist and his execution by Herod is still more im- 
 portant, while his omission of all reference to his doctrine 
 and his mission as forerunner of the Messiah, is strikingly 
 significant. His words are : " Some of the Jews thought 
 Herod's army was destroyed by God, he being justly pun- 
 ished for the slaughter of John, who was surnamed the 
 Baptist. For Herod had put that good man to death, 
 although he exhorted the Jews, after having exercised vir- 
 tue and righteousness towards one another, and having 
 performed the duties of piety towards God, to come to 
 baptism. For thus baptism would be acceptable to him, 
 not if they abstained from some sins only, but if, to purity 
 of body, they joined a soul first cleansed by righteousness. 
 But when many gathered round him, for they were much 
 pleased with the hearing of such discourses, Herod, fearing 
 lest the people, who were greatly under the influence of his 
 persuasion, might be carried to some insurrection (for they 
 seemed to do nothing but by his counsel), judged that it 
 might be better to seize him. before any insurrection was 
 made, and to take him off, than, after affairs were disturbed, 
 to repent of his negligence. Thus he, by the jealousy of 
 Herod, being sent bound to Maduerus, was there put to 
 death ; and the Jews thought that, on account of the pun- 
 ishment of this person, destruction had befallen the army, 
 
ANCIENT HISTORY. 243 
 
 God being displeased with Herod." In this passage, while 
 Josephus assigns such a reason for John's death as might 
 be expected from a courtier, there is an entire coincidence 
 as to the historical facts, between his narrative and that of 
 the sacred historian. 
 
 Under the Roman government, it was usual for rulers 
 of provinces to send to Rome accounts of remarkable trans- 
 actions occurring during their administration, which were 
 preserved as official documents among the archives of the 
 empire. Referring to this custom, Eusebius says : "Our 
 Saviour's resurrection being much talked of throughout 
 Palestine, Pilate informed the emperor of it, as likewise of 
 his miracles, which he had heard of, and that, being raised 
 up after he had been put to death, he was already believed 
 by many to be a God." The same fact is further attested 
 by Justin Martyr in his first Apology, which in the year 
 140 was presented to the Emperor Antoninus Pius and 
 the senate of Rome. Having mentioned the crucifixion of 
 Jesus, and some of the circumstances of it, he adds : " And 
 that these things were so done, you may know from the 
 acts made in the time by Pontius Pilate." Tertullian, in 
 his Apology, about the year 198, having spoken of our 
 Saviour's crucifixion and resurrection, his appearances to 
 his disciples, and his ascension to heaven in the sight of the 
 same disciples, who were ordained by him to preach the 
 Gospel over the world, says: "Of all these things relating 
 to Christ, Pilate, in his conscience a Christian, sent an ac- 
 count to Tiberius, then emperor." In another part of the 
 same Apology he adds: "There was an ancient decree, 
 that no one should be received for a deity unless he was 
 first approved by the senate. Tiberius, in whose time the 
 Christian religion had its rise, having received from Pales- 
 tine in Syria an account of such things as manifested our 
 Saviour's divinity, proposed to the senate, giving his 
 own vote first in his favor, that he should be placed among 
 
244 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 the gods. The senate refused, because he had himself de- 
 clined that honor. Nevertheless, the emperor persisted in 
 his own opinion, and ordered, that if any accused the Chris- 
 tians they should be punished." 
 
 The probability that such an official record as is thus 
 referred to, would be made, is certainly very great, and as 
 great is the improbability that in their Apologies, these 
 Christian fathers would have appealed to its testimony, had 
 there been the least doubt as to its existence. It was not 
 made public for the reason that such accounts were intend- 
 ed only for the government. The publication of the acts 
 of the senate was forbidden by Augustus. 
 
 Important confirmatory evidence is also derived from 
 the writings of opponents to Christianity. 
 
 Celsus, a heathen philosopher, wrote a book against 
 Christianity in the second century, during the reign of 
 Hadrian (A. D. 118 to 138, soon after the death of St John), 
 the title being " The True Word," which was answered by 
 Origen. In this work he introduces a Jew declaiming 
 against Jesus Christ and against such Jews as were con- 
 verted to Christianity. His attack *is conducted not by 
 denying the facts contained in the Scriptures, of which he 
 all along admits the truth, but by reasoning from such as 
 the following topics : That it was absurd to esteem and 
 worship one as God, who was acknowledged to have been 
 a man, and to have suffered death ; that Jesus Christ in- 
 vited sinners to enter the kingdom of God ; that it was in- 
 consistent with his supposed dignity to come and save such 
 low and despicable creatures as Jews and Christians ; that 
 he spake dishonorably and impiously of God ; and that the 
 doctrines and precepts of religion are better taught by the 
 Greek philosophers than in the Gospels, and without the 
 threatenings of God. He has no less than eighty quota- 
 tions from the New Testament, and so numerous are his 
 references to the life of Christ, that it has been said an 
 
ANCIENT HISTORY. 245 
 
 abridgment of the evangelic history could be formed from 
 them ; beginning with the star in 'the East and the massacre 
 of the innocents, and continuing down to the crucifixion and 
 resurrection. It is true, he speaks of these events with re- 
 sentment and scorn, but he does not venture to dispute the 
 authenticity of the Scripture account of them. His objec- 
 tions only prove that these histories and doctrines existed 
 antecedently to his cavils. The theory by which he would 
 account for that which he cannot deny or disprove, is that 
 Jesus, being " brought up obscurely, and obliged to serve 
 for hire in Egypt, learned there certain powerful arts, for 
 which the Egyptians are renowned ; then returned greatly 
 elated with his power, on account of which he declared him- 
 self a God." 
 
 Tacitus, the celebrated Roman historian, was born in 
 the year 61 or 62. He was praetor of Rome under Domi- 
 tian in 88, and consul in the short reign of Nerva in 97. 
 In his account of the great fire at Rome in the 10th of 
 Nero, about thirty years after our Lord's ascension, he 
 says " To suppress, therefore, this common rumor " (viz., 
 that the emperor himself had set fire to the city), "Nero 
 procured others to be accused, and inflicted exquisite pun- 
 ishments upon those people who were abhorred for their 
 crimes and were commonly known by the name of Chris- 
 tians. They had their denomination from Christus, who, 
 in the reign of Tiberius, was put to death as a criminal by 
 the procurator Pontius Pilate. This pernicious supersti- 
 tion, though checked for a while, broke out again, and 
 spread not only over Judea, the source of this evil, but 
 reached the city also, whither flow from all quarters all 
 things vile and shameful, and where they find shelter and 
 encouragement. At first, they only were apprehended 
 who confessed themselves of that sect ; afterwards a vast 
 multitude, discovered by them ; all of whom were con- 
 demned, not so much for the crime of burning the city, as 
 
246 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 for their enmity to mankind. Their executions were so 
 contrived as to expose them to derision and contempt. 
 Some were covered over with the skins of wild beasts, and 
 torn to pieces by dogs ; some were crucified ; others, hav- 
 ing been daubed over with combustible materials, were set 
 up as lights in the night time, and thus burnt to death. 
 Nero made use of his own gardens as a theatre upon this 
 occasion, and also exhibited the diversions of the circus, 
 sometimes standing in the crowd as a spectator in the habit 
 of a charioteer ; at other times driving a chariot himself, 
 till at length these men, though really criminal, and de- 
 serving exemplary punishment, began to be commiserated 
 as people who were destroyed, not out of a regard to the 
 public welfare, but only to gratify the cruelty of one man." 
 
 Such is the testimony of Tacitus, who lived in the same 
 age with the Apostles, to the principal facts which relate 
 to the origin of the Gospel, as well as to its rapid progress. 
 He here attests that Jesus Christ was put to death as a 
 malefactor, by Pontius Pilate, procurator under Tiberius ; 
 that, from Christ, the people called Christians took their 
 name ; that this religion had its rise in Judea ; that thence 
 it was propagated into other parts of the world, as far as 
 Rome, where Christians were very numerous ; and that 
 they were reproached and hated, and underwent many and 
 grievous sufferings. 
 
 Suetonius, a Roman historian who flourished in the reign 
 of the Emperor Trajan, A. D. 116, in his history of the life 
 of Claudius, who reigned from the year 41 to 54, says that 
 "the emperor banished the Jews from Rome, who were 
 continually making disturbances, Christus being their 
 leader." The first Christians, being of the Jewish nation, 
 were for a while confounded with the rest of that people, 
 and shared in the hardships that were imposed on them. 
 This account, however, attests what is related in the Acts 
 of the Apostles (xviii, 2), that Claudius had commanded all 
 
ANCIENT HISTORY. 247 
 
 Jews to depart from Rome, when Aquila and Priscilla, two 
 Jewish Christians, were compelled to leave that city. In 
 the life of Nero, whose reign began in 54, and ended in 68, 
 Suetonius says : " The Christians were punished ; a sort of 
 men of a new and malignant superstition." 
 
 On the foregoing passage of Tacitus, and in reference to 
 the persecution of the Christians under Nero, Gibbon re- 
 marks : " The most sceptical criticism is obliged to respect 
 the truth of this extraordinary fact, and the integrity of this 
 celebrated passage of Tacitus. The former is confirmed by 
 the diligent and accurate Suetonius, who mentions the pun- 
 ishment which Nero inflicted upon the Christians." Noth- 
 ing but the force of undeniable truth could have wrung so 
 ample an admission from such an inveterate enemy of Chris- 
 tianity. 
 
 The second great persecution of the Christians is re- 
 corded to have taken place in the reign of the Emperor 
 Domitian, having begun in the year 81, and terminated in 
 the year 96. During that time an interesting and well 
 authenticated incident is said to have occurred. Domitian 
 made inquiry after the posterity of David, and two men 
 were brought before him of that family. " At that time," 
 says Hegesippus, " there were yet remaining of the kindred 
 of Christ the grandsons of Jude, who was called his brother 
 according to the flesh. These some accused as being of the 
 race of David, and Evocatus brought them before Domiti- 
 anus Caesar ; for he too was afraid of the coming of the 
 Christ, as well as Herod." Of these men, the historian 
 Gibbon says : " They frankly confessed their royal origin, 
 and their near relation to the Messiah ; but they disclaimed 
 any temporal views, and professed that his kingdom which 
 they devoutly expected, was purely of a spiritual and an- 
 gelic nature. When they were examined concerning their 
 origin and occupation, they showed their hands, hardened 
 with daily labor, and declared that they derived their whole 
 
248 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 subsistence from the cultivation of a farm near Cocaba, of the 
 extent of about twenty-four English acres, and of the value 
 of three hundred pounds sterling. The grandsons of St. 
 Jude were dismissed with compassion and contempt." 
 
 A remarkable historic testimony to the truth of Chris- 
 tianity has been preserved in the correspondence of Trajan 
 and Pliny. Trajan became emperor A. D. 98, and in the 
 year 100 the third great persecution of the Christians com- 
 menced. The younger Pliny was appointed proconsul of 
 Bithynia, a province of the Roman empire on the Euxine 
 Sea. In that distant region there were now vast numbers 
 of Christians, against whom the proconsul, according to the 
 emperor's edict, used great severity. Being desirous of 
 more full information how to proceed against them, and 
 " being moved," as Eusebius says, " at the multitude of 
 those who were slain for the faith," he wrote the following 
 letter to Trajan, in the year 107, and in the same year re- 
 ceived the emperor's rescript : 
 
 "Pliny to the Emperor Trajan, health and happiness. 
 It is my constant custom, Sir, to refer myself to you, in all 
 matters concerning which I have any doubt. For who can 
 better direct me where I hesitate, or instruct me where I 
 I am ignorant ? I have never been present at any trials 
 of Christians ; so that I know not well what will be the 
 subject-matter of punishment or inquiry, or what strict- 
 ness ought to be used in either. Nor have I been a little 
 perplexed to determine whether any difference ought to 
 be made upon account of age, or whether the young and 
 tender, and the full-grown and robust, ought to be treated 
 all alike ; whether repentance should entitle to pardon, or 
 whether all who have once been Christians ought to be 
 punished, though they are no longer so ; whether the name 
 itself, although no crimes be detected, or crimes only be- 
 longing to the name, ought to be punished. Concerning 
 
ANCIENT HISTORY. 249 
 
 all these things I am in doubt. In the mean time, I have 
 taken this course with all who have been brought before 
 me, and have been accused as Christians. I have put the 
 question to them, whether they were Christians? Upon 
 their confessing to me that they were, I repeated the ques- 
 tion a second and a third time, threatening also to punish 
 them with death. Such as still persisted I ordered away to 
 be punished ; for it was no doubt with me, whatever might 
 be the nature of their opinion, that contumacy and inflexible 
 obstinacy ought to be punished. There were others of tjie 
 same infatuation, whom, because they are Roman citizens, 
 I have noted down to be sent to the city. In a short time, 
 the crftne spreading itself, even whilst under persecution, as 
 is usual in such cases, divers sorts of people came in my way. 
 An information was presented to me, without mentioning 
 the author, containing the names of many persons, who, 
 upon examination, denied that they were Christians, or had 
 eVer been so ; who repeated after me an invocation of the 
 gods, and with wine and frankincense made supplication to 
 your image, which, for that purpose, I had caused to be 
 brought and set before them, together with the statues of 
 the deities. Moreover, they reviled the name of Christ, 
 none of which things, as is said, they who are really Chris- 
 tians can by any means be compelled to do. These, there- 
 fore, I thought proper to discharge. Others were named by 
 an informer, who at first confessed themselves Christians, 
 and afterwards denied it ; the rest said they had been Chris- 
 tians, but had left them some three years ago, some longer, 
 and one or more above twenty years. They all worshipped 
 your image, and the statues of the gods ; these also reviled 
 Christ. They affirmed that the whole of their fault or error 
 lay in this, that they were wont to meet together on a stated 
 day, before it was light, and sing among themselves alter- 
 nately a hymn to Christ as God ; and bind themselves by an 
 oath not to the commission of any wickedness, but not to 
 11* 
 
250 TESTIMONY OP SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 be guilty of theft, or robbery, or adultery, never to falsify 
 their word, nor to deny a pledge committed to them, when 
 called upon to return it. When these things were performed, 
 it was their custom to separate, and then to come together 
 again to a meal, which they ate ih common, without any 
 disorder ; but this they had forborne since the publication 
 of my edict, by which, according to your commands, I pro- 
 hibited assemblies. After receiving this account, I judged 
 it the more necessary to examine, and that by torture, two 
 maid-servants, which were called ministers. But I have 
 discovered nothing beside a bad and excessive superstition. 
 Suspending, therefore, all judicial proceedings, I have re- 
 course to you for advice ; for it has appeared unto me a 
 matter highly deserving consideration, especially upon ac- 
 count of the great number of persons who are in danger of 
 suffering ; for many of all ages, and every rank, of both 
 sexes likewise, are accused, and will be accused. Nor has 
 the contagion of the superstition seized cities only, but the 
 lesser towns also, and the open country. Nevertheless it 
 seems to me that it may be restrained and corrected. It is 
 certain that the temples, which were almost forsaken, begin 
 to be more frequented. And the sacred solemnities, after a 
 long intermission, are revived. Victims likewise are every- 
 where bought up, whereas for some time there were few 
 purchasers. Whence it is easy to imagine what numbers 
 of men might be reclaimed, if pardon were granted to those 
 who repent." 
 
 To this letter of Pliny the following reply was returned 
 by Trajan : 
 
 "Trajan to Pliny, health and happiness. You have 
 taken the right method, my Pliny, in your proceedings with 
 those who have been brought before you as Christians ; for 
 it is impossible to establish any one rule that shall hold 
 universally. They are not to be sought for. If any are 
 
ANCIENT HISTORY. 251 
 
 brought before you, and are convicted, they ought to be 
 punished. However, he that denies his being a Christian, 
 and makes it evident in fact ; that is, by supplicating our 
 gods ; though he be suspected to have been so formerly, 
 let him be pardoned upon repentance. But in no case of 
 crime whatever, may a bill of information be received, with- 
 out being signed by him who presents it ; for that would 
 be a dangerous precedent, and unworthy of my govern- 
 ment." 
 
 The date of this memorable correspondence was about 
 seventy years after the death of Christ. " We have herein," 
 says Mr. Haldane, " a public and authentic attestation to 
 the amazing growth of the Christian religion, which had 
 made such progress in the remote country of Bithynia, that 
 the pagan temples were, according to Pliny, 'almost for- 
 saken ; ' he also mentions that there had been Christians in 
 that country twenty years before. Their blameless lives, 
 the purity of their religious worship, their meeting together 
 on a certain day, their adoration of Jesus Christ as God, 
 their obedience to their civil rulers, in giving up what they 
 did not consider to be enjoined by Divine authority, and 
 their fortitude in suffering, and steady perseverance in thfe 
 faith of Christ, are all unequivocally attested by their per- 
 secutors." 
 
 The Emperor Hadrian succeeded his kinsman Trajan, 
 A. D. 117. As the edict of Trajan had not been repealed, 
 the Christians still suffered persecution under his reign, al- 
 though he issued no new edict against them. Upon occa- 
 sion, however, of the Apologies which Quadratus and Aris- 
 tides presented to him at Athens, in the year 128, that per- 
 secution was moderated. Of Aristides, Jerome says : " He 
 was a most eloquent Athenian. philosopher, and in his for- 
 mer habit he presented to the Emperor Hadrian, at the same 
 time with Quadratus, a book containing an account of our 
 
252 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 sect, that is, an Apology for the Christians which is still ex- 
 tant, a monument with the learned of his ingenuity." This 
 Apology is now lost. To Quadratus was ascribed the gift 
 of prophecy, and he is said to have been " a disciple of the 
 apostles." The following is all that remains of the Apology 
 which he presented to Hadrian : " The works of the Sa- 
 viour were always conspicuous, for they were real, both they 
 that were healed and they that were raised from the dead ; 
 who were seen not only when they were healed or raised, 
 but for a long time afterwards ; nor only whilst he dwelt 
 upon this earth, but also after his departure, and for a good 
 while after it, insomuch that some of them have reached to 
 our times." 
 
 "We will now again call up testimony which history has 
 preserved, contributed by decided enemies of the Christian 
 faith, Porphyry and the Emperor Julian. 
 
 Porphyry was a pupil of Longinus, who flourished in the 
 third century. He wrote a book against the Scriptures, 
 which was burnt in the following century, by order of Con- 
 stantine, and afterwards by that of Theodosius the Younger. 
 He admits the working of miracles by the apostles, but 
 ascribes them, like Celsus, to magical arts. This was the 
 common excuse for rejecting the Gospel, supported as it 
 was by these wonders, which could not be controverted. 
 A work containing such objections deserved only contempt, 
 and hardly needed the edict of the civil power for its sup- 
 pression. It was already fully met by our Lord's reply to a 
 similar taunt: If Satan sustain the cause which can only 
 prevail by his overthrow, how shall his kingdom stand ? 
 
 Julian, A. D. 361, mentions Paul by name, and treats 
 of the first chapter of St. John. While he speaks con- 
 temptuously of Christ, as having made a few proselytes from 
 among the dregs of the people, and as not having been 
 known for more than three hundred years, he admits the 
 cure of the halt and the blind, and the exorcism of demo- 
 
ANCIENT HISTORY. 253 
 
 niacs at Bethesda and Bethany. His whole book is a bitter 
 invective against the Christians. He admits the holy life 
 of the Christians, and holds up their charity to imitation. 
 Their zeal, their fortitude, their pure notions of religion 
 receive his honorable mention; and while his arguments 
 against the Gospel are perfectly harmless, he has unde- 
 signedly borne important testimony to the truth of many 
 of its facts. 
 
 How complete the chain of evidence that has been 
 adduced! Not only have we the contemporaneous narra- 
 tives of friends ; but enemies, Jews and Pagans, the Roman 
 emperor and senate and Pilate, the very judge who con- 
 demned our Lord, all bear witness that there was such a 
 person as Jesus Christ, that he lived at the time the Gos- 
 pel relates, that he wrought miracles, that he was crucified, 
 and that he had numerous disciples and followers, of whose 
 affairs many of them make mention. They cannot deny 
 the facts are forced to admit that miracles were wrought 
 by our Lord, and can only allege against them the absurd 
 cavil that has been noticed that they were the result of 
 magic arts. 
 
 This chain of evidence might be greatly lengthened; 
 but enough has been given to warrant the "assertion that 
 Ancient History, as far as it extends, is a witness to the 
 truth of Holy Scripture, and that no discovery in the annals 
 of the past can disturb the solid masonry of fact on which 
 it rests. I will only add a brief notice of two most inter- 
 esting historical monuments, which have come down to us 
 from the very times of the New Testament. 
 
 On what was the Via Sacra in ancient Rome, still 
 stands in proud decay a Triumphal Arch beneath which, it 
 is said, no Jew will pass, though it spans one of the thor- 
 oughfares of the city, but turns from it in silent aversion. 
 
 Of this majestic ruin, a modern traveller says: "The 
 voice of the sceptic has nothing to say of Him with whom 
 
254 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 is no variableness nor shadow of turning." But the very 
 stones do speak. Who could have thought that Domitian, 
 that cruel persecutor of the Christians, should erect an 
 arch which should confirm for ages the veracity of that 
 God whom they worshipped ? But God brings to nought 
 the wisdom of men. 
 
 We are told that this arch of triumph was erected by 
 Domitian and the Roman people in honor of Titus for his 
 conquest of Jerusalem. On the interior are two bass-re- 
 liefs. On one Titus is represented borne on a triumphal 
 car, which Rome, under the figure of a woman, conducts ; 
 whilst victory crowns the conqueror. On the opposite side 
 is represented the triumphal pomp with the Jewish spoils : 
 first the prisoners ; then the table of the shewbread with 
 the sacred vessels ; the silver trumpets ; the candlestick 
 with seven branches ; the ark of the covenant, which the 
 Roman soldiers, crowned with the wreath of victory, bear 
 on their shoulders. 
 
 " Who that gazes on that relic of Roman grandeur can 
 avoid recalling the sound of that voice which once said : 
 ' Seest thou these great buildings ? there shall not be left 
 one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down ? ' " 
 
 The other historical monument referred to as having 
 come down to us from the very times of the New Testa- 
 ment is that of the Jew of the present day, bearing as he 
 does incontrovertible evidence, in every line of his oriental 
 features, of the authenticity of his descent through un- 
 counted generations. In him we have a living argument 
 of the truth of divine revelation ; in him we behold a literal 
 fulfilment of the prophecies ; with him may we ascend the 
 stream of time until, by an emanation from that same light 
 which was to his nation " a pillar of cloud by day and a 
 pillar of fire by night," we witness the division of the sea ; 
 the angels? food ; the rock that followed them ; the opening 
 of the earth and the fire from heaven ; the parting of the 
 
ANCIENT HISTORY. 255 
 
 waters of Jordan ; the walls of Jericho ; the sun standing 
 still in the valley of Ajalon. Their whole career as a 
 people, from Egypt down to the destruction of Jerusalem 
 by Titus and their final dispersion, is full of wonders. Yet, 
 perhaps, there is nothing more marvellous in their history 
 than their present condition, scattered as we find them 
 through almost every habitable portion of the globe. 
 Eighteen centuries have now passed away since they ceased 
 to exist as a state, and when, according to the ordinary 
 laws which determine such events, they ought to have dis- 
 appeared among the mass of nations. Their oppressors, 
 the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Syro-Macedonians 
 and Romans, have all in their turn long ago been razed 
 from the list of principalities and powers. Since the ex- 
 tinction of their polity, the Byzantine empire has succeeded 
 to the Roman and the Mussulman to the Byzantine ; Goths 
 and Vandals have expelled the ancient settlers of more 
 than half of the kingdoms of Europe, and have themselves 
 been succeeded by fresh invaders ; all have changed again 
 and again their names, laws, dynasties, character, languages, 
 and religion. Yet, during the whole of that immense pe- 
 riod, the fallen Jews, without a home or a government, 
 unacknowledged in most parts of Europe, and scarcely tol- 
 erated in some, hated and persecuted by all, have still pre- 
 served their faith, their institutions, their exclusive habits, 
 and their numbers entire. How shall this extraordinary 
 vitality be explained, except as the fulfilment of the prom- 
 ise of God that He would " not make a full end of His 
 people " that He " would not destroy them utterly," and 
 that even in their lowest estate, He would not " break His 
 covenant with them?*' Truly might the great Conde 
 have said, in reply to certain infidel arguments, that ie it 
 was perfectly vain to assail the credibility of the Christian 
 revelation, so long as so singular a miracle as that of the 
 existing Jewish people could be alleged in its support." 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 OBJECTIONS AND REPLIES. 
 
 THE opponents of Revelation have endeavored to in- 
 validate the authority and impugn the credibility of the 
 sacred writers, by the charge of discrepancy and contradic- 
 tion in their statements. As truth is one and must always 
 be consistent with itself, if this charge could be substan- 
 tiated, it would at once annul the claim of inspiration for 
 the Bible. When we apply this test to the Koran of Ma- 
 homet, we find that its pages contain more than one hun- 
 dred and fifty palpable contradictions, admitted even by 
 learned Mussulmen, who account for them by saying that 
 in all these instances the Almighty changed his mind! 
 But of the numerous alleged contradictions that have been 
 brought against the Bible, it may safely be affirmed that 
 there is not one of them that is not capable of a rational 
 solution. Through the mistakes of transcribers, errors 
 no doubt at times crept into manuscripts of the sacred 
 writings, before the invention of printing, and such may 
 also be found in printed copies; but the contradictions 
 objected, are only apparent, not real. The slightest ex- 
 amination will show that the greater portion of these are 
 frivolous, while the difficulties of th"e remainder will vanish 
 upon a more profound acquaintance with the facts. "It 
 is by no means uncommon " (says Professor Lee), "to find 
 in the accounts of two perfectly honest historians referring 
 to the same events from different points of view, certain 
 
OBJECTIONS AND REPLIES. 257 
 
 peculiarities in the structure of their compositions, which, 
 when noticed, at once reconcile the seeming variance which 
 such peculiarities may have occasioned ; or some fact may 
 have been omitted which lends an air of opposition to their 
 statements an opposition which the mention of the omitted 
 fact by a third writer instantly clears up." The following 
 solution of a difficulty in ordinary history, together with 
 the application of the principle on which it rests, to a paral- 
 lel case in the Evangelical record, will amply confirm what 
 has just been stated. 
 
 Aristobulus, the friend of Alexander the Great, and 
 who watched by his death bed, relates that he died on the 
 30th of the Macedonian month Dsesius. On the other hand, 
 Eumenes and Diodotus, who kept the journal of Alexander, 
 and who recount the progress of his malady, place his death 
 on the evening of the 28th of the same month. Here is an 
 obvious variance in statement, and yet no critic has for 
 a moment considered that there is any real contradiction, 
 although the solutions which have been given are very dif- 
 ferent. Thus, it is shown by some, how the variance will 
 disappear if we call to mind the manner of counting the 
 days of the month by the Greeks ; while the explanation 
 of another writer is founded upon the difference in the 
 point of time from which the beginning of the day was 
 reckoned whether from sunrise as at Babylon, or from 
 sunset according to Grecian usage. Other explanations 
 are also supplied, and any one among them is considered 
 to remove every appearance of contradiction. The history 
 of the Gospel harmony supplies an example exactly parallel. 
 The case is one of peculiar interest, and from a very early 
 period it has presented a difficulty to Christian apologists. 
 I allude to the statements of St. Mark and St. John as to 
 the hour of Christ's passion " a question," says St. Augus- 
 tine, " which, above all others, is wont to stir up the shame- 
 lessness of the contentious, and to disturb the nnskilfulness 
 
258 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 of the weak." St. Augustine himself proposed two methods 
 whereby the accounts might be reconciled ; and, while ad- 
 mitting the difficulties with which his suggestions were 
 encumbered, he lays down the principle for which I now 
 contend. Referring to a supposed objection to one of 
 his solutions, he asks: "If we both alike believe the 
 Evangelists, do you point out how their accounts can 
 be otherwise reconciled, and I will acquiesce most cheer- 
 fully ; for I love not my own opinion, but the truth of the- 
 Gospel. Until some other explanation is discovered, this 
 of mine shall suffice ; and when that other is demonstrated, 
 I too will adopt it." It has been reserved for modern times 
 to suggest a solution which has been almost universally 
 accepted, and which removes every shade of difficulty from 
 the case: St. Mark asserts that our Lord was crucified 
 at " the third hour," or at nine o'clock in the forenoon ; 
 while, according to St. John, Pilate " about the sixth hour " 
 was still sitting in judgment. The explanation of this ap- 
 parent discordance in time an explanation which even 
 Strauss, while exaggerating " the difficulty " to the utmost, 
 allows to be " possible " is, that St. John has given the 
 hour according to the Roman calculation of time, which 
 counted, as we do, from midnight; while St. Mark adheres 
 to the Jewish custom of counting from sunrise. 
 
 And thus it will be found that, in all the apparent dis- 
 crepancies of Scripture, the difficulty arises from our not 
 having the clue which unites the different statements. As 
 soon as that is obtained, their harmony is established. 
 
 Another sceptical objection is founded upon the alleged 
 collision between the statements of Scripture and those of 
 Profane History. It is not to be denied that such instances 
 are to be found, but what can be more unfair than to take 
 it for granted that the sacred narrative must be necessarily 
 false ? Did a tribunal of appeal exist, in the shape of au- 
 thentic, reliable records of those times, it might then be 
 
OBJECTIONS AND REPLIES. 259 
 
 satisfactorily shown, in such cases of contradiction, on which 
 side lay the error. Without such a tribunal, when proba- 
 bilities are weighed, and the characters of the writers are 
 considered, the truth of the Biblical statements cannot be 
 successfully impugned. 
 
 The following are instances of what at first appeared 
 to be historical discrepancies, but in which subsequent dis- 
 covery has vindicated the minute accuracy of the sacred 
 writers. 
 
 It is related in the Second Book of Kings (xx. 12), and 
 in the historical chapters of Isaiah (xxxix. 1), that Merodach 
 Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to 
 Hezekiah, because he heard that he had been sick. As 
 previous to the publication of the Chronicle of Eusebius 
 in the early part of this century, there was no other known 
 record of such a monarch, it was objected that he was a 
 mythical personage, and moreover that Babylon at that 
 time was merely a dependent province of the Assyrian 
 empire. A fragment of Berosus, however, preserved in 
 that chronicle, supplies the desired information and re- 
 moves all the difficulty. We learn from it that Merodach 
 Baladan was an usurper, who reigned independently at 
 Babylon for six months, and was then overthrown by Sen- 
 nacherib. From another passage of the same Berosus, it 
 has been sought to disprove the historical narrative of 
 Belshazzar in Daniel. Berosus makes the last Babylonian 
 monarch absent from the city at the time of its captivity by 
 the Persians, and also speaks of him as taken prisoner after- 
 wards at Bersippa, and as then not slain, but treated with 
 much kindness by Cyrus. The two narratives of the fall 
 of Babylon were thus in appearance wholly irreconcilable ; 
 and some were driven to suppose two falls of Babylon, to 
 escape the seeming contrariety. But out of all this confu- 
 sion and uncertainty, a small and simple but most important 
 discovery, which was made by Sir Henry Rawlinson, from 
 
260 TESTIMONY OF. SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 documents obtained at Mughur, the ancient Ur of the Chal- 
 dees, has delivered us. From these he learned that Nabo- 
 nadius, the last of the kings of Babylon, associated with 
 himself on the throne during the later years of his reign his 
 son Bel-shar-uzar, and allowed him the royal title. That 
 this was the prince who conducted the defence of Babylon, 
 and who was slain in the massacre that followed upon its 
 capture, cannot be doubted ; while his father, who was at 
 the time in Borsippa, surrendered and experienced the clem- 
 ency which was generally shown to fallen kings by the Per- 
 sians. Nor is this all. The discovery of Belshazzar's posi- 
 tion as joint-ruler of the empire, throws light upon another 
 passage in the narrative which had been the cause of some 
 perplexity, and thus imparts additional confirmation to its 
 historical credibility. We are therein told that Belshazzar 
 promised to the successful interpreter of the handwriting 
 on the wall, that he should be promoted to be the third 
 ruler in the kingdom. Why his position should not be the 
 same as it seems to have been under Nebuchadnezzar, or as 
 that of Joseph was in Egypt, or of Mordecai in Persia, it 
 would have been impossible to tell until the above discovery. 
 But as there were two joint sovereigns reigning at the time, 
 it is now seen that the reward proffered by Belshazzar was 
 the highest position tenable by a subject. 
 
 In the work I have already quoted, Professor Lee gives 
 a remarkable instance of the minute accuracy of St. Luke, 
 which he prefaces " by a parallel example illustrative of the 
 apparent contradictions so constantly to be met with in or- 
 dinary history. The medals struck for the coronation of 
 Louis XIV give a different day from that which all con- 
 temporary historians agree in fixing for the date of that 
 event. Of all these writers, one only has noticed a circum- 
 stance which accounts for this discrepancy, for he alone 
 mentions that the coronation had been appointed to take 
 place on the day given by the medals, which were accord- 
 
OBJECTIONS AND REPLIES. 261 
 
 ingly prepared, but that circumstances caused a delay till 
 the date assigned by the historians. Nothing can be more 
 simple than this ; and yet, in a thousand years, had no such 
 explanation been given, antiquarians would have been sadly 
 perplexed in their efforts to reconcile the contradiction. 
 Let us now turn to the parallel case in the Acts of the 
 Apostles. St. Luke in the thirteenth chapter, gives the 
 title of Proconsul to the Governor of Cyprus. In the divi- 
 sion, however, of the Roman Empire by Augustus, this 
 island had been reserved for his own jurisdiction, and, conse- 
 quently, its governor must have borne the rank of procurator ; 
 that of proconsul being appropriated to those who ruled 
 the provinces which the emperor had ceded to the senate. 
 The title here assigned by St. Luke to Sergius Paulus had 
 for a long time perplexed commentators, who knew not how 
 to reconcile the statement of the sacred historian with the 
 assumed facts of the case. Some coins, however, were 
 found bearing the effigy of the Emperor Claudius ; and in 
 the centre of the reverse there appears the word KYIIPION, 
 while the surrounding legend gives the title in question of 
 proconsul to an individual who must have been the immedi- 
 ate successor or predecessor of Sergius Paulus. In addition 
 to this evidence, a passage has been pointed out in the 
 writings of Dion Cassius, who mentions that Augustus, sub- 
 sequently to his original settlement, had changed Cyprus 
 and Gallia Narbonensis into senatorial provinces ; the his- 
 torian adding, as if with the design of establishing St. Luke's 
 accuracy, " And so it came to pass that proconsuls began to 
 be sent to these nations also." Had the writings of Dio 
 Cassius perished amid the wreck of ancient literature, and 
 the coins alluded to never been found, we should unques- 
 tionably have seen this hypothetical blunder of the inspired 
 historian foremost among the array of cases adduced by 
 such writers as Strauss. Is not the Christian apologist, 
 therefore, fully justified in deprecating the precipitancy of 
 
262 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 criticism ? Has he not ample grounds for maintaining that 
 difficulties, such as those we have considered, arise from our 
 ignorance of the whole of the case ; and that we have good 
 reason to expect that they will eventually disappear as sim- 
 ilar evidence accumulates. 
 
 Equally untenable is the sceptical objection which has 
 been drawn from the silence of Profane History as to some 
 of the facts of the New Testament. Of the leading and 
 more important of those facts, it is not true ; for as we 
 have seen, they are abundantly corroborated in the pages* 
 of Tacitus, Suetonius, and others. For the omission of 
 some others, such as the massacre of the innocents and the 
 supernatural darkness at the crucifixion, a sufficient reply 
 is furnished in the following extract from the recently pub- 
 lished diary of Varnhagen von Ense : 
 
 " Humboldt confirms the opinion I have more than once 
 expressed, that too much must not be inferred from the 
 silence of authors. He adduces three important and per- 
 fectly undeniable facts, as to which one finds no evidence 
 in places where one would naturally, above all others, ex- 
 pect to find it. In the records of Barcelona there is not a 
 trace of the triumphal entry made by Columbus ; in Marco 
 Polo, no mention of the great wall of China ; and in the 
 archives of Portugal, nothing about the voyage of Ameri- 
 go Vespucci in the service of that crown." History of the 
 Geography of the New World, part iv, p. 160, et seq. 
 
 To this it may be added that Pliny makes no mention 
 whatever of the destruction of Herculaneum and Pompeii 
 large and populous cities. Even Tacitus merely glances 
 at the event in these words : " Haustse aut obruta3 urbes " 
 cities were consumed or burned. Suetonius is silent as to 
 the cities, though the eruption is incidentally mentioned. 
 Martial has a slight allusion to them; and Dion Cassius, 
 about one hundred and fifty years after Pliny, adverts to 
 the traditional account of them. " A multitude of things," 
 
OBJECTIONS AND REPLIES. 263 
 
 says Montfaucon, " are daily found out, which have been 
 hitherto unobserved and not mentioned ; such as the tem- 
 ple of Mithras, in the Viminal vale, of which not one word 
 is met with in authors." 
 
 The weakness and fallacy of the above objections having 
 been demonstrated, let us proceed to examine two argu- 
 ments in behalf of the historic verity and divine authority 
 of the Holy Scriptures, drawn from their internal evidence, 
 which cannot fail to carry irresistible conviction to the 
 mind of the earnest and sincere inquirer after truth. 
 
 The first of these is the wonderful unity and harmony 
 of design which is found in the Bible, from the beginning 
 of Genesis to the close of the Apocalypse. 
 
 The absurdity of supposing that this could be the effect 
 of fraud is thus strongly urged by Mr. Haldane. He says : 
 "Let any set of men combine to write such a book as the 
 Bible. Let their plan be laid so as to extend through a 
 period of fifteen hundred years. Let those who shall first 
 enter upon the work obtain others to succeed them during 
 that space of time. Let them write history, poetry, the- 
 ology, and prophecies concerning the state of the world. 
 Let them at length procure some one to come forward in 
 whom all that they have written shall find its accomplish- 
 ment. Let him be born in the place they had foretold, of 
 the family they had singled out, at the exact period they 
 had predicted. Let him be exhibited in the most critical 
 situations, in the midst of enlightened, powerful, and de- 
 termined adversaries, while they still uphold him as perfect, 
 and defy his enemies to prove the contrary. Let his own 
 death be a part of their plan, which he himself shall foretell. 
 Let a number of persons arise immediately afterwards to 
 carry forward the design, charge the government under 
 which he suffered as his murderers, affirm that he is alive, 
 and has given them convincing evidence that he will re- 
 ward them in a future world. Let these men support their 
 
264 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 doctrines by an appeal to miracles openly performed before 
 enemies armed with civil power ; and let them adhere to 
 their testimony at the expense of life, and all things dear 
 in this world. Let them promulgate a new religion and 
 code of laws, completely subversive of every existing re- 
 ligion on earth, and directly opposed to the indulgence of 
 the strongest propensities of the human heart. Let this re- 
 ligion, by the force of its own evidence, win its way through 
 the world, overthrow every opposing system, extend its 
 triumphs, and finally establish itself in the most civilized 
 nations, in spite of the most learned, the most determined, 
 and the most powerful adversaries ; and let the character 
 of the leader, as set forward by his associates, be thus vin- 
 dicated as 4 the light of the nations.' Who does not see 
 the total impracticability, the absolute absurdity of such an 
 attempt ? As soon migiit men of understanding be induced 
 to climb up to the stars, as to propose to themselves such a 
 scheme." * 
 
 Yet all this is the true and wondrous story of that Book 
 which Christians claim to be from God. 
 
 The Bible contains sixty-six books, to the composition of 
 which thirty different persons have contributed. These 
 books were written amidst the strangest diversity of time, 
 place, and condition, among the sandy deserts of Arabia, 
 the fields and hills of Palestine, in the courts of the Jewish 
 Temple, in the palace of Shushan, in the dungeons of Rome, 
 and one of them in a lonely island of the ^Egean Sea. 
 They were written in a variety of forms, in history, biog- 
 raphy, and parable; proverbs, poems, and letters. They 
 were written by persons occupying various conditions in 
 life princes and peasants, warriors and fishermen, learned 
 men and unlearned. And from the time that Moses took 
 his pen to write the story of the creation, to the record by 
 
 i Haldane's Evidences of Christianity, vol. ii, p. 486. 
 
OBJECTIONS AND REPLIES. 265 
 
 St. John of the visions which he saw in Patmos, a period 
 of fifteen hundred years had intervened. 
 
 Under such circumstances, collusion and preconcert were 
 utterly impossible. Yet so far from one contradicting what 
 another inculcates, there is on the contrary the most per- 
 fect harmony. Every book both in the Old and New Tes- 
 taments is a link in the same golden chain. They are one 
 uniform whole, though beginning at the creation and ex- 
 tending to the consummation of all things. " As in Beetho- 
 ven's matchless music there runs one idea, worked out 
 through all the changes of measure and of key ; now al- 
 most hidden, now breaking out in rich natural melody, 
 whispered in the treble, murmured in the bass, dimly sug- 
 gested in the prelude, but growing clearer and clearer as 
 the work proceeds, winding gradually back till it ends in 
 the key in which it began, and closes in triumphant har- 
 mony ; so throughout the whole Bible there runs one 
 great idea: man's ruin by sin and his redemption by 
 grace ; in a word, Jesus Christ the Saviour. This runs 
 through the Old Testament, that prelude to the New; 
 dimly promised at the fall, and more clearly to Abraham ; 
 typified in the ceremonies of the law; all the events of 
 sacred history paving the way for his coming ; his descent 
 proved in the genealogies of Ruth and Chronicles ; spoken 
 of as Shiloh by Jacob, as the Star by Balaam, as the 
 Prophet by Moses; the David of the Psalms; the Re- 
 deemer looked for by Job ; the Beloved of the Song of 
 Songs. We find him in the sublime strains of the lofty 
 Isaiah, in the writings of the tender Jeremiah, in the mys- 
 teries of the contemplative Ezekiel, in the visions of the 
 beloved Daniel, the great idea growing clearer and clearer 
 as the time drew on. Then the full harmony broke out in 
 the song of the angels : ' Glory to God in the highest, and 
 on earth peace, good will towards men.' And evangelists 
 and apostles taking up the theme, the strain closes in the 
 12 
 
266 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 same key in which it began the devil, who troubled the 
 first paradise, forever excluded from the second ; man re- 
 stored to the favor of God, and Jesus Christ the key-note 
 
 of the whole." 
 
 
 " The silver sounding instruments did meet 
 
 With the base murmur of the water's fall ; 
 The water's fall with difference discreet, 
 
 Now soft, now loud, unto the wind did call ; 
 
 The gentle warbling wind low answered to all." SPENSER. 
 
 Does not this wondrous unison make it evident that the 
 Bible must have had its origin in the infinite Mind of that 
 God who sees the end from the beginning, and who is with- 
 out variableness or shadow of turning from eternity to 
 eternity the same ? Truly might the poet ask : 
 
 " Whence but from Heaven could men unskill'd in arts, 
 In several ages born, in several parts, 
 Weave such agreeing truths ? or how, or why, 
 Should all conspire to cheat us with a lie ? 
 Unask'd their pains, ungrateful their advice, 
 Starving their gain, and martyrdom their price." DRTDEN. 
 
 Another argument of hardly less weight has been drawn 
 from what have been called the " undesigned coinci- 
 dences " of the Bible. These, it has been said, " involve 
 a test of truth which is acknowledged almost instinctively, 
 by the human mind, and which every day's experience 
 serves to strengthen and to impress ; a test which advo- 
 cates are always glad to seize upon and to urge whenever 
 they have it in their power, and judges and juries are not 
 less ready to acknowledge ; and no one who observes the 
 state of his own mind, or that of others, in the reception of 
 evidence, can shut his eyes to the fact, how much more 
 strongly coincidences, which come out accidentally, and 
 are free from all suspicion of collusion, prevail in the estab- 
 lishment of a fact, than the most exact agreement in points, 
 
OBJECTIONS AND REPLIES. 267 
 
 which would naturally have presented themselves before- 
 hand, as prominent features of the story, and necessary to 
 be shaped and fitted by those who were fabricating a false- 
 hood." 
 
 A few of these coincidences gleaned from the numerous 
 collections made by Paley and Blunt, will be sufficient to 
 show that the Bible is its own witness. 
 
 Thus, in his account of the crucifixion, St. Matthew tells 
 us that " the soldiers smote Jesus with the palms of their 
 hands, saying, Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, Who is he 
 that smote thee?" And in this challenge there seems 
 nothing very difficult. There is apparently neither force 
 nor meaning in the insult, if Christ had the offender before 
 his eyes. But when we learn from St. Luke (xxii. 64), that 
 " the men that held Jesus blindfolded him " before they 
 asked him to prophesy who it was that smote him, we dis- 
 cover what St. Matthew intended to communicate, namely, 
 that they proposed this test of his divine mission, whether, 
 without the use of sight, he could tell who it was that struck 
 him. 
 
 All the evangelists agree in telling that when the high 
 priest's officers came out to arrest Jesus, Peter drew a 
 sword, and smote off a servant's ear. And yet both St. 
 Matthew and St. Mark agree in relating, that when Christ's 
 persecutors sought all sorts of evidences against Him, so as 
 to make out a case before the Roman Governor, they could 
 procure none. But is it not very strange, that when the 
 high priest had in his own palace such a striking proof of 
 the violent character and dangerous designs of these Gali- 
 leans, he should not have called as a witness his own 
 wounded servant ? Had we possessed no information be- 
 yond the narratives of St. Matthew and St. Mark, this 
 would have been a flagrant difficulty. You say that " the 
 whole effort of the priests was to prejudice Pilate against 
 Jesus, as a seditious and turbulent character ; but they 
 
268 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 could substantiate nothing." Why was not this recent and 
 conclusive witness forthcoming ? Especially, when Jesus 
 said to Pilate, " My kingdom is not of this world ; if my 
 kingdom were of this world, then would my servants figlit, 
 that I should not be delivered to the Jews," why did 
 none of his accusers reply, " Yes, but your servants did 
 fight, and one of them has inflicted a wound on the sacred 
 person of the high priest's servant" ? Now had we possessed 
 no Gospels except these two, we could not have accounted 
 for so strange an oversight on the part of the priestly fac- 
 tion. But St. Luke mentions a circumstance which suffi- 
 ciently explains it. From his account we find that as soon 
 as Peter smote off the ear Jesus healed it again ; and by 
 doing this he effectually disqualified the wounded servant 
 from appearing as a witness against him. The priests were 
 in this dilemma. If next morning they produced the ser- 
 vant as a proof of the violence of Christ and his followers, 
 how could Pilate credit them ? That wound was never in- 
 flicted overnight, or it could not be healed so soon. Or if, 
 to explain this latter circumstance, they acknowledged that 
 Christ had instantaneously healed it, they would at once 
 have trod on dangerous ground, and would have given 
 Pilate another reason for suspecting what he was already 
 very apt to surmise the supernatural character of his 
 prisoner. 
 
 In St. Matthew (viii. 16) we read, that "when the even 
 was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed 
 with devils, and he cast out the spirits with his word, and 
 healed all that were sick." But why was it evening when 
 they brought to Jesus these demoniacs and sick persons ? 
 From St. Mark (i. 21-32), we find that it was the Sabbath- 
 day; and from St. Luke (xiii. 14), we find that the Jews 
 thought it sinful for " men to come and be healed on the 
 Sabbath-day." But we also know that the Jewish Sabbath 
 ceased at sunset ; so that when the evening was come the 
 
OBJECTIONS AND EEPLIES. 269 
 
 people would feel no scruple in bringing their afflicted 
 friends to Jesus to be healed. But observe how far we 
 have to travel before we can complete Matthew's simple 
 statement. He merely mentions that it was in the evening 
 Jesus wrought these cures; and had we possessed Mat- 
 thew's narrative alone, we might have laid no particular 
 stress upon the time of day. But we go on to Mark, and 
 we find that it was the Sabbath evening, " when the sun was 
 set." And we go on to Luke, and find, though in a totally 
 different connection, that these Jews would have thought it 
 very wicked to carry the sick or to accept a cure on the 
 Sabbath. 
 
 Again, the Evangelist St. John tells us (vi. 5), that on 
 one occasion, when surrounded by a weary multitude, 
 Jesus said : " Whence shall we buy bread that these may 
 eat ? " And in putting this question he addressed himself 
 to Philip. But John hints no reason why he should have 
 put this inquiry to Philip rather than to any other apostle. 
 Luke, however, mentions (ix. 10) that the place was a desert 
 near to Bethsaida ; and John himself happens to have men- 
 tioned, in the opening of his Gospel (i. 44), that Bethsaida 
 was the city of Philip. And laying these three insulated 
 passages together, we see how natural it. was to put the 
 question, "Where is bread to be bought?" to one ac- 
 quainted with the neighborhood. Had we not possessed 
 St. John's Gospel, we should never have known that such 
 a question was asked ; and had we not possessed St. Luke's 
 Gospel, we should never have seen the special propriety of 
 asking it of Philip. 
 
 Of these latent harmonies of Holy Scripture, Dr. James 
 Hamilton has unanswerably said : " It is just because the 
 particulars are so minute that the coincidence is so valuable. 
 They are just such trifles as a true historian is apt to omit, 
 and just such trifles that a fabricator would never think of 
 applying. These delicate agreements of one evangelist 
 
270 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 with another show that their story is an extract from the 
 Book of Truth, a leaf from the volume of actual occur- 
 rences, a derivation from a counterpart original. And 
 though all coeval literature had perished, though all the 
 external confirmations were destroyed, though all the 
 monuments of antiquity were annihilated, strong in its in- 
 trinsic truthfulness, the New Testament would still hold its 
 lofty place a tower of self-sustaining integrity. And though 
 the efforts of enmity were to succeed as they have signally 
 failed, though learned hostility were to undermine its 
 documentary foundations, and blow up that evidence of 
 manuscripts and early versions on which it securely reposes, 
 so finely do its facts fit into one another, so strongly are 
 its several portions clamped together, and in the penetra- 
 tion and interfusion through all its parts of its ultimate in- 
 spiring Authorship, into such a homogeneous structure has 
 it consolidated, that it would come down again on its own 
 basis, shifted, but nowise shattered. Such a book God has 
 made the Bible, that, whatever theories wax popular, 
 or whatever systems explode, " the Scripture cannot be 
 broken." 
 
CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 SACKED GEOGEAPHY TOPOGEAPHICAL ACCUEACY OF THE 
 INSPIRED WEITEES. 
 
 u Those holy fields 
 
 Over whose acres walk'd those blessed feet, 
 Which eighteen hundred years ago were nail'd 
 For our advantage, on the bitter cross." First Part K. Henry IV. 
 
 " The pathways of Thy land are little changed 
 
 Since thou wert there ; 
 
 The busy world through other ways has ranged 
 And left these bare. 
 
 " The rocky path still climbs the glowing steep 
 
 Of Olivet ; 
 
 Though rains of two millenniums wear it deep, 
 Men tread it yet. 
 
 " And as when gazing, Thou didst weep o'er them, 
 
 From height to height, 
 The white roofs of discrown'd Jerusalem 
 Burst on our sight. 
 
 ** The waves have washed fresh sands upon the shore 
 
 Of Galilee ; 
 
 But chisell'd in the hillsides evermore 
 Thy paths we see. 
 
 u Man has not changed them in that slumb'ring land, 
 
 Nor time effaced ; 
 
 Where Thy feet trod to bless, we still may stand ; 
 All can be traced." TJie Three Wakings, 
 
 MUCH has been written by philosophic historians respect- 
 ing the correspondency which is alleged to exist between 
 the scenery, the features, and boundaries of countries and 
 
272 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 the national characteristics of the peoples who inhabit them. 
 And in the case of nations such as the Greeks and Romans, 
 who have played a great part on the world's stage, it is 
 maintained that a prophetic forecast of their destiny can 
 be read in the hills, the plains, the rivers and the sens, 
 which cradled and fostered their birth and infancy. This 
 is especially true of the local features of that land, which 
 was the divinely appointed home of the chosen people and 
 the cradle of a faith designed to be universal. " No one 
 can study the geography of Palestine without perceiving 
 that this narrow strip of territory was designed by Provi- 
 dence for some important purpose in the history of man. 
 At the head of the Mediterranean, the gateway of Asia for 
 the nations of the west, and the natural outlet of the great 
 caravan commerce of "Western Asia with the sea, lying in 
 the highway of all ancient trade and conquest, the very 
 pivot about which the intercourse of nations and continents 
 revolves, it is yet isolated by natural causes from all adja- 
 cent countries which might swallow up its individuality. 
 The great mountain barrier upon the north, the sea upon 
 the west, the deep crevasse of the Ghor and the Dead Sea 
 upon the east, and the desert also to the east, and on the 
 south, these physical characteristics of the country, stamp 
 it in perpetuity as a land apart from all lands iitted at once 
 to be the theatre of great events, and to keep their un- 
 changing record upon its unchanging features. Those fea- 
 tures are photographed upon every page of the Bible, and 
 the original remains to certify the fidelity of the copy. In- 
 deed, there seems even to be the same relation of the Land 
 and the Book which exists between the two revealed econo- 
 mies. In order to the complete revelation of God in the 
 incarnation and atonement of Christ, it was necessary that 
 a particular people, separated for this end, should be made 
 familiar with theophanies, with prophetic inspiration, with 
 miraculous endowments, sacrificial offerings, and a represent- 
 
SACKED GEOGEAPHY. 273 
 
 ative, priestly intercession, and should thus form a sacred 
 language as the groundwork of the revelation of God in 
 Christ. The comparative isolation of the Jews in their ter- 
 ritory, and their complete isolation by that economy and 
 polity which were given to them by Jehovah before their 
 entrance into the promised land, prepared the typical 
 moulds in which the great thoughts of Divine love and 
 mercy should be fully conveyed to an unbelieving world. 
 And since, as compared with that disclosure of God which 
 is made to those who see him face to face, the Bible is but 
 the Pictorial Primer of our faith, there was need also that 
 its symbols and illustrations should be run into some physi- 
 cal mould prepared to contain so much of spiritual truth as 
 we, in this period of childhood, might be able to receive. 
 What were the Bible to man without its Eden and Jerusa- 
 lem ; its tree of life forfeited in the one, restored with 
 perennial fruitfulness in the other ? What were the incar- 
 nation, had not the human life of Christ been circumscribed 
 within familiar and unchanging scenes ; Nazareth and 
 Bethany, Gennesaret, and its romantic shores, Jerusalem 
 and its Temple ? What were the impression of the atone- 
 ment itself, had it been enacted in some spirit world, with- 
 out the visible agony of the garden, and the Cross lifted 
 up on Calvary ? And so in the land of Palestine, as would 
 hardly be possible in any other land, there existed in its 
 physical features and its every-day life, materials for a pic- 
 torial alphabet of spiritual truths ; the rock, the tower, 
 the fountain, the stream, the mountain, the forest, the 
 desert, the cave, the gulf, the sea, the shepherd, the watch- 
 man, the husbandman, the vinedresser, the robber, and the 
 beast of prey, whatever could furnish a similitude for a re- 
 ligious truth or duty, compressed into a little territory, and 
 there made permanent by the finger and the providence of 
 God. The land where the incarnate Word dwelt with 
 men, is, and must even be, an integral part of the Divine 
 12* 
 
274 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 Revelation. Her testimony is essential to the chain of evi- 
 dences, her aid invaluable to exposition. The very hills 
 and mountains, rocks, rivers, and fountains are symbols 
 and pledges of things far better than themselves. In a 
 word, Palestine is one vast tablet whereupon God's mes- 
 sages to men have been drawn and graven deep in living 
 characters, by the great Publisher of glad tidings, to be 
 seen and read of ah 1 to the end of time." l 
 
 The value of this testimony to the truth of the Bible 
 will be perceived, when it is considered that romancers 
 always place the scene of their fictions in a distant region 
 or a departed time ; the sacred writers recount events hap- 
 pening in their own country and during the period of their 
 own lives. Impostors avoid details, and keep to general 
 statements, taking care to introduce no names, places or 
 distances, which might serve to betray the fraud and pub- 
 lish the imposition. But the Bible, in almost every chapter, 
 stands committed on all these points, and its narratives are 
 accompanied with all the minute circumstances of time, 
 place, situation, habit, etc., conveying an impression of 
 reality beyond the reach of fiction. Thus in the Old Testa- 
 ment we read that it was " between Bethel and Hai," 
 whence the valley of the Jordan can be seen, that Abra- 
 ham parted with Lot, and it was from the heights near 
 Hebron that the patriarch beheld the smoke denoting the 
 overthrow of the cities of the plain. In the New Testa- 
 ment, it was as our Lord was " coming down " from Cana 
 to Capernaum, that news arrives of the healing of the no- 
 bleman's son ; it was on the road from Jericho to Jerusa- 
 lem, and on the eve of a memorable Passover, that Bartimeus, 
 the blind beggar, the son of Timeus, is restored to sight ; 
 and it was at Bethany, a village two miles from the capital, 
 that a few days afterwards Lazarus is recalled, from the 
 tomb. 
 
 1 The substance of the above introductory paragraph is from Dr. Thom- 
 son's " Land and the Book." 
 
SACKED GEOGEAPHY. 275 
 
 These are a few of innumerable examples that might be 
 cited, showing the fearlessness with which the sacred 
 writers commit themselves to statements, always avoided 
 in Apocryphal works, and which could be so readily disproved 
 if untrue. Yet in no one known instance has geographical 
 incorrectness or even indistinctness been detected. Each 
 new traveller is adding fresh confirmation of its precision 
 and accuracy. "It is impossible not to be struck," says 
 Canon Stanley, " by the constant agreement between the 
 recorded history and the natural geography both of the 
 Old and New Testament. To find a marked correspond- 
 ence between the scenes of the Sinaitic mountains and the 
 events of the Israelite wanderings is not much, perhaps, but 
 it is certainly something towards the truth of the whole 
 narrative. To meet in the Gospels allusions, transient but 
 yet precise, to the localities of Palestine, inevitably suggests 
 the conclusion of their early origin, while Palestine was 
 still familiar and accessible, while the events themselves 
 "were still recent in the minds of the writers. The detailed 
 harmony between the life of Joshua and the various scenes 
 of his battles, is a slight but a true indication that we are 
 dealing not with shadows, but with realities of flesh and 
 blood. Such coincidences are not usually found in fables, 
 least of all in fables of Eastern origin." 
 
 During the last half century this interesting department 
 of testimony to the Bible has been sedulously cultivated, 
 and the observations of intelligent Eastern travellers have 
 furnished numerous and striking confirmations of its truths 
 and narratives. "The truth is," says a learned writer, 1 
 "the Providence of God, which is never more worthily em- 
 ployed than about his Word, seems now to be directing the 
 eyes of his servants, as with a pointed finger, to the immense 
 stores of elucidation constantly accumulating from this 
 quarter. Animated either by the noble spirit of missionary 
 1 Professor Bush. 
 
276 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE, 
 
 enterprise, of commercial speculation, of military adventure, 
 or laudable curiosity, men of intelligence and observation 
 have made their way into every region on which the light 
 of revelation originally shone; exploring its antiquities, 
 mingling with its inhabitants, detailing its manners and 
 customs, and displaying its physical, moral and political 
 features. From these expeditions they have returned 
 laden with the rich results of their industry; and the 
 labors of the pen and, pencil have made thousands par- 
 takers of the benefit. " 
 
 A selection of some of the more important of these 
 "results" gleaned from various authentic and reliable 
 sources, will occupy the remainder of the present chapter. 
 
 MANNEKS AND CUSTOMS^ 
 
 The testimony of the Land to the Book may be read in 
 the existing frame-work of manners and usages. It has 
 been beautifully ordered, *in Divine Providence, that 
 while the nations of the West are notorious for per- 
 petual fashion and change, those of the East are, to a great 
 extent, immutable in their customs, and social habits, and 
 arrangements. The Bedouin tents are still the faithful 
 reproduction of the outward life of the patriarchs. Dur- 
 ing the heat of the day, the Sheik of the tribe, with his 
 flowing robes and reverend beard, will still be found, as 
 Abraham in the plains of Mamre, sitting by the tent door, 
 ready to receive the stranger, to bring him a little water 
 that his feet may be washed, to break bread for him, and 
 to bid him tarry for the night. The wandering Arab of 
 the desert may often be seen laying himself down after sun- 
 set on his bed of sand, like Jacob in the wilderness of Pa- 
 dan-aram, with a stone only for his pillow. At the well are 
 still also to be seen the troughs for the camels, the stone on 
 the well's mouth, and the camels kneeling with their bur- 
 
SACKED GEOGRAPHY. 277 
 
 dens and waiting patiently- till their troughs are full. The 
 close veil, the forehead ornaments, the earrings, the anklets, 
 the burden carried on the head, the children carried on the 
 shoulder, still mark the Eastern woman as in the days of 
 Isaiah. Companies of Ishmaelites still come from Gilead, 
 with their camels and dromedaries, bearing spicery and 
 balm and myrrh, as in the days of Reuben and Judah. 
 The description of Elijah and of the Baptist, finds a 
 parallel in the startling appearances, familiar to all travel- 
 lers in those lands, of the strange wild figures, who, as San- 
 tons or Dervishes, still haunt the solitary places of the East, 
 their only clothing being a cloak of camel's hair thrown 
 over the shoulders and a girdle of skin tied round the 
 waist. All this may still be seen among the pastoral tribes 
 of- the unchanging Orient : 
 
 " Where the lone desert rears its craggy stone, 
 Where suns unblest their angry lustre fling ; 
 And way-worn pilgrims seek the scanty spring." 
 
 BISHOP HEBER'S Palestine. 
 
 The vineyards, the corn fields, the houses, the wells of 
 Syria, moreover, still retain the outward imagery of the 
 teaching of Christ and his apostles; while the dress of the 
 people, the customs of society, the idioms of thought, the 
 salutations of courtesy, are living records of even yet re- 
 moter times. The unmuzzled ox still treads out the corn 
 as in the most distant ages of the past ; shepherds watch 
 their flocks by night, while the sheep know their voice and 
 follow them : women are seen grinding at the mill, and still 
 come with their pitchers and talk with them who sit by the 
 well. The beds of the people are a simple mat or carpet, 
 and even a child may take them up and walk ; their bottles 
 are of leather ; the grass is cast into the oven ; the tombs 
 are inhabited ; there are lodges in the garden of cucum- 
 bers ; grass grows on the houses ; and the inhabitants walk, 
 sleep, and meditate on the roofs of their dwellings. At 
 
278 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 night the gay marriage procession, with torches and music, 
 may often be seen on their way to the wedding festival. 
 The mourners also go about the streets and make lamenta- 
 tions for the dead. " At every step," says Morier, " some 
 object, some idiom, some dress, or some custom of common 
 life, reminds the traveller of ancient times ; and confirms 
 above all, the beauty, the accuracy, the propriety of the 
 history of the Bible." 
 
 THE FACE OF NATTJKE. 
 
 The natural phenomena and features of the country also 
 remain the same. The hills still stand round about Jerusa- 
 lem, as in the days of David and Solomon. The dew falls 
 on Hermon ; the cedars grow on Libanus ; and Kishon, 
 " that ancient river," draws its streams from Tabor as in 
 the times of old. The sea of Tiberias still lies imbedded 
 bright and blue, amid the hills of Galilee ; the fig tree springs 
 up by the wayside ; the sycamore spreads its branches ; and 
 the vines and olives still climb the sides of the mountains. 
 The wells of Elim with their overshadowing palm trees still 
 refresh the weary traveller of the desert, and the waters of 
 Marah are as bitter now as they were before the miracle of 
 healing. Flocks of quails from some unknown region still 
 alight in the desert, and from the top of Carmel, the cloud 
 " no bigger than a man's hand," is still at times descried 
 emerging from the horizon, as seen by the prophet, and al- 
 ways heralds the coming rain. Abana and Pharpar still 
 water and fertilize the plain of Damascus as in the days of 
 Naaman, and the swellings of Jordan are not less regular 
 than when the Hebrews first approached its banks. The 
 'brook still wanders through the valley of Elah, where the 
 Philistines were once encamped, and which supplied the 
 smooth pebbles for the sling of David. Bashan is still re- 
 nowned for its oaks, and Sharon for its roses. The willow 
 
SACKED GEOGKAPHY. 279 
 
 still weeps by the Euphrates as when the captives of Judah 
 hung upon it their harps ; the pelican and the bittern are 
 still found in desert places. Mount Tabor still overlooks 
 the fertile plain of Esdraelon, where the tribe of Issachar 
 rejoiced in their tents, and where Barak fought and dis- 
 comfited Sisera and his hosts. Ebal and Gerizirn still guard 
 the vale of Shechem. Pisgah still overlooks the land of 
 promise, and Sinai frowns in awful majesty amid its desert 
 solitude. " Among all the stupendous works of nature," 
 says Mr. Stephens, " not a place can be selected more fitted 
 for the exhibition of Almighty power." 
 
 "Extraordinary appearances," says Chateaubriand, in 
 describing Palestine, " every where proclaim a land teem- 
 ing with miracles ; the burning sun, the towering eagle, the 
 barren fig tree ; all the poetry, all the pictures of Scripture 
 are here. Every name commemorates a mystery, every 
 grotto proclaims the future, every hill re-echoes the accents 
 of a prophet. God himself has spoken in these regions ; 
 dried up rivers, riven rocks, half open sepulchres attest the 
 prodigy. The desert still appears mute with terror, and 
 you would imagine that it had never presumed to interrupt 
 the silence, since it heard the awful voice of the Eternal." 
 
 The present rocky and barren appearance of the greater 
 part of Palestine, at first sight strikes the observer as con- 
 tradictory to the inspired description of it as " a land flow- 
 ing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands." Upon 
 examination, however, this apparent difficulty vanishes, or 
 rather yields additional testimony to the truth of the Bible. 
 
 " It would be wrong," remarks a modern traveller, " to 
 argue the former capabilities of the Holy Land from its 
 present appearance, as it is now under the curse of God, 
 and its general barrenness is in full accordance with pro- 
 phetic denunciation. The Israelite in our street, whose ap- 
 pearance was delineated with graphic precision by Moses in 
 the fifteenth century before Christ, is not a surer evidence 
 
280 TESTIMCXNTY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 of the inspiration of the holy volume, than the land as it 
 now exists, cursed as it is in all its products, its heaven shut 
 up, and comparatively without rain. The prophecies con- 
 cerning Canaan are numerous, and have been so literally 
 fulfilled that they may now be used as actual history." 
 HAKDY'S Notices of the Holy Land, p. 283. 
 
 Great, however, as is the change which has been 
 wrought in the appearance of Palestine, there are not want- 
 ing indications of what it was before divine judgments made 
 it desolate, and of what it may again become when those 
 judgments shall be removed. " Even in those parts where 
 all is now desolate," remarks Dr. Robinson, "there are 
 everywhere traces of the hand of men of other days. . . . 
 Most of the hills, indeed, exhibit the remains of terraces 
 built up around them, the undoubted signs of former culti- 
 vation." Again, when travelling towards Hebron, he ob- 
 serves: "Many of the former terraces along the hill sides 
 are still in use ; and the land looks somewhat, as it may 
 have done in ancient times." " There are elements in the 
 land of Palestine," writes Lieut. Van de Velde, " for the 
 production of the richest abundance of useful plants. The 
 ground is untilled by mortal hands, and yet what a profu- 
 sion of charms does nature ofier ! " (He is speaking of the 
 plain of Sharon.) " The same elements are to be found ex- 
 isting in the soil elsewhere ; but there the land is inhabited 
 inhabited by a race of men whose track is followed by 
 barbarism and desolation. It is thus, in a certain sense, a 
 blessing for the country to be uninhabited. It will have 
 been remarked, perhaps, that the want of water, more than 
 any other cause, makes the land lie dry and dead. No doubt, 
 scarcity of water is the immediate cause ; but in the days 
 of Israel's prosperity water was to be had every where by 
 means of wells and water courses, and the greater cultiva- 
 tion of trees at once increased the rain and diminished the 
 evaporation from the ground. Such, however, is the nat- 
 
SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 281 
 
 ural disposition of the present inhabitants of Palestine, that 
 with all this-want of water, they allow the wells and foun- 
 tains that existed from of old to be ruined and stopt up, and 
 leave the water courses of former days broken down and 
 neglected. And all this that God's word may be fulfilled^ 
 and God's curse upon the land accomplished : " Then shall 
 the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate . . . 
 because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt 
 upon it." Syria and Palestine, vol. i. p. 344. 
 
 " In ages past all glorious was the land, 
 
 And lovely were thy borders, Palestine ! 
 The heavens were wont to shed their influence bland 
 
 On all those mountains and those vales of thine ; 
 
 For o'er thy coasts resplendent then did shine 
 The light of God's approving countenance, 
 
 With rapturous glow of blessedness divine, 
 And 'neath the radiance of that mighty glance, 
 Basked the wide-scattered isles o'er ocean's blue expanse. 
 
 " But there survives a tinge of glory yet, 
 
 O'er all thy pastures and thy heights of green, 
 Which, though the lustre of thy day hath set, 
 Tells of the joy and splendor which hath been: 
 So some proud ruin, 'mid the desert seen, 
 By traveller, halting on his path awhile, 
 
 Declares how once beneath the light serene 
 Of brief posterity's unclouded smile, 
 Uprose in grandeur there some vast imperial pile." 
 
 Lays of Palestine. 
 
 Desolate as for the most part it now appears, the sacred 
 soil awaits but the appointed hour (so we may gather from 
 every narrative) to sustain its millions as of old ; to flow 
 again with milk and honey ; to become once more " a land 
 of brooks of waters, of fountains and depths that spring 
 out of valleys and hills ; a land of wheat and barley, and 
 vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates, and of oil olive ; " 
 and to resume its ancient and rightful titles, " the garden 
 of the Lord," and " the glory of all lands." 
 
282 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 When from the general features of the country, we 
 descend to the minutest topographical details, we find the 
 same marvellous accuracy. In order that the strength 
 of this argument may be more fully estimated, I propose 
 to select the more prominent and interesting localities of 
 sacred history, and show from the testimony of the most 
 learned and accomplished travellers, that so exact is the 
 agreement, that the Bible may be said to be written on 
 the scenes which it describes. 
 
 THE LAND OF GOSHEH. 
 
 " In the best of the land ... in the land of Goshen let (the Israelites) 
 dwell . . . And Joseph placed his father and his brethren ... hi the 
 land of Rameses, as Pharoah had commanded." GEN. xlvii. 6, 11. 
 
 " The land of Goshen lay on the east of the Delta, and 
 was the part of Egypt nearest Palestine ; this tract is now 
 comprehended in the modern province Esh-Shurkiyeh. That 
 the land of Goshen lay upon the waters of the Nile, is ap- 
 parent from the circumstance that the Israelites practised 
 irrigation ; that it was a land of seed, figs, vines, and pome- 
 granates ; that the people ate of fish freely ; while the 
 enumeration of the articles for which they longed in the 
 desert, corresponds remarkably with the list given by Mr. 
 Lane as the food of the modern fellahs. ' We remember 
 the fish we did eat in Egypt freely, the cucumbers, and 
 the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic.' 
 All this goes to show that the Iraelites, when in Egypt, 
 lived much as the Egyptians do now, and that the land of 
 Goshen probably extended further west, and more into 
 the Delta than has usually been supposed. They would 
 seem to have lived interspersed among the Egyptians of 
 that district, perhaps in separate villages. . . . This appears 
 from the circumstance of their borrowing 'jewels of gold 
 and silver ' from their Egyptian neighbors ; and also from 
 
SACKED GEOGRAPHY. 283 
 
 the fact, that their houses were to be marked with blood, 
 in order that they might be distinguished and spared in 
 the last dread plague of the Egyptians. The immediate 
 descendants of Jacob were doubtless shepherds, like their 
 forefathers, dwelling in tents; and probably drove their 
 flocks for pasture far up in the valley of the desert, like 
 the present inhabitants of the same region. Even now 
 there is a colony of Arabs, about fifty families, living (in 
 those parts), who cultivate the soil, and yet dwell in tents. 
 They came thither from Mount Sinai, and acquired such 
 a taste for the good things of Egypt, that, like the Israel- 
 ites, they could not live in the desert. The land of Goshen 
 was ' the best of the land ; and such too the province Esh- 
 Shurkiyeh has ever been, down to the present time (being 
 now famous for its fertility). There are here more flocks 
 and herds than anywhere else in Egypt ; and also more 
 fishermen." ROBINSON'S Researches, vol. i, pp. 76-79. 
 
 ON HELIOPOLIS. 
 
 " (Pharoah gave Joseph to wife) Asenath, the daughter of Poti-pherah, 
 priest of On." GEN. xli. 45. 
 
 " The ride from Cairo to Heliopolis, the On of Scrip- 
 ture, is delightful ; the first part is across the skirt of the 
 desert. . . . Farther on, the road lies through green fields 
 and shady avenues of acacia trees, and the whole air is 
 redolent of the delicious perfumes of bean blossoms, and 
 alive with the hum of wild bees. The ' land of Goshen ' is 
 opening upon you, and its actual aspect bears out the 
 ancient renown for pastoral fertility, which caused it to be 
 conceded by Pharoah as an abode to Jacob and his sons, 
 when Joseph persuaded them to leave their own country, 
 and to bring their flocks and herds with them, that they 
 might dwell near him in the land of Egypt. I cannot de- 
 scribe the deep and reverential interest with which one 
 
284 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 treads the ground rendered sacred by its associations with 
 Bible history ; and while the imagination of the traveller 
 is carried back to the days of the patriarchs, and fancy 
 peoples the land with the venerable forms of Joseph's kin- 
 dred; no pert innovation of modern times, in the shape of 
 recent civilization, is visible, to dispel the momentary illu- 
 sion. The swarthy Arab, with turbaned head and naked 
 limbs, laboriously irrigates his fields by means of the primi- 
 tive shadoof; the patient ox, unmuzzled, treads out the 
 corn ; and long strings of camels and asses bear home loads 
 of green provender, exactly in the same manner as in the 
 days of the pastor patriarchs. 
 
 " No vestige of the ancient On remains, except an obe- 
 lisk sixty-five feet high, of a far less beautiful description 
 than those of Luxor and Karnae, the sole remaining one 
 (with the exception of Cleopatra's Needle), now to be seen 
 in Lower Egypt. The cartouches upon its four sides show 
 it to have been erected by Osirtasen, the Pharaoh of Joseph ; 
 and as some indications formerly existed of an avenue of 
 sphinxes leading from it, and part of a sphinx was lately 
 found there, most probably this solitary obelisk formed one 
 of the pair which stood before the entrance of the celebrated 
 Temple of the Sun, at Heliopolis. ... I in vain looked 
 around me for some other trace of the famous city where 
 Joseph dwelt, and where Moses became ' learned in the 
 wisdom of the Egyptians.' All is now on a level blank, 
 and the words of prophecy have been illustrated to the let- 
 ter in On, as in Noph and No, the pomp of Egypt is 
 destroyed, and she is destitute of that of which she was 
 full." MRS. HOMER'S Temples and Tombs of Egypt. 
 
SACKED GEOGEAPHY. 285 
 
 ZOAN OE TANIS. 
 
 " Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers in the land of 
 Egypt, in the field of Zoan." PSALM Ixxviii. 12. 
 
 " We landed at the village of San, anciently called Tanis, 
 and in Scripture Zoan, one of the most ancient cities in the 
 world. The fine alluvial plain around was no doubt c the 
 field of Zoan,' where God did marvellous things in the days 
 of Moses. We pitched our tents upon the bank, to shelter 
 ourselves from the rays of an almost vertical sun, while the 
 wild Arabs came round, some to gaze upon the strangers, 
 and some to offer old coins and small images for sale. In 
 the cool of the day we wandered forth, and Mr. Bonar, 
 passing over some heaps of rubbish a few minutes' walk 
 from the village, started a fox from its lair. Following 
 after it, he found himself among low hills of alluvial matter, 
 full of fragments of pottery, while beyond these lay several 
 heaps of large stones, which on a nearer inspection he found 
 to be broken obelisks, and ruins of what may have been 
 ancient temples, the relics of a glory that is departed ; but 
 darkness came on, and obliged him to return to the tent. 
 It was a very lovely moonlight night, and very pleasant it 
 was to unite in prayer and in singing psalms amid the wild 
 Arabs, in the very region where God had wrought so many 
 wonders, long ago. We read over Isaiah xix., ' The burden 
 of Egypt,' in our tent, and when we looked out on the paltry 
 mud village of San, with its wretched inhabitants, we saw 
 God's word fulfilled before our eyes. ' Surely the princes 
 of Zoan are fools. . . . Where are they ? Where are 
 
 thy wise men?' Isa. xix. 11, 13 At sunrise 
 
 next morning we took a full survey of all that now remains 
 of ancient Zoan. We found that the large mounds of allu- 
 vial matter which cover the ruins of brick and pottery, ex- 
 tend about two miles from east to west, and one mile and a 
 
286 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 half from north to south. The whole country round ap- 
 peared to be covered, not with sand, but with soil that 
 might be cultivated to the utmost if there was water. The 
 most remarkable relics of this ancient city lie at the western 
 extremity. We came upon immense blocks of red granite 
 lying in a heap. All had been hewn, some were carved, 
 and some were still lying regularly placed one above another. 
 Here probably stood the greatest temple of Zoan, and there 
 seems to have been an open square round it. Possibly, also, 
 a stream flowed through the very midst of the city, for at 
 present there is the dry channel of a torrent. Farther to 
 the north we found ten or" twelve obelisks, fallen and pros- 
 trate, and two sphinxes, broken and half sunk in the ground. 
 Among the mounds we could clearly trace buildings of 
 brick, the bricks still retaining their original place. The 
 remains of pottery, however, were most remarkable, con- 
 sisting of jars of the ancient form without number, all bro- 
 ken into fragments, many of them bearing the clearest 
 marks of the action of fire, showing that God has literally 
 fulfilled the word of the prophet, ' I will set fire in Zoan.' " 
 Ezek. xxx. 14. Mission to the Jews. 
 
 THE PASSAGE OF THE BED SEA. 
 
 " And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea ; and the Lord caused 
 the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea 
 dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went 
 into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground : and the waters were a wall 
 unto them on their right hand and on their left." EXODUS xiv. 21, 22. 
 
 No part of Holy Scripture, probably, has been more a 
 source of cavil to the sceptic than the account of the passage 
 of the Red Sea by the Israelites, and not a few Christian 
 writers even, have endeavored to explain away its miracu- 
 lous character. To those, however, who are willing to re- 
 ceive the literal statements of the inspired narrative, it is 
 
SACKED GEOGRAPHY. 287 
 
 gratifying to know that the geographical features of that 
 wonderful event can still be identified. 
 
 "It has always been our opinion," says Dr. Kitto, 
 " confirmed more and more by the results of progressive 
 inquiry, that the passage was effected a few miles below 
 the town of Suez, across the sea itself, where it is about ten 
 miles in width. How could the Israelites have been * en- 
 tangled in the land,' so as to become an easy prey to their 
 pursuers, if they had only a narrow and fordable frith be- 
 fore them ? Whence the consternation and distress of the 
 Israelites ? How could the waters be 4 a walV unto them 
 on the right hand and on the left, so as to justify the ex- 
 pression, * the waters stood upright as an heap, and the 
 depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.' Why the 
 triumphant song of Moses at the miraculous overthrow of 
 the Egyptians, if this was occasioned mainly by the regular 
 return of tidal waters ? ' The dukes of Edom shall be 
 amazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take 
 hold of them ; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away 
 with fear.' And why ? Because the Israelites went at low 
 water, over a narrow pass, in safety, as is customary to this 
 day, and the Egyptians in pursuit were drowned by the re- 
 turning tide ! 
 
 " To obviate these objections, the children of Israel are 
 supposed to have turned their course from Etham, and 
 passed either in a circuitous route around the Attakah, 
 which rises ' lofty and dark,' in a bold bluff, from the west- 
 ern shore below Suez, or else directly down the coast, pass- 
 ing between this head land and the sea. This mountain is 
 supposed to have been the Baal-Zephon of the Exodus, and 
 the valley on the south of it Pi-hahiroth. A German writer, 
 Von Raumer, in an able and laborious work on Scripture 
 Geography, supposes them to have made their final exit 
 from the south-western border of Goshen, near Cairo, and 
 to have pursued their course to the sea through a valley, 
 
288 TESTIMONY OP SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 still called the Valley of Wandering, south of a chain of 
 mountains which runs from Cairo eastward, and terminates 
 in the Attakah. According to this theory, Rameses was 
 near the present Cairo ; Succoth and Etham were in the 
 valley ; and Migdol, the Deraj, a lofty mountain south of 
 Attakah. 
 
 "Here they would be beset with dangers on every side. 
 On the right a wide waste of mountains and desert ; on the 
 left the impassable Attakah ; before them the sea ; and be- 
 hind them the Egyptians in "eager pursuit, with a regular 
 military force, and six hundred chariots of war. On the 
 supposition that the waters were divided by the direct and 
 immediate power of Jehovah, the Israelites could have 
 eight or ten hours to make their way through the channel 
 opened to them by the hand of Omnipotence, a space am- 
 ply sufficient for a march of about ten miles. An escape so 
 miraculous, through the depths of the sea, and the fearful 
 overthrow of Pharaoh and his hosts, might indeed strike 
 ' the dukes of Edom ' and the surrounding nations, far and 
 near, with the fear of Jehovah, and a dread of his people." 
 
 THE WELLS OF MOSES. 
 
 The first spot where the Israelites probably encamped 
 after their passage, was that which is still called the " Wells 
 of Moses." 
 
 " We rode in the clear moonlight to the Wells of Moses, 
 where our tents were ready for our reception. (Here) we 
 read the song of Moses and of the children of Israel, with 
 feelings and emotions such as we had never before expe- 
 rienced. 
 
 " (Next morning), before assembling for breakfast, we 
 particularly examined the wells, in the midst of which we 
 were encamped. They rise in mounts elevated a little above 
 the level of the neighborhood, and less than a couple of 
 
SACKED GEOGRAPHY. 289 
 
 jfcniles inland. . . . Only one of them appeared to be regu- 
 \arly dug and built. ... The others, six in number at pres- 
 ent, are nothing more than fountains rising in small basins 
 iormed in the sands. . . . The supply of water is considera- 
 ole." WILSON'S Lands of the Bible. 
 
 " I am much inclined to think that Ayun Mousa is really 
 the spot on which the foot of rescued Israel rested, and 
 from which they beheld their enemies dead on the sea 
 shore. ... I am persuaded . . . that the people of Israel 
 entered their pathway just to the north of Has Attakah, 
 and that they passed straight onward to Ayun Mousa." 
 FISK'S Pastor's Memorial. 
 
 MARAH. 
 
 " And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of 
 Marah, for they were bitter : therefore the name of it was called Marah " 
 (or bitterness). EXODUS xv. 23. 
 
 From the Red Sea, Moses led the people into the wil- 
 derness of Shur. Many parts of the great Arabian desert 
 were called by the name of distinct wildernesses ; such as 
 the Wilderness of Shur, into which they now went out. 
 They continued their march for three days in a south-east- 
 erly direction, along the coast, through sterile and hilly 
 parts. They appear to have suffered much from want of 
 water during those three days ; and when at length it was 
 discovered, it proved bitter or brackish. 
 
 " We came to the 'Ain Howarah, the c well of destruc- 
 tion,' a fountain on a small knoll close to the track which 
 we were pursuing. It occupies a small basin, about five 
 feet in diameter, and eighteen inches deep, and to some ex- 
 tent it oozes through the sands, leaving, like the wells of 
 Moses, a deposit of lime. The Arabs, on observing me 
 about to drink of the water, exclaimed, 'It is bitter, bitter, 
 bitter ! ' 
 
 13 
 
290 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 " This fountain has been almost universally admitted by 
 travellers since the days of Burkhardt, to be the true Marah 
 of Scripture, as it is found in a situation about thirty miles 
 from the place where the Israelites must have landed on the 
 eastern shore of the Red Sea, a space sufficient for their 
 march, when they were three days in the wilderness and 
 found no water. No other constant spring is found in the 
 intermediate space. It retains its ancient character, and 
 has a bad name among the Arabs, who seldom allow their 
 camels to partake of it." WILSON'S Lands of the Bible. 
 
 ELTM. 
 
 " And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and three 
 score and ten palm trees ; and they encamped there by the waters." EX- 
 ODUS xv. 27. 
 
 About eight or nine miles south by east from the 'Ain 
 Howarah is the Wady Ghurandel, generally believed to be 
 identical with the Elim of Scripture, where the Israelites 
 encamped. It is described by recent travellers as " a grace- 
 fully undulated, sandy territory, scattered over with thick 
 clumps of the tamarisk tree and small palms, which give it 
 the appearance of an ornamental plantation." Dr. Shaw 
 discovered here nine wells, and supposed the other three to 
 have been filled up by drifts of sand so common in Arabia. 
 Burckhardt says, "The non-existence of twelve wells at 
 Ghurandel must not be considered as evidence against the 
 foregoing conjecture, for Niebuhr says that his companions 
 obtained water here by digging to a very great depth, and 
 there was a great plenty of it when I passed ; water, in 
 fact, is readily found by digging in every valley in Arabia, 
 and wells are thus easily formed, which are as quickly filled 
 up again by the sands." 
 
SACKED GEOGRAPHY. 291 
 
 MOUNT SINAI. 
 
 "... And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord 
 descended upon it in fire ; and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke 
 of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly." EXODUS xix. 18. 
 
 " On a'sudden a broad quadrangular plain, but of much 
 greater length than breadth, lay before us. It is bounded 
 at its farthest extremity by a mountain of surpassing height, 
 grandeur, and terror ; and this was the very * Mount of 
 God,' where He stood when He descended in fire, and 
 where rested the cloud of His glory, from which He spake 
 4 all the words of the law.' The plain itself was the Wadi, 
 or Rahah, the Valley of Rest, where stood the whole con- 
 gregation of the sons and daughters of Israel, when gather- 
 ed together before the Lord. As of old, the everlasting 
 mountains, by which it was bounded on every side, were 
 the walls, and the expanse of Heaven itself, the canopy, of 
 this great temple. Entered within its courts, so sacred in 
 its associations, we felt for a time the curiosity of the trav- 
 eller lost in the reverance and awe of the worshipper. We 
 walked through the valley of Rahah, occasionally stopping 
 to survey the interesting scene around us. 
 
 " The mountain is of deep red granite. It rises from the 
 plain almost perpendicularly about 1,500 feet. From the 
 monks it receives the name of Horeb, which in Hebrew 
 means ' dry, desert, and desolation.' The Mount of Moses 
 ( Jebel Musa) was not visible. It is not, however, it is to be 
 observed, a distinct mountain, but only the highest peak of 
 this one, at the parts most remote from the valley. Round- 
 ing the eastern corner of Horeb . . . we had a narrow de- 
 file before us called 'The valley of Jethro.'" WILSON'S 
 Lands of the JJible. 
 
 "I made the ascent of Mount Sinai. . . . As to the pre- 
 cise pinnacle of the Sinaite group from which the law was 
 
292 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 given to Moses, I must frankly confess that it would only 
 be a choice of conjectures, or a balance of probabilities. 
 That it was indeed the Sinaite group which invited my 
 footsteps, there could be no doubt. Not a particle was 
 there of this wilderness of granite that had not quaked at 
 the mysterious and awful presence of Jehovah : not one 
 of its numberless clefts and caverns, in which was not heard 
 and echoed the voice of the trumpet which sounded long 
 and waxed louder and louder. And was there not enough 
 ... in this certainty ? . . . Scripture withholds all but 
 the general certainty to which I have referred. ... I 
 retired still gazing on the venerable and solemn scene, 
 and read, with a humbled heart, the law as written by the 
 finger of God upon the two tables of stone." -FisK's Pas- 
 tor's Memorial. 
 
 " How sternly desolate ! the Deity, 
 
 Methinks, has fix'd upon that awful height 
 His grandest signature of majesty, 
 
 And chronicled his Godhead's changeless might. 
 And as the tempest, in its lurid path, 
 
 Sweeps over thee unheeded, we behold 
 Fit emblem of that throne, which earthly wrath 
 
 And change affect not, resting, as of old, 
 Upon the strong foundations ; truth sublime, 
 And wisdom infinite, and power unchang'd by time. 
 
 " Still thou art holy. God's appointed throne, 
 
 Where mortal man held audience with Him. 
 Here, lightning-girt, his high pavilion shone, 
 
 Here his own thunder roll'd its awful hymn. 
 Here, while unutterable awe did thrill 
 
 The souls of Israel's breathless multitude, 
 As if the heart of that great host grew still 
 
 In one concentred pulse ; the prophet stood 
 Commission'd to receive the laws of heaven, 
 For man's instruction, strength, and guidance given." 
 
 REV. J. W. BROWN. 
 
SACKED GEOGEAPHY. 293 
 
 THE WILDEENESS 
 
 " And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led 
 thee these forty years in the wilderness." DEUT. viii. 2. 
 
 " The general name by which the Hebrews called c the 
 wilderness,' including always that of Sinai, was ' the pas- 
 ture.' Bare as the surface of the Desert is, yet the thin 
 clothing of vegetation, which is seldom entirely withdrawn, 
 especially the aromatic shrubs on the high hill sides, fur- 
 nish sufficient sustenance for the herds of the six thousand 
 Bedouins who constitute the present population of the 
 Peninsula. 
 
 ' Along the mountain ledges green, 
 The scatter'd sheep at will may glean 
 
 The Desert's spicy stores.' KEBLE. 
 
 " So were they seen following the daughters or the shep- 
 herd-slaves of Jethro. So may they be seen climbing the 
 rocks, or gathered round the pools and springs of the val- 
 leys, under the charge of the black-veiled Bedouin women 
 of the present day. And in the Tiyaha, To war a, or Alouin 
 tribes, with their chiefs and followers, their dress and man- 
 ners, and habitations, we probably see the likeness of the 
 Midianites, the Amalekites, and the Israelites themselves 
 in this their earliest stage of existence. The long straight 
 lines of black tents which cluster round theDesert springs, 
 present to us on a small scale the image of the vast encamp- 
 ment gathered round the one Sacred Tent, which with its 
 covering of dyed skins, stood conspicuous in the midst, and 
 which recalled the period of their nomadic life long after 
 their settlement in Palestine. The deserted villages 
 marked by rude enclosures of stone, are doubtless such 
 as those to which the Hebrew wanderers gave the name 
 of 'Hazeroth,' and which afterwards furnished the type 
 of the primitive sanctuary at Shiloh. The rude burial- 
 
294 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 grounds, with the many nameless head stones, far away 
 from human habitation, are such as the host of Israel must 
 have left behind them at the different stages of their prog- 
 ress at Massah, at Sinai, at Kibroth-hattaavah, 'the 
 graves of desire.' The salutations of the chiefs, in their 
 bright scarlet robes, the one ' going out to meet the other,' 
 the * obeisance,' the 'kiss' on each side the head, the 
 silent entrance into the tent for consultation, are all graphi- 
 cally described in the encounter between Moses and Jethro. 
 The constitution of the tribes, with the subordinate degrees 
 of sheikhs, recommended by Jethro to Moses, is the very 
 same which still exists amongst those who are possibly his 
 lineal descendants the gentle race of the Towara." STAN- 
 LEY'S Sinai and Palestine. 
 
 THE APPEOACH TO PALESTINE. 
 
 
 
 "Everything told us that we were approaching the 
 sacred frontier. That wide plain with its ruins and walls 
 was the wilderness of Beersheba ; with wells such as those 
 for which Abraham and Isaac struggled ; at which, it may 
 be, they had watered their flocks ; the neutral ground be- 
 tween the Desert and the cultivated region which those 
 shepherd patriarchs would most naturally choose for their 
 wanderings, before the idea of a more permanent home 
 had yet dawned upon them. That long line of hills was 
 the beginning of 'the hill country of Judea,' and when 
 we began to ascend it, the first answer to our inquiries 
 after the route told that it was ' Carmel,' not the more 
 famous mountain of that name, but that on which Nabal 
 fed his flocks : and, close below its long ranges, was the 
 hill and ruin of ' Ziph ; ' close above, the hill of ' Maon.' 
 That is to say, we were now in the heart of the wild coun- 
 try where David wandered from Saul like those very ' par- 
 tridges in the mountains,' which we saw abounding in ah 1 
 
SACKED GEOGRAPHY. 295 
 
 directions. . . . And to the east, towering high into the 
 hazy sky, what looked like the Alps of Moab ; and between 
 us and them a jagged line of lower hills, the rocks of En- 
 gedi ; and, in the misty depths which parted these nearer 
 and those further mountains, there needed no guide to tell 
 that there lay, invisible as yet, the Dead Sea." Sinai and 
 Palestine. 
 
 BEEESHEBA. 
 
 " So Abraham returned unto his young men ; and they rose up, and 
 went together to Beersheba ; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba." GEN. 
 xxii. 19. 
 
 This ancient settlement was on the southern limits of 
 Judah and Palestine. Hence the phrase, " from Dan (in the 
 extreme north) to Beersheba " (in the extreme south), to de- 
 scribe the whole extent of the land. It was a favorite sta- 
 tion of Abraham, and occurs so often in the history of the 
 patriarchs, that much interest had long been felt in it, al- 
 though its site had been forgotten, and no traces of its 
 existence were known until it was discovered by Dr. Rob- 
 inson. 
 
 Upon coming up from the desert so graphically de- 
 scribed by Mr. Stanley, he soon reached a wide water- 
 course, or bed of a torrent. Upon its northern side, close 
 upon the bank, he found two deep wells, still called Bir-es- 
 sheba. The water was sweet and abundant, and flocks 
 were gathering round them to drink. On some low hills a 
 little to the north, he found ruins indicative of a consider- 
 able village in the remote days of its prosperity. 
 
 " Here then," says Dr. Robinson, " is the place where 
 the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob dwelt ! Here 
 Abraham dug perhaps this very well ; and journeyed from 
 hence with Isaac to Mount Moriah to offer him up there in. 
 sacrifice. From this place Jacob fled to Padan-Aram after 
 acquiring the birthright and blessing belonging to his 
 
296 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 brother ; and here too he sacrificed to the Lord, on setting 
 off to see his son Joseph in Egypt. Here 'Samuel made 
 his sons judges; arid from here Elijah wandered out into 
 the southern desert, and sat down under a shrub of Retem, 
 just as our Arabs sat down under it every day and every 
 night. Over these smiling hills the flocks of the patriarchs 
 once roved by thousands, where now we found only a few 
 camels, asses, and goats," Biblical Researches. 
 
 HEBRON. 
 
 " Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of 
 Machpelah before Mamre : the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan." 
 GEN. xxiii. 19. 
 
 This venerable city stands second to Jerusalem alone, in 
 high and sacred associations. " It was the earliest seat of 
 civilized life," says Mr. Stanley, " not only of Judah but of 
 Palestine. It was the ancient city of Ephron the Hittite, 
 in whose c gate ' he and the elders received the offer of 
 Abraham, when as yet no other fixed habitation of man 
 was known in Central Palestine. It was the first home of 
 Abraham and the patriarchs ; their one permanent resting 
 place when they were gradually exchanging the pastoral 
 for the agricultural life. It was the city of Arba the old 
 Canaanite chief, with his three giant sons, under whose 
 walls the trembling spies stole through the land by the 
 adjacent valley of Eshcol. Here Caleb chose his portion, 
 and gave it the new name of Hebron, when at the head of 
 his valiant tribe he drove out the old inhabitants, and 
 called the whole surrounding territory after his own name ; 
 and there, under David, and at a later period under Absa- 
 lom, the tribe of Judah always rallied when it asserted its 
 independent existence against the rest of the Israelite 
 nation. It needs but few words to give the secret of this 
 early selection, of this long continuance of the metropolitan 
 city of Judah. Every traveller from the desert will have 
 
SACKED GEOGRAPHY. 297 
 
 been struck by the sight of that green vale, with its or- 
 chards and vineyards, and numberless wells, and in earlier 
 times we must add the grove of terebinths or oaks, which 
 then attracted from far the eye of the wandering tribes. 
 This fertility was in part owing to its elevation into the 
 cooler and the more watered region, above the dry and 
 withered valleys of the rest of Juda3a. Commanding this 
 fertile valley, rose Hebron on its crested hill. Beneath 
 was the burial place of the founders of their race. Caleb 
 must have marked out the spot for his own, when with the 
 spies he had passed through this very valley. When 
 David returned from the chase of the Amalekite plunderers 
 on the desert frontier, and doubted ' to which of the cities 
 of Judah he should go up ' from the wilderness, the natu- 
 ral features of the place, as well as the oracle of God, 
 answered clearly and distinctly, * unto Hebron.' " Sinai 
 and Palestine. 
 
 The present town of Hebron is described by travellers 
 as lying low down on the sloping sides of a narrow valley 
 (Mamre), chiefly on the eastern side, but in the southern 
 part stretches across also to the western side. The houses 
 are all of stone, high and well built, with windows and flat 
 roofs, and on these roofs -are small domes, sometimes two 
 or three to each house. " No city in Palestine," says Dr. 
 Thomson, " so carries one back to the earliest patriarchal 
 times. Manners, customs, modes of action, and even 
 idioms of speech have changed but little from what they 
 were when Abraham dwelt here." An aged oak or tere- 
 binth in the adjacent plain of Mamre, where the patriarch's 
 tent was often pitched, is still called Abraham's tree. The 
 valley through which leads the road to Jerusalem is gener- 
 ally considered to be the Eshcol of the Old Testament, and 
 the character of its fruits still corresponds to its ancient 
 celebrity. The largest and best grapes of Palestine are 
 still produced there. In Hebron itself two ancient pools 
 13* 
 
298 TESTIMOltfY OP SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 are still to be seen, one of which is supposed to be referred 
 to (2 Sam. iv. 12) as the place where David hung up the 
 murderers of his rival Ishbosheth. 
 
 That, however, which imparts to Hebron its highest in- 
 terest is a massive structure entitled the Haram or Sacred 
 Place, and which is honored by Moslems, Jews, and Chris- 
 tians alike as the Tomb of the Patriarchs. It is described 
 by Dr. Robinson as " a large and lofty building .... The 
 walls are built of very large stones, all bevelled and hewn 
 smooth, and similar in all respects to the most ancient 
 parts of the walls around the Haram at Jerusalem . . . 
 There are no windows in any part of these walls. The 
 places of entrance are at the two northern corners, where 
 a long and broad flight of steps, of very gentle ascent, 
 built up and covered along each side of the building exter- 
 nally, leads to a door in each wall opening into the court 
 within." . ..." I know of nothing," says that eminent 
 traveller, " that should lead us to question the correctness 
 of the tradition which regards this as the place of sepul- 
 ture of Abraham and the other patriarchs as recorded in 
 the book of Genesis. On the contrary, there is much to 
 strengthen it. Josephus relates that Abraham and his 
 descendants erected monuments over the sepulchres in 
 question, which implies, at least, that in his day the place 
 was marked by some ancient memorial. In another pas- 
 sage he says expressly that the sepulchres of the patriarchs 
 were still to be seen in Hebron, built of marble and of 
 elegant workmanship. In the days of Eusebius and Je- 
 rome, the monument of Abraham was yet pointed out; 
 and the Bordeaux Pilgrim, in A. D. 333, describes it as a 
 quadrangle, built of stones of admirable beauty .... It 
 appears to me, we may rest with confidence in the view 
 that this remarkable external structure of the Haram is 
 indeed the work of Jewish hands, erected, long before the 
 destruction of the nation, around the sepulchre of their 
 
SACKED GEOGEAPHY. 299 
 
 % 
 
 revered progenitors, ' the friend of God,' and his descend- 
 ants. The cave of Machpelah is described in Scripture as 
 at the ' end of the field,' over against Mamre, the same is 
 Hebron ; and all the later writers above quoted speak of 
 the sepulchre of the patriarchs, as at or in Hebron, not 
 near it. Here, then, the 4 Father of the faithful,' as also 
 Isaac and Jacob, rested from their wanderings." biblical 
 Researches. 
 
 The following observations of another traveller upon 
 this vicinity bring out other Biblical associations : " From 
 Hebron we climbed a steep terraced hill. At the top was 
 a grove of fine old fig-trees, reminding one of the groves 
 which crowned the ' high places ' in ancient days. The 
 view from this was rich and beautiful, and might be taken 
 as some faint likeness of what it must have been in David's 
 time, when the industrious Jews had entered on the olive 
 gardens and vineyards of that earlier race, which, with all 
 its crimes and savage idolatries, must have possessed ele- 
 ments of material civilization lost to the lawless Arab peas- 
 ants who people the land now. The royal city lay be- 
 low us, not far off, in the luxuriant plain, from a centre in 
 the valley radiating up three separate hills. Its white 
 roofs, domes, and airy minarets, and especially the great 
 mosque over Machpelah, blended beautifully with the olives, 
 vines, and figs which surrounded them. Around was the 
 lovely, rich Plain of Mamre, and beyond, cornfields were 
 still golden on the lower uplands. 
 
 " Again, a night under the shelter of Abraham's oak, 
 and in the morning once more across the hill country of 
 Judea on the way back by Bethlehem and Jerusalem. 
 
 " The especial interest of this day's journey was that it 
 lay through the heart of the scenery of David's Psalms. 
 The rocks and hill-fortresses, the thousand hills,' and the 
 quiet valleys, the green pastures by the still waters, the 
 wild caves and ravines of the shadow of death, amidst 
 
300 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 which we journeyed this day, were precisely those which 
 have from our earliest childhood been made allegorical to 
 us by the inspired poetry of the shepherd king." Wander- 
 ings in Bible Lands. 
 
 THE LAND OF THE PHILISTINES. 
 
 " And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines' land many days." GENESIS 
 xxi. 34. " Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea-coast, the nation of the 
 Cherethites ! the word of the Lord is against you ; Canaan, the land of 
 the Philistines, I will even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant. 
 And the sea-coast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds and folds 
 for flocks." ZEPHANIAH ii. 5. 
 
 The land of the Philistines was a narrow strip of terri- 
 tory lying on the coast of the Mediterranean sea, west and 
 southwest of Judeea. The Philistines appear to have been 
 a colony of foreign settlers, who, at some remote period, 
 had crossed the sea from Asia Minor or Crete. The name 
 " Cherethites" is given them by the prophets, and imported 
 their strange worship of Dagon, the Fish-god, a divinity 
 unknown to the other tribes of Canaan. As early as the 
 time of Abraham they had become a powerful people. 
 When the Israelites were on their way to the Promised 
 Land, it is recorded that " God led them not through the 
 way of the Philistines, although that was near ; for God 
 said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see 
 war, and they return to Egypt." The Philistines, however, 
 were not of the Canaanite races, doomed to extirpation. 
 They were left, we are told, to teach Israel war, and for a 
 trial of the faithfulness and obedience of the chosen people, 
 whom, for their sins and idolatry, they were often permitted 
 to chastise. 
 
 The localities of the interesting events associated with 
 this mutual warfare, may now be traced. The rough moun- 
 tain-road by which Samson "went down" from the hill 
 
SACKED 8EOGRAPHY. 301 
 
 forts of his natiye Dan into the " low country" beneath, 
 the tangled thickets close to the vineyards where the 
 young lion in the path roared against him, the waving 
 wheat-fields on the level interspersed with olives and vines, 
 which he set on fire, are all there, and the wild animals he 
 made use of as living fire-brands, still infest the neighbor- 
 hood. The caves which exist in the lime-stone cliifs around 
 give an idea of his place of retreat in " the top of the rock 
 Etam," as well as of David's sojourn, in the same locality, 
 in the cave of Adullam. There amid the palm trees and 
 gardens of pomegranates and mulberry, which surround the 
 ruins of what once was Gaza, was the scene of Samson's 
 later deeds and of his fall. There, too, he drew down upon 
 himself and the pride of Philistia, in its hour of insolent tri- 
 umph, the temple of Dagon ; so that " the dead which he 
 slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his 
 life." 
 
 The present state of Philistia could not be expressed 
 more truly and forcibly than in the very words spoken as 
 prophecy five hundred years before the coming of our Lord. 
 ..." Thou, whole Palestina, art dissolved ! " It is em- 
 phatically a land of ruins, and both the villages and their 
 inhabitants are poor and wretched. 
 
 Of the once famous Gath, the birthplace of Goliath and 
 his giant brethren, not a vestige remains. A probable site 
 has been assigned for it by Dr. Robinson, but it has been 
 literally swept from the face of the earth. Amos vi. 2. 
 
 " Nor has prophecy been less strikingly verified in the 
 case of the other cities of the Philistine plain. All vestiges 
 of the ancient walls and former strength of Gaza have dis- 
 appeared. Columns of marble and granite are scattered in 
 the streets and gardens of the modern village, and used as 
 thresholds at the gates and doors of houses. * Baldness is 
 come upon Gaza.' Jer. xlvii. 5. 
 
 " Ashdod, where the ark of God was brought into the 
 
302 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 temple of Dagon, and humbled, { that twice battered god 
 of Palestine ' in the eyes of his worshippers, a city famous 
 in history, as having sustained a siege of twenty-nine years 
 by one of the kings of Egypt, is now an insignificant village. 
 A succession of calamities has abased its pride, and thinned 
 its population. 'They shall drive out Ashdod at noon- 
 day.' Zeph. ii. 4. 
 
 " The modern village of 'Akir represents the Ekron of 
 former days, the town from whicfy the ark was conveyed on 
 a new cart, drawn by two milch-kine, who took the straight 
 way to Beth-shemesh, the nearest point in the hills of Judah. 
 It was the shrine of Baalzebub, the 'lord of flies;' but 
 the flies have outlived their lord. The town is built of un- 
 burnt bricks or mud, with no mark of antiquity to tell of its 
 ancient greatness. ' Ekron shall be rooted up.' Zeph. ii. 4. 
 
 " The decay that has come upon the Philistian cities is 
 not written in blight or barrenness upon the land. The 
 country is everywhere fertile and luxuriant, abounding in 
 rich tracts of pasturage, and numerous flocks are seen near 
 the villages, giving an aspect of life and cheerfulness to the 
 landscape. The bow of its old fighting men has been bro- 
 ken, and -the spear cut in sunder, but the pastoral life the 
 people led in the days of Abimelech still holds its quiet 
 round through the seasons : the shepherd's crook is more 
 enduring than the warrior's sword. And this was the pic- 
 ture of its future fortunes drawn by a Hebrew prophet long 
 ago 'The sea-coast shall be dwellings and cottages for 
 shepherds, and folds for flocks.' " 
 
SACEED GEOGRAPHY. 303 
 
 BETHLEHEM. 
 
 " But tbou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thou- 
 sands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be 
 ruler hi Israel ; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlast- 
 ing." MICAH v. 2. 
 
 The associations which cluster around the little town of 
 Bethlehem, and which are familiar as household words 
 wherever the Bible has come, equal, perhaps, exceed in in- 
 terest, those of any other spot on the whole earth. Apart 
 from these, it possesses little claim to consideration. " It 
 was," says Stanley, " but the ordinary type of a Judaean 
 village, not distinguished by size or situation from any 
 amongst * the thousands of Judah.' All the characteristics 
 of Bethlehem are essentially of this nature. Its high posi- 
 tion on the narrow ridge of the long gray hill would leave 
 ' no room ' for the crowded travellers to find shelter ; its 
 southern situation made it always a resting-place, probably 
 the first halting-place from Jerusalem on the way to Egypt. 
 4 By Bethlehem ' in ancient times was the Caravanserai or 
 Khan of Chimham (Jer. xli. 17), son of Barzillai, for those 
 who would ' go to enter into Egypt ; ' and from Bethle- 
 hem, it may be, from that same caravanserai, Joseph 
 ' arose and took the young child and his mother and de- 
 parted into Egypt.' The familiar well appears close by the 
 gate, for whose water David longed. Eastward extend the 
 wild hills, where the flocks and herds of David, and of Amos, 
 and of ' the shepherds abiding with their flocks by night, 1 
 may have wandered. Below lie the corn-fields, the scene 
 of Ruth's adventures, from which it derives its name, the 
 ' house of Bread.' " STANLEY'S Sinai and Palestine. 
 
 " We entered the plains of Bethlehem ; it was early in 
 the morning, yet there were shepherds abiding in the fields, 
 who had been keeping watch over their flocks by night, 
 and the black tents of the Bedouins were clustered on the 
 
304 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 side of a hill, while their sheep and goats pastured round 
 them. Every shepherd lad here seemed to possess an in- 
 terest, and to represent to us the youthful David as he kept " 
 his father's sheep on these plains, and fearless slew the lion 
 and bear who came to rob his flock." WOODCOCK'S Scrip- 
 ture Lands. 
 
 " What a mighty influence for good," says another trav- 
 eller, " has gone forth from this little spot upon the human 
 race, botk for time and for eternity. The legends and puerilr 
 ities of monastic tradition may be safely disregarded. It 
 is enough to know that this is Bethlehem, where Jesus 
 the Redeemer was born. Generation after generation has, 
 indeed, since that time passed away, and their places know 
 them no more. For eighteen hundred seasons and more the 
 earth has renewed her carpet of verdure, and seen it again 
 decay. Yet the skies and the fields, the rocks and the hills 
 and the valleys around remain unchanged, and are still the 
 same as when the glory of the Lord shone round about the 
 shepherds, and the song of a multitude of the heavenly host 
 resounded among the hills, proclaiming, ' Glory to God in the 
 highest, on earth peace, good will towards men.' " ROBIN- 
 SON'S Biblical Researches. 
 
 JERUSALEM. 
 
 " The city which I have chosen me to put my name there." 1 KINGS 
 xi. 36. 
 
 " Of earth's dark circlet once the precious gem 
 Of living light fallen Jerusalem ! " SOUTHET. 
 
 " On reaching the rocky heights of Beer," writes Mr. 
 Jowett, " travelling towards Jerusalem, the country began 
 to assume a more wild appearance. Uncultivated hilly 
 tracts in every direction, seemed to announce that not only 
 Jerusalem, but its vicinity for some miles round, was des- 
 tined to sadden the heart of every visitor. Even the stranger 
 that should come from a far land, it was predicted, should 
 
SACRED GEOGEAPHT. 305 
 
 be amazed at the plagues laid upon the country ; and this 
 became more than ever literally fulfilled in my feelings as I 
 drew near to the metropolis of this chosen nation. Expec- 
 tation was indeed wrought up to a high pitch as we ascend- 
 ed hill after hill, and beheld others yet more distant rising 
 after each other. Being apprehensive lest I should not 
 reach the city gate before sunset ... I repeatedly 
 desired the guides to ask the Arabs whom we met, how far, 
 or, according to the language of this country, how many 
 hours, it was to Jerusalem ? The answer we received from 
 all was, ' We have been at the prayers at the mosque of 
 Omar, and we left at noon;' to-day being the Mohamme- 
 dan sabbath. We were thus left to calculate the distance. 
 The 'reply sounded very foreign to the ears of one who 
 knew that formerly there were scenes of purer worship on 
 this spot. ' Thither the tribes go up, the tribes* of the 
 Lord, to the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the 
 name of the Lord.' At length, while the sun was yet two 
 hours high, my long and intensely interesting suspense was 
 relieved. The view of the city burst upon me as in a mo- 
 ment ; and the truly graphic language of the Psalmist was 
 verified in a degree of which I could have formed no pre- 
 vious conception. Continually the expressions were burst- 
 ing from my lips c Beautiful for situation ; the joy of the 
 whole earth is Mount Zion ! They that trust in the Lord 
 shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but 
 abideth forever ! As the mountains are round about Jeru- 
 salem, so the Lord is round about his people, from hence- 
 forth, even forever ! ' " JOWETT'S Chr. Researches. 
 
 " Apart from all associations," says Warburton, " the 
 first view of Jerusalem is a most striking one. A brilliant 
 and unchequered sunshine has something mournful in it, 
 when all that it shines upon is utterly desolate and drear. 
 Not a tree or green spot is visible ; no sign of life breaks 
 the solemn silence; no smile of nature's gladness ever 
 
306 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 varies the stern scenery around. The naming, monotonous 
 sunshine above, and the pale, distorted, rocky wastes be- 
 neath, realize but too faithfully the prophetic picture 
 " Thy sky shall be brass and thy land shall be iron." To 
 the right and left, as far as the eye can reach, vague undu- 
 lations of colorless rocks extend to the horizon. A broken 
 and desolate plain in front is bounded by a wavy, battle- 
 mented wall, over which towers frown, and minarets peer, 
 and mosque-domes swell ; intermingled with church turret 
 and an indistinguishable mass of terraced roofs. High 
 over the city, to the left, rises the Mount of Olives ; and 
 the distant tills of Moab, almost mingling with the sky, 
 afford a background to the striking picture. . . . 
 
 " I am not sure that this stern scenery did not present 
 the only appearance that would not disappoint expectation. 
 It is unlike anything else on earth so blank to the eye, 
 yet so full of meaning to the heart ; every mountain round 
 is familiar to the memory ; even yon blasted fig tree has 
 its voice, and' the desolation that surrounds us bears silent 
 testimony to fearful experiences. The plain upon which 
 we stand looks like the arena of deadly struggle in times 
 gone by struggles in which all the mighty nations of the 
 earth took part, and in which Nature herself seems to have 
 shared. 
 
 " As we advanced, some olive trees appeared, and deep 
 valleys on the left, slightly marked with pale, green gar- 
 dens. An enclosure concealed the prospect for a while, 
 and then again the City of Zion appeared, shadowing with 
 its battlemented walls the barren rocks around. As we 
 approached, nothing but these walls were visible, presenting 
 probably, with their massive gates and lofty towers, the 
 same appearance as they wore when they first opened to 
 the desiring eyes of the Crusaders " a scene which Tasso 
 has so vividly described. 
 
SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 307 
 
 " Swiftly they march'd, yet were not tired thereby, 
 For willing minds make heaviest burdens light. 
 But when the gliding sun was mounted high, 
 Jerusalem (behold) appear'd in sight ; 
 Jerusalem they view, they see, they spy, 
 Jerusalem with merry noise they greet, 
 With joyful shouts, and acclamations sweet. 
 
 "To that delight which their first sight did breed, 
 That pleased so the summit of their thought, 
 
 A deep repentance did forthwith succeed, 
 That reverend fear, and trembling with it brought. 
 
 Scantly they durst their feeble eyes dispreed, 
 Upon that town, where Christ was sold and bought, 
 
 Where for our sins he faultless suffer'd pain, 
 
 There where he died, and where he lived again. 
 
 " Their naked feet trod on the dusty way, 
 Following th' ensample of their zealous guide. 
 
 Their scarfs, their crests, their plumes and feathers gay 
 They quickly cleft, and willing laid aside, 
 
 Their moulten hearts their wonted pride allay ; 
 Along their watery cheeks warm tears down slide." 
 
 FAIRFAX'S TASSO, Cant. iii. v. 6, 7. 
 
 Although the denunciations of divine prophecy have 
 been so remarkably fulfilled in the desolations which have 
 overtaken the holy city, yet there are certain ineffaceable 
 features which still remain to attest the fidelity of the 
 sketches so frequently drawn in the Book of Truth. The 
 hills which surround it for nearly twenty miles on every 
 side, forcibly image forth the security that encompasses 
 the people of God. The two parallel ridges upon which 
 the ancient city was built, with a valley between them, are 
 the grand land marks of the present city. The eastern 
 is Mount Moriah on which the Mosque of Omar occupies 
 the place of the Temple of Solomon. Within under the 
 dome, is a mass of limestone rock, the natural surface of 
 the mount, on which may be seen marks of chiselling. The 
 place where the Jewish altar of burnt-offering stood, has 
 
308 TESTIMONY OP SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 been identified by a bore in the solid rock, which " corre- 
 sponds exactly with the description given in the Mishna of 
 the drain and cesspool communicating with the sewer that 
 ran off into the Kidron." Conybeare and Hewson, ii. 257. 
 In the huge foundation stones of the wall enclosing the 
 Haram area, now the Jewish waiting place, we have un- 
 doubted portions of the original temple. To the west of 
 Moriah is Mount Zion, on which an oblong castle represents 
 the ancient tower of David, and probably may have sprung 
 out of its ruins. The valley between is that of the Tyro- 
 pceon, once spanned by the magnificent viaduct erected 
 by Solomon, "the ascent by which he went up to the 
 house of the Lord," which so impressed tne Queen of Sheba 
 with the wise king's greatness " that there was no more 
 spirit in her." Unequivocal remains of this noble work, 
 it is said, have been recently discovered. Rising to the 
 east, is seen the gray ridge of Olivet over which David 
 once fled from Absalom, and on whose brow a greater 
 than David once paused and dropt his tears, on the way- 
 side stones. " As now the dome of the mosque rises like a 
 ghost from the earth, so then must have risen the temple 
 tower ; as now the vast enclosure of the Mussulman sanc- 
 tuary, so then must have spread the temple courts ; as now 
 the gray town on its broken hills, so then the magnificent 
 city, with its background of gardens and suburbs on the 
 western plateau behind. It is hardly possible to doubt 
 that this rise and turn of the road, this rocky ledge, was 
 the exact spot where the multitude paused again, and ' He 
 beheld the city, and wept over it.' " Beneath the rocky 
 side of Moriah is still found the pool of Siloam, and the 
 well of En Rogel where Jonathan and Ahimaaz tarried 
 yet marks the ancient border between Judah and Benja- 
 min. The valleys of Gihon, Hinnom, and Jehosaphat still 
 intrench the city round about, and the brook Kidron pur- 
 sues its course as of old, where a grove of ancient and 
 
SACKED GEOGRAPHY. 309 
 
 magnificent olive trees still marks the garden of Geth- 
 seinane. However apocryphal may be the sites which have 
 been for many ages associated with scenes of the most 
 sacred interest, there are features so strongly marked and 
 unmistakable as to make it absolutely certain that most 
 of the prominent localities of the holy city may still be 
 identified. Scepticism may smile at the superstitions con- 
 nected with* alleged holy places, but here, it cannot be 
 doubted, is the City of David and Solomon where the 
 visible presence of Jehovah was vouchsafed where proph- 
 ets were wrapped in heavenly visions where the chosen 
 tribes came up to worship and above all where that death 
 was perpetrated which has opened our way to life. How 
 terribly the atrocities which marked that event have been 
 avenged, the desolations which have continued even to the 
 present time, bear impressive testimony. 
 
 " Mourn, Salem ! mourn ! Low lies thine humbled state ; 
 
 Thy glittering fanes are levelled with the ground ; 
 Fallen is thy pride thine halls are desolate ! 
 
 Where erst was heard the timbrel's sprightly sound, 
 
 And frolic pleasure tripped the nightly round. 
 There breeds the wild fox lonely, and aghast 
 
 Stands the mute pilgrim at the void profound ; 
 TJnbroke by noise save when the hurrying blast 
 Sighs like a spirit, deep along. the cheerless waste ! 
 
 " It is for this, proud Solyma, thy towers 
 
 Lie crumbling in the dust ; for this, forlorn 
 Thy genius wails along thy desert bowers ; 
 
 While stern destruction laughs, as if in scorn, 
 
 That thou didst dare insult God's eldest born ; 
 And with most bitter persecuting ire 
 
 Pursued his footsteps, till the last day dawn 
 Rose on his fortunes and thou saw'st the fire 
 That came to light the world, hi one great flash expire." 
 
310 TESTIMONY OP SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 THE KOAD FKOM JERUSALEM TO JEEICHO. 
 
 The parable of the good Samaritan has rendered the long 
 and rugged pass which leads from Jerusalem to Jericho 
 forever famous, and its incidents still find striking illustra- 
 tion in the wild and gloomy scenery. " The road winds 
 through the bottom of savage gorges, or rises steeply 
 along the edge of the precipices, only to sink deeper into 
 narrow passes and glens still more desolate, cloVen through 
 naked cliffs of limestone. Here, without an escort, some- 
 times with one, the traveller may still ' fall among thieves ; ' 
 and none can pass that way, through the heart of these 
 stern and rugged solitudes, without a sensation of awe and 
 peril. A particular part of the road, the scene of many a 
 murder, was called the red or bloody way ; and here in 
 Jerome's tune a fort was placed with a Roman garrison, 
 for the protection of travellers." " The region," says an 
 American writer, " is so scarred, gashed, and torn, that no 
 work of mankind can save it from perpetual desolation. 
 It is a wilderness more hopeless than the desert. If I were 
 left alone hi the midst of it, I should lie down and await 
 death without thought or hope of rescue." " The heat re- 
 flected from those ghastly walls of rock, the sultry ash- 
 colored vapor brooding over the white hollows like the 
 smoke of a furnace, with no breath of air to lift it, the 
 scorching sirocco blowing in fiery gusts, rendering the 
 'going down' into the Jordan valley a most fatiguing 
 journey; and the frightful sterility and silence of the 
 place gives one an impression, till then unfelt, of the hor- 
 rors of the situation in which a traveller would find him- 
 self stretched bleeding by the wayside and left to die." 
 REV. J. D. BUBNS. 
 
 THE DEAD SEA. 
 
 This sea is called in sacred writ the Salt Sea, the Sea of 
 the Plain, and the East Sea. It occupies what was formerly 
 
SACRED GEOGEAPHY. 311 
 
 the valley of Siddim, in which stood the five cities of the 
 plain Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela. These 
 guilty cities were utterly destroyed by the righteous ven- 
 geance of the Almighty, and their very sites have been hid 
 from the face of heaven by waters that are unique among 
 all the waters of the earth. Vid. Gen. xiii. xiv. xix. 
 
 "The inference from the Bible," says Lieut. Lynch, 
 " that the entire chasm was a plain sunk and ' overwhelm- 
 ed ' by the wrath of God, seems to be sustained by the 
 extraordinary character of the soundings. The bottom of 
 this sea consists of two submerged plains, an elevated and 
 a depressed one ; the former averaging thirteen^ the latter 
 about thirteen hundred feet below the surface. Through 
 the northern, and largest and deepest one, in a line corre- 
 sponding with the bed of the Jordan, is a ravine, which 
 again seems to correspond with the Wady el-Jeib, at the 
 south end of the sea. 
 
 " Between the Jabbok and this sea, we unexpectedly 
 found a sudden break down in the bed of the Jordan. If 
 there be a similar break in the water-courses to the south of 
 the sea, accompanied with like volcanic characters, there can 
 scarce be a doubt that the whole Ghor has sunk from 'some 
 .extraordinary convulsion ; preceded, most probably, by an 
 eruption of fire, and a general conflagration of the bitumen 
 which abounded in the plain. I shall ever regret that we 
 were not authorized to explore the southern Ghor to the 
 Red Sea. . . . 
 
 " It is for the learned to comment on the facts we have 
 laboriously collected. Upon ourselves the result is a de- 
 cided one. We entered upon this sea with conflicting 
 opinions. One of the party was sceptical, and another, I 
 think, a professed unbeliever of the Mosaic account. After 
 twenty-two days' close investigation, if I am not mistaken, 
 we are unanimous in the conviction of the truth of the 
 Scriptural accounts of the destruction of the cities of the 
 
312 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 plain. I record with diffidence the conclusions we have 
 reached, simply as a protest against the shallow deductions 
 of would-be unbelievers." LYNCH'S Expedition. 
 
 " Yes, on that plain, by wild waves covered now, 
 
 Rose palace once, and sparkling pinnacle ; 
 On pomp and spectacle beamed morning's glow, 
 On pomp and festival the twilight fell. 
 
 " Lovely and splendid all but Sodom's soul 
 
 Was stained with blood, and pride, and perjury ; 
 Long warned, long spared, till her whole heart was foul, 
 And fiery vengeance on its clouds came nigh. 
 
 " And still she mocked, and danced, and taunting, spoke 
 
 Her sportive blasphemies against the Throne : 
 It came ! the thunder on her slumber broke 
 
 God spake the word of wrath ! Her dream was done." 
 
 CROLY. 
 
 ENGEDI. 
 
 " And David went up from thence, and dwelt in strongholds at En- 
 gedi." 1 SAMUEL xxiii. 29. 
 
 This locality has always, until recently, been sought at 
 the north end of the Dead Sea ; but Seetzen, a Russian 
 traveller, having recognized the ancient name hi the Ain- 
 jidy of the Arabs, ascertained its true situation at a point 
 of the western shore, nearly equidistant from both extremi- 
 ties of the lake. It was here that David and his men lived 
 among the "rocks of the wild goats," and where the former 
 cut off the skirts of Saul's robe in a cave. 1 Sam. xxiv. 1-4. 
 
 " We had no question," writes Dr. Robinson, " that this 
 spot is the ancient En-gedi. With this name the present 
 'Am Jidy of the Arabs is identical, and like it also, signifies 
 the 'Fountain of the Kid.' The more ancient Hebrew 
 name was Hazazon-Tamar. As such it was first mentioned 
 before the destruction of Sodom, as being inhabited by 
 Amorites and near to the cities of the plain. Under the 
 
SACKED GEOGRAPHY. 313 
 
 name En-gedi, it occurs as a city of Judah in the desert, 
 giving its name to a part of the desert to which David 
 withdrew for fear of Saul. At a later period, bands of 
 the Moabites and Amorites came up against King Jehos- 
 aphat, apparently around the south end of the Dead Sea, as 
 far as to En-gedi ; by the very same route, it would seem, 
 which is taken by the Arabs in their marauding expeditions 
 at the present day, along the shore as far as to 'Ain Jidy, 
 and then up the pass and so northwards below Tekoa. 
 According to Josephus, En-gedi lay upon the lake Asphaltis, 
 and was celebrated for beautiful palm-trees and opobalsam ; 
 while its vineyards are likewise mentioned in the Old Tes- 
 tament. From it towards Jerusalem there was an ascent 
 * by the cliff Ziz,' which seems to have been none other 
 than the present pass. In the days of Eusebius and Jerome, 
 En-gedi was still a large village on the shore of the Dead 
 Sea." Bib. JRes., vol. ii. 
 
 THE JORDAN. 
 
 "And Joshua . . . came to Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, 
 and lodged there before they passed over." JOSH. iii. 1. 
 
 " This celebrated stream, which, though it cannot boast, 
 like other famous rivers, of splendid cities and marts of 
 commerce on its banks, yet far surpasses them all in illus- 
 trious and hallowed associations, is probably little altered, 
 since Joshua with the Israelites approached the fords or 
 passages about two miles from its mouth. At that time, 
 the sacred writer informs us, the river Jordan ' overflowed 
 all its banks,' in the first month, or at the time of harvest. 
 The original Hebrew expresses in these passages nothing 
 more than that ' the Jordan was full (or filled) up to all its 
 banks,' meaning the banks of its channel ; it ran with full 
 banks, or was brimfull. . . . 
 
 " Thus understood, the Biblical account corresponds en- 
 14 
 
314 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 tirely to what we find to be the case at the present day. 
 The Israelites crossed the Jordan four days before the 
 Passover (Easter). . . : Then, as now, the harvest occur- 
 red during April and early in May, the barley preceding 
 the wheat harvest by two or three weeks. Then, as now, 
 there was a slight annual rise of the river, which caused it 
 to flow at this season with full banks, and sometimes to 1 
 spread its waters even over the immediate banks of its 
 channel, where they are lowest, so as in some places to fill 
 the low tract covered with trees and vegetables along its 
 sides. 
 
 " The low bed of the river, and the absence of inunda- 
 tion and of tributary streams, combine to leave the greater 
 portion of the Ghor a solitary desert. Such it is described 
 in antiquity, and such we find it at the present day. Jose- 
 phus speaks of the Jordan as flowing c through a desert ; ' 
 and of this plain as in summer scorched by heat, insalubri- 
 ous, and watered by no stream except the Jordan." Lieut. 
 Lynch describes its banks as exhibiting " a bright line of 
 verdure amid a cheerless waste." 
 
 " Such is the Jordan and its valley ; that venerated stream 
 celebrated on almost every page of the Old Testament as 
 the border of the Promised Land, whose floods were mira- 
 culously ' driven back ' to afford a passage for the Israelites. 
 In the New Testament it is still more remarkable for the 
 baptism of our Saviour ; when the heavens were opened, 
 and the Spirit of God descended upon him, and, lo, a voice 
 from Heaven, saying, c This is my beloved Son ! ' "We now 
 stood upon its shores, and had bathed in its waters, and felt 
 ourselves surrounded by hallowed associations. The exact 
 places of these and other events connected with this part of 
 Jordan, it is vain to seek after ; nor is this necessary, in or- 
 der to awaken and fully to enjoy all the emotions which the 
 region around is adapted to inspire." ROBINSON'S ib. Res. 
 
CHAPTEE X. 
 
 TOPOGRAPHICAL ACCURACY OF THE INSPIRED WRITERS 
 CONTINUED. 
 
 NOT the least interesting among the results of topo- 
 graphical discovery in the Holy Land is the identification 
 of ancient 
 
 GIBEON. 
 " The high place at Gibeon." 1 CHRON. xxi. 29. 
 
 This town, so celebrated in Old Testament History, 
 geems to have derived its name from the natural locality of 
 its site, its meaning being the hill place or city. It is first 
 mentioned in connection with the deception practised by 
 the inhabitants upon Joshua, by which, although belonging 
 to the accursed race of the Canaanites, they induced the 
 Jewish leader not only to make a league with them, and to 
 spare their lives and cities, but also in their defence to make 
 war upon the five kings by whom they were besieged. It 
 was in the great battle that followed, that the sun stood 
 still upon Gibeon. (Joshua x. 12-14.) See also Joshua 
 xi. 19, xviii. 25,xxi. IV ; 2 Sam. ii. 12-23, iii. 30, xx. 8-12; 
 1 Kings iii ; Jer. xli. 12, etc. 
 
 " The situation of Gibeon has fortunately been recover- 
 ed with as great certainty as any ancient site in Palestine. 
 Che traveller who pursues the northern camel-road from 
 Ferusalem, turning to the left at Tuleil el-ful (Gibeah), finds 
 ihnself ... in a district . . . where the hills are more iso- 
 
316 TESHMOIST OP SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 lated than those through which he has been passing. . . . 
 Retaining its ancient name almost intact, El-Jib stands on 
 the northernmost of a couple of these hills, just at the place 
 where the road to the sea parts into two branches. . . Its 
 distance from Jerusalem by the main road is six and a half 
 miles ; but there is a more direct road reducing it to five 
 miles." SMITH'S Biblical Dictionary. 
 
 After the conquest by Joshua, says Dr. Robinson, " the 
 place fell to the lot of Benjamin, and became a Levitical 
 city, where the tabernacle was set up for many years under 
 David and Solomon. The ark at this time was at Jerusa- 
 lem. Here the latter youthful monarch offered a thousand 
 burnt-offerings ; and in a dream by night communed with 
 God, and asked for himself a wise and understanding heart, 
 instead of riches and honor. Here, too, it was that Abner's 
 challenge to Joab terminated in the defeat and flight of the 
 former, and the death of Asahel ; and here, also, at a later 
 period, Amasa was treacherously slain by Joab. 
 
 " The village of El-Jib is situated upon an isolated ob- 
 long hill or ridge, which rises in a beautiful plain, bounded 
 on the west and south by mountains. 
 
 " This hill is in some parts steep and difficult of access, 
 and capable of being everywhere very strongly fortified. . . 
 It may be said to stand in the midst of a basin, composed 
 of broad valleys or plains, cultivated, and full of grain, 
 vineyards, and orchards of olive and fig trees. It was de- 
 cidedly the finest part of Palestine that I had yet seen. . . 
 
 " We reached the village of El-Jib, situated on the sum- 
 mit of this hill. ... It is of moderate size ; . . . the houses 
 stand very irregularly and unevenly, sometimes almost one 
 above another. They seem to be chiefly rooms in old mas- 
 sive ruins, which have fallen down in every direction. One 
 large massive building still remains, perhaps a former castle 
 or tower of strength ; . . . the whole appearance is that of 
 antiquity. Towards the east the ridge sinks a little ; and 
 
TOPOGRAPHICAL ACCURACY. 317 
 
 here, a few rods from the village, just below the top of the 
 ridge, is a fine fountain of water. It is in a cave excavated 
 in and under the high rock, so as to form a large subterra- 
 nean reservoir. Not far below it, among the olive trees, 
 are the remains of another open reservoir. ... It was 
 doubtless anciently intended to receive the superfluous 
 waters of the cavern. At this time no stream was flowing 
 from the latter. It is not difficult to recognize in El-Jib 
 and its rocky eminence the ancient Gibeon of the Scrip- 
 tures ; . . . (and) the ' Pool of Gibeon,' mentioned in the 
 story of Abner, may well be the waters of the fountain de- 
 scribed (above) ; and these are also probably l the great' 
 (or many) 'waters in Gibeon,' epoken of in Jeremiah 
 xli. 12." ROBINSON'S Bib. Res., v. ii. pp. 135-8. 
 
 The ancient Gibeon " is situated on the top of a re- 
 markably round hill, the sides of which are so completely 
 terraced, not by art, but by nature, that they present the 
 appearance of a flight of steps all round, from the top to 
 the bottom. The buildings are mostly on the western brow 
 of the hill, the rest of the summit being covered with fine 
 olive trees. Many of the terraces are also set with vines 
 and fruit trees. . . . The scene of Joshua's miracle was 
 vividly set before us. The glorious sun was sloping west- 
 ward, about to sink in the Mediterranean Sea, and his hori- 
 zontal rays were falling full upon the hill of Gibeon ; at the 
 same time the moon was rising, and soon after poured her 
 silver beams into the quiet vale (beneath). It was strangely 
 interesting to look upon the scene where ' the Lord heark- 
 ened unto the voice of man.' " Narrative of Mission to the 
 Jews, pp. 201, 202. 
 
 Of the valley beneath Gibeon, the traveller Carne writes 
 that it " is of sufficient breadth and compass to allow of a 
 numerous host engaging in its bosom, and presents as fine a 
 field of battle as two armies could desire. The Amorites 
 were probably surprised by Joshua, as they were encamped 
 
318 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 in this valley, and hemmed in by hills on each side ; as it is 
 said, ' he came suddenly upon them ; ' and after a bloody 
 combat, they fled along the valley, whose enclosed space 
 afforded great advantage to the pursuers, as it appeared to 
 be from twelve to fifteen miles in length. On the summit 
 of a lofty hill, in the bosom of the valley, Gibeon is sup- 
 posed to have stood, as there is a hamlet of the name of 
 El-Jib still standing on the site ; and this site agrees with 
 the description given. The peculiar and bold aspect of this 
 memorable valley must have greatly aided the effect of the 
 miracle. The high hill of Gibeon, towards the west, over- 
 looked the whole region ; and the royal city on its summit, 
 just before besieged by the confederate kings, was the meed 
 for which both armies fought the one to save, the other to 
 destroy. It may be inferred that the day was waning on 
 the slaughter of the vanquished, who fled along the valley 
 to the opposite extremity to which their conqueror had 
 entered ; and while the declining rays were thrown redly 
 on the lofty hill and the city that crowned it, Joshua utter- 
 ed the command: Sun, stand thou still on Gibeon, and thou, 
 moon, in the valley of Ajalon. It would seem, too, that the 
 destroying storm from on high fell not on the flying Amor- 
 ites, until, issuing from the valley, they descended on the 
 wide plain beyond. Here, scattering themselves on every 
 side, they could more easily avoid the pursuer's sword, from 
 whose edge the greater part would have escaped, but that 
 they fell by a Divine arrest. 
 
 In what manner the sword of Israel was seconded by 
 the artillery of Heaven, whether by a hail storm of uncom- 
 mon fierceness or by the falling of the bodies called aero- 
 lites, it is impossible to determine. The effects were the 
 same in the' destruction of the Canaanites, and on either 
 supposition we must recognize the finger of God, since the 
 timing of the tempest to that end, and its not touching the 
 Israelites, sufficiently indicated a supernatural interposi- 
 
TOPOGRAPHICAL ACCURACY. 319 
 
 tion. That hailstones have descended of force enough to 
 destroy life, is proved by the account of one of the plagues 
 of Egypt having been a storm of that description, and is 
 confirmed by other historians. Thus Albertus Aquensis 
 relates that Baldwin I. and his army, when in the vicinity 
 of the Dead Sea, " suffered incredibly from horrid hail, and 
 other atmospheric influences, so that many lives were lost." 
 The other miracle wrought upon this memorable occa- 
 sion has been a fruitful source of cavil to the sceptic and 
 unbeliever. The objection drawn from its want of scien- 
 tific accuracy of statement that it seems to represent the 
 sun as moving round the earth instead of the earth moving 
 round the sun is readily met by the answer that the lan- 
 guage used is adapted to the appearance, not the reality of 
 things. But a more serious objection to the narrative is. 
 the derangement which the alleged occurrence must have 
 occasioned. The course of nature would have been gen- 
 erally interrupted. Such a sudden check to the earth's 
 motion would have been, by means of the atmosphere, to 
 crush at once all animal and vegetable existence to level 
 with the ground the loftiest and most massive structures, 
 and, in fact, to sweep the whole surface of the globe as 
 with the besom of destruction. To this perhaps it were 
 sufficient to reply that He who was able to work so great 
 a miracle was also able to counteract any evil conse- 
 quences that might result from it. But another explana- 
 tion has been suggested which, without resorting to such 
 an interference, entirely obviates the difficulty. The expres- 
 sion rendered in our English version " the midst of heaven," 
 may be rendered the division of heaven, or the visible ho- 
 rizon. Also the word rendered sun may be rendered solar 
 light. The account admits, therefore, of being read thus : 
 The solar light lingered on the horizon, and hastened not to 
 go down about a whole day. Now it is well known that 
 through the operation of the laws of refraction and reflec- 
 
320 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 tion, the sun's disc is ordinarily seen above the horizon 
 some time after he has really sunk below it. Without, 
 therefore, the progress of nature having been either de- 
 layed or accelerated, it is evident that Almighty power 
 could on this memorable occasion . have so altered the me- 
 dium through which the sun's rays passed, as to render it 
 visible above the horizon longer after it would, under ordi- 
 nary circumstances, have disappeared. This, to the appre- 
 hension of the Israelites, would have had all the visible 
 effects of staying the career of the sun ; and to ours that 
 of arresting the earth's revolution on its axis ; and this is 
 all that the sacred text requires, while it satisfies all the 
 conditions of the miracle. 
 
 MIZPEH. 
 " And Samuel said, Gather all Israel to Mizpeh." 1 SAM. vii. 5. 
 
 Mizpeh of Benjamin is probably to be found at the spot 
 now called Neby Samwil, or the Tomb of Samuel, at which 
 tradition (but without sufficient reason) asserts that the 
 prophet was buried. 
 
 The name Mizpeh, which signifies " a place of look-out 
 a watch tower," implies that it was situated on an elevated 
 spot. Neby Samwil is on a conspicuous height, and is vis- 
 ible from Jerusalem and many other parts. Traces of an 
 ancient town are visible upon it. 
 
 " We now had before us the elevated ridge of Neby 
 Samwil. Our way led us directly to the summit, up the 
 steep but not difficult ascent of the northwestern side. 
 The top is crowned by a small miserable village and a neg- 
 lected mosque. The mosque is here the principal object ; 
 it is now in a state of great decay. There are few houses 
 now inhabited, but many traces of former dwellings. In 
 some parts the rock, which is soft, has been hewn away for 
 several feet in height, so as to form the walls of houses : 
 
TOPOGRAPHICAL ACCURACY. 321 
 
 two or three reservoirs are, in like manner, hewn in the 
 rock. These cuttings and levellings extend over a consid- 
 erable space. The view from the roof of the mosque is 
 very commanding in every direction ; the deep Wady Beit 
 Henina, Jerusalem, the Mount of Olives, the Frank Moun- 
 tain, and a large portion of the eastern slope, with the 
 mountains Beyond the Jordan and the Dead Sea. In the 
 northwest the fertile plain of Gibeon lies immediately be- 
 low ; and farther on the eye embraces a large extent of the 
 great lower plain along the coast, as well as of the Mediter- 
 ranean itself. . In a clear day Jaffa may be distinctly seen. 
 A large number of villages were visible on every side." 
 ROBINSON'S Res., vol. i. pp. 139, 140. 
 
 " The hill on which the village and mosque of Neby 
 Samwil now stand is not only the most conspicuous object 
 round El-Jib, but also in the surrounding country. It rises 
 abruptly to a height of 500 or 600 feet above the little plain 
 of Gibeon ; and its sides, though here and there broken by 
 cliffs, are almost everywhere cultivated in terraces, along 
 which the fig and the vine grow luxuriantly . . . From the 
 summit we gain a wider view than from any other peak in 
 southern Palestine." PORTER'S Hand Book, p. 225. 
 
 The best and latest investigators now unite in attesting 
 that here was the ancient Mizpeh, a famous city of Ben- 
 jamin, where the tribes often assembled ; where Samuel 
 offered sacrifice and judged the people ; where Saul was 
 chosen king by lot ; and where, under the Chaldeans, Ged- 
 aliah the governor resided and was assassinated. " Of all 
 the points of interest about Jerusalem," says Stanley, "none 
 perhaps gains so much from an actual visit to Palestine as 
 the lofty peaked eminence which fills up the northwest cor- 
 ner of the table land ; seen in every direction, the highest 
 elevation in the whole country south of Hermon, command- 
 ing a view far wider than that of Olivet, inasmuch as it in- 
 cludes the western plain and Mediterranean Sea on one 
 14* 
 
322 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE. BIBLE. 
 
 side, as well as Olivet and Jerusalem in the distance backed 
 by the range of JVloab. It is in fact the point from which 
 travellers mounting by the ancient route through the pass 
 of Beth-horen obtained their earliest view of the interior 
 of the hills of Palestine. ' It is a very fair and delicious 
 place,' says Mandeville, c and it is called Mount Joy, because 
 it gives joy to pilgrims' hearts ; for from that place men 
 first see Jerusalem.' " Canon Stanley also identifies this local- 
 ity with Mizpeh. 
 
 SHILOH. 
 
 "Go ye now to my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at 
 the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel." 
 JER. vii. 12. 
 
 The site of this most interesting locality was entirely 
 unknown until its discovery by Dr. Robinson, A. D. 1848. 
 An old tradition had placed it at Neby Samwil, in quite a 
 different district of the country, though the slightest refer- 
 ence to the statement of Scripture regarding its actual po- 
 sition would have shown it to be untenable. 
 
 " A p'rominent object of our inquiries in this region 
 (Dr. Robinson was travelling frgm Jerusalem to Sichem, 
 and was now about half way between Bethel and the latter 
 place) was the ancient Shiloh, celebrated in the history of 
 the Israelites as the place where the ark remained from the 
 time of Joshua to Solomon. Our guide yesterday spoke 
 of a ruin called Seilun ; of which there was a saying among 
 the people that, were the Franks to visit it, they would 
 deem it of such importance that they would not go away in 
 less than a day. On inquiring farther, we found that the 
 place in question lay not very far from the road, and might 
 be visited by a small circuit. As the position seemed to an- 
 swer well to that of Shiloh, we determined to go thither. 
 . . . The ruins of Seilun are surrounded by hills, but look- 
 ing out through a small valley towards a beautiful plain . . . 
 
TOPOGEAPHICAL ACCUEACY. 323 
 
 The position is in itself a fine one for strength, if it were 
 ever fortified, though it is commanded by the neighboring 
 hills. Among the ruins of modern houses are many large 
 stones and some fragments of columns, showing the place 
 to have been an ancient site. Our guide told us of a foun- 
 tain up through the narrow valley towards the east. We 
 went thither, and found that the valley here breaks through 
 a ridge, and is at first shut in by perpendicular walls of 
 rock ; then follows a more open tract ; and here, at the left, 
 fifteen minutas from Seilun, is the fountain. The water is 
 excellent, and issues from the rocks first into a sort of arti- 
 ficial well, eight or ten feet deep, and thence into a reservoir 
 lower down. Many flocks and herds were waiting round 
 about. In the sides of the narrow valley are many exca- 
 vated tombs, now much broken away; near the fountain 
 are also several. 
 
 "The position of Shiloh is very definitely described in 
 the Book of Judges as ' on the north side of Bethel, on the 
 east side of the highway that goeth up from Bethel to She- 
 chem, and on the south of Lebonah.' (Judges xxi. 19-23.) 
 These circumstances correspond exactly to Seilftn ; for we 
 were on the east of th^ great road between Bethel and 
 Shechein ; and in passing on towards the latter place we 
 came, after an hour, to the village of Lebonah, now El- 
 Lubban. Here, then, was Shiloh, where the tabernacle was 
 set up after the country had been subdued before the Israel- 
 ites ; and where the last and general division of the land 
 was made among the tribes. The ark and tabernacle long 
 continued here from the days of Joshua, during the minis- 
 try of all the judges, until the close of Eli's life ; and here 
 Samuel was dedicated to God, and his childhood spent in 
 the sanctuary. In honor of the presence of the ark there 
 was ( a feast of the Lord in Shiloh yearly, during which the 
 daughters of Shiloh came out to dance in dances ; and it 
 was on such an occasion that they were seized and carried. 
 
324 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 off by the remaining Benjamites as wives. The scene of 
 these dances may not improbably have been somewhere 
 around the fountain above described. From Shiloh the ark 
 was at length removed to the army of Israel ; and being 
 captured by the Philistines, returned no more to its former 
 place. Shiloh henceforth, though sometimes the residence 
 of prophets, as of Ahijah, celebrated in the history of Jero- 
 boam, is nevertheless spoken of as forsaken and accursed of 
 God. It is mentioned in Scripture during the exile, but not 
 afterwards ; and Jerome speaks of it in his day as so utterly 
 in ruins, that the foundations of an altar could scarcely be 
 pointed out." Biblical Researches. 
 
 " Shiloh is so utterly featureless, that, had it not been for 
 the preservation of its name (Seilvin), and for the extreme 
 precision with which its situation is described in the Book 
 of Judges, the spot could never have been identified ; and, 
 indeed, from the time of Jerome till the year 1838, its real 
 site was completely forgotten, and its name was transferred 
 to that commanding height of Gibeon, which a later age 
 naturally conceived to be a more congenial spot for the 
 sacred place, where for so many centuries was the tent 
 which He had pitched among men^ 
 
 * Our living Dread, who dwells 
 In Silo, his bright Sanctuary.' 
 
 Its ruins were scattered over a slight eminence which rises 
 in one of those softer and wider plains before noticed as 
 characteristic of this part of Palestine, a little removed 
 from the great central route of the country." STANLEY'S 
 
 Sinai and Palestine. 
 
 / 
 
 SHECHEM. 
 
 "And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem." 
 GEN. xii. 6. 
 
 This celebrated locality is distant from Jerusalem be- 
 tween thirty and forty miles, about ten from Shiloh and 
 
TOPOGRAPHICAL ACCURACY. 325 
 
 seven from the city of Samaria. Its present name is Na- 
 blus, a corruption of the word Neapolis, or new town, the 
 Greek name given it by the Romans, and this is one of the 
 rare instances in which the ancient Oriental appellation has 
 been superseded in popular language by a more modern 
 one. It is believed that the present town occupies the site 
 of the ancient one, but is probably of more contracted 
 dimensions. The sacred associations of Shechem are co- 
 extensive with the history of the entire Church, as recorded 
 both in the Old and in the New Testaments. Here Abra- 
 ham first halted when he had crossed the Jordan on his 
 way from Chaldaea to the land which God should give him, 
 and here God distinctly told him that this was the country 
 destined to be the sure possession of his descendants. It 
 was afterwards the scene of many memorable events in the 
 history of Israel. And here at last came One, whose " day 
 Abraham saw afar off and was glad," and who was himself 
 " the way " to the everlasting rest prepared for the people 
 of God, of which the earthly Canaan was but the type. 
 
 At the entrance of the narrow pass which leads to 
 Shechem, stand the two mounts known as the mounts 
 respectively of the curses and of the blessings, Mount Ebal 
 and Mount Gerizim. " It was here the affecting ceremony 
 took place which was commanded by Moses, carried into 
 effect by Joshua, and never afterwards repeated. Six of 
 the tribes stood over against Gerizim to bless the people, 
 and the other six upon Ebal to curse. It would appear 
 that the whole of the law was read over by Joshua, and 
 that the Levites spoke unto all the men of Israel with a 
 loud voice the words of the curse, to which the people 
 answered and said Amen. A better situation could not 
 be conceived for this purpose, as the hills are at such a 
 distance from each other, that the hosts of Israel might 
 stand between, and the voice from either side be heard 
 distinctly on a calm day throughout the whole assembly. 
 It must have been an imposing spectacle: the ark of 
 
326 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 the covenant in the centre, surrounded -by the elders, 
 officers, and judges, with the venerable Joshua at their 
 head ; the banners of the tribes marking their different 
 positions, as appointed by God, which they were now to 
 occupy for the last time, and the millions of Israel extend- 
 ing in firm phalanx as far as the eye could reach ; it must 
 also be remembered that every individual of that vast com- 
 pany had but a little time before beheld the most striking 
 wonders performed in their own behalf, the falling down 
 of the walls of Jericho, and the dividing of the stream of the 
 Jordan, and when the men, women, children, and stran- 
 gers, thinking on these things, with one voice shouted 
 Amen, the acclaim must have reverberated among the 
 rocks around with true sublimity, and have swelled in 
 majestic volumes towards heaven 
 
 "The hills are of equal height, about 800 feet above 
 the plain, and are neither of them cultivated, but Gerizim 
 has the more pleasing appearance." HAKDY'S Notices of 
 the Holy Land. 
 
 Between these mountains, in its hallowed seclusion lies 
 the spot which links together the sacred history of more 
 than three thousand years, but which is specially memor- 
 able from the fact that here took place the first recognition 
 of the Son of God, as not only the Jewish Messiah, the 
 Christ, but the Desire of all nations, the Saviour of the 
 world. The whole valley is still remarkable for its beauty, 
 and excites the admiration of travellers. It abounds in 
 rich gardens, delightful groves, stately trees, and fragrant 
 bowers. " One could fancy," says an elegant writer, " that 
 the powers of life in nature had been unfettered here ever 
 since, in virtue of that acknowledgment ; and that the val- 
 ley of Sychar (Shechem) was ever after to be a fragment 
 and foretaste of paradise, a place of streams and rest, full 
 of all manner of trees pleasant to the eyes, and good for 
 food, a little spot of earth visibly subject to the life-giving 
 
TOPOGRAPHICAL ACCURACY. 327 
 
 sceptre of the c second Man,' the Lord from Heaven. No 
 place to be compared with this in fertility and beauty ex- 
 ists, it is said, in Palestine." 
 
 "We inquired of the Samaritans respecting Jacob's 
 Well. They said they acknowledged the tradition, and 
 regarded it as having belonged to the patriarch. It lies 
 at the mouth of the valley, near the south side, and is the 
 same which the Christians sometimes call ' Well of the 
 Samaritan woman." They acknowledge, also, the tomb 
 near by as the place of Joseph's burial ; though the pres- 
 ent building is only a Mohammedan tomb. Late as it 
 was, we took a Christian guide and set off for Jacob's 
 
 Well The well bears evident marks of antiquity, 
 
 but was now dry and deserted ; it was said usually to con- 
 tain living water, and not merely to be filled by the rains. 
 A large stone was laid loosely over, or rather in its mouth ; 
 and as the hour was now late, and the twilight nearly gone, 
 we made no attempt to remove the stone and examine the 
 vaulted entrance below. We had also no line with us, at 
 the moment, to measure the well ; but by dropping in 
 stones we could perceive that it was deep. . . . 
 
 .... "I think we may rest with confidence in the 
 opinion that this is Jacob's Well, and here the parcel of 
 ground which Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Here the 
 Saviour, wearied with his journey, sat upon the well, and 
 taught the poor Samaritan woman those great truths which 
 have broken down the separating wall between Jews and 
 Gentiles : ' God is a spirit, and they that worship him must 
 worship him in spirit and in truth.' Here, too, as the peo- 
 ple flocked from the city to hear him, He pointed his dis- 
 ciples to the waving fields which decked the noble plain 
 around, exclaiming, ' Say not ye, there are yet four months, 
 and then cometh harvest ? behold I say unto you, Lift up 
 your eyes, and look on the fields ; for they are white already 
 to the harvest." ROBINSON'S Bib. Res. 
 
328 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 " About a hundred yards off (from the well) is Joseph's 
 Tomb. Whether by accident or design, a luxuriant vine 
 had made its way over the wall that encloses the tomb, and 
 was now waving its branches from the top, as if to recall 
 to mind the prophetical description of this favored tribe, 
 4 Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well, 
 whose branches run over the wall." The beautiful field 
 around it is, no doubt, the parcel of ground that Jacob 
 gave to his son Joseph, taking it out of the hand of the 
 Amorite with his sword and with his bow." WILSON'S 
 Lands of the Bible. 
 
 SAMAEIA- 
 
 " And (Omri) bought the hill Samaria ot Shemer for two talents of 
 silver, and built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, 
 after the name of Shemer, owner of the hill, Samaria. . . . 
 
 "And Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel, in Samaria, twenty and 
 two years." 1 KINGS xvi. 24, 29. 
 
 The above Scripture statement respecting the origin 
 of Samaria has received a remarkable confirmation by a 
 discovery of Mr. Layard. In exploring the ruins of Nine- 
 veh, he met with a tablet on which the city was named 
 Beth Khumri or Omri. As he was the builder of the city, 
 it was in accordance with Eastern custom that it should 
 be called after its founder. The presence of such a tablet 
 at Nineveh is accounted for by the fact that the Assyrians 
 destroyed Samaria after a siege of three years, and carried 
 its inhabitants into captivity. (2 Kings xvii. 5). 
 
 Samaria became the capital of the ten revolted tribes. 
 " It had the winter house, and the summer house, and the 
 houses of ivory. The wicked Ahab erected on this hill an 
 altar to Baal ; in this plain Benhadad, king of Assyria, was 
 routed ; in the gate of this city sat the king of Israel and 
 the king of Judah, each in his robes, and upon a throne, 
 
TOPOGRAPHICAL ACCURACY. 329 
 
 when the false prophets delivered their ambiguous predic- 
 tion, and Micaiah declared the word of the Lord ; in that 
 pool the dogs licked the blood of Ahab, as they had for- 
 merly licked the blood of Naboth his victim; up that 
 ascent have often toiled the prophets Elijah and Elisha, 
 bearing messages of wrath from the Most High ; within 
 these walls there has been a great famine, so that ' an ass's 
 head sold for four score pieces of silver, and a woman 
 boiled her own son and did eat him ' ; it was from hence 
 that the host of the Syrians fled, because the Lord made 
 them to hear a noise of chariots and a noise of horses, 
 leaving their camp, as it was, a prey to the famished Sa- 
 maritans ; it was here that Jehu slew the worshippers of 
 Baal, and brake down their images ; it was after enduring 
 a siege of three years in this capital that Hoshea, the last 
 of its kings, was carried away captive by the king of 
 Assyria ; it contained the royal sepulchre of Israel ; the 
 Gospel was here preached by Philip, and confirmed by 
 Peter and John, to whom Simon, the sorcerer, offered 
 money, that he inigty; receive the Holy Ghost; and it 
 suffered in common with its more guilty rival, when Pales- 
 tine was subdued by the Roman power." HARDY'S No- 
 tices of the Holy Land. 
 
 Dr. Keith, after visiting Samaria, writes : " Few seats 
 of royalty can rival its princely site. Its local position is 
 most peculiar, of a finely varied and oblong form. The 
 isolated hill of Samaria, with a flattened summit, seems as 
 if it had been raised by nature at * the head of the fat 
 valley,' to be at once a stronghold and royal seat. But 
 now Samaria is become ' as an heap of the field, and as 
 plantings of a vineyard.' Stones abound in the mountain- 
 ous regions of Israel ; and it is evident that in their terraced 
 vineyards the stones have been gathered out of the level 
 spaces which are occupied only by the soil, and when freed 
 from them were fitted for planting. In some fields in the 
 
330 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 valleys, the stones have been gathered up, and have been 
 cast into heaps which thus form literally 'heaps of the 
 field.' Samaria, it is recorded, was utterly demolished 
 after its first siege, and must then have formed a great 
 mass of ruins. Herod rebuilt it, and it has again been laid 
 low and reduced to be as an heap of the field. The stones, 
 which yet lie on its surface, bereaved of the glory that 
 might seem to hover around a ruin, however defaced, have 
 been gathered singly, and cast into heaps, as if they were 
 heaps of a field, and not the remains of a capital. The 
 ground has been cleared of them to form the gardens or 
 patches of cultivated ground possessed by the inhabitants 
 of the wretched village, which stands on the extremity of 
 the site of the ancient city. The stones, as if in a field or 
 vineyard, have manifestly been gathered up in heaps, to 
 prepare the ground for being sown or planted. Lines of 
 columns now stand in a field which was covered when we 
 saw it with a crop of ripe barley, that was overtopped in 
 various places with sixteen heaps of stones within the 
 space enclosed by the ancient colonn^le. The foundations 
 of buildings remain in some places, in long lines, low as 
 when they first were laid; and the beasts of the field 
 browse among the trees in the bottom of the valley and 
 hills, and pasture upon the terraces, where once were vine- 
 yards, but where now, after much searching, the leaf of a 
 wild vine only was found." Incidents of Travel^ vol. ii. 
 p. 301. 
 
 " The vast temple of Baal was there erected, which 
 Jehu destroyed ; and in later times, Herod chose it alone 
 out of the ancient capitals of the north, to adorn with the 
 name and with the temple of Augustus, from which time 
 it assumed the appellation which with a slight change it 
 has borne ever since, 'Sebaste.' And now, although its 
 existence has but been brought fully to light within the 
 last few years, it is the only site in western Palestine, be- 
 
TOPOGRAPHICAL ACCUEACY. 331 
 
 sides Jerusalem, which exhibits relics of ancient architectu- 
 ral beauty. A long avenue of broken pillars, apparently 
 the main street of Herod's city, here, as at Palmyra and 
 Damascus, adorned by a colonnade on each side, still lines 
 the topmost terrace of the hill. The Gothic ruin of the 
 church of St. John the Baptist, parent of the numerous 
 churches which bear his name throughout the West, re- 
 mains over what Christians and the Mussulman inhabitants 
 still revere as the grave ' of the Prophet John, son of Zach- 
 arias,' round which in the days of Jerome the same wild 
 orgies were performed which are now to be seen round 
 ' the Holy Sepulchre.' " STANLEY'S Sinai and Palestine. 
 
 "The prophecy concerning Samaria is most distinct, 
 and its fulfilment has been exact. I wish an infidel could 
 have stood with me and compared the present state of 
 Samaria, even in minute particulars, with the prophecy of 
 Micah, which I read on the spot. Though Israel's mon- 
 archs there swayed the sceptre though there Herod 
 reigned and revelled though pomp and splendor and the 
 glory of this world there shone and dazzled the thousands 
 of Israel yet, Samaria is a desolation. The sceptres are 
 broken the revel is hushed the splendor has faded. Sa- 
 maria is as an heap in the field, and as the plantings of a 
 vineyard ; her stones have been literally poured down into 
 the valley her foundations have been indeed discovered 
 and there they now lie ; while from every heap and from 
 every fragment there goes forth as it were a testimony 
 which cannot be silenced, to the righteous severity of an 
 angry God." FISK'S Pastor's Memorial. 
 
 DOTHAN. 
 
 " And Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan." 
 GEN. xxxvii. 17. 
 
 About twelve miles north of Samaria, one of the most 
 interesting scenes in Old Testament history has recently 
 
332 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 been discovered. " A few years ago, M. Van de Velde, 
 when passing through the plain of Jenin, had his attention 
 arrested by a singular looking tell (height), rising up like 
 an island near the margin of the level ground, and evident- 
 ly covered with ruins. ' What place is that ? ' said he to the 
 sheikh who was at that time his guide. Haida-Dothan 
 ( That is Dothan,' was his immediate and unhesitating reply. 
 'Dothan'? said Van de Velde, in an inquiring tone, to 
 make sure that he had not mistaken the sheikh's answer. 
 Ndhm, Dothan Dothan Dothan ' Yes, Dothan,' was 
 his reply, repeating the word three times over, and evi- 
 dently piqued at what he supposed to be a doubting of 
 his word. This important fact of the still surviving name, 
 when put alongside also of the testimony of Eusebius and 
 Jerome, may be considered as having conclusively settled 
 the point of its identification. It is certain that the Dothan 
 of Scripture stood on an isolated height. The following 
 facts plainly prove this : When Benhadad sent a military 
 force to seize Elisha in Dothan, they ' came by night, and 
 compassed the city round about? In the morning, when 
 the prophet's servant looked down from his master's place 
 of refuge, and saw that they were hemmed in on every 
 side, he was filled with terror. To relieve his fear, the 
 Lord, at the request of the prophet, opened the servant's 
 eyes, and showed him the multitudes of the heavenly host 
 by whom they were defended ; in describing whom the 
 sacred historian says that ' the mountain (or mount) was 
 full of horses of fire and chariots of fire round about Eli- 
 sha.' The whole Scripture statement conveys just such an 
 idea of the position of Dothan, as answers most exactly to 
 the isolated eminence to which Abu Monsur, the guide of 
 Van de Velde, gave that name. Further still, the Scrip- 
 ture Dothan must have stood near the leading thorough- 
 fare by which the Ishmaelite merchants of the East were 
 wont to cross the land of Canaan on their way to Egypt. 
 

 TOPOGRAPHICAL ACCURACY. 333 
 
 It was to a caravan of these merchants that Joseph was 
 sold by his envious brethren. They had cast him into a 
 pit or dry well at Dothan, intending apparently to leave 
 him to die there, when 'they lifted up their eyes and 
 looked, and behold a company of Ishmaelites came from 
 Gilead with their camels bearing spicery, and balm, and 
 myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.' (Gen. xxxvii. 
 25). Now, this tell of Van de Velde is in just such a 
 position. The camel road in the direct line from the coun- 
 try of Gilead, that leads across the country to the plain of 
 Sharon, and so southward along the seacoast to Egypt, 
 passes to this day within a few hundred yards of the place." 
 BUCHANAN'S Clerical Furlough. 
 
 MOUNT CARMEL. 
 
 " The excellency of Carmel." ISAIAH xxxv. 2. 
 " The top of Carmel shall wither." AMOS i. 2. 
 
 The word Carmel is derived from a verb signifying to 
 "be noble, and answers to the English word " park." It 
 was used to indicate a fruitful field, or a well wooded 
 country, in contradistinction to a wilderness or forest land. 
 There are two places of this name mentioned in Scripture, 
 which should be carefully borne in mind to prevent a con- 
 fusion of ideas in reading the Old Testament. " That long 
 line of hills," says a modern traveller, describing his en- 
 trance into Canaan from the south, " was the beginning of 
 the hill country of Judea ; and when we began to ascend, 
 the first answer to our inquiries about the route told that 
 it was Carmel; not the more famous mountain of that 
 name, but that on which Nabal fed his flocks." Carmel is, 
 indeed, mentioned in the Bible in connection with the con- 
 quest and division of Canaan by Joshua. But it is in the 
 reigns of David and Ahab, kings of Israel, that the name 
 
334 TESTIMONY OP SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 "Carmel" becomes associated with instructive events of 
 sacred history. 
 
 The northern Carmel, or that of Ahab and Elijah, was 
 the boundary of the possessions of the tribe of Asher west- 
 ward, and forms one of the most remarkable headlands on 
 the whole coast of the Mediterranean. " It is no place," 
 writes Mr. Carne, " for crags and precipices, or rocks of 
 the wild goats ; it is the finest and most beautiful moun- 
 tain in Palestine in many parts covered with trees and 
 flowers." To its woods were compared, by Solomon, the 
 glossy tresses of his bride's head. Its rich garniture is re- 
 garded by Isaiah as the type of natural beauty ; and the 
 withering of its fruits is considered by him and other 
 prophets as the type of national desolation. It is not so 
 much a mountain as an upland park. It extends from the 
 sea many miles into the interior of the country. On the 
 top of the part close to the sea is now a convent of bare- 
 footed monks, deriving their distinctive name from the 
 locality, and celebrated throughout Europe as the Carmel- 
 ite monks. Below, towards the sea, i. e., in the cliffs that 
 front the water, are caverns, many in number and curiously 
 constructed. These, it is supposed, were the hiding places 
 of the prophets of the true God when persecuted by the 
 idolatrous Jezebel. The remarkable adaptation of these 
 caverns, close to the sea, for the purpose of concealment, is 
 confirmed by Amos, when he says that even their intricate 
 and dark recesses could not conceal the wicked from the 
 eye of the Omniscient One : " Though they hide them- 
 selves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them 
 out thence ; and though they be hid from my sight in the 
 bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and 
 he shall bite them." 
 
 The excellency of Carmel has passed away, and the 
 prophet's curse has fallen upon it ; the top of Carmel has 
 withered. Its steep sides are often barren and desolate, 
 
TOPOGRAPHICAL ACCURACY. 335 
 
 while wild vines and olives (showing that it had formerly 
 been cultivated), met with among the brambles, together 
 with oaks and cedars, attest its former luxuriance. 
 
 Lamartine thus describes a storm on Mount Carmel: 
 " I have witnessed few so terrible. The clouds rose per- 
 pendicularly, like towers above Mount Carmel, and soon 
 covered all the length of the summit of this chain of hills. 
 The mountain just now so brilliant and serene, was plunged 
 by degrees in rolling waves of darkness, split here and 
 there by trains of fire. The horizon seemed to close 
 around us, the thunder did not burst in claps it threw 
 out one single majestic rolling, continual and deafening. 
 The lightning might be truly said to rush like torrents of 
 fire from the heavens, on the black flanks of Carmel. The 
 oaks on the mount and on the hill on which we were jour- 
 neying, bent like young plants. The winds which rushed 
 from the caverns, and from between the hills, must have 
 swept us from our horses, if ..we had not speedily alighted, 
 and found a little shelter behind a fragment of rock in the 
 then dry bed of a torrent. The withered leaves, upraised 
 in masses by the storm, were carried above our heads like 
 clouds, and the slender, broken branches of the trees shower- 
 ed around us. I remembered the Bible and the prodigies of 
 Elijah. . . . The storm abated in about half an hour. 
 We continued our route along the foot of Mount Carmel, 
 which we traced in this way, during a march of about four 
 hours. It presented everywhere the same severe and 
 solemn aspect. It is a gigantic rock, rising almost perpen- 
 dicularly, and everywhere covered by a bed of shrubs and 
 odoriferous herbs. The rock is seldom entirely naked." 
 " In Leviticus xxvi. 22, we read that wild beasts were to 
 be sent amongst the people of that land for their iniquities ; 
 even that has a present accomplishment. The monks of 
 Mount Carmel reported that in consequence of the disarm- 
 ing of the people, and the great decrease of their numbers, 
 
336 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 wild beasts were increasing on Mount Carmel to an alarm- 
 ing degree." Travels, pp. 255, 358. 
 
 " From this we descended into a valley, passed over a 
 plain, and after that again ascended another valley, all be- 
 longing to the finest parts of Carmel. At every step the 
 ancient glory of Carmel now became more and more evi- 
 dent to me. What a memorable morning in this wild 
 flower garden ! It was at the most inviting season, too, for 
 it was spring. The verdure is now fresh and vivid ; the 
 vertical sun of summer has not yet scorched it. The haw- 
 thorn, the jasmin, and many another tree and shrub, whose 
 sweetly odorous and elegant bunches of blossom are un- 
 known to me by name, are now in flower. Now it is that 
 the fir tree exhales its resinous particles most powerfully; 
 the oak, the myrtle, and the laurel have tempered their 
 dark winter green with glittering leaflets of a lighter hue. 
 And what a variety of sorts of flowers are trodden upon 
 by the traveller on his way ! There is not one that I have 
 seen in Galilee, or on the plains along the coast, that I do 
 not find here again on Carmel, from the crocuses on the 
 rocky grounds to the fennel plants and narcissuses of the 
 Leontes ; from the intense red, white, and purple anemones 
 of the plains to the ferns that hide themselves in the dark 
 sepulchral caves. Yes ; Carmel, indeed, is still Carmel ; 
 the fruitful, the graceful, the fragrant, the lovely mountain 
 that he was in the days of old. But his glory, his attire, is 
 hidden, is c withered,' according to God's word, so that the 
 traveller along the common highways beholds it not." 
 VAN DE VELDE'S Syria and Palestine, vol. i. p. 347. 
 
 It is at the eastern extremity of Carmel that we are to 
 look for the scene of its grand and lasting associations. 
 Its summit there commands the last view of the sea behind, 
 and the first view of the great plain of Esdraelon in front. 
 This spot is, to this day, called in Arabic language, the 
 burning, or the sacrifice. The tradition which thus points 
 
TOPOGRAPHICAL ACCURACY. 337 
 
 it out as the place of the sacrifice of Elijah, is corroborated 
 by the fact that the localities adapt themselves to the event 
 in every particular. " There, on the highest ridge of the 
 mountain, may well have stood," says Mr. Stanley, " on its 
 sacred ' high place,' the altar of the Lord which Jezebel had 
 cast down. Close beneath, on a wide upland sweep, under 
 the shade of ancient olives, and round a well of water, said 
 to be perennial, and which may therefore have escaped the 
 general drought, and have been able to furnish water for 
 the trenches round the altar, must have been ranged, on 
 one side the king and people, with the eight hundred and 
 fifty prophets of Baal and Astarte, and on the other side 
 the solitary and commanding figure of the Prophet of the 
 Lord. Full before them opened the whole plain of Esdrae- 
 lon, with Tabor and its kindred ranges in the distance ; on 
 the rising ground, at the opening of its valley, the city of 
 Jezreel, with Ahab's palace and Jezebel's temple distinctly 
 visible; in the nearer foreground, immediately under the 
 base of the mountain, was clearly seen the winding stream 
 of the Kishon, working its way through the narrow pass of 
 the hills into the bay of Acre. Such a scene, with such 
 recollections of the past, with such sights of the present, 
 was indeed a fitting theatre for a conflict more momentous 
 than any which their ancestors had fought in the plain be- 
 low. This is not the place to enlarge upon the intense so- 
 lemnity and significance of that conflict which lasted on the 
 mountain height from morning till noon, from noon till 
 the time of the evening sacrifice. It ended at last in the 
 level plain below, where Elijah brought the defeated proph- 
 ets ' down ' the steep sides of the mountain ' to the " tor- 
 rent " of the Kishon, and slew them there.' 
 
 " The closing scene still remains. From the slaughter 
 
 by the side of the Kishon, the king .' went up ' at Elijah's 
 
 bidding once again to the peaceful glades of Carmel, to join 
 
 in the sacrificial feast. And Elijah, too, ascended to ' the 
 
 15 
 
338 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 top of the mountain,' and there, with his face upon the earth, 
 remained wrapt in prayer, whilst his servant mounted to the 
 highest point of all, whence there is a wide view of the 
 blue reach of the Mediterranean Sea, over the Western 
 shoulder of the ridge. The sun was now gone down, but 
 the cloudless sky was lit up with the long bright glow which 
 succeeds an Eastern sunset. Seven times the servant climbed 
 and looked, and seven times there was nothing ; the sky 
 was still clear, the sea was still calm. At last, out of the 
 far horizon there rose a little cloud the first that had for 
 days and months passed across the heavens and it grew in 
 the deepening shades of evening, and at last the whole sky 
 was overcast, and the forests of Carmel shook in the wel- 
 come sound of those mighty winds which in Eastern regions 
 precede a coming tempest. Each from his separate height, 
 the king and the prophet descended. And the king mount- 
 ed his chariot at the foot of the mountain, lest the long- 
 hoped-for rain should swell the torrent of the Kishon, as in 
 the days when it swept away the host of Sisera ; and c the 
 hand of the Lord was upon Elijah,' and he girt his mantle 
 round his loins, and, amidst the rushing storm with which 
 the night closed in, ' ran before the chariot,' as the Bedouins 
 of his native Gilead still run, with inexhaustible strength, to 
 the entrance of Jezreel, distant, though still visible, from 
 the scene of his triumph the top of Carmel." STANLEY'S 
 Sinai and Palestine, pp. 354-356. 
 
 JEZEEEL. 
 " And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel." 1 KINGS xviii. 45. 
 
 The city to which Ahab rode from Carmel, attended by 
 Elijah, was his favorite residence and the chief seat of his 
 dynasty for three successive reigns. It has been identified 
 with the modern Zer'in, which is a mere collection of hovels ; 
 but though its splendor has vanished, enough remains in its 
 
TOPOGRAPHICAL ACCURACY. 339 
 
 natural features to illustrate the most striking incidents in 
 the scenes in which it appears in the Sacred History, of the 
 overthrow of the house of Ahab. 
 
 " Our grand object to-day was the position of the an- 
 cient Jezreel. . . . Setting out from Jenin (at a quarter to 
 five in the morning) we struck out upon the noble plain . . . 
 towards the western extremity of the mountains of Gilboa. 
 ... At seven o'clock we reached Zer'in. ... As we ap- 
 proached (it) there was only a very gentle rise of the sur- 
 face, like a low swell ; and it was therefore unexpected to 
 us, on reaching Zer'in, to find it standing upon the brow of 
 a very steep rocky descent, of one hundred feet or more 
 towards the northeast, where the land sinks off at once into 
 a great fertile valley, running down along the northern wall 
 of the mountains of Gilboa. This valley is itself a broad 
 deep plain . . . enclosed between the ranges of Gilboa and 
 little Hermon, (and) about an hour in breadth ; and below 
 Zer'in continues down quite to the plain of the Jordan at 
 Bethshan. We could see the acropolis of Bethshan lying 
 much lower than Zer'in. 
 
 " In the valley directly under Zer'in is a considerable 
 fountain ; and twenty minutes further east another larger 
 one, under the northern side of Gilboa, called 'Ain Jalud. 
 Zer'in itself thus lies comparatively high, and commands a 
 wide and noble view ; extending down the broad low valley 
 on the east to Beisan, and to the mountains beyond the 
 Jordan ; while towards the west it includes the whole great 
 plain quite to the long ridge of Carmel. It is a most mag- 
 nificent site for a city ; which, being itself such a conspicuous 
 object in every part, would naturally give its name to the 
 whole region. There could, therefore, be little question 
 that we had before and around us the city, the plain, the 
 valley, and the fountain of the ancient Jezreel. 1 
 
 Valley of Jezreel, Josh. xvii. 16 ; Judges vi. 33 ; Hos. i. 5. Fountain at 
 Jezreel, 1 Sam. xxix. 1. 
 
340 . TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 " Jezreel is first mentioned as belonging to the tribe of 
 Issachar ; and it constituted afterwards a part of the king- 
 dom of Ishbosheth. It became more notorious under Ahab 
 and Jezebel, who, though residing at Samaria, had a palace 
 here ; and it was to enlarge the grounds of this palace that 
 the king desired the vineyard of Naboth, and gave occasion 
 for the sad story of the latter. 
 
 " In the retributions of Divine Providence, the same 
 place became the scene of the massacre of Jezebel herself, 
 her son Joram, and all the house of Ahab, by the hand of 
 Jehu." ROBINSON'S Bib. Res. vol. iii, p. 168. 
 
 It has already been noticed that the surrounding locali- 
 ties illustrate the sacred narrative of these awful scenes. 
 " We see how up the valley from the Jordan, Jehu's troop 
 might be seen advancing, how in Naboth's 'field' the 
 two sovereigns met the relentless soldier, how, whilst 
 Joram died on the spot, Ahaziah drove down the west- 
 ward plain, towards the mountain-pass by the village of 
 En-gannim (Jenin), but was overtaken in the ascent, and 
 died of his wounds at Megiddo ; how in the open place, 
 which, as usual in Eastern towns, lay before the gates of 
 Jezreel, the body of the queen was trampled under the 
 hoofs of Jehu's horses ; how the dogs gathered round it, 
 as even to this day, in the wretched village now seated on 
 the ruins of the once splendid city of Jezreel, they prowl 
 on the mounds without the walls for the offal and carrion 
 thrown out to them to consume." STANLEY'S Sinai and 
 Palestine, p. 342. 
 
 " The valley of Jezreel is celebrated in Scripture history 
 for the remarkable victory of Gideon, and the last fatal 
 overthrow of Saul. The Midianites, the Amalekites, and 
 the children of the East had come over Jordan and pitched 
 in the valley of Jezreel : and Gideon had gathered the 
 Israelites of the northern tribes together, and encamped 
 at the well of Harod, probably on Mount Gilboa ; since 
 
TOPOGRAPHICAL ACCUBACY. 341 
 
 the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley. Here 
 Gideon went down to the host, and heard the dream ; and 
 then, with his three hundred men, attacked and miracu- 
 lously routed the whole host of Midian. Against Saul, the 
 Philistines came up and pitched in Shunem, and Saul and 
 all Israel pitched in Gilboa; afterward the Philistines 
 are said to be at Aphek, and the Israelites at a fountain in 
 Jezreel, doubtless the present 'Ain Jalud. Forsaken of 
 God, and in the depth of his despair, Saul now crossed 
 over the ridge of the little Hermon to Endor, to consult 
 the sorceress. The battle took place next day ; c the men 
 of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain 
 in Mount Gilboa ; ' and Saul and his three sons were found 
 among the dead. The Philistines cut off his head, stripped 
 the dead body, and then listened it to the wall of Beth- 
 shau. Thus, in the language of David's pathetic elegy, 
 * The beauty of Israel was slain upon thy high places ! ' 
 and hence the curse upon the scene of slaughter : * Ye 
 mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither ram 
 upon you, nor fields of offering.' 
 
 " Leaving Jezreel at half-past seven, we descended to 
 the fountain below the village, by a steep and rocky path. 
 The water is copious and good. From here we proceeded 
 down the valley twenty minutes to 'Ain Jalud, a very large 
 fountain, flowing out from under a sort of cavern in the 
 wall of conglomerate rock, which here forms the base of 
 Gilboa. The water is excellent ; and, issuing from crevices 
 in the rocks, it spreads out at once into a fine limpid pool, 
 in which great numbers of fish were sporting. From the 
 reservoir, a stream sufficient to turn a mill flows off down 
 the valley. There ' is every reason to regard this (or the 
 other fountain below the town, as Dr. Wilson thinks) as 
 the ancient fountain of Jezreel, where Saul and Jonathan 
 pitched before their last fatal battle; and where, too, in 
 the days of the crusades, Saladin and the Christians sue- 
 
342 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 cessively encamped." ROBINSON'S Bib. Res. vol. iii, p. 
 173. 
 
 NAZAKETH. 
 
 "And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up." LUKE iv. 16. 
 
 This hallowed spot, in which the first thirty years of 
 our Lord's earthly life were spent in tranquil seclusion, 
 lies embosomed in a quiet valley among the hills of Galilee, 
 about six miles north-west from Mount Tabor. " Fifteen 
 gently rounded hills seem as if they had met to form an 
 enclosure for this peaceful basin ; they rise round it like the 
 edge of a shell to guard it from intrusion. It is a rich and 
 beautiful field in the midst of these green hills abounding 
 in gay flowers. . . . The expression of the old topographer, 
 Quaresmius, was as happy as it was poetical : ' Nazareth 
 is a rose, and like a rose has the same rounded form, en- 
 closed by mountains as the flow r er by its leaves.' 
 
 " From the crest of the hills which thus screen it, espe- 
 cially from that called Nebi-Said, or Ismail, on the western 
 side, is one of the most striking views in Palestine : Tabor, 
 with its rounded dome on the south-east ; Hermon's white 
 top in the distant north ; Carmel and the Mediterranean 
 Sea to the west ; a conjunction of those three famous moun- 
 tains probably unique in the views of Palestine : and in 
 the nearer prospect, the uplands in which Nazareth itself 
 stands, its own circular basin around it. ... On the south 
 and south-east, lies the broad plain of Esdraelon, overhung 
 by the broad pyramidal hill, which as the highest point of 
 the Nazareth range, and thus the most conspicuous to 
 travellers approaching from the plain, has received, though 
 without any historical ground, the name of the c Mount of 
 Precipitation.' These are the natural features which for 
 nearly thirty years met the almost daily view of Him 
 who ' increased in wisdom and stature ' within this beauti- 
 ful seclusion. It is the seclusion which constitutes its 
 
TOPOGRAPHICAL ACCURACY. 343 
 
 peculiarity and its fitness for these scenes of the Gospel 
 history. Unknown and unnamed in the Old Testament, 
 Nazareth first appears as the retired abode of the humble 
 carpenter. Its separation from the busy world may be the 
 ground, as it certainly is an illustration, of the Evangelist's 
 play on the word 4 He shall be called a Nazarene.' Its wild 
 character, high up in the Galilean hills, may account both 
 for the roughness of its population, unable to appreciate 
 their own Prophet, and for the evil reputation which it 
 had acquired even in the neighboring villages, one of whose 
 inhabitants, Nathanael of Cana, said : * Can any good thing 
 come out of Nazareth ? ' There, secured within the natu- 
 ral barrier of the hills, was passed that youth, of which the 
 most remarkable characteristic is its absolute obscurity; 
 and thence came the name of Nazarene, used of old by the 
 Jews, and used still by Mussulmans, as the appellation of 
 that despised sect which has now embraced the civilized 
 world." STAJSXET'S Si/nai and Palestine, p. 366. 
 
 " The sun was now fast declining ; and . . . we has- 
 tened on ; and at length, when it was nearly dark, having 
 entered the streets of Nazareth, proceeded to the Latin 
 Convent. . . . 
 
 " Nazareth is situated on the side, and extends nearly 
 to the foot of a hill, which, though not very high, is rather 
 eteep and overhanging. ... At the foot of the hill is a mod- 
 est, simple plain, surrounded by low hills, reaching in length 
 nearly a mile ; in breadth, near the city, a hundred and 
 fifty yards ; but, further on, about four hundred yards. . . . 
 Then follows a ravine, which gradually grows deeper and 
 narrower, till, after walking about another mile, you find 
 yourself in an immense chasm with steep rocks on either 
 side, from whence you behold, as it were, beneath your feet 
 and before you, the noble plain of Esdraelon. The situation 
 of Nazareth is very romantic. The scenery around is of the 
 kind in which one would imagine the Saviour of the world 
 
344 TESTIMONY OF SCIEXCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 delighted to wander, and to withdraw himself when medi- 
 tating on His great mission deep and secluded dells, 
 covered with a wild verdure silent and solemn paths, 
 where overhanging rocks shut out all intrusion. No one 
 can walk round Nazareth without feeling thoughts like 
 these enter his mind, while gazing often on many a sweet 
 spot, traced perhaps by the Redeemer's footsteps, and 
 embalmed by His prayers." JOWETT'S Researches, pp. 
 154-156, 165. 
 
 ..." I walked out alone to the top of the hill over 
 Nazareth. . . . Here, quite unexpectedly, a glorious pros- 
 pect opened on the view. The air was perfectly clear and 
 serene, and I shall never forget the impression I received, 
 as the scene burst suddenly upon me. There lay the mag- 
 nificent plain of Esdraelon, ... on the left was seen the 
 round top of Tabor over the intervening hills, with por- 
 tions of the little Hermon and Gilboa, and the opposite 
 mountains of Samaria. . . . Then tsame the long line of 
 Carmel. ... In the west lay the Mediterranean, gleam- 
 ing in the morning sun ; . . . below, on the north, was 
 spread out another of the beautiful plains of northern 
 Palestine; . . . beyond it, long ridges rise one higher 
 than another, until the mountains of Safed overtop them 
 all, on which at that place is seen, ' a city set upon an hill.' 
 Further towards the right is a sea of hills and mountains, 
 backed by the higher ones beyond the Lake of Tiberias, 
 and in the north-east by the majestic Hermon with its icy 
 crown. Carmel here presented itself to great advantage, 
 extending far out into the sea, and dipping his feet into 
 the waters. 
 
 . . . " I remained for some hours upon this spot, lost in 
 the contemplation of the wide prospect, and of the events 
 connected with the scenes around. In the village below, 
 the Saviour of the world had passed His childhood ; and 
 although we have few particulars of His life during those 
 
TOPOGRAPHICAL ACCURACY. 345 
 
 early years, yet there are certain features of nature which 
 meet our eye now, just as they once met His. He must 
 often have visited the fountain near which we had pitched 
 our tent ; his feet must frequently have wandered over the 
 adjacent hills ; and His eyes doubtless have gazed upon 
 the splendid prospect from this very spot. Here the Prince 
 of Peace looked down upon the great plain, where the din 
 of battles so often had rolled, and the garments of the war- 
 rior been dyed in blood ; and he looked out, too, upon that 
 sea, over which the swift ships were to bear the tidings of 
 His salvation to nations and to continents then unknown. 
 How has the moral aspect of things been changed ! Bat- 
 tles and bloodshed have indeed not ceased to desolate this 
 unhappy country, and gross darkness now covers the peo- 
 ple ; but from this region a light went forth which has en- 
 lightened the world and unveiled new climes ; and now the 
 rays of that light begin to be reflected back from distant 
 isles and continents, to illuminate anew the darkened land 
 where it first sprung up." ROBINSON'S J3ib. Ites. vol. iii, 
 pp. 181-191. 
 
 SEA OF GALILEE. 
 
 " And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the 
 word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret." LUKE v. 1. 
 
 This hallowed sheet of water, associated with so much 
 of the Saviour's life on earth, has several names in the 
 Bible. In the Old Testament it is called the Sea of Chin- 
 nereth, from a town of that name upon its shores. It is 
 thus called in the Old Testament only. In the Apocryphal 
 books it is called the Water of Genessar; in Josephus the 
 Sea of Gennessar ; and in the New Testament, where it is 
 very often mentioned, the Sea of Gennesareth, or, accord- 
 ing to another reading, Gennesar, or the Sea of Galilee. 
 
 " We reached the brow of the height above Tiberias, 
 where a view of the whole sea opened at once upon us. It 
 
346 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 was a moment of no little interest ; for who can look with- 
 out interest upon a lake on whose shores the Saviour lived 
 so long, and where He performed so many of his mighty 
 works ? Yet to me, I must confess, so long as we contin- 
 ued around the lake, the attraction lay more in those asso- 
 ciations than in the scenery itself. The lake presented 
 indeed a beautiful sheet of limpid water, in a deep de- 
 pressed basin, from which the shores rise, in general, 
 steeply and continuously all around, except where a ravine, 
 or sometimes a deep wady, occasionally interrupts them. 
 The hills are rounded and tame, with little of the pic- 
 turesque in their form ; they are decked by no shrubs nor 
 forests. . . . One interesting object greeted our eyes a 
 little boat, with a white sail, gliding over the waters ; the 
 only one, as we afterwards found, upon all the lake. . . . 
 
 " As we sat at evening in the door of our tent, looking 
 out over the placid surface of the lake, its aspect was too 
 inviting not to allure us to take a bath in its limpid waters. 
 The clear and gravelly bottom shelves down in this part 
 very gradually, and is strewed with many pebbles. In or 
 after the rainy season, when the torrents from the neigh-* 
 bouring hills and the more northern mountains stream into 
 the lake, the water rises to a higher level, and overflows 
 the courtyards of the houses along its shores in Tiberias. 
 The lake furnished the only supply of water for the inhab- 
 itants ; it is sparkling, and pleasant to the taste ; or at least 
 it was so to us, after drinking so long of water carried in 
 our leathern bottles. . . . 
 
 " The lake is full of fish of various kinds ; we had no 
 difficulty in procuring an abundant supply for our evening 
 and morning meal ; and found them delicate and well fla- 
 vored." ROBINSON'S Bib. Res. vol. iii, pp. 252-253. 
 
 " My experience in this region enables me to sympathize 
 with the disciples in their long night's contest with the 
 wind. I spent a night in the Wady Shukaiyif, some three 
 
TOPOGRAPHICAL ACCURACY. 347 
 
 miles up it. The sun had scarcely set when the wind be- 
 gan to rush down toward the lake, and it continued all 
 night long with constantly increasing violence, so that 
 when we reached the shore next morning, the face of the 
 lake was like a huge boiling caldron. The wind howled 
 down every wady from the north-east and east, with such 
 fury that no efforts of rowers could have brought a boat 
 to shore at any point along that coast. In a wind like that, 
 the disciples must have been driven quite across to Genne- 
 saret, as we know they were To understand the causes 
 of these sudden and violent tempests, we must remember 
 that the lake lies low six hundred feet lower than the 
 ocean ; that the vast and naked plateaus of the Jordan 
 rise to a great height, spreading backward to the wilds of 
 the Hauran, and upward to snowy Hermon ; that the water- 
 courses have cut out profound ravines and wild gorges, 
 converging to the head of this lake, and that these act like 
 gigantic funnels to draw down the cold winds from the 
 mountains. On the occasion referred to we subsequently 
 pitched our tents at the shore, and remained for three days 
 and nights exposed to this tremendous wind. We had to 
 double-pin all the tent-ropes, and frequently were obliged 
 to hang with our whole weights upon them, to keep the 
 quivering tabernacle from being carried up bodily into the 
 air. No wonder the disciples toiled and rowed all that 
 night ; and how natural their amazement and terror at the 
 sight of Jesus walking on the waves ! The faith of Peter 
 in desiring and daring to set foot on such a sea is most 
 striking and impressive ; more so, indeed, than its failure 
 after he made the attempt. The whole lake, as we had it, 
 was lashed into fury : the waves repeatedly rolled up to our 
 tent door, tumbling over the ropes with such violence as to 
 carry away the tent-pins. And, moreover, those winds are 
 not only violent, but they come down suddenly, and often 
 when the sky is perfectly clear. I once went in to swim 
 
348 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 near the hot baths, and, before I was aware, a wind came 
 rushing over the cliffs with such force that it was with 
 great difficulty I could regain the shore. Some such sud- 
 den wind it was, I suppose, that filled the ship with waves, 
 1 so that it was now full,' while Jesus was asleep on a pillow 
 in the hinder part of the ship ; nor is it strange that the 
 disciples aroused Him with the cry of ' Master ! Master ! 
 carest thou not that .we perish ? ' ' But he arose and re- 
 buked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still ; and 
 the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And the 
 disciples feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What 
 manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey 
 him ?' " DR. THOMSON'S Land and the Book, vol. ii, p. 32. 
 
 " Yet one scene was perhaps more present with us than 
 any other through that Sunday, and especially at each of 
 the three sunrises we saw over the lake, the scene which 
 almost more vividly and familiarly than any other brings 
 before us our risen Saviour, the first fruits in whose likeness 
 all that sleep in Him shall be raised. 
 
 " It was the time when Jesus showed himself again to 
 the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, that last supplementary 
 chapter of St. John's Gospel, which seems to lead us beyond 
 the grave to the shores of life on c the other side,' and yet 
 whose chief delight it is that its scene was here on this actual, 
 familiar, untransformed earth, on one of these very sandy 
 or shingly beaches. We could not but recall continually 
 the solitary figure seen dimly from the boat after the night 
 of toil and disappointment in the grey of the morning ; the 
 voice recognized at last by its power in the repetition of the 
 old miracle ; old, yet new in the significant variety of the 
 safe landing of the unbroken net with all its contents at the 
 feet of Jesus ; the simple meal which the Master provided 
 from his stores, not from theirs ; and afterwards, more than 
 all, the familiar converse as the little band, ' when they 
 had dined,' walked along this shore. 
 
TOPOGRAPHICAL ACCURACY. 349 
 
 u Yes, along this shore ; with the quiet music of these 
 waters rippling against the beach, and the golden outlines 
 of the opposite hills reflected on the lake in the early morn- 
 ing, that little band walked on, conversing as they went ; 
 and before them the risen Lord, the One who had died 
 was alive again, and would die no more, speaking, as 
 he walked, to Peter in few and quiet words which went 
 to the depths of the heart. The past three-fold denial, 
 recalled by the three-fold question, but only recalled to 
 stamp a deeper consecration on the service of the future. 
 This was the scene which, more than any other, seemed 
 before us. 
 
 " The fire of charcoal smouldering on this beach to 
 welcome the weary fishermen ; the fishes laid thereon, and 
 the flat unleavened cakes (such as were often prepared for 
 us) baked on the ashes ; the Lord himself taking the bread 
 and fish and giving them to the disciples; and after the 
 simple meal the quiet conversation as they walked along 
 the shore and then the gleams of allegoric meaning which 
 flash through all these homely details, lifting the heart to 
 the heavenly shore ; and the net which, ' when it is full,' 
 the angels shall come forth and lay at the feet of Jesus, no 
 more treading the stormy sea, or tossed in the frail boat, 
 but standing in majesty on the eternal shore. And after- 
 wards the ' feast,' not a morning meal then, but a ' sup- 
 per,' an evening feast when the long day of toil is over ; 
 and when the ' Lovest thou me ? ' shall be exchanged for 
 the ' In that thou didst it unto me ; ' and the * Feed my 
 sheep ' for ' Well done, good and faithful servant, thou 
 hast been faithful in a few things, I will make thee rule.r 
 over many things ; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.' 
 
 " Thus if through the night the Sea of Galilee seems to 
 echo with the heart-calming assurance, ' It is I, be not 
 afraid,' its shores at morning seem no less to resound with 
 the heart-stirring question, ' Lovest thou me ? ' " 
 
350 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 SCENEKY OF THE PARABLES. 
 " And he sat down and taught the people out of the ship." LUKE v. 3. 
 
 " The greater part of the parables delivered in Galilee, 
 are grouped in the discourse from the fishing vessel off the 
 beach of the plain of Gennesareth. Is there anything on 
 the spot to suggest the images thus conveyed ? So (if I 
 may speak for a moment of myself) I asked, as I rode 
 along the track under the hill side, by which the plain of 
 Gennesareth is approached, so I asked at the moment, see- 
 ing nothing but the steep sides of the hill alternately of 
 rock and grass. And when I thought of the parable of the 
 sower, I answered, that here at least was nothing on which 
 the Divine Teaching could fasten. It must have been the 
 distant corn-fields of Samaria or Esdraelon on which His 
 mind was dwelling. The thought had hardly occurred to 
 me, when a slight recess in the hill side, close upon the 
 plain, disclosed at once, in detail, and with a conjunction 
 which I remember nowhere else in Palestine, every feature 
 of the great Parable. There was the undulating corn-field 
 descending to the water's edge. There was the trodden 
 pathway running through the midst of it, with no fence or 
 hedge to prevent the seed from falling here and there on 
 cither side of it, or upon it ; itself hard with the constant 
 tramp of horse and mule, and human feet. There, near at 
 hand, were all kinds of aquatic fowl by the lake side, im- 
 mediately recalling the f birds of the air ' which 4 came and 
 devoured the seed by the way side,' or which took refuge 
 in the spreading branches of the mustard tree. There was 
 the c good' rich soil, which distinguishes the whole of that 
 plain and its neighborhood from the bare hills elsewhere 
 descending into the lake, and which, where there is no in- 
 terruption, produces one vast mass of corn. There was the 
 rocky ground of the hill side protruding here and there 
 
TOPOGRAPHICAL ACCURACY. 351 
 
 through the corn-fields, as elsewhere through the grassy 
 slopes. There were the large bushes of thorn the ' Nabk,' 
 that kind of which tradition says that the Crown of Thorns 
 was woven, springing up, like the fruit trees of the more 
 inland parts, in the very midst of the waving wheat. 
 
 " This is the most detailed illustration of the Galilean 
 parables. But the image of the corn-fields generally must 
 have been always present to the eye of the multitude on 
 shore, of the Master and disciples in the boat as con- 
 stantly as the vineyards at Jerusalem. ' The earth bring- 
 eth forth fruit of herself,' 'the blade, the ear, the full 
 corn in the ear,' ' the reapers coming with their sickles 
 for the harvest,' the tall green stalks still called Zuwan 
 by the Arabs (in the Greek N. T. ' zizania ' and in our ver- 
 sion rendered ' tares ') at first sight hardly distinguishable 
 from the wheat, could never be out of place in the plain of 
 Gennesareth. It is mpossible, moreover, to see even the 
 relics of the great fisheries, which once made the fame of 
 Gennesareth, the two or three solitary fishermen casting 
 their nets into the lake from its rocky banks, without re- 
 calling the image which here alone, in inland Palestine, 
 could have a meaning ; of the net which was ' cast into the 
 sea and gathered of every kind,' from all the various tribes 
 which still people these lonely waters." STANLEY. 
 
 LEBANON. 
 " The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee." ISA. Ix. 13. 
 
 " The first mention of Lebanon is in the prayer of Mo- 
 ses, when he besought the Lord that he might see ' that 
 goodly mountain and Lebanon.' It was then inhabited by 
 the Hivites. There is frequent reference to the fountains, 
 wells, and streams of Lebanon, as well as to its vines, flow- 
 ers, roots, fir trees, box trees, and cedars ; and in one de- 
 scription of the latter day glory, it is said, that * the fruit 
 
352 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 thereof shall shake like Lebanon.' The allusions of the 
 prophets appear very striking to those acquainted with the 
 circumstances of the place. We learn from Hosea, that 
 Israel shall one day be ' as the vine of Lebanon ; ' and its 
 wine is still the most esteemed of any in the Levant. 
 What could better display the folly of the man who had 
 forsaken his God, than the reference of Jeremiah to the 
 cold flowing waters from the ices of Lebanon the bare 
 mention of which must have brought the most delightful 
 associations to the inhabitants of the parched plain ? The 
 Psalmist declares, that ' the voice of the Lord breaketh the 
 cedars ; yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon ; 
 and a more sublime spectacle can scarcely be conceived 
 than the thunder rolling among these enormous masses, 
 and the lightning playing among the lofty cedars, wither- 
 ing their foliage, crashing the branches that had stood the 
 storms of centuries, and with the utmost ease hurling the 
 roots and trunks into the distant vale. But by Isaiah the 
 mountain is compared to one vast altar, and its countless 
 trees are the pile of wood, and the cattle upon its thousand 
 hills the sacrifice ; yet, if a volcanic eruption were to burst 
 forth from one of its summits, and in torrents of liquid fire 
 to enkindle the whole at once, even this mighty offering 
 would be insufficient to expiate one single crime : and the 
 sinner is told that ' Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor 
 the beasts thereof for a burnt- offering.' The trees of Leb- 
 anon are now comparatively few, and with them are gone 
 the eagles and wild beasts to which they afforded shelter ; 
 and it is of its former state, and not of its present degrada- 
 tion, that we are to think, in reading the glowing descrip- 
 tions of the prophets." HARDY'S Notices of the Holy 
 Land, pp. 271-273. 
 
 " His countenance is as Lebanon." 
 " Such is the figure used by Solomon to indicate the 
 
TOPOGRAPHICAL ACCURACY. 353 
 
 dignity, beauty, and majesty of the great Head of the 
 Church. They who have gazed upon Lebanon from the 
 heights about Beyrout must have felt how noble an image it 
 is. Lebanon is a little world in itself. It is still abundantly 
 populated, notwithstanding the ravages of war; and its 
 fertility is very great, by means of the terraced manner 
 of cultivation, which has so generally prevailed in the 
 East. From Beyrout the eye traces numberless villages, 
 scattered about even on the higher ridges, amidst forests 
 of pine and majestic oaks. The loftiest peak of Lebanon 
 is called Sannin, and is computed at 10,000 feet above the 
 sea level. There is an indescribable air of grandeur per- 
 vading this grand mass of mountain. But what must Leba- 
 non have been, when the prophet Isaiah referred to it as 
 an image to illustrate his announcement of gospel blessing 
 and gospel glory ' The glory of Lebanon shall be given 
 unto it ' ? " Mission to the Jews, p. 240. 
 
 ... "I have travelled in no part of the world where I 
 have seen such a variety of glorious mountain scenes with- 
 in so narrow a compass. Not the luxurious Java, not the 
 richly wooded Borneo, not the majestic Sumatra or Celebes, 
 not the paradise-like Ceylon, far less the grand but naked 
 mountains of South Africa, or the low impenetrable woods 
 of the West Indies, are to be compared to the southern 
 projecting mountains of Lebanon. In yonder lands all is 
 green or all is bare. An Indian landscape has something 
 monotonous in its superabundance of wood and jungle, that 
 one wishes in vain to see intermingled with rocky cliffs or 
 with towns or villages. In the bare table lands of the Cape 
 Colony, the eye discovers nothing but rocky cliffs. ... It 
 is not so, however, with the southern ranges of Lebanon. 
 Here there are woods and mountains, streams and villages, 
 bold rocks and green cultivated fields, land and sea views. 
 Here, in one word, you find all that the eye could desire 
 to behold on this earth. , . The whole of northern Canaan 
 
354 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 lies at our feet. Is not this Sidon ? Are not those Sarepta 
 and Tyre, and Ras-el-Abial ? I see also the Castle of Shukif 
 and the gorge of the Leontes, and the hills of Safed, and, 
 in the distance, the basin of the Sea of Tiberias, with the 
 hills of Bara, far, far away ; and all these hundreds of vil- 
 lages between the spot we are at and the sea coast. . . . 
 Half a day would not suffice for taking the angles of such 
 an ocean of villages, towns, castles, rivers, hills and capes." 
 VAN DE VELDE, vol. ii, p. 488. 
 
 ..." Wherever one may wander over the sunny 
 hills and valleys into which the romantic region of ' the 
 Lebanon is cloven, will he find himself in presence of a 
 living picture of ancient times and ever fresh associations. 
 He will find the venerable mountain incrusted with a rich 
 and sacred symbolism. The waving of its golden harvests 
 will speak to him of ' an handful of corn on the top of the 
 mountains, the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon.' Its 
 vineyards purpling in the clear heat of the summer, the 
 mellow fruitage of its load of orchards, the brilliant colors 
 of its wayside flowers, the sweetness of its odorous thickets 
 and beds of thyme, the balsamic fragrance of its cedars, 
 will give more vivid force to holy words which have rung 
 from childhood through the memory : ' 1 will be as the 
 dew unto Israel : he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth 
 his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his 
 beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. 
 They that dwell under his shadow shall return : they shall 
 revive as the corn and grow as the vine ; the scent thereof 
 shall be as the wine of Lebanon.' Stability, fragrance, 
 fruit fulness, types of the highest graces that beautify and 
 exalt the life of man, dwell in pure and endless companion- 
 ship beneath the cedars of Lebanon." 
 
TOPOGRAPHICAL ACCURACY. 355 
 
 MOUNT HEKMON. 
 "As the dew of Hermon." PSALM cxxxiii. 3. 
 
 This celebrated mountain, though the subject of frequent 
 allusion, is not associated with any historical event in the 
 Old Testament. It was however the most probable scene 
 of one of the most interesting events in the life of our Lord 
 related in the New. " In the turning point of his history, 
 when ' from that time many of his disciples went back and 
 walked no more with him,' when even the twelve seemed 
 likely ' to go away ; ' and He could no more walk in Judaea 
 ' because the Jews sought to kill Him ; ' then He left His 
 familiar haunts on the Sea of Galilee, to return to them, 
 as far as we know, only once more. He crossed to the 
 north-eastern corner of the lake, and passed, as it would 
 seem, up the rich plain along its eastern side, and came 
 into ' the parts,' into 4 the villages ' of Csesarea Philippi. 
 It is possible that He never reached the city itself; but it 
 must at least have been in its neighborhood that the con- 
 fession of Peter was made ; the rock on which the Temple 
 of Augustus stood, and from which the streams of the Jor- 
 dan issue, may possibly have suggested the words which 
 now run round the dome of St. Peter's. And here one 
 cannot but ask what was the ' high mountain ' on which 
 six days from that time, whilst still in this region, ' He 
 was transfigured ' before His three disciples ? It is impos- 
 sible to look up from the plain to the towering peaks of 
 Hermon, almost the only mountain which deserves the 
 name in Palestine, and one of whose ancient titles was 
 derived from this circumstance, and not be struck with its 
 appropriateness to the scene. That magnificent height- 
 mingling with all the views of Northern Palestine from 
 Shechem upwards though often alluded to as the northern 
 barrier of the Holy Land, is connected with no historical 
 
356 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 event in the Old or New Testament. Yet this fact of its 
 rising high above all the other hills of Palestine, and of its 
 setting the last limit to the wanderings of Him who was 
 sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, falls in 
 with the supposition which the words inevitably force upon 
 us. High up on the southern slopes there must be many 
 a point where the disciples could be taken ' apart by them- 
 selves.' At any rate, the remote heights above the sources 
 of the Jordan witnessed the moment, when His work in 
 His own peculiar sphere being ended, He set his face for 
 the last time 4 to go up to Jerusalem.' " STANLEY'S Sinai 
 and Palestine, pp. 391-392. 
 
 The same view is also adopted and ably supported by 
 Dr. Buchanan in his "Clerical Furlough." .... "Upon 
 the whole, in so far as its known history is concerned, the 
 one event which sheds a glory around it, is the visit and 
 the transfiguration of our Lord. As regards the natural 
 beauties of the scene, they can hardly be exaggerated. 
 From the edge of the grove where our tents were pitched 
 the view all around was of the noblest kind. Immediately 
 behind us, on the east, and looking right down upon us 
 .from a height of 1,000 feet, were the massive ruins of the 
 singularly picturesque and majestic fortress of Subeibeh. 
 Thousands and thousands of feet above it, and running 
 along the whole north side of our position, towered up the 
 mighty Hermon, his vast sides cleft by tremendous chasms 
 and shaggy with dark woods, his swelling breast rising 
 black and bare over these primeval forests; and higher 
 still his broad and gigantic shoulders and hoary head white 
 with eternal snow ! Who could look at him and fail to 
 acknowledge his right to be called the Jebel-es-Sheikh the 
 mountain monarch of the land ? " 
 
 The view from the summit of Hermon is thus finely 
 given by Mr. Porter : " I shall not soon forget the feelings 
 that filled my breast as I gazed on the magnificent pan- 
 
TOPOGRAPHICAL ACCURACY. 357 
 
 orama spread out before me. I could scarce realize the 
 thought that my feet stood on that sacred mountain of 
 which inspired penmen had written; and that the Land 
 of Israel, God's gift to Abraham's seed, was before me. 
 And yet it was so ! Looking westward, that expanse of 
 water, now gleaming like burnished gold beneath the rays 
 of the sinking sun, is the ' Great Sea,' the border of the 
 'Promised Land.' On that low promontory jutting out 
 behind those mountains stands Tyre, the ancient queen of 
 the sea; and those mountains are called Lebanon. That 
 blue ridge far away to the south is Carmel, and the broad 
 plain of Esdraelon stretches along its base, with Jezreel 
 and Shunem, Endor and Tabor, Nain and Nazareth on its 
 borders. Here on the south, deeply depressed, are the 
 still waters of the Sea of Galilee, and the narrow valley 
 running away beyond, marks the course of the Jordan. 
 The picturesque hills on the left bank of the Jordan are 
 the hills of Gilead ; and the elevated plateau on this side 
 of them, extending far eastward, is the ' Land of Bashan.' 
 On the north are the lofty parallel ridges of Libanus and 
 Antilibanus, rising peak over peak far as the eye can see, 
 and enclosing between them the rich valley of Coele-Syria. 
 At the eastern base of Antilibanus is a broad plain covered 
 with verdure ; and the eye can just detect a bright speck 
 in the centre of it that is Damascus, the oldest city in the 
 world. 
 
 " What a multitude of wondrous events does memory 
 crowd together in this narrow space ! Through these 
 mountains and plains roamed the patriarchs with their 
 flocks and herds. This country was witness to the prowess 
 of Samson, the valour of David, and the wisdom of Solo- 
 mon. Here God's ancient people were cheered by revela- 
 tions of eternal truth from on high ; and they were awed 
 and solemnized by wondrous manifestations of Divine power 
 and love. The feet of the Son of God and Saviour of the 
 
358 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 World trod these cities and villages, while their inhabitants 
 beheld'His miracles, His sufferings, and the heavenly purity 
 of His life. Here too was consummated the glorious work 
 of man's redemption, when Jesus died and rose again, hav- 
 ing vanquished death and Satan, and brought life and im- 
 mortality to light. Of incidents venerable for- their high 
 antiquity, of events celebrated for their display of valour 
 and patriotism, and of acts hallowed by the loftiest mani- 
 festations of Divine power and love, this land was the 
 scene." Five Years in Damascus, vol. I. pp.291, 292. 
 
 The details above given are but a selected portion of 
 the testimony of the Land to the Book gathered from the 
 observations of different travellers. Many volumes would 
 be required, fully to present the evidence arising from this 
 source. The argument which it sustains has been thus 
 forcibly stated by the learned Professor Stuart : " How 
 obviously every thing of this kind serves to give confirma- 
 tion to the authority and credibility of the sacred record. 
 Do sceptics undertake to scoff at the Bible, and aver that 
 it is the work of impostors who lived in later ages ? Be- 
 sides asking them what object impostors could have in 
 forging a book of such high and lofty principles, we may 
 ask and ask with an assurance that need not fear the dan- 
 ger of being put to the blush whether impostors of later 
 ages could possibly have so managed as to preserve all 
 the localities in complete order which the Scriptures pre- 
 sent ? Rare impostors they must indeed have been men 
 possessed of more knowledge of antiquity than we can well 
 imagine could ever be possessed by such as would conde- 
 scend to an imposition of such a character. In fact, the 
 thing appears to be morally impossible, if one considers it 
 in the light of antiquity, when so little knowledge of a 
 geographical kind was in existence, and when mistakes re- 
 specting countries and places with which one was not per- 
 
TOPOGRAPHICAL ACCURACY. 359 
 
 Gonally familiar were almost, if not altogether, unavoid- 
 able. 
 
 " How happens it now that the authors of the Old Tes- 
 tament Scriptures should have possessed such a wonderful 
 tact in geography, as it would seem they did, unless they 
 lived at the time and in the countries of which they have 
 spoken ? This happens not elsewhere. It is but yesterday 
 since one of the first geological writers in Great Britain 
 published to the world that our Mississippi and Missouri 
 rivers belong to the tropics. Respectable writers, even in 
 Germany, the land of classical attainments, have sometimes 
 placed Ccele-Syria on the east of the Antilibanus ridge, or 
 even seemed to transfer Damascus over the mountains, and 
 place it between the two Lebanon ridges in the valley. 
 No such mistakes occur in the sacred writers. They write 
 as men who were familiar with the geography of places 
 named ; they mention places with the utmost familiarity ; 
 and after a lapse of almost three thousand years, every 
 successive traveller who visits Bible lands, does something 
 to confirm the accuracy of the Hebrew prophets. Towns 
 bearing -the same name, or the ruins of towns, are located 
 in the same relative position in which they said they were ; 
 and the ruins of once splendid cities, broken columns, di- 
 lapidated walls, trodden-down vineyards, half-demolished 
 temples and fragments broken and consumed by time, pro- 
 claim to the world that those cities are what they said they 
 would be, and that they were under the inspiration of 
 God." 
 
CHAPTEE XI. 
 
 AECHJ20LOGICAL DISCOVERIES OLD TESTAMENT. 
 
 THE constant agreement which has been shown to ex- 
 ist between the recorded history and the natural geography 
 of both the Old and New Testament, proves undeniably, 
 the accuracy of the sacred writers. But does it also estab. 
 lish the historic reality of the events which they narrate ? 
 That it does so when candidly viewed, seems also unde- 
 niable. To find the Scripture notices, not only of distant 
 regions, but of valleys, fountains, mountains, rivers, so ex- 
 actly confirmed in the minutest details, is irreconcileable 
 with any other supposition than that the men and the oc- 
 currences of those distant times which the Bible brings 
 before us, were not less true and living than the human 
 realities which are now around us. 
 
 Against this point, as has been already noticed, the spe- 
 cial and most strenuous efforts of modern infidelity have 
 been directed. It has laboured to show that the events of 
 the Bible history are so enveloped in the mists and clouds 
 of the remote ages in which they transpired, that^ it is im- 
 possible to separate them from the unsubstantial fancies of 
 myth and legend. The additional and overwhelming evi- 
 dence stored up in memorials of dead empires, that lay for- 
 gotten and unknown until needed for the vindication of 
 God's word, will furnish the materials for the present 
 chapter. 
 
 It will be instructive, however, first to consider the rise 
 
ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES. 361 
 
 of the peculiar school of scepticism which rendered the 
 production of that evidence timely and opportune. 
 
 " The close of the last and the beginning of the present 
 century," says Mr. Rawlinson, 1 " saw the rise of a new sci- 
 ence, the science of historical criticism, identified in Ger- 
 many with the name of Mebuhr, and adopted and applied 
 by such English scholars as Thirlwall, Grote, Arnold, and 
 others. Under the application of its new and shifting 
 principles of historical investigation, many of the hitherto 
 recognized verities of ancient history, Greek, Roman, and 
 Egyptian, fell back into the region of the legendary and 
 the fabulous. The domain of real history was circum- 
 scribed ; facts once received melted down into fables, he- 
 roes receded into gods and demi-gods, and their feats and 
 triumphs were proved to be but the fancies of poets or the 
 dreams of national vanity. An unreasoning and uncritical 
 faith had received with equal satisfaction the narratives of 
 the campaigns of Caesar and of the doings of Romulus, the 
 account of the marches of Alexander and of the conquests 
 of Semiramis, the story of the conspiracy of Cataline and 
 the tale of the Trojan settlements at Latium. The light 
 had not been sufficiently bounded off from the darkness, 
 the dreamy cloud-land of legend and fable from the clear, 
 perfect historic day. In dividing between these and clear- 
 ing the historic field of its long legendary occupants, al- 
 though in some instances the pruning knife of the critic 
 may have overdone its work, it cannot be denied that an 
 important service has been rendered to historical science, 
 and reliable principles for the conduct of historical inquiry 
 have been fixed and ascertained. 
 
 " The successful demolition of errors in this part of the 
 historic field, suggested the inquiry ' Might not this new 
 science be made available for a fresh assault upon historical 
 Christianity ? ' If it could be wielded in that direction, 
 
 1 Bampton Lectures. 
 16 
 
362 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 the attack would fall in with the humour of the times, with 
 the movement in the world of philosophy. It would cover 
 itself with the plausible shield of historical inquiry. Criti- 
 cism had reduced the dimensions of Grecian and Roman 
 history ; it had disintegrated the true from the false, the 
 really historical from the fabulous. Might it not be ap- 
 plied with equal success to the Jewish and Christian histo- 
 ries ? Might they not be shown to have their fabulous ex- 
 crescences to be cut off by the modern critical priming- 
 knife, their large account of facts to be thrown back into 
 the dim twilight region of myths and legends ? There 
 was no want of will to make the attempt. The great mas- 
 ter-mind to whom the new science owed, if not its exist- 
 ence, its advancement to the place it held, had indeed 
 distinctly accepted the mass of the Scripture history as 
 authentic, and was a sincere and earnest believer. But 
 there were minds of a different order among his country- 
 men, neither guided by his caution nor restrained by his 
 reverence, and whose faith had already given way in all 
 that was essential in Christianity. Having cast away the 
 kernel, their next struggle was to dispose of the shell, and 
 the new science was pressed into their service to accom- 
 plish the work of demolition." The result has been the 
 rise of the German mythical school of infidelity, which with 
 an erudition and acumen never surpassed, have brought all 
 the resources of learning against the historical statements 
 of Holy Writ. By these writers, the miracles in the sacred 
 narrative have been compared with the prodigies and di- 
 vine appearances related by Herodotus and Livy. Because 
 the names of kings were frequently apposite to their char- 
 acter or the events of their career, they have argued that 
 the monarchs supposed to have borne them, must be re- 
 garded as fictitious personages like Theseus and Numa. 
 Portions of the sacred history were early declared to pre- 
 sent every appearance of being simply myths ; and by de- 
 
ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES. 363 
 
 grees it was sought to give the whole history from first to 
 last a legendary and unreal character. Did any of the 
 particular narratives in the sacred books seem to the ra- 
 tionalistic mind objectionable or improbable, it was deemed 
 a sufficient account of any such narrative to say that its 
 main source was oral tradition that it first took a written 
 shape many hundreds of years after the supposed date of 
 the circumstances narrated, the authors being poets rather 
 than historians, and bent rather on glorifying their native 
 country than on giving a true relation of facts and that in 
 places they had not even confined themselves to the exag- 
 geration, but had allowed imagination to step in and fill up 
 the blanks in their annals. This school of writers have not 
 hesitated to claim the possession of " a verifying faculty," 
 an infallible tact, which enables them to decide at once as 
 to what is, and what is not, historical and literal truth. 
 Armed with this spear of Ithuriel, De Wette was empow- 
 ered to relegate a great part of the Old Testament Histo- 
 ries into the region of the mythical ; and Schleiermacher 
 did not hesitate to characterize those narratives out of the 
 life of our Lord, which the Evangelists have preserved re- 
 specting his childhood and early youth, as " no more than 
 the poetical expression of the truth, that the beginning 
 and end of his marvellous life were not to be measured by 
 the laws of common experience." At length the system 
 may be said to have culminated in the remarkable work 
 entitled " The Life of Christ," by Strauss, in which the en- 
 tire New Testament is turned into a myth and Christ him- 
 self becomes a mere name. 
 
 From Germany this school of infidelity has spread to 
 England and America, exerting in both countries a widely 
 pernicious influence among the cultivated classes of society. 
 In circles which would turn with disgust from the vulgar 
 productions of the Paine school, works of a far more dan- 
 gerous character are now freely circulated, works whose 
 
364 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 avowed object it is to " extirpate all faith in the supernatu- 
 ral ; to account for the origin of every form of religion, 
 not excepting Christianity itself, on purely natural prin- 
 ciples ; to undermine all creeds, and overthrow every exist- 
 ing form of worship ; and to substitute for them either the 
 simplest and most practical code of utilitarian morals, or 
 the vague and mystic generalities of Pantheism." Among 
 the more prominent of these may be mentioned Mackay's 
 " Progress of the Intellect," a work bearing the marks of 
 erudition, more ingenuity and labour, and very slender judg- 
 ment. The author attempts to dispose of the supernatural 
 claims of Christianity by applying the theory of myths 
 alike to the systems of Polytheism and the Scriptures of 
 Truth ; all mythology being in his estimation, " but the 
 exaggerated reflection of our own intellectual habits." The 
 Polytheism of the Greeks and the Christianity of the New 
 Testament, were equally the products or creations of the 
 human mind ; and each of the two may be satisfactorily 
 accounted for by the same natural law or tendency which 
 leads mankind every where and in all circumstances to 
 give form and body to their ideal conceptions, to personify 
 abstractions, and to endow these imaginary beings with 
 attributes akin to their own. In attempting to develop 
 this fundamental idea, he not only compares the mythology 
 of the Greeks with the mythology of the Hebrews, as con- 
 tained in the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, but he places 
 both on precisely the same level, and ascribes to them a 
 common origin. As a specimen of what the beautiful nar- 
 ratives of Scripture become by the application of this theory, 
 his interpretation of the history of Joseph maybe subjoined. 
 This, he suggests, "is simply the myth of the Arabian 
 phoenix in another form, because the moon and the stars 
 bowed down to him in the dream, and he was carried away 
 amidst bales of myrrh, as that bird was said to make its 
 funeral pyre of spices, and after marrying a daughter of 
 
ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES. 365 
 
 the priest of the sun, representative of the sun himself, a 
 command was given respecting his bones, like those of the 
 Nature God, symbolized by Osiris, Orestes and Pelops ! " 
 c Ex uno disce omnes.' Subjected to this crucible, the whole 
 of those simple and touching histories which delight the 
 opening mind of childhood and charm to the last the dull 
 ear of old age, are transmuted into a mere mass of legends, 
 on a par with the Arabian Nights or the adventures of the 
 Odyssey. They are but phantasmata as unreal as the 
 vision that mocked the efforts of the Trojan hero : 
 
 
 
 " Ter frustra comprensa manus effugit imago, 
 Par levibus ventis volucrique simillima somno." 
 
 A dim haze settles down upon the Scripture landscape, 
 and all its scenes and events the actors and the stage 
 become " such stuff as dreams are made of," and, like Fairy- 
 land with King Arthur and his knights, are floated off to 
 
 some 
 
 " island valley of Avilion 
 
 Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow, 
 Nor ever wind blows loudly." 
 
 Were it possible for this attempt to " rationalize " the 
 Bible and transform its histories into " myths " to be suc- 
 cessful, then, indeed, would the Gospel refuge for sinners 
 be dismantled and levelled to the dust. For, as we have 
 already seen, Christianity must stand or fall with the facts 
 with which it is intertwined. But the waves of profane 
 speculation and the winds of sentimental fancies burst in 
 vain against this building of God. It is founded on the 
 rock of eternal truth, and cannot be overthrown. This 
 phase of infidelity has been made in the wisdom of Provi- 
 dence, to serve what seems its natural end, to lead to a 
 more accurate study of Scripture than was ever before 
 engaged in ; and to broaden and deepen the foundations 
 of all the defences of the faith. The subtile and insidious 
 
366 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 methods of undermining the vital truths and facts of reve- 
 lation, devised by Strauss, Bruno Bauer and other rational- 
 istic leaders, roused such men as Tholuck, Hengstenberg, 
 Neander, Olshausen and Stier to rally to the standard of 
 the truth. These great scholars, and not they alone, have 
 met the mythical school of infidels upon their own ground, 
 and with their own weapons have fully discomfited them. 
 By the application of the principles of a legitimate and just 
 criticism, the weakness and fallacy of their objections have 
 been fully demonstrated, the historic verity of the Scrip- 
 tures vindicated, and not a jot or tittle has fallen to the 
 ground. 
 
 The internal evidence on this point is alone sufficient to 
 carry conviction to every unprejudiced mind. " The Scrip- 
 tures shine bright with the amiable simplicity of truth. 
 They set forth things just as they happened, with the mi- 
 nute circumstances of time, place, situation, gesture, habits, 
 &c., in such a natural manner tfcat we seem to be actually 
 present." l " When we compare the early Scriptures with 
 the Grecian and Eastern fables, we feel just the same con- 
 trast as between a crowd of meteors, appearing and disap- 
 pearing suddenly in all directions, and the calm, steady, 
 onward progress of the stars, that move silently and irre- 
 sistibly in their course through the dark blue heavens. 
 There is no hurry and yet there is no pause, in the view 
 of the Divine Providence, and of the moral government of 
 the world, which these simple histories set before us. If 
 wonders are recorded, there is no pausing to dwell upon 
 them, as if strange works of power were strange and sur- 
 prising even to the Divine Historian. There is no lingering 
 in the far distant past, where a human fancy would have 
 loved to disport itself amidst the rivers of Paradise, and 
 gorgeous visions of Hesperian gardens, homes of beauty, 
 and islands of the blest. The giants, < the mighty men of 
 
 * Jonathan Edwards' Works, vol. viii, p. 197. 
 
ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES. 367 
 
 old, men of renown,' have their transitory fame just indi- 
 cated in one sentence, and pass at once out of view. The 
 peopling of the old world by the sons of Noah, and the 
 dispersion from the tower of Babel, are briefly recorded ; 
 but no details of the journeyings which followed, whether 
 to the lands of the East, or the islands of the West; no 
 geographical romance, like that of the Odyssey, so attrac- 
 tive to half-civilized ears, intrudes on the narrative, and in- 
 terferes with the rigid unity of its moral purpose. And 
 when the fathers of the chosen race are set before us, there is 
 no element in the description to feed the pride of their chil- 
 dren, though much to animate their faith and kindle their 
 love towards the God of their fathers. They are men of 
 like passions with ourselves not, like the demi-gods of 
 Greece, heroes in power, and profligates in character. The 
 faith of Abraham fails him twice under the pressure of 
 temptation. Isaac, in his old age, betrays a weakness most 
 unworthy of the son of Abraham, and heir of the promises. 
 Jacob steals first the birth-right from his brother, and after- 
 ward the blessing ; and his whole life is like one severe dis- 
 cipline, to root out duplicity as well as to strengthen his 
 faith. Amidst all these sins or follies of the Patriarchs, the 
 purpose of God who chose them and their seed to be wit- 
 nesses for His truth in the deepening idolatry of the nations, 
 advances slowly and calmly to its fulfilment. When the 
 appointed centuries have expired, ' that selfsame night ' 
 the hosts of the Lord come forth from the iron furnace of 
 their Egyptian bondage. Every fresh book from Genesis 
 to Nehemiah, adds a new link to the golden chain. It re- 
 veals the constant progress of a plan of moral govern- 
 ment and spiritual recovery, which sweeps aside at every 
 step the dreams and falsehoods of men, till the twilight 
 yields at length to a joyful daybreak, in the fuller message 
 of the Gospel, and the Sun of Righteousness rises upon the 
 heathen darkness with healing in his wings." 
 
368 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 But had the voice of human vindication been silent, it 
 is gratifying to know that an answer most convincing and 
 indisputable, had been laid up for the confusion of the as- 
 sailant of Old Testament History in the depositories of 
 Egypt, in remote desert places where for ages traveller's 
 foot had not trodden, and in those vast and mysterious 
 mounds by the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates, on 
 which wandering Kurd and Bedouin for centuries had 
 gazed with superstitious awe, and which tradition had asso- 
 ciated with Nimrod, Nebuchadnezzar, and other mighty 
 conquerors of old. When that answer was needed it ap- 
 peared. Egypt from her tombs and temples, Edom and 
 Moab from the wilderness, Assyria from her ruined mounds, 
 bore testimony to the truth of that Word which, in their 
 days of power and prosperity, pronounced their overthrow 
 and desolation. 
 
 The nature of this testimony may be illustrated by the 
 discoveries made among the ruins of Herculaneum and 
 Pompeii, and the use to which they have been applied. 
 From the excavations carried forward in these two Roman 
 towns, overwhelmed eighteen hundred years ago by the 
 scoriae and ashes of Vesuvius, a lifelike picture is obtained 
 of Roman arts and manners. The structure of the dwell- 
 ings and gardens the household furniture the mosaics 
 and paintings the theatres and baths the shops and their 
 utensils all unite to give us a perfect insight into the so- 
 cial condition of the Romans of the Empire in all its cir- 
 cumstantial reality. 
 
 " Returns the Past, awakening from the tomb? 
 Rome Greece ! 0, come ! Behold behold ! For this 
 Our living world the old Pompeii sees ; 
 And built anew the town of Dorian Hercules ! 
 House upon house its silent halls once more 
 
 Opes the broad Portico how lone 
 
 The clear streets glitter in the quiet day 
 
 The footpath by the doors winding its lifeless way ! 
 
ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES. 369 
 
 The roofs arise in shelter, and around 
 
 The desolate Atrium see 
 
 The marble-tesselated floor and there 
 
 The very walls are glittering livingly 
 
 With their clear colors. 
 
 The earth, with faithful watch, has hoarded all ! 
 
 Still stand the mute Penates in the hall ; 
 
 Back to his haunts returns each ancient god. 
 
 Why absent only from their ancient stand 
 
 The Priests ? waves Hermes his Caducean rod, 
 
 And the wing'd victory struggles from the hand." SCHILLER. 
 
 No one would think of disputing the obvious inferences 
 which these discoveries enable us to draw. The strong, 
 clear light shed from Pompeii's opened vaults, has dispelled 
 the obscurity which had hitherto rested on many points 
 connected with the private life and economy of the ancients, 
 and helped to explain many dark passages in the Roman 
 poets and historians. It has also served to confirm much 
 which they have written. 
 
 What reason can be assigned why a like use should not 
 be made of the far more ancient remains of Egypt and 
 Assyria ? Why should not, for instance, those of Egypt, 
 contemporaneous as they were with the era of Moses, be 
 accepted as evidence, whether for or against the credibility 
 and trustworthiness of his statements ? Could it be made 
 to appear that they did not tally or correspond that the 
 one contradicted the other at once would the infidel claim 
 that the writings of the Hebrew lawgiver were thereby 
 proved unworthy of credit. But, as in the famous contro- 
 versy occasioned by the Zodiacs of Esneh and Denderah 
 already noticed, all attempts to falsify Moses from this 
 source have proved signal failures. It is one of the most 
 remarkable phenomena in the annals of mankind that on 
 the walls of the ruined temples and sepulchral chambers of 
 Egypt, there is still preserved a more extensive and varied 
 reproduction than even that of Pompeii, of a civilization 
 16* 
 
370 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 dating back to within a few centuries of the flood. Not 
 only the regal state and warlike achievements of their 
 kings, with their civil and religious ceremonies, command 
 an interest, but the people, with all their private and do- 
 mestic occupations, and in all their various castes, civil, mil- 
 itary, and religious ; in their feasts and their funerals ; in 
 their fields and their vineyards; in their amusements 
 and their labors; in their shops, in their kitchens; by 
 land and by water ; in their boats and their palanquins ; 
 in the splendid public procession, and the privacy of the 
 household chamber seem to live again before us, the 
 almost unchanging climate having preserved the paint- 
 ings in all their original freshness and vividness of color. 
 Yet in all the unnumbered details there presented, no 
 discrepancy with the sacred history can be found. There 
 is nothing but agreement. " The whole monumental won- 
 ders and antiquities of the land seem to have been pre- 
 served," says Dr. Wilson, " as if for the express purpose 
 of evincing the authenticity and illustrating the narratives 
 of the Bible ; every single allusion of which, either to the 
 circumstances of the country or of the people, is seen to 
 have the minutest consistency with truth, so strikingly so, 
 indeed, as to have attracted the attention of every Egyp- 
 tian antiquary." " The memorials of their manners, cus- 
 toms, and institutions," says another writer, "which the 
 people of the Pharaohs depicted on the walls of their sep- 
 ulchres, afford a decisive because an unsuspicious test of the 
 historical veracity of the Old Testament, and they have 
 furnished confirmations of its minute accuracy, which must 
 silence where they do not convince the most sceptical." 
 
 Through the visit of Abraham, the history of the ancient 
 Church became at a very early period connected with the 
 land of Egypt. Driven thither by a famine which prevailed 
 in Canaan, as he approached near its borders, he became 
 alarmed respecting Sarah his wife, fearing that they would 
 not scruple to put him to death in order to get her into 
 
AKCH^EOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES. 371 
 
 their undisturbed possession. The cause of his fear appears 
 to have been the circumstance of her complexion being so 
 much fairer than that of the women of Egypt. " Behold 
 now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon ; 
 therefore it shall come to pass when the Egyptians shall see 
 thee, that they shall say, this is his wife ; and they will kill 
 me, but they will save thee alive." The pictorial representa- 
 tions on the monuments now show that a fair complexion was 
 deemed a high recommendation in the age of the Pharaohs. 
 Almost always the lighter tints with which females of high 
 rank are drawn, are in striking contrast to their swarthy 
 attendants. Thus does pagan art of that remote antiquity 
 confirm the history of the Bible. 
 
 The apprehensions of Abraham were partly realized. 
 The beauty of Sarah attracted the notice of the Egyptians 
 and of Pharaoh's court, and led to her being temporarily 
 taken from him. This account apparently conflicts with the 
 immemorial custom of the East requiring that the women 
 should go closely veiled and be kept in careful seclusion 
 from the society of men other than their Husbands and near- 
 est relatives. The answer is, that the social system of the 
 Egyptians differed in this respect from that of other orien- 
 tal nations. The monuments show that the Egyptian women 
 in the days of the Pharaohs went unveiled, and were per- 
 mitted to enjoy as much freedom as the females of modern 
 Christendom. We may suppose, therefore, that prudence 
 dictated Sarah's conforming to the customs of the land upon 
 which she had now entered. 
 
 From the account of the gift which Pharaoh bestowed 
 upon Abraham at his departure, it has been sought to draw 
 an inference hostile to the Mosaic narrative, because no 
 mention is made in it of horses, though they were common 
 m Egypt- This very omission is, however, a confirmation 
 of the truthfulness of the history. It is accounted for by 
 the fact that horses, though common in Egypt, were not 
 
372 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 yet in use among the Hebrews, and did not come into em- 
 ployment until the time of the kings. In Solomon's reign a 
 cavalry force was for the first time employed, and then it 
 was comparatively small and an unwarranted innovation. 
 Even in Egypt the horse is introduced into the monuments 
 chiefly if not exclusively in cases of war ; and it was not 
 under such auspices that Abraham appeared before Pharaoh. 
 Hence the propriety of horses being omitted in the gift 
 which Pharaoh made to him. In harmony with this and 
 Abraham's character as a shepherd, there is a striking pas- 
 toral scene depicted in the sides of a tomb hewn in a rocl, 
 on which, according to Mr. Wilkinson, "First came the 
 oxen, over which is the number 834, cows 220, goats 3,234, 
 and sheep 974. There are no horses. The Hebrews were 
 shepherds in Egypt, and sheep appear on the monuments in 
 great numbers." 
 
 Ignorance of the condition of Egypt has been alleged 
 against the relation of the dream of the chief butler of 
 Pharaoh, because it supposes the cultivation of the vine, 
 whereas Herodotus expressly asserts that in Egypt there 
 were no vineyards, and Plutarch assures us that the natives 
 of that country abhorred wine, considering it as the blood 
 of Typhon. Could it be shown that those ancient writers 
 were infallible, a serious difficulty would here be presented. 
 But not only are they contradicted on this point by other 
 authorities, such as Diodorus and Athenssus, but discov- 
 eries among the monuments have decided the question be- 
 yond a doubt in favor of the sacred historian. According 
 to Champollion, there are to be seen in the grottoes of Beni 
 Hassan, minute representations of the vintage in all its 
 parts, from the dressing of the vintage to the drawing off 
 of the wine. There have also been found among the ruins 
 of the old cities of the Pharaohs, remains of wine-vessels 
 with unmistakable marks of having contained wine, and 
 since the key to the hieroglyphics has been discovered, the 
 
AKCH^EOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES. 373 
 
 very word, wine, has been deciphered, and thus proved to 
 have been familiarly known to the people. 
 
 It has also been objected that the sacredness of animals 
 prevented the use of animal food, of which we read in the 
 book of Genesis ; but on referring to the monuments, we find, 
 delineations of feasts and kitchen scenes, unanswerably con- 
 firming the sacred record. From the employment of bronze 
 instruments among the Egyptians, even from the earliest 
 ages, a case has been attempted to be made out against the 
 statement that Tubal Cain was the father of all workers in 
 iron, and to show that its use did not arise till a much later 
 age. A sufficient answer to such an objection is, that there 
 is no proof that the Egyptians did not use iron. Long after 
 iron was known, implements continued to be made of bronze, 
 from the great facility in working it. The obelisks and 
 hieroglyphics would scarcely have been cut or the pyramids 
 built, as Herodotus himself suggests, without the use of iron. 
 And lastly, there are representations on the walls of Thebes 
 which have the appearance of being those of steel. Thus 
 the very objections of scepticism, upon investigation, have 
 confirmed the truth of revelation. 
 
 Many incidents in the interesting history of Joseph re- 
 ceive valuable illustration from the scenes depicted on the 
 monuments. Slaves were procured for Egypt, not merely 
 in war, but also in trade with other nations, and in accord- 
 ance with usage Joseph was brought there as an article of 
 merchandise by an Arabian caravan. The buyer of the 
 youthful slave was Potiphar, chief of Pharaoh's body guard 
 and one of the high officers of his court. In existing paint' 
 ings of marches and battle scenes, this kind of officer may- 
 be seen in attendance upon his sovereign, and he is always 
 represented as a very important and influential person, one 
 who possessed in a very high degree the royal confidence. 
 This will account for the arbitrary power he possessed over 
 Joseph, even supposing his state of servitude not sufficient 
 
374 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 for the purpose. Potiphar's licentious wife plotted the se- 
 duction, and then the imprisonment and death of Joseph, 
 and many representations of the Egyptian women convey 
 an equally bad idea of their character, and prove that in 
 Egypt the restraints on the females in the household were 
 not those which prevailed generally in oriental countries. 
 The situation which Joseph held in the house of Potiphar 
 was that of steward, and in the tombs of Beni Hassan this 
 kind of officer is represented discharging his duties and 
 overseeing the domestic slaves. In other pictures the 
 Egyptians carry flat baskets on their heads, placed one 
 above another, in accordance with the custom alluded to 
 by the chief baker of Pharaoh, in his account of his dream. 
 
 When, in consequence of the chief butler's favorable 
 account of Joseph, the king sent for him, we read that he 
 shaved himself and changed his garments, and came to 
 Pharaoh. Here, as we learn from the monuments, is an 
 essentially Egyptian characteristic. It was not the custom 
 of the Hebrews to shave the beard, except in cases of 
 mourning, while that of the Egyptians was just the reverse. 
 Joseph, probably, had hitherto adhered to his own national 
 custom, yet, when he was called to the royal presence, it 
 was necessary that he should conform to the usages of the 
 court and kingdom. In this account, we have, therefore, a 
 clear proof that the sacred historian had a minute acquaint- 
 ance with the usages of the land. 
 
 On being introduced to Pharaoh, Joseph is told of 
 dreams which the king had dreamed, and which none of 
 his magicians and wise men could interpret. This order 
 of men is to be distinguished on the monuments, and from 
 the inscriptions we learn that they were applied to for 
 explanation and aid in all things which lay beyond the 
 circle of common knowledge and. action. Nothing, there- 
 fore, can seem more natural than that when the king was 
 perplexed by a very remarkable and repeated dreain, his 
 
ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES. 375 
 
 first impulse should be to summon the magicians and wise 
 men. But in the very substance and description of the 
 dreams themselves, we find convincing proof of the authen- 
 ticity of the narrative which relates them. There appeared 
 seven fat and seven poor kine (cows), to indicate years of 
 plenty and years of famine. The cow was the peculiar 
 Egyptian symbol of the earth, with its cultivation and 
 produce. Kine, lean and fat, would consequently, in the 
 region of the Nile, form the most expressive signs of coming 
 abundance and of coming scarcity. Nor is this all. Not 
 only does the coming of the fat and the lean kine out of 
 the river correspond with the well known fact that the 
 Nile is the source of plenty or starvation to the whole land, 
 but there is another circumstance, lost to English readers 
 by the inaccuracy of our translation, which proves the 
 sacred writer's familiarity with the minute peculiarities of 
 Egypt. The fat kine, it is added, fed in a " meadow," but 
 this word does not convey the exact meaning. The origi- 
 nal means the aquatic plants of the Nile, particularly those 
 of the litus kind, which were considered so valuable that 
 they were reaped and gathered in as regular a harvest as 
 the flax and corn. Evidently the history of Joseph could 
 only have been penned by one who was well acquainted 
 with the natural productions of the valley of the Nile. 
 
 Upon the elevation of Joseph, he was clothed with 
 garments of byssus or fine linen, which were highly es- 
 teemed in Egypt, and appropriated exclusively to those of 
 high rank. The signet ring, as an emblem of authority, 
 and a necklace of gold, such as the monuments show beto- 
 kened rank and eminence, were given to him. He was 
 married to the daughter of Potipherah, a name not wanting 
 on the monuments. This Potipherah, a person quite dis- 
 tinct from Potiphar to whom he was sold, was high priest 
 of Ileliopolis, and as such occupied a very exalted position 
 in the state. The marriage was efiected under the direct 
 
376 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 sanction of the king, who, as high priest as well as king, 
 exercised authority over the priesthood. If it be thought 
 improbable that a foreigner like Joseph should ally himself 
 with the daughter of so high a family, it is to be remem- 
 bered that Joseph had become naturalized in Egypt, and 
 there is evidence on the monuments that distinguished 
 foreigners were sometimes admitted into the priesthood. 
 
 Of the labors rendered by Joseph in collecting the 
 produce of the country, we have clear and remarkable illus- 
 tration in the Egyptian paintings. There are to be seen 
 representations of vast granaries, before the door of which 
 lie large heaps of corn already winnowed, while " a regis- 
 trar of bushels " takes an account of the number of bushels 
 brought to him by another man, who is engaged in meas- 
 uring. The scene of entertainment in which Joseph is 
 represented as eating separately from the other Egyptians, 
 is in accordance with the principle of caste, to the highest 
 class of which Joseph belonged ; and the position of the 
 guests, that of sitting at table, though not oriental or patri- 
 archal, is verified by the Egyptian monuments. A remark- 
 able parallel to the migration of the family of Jacob into 
 Egypt is depicted in a tomb at Beni Hassan, which some 
 have even supposed to have a direct reference to that 
 event. The scene is an arrival of strangers over whom the 
 number 37 is written in hieroglyphics, bringing their goods 
 with them upon asses. The first figure is an Egyptian 
 scribe, who presents an account of their arrival to one of 
 the chief officers of the king. "They are then ushered into 
 his presence, and two of the strangers advance, bringing 
 presents of the wild goat and the gazelle. Four armed 
 m v en follow leading an ass, on which there are two children 
 in panniers, accompanied by a boy and four women. 
 Another laden ass follows accompanied by two men, one 
 of whom carries a bow and club, and the other musical 
 instruments. Whatever the scene may actually represent, 
 it is in striking harmony with the narrative of Genesis. 
 
AKCHJEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES. 377 
 
 Similar illustrations from the monuments of the won- 
 derful accuracy of incidental allusions and references in the 
 Mosaic history to Egyptian antiquities might be greatly 
 multiplied, did our limits permit. There are, however, 
 two direct illustrations of Scripture history so remarkable 
 as justly to claim special attention. 
 
 The first has reference to the state of humiliation and 
 oppression to which the Israelites were reduced in Egypt, 
 when another king arose who knew not Joseph or his 
 services. The Scripture statement is that " the Egyptians 
 made the children of Israel to serve with rigor ; and they 
 made their lives bitter with hard bondage in mortar and 
 in brick, and in all manner of service in the field ; all the 
 service wherein they made them serve was with rigor." 
 All this is represented to the letter in a painting which was 
 found upon the walls of a tomb at Thebes. A copy and 
 explanation of it was first furnished by the distinguished 
 Italian scholar Rosellini in his great work on the monu- 
 ments of Egypt. His account of it is headed " Explana- 
 tion of a picture representing the Hebrews as they were 
 engaged in making brick." In this picture some of the 
 laborers are employed in transporting the clay in vessels ; 
 some in working it up with the straw : others in taking the 
 bricks out of the moulds and setting them in rows to dry ; 
 while others, by means of a yoke upon their shoulders, from 
 which ropes are suspended at each end, are seen carrying 
 the bricks already dried. The physiognomy of the Jews 
 it is impossible to mistake ; and the splashes of clay with 
 which their bodies are covered, the air of close and intense 
 labor that is conveyed by the grouping on the left side of 
 the picture, and, above all, the Egyptian taskmaster seated 
 with his heavy baton, whose remorseless blows would 
 doubtless visit the least relaxation of the slaves he was 
 driving from their wearisome and toilsome task of making 
 bricks, and spreading them to dry in the burning sun of 
 
378 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLL. 
 
 Egypt, give a vivid impression of the exactitude of the 
 Scripture phrase "all their service, wherein they made 
 them serve, was with rigor." 
 
 The group of Egyptians to the right of the picture 
 affords also a confirmation of the literal correctness of the 
 inspired narrative and of the uniformity of all things in 
 Egypt. We read in the 5th chapter of Exodus that when 
 Moses and Aaron had been before Pharaoh, " he said, Be- 
 hold the people of the land now are many, and ye make 
 them rest from their burdens. And Pharaoh commanded 
 the same day the taskmasters of the people and their 
 officers, saying, Ye shall no more give the people straw to 
 make brick, as heretofore ; let them go and gather straw 
 for themselves. And the tale of bricks which they did 
 make heretofore ye shall lay upon them ; ye shall not di- 
 minish aught thereof." In consequence of this arbitrary 
 and cruel order, the taskmasters hastened them, saying, 
 " Fulfil your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw. 
 And the officers of the children of Israel which Pharaoh's 
 taskmasters had set over them were beaten, and demanded, 
 Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your task, in making brick 
 both yesterday and to-day, as heretofore ? " The picture 
 referred to shows the actual carrying out of this cruel mode 
 of procedure. Two of the Egyptian officers over the Is- 
 raelites, sufficiently distinguished from them by their head- 
 dresses and complexions, are compelled by the blows of 
 the taskmasters over them, to bear themselves the vessels 
 of clay and the brick yoke, and to complete the work which 
 they had failed to exact from the captives committed to 
 their charge. That these men had not come forth to labor 
 is sufficiently indicated by the right hand figure with the 
 yoke, who, having not yet taken up his burden, has not yet 
 girt his loins, like his companions and all the other laborers 
 in the picture, and also according to the invariable custom 
 in the East, but still wears his dress loose, after the fashion 
 
AKCHJEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES. 379 
 
 of the officer who is sitting in the centre with the baton, 
 and of the supreme taskmaster (probably the personage 
 by whom the tomb was excavated), who is represented as 
 beating the officer his companion. 
 
 So close is the representation by Egyptian artists of the 
 very scene which the sacred Book describes ! 
 
 But the existing evidence of the bondage in which the 
 Israelites were held during the latter part of their sojourn 
 in Egypt, is probably of far wider extent than this single 
 picture. A learned writer 1 on the antiquities of Egypt 
 has forcibly presented the considerations which support 
 this view. 
 
 " The great works of Egypt in that age were chiefly of a 
 monumental character, and on these would the Israelites be 
 employed. The quarries whence the stones were obtained 
 were in the Sinaitic wilderness. Thither w r ould the Israel- 
 ites be marched in gangs, and the blocks of granite which 
 were hewn in these quarries they would afterwards have to 
 transport across the desert. Others of the oppressed race 
 were employed, doubtless in making bricks of Nile mud, 
 so extensively used in the walls of huge quadrangular pre- 
 cincts of the temples, and the cloisters and cells attached 
 to them. And as at that epoch the mechanical arts were 
 extremely simple, the amount of work done depended 
 mainly upon the amount of human force which the sov- 
 ereign of Egypt could bring to bear in the construction of 
 his works. If, then, there be truth in the Bible narrative, 
 and if Rameses be the ' king who knew not Joseph,' 
 we should expect to find that the monuments erected 
 during his reign surpassed those of any other of the Pha- 
 raohs, seeing none of them had such an amount of forced 
 labor at their command. 
 
 " Now we do not shrink from the test. There is a 
 Pharaoh who is distinguished from all his predecessors and 
 1 Osburn's Israel in Egy.pt, .pp. 196-205. 
 
380 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 from all who came after him by the enormous number of 
 the monumental memorials of his reign. There is a Pha- 
 raoh whose name is stamped on every crumbling mound in 
 Egypt and Nubia, and on almost every Coptic monument 
 in the museums of Europe. There is a Pharaoh whose ex- 
 isting monuments actually surpass those of all the other 
 sovereigns of Egypt put together. That Pharaoh is Ra- 
 meses. Every crumbling heap that dots the valley of the 
 Nile every ruined temple, almost every statue and sphinx 
 in that land of wonders, proclaims that there was an epoch 
 of fearful bondage in Egypt an epoch when millions of 
 slaves were urged by the lash to their daily tasks and that 
 there was a king in that land who reduced the full half of 
 his subjects into slavery, and set them to work in the con- 
 struction of cities, and strongholds and gigantic monu- 
 ments, which, after four thousand years, excite the specta- 
 tor's astonishment. Over and over the soil is written, in 
 ineradicable characters, the great fact of the oppression. 
 The whole land cries aloud that once it was a ' house of 
 bondage.' What a convincing and overwhelming proof 
 'of the truth of the Bible ! " 
 
 The other direct illustration from the monuments of 
 Egypt of the inspired history is the invasion of Judea by 
 Pharaoh Shishak in the reign of Rehoboam, the son of Sol- 
 omon, the history of which is given in the twelfth chapter 
 of the second book of Chronicles. We there find him 
 marching against Jerusalem with chariots and horsemen 
 and people without number the Lubims, the Sukkims, and 
 the Ethiopians. The humiliation and penitence of Reho- 
 boam, under the warnings of Shemaiah the prophet, avert- 
 ed from him the calamity of the entire loss of his king- 
 dom ; but while the Lord declared that he should not 
 utterly be destroyed, he nevertheless added, that the peo- 
 ple should be servants of Shishak, that is, should taste 
 the bitterness of a foreign yoke. Shishak came and took 
 
ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES. 381 
 
 away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the 
 king's treasures " he took all " and though his stern 
 purpose was mollified by Him in whose hand are the hearts 
 of kings, that he did not retain Judea in subjection, yet 
 for the time it was reduced to the condition of a conquered 
 province. 
 
 On the walls of the great Temple at Karnak this suc- 
 cessful invasion of Judah is commemorated. Copies of some 
 of the inscriptions there remaining having found their way 
 to Europe, the celebrated Champollion without ever having 
 seen Egypt was enabled to detect the hieroglyphic name 
 of this monarch and read it " Beloved of Amon, She- 
 shouk." It was four years afterwards before Champollion 
 saw Egypt, during which interval, says Mr. Gliddon, " the 
 name of Sheshonk and his captive nations had been exam- 
 ined times without number by other hieroglyphists, and the 
 names of all the prisoners had been copied by them and 
 published, without any of them having noticed the extraor- 
 dinary biblical corroboration thence to be deduced.'' On 
 his passage toward Nubia, Champollion landed for an hour 
 or two, about sunset, to snatch a hasty view of the ruins of 
 Karnak ; and on entering one of the halls, he found a pic- 
 ture representing a triumph, in which he instantly pointed 
 out in the third line of a row of sixty-three prisoners (each 
 indicating a city, nation or tribe) presented by Sheshonk to 
 his god Amon, a figure with this inscription attached in 
 hieroglyphic characters, " Judah melek kah," or " king of 
 the country of Judah." 
 
 This picture had been executed by the order of Shishak 
 or Sheshonk, so that here was found the sculptured record 
 of the invasion and the conquest recorded in the Chronicles. 
 On the same picture were shields, containing in hiero- 
 glyphics the names Bethhoron, Megiddo, Mahanaim, and 
 some others, all towns through which Shishak passed on his 
 invasion of Judea. 
 
382 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 What more complete and unambiguous corroboration 
 of the Scripture history could be required ? 
 
 Leaving Egypt, we will now proceed to another region 
 in which remarkable discoveries confirmatory of the truth 
 of the Bible have been unveiled. 
 
 Half a century ago, the once famed capital of the Edom 
 of Scripture was only known by the references to it in the 
 ancient writers, and by some wild Arabian legends, which 
 recognized the existence of a petrified city in the desert, 
 whose inhabitants had been swept away by the vengeance 
 of th e Almighty. In the year 1812, the traveller Burkhardt 
 first found a clue to the labyrinth in which the long lost 
 city lay concealed. 
 
 The value of that discovery as confirmatory of Holy 
 Scripture, a brief sketch of the Bible record concerning 
 Edom will enable us the better to understand. 
 
 Desolate as Mount Seir now appears, it was one of the 
 earliest seats of civilization, power and grandeur. Its his- 
 tory goes back to the time of Esau, " the father of Edom ; " 
 and we read that princes and dukes, eight successive kings, 
 . and again a long line of dukes, dwelt there before any king 
 " reigned over Israel." At a period coeval with the Exodus, 
 the land of Edom was in a highly cultivated state, with 
 fields, vineyards, highways, and a numerous population, and 
 Petra was probably even then the central point of an exten- 
 sive caravan trade, which was conducted for many ages 
 afterward between the countries of the Persian Gulf, Egypt, 
 and the shores of the Mediterranean. According to allu- 
 sions in the book of Job, himself an Edomite, the year and 
 the months were regularly defined, kings and great men 
 had been accustomed to build for themselves splendid 
 tombs, and the people were in possession of great wealth 
 in gold and silver. They were acquainted with the weaver's 
 shuttle, and the use of scales, and made cheese from milk ; 
 gardens were protected by ground traps and snares ; in- 
 
ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCO VEEIES. 383 
 
 scriptions were cut on tablets, attached to the faces of the 
 rocks ; archers had steel bows, with quivers for their arrows ; 
 the spear, shield, and sword were ordinary weapons in bat- 
 tle ; while the sound of the trumpet called to the combat, 
 in which the war horse figured, finely described as having 
 his " neck clothed with thunder." For many ages after the 
 time of Job this people held and retained no mean emi- 
 nence in arts and in arms, in science and in commerce, and 
 in the wealth, refinement, and luxury which extensive and 
 prosperous commerce brings along with it. But it lacked 
 that righteousness which alone permanently exalteth a 
 people. For numerous acts of treachery and hostility, com- 
 mitted at different periods against the descendants of Jacob, 
 though a kindred race, a malediction of the most awful de- 
 scription was pronounced upon the land of Esau's posterity. 
 From the height of worldly prosperity it was doomed to 
 fall into the most abject state of wretchedness and desola- 
 tion. While it was yet a land of palaces and fortresses, of 
 wise men and mighty men, the word of prophecy had thus 
 spoken its fate : 
 
 " From generation to generation it shall lie waste, 
 None shall pass through it forever and ever. 
 But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it ; 
 The owl also and the raven shall dwell in it : 
 And He shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, 
 And the stones of emptiness. 
 They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, 
 But none shall be there. 
 And all her princes shall be nothing. 
 And thorns shall come up in her palaces, 
 Nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: 
 And it shall be a habitation for dragons, 
 And a court for owls." ISAIAH xxxiv. 10-13. 
 
 " The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, 
 Thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high ; 
 That saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground ? 
 
TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, 
 
 And though thou set thy nest among the stars, 
 
 Thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord. 
 
 How are the things of Esau searched out ! ... 
 
 How are his hidden things sought up ! 
 
 Shall I not in that day, saith the Lord, 
 
 Even destroy the wise men out of Edom, 
 
 And understanding out of the mount of Esau? 
 
 And thy mighty men, Teman, shall be dismayed, 
 
 To the end that every one of the mount of Esau 
 
 May be cut off by slaughter." OBADIAH. 
 
 So exactly did the ruined city which was brought to 
 view among the desert ranges of Mount Seir answer to the 
 description given by the prophets, that if a painter had 
 sought to depict a city from the words of the prophecy, he 
 could hardly have failed to give some resemblance to her 
 present appearance. The travellers found her holding the 
 heights of the hill, her dwellings in the clefts of the rocks, 
 like the nests of the eagle, set among the stars, and, viewing 
 the strength of her position, could imagine her former 
 boast : Who shall bring me -down to the ground ? Yet the 
 extent of her desolation manifested how fully Jehovah had 
 redeemed his word thence will I bring thee down. La- 
 borde describes the first view of the city, bursting upon the 
 eye of the traveller approaching from the south, from the 
 heights above, as presenting " the most singular spectacle, 
 the most enchanting picture, which nature has wrought in 
 her grandest mood of creation ; which men, influenced by 
 the vainest dreams of ambition, have yet bequeathed to 
 succeeding generations. At Palmyra, nature renders the 
 works of man insignificant by her own immensity, and her 
 boundless horizon here she appears delighted to set in her 
 own noble frame-work his productions, which aspire, and 
 not unsuccessfully, to harmonize with her own majestic yet 
 fantastic appearance. The spectator hesitates for a moment 
 whether is most worthy of admiration : nature who invites 
 
ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES. 385 
 
 his attention to her matchless girdle of rocks, wondrous as 
 well for their colors as for their forms, or the men, who 
 feared not to intermingle the works of their genius with 
 such splendid efforts of creative power." The city is situ- 
 ated in a hollow, surrounded by a superb enclosure of rocks, 
 pierced with myriads of tombs. The ravine into which the 
 traveller enters from the east is represented as becoming 
 more and more imposing at every step, and the excavations 
 and sculptures more frequent on both sides, till it presents 
 at last a continued street of tombs ; beyond which the 
 rocks, gradually approaching each other, appear all at once 
 to close without any outlet. There is, however, one fright- 
 ful chasm for the passage of the stream, which furnishes, as 
 it did anciently, the only avenue to Petra on this side. 
 This passed, the traveller reaches an area once filled with 
 its close ranged dwellings, and loud with its busy life now 
 silent and strewn with heaps of ruin, fragments of founda- 
 tions, pavements, and arches ; while all around the precipi- 
 tous cliffs hewn into pillared fagades, and honey-combed 
 with sumptuous chambers, show where the princes of Edoin 
 once dwelt " in the clefts of the rock, and held in pride the 
 heights of the hill." (Jer. xlix. 16.) The cry of the bit- 
 tern alone now disturbs the awful desolation " the line of 
 confusion and the stones of emptiness." The whole territory 
 of the descendants of Esau has been swept as by "the 
 besom of destruction," and presents a miracle of evidence 
 which defies cavil or contradiction. 
 
 " I would," says Mr. Stephens, " that the sceptic could 
 stand as I did among the ruins of this city among the 
 rocks, and there open the sacred book, and read the words 
 of the inspired penman, written when this desolate city 
 was one of the greatest cities in the world. I see the scoff 
 arrested, his cheek pale, his lips quivering, and his heart 
 quaking for fear, as the ruined place cries out to him in a 
 voice loud and powerful as that of one risen from the dead ; 
 17 
 
386 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 though he would not believe Moses and the prophets, he 
 believes the handwriting of God himself in the desolation 
 and eternal ruin around him." 
 
 " Many prophets," says Laborde, " have announced the 
 misery of Idumaea, but the strong language of Ezekiel can 
 alone come up to the height, or reach the acme of this great 
 desolation." " Every one that passeth by Edom is -aston- 
 ished at it," as the prediction intimated. And the first sen- 
 timent of " astonishment " in the contemplation of it is, 
 how such a region could ever have been adorned with 
 cities, or tenanted for ages by a powerful and opulent peo- 
 ple. " Its present aspect would belie its ancient history," 
 says Dr. Keith, "were not that history corroborated by 
 the many vestiges of former cultivation, by the remains of 
 walls and paved roads, and by the ruins of cities still ex- 
 isting in this ruined country. The total cessation of its 
 commerce; the artificial irrigation of its valleys wholly 
 neglected; the destruction of all the cities, and the con- 
 tinued spoliation of the country by the Arabs ; the perma- 
 nent exposure for ages of the soil, unsheltered by its ancient 
 groves, and unprotected by any covering from the rays of 
 the sun ; the unobstructed encroachments of the desert, 
 and of the drifted sands from the borders of the Red Sea ; 
 the consequent absorption of the water of the springs and 
 the springlets during summer are causes w r hich may have 
 all combined their baneful operation in rendering Edom 
 most desolate, the desolation of desolations." 
 
 " Perfect as has been the fulfilment of the prophecy in 
 regard to Idumsea, in no one particular has its truth been 
 more awfully verified than in the complete destruction of 
 its inhabitants, in the extermination of the race of the 
 Edomites. In the same day, and by the voice of the same 
 prophets, came the separate denunciations against the de- 
 scendants of Israel and of Edom, declaring against both a 
 complete change of their temporal condition ; and while 
 
ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES. 387 
 
 the Jews have been dispersed in every country under 
 heaven, and are still in every land, a separate and unmixed 
 people, ' the Edomites have been cut off forever, and there 
 is not any remaining of the house of Esau.' 
 
 " ' Wisdom has departed from Teman, and understand- 
 ing from the mount of Esau ; ' and the miserable Arab who 
 now roams over the land cannot appreciate or understand 
 the works of its ancient inhabitants." 
 
 To the north of Edom, in a region now called the Hau- 
 ran, but formerly comprising the countries of Bashan and 
 Moab, surprising discoveries of a most interesting charac- 
 ter have recently yielded fresh evidence of the reality of 
 the Scripture history. 
 
 In an inaugural address at Belfast, Dr. Porter l says : " I 
 remember well, how in former days I studied the geogra- 
 phy of Palestine ; and with what intense interest I read of 
 the great citie"s and warlike exploits of Og, the giant king 
 of Bashan. I observed, with no little surprise, that a single 
 province of his little kingdom contained ' three score cities 
 fenced with walls, besides unwalled towns a great many.' 
 I remember how on turning to my atlas, I found that the 
 whole of Bashan was not larger than an ordinary English 
 county. I was astonished, and though my faith in the di- 
 vine record was not shaken, yet I thought that some strange 
 statistical mystery hung over the passage. That one city, 
 nourished by the commerce of a mighty empire, might 
 grow till her people could be numbered by millions, I could 
 weU believe ; that two or three might spring up in favored 
 spots, clustered together, I could also believe; but that 
 sixty walled cities, besides unwalled towns a great many, 
 should exist at such a remote age, far from the sea, with no 
 rivers, and little commerce, appeared altogether inexpli- 
 cable. Inexplicable though it seems, it was strictly true. 
 On the very spot, with my own eyes, I have verified it. 
 i Author of-" Five Years in Damascus." 
 
388 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 More than thirty of these great cities I have myself vis- 
 ited. When standing, on one occasion, on the summit of 
 the mountain range of Bashan, I could see at a single 
 glance every city the sacred penman referred to. Many 
 of them, though deserted for centuries, have their massive 
 walls and massive old houses still perfect. The Cyclopean 
 architecture of the aboriginal inhabitants of Palestine of 
 the Emim, and Anakim and Rephaim still stands to bear 
 testimony to the facts of revelation." 
 
 Elsewhere, the same learned writer says : " In the mi- 
 nutest particulars my researches bear testimony to the 
 faithfulness of Bible narrative and description. The nu- 
 merous and extensive ruined cities and villages scattered 
 over its surface tell of its former populousness, and are the 
 present memorials of its ancient strength and greatness. 
 The oak forests still cover its mountain sides ; its pastures 
 are still celebrated for their richness, and its soil is prover- 
 bial for its fertility. The ancient names, too, cling to it 
 yet ; and we have Bashan, and Golan, and Kenath, and 
 Salchah, and Bozrah, and Kerioth, and Hauran and Edrei, 
 but little changed by the lapse of long centuries. Thus 
 does it appear that the more extensive our research, and 
 the more minute our investigations, the more full and ac- 
 curate will be our illustrations of the Word of God." 
 Five Years in Damascus, vol. ii. pp. 271, 272. 
 
 Beyond Salchah, the frontier town of Bashan, which 
 was the farthest point reached by Dr. Porter, discoveries 
 of equal if not greater interest have since been made in 
 the neighboring country the old land of Moab. Scarcely 
 anything was known of its interior, and especially of the 
 eastern portion, until the year 1857, when for the first time 
 it was explored by a modern traveller, Mr. Graham, of 
 Cambridge. The following extract from his contribution 
 to the Cambridge Essays for 1858, will give some idea of 
 the result of his researches : " Perhaps of all those which 
 
AECH^EOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES. 389 
 
 we saw in our journey, none struck us more than the large 
 towns in the plain south and east of Salchah. Among 
 them there was one in particular which made an impres- 
 sion on us we shall never lose it was Um-el-Jemul, the 
 ancient Beth-Gamul, a very large city, and to be compared 
 almost with the modern Jerusalem. It is very perfect ; and 
 as we walked about among the streets, and entered every 
 house, and opened the stone doors, and saw the rooms as if 
 they had just been left, and then thought that we were 
 actually in the private dwellings of a people who for two 
 thousand years had ' ceased to be a people,' we felt a kind 
 of awe, and realized in a manner that we never, perhaps, 
 could feel elsewhere, how perfectly every tittle of God's 
 word is carried out ; and whether it be a blessing that is 
 spoken or a curse, it continues to be so nothing is remit- 
 ted until all be fulfilled. These cities of Moab, which are 
 still so perfect that they might again be inhabited to-mor- 
 row, have been during many centuries unpeopled. The 
 land about them, rich and fruitful as any in Syria, has long 
 ceased to produce aught but shrubs and herbs, the food of 
 the camel and the antelope. The sound of the rejoicing at 
 harvest-time, and the song of the grape-gatherers, has long 
 since died away ; and for centuries, these old cities, which 
 were once the scene of so much life and so much rejoicing, 
 have been still ; and no sound, save the cry of wild animals, 
 has been heard in them. How wonderfully true are these 
 words ' Moab is destroyed. Give wings unto Moab, that 
 it may flee and get away ; for the cities thereof shall be 
 desolate, without any to dwell therein. Moab is spoiled 
 and gone out of her cities. Moab is confounded, and judg- 
 ment is come upon the plain country. Upon Beth-Gamul 
 . . . and upon Kerioth, and upon Bozrah, and upon all 
 the cities of the land of Moab far and near, the horn of 
 Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, saith the Lord.' 
 Again, in all this country there is now no fruit except at 
 
390 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 Salchah, where there are some wild vines and pomegran- 
 ates and figs, but before they are quite ripe the Arabs of 
 the desert plunder them. Is not this predicted ? ' The 
 spoiler has fallen upon thy summer fruits and upon thy 
 vintage. And joy and gladness is taken from the plentiful 
 field, and from the land of Moab. And I have caused wine 
 to fail from the wine-press ; none shall cry with shouting ; 
 their shouting shall be no shouting. And Moab shall be 
 destroyed from being a people, because he hath magnified 
 himself against the Lord. Woe unto thee, O Moab ! . . . 
 for thy sons are taken captives and thy daughters captives.' 
 Can we have stronger evidence of the accurate fulfilment 
 of prophecy than by comparing what we see in this coun- 
 try with the words of Jeremiah spoken 2,500 years ago ? 
 When he spoke these words Moab was powerful and proud, 
 and laughed at the thought of what he said. They cried 
 4 We are strong and mighty, and no enemy can overcome 
 us ! How say ye, we are mighty, and strong men for the 
 way ! We have heard of the pride of Moab (he is exceed- 
 ing proud), his loftiness and his arrogancy, and his pride, 
 and the haughtiness of his heart.' " 
 
 No less than fourteen of these ancient towns were visit- 
 ed by Mr. Graham, and in connection with them he further 
 remarks : " When we find (such) great stone cities (Deut. 
 iii), walled and unwalled, with stone gates, and so crowded 
 together that it becomes a matter of wonder how all the 
 people could have lived hi so small a tract of country ; 
 when we see houses built of such huge and massive stones 
 that no force which could ever have been brought against 
 them in that country, would have been sufficient to batter 
 them down ; when we find rooms in those houses so large 
 and lofty that many of them would be considered fine 
 rooms in a large house in Europe ; and lastly, when we 
 find some of these towns bear the very name which cities 
 in that country bore before the Israelites came out of 
 
AKCHJEOLOGICAL DISCOVEEIES. 391 
 
 Egypt, I think we cannot help feeling the strongest con- 
 viction that we have before us the cities of the giants 
 (Rephaim), the cities of the land of Moab. They have 
 been gradually deserted as the Arabs of the desert have 
 increased in number, and now, south and east of Salkhad, 
 not one of these many towns is inhabited." . . . 
 
 ..." Very different is the present condition of the 
 towns of Moab from those of the neighboring Edom from 
 those heaps of rubbish which are strewn over the basin of 
 Petra the nest of the eagle that built in the crags torn to 
 pieces, in token that it will be built no more. In this con- 
 trast there would seem to be some special design of Provi- 
 dence; and it is in accordance with prophetic hints and 
 foreshadowings of changes that yet lie in the obscurity of 
 future time. For while Idumea is to be a ' perpetual deso- 
 lation,' it is written, ' I will bring again the captivity of 
 Moab in the latter days, saith the Lord.' The tide of life 
 has ebbed forever from the one, and left it empty and for- 
 lorn as a naked beach ; but here it may return to its former 
 channels, and flow with a fuller current than of old. The 
 household lamp may once more be lighted in the dwellings ; 
 the cheerful stir and murmur of men he heard in the streets; 
 the song of the reaper, the joy of the vintage, the innocent 
 mirth of children; and, sweeter than all, the melodies of 
 Sabbath praise." 
 
 The neighboring land of the kindred people of Ammon 
 has also yielded up its quota of evidence for the Bible. 
 " We descended," writes Lord Lindsay, " a precipitous 
 strong slope into the valley of Ammon, and crossed a beau- 
 tiful stream, bordered by a strip of stunted grass. The 
 hills on both sides were rocky and bare, and pierced with 
 excavations and natural caves. Here, at a turning in the 
 narrow valley, commence the antiquities of Ammon. It 
 was situated on both sides of the stream, the dreariness of 
 its present aspect is quite indescribable, it looks like the 
 
392 TESTIMONY OP SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 abode of Death. The valley stinks with dead camels; one 
 of them was rotting in the stream ; and though we saw 
 none among the ruins, they were absolutely covered in 
 every direction with their dung. That morning's ride 
 would have convinced a sceptic. How runs the prophecy ? 
 4 1 will make Rabbah a stable for camels, and the Ammon- 
 ites a couching place for flocks ; and ye shall know that I 
 am the Lord.' 
 
 " Nothing but the croaking of frogs, and screams of wild 
 birds, broke the silence as we advanced up this valley of 
 desolation. We examined the ruins more at detail the fol- 
 lowing morning. It was a bright and cheerful day ; but 
 still the valley is a very dreary spot, even when the sun 
 shines brightest. Vultures were garbaging on a camel, as 
 we slowly rode back through the glen. Ammon is now 
 quite deserted, except by the Bedouins, who water their 
 flocks at its little river. Re-ascending the slope, we met 
 sheep and goats by thousands, and camels by hundreds, 
 coming down to drink. 'Ammon shall be a desolation, 
 and Rabbah of the Ammonites shall be a desolate heap.' " 
 
 But the crowning discovery of the century has been in 
 a yet more distant region, yielding an amount of additional 
 illustration and confirmation of the sacred word as great 
 and important as it was unexpected. 
 
 A thousand miles remote from the highways of modern 
 commerce and the routes of ordinary travel, a far mightier 
 city than the rock-built metropolis of Edom lay buried in 
 the sandy earth of a half- desert Turkish province, with no 
 certain trace of its place of sepulture. Vague tradition 
 said that it was hidden somewhere near the river Tigris ; 
 but when Xenophon with his Greeks in their celebrated 
 retreat passed by the mound of Nimroud which he de- 
 scribes, the name of Nineveh was already forgotten on its 
 very site. It afterwards reappears on the pages of Greek 
 and Roman writers, but for ages the former queen of na- 
 
AKCHJEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES. 393 
 
 tions was nothing more than a name, suggesting the idea 
 of an ancient capital of fabulous splendor and magnificence ; 
 a mighty collection of palaces and other buildings, vast but 
 scarcely real. 
 
 More than two thousand years had it thus lain in its 
 unknown grave, when an English traveller and a French 
 consul, Layard and Botta, sought the seat of the once pow- 
 erful empire, and searching 'mid 
 
 "Hillocks heap'd 
 
 On what were chambers, arch crush'd column strown 
 In fragments, choked-up vaults and frescoes steep'd 
 In subterranean damps " 
 
 discovered the buried city, disentombed her temple palaces 
 from the sepulchre of ages, and unveiled to an astonished 
 and curious world, the pomp and pageantry of Assyrian 
 monarchs. The Nineveh of Scripture, the great city " of 
 three days' journey," that was " laid waste and there was 
 none to bemoan her," whose greatness sank ere the coming 
 orb of Roman dominion had ascended the horizon, the 
 Nineveh in which the captive tribes of Israel had labored 
 and wept, was, after a sleep of twenty centuries, again 
 brought to light. The long lost was found. The regal 
 halls were once more trodden ; the proofs of ancient splen- 
 dor were again beheld by human eyes, and the gorgeous 
 description of the poet drawn in colors borrowed from the 
 sacred page, shown to have been a reality : 
 
 " The days of old return ; I breathe the air 
 Of the young world ; I see her giant sons 
 Like to a gorgeous pageant in the sky 
 Of summer's evening, cloud on fiery cloud 
 Thronging up heaped, before me rise the walla 
 Of the Titanic city brazen gates 
 Towers temples palaces enormous piled 
 Imperial Nineveh, the earthly queen ! 
 In all her golden pomp I see her now." ATHERSTON. 
 
 That he may the better understand the range and ex- 
 17* 
 
394 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 tent of these discoveries, let the reader suppose himself 
 standing on the highest part of the city of Mosul on the 
 west bank of the Tigris. Looking across the river, the 
 eye rests on a long range of ancient mounds. At the 
 southern end is the irregular platform on which stands the 
 village of Nebby Yeonas, with its spacious mosque and 
 capacious cemetery. Towards the northern extremity 
 rises the huge plateau of Kouyunjik, whose ample surface, 
 though the palace of ancient Nineveh lies entombed be- 
 neath, has long rewarded the toil of the cultivator as richly 
 as the plain below. This mound is but one of many. 
 Others are found at Nimroud, about eighteen miles lower 
 down the river, near the junction of the Greater Zab ; at 
 Karasules, about twelve miles north of Nimroud, and at 
 Khorsabad, nearly the same distance north of Kouyunjik. 
 These points form the four corners of a rhomboid, the 
 circumference of which is sixty miles, which answers to 
 the three days' journey of the prophet Jonah, twenty 
 miles being as in ancient days the computation of a day's 
 journey. Within this space a vast number of smaller 
 mounds, remains of pottery, bricks and other fragments, 
 indicate where once stood the private habitations of the 
 great city. 
 
 Other mounds of great extent are found at Kalah 
 Sherghat, supposed to be the ruins of Calah (Gen. x. 11) 
 on the opposite bank of the Tigris, forty miles below Nim- 
 roud, at Babylon and Borsippa, Seukerah and Niffer. They 
 are also found along the Khabor and Euphrates, and on 
 the plains of Babylonia and Chaldea as well as Mesopotamia 
 and Assyria, 
 
 Many of these have been recently explored, and the 
 most precious treasures that ever rewarded the labors of 
 the antiquary have been brought to light ; for deep down 
 in their interior have been buried for thousands of years, 
 palaces of monarchs who reigned from the time when 
 
ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES. 395 
 
 Abraham went forth from Ur of the Chaldees until near 
 the close of Israel's captivity in Babylon, or for a period 
 dating back a thousand years before the Trojan war and 
 extending to the early dawn of Roman greatness. 
 
 Most of the huge mounds already explored contain, 
 buried up at various depths, extensive remains of ancient 
 palaces. The walls of these are of great thickness, with a 
 panelling to the height of about ten feet of slabs of alabas- 
 ter. Every portal is guarded by strange mythic figures 
 (winged bulls or lions with human heads), while the slabs 
 are adorned with sculptures of the most elaborate work- 
 manship, painted in gorgeous colors, and in many cases as 
 fresh in their sharp and delicate lines as if newly from the 
 chisel and pencil of the artist. These sculptures are the 
 records of the empire, and under each picture are engraved, 
 in characters filled up with bright copper, inscriptions 
 describing the scenes represented. The visitor to these 
 chambers, so long lost not merely to the sight but to the 
 knowledge of mankind, sees spread before him a highly 
 illustrated historical volume, in which are minutely and 
 effectively, though often most grotesquely, displayed all the 
 leading pursuits and characteristics of an extinct nation ; 
 while the incidental details, no less than the prominent 
 features, strikingly and impressively illustrate Scripture 
 statements, and that to such an extent that there is scarcely 
 an obscure fact or expression in the Old Testament that is 
 not made clear by the knowledge we have already derived, 
 or may hope hereafter to obtain from the prosecution of 
 these discoveries. "Three thousand years their cloudy 
 wings expand," and the men who then trod these halls again 
 live before him. There he sees them " portrayed upon the 
 wall, the images of the Chaldeans, portrayed with vermil- 
 ion, girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed 
 attire upon their heads, all of them princes to look to, after 
 the manner of Babylonians of Chaldea " (Ezek. xxxiii. 14, 
 
396 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 15) such as idolatrous Jerusalem saw when she "doted 
 upon the Assyrians her neighbors, captains and rulers, 
 clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all 
 of them desirable young men" (ver. 12). There are to be 
 seen, as is believed, the " mighty hunter," Nimrod himself, 
 strangling a young lion by pressing it against his chest the 
 eunuch in the palace of the king of Babylon the king's 
 cupbearer, to whom was appointed " a daily provision of 
 the king's meat and of the wine which he drank," " the 
 governors, treasurers, and rulers of provinces," such as sur- 
 rounded Nebuchadnezzar's image of gold "the most 
 mighty men " in the army, such as obeyed the behests of 
 the same monarch in casting Shadrach and his heroic com- 
 panions into " the burning fiery furnace " while figures of 
 the great kings of Assyria, in all their pomp and magnifi- 
 cence, everywhere presented, seem again to exact the awe 
 and veneration which they once inspired. 
 
 As might be expected in the case of so warlike a people, 
 warlike exploits occupy the largest portion of this illustrated 
 gallery. All the incidents of the successful campaign are 
 registered with a circumstantiality and minuteness indica- 
 tive of the national vanity. Horsemen " lifting up both the 
 bright sword and the glittering spear," and horses " swifter 
 than the leopards, and more fierce than the evening wolves" 
 bowmen, shield bearers, and slingers, for whom were 
 prepared " shields and spears, and helmets, and habergeons, 
 and bows, and slings to cast stones " chariots and batter- 
 ing rams, the assault, the charge, the retreat and the pur- 
 suit, the burning fort, and the sacked city bearded war- 
 riors " furiously driving their chariot in pursuit of the rem- 
 nant of the inhabitants, who are flying over a rocky plain, 
 strewn with headless bodies" the soldier " deliberately 
 plunging his sword into the breast of an adversary whom 
 he has driven down upon his knees " the king stopping his 
 chariot ' to command a register to be made of the number 
 
ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES. 397 
 
 of the heads of the slain piled up in a heap before him " 
 (2 Kings x. 8), and, hovering over dead and dying, " the 
 ravenous beasts of every sort " (Ezek. xxxix. 4) these hor- 
 rid accompaniments of a horrid system are represented 
 with surprising vigor and effect. It is as if, instead of read- 
 ing the wonderfully graphic description of Ezekiel (chap, 
 xxvi. Y-12), the visitor actually looked on "the king of 
 kings coming from the north with horses, with chariots, and 
 with horsemen, and companies, and much people ; he slays 
 with the sword the villages in the fields ; he makes a fort 
 against the city ; he casts a mount against it, he lifts up a 
 buckler against it ; he sets engines of war against the walls, 
 and with his axe breaks down the towers. 
 
 " The walls shake at the noise of the horsemen and of 
 the wheels, and of the chariots, when he enters into the 
 gates or through the breach with the hoofs of his horses, 
 he treads down every street, he slays the inhabitants by the 
 sword, and strong garrisons go down to the ground. His 
 soldiers make a spoil of wealth and merchandise. They 
 break down the walls and the pleasant houses." "A fire 
 devoureth before them, and behind them a flame burneth. 
 The land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind 
 them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing escapes 
 them." (Joel ii. 3.) 
 
 To these stirring scenes succeed the treaty of peace, 
 the triumphal march, the manacled prisoners supplicating 
 for mercy, " the captive child and the mother that bare it 
 cast out into another country " (Jer. xxii. 26), and tribute 
 bearers enriching the imperial treasury with the spoils of 
 enslaved provinces and conquered kingdoms. 
 
 The charge of cruelty which the sacred writings bring 
 against ancient Nineveh are fearfully sustained by these 
 sculptured scenes. In the disclosures made in the " Hall of 
 Judgment" and the "Chamber of Judgment," the " woe" 
 which the prophet Nahum denounced against " the bloody 
 
398 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 city," is shown to have been well deserved. In the bassi- 
 rilievi here are to be seen prisoners, some of them supposed 
 to be Jews or Samaritans, having rings in their lips, to 
 which is attached a cord held by the king, embodying lit- 
 erally the metaphor in Isaiah's prophetic message sent in 
 reply to the prayer of Hezekiah " Because thy rage against 
 me and thy tumult is come up into mine ears, therefore 
 will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, 
 and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou 
 earnest." (Isa. xxxvii. 29.) One prisoner, in addition to 
 having his hands manacled, has on his ankles strong rings 
 fastened by a heavy bar, the condition in which the Assyr- 
 ian king took Manasseh to Babylon (2 Chron. xxiii. 11); 
 and perhaps, resembling that of Zedekiah when bound, at a 
 later period, with fetters of brass. (2 Kings xxv. 7 ; Jer. 
 xxxix. 7.) In another group is a man naked, with limbs 
 outstretched, and wrists and ankles fastened to pegs in the 
 table or floor, while the " chief of the slayers " is, with a 
 curved knife, beginning to remove the skin from the back 
 of the arm of the prisoner, whose head is turned towards 
 the king imploring pardon, the very words of which petition 
 may possibly be contained in the cuneatic inscription above. 
 In another scene may be recognized the fate of Zedekiah, 
 the king thrusting the point of the spear into the eyes of 
 the supplicating prisoner, while he holds in his left hand a 
 cord attached to rings in the lips of two other captives. 
 Well, therefore, did " the bloody city " merit the prophet's 
 similitude of " an old lion, tearing in pieces his victims for 
 his whelps, and strangling them for his lionesses, and fill- 
 ing his holes with prey, and his dens with ravin." 
 
 The early Assyrian kings, like the illustrious founder 
 of their monarchy,, were " mighty hunters," and their ex- 
 ploits in the chase of wild animals are vividly represented 
 by the sculptures. Among this class of pictures, " the wild 
 bull in a net," or enclosure of felled trees, as alluded to by 
 Isaiah (ii. 20), is seen exhibiting his impotent rage. 
 
ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES. ^ 399 
 
 The Assyrian gods also are there Baal, Nisroch and 
 Asherah still the same as when their portraits were drawn 
 five and twenty centuries ago cut from the trees of the 
 forest, decked with silver and gold, fastened with nails, 
 and clothed with purple and blue. The very star to which 
 Amos alludes (v. 26) is yet on those palace walls above the 
 horned cup of the idol her 
 
 " Whom the Phoenicians called 
 Astarte, Queen of Heaven, with crescent horns, 
 To whose bright image, nightly by the moon, 
 Sidonian virgins paid their vows and songs." 
 
 There too, the " grove " of Scripture has been identified 
 with the " sacred tree " supposed to be an emblem or sym- 
 bol of the same goddess who was the Oriental Venus. The 
 winged bulls and other combinations of animal forms with 
 gigantic human faces, so frequent in the sculptures, still 
 faithfully guard these deserted halls, and are, probably, 
 traditional representations of the cherubim that were placed 
 by God as the guardians of Paradise, and which hence came 
 to be symbolic guardians of things or places to which access 
 was forbidden. " Before those wonderful forms," says Dr. 
 Layard, "Ezekiel, Jonah, and others of the prophets stood, 
 and Sennacherib bowed ; and even the patriarch Abraham 
 himself may have possibly looked upon them." In the floor 
 of the inner court, Botta found secret cavities containing 
 small images of baked clay of repulsive hybrid forms; these 
 being, it is suggested, the Teraphim or images such as 
 Rachel took from her father and put in the camel's furni- 
 ture, and sat upon them (Gen. xxxi. 19, 30, 3-1), the signifi- 
 cation of the original word according with the terrifying 
 aspect of these figures. In the " divine chamber " were 
 found the figures of two magi with a gazelle in one hand 
 and the other uplifted in prayer ; and it is inferred that in 
 this chamber they were wont to be consulted by the king, 
 the blood of the victims being poured into a cavity in a 
 
400 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 slab in the floor. These magi, it is supposed from their 
 form and features, are one of the four orders of Chaldeans 
 mentioned by Daniel, to whom the Assyrian kings resorted, 
 on occasions the most trivial or important, for the interpre- 
 tation of dreams, or the solution of political problems. 
 
 The sumptuous convivialities of the Assyrian court are 
 delineated in the " banqueting hall " in which the king was 
 wont to entertain " the nobles and princes of the provinces 
 (Esther i. 3-7), in celebration of his conquests when the 
 harp and the viol were in their feasts ; " and here too is 
 probably the very recess in which stood the wine vase of 
 a size to contain royal wine in abundance according to the 
 state of the king, while his guests are in the act of drink- 
 ing his health or of pledging each other in uplifted cups. 
 "The scene exhibited on such occasions," says a recent 
 visitor to these ruins, " especially at night, when these 
 long galleries and richly sculptured chambers were illu- 
 minated by the light of lamps ' cressets fed with naphtha 
 or asphaltum ' must have been gorgeous and imposing 
 beyond measure." 
 
 The question as to the early origin of writing, which 
 scepticism has brought to bear against the authenticity of 
 the book of Genesis, is also settled by these discoveries. 
 >ome of the sculptures show manuscripts unrolled as they 
 were read, telling us that the Assyrians were acquainted 
 with writing on parchment or papyrus. Clay seals also, 
 which seem to have been attached to such documents, 
 burned up or long since decayed, and scribes writing down 
 the long lists of the slain or the number of the captives, 
 corroborate this testimony. 
 
 The art of printing even was in some degree known to 
 those early ages, as is testified by the innumerable bricks 
 stamped with the name of the king before they were 
 burned, which have been brought up from the recesses of 
 the mounds. Some of these are stamped with inscriptions 
 more than three centuries older than Abraham. 
 
ABCHJ3OLOGICAL DISCOVERIES. 401 
 
 The letters on the marble walls, as also the intaglios. 
 on seals and cylinders, were engraved with a sharp instru- 
 ment ; and when the inscription was on the floor of a palace, 
 the letters were often filled up with some soft metal illus- 
 trating that passage of Job (xix. 23,24), " O that my words 
 were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever ! " 
 
 By a marvellous coincidence, just as the annals of the old 
 Assyrian empire, engraved in alabaster and marble, were 
 brought to light ; the character and language in which they 
 were written, were at length deciphered, after having baffled 
 the ingenuity and learning of ages. By the profound study 
 of some fragments of cuneiform or arrow-headed inscrip- 
 tions brought from Persepolis, Professor Grotefend had 
 succeeded in determining the names of Cyrus, Xerxes, 
 Darius and Hystaspes, comprising nearly one third of the 
 alphabet, and thus laid the foundation of the discovery. 
 This was in 1802. Little farther progress was made until 
 the year 1836, wh'en a more perfect clue was found by Col. 
 Rawlinson on a rock near the ruins of Behistan the Ba- 
 gistan of ancient history. Here, on the perpendicular face 
 of a precipice more than 300 feet above the base, is sculp- 
 tured King Darius holding his bow, with two state officers 
 behind ; under his feet lies one rebel, while a line of nine 
 others stand before him, chained one behind another, with 
 their hands tied. Accompanying these figures are several 
 explanatory inscriptions, one of considerable length, written 
 in the Persian, Median or Scythian and Assyrian languages. 
 The reading of the Persian portion of these inscriptions, 
 accomplished for the more difficult and complicated Assyr- 
 ian versions, what the Greek of the Rosetta stone did for 
 the hieroglyphics of Egypt ; it furnished the key by the 
 aid of which Col. Rawlinson, Dr. Hincks, and other scholars 
 have unlocked the depositories of Assyrian and Babylonian 
 lore, and deciphered their ancient records. The coincidence 
 of their independent investigations, joined to the internal 
 
402 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 evidence of truth which the translations bear, places beyond 
 question the general accuracy of the results at which they 
 have arrived. 
 
 A striking verification of the truth of the Bible has 
 been furnished by these discoveries in the identification of 
 Scripture names. 
 
 In the tenth chapter of Genesis we read of the cities of 
 " Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar ; " 
 " Calah and Resen ; " and in the eleventh chapter, " Ur 
 of the Chaldees " is mentioned. After that period these 
 cities almost entirely disappeared from the page of history 
 nothing was known of their story, their fate, or even their 
 sites. Now, however, the bricks and stones that lay buried 
 for near three thousand years beneath the mounds of Meso- 
 potamia have found a tongue, and have not only told us 
 where each of these cities stood, but have added interesting 
 details of their history. 
 
 The vast number of the inscriptions fcfund will require a 
 considerable length of time for their perfect elucidation ; 
 yet very important corroboration of the historical facts of 
 Scripture has already been obtained from them. 
 
 In the Second Book of Kings, iii. 27, we read that the 
 king of Moab, when he saw that the battle was too sore for 
 him, and that he could not cut his way through the besieg- 
 ing army, took his eldest son that should have reigned in 
 his stead, and offered him for a burnt-offering upon the wall. 
 And Grotefend has deciphered an inscription of Nebuchad- 
 nezzar which contains the record of his offer to let his son 
 be burned to death in order to ward off the afflictions of 
 Babylon. Were not these, like the unconscious prophecy 
 of Oaiaphas, the blind groping and groaning of a fallen race 
 after the alone perfect sacrifice that could avail with God ? 
 
 Upon the walls of the palace of Khorsabad, excavated by 
 the French, are to be read the annals of the reign of Sargon, 
 or Shalmaneser, both of which titles are given in the in- 
 
ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES. 403 
 
 scriptions. In the first year of his reign, it is said, he came 
 up against the city of Samaria (called Samarini), and the 
 tribes of the country of Beth Homri (or Omri), being the 
 name of the founder of Samaria. (1 Kings xvii. 16, seq.) 
 He carried off into captivity in Assyria 27,280 families, and 
 settled in their places colonists brought from Babylonia ; 
 appointing prefects to administer the country, and imposing 
 the same tribute which had been paid to former kings. 
 
 In the second year of Shalmaneser's reign, he is stated 
 to have subdued Libnah and Kahzitah (the Cadytis of He- 
 rodotus), dependencies of Egypt ; and in the seventh year 
 of his reign he received tribute direct from the king of that 
 country, who is named Pirhu, probably for " Pharaoh," the 
 title by which the kings of Egypt were known to the Jews 
 and other Semitic nations. This punishment of the Egyp- 
 tians by Sargon or Shalmaneser, is alluded to in the twen- 
 tieth chapter of Isaiah. 
 
 Among the other exploits of Shalmaneser found in his 
 annals are, the conquest of Ashdod, also alluded to in Isaiah 
 xxi. 1 ; and his reduction of the neighboring city of Jumnai, 
 called Jabneh, or Jamneh, in the Bible. 
 
 The entire annals of Shalmaneser have not yet been dis- 
 covered ; but a tablet erected by him towards the close of 
 his reign in the palace at Nimroud, in which he claims to 
 be the conqueror of Judaea, Colonel Rawlinson thinks refers 
 to the expedition in which, after a three years' siege of Sa- 
 maria, he carried off the great body of the tribes of Israel, 
 and which is commemorated in the Bible as having occur- 
 red in the sixth year of Hezekiab. 
 
 But yet more striking coincidences are found in the 
 annals of the son of Shalmaneser, Sennacherib. He com- 
 menced his career by subjugating the Babylonians under 
 their king Merodach Baladan, who had also been the an- 
 tagonist of his father. This is a confirmation of Scripture, 
 but the most important points of agreement are found in 
 
404 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 the annals of his third year. Let us compare their disclosures 
 with the Bible. In 2 Kings, chap, xviii., we read that Heze- 
 kiahsent an embassy to Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, at 
 Lachish, and from the subsequent statements we infer that 
 Lachish was taken and destroyed. What say the inscrip- 
 tions ? In the palace at Kouyunjik a beautiful and highly 
 finished bas-relief has been found, representing the siege 
 and capture by the Assyrians of a city of great extent and 
 importance. The sculptures tell the whole story of the at- 
 tack, the conquest, and the entire destruction of the enemy. 
 The captives, as they appear in the bas-reliefs, have been 
 stripped of their ornaments and fine raiment, are barefoot- 
 ed and half clothed. But it is impossible to mistake the 
 race to which they belong. They are Jews ; for the stamp 
 is on the countenance as it is impressed on the features of 
 their descendants at this very hour. The Assyrian sculp- 
 tor has noted the characteristic lines, and drawn them with 
 surprising truth. To what city they belong we likewise 
 know, for above the figure of the king, who commands in 
 person, it is declared, that Sennacherib the mighty king, the 
 king of Assyria, sitting on the throne of judgment before 
 the city of Lachish, gives permission for its slaughter. 
 
 The inspired record says, that Sennacherib came up 
 against the fenced cities of Judah and took them (2 Kings 
 xviii. 13), and that when Hezekiah offered to purchase a 
 peace, the invader exacted from him 300 talents of silver 
 and 30 of gold. This, it will be borne in mind, was the 
 sum originally demanded, not from all the towns, but from 
 Hezekiah and Jerusalem alone. The writer does not go on 
 to specify the sum which Hezekiah actually gave, but only 
 that he gave all the silver which was found in the house of 
 the Lord and in the royal treasury. He also " cut off all 
 the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and 
 from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah overlaid," 
 but nowhere does he tell us of the amount that was thus 
 
ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES. 405 
 
 procured and given to the Assyrian. Scripture also in- 
 forms us how Sennacherib took advantage of this submis- 
 sive spirit of Hezekiah, and after repeated insulting mes- 
 sages and threats, advanced to the destruction of Jerusalem. 
 But Hezekiah, we are told, trusted in God, and in answer 
 to his prayer the Lord slew 185,000 of the invaders in a 
 single night, so that the king of Assyria returned to Nine- 
 veh without inflicting further injury upon the holy city. 
 
 Of the terrible blow which thus arrested his designs, we 
 could scarcely expect to find any mention in the grandilo- 
 quent annals of an Oriental monarch. But he says, accord- 
 ing to the inscriptions, " Because Hezekiah king of Judah 
 did not submit to my yoke, forty-six of his strong fenced 
 cities and innumerable smaller towns which depended on 
 them I took and plundered, but I left to him Jerusalem his 
 capital city, and the inferior towns around it," a very sig- 
 nificant admission in view of the Scripture reason for his 
 retreat, " and because Hezekiah refused still to do me 
 homage, I attacked and carried off the whole population, 
 fixed and nomade, which dwelt around Jerusalem, with thirty 
 talents of gold and eight hundred talents of silver, the treas- 
 ures 'of Hezekiah's palace, besides his sons and his daugh- 
 ters, and his male or female servants or slaves ; I returned to 
 Nineveh, and I accounted their spoil for the tribute which 
 he refused to pay me." The apparent discrepancy in the 
 amount of silver here mentioned being a larger sum than 
 that stated in the Bible, finds its ready explanation in the 
 circumstance that, while the Bible merely states what was 
 demanded of Hezekiah, the inscription states the whole 
 amount carried off, which of course would include a great 
 deal more. The amount of gold being the same in both ac- 
 counts is an " historic coincidence," which Dr. Layard justly 
 claims to be " one of the most remarkable coincidences of 
 historic testimony on record." 
 
 Another discovery connected with the history of Sen- 
 
406 TESTIMCXNT OP SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 nacherib is perhaps even more remarkable. In a passage 
 in the southwest corner of the Kouyunjik palace, Dr. Lay- 
 ard stumbled upon a large piece of fine clay, bearing the 
 impression of seals, which there can be no doubt had been 
 affixed, like modern official seals of wax, to documents 
 written on leather or parchment. The writings themselves 
 have of course decayed, but, curiously enough, the holes 
 for the string by which the seal was fastened are still visi- 
 ble ; and in some instances the ashes of string itself may be 
 seen, together with the unmistakable marks of finger and 
 thumb. Four of these seals are purely Egyptian. Two of 
 them are impressions of a royal signet. " It is," says Dr. 
 Layard, " one well known to Egyptian scholars as that of 
 the second Sabaco, the Ethiopian, of the 25th dynasty. 
 On the same piece of clay is impressed an Assyrian seal, 
 with a device representing a priest ministering before the 
 king, probably a royal signet." 
 
 Of the mystery here involved, Scripture supplies the 
 following solution. 
 
 Hoshea, king of Israel, made a treaty with So, king of 
 Egypt, to help him throw off the yoke of Shalmaneser, 
 king of Assyria ; but the result was an Assyrian invasion and 
 the first great captivity of the kingdom of Israel. This So, 
 or Sabaco II., was succeeded by Tirhakah in Egypt, and 
 Shalmaneser in Assyria by Sennacherib, and hostilities ex- 
 isted during both reigns. (2 Kings xix. 9.) It would seem 
 that, a peace having been concluded between the Egyptians 
 and the Assyrians, the signets of the two kings thus found 
 together were attached to the treaty, which was deposited 
 among the archives of the kingdom. 
 
 The document itself and the cord by which it was at- 
 tached to the seal, have long since turned to dust ; but the 
 seal, with its double impress, though buried for ages, has 
 come to light and is now in the British Museum. The two 
 kings affixed their seals to a document which has perished 
 
ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVEEIES. 40 7 
 
 like themselves ; but in their act the hand of the Most 
 High affixed an additional seal to his Holy Word, which is 
 true and abideth forever. 
 
 The annals of Ezar-haddon, the son of Sennacherib, 
 have also been found in a tolerably perfect state. They 
 are written upon a cylinder now in the British Museum, 
 and contain an account of a further deportation of Israel- 
 ites from Palestine, and a further settlement of Babylonian 
 colonists in their place. This statement affords an explana- 
 tion of a passage in Ezra (iv. 2), in which the Samari- 
 tans speak of Ezar-haddon as the king by whom they had 
 been transplanted. 
 
 Another corroboration of Scripture furnished by these 
 discoveries, has reference to the account in Daniel (iv.) 
 of Nebuchadnezzar driven from among men and dwelling 
 for^i season with the beasts of the field. An inscription 
 now in the East India House at London, according to Col. 
 Rawlinson, describes the various works of that monarch 
 at Babylon and Borsippa. The enumeration is doubtless 
 the counterpart of that expression, " Is not this great 
 Babylon which I have built for the house of my king- 
 dom, by the might of my power and for the honor of my 
 majesty?" In the midst of the list occurs a remarkable 
 passage which the decipherer could not but regard as the 
 official version of that terrible calamity. 
 
 Abruptly breaking off from the account of the archi- 
 tectural decoration of Babylon, it denounces the Chaldean 
 astrologers. It says " the king's heart was hardened 
 against them. He would grant.no benefactions for relig- 
 ious purposes. He intermitted the worship of Merodach, 
 and put an end to the sacrifice of victims. He labored 
 under the effects of enchantment." There is much more 
 that is obscure in this episode, and at its close the archi- 
 tectural narrative is abruptly resumed. But how much 
 clearer a narrative of that awful visitation could we expect 
 from Nebuchadnezzar ? 
 
408 TESTIMONY OP SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 The more light that is thrown from researches in these 
 monumental records upon the historic statements of Scrip- 
 ture, the more authentic and matter-of-fact are they made 
 to appear. It is impossible to exaggerate the value of the 
 mine thus opened to the biblical student. " Perhaps the 
 time may come," says Mr. Rawlinson, " when through the 
 recovery of the complete annals of Egypt, Assyria and 
 Babylon, we may obtain for the whole of the Sacred History 
 that sort of illustration, which is now confined to certain 
 portions of it. God, who disposes all things l after the 
 counsel of his own will,' and who has given to the present 
 age such treasures of long buried knowledge, may have 
 yet greater things in store for us, to be brought to light 
 at His own good time." 
 
 In the utter ruin and desolation which have overtaken 
 Nineveh and Babylon, we have additional evidence that 
 the word of the Lord is truth. The calcined alabaster 
 and charred cedar of the Assyrian palaces (Khorsabad 
 and Nimroud) bear witness that the prophetic denuncia- 
 tion against them was fulfilled to the very letter that not 
 only the flooding river and the destroying sword, but " the 
 devouring fire " was made an instrument whereby " the re- 
 joicing city that dwelt carelessly was made a desolation, a 
 place for beasts to lie down." " She is empty and void and 
 waste." (Nahum ii. 9, 10.) "Neither Botta nor Layard 
 found any of that store of silver and gold and ' pleasant 
 furniture ' which the palaces contained ; scarcely anything, 
 even of bronze, escaped the spoiler, but he unconsciously 
 left what is still more valuable ; for to the falling in of the 
 roofs of the buildings, by his setting fire to the columns and 
 beams that supported them, and his subsequent destruction 
 of the walls, we are indebted for the extraordinary preser- 
 vation of the sculptures." A like testimony to the " sure 
 word of prophecy " comes from the shapeless heaps of rub* 
 bish which mark the site where once stood " the lady of 
 
ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES. 409 
 
 kingdoms," " the glory of the Chaldees* excellency." In 
 her fate the seemingly opposite declarations of the prophet 
 Jeremiah (li. 42, 43) have both been exactly accomplished. 
 " The sea is come upon Babylon," while she is also " a 
 desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness." "From the 
 summit of the Birs Nimrod," says Dr. Layard, " I gazed 
 over a vast marsh, for Babylon is made ' a possession for 
 the bittern and pools of water.' In the midst of the swamps 
 could be faintly distinguished the mat huts of the Kazail, 
 forming villages on the small islands. The green morass 
 was spotted with herds of the black buffalo. Light boats 
 were skimming to and fro over the shallow water." 
 
 It is remarkable that in the region around these fallen 
 seats of ruined empire, as in the case of Syria, the same 
 unchanging frame-work of oriental life, its manners and 
 customs, still exists, as when the Bible was written. There 
 are still the lodges in the cucumber gardens which Isaiah 
 describes ; the oxen still tread out the corn ; the vessels 
 of bulrushes may still be seen ; and the wild asses of the 
 desert so poetically alluded to by Job, still watch the trav- 
 eller from the distance, pause for him to draw near, and 
 then gallop away to the shadowy horizon. The hot, stifling 
 breath of the easterly wind or sherki, from which Jonah so 
 grievously suffered, is still found singularly relaxing and 
 dispiriting. Though three thousand years have passed 
 away, the very scenes of the Old Testament are here faith- 
 fully reproduced, while, as if to confound the folly of modern 
 scepticism, the famous capitals which were the seats of 
 mighty kings, " when Egypt with Assyria strove in wealth 
 and luxury," have been summoned from their graves. 
 " The stone hath cried out of the wall, and the beam out 
 of the timber hath answered it." 
 
 18 
 
CHAPTEE XII. 
 
 ARCHJEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 Bur the aim of the rationalistic school is not merely to 
 destroy the historical character of the Old Testament. In 
 the hands of Strauss, as has been already noticed, and of 
 writers who have followed him, the New Testament also 
 has been idealized. The incarnation of our Lord, His de- 
 scent from David, the circumstances of His nativity, His 
 temptation, transfiguration, His most remarkable miracles, 
 including those attested by all the Evangelists, all become 
 mere myths, and never possessed an historical existence. 
 The fact of His death is accepted, but His resurrection is a 
 mere vision due to the excited imagination of His followers. 
 And that death how different the view in which the ideolo- 
 gists regard it, from that which brings heavenly peace and 
 immortal hope to the soul of the believer ! " The blood 
 of sprinkling, the Cross of Calvary, the pierced hands, the 
 wounded side these have vanished from their eyes ; they 
 may suit inferior minds, incapable of supporting the clear 
 atmosphere and unimpeded vision into which they think 
 themselves to have entered." 1 They would have a Chris- 
 tianity without Christ. 
 
 Yet the internal evidence of the New Testament His- 
 tory alone could extort from the infidel Rousseau such a 
 confession as the following : " If this be a fiction, the in- 
 ventor is yet more wondrous than the hero of the narra- 
 tive." If there were no other proof of the reality of the 
 * Bishop Wilberforce. 
 
ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES. 411 
 
 Gospel history than the character which the four Evangel- 
 ists have ascribed to Christ, that alone would furnish evi- 
 dence beyond all cavil and doubt. 
 
 " The brightness of the brightest names," says a great 
 writer, " pales and wanes before the radiance which shines 
 from the person of Christ. The scenes at the tomb of 
 Lazarus, at the gate of Nain, in the happy family at 
 Bethany, in the upper room, where He instituted the beau- 
 tiful feast which should forever consecrate His memory, 
 and bequeathed to His disciples the legacy of His love ; the 
 scenes in the garden of Gethsemane, on the summit of Cal- 
 vary and at the sepulchre ; the sweet remembrance of the 
 patience with which He bore wrong, the gentleness with 
 which He rebuked it, and the love with which He forgave 
 it ; the thousand acts of benign condescension by which He 
 well earned for Himself, from self-righteous pride and cen- 
 sorious hypocrisy, the name of ; the friend of publicans and 
 sinners ; ' these and a hundred things more which crowd 
 those concise memorials of love and sorrow with such prod- 
 igality of beauty and pathos, will still continue to charm 
 and attract the soul of humanity, and on these the highest 
 genius as well as the humblest mediocrity will love to 
 dwell. These things lisping infancy loves to hear on its 
 mother's knee, and over them age, with its gray locks, 
 bends in devoutest reverence. No ; before the infidel can 
 prevent the influence of these compositions, he must get 
 rid of the Gospels themselves, or he must supplant them by 
 fictions far more wonderful ! Ah ! what bitter irony has 
 involuntarily escaped me ! But if the last be impossible, at 
 least the Gospels must cease to exist before Infidelity can 
 succeed. Yes, before Infidels can prevent men from think- 
 ing as they ever have done of Christ, they must blot out 
 the gentle words with which, in the presence of austere 
 hypocrisy, the Saviour welcomed that timid guilt that could 
 only express its silent love in an agony of tears ; they must 
 
412 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 blot out the words addressed to the dying penitent, who, 
 softened by the majestic patience of the mighty sufferer, 
 detected at last the monarch under the veil of sorrow, and 
 cast an imploring glance to be ' remembered by Him when 
 He came into His kingdom;' they must blot out the 
 scenes in which the demoniacs, or the maniacs, if the infidel 
 will, for it does not help him sat listening at His feet and 
 4 in their right mind ; ' they must blot out the remembrance 
 of the tears which He shed at the grave of Lazarus, not 
 surely for him whom He was about to raise, but in pure 
 sympathy with the sorrows of humanity, for the myriad 
 myriads of desolate mourners, who could not with Mary fly 
 to Him and say, c Lord, if thou hadst been here, my mother 
 brother sister had not died ! ' They must blot out 
 the record of those miracles which charm us not only as 
 the proofs of His mission and guarantees of the truth of 
 His doctrine, but as they illustrate the benevolence of His 
 character, and are types of the spiritual cures His Gospel 
 can yet perform ; they must blot out the scenes of the sep- 
 ulchre, where love and veneration lingered, and saw what 
 has never been before, but shall henceforth be seen till the 
 end of time, the tomb itself irradiated with angelic forms 
 and bright with the presence of Him ' who brought life and 
 immortality to light ; ' they must blot out the scenes where 
 deep and grateful love wept so passionately, and found 
 them unbidden at her side, type of ten thousand times ten 
 thousand, who have ; sought the grave to weep there,' and 
 found joy and consolation in Him ' whom though unseen 
 they loved ; ' they must blot out the discourses in which 
 He took leave of His disciples, the majestic accents of 
 which have filled so many departing souls with patience and 
 with triumph ; they must blot out the yet sublimer words 
 in which He declares Himself * the Resurrection and the 
 Life' words which have led so many millions more to 
 breathe out their spirits with child-like trust, and to be- 
 
ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES. 413 
 
 lieve, as the gate of death closed behind them, they would 
 see Him who is invested with ' the keys of the invisible 
 world,' * who opens and no man shuts, who shuts and no 
 man opens,' letting in through the portal which leads to 
 immortality ' the radiance of the skies ; ' they must blot out, 
 they must destroy these and a thousand other such things, 
 before they can prevent Him from having the pre-eminence 
 who loved, because He loved us, to call Himself the ' Son 
 of Man,' though angels called Him the 'Son of God!' l 
 
 If all this be mythical, whence, let us ask, did the disci- 
 ples of Christ draw the conception of the character of their 
 Master ? " It is a character so transcendently original in 
 its mere conception, so thoroughly and profoundly consist- 
 ent in its working out, so remarkable for its combination 
 of seemingly opposite traits so full of a mingled majesty 
 and loveliness, firmness and gentleness, candor and reserve, 
 and so radically free from every morbid tendency or sen- 
 timent, from fanaticism, pride, impetuosity, weakness, or 
 one-sidedness of any kind, that, if not drawn from the life, 
 it is the most stupendous and wonderful piece of art that 
 was ever exhibited by the human mind. We may search 
 the records of ancient and modern literature in vain to find 
 anything like it." " It is related of a celebrated Grecian 
 sculptor, that he searched all Greece with the view of 
 modelling a perfect figure, and he borrowed here from the 
 most beautiful a feature, and there from the most graceful 
 a limb ; but after all the patchwork was apparent ; he could 
 not so harmonize the different lineaments and members as 
 to give congruity and symmetry to the whole ; and just so 
 the attempt to construct a perfect character out of virtues 
 borrowed from all the best of human kind has ever failed, 
 because men cannot combine, and adjust, and harmonize 
 the material!. Under these circumstances, in the face of 
 difficulties so insuperable, how could it have entered into 
 1 Defence of the Eclipse of Faith by Rev. Henry Rogers. 
 
414 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 the minds of a few Jewish fishermen, without education, 
 without advantages of refinement or taste men brought 
 up in prejudice and bigotry how could it have entered 
 into their minds to conceive the idea of drawing, or, con- 
 ceiving it, what possibility was there of their being able to 
 draw a faultless character ? And yet these fishermen of 
 Galilee not xmly conceived, but realized the idea ; they 
 painted one of whom we may say, ' Behold the Lamb of 
 God ; ' ' a lamb without blemish and without spot.' ' Be- 
 hold the nym ! holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from 
 sinners. ' " * Surely there must have been a living model 
 from which they drew. Truly says Neander, " As man's 
 limited intellect could never, without the aid of God's rev- 
 elation of Himself to the spirit of man, have originated the 
 idea of God, so the image of Christ could never have sprung 
 from the consciousness of sinful humanity, but must be 
 regarded as the reflection of the actual life of such a Christ. 
 It is Christ's self-revelation, made, through all generations, 
 in the fragments of His history that remain, and hi the 
 workings of His Spirit which inspires these fragments, and 
 enables us to recognize in them one complete whole." a 
 
 What honest and candid mind can avoid the conviction 
 that if the Gospel narrative be a fiction, then is all history 
 a fiction ? 
 
 But in its behalf also, "truth has sprung out of the 
 earth." While the historic verity of the Old Testament 
 has been vindicated by exhumed remains of long lost cities 
 in the depths of Asia, fresh confirmations of the historic 
 character of the New have been brought to light from be- 
 neath the foundations of the old seven hilled city of the 
 
 So crowded is Rome with the treasured relics of the 
 Past so manifold the attractions of her temples, palaces 
 and galleries of art that few comparatively of those that 
 i Rev. H. Stowell. a Life of Christ, p. 6. 
 
ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES. 415 
 
 visit the Eternal City, bestow a thought upon the far more 
 marvellous antiquities which lie beneath the streets they 
 daily tread or under the majestic buildings whose objects 
 of interest they eagerly explore. 
 
 It has long been known that Rome is undermined by 
 subterranean excavations, but very indefinite views pre- 
 vailed as to their extent and the ancient memorials which 
 they concealed. Recent explorations have ascertained that 
 they form a network beneath Rome and the Campagna of 
 nearly nine hundred miles in extent, their narrow chambers 
 in some parts rising in stories one above another, and that 
 they formed a refuge and burial place for Christians during 
 the persecutions of the first three centuries. 
 
 Evidence of the highest value in establishing the his- 
 torical character of the religion of the New Testament, has 
 been thence obtained. The following summary has been 
 derived from the valuable Bampton lectures of Mr. Raw- 
 linson, and it will be seen that the discoveries admit of no 
 other inference than that in the first, second and third cen- 
 turies, the facts of the New Testament were accepted as 
 historical verities, and hence that there was no possible 
 period when myths could have arisen. 
 
 Following out in detail the evidence of the Catacombs, 
 Mr. Rawlinson holds it to be in the first place conclusive as 
 to the vast numbers of Christians in the early ages ages 
 when there was nothing to tempt men, and everything to 
 disincline them, towards embracing the persecuted faith. 
 The calculation that the Catacombs contain seven millions 
 of graves would imply, for the four hundred years they 
 were in use, an average population of from 500,000 to 
 700,000, an amount immeasurably beyond any estimate 
 that has hitherto been made of Roman Christians at any 
 portion of the period. Allowing the calculation of the 
 number of graves to be somewhat exaggerated, and the 
 proportion of deaths to the population under the circum- 
 
416 TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 stances to be unusually large, still the evidence cf vast 
 numbers which the Catacombs furnish cannot wholly mis- 
 lead. They establish, beyond all reasonable doubt, that in 
 spite of the general contempt and hatred, in spite of the 
 constant ill usage to which they were exposed, and the oc- 
 casional fiery trials which proved them, the Christians, as 
 early as the second century, formed one of the chief ele- 
 ments in the population of Rome. 
 
 Secondly, he holds that the Catacombs afford conclusive 
 proof of the dangers and sufferings to which the early 
 Christians were exposed. Without assuming that the phi- 
 als which have contained a red liquid, found in so many of 
 the tombs, must have held blood, and that therefore they 
 are certain signs of martyrdom, and without regarding the 
 palm branch as an unmistakable evidence of the same, the 
 Catacombs yet furnish evidence confirmatory of those 
 writers who estimate at the highest the number of Chris- 
 tians who suffered death in the great persecutions. The 
 number of graves taken at the lowest, compared with the 
 highest estimate of the Christian population that is at all 
 probable, would give a proportion of deaths to population 
 enormously above the average, a result which at any rate 
 lends support to those who assert that in the persecutions 
 of Aurelius, Decius, Diocletian, and others, vast multitudes 
 of Christians were massacred. Further, the word martyr 
 is frequent upon the tombs ; and often, when it is absent, 
 the inscription otherwise shows that the deceased lost his 
 life on account of his religion, and op'ens to us, besides the 
 individual buried, a long vista of similar sufferers as when 
 one of Aurelius' victims exclaims " O unhappy times, in 
 which amid our sacred rites and prayers, in the very cavr 
 ei < nS} we are not safe ! What is more wretched than our 
 life ? What more wretched than a death, when it is im- 
 possible to obtain burial at the hands of friends or rela- 
 tives? Still at the end they shine like stars in Heaven. 
 A poor life is his who has lived in Christian times ! " 
 
ARCHJSOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES. 417 
 
 Thirdly, he holds that the Catacombs furnish a certain 
 amount of evidence with respect to the belief of the early 
 Christians. The doctrine of the resurrection is implied or 
 expressed on almost every tombstone which has been dis- 
 covered. The Christian is not dead he "rests" or 
 " sleeps ; " he is not buried, but " deposited" in his grave ; 
 and he is always at peace (in pace). The survivors do not 
 mourn his loss despairingly, but express trust, resignation, 
 moderate grief. The anchor, indicative of the Christian's 
 sure and certain hope, is a common emblem ; and the phoe- 
 nix and peacock are used as more speaking signs of the 
 resurrection. The cross appears, though not the crucifix ; 
 and other emblems are employed, as the dove and the 
 cock, which indicate belief in the sacred narrative as we 
 possess it. There are also a certain number of pictures in 
 the Catacombs, and these represent ordinarily, historical 
 scenes from the Old or New Testament, treated in a uni- 
 form and conventional way, but clearly expressive of belief 
 in the facts thus represented. The temptation of Eve, 
 Moses striking the rock, Noah welcoming the return of 
 the dove, Elijah ascending to heaven, Daniel among the 
 lions, &c., are the favorite subjects from the Old Testa- 
 ment ; while from the New Testament we find the adora- 
 tion of the wise men, the interview with Herod, the bap- 
 tism of Christ by John the Baptist, the healing of the 
 paralytic, the turning of the water into wine, the feeding 
 of the five thousand, the raising of Lazarus, the Last Sup- 
 per, and many other miracles and facts of Gospel History. 
 These early artists never tire of repeating the type of 
 "the Good Shepherd," and ofttimes the sower appears go- 
 ing forth to sow, and the wise and foolish virgins with their 
 lamps. Thus from these ancient and long hidden sepul- 
 chral remains, we derive indisputable evidence that the his- 
 toric belief of the early Church was identical with that of 
 orthodox Christendom at the present day. 
 18* 
 
418 TESTIMONY OP SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 Still more recently, a remarkable discovery has been 
 made in Rome, affording another striking confirmation of 
 the truth of Revelation. The following account of it is 
 from an article in a late number of the Edinburgh Review 
 on what are technically called the graffiti of Pompeii. 
 These graffiti are the writings upon the street corners and 
 places of public resort, which are now disclosed to the 
 world, and throw great light upon the habits, tastes and 
 manners of the ancients. The reviewer says : 
 
 " Mention has been made more than once of graffiti 
 lately discovered in other localities, and especially at Rome. 
 Of these, the most important have been found in the sub- 
 struction of the palace of the Caesars, recently excavated. 
 It would carry us entirely beyond our allotted limits to de- 
 scribe these in detail. Some of them, indeed, were dis- 
 covered several years since, and are embodied in P. Ga- 
 rucci's general collection. But there is one so exceedingly 
 remarkable, and indeed of so deep and peculiar an interest, 
 that it would be unpardonable to pass it over. 
 
 " The apartment in which it was found is one of several 
 (now subterranean) chambers on the Palatine, which, in the 
 course of the many alterations and extensions of plan during 
 the progress of the building of the palace, were dismantled 
 and filled up in order to form substructions for a new edi- 
 fice to be erected on a higher level. The light and air 
 being effectually excluded by this process, the walls have 
 remained to'this day in a state of preservation little inferior 
 to that of the buildings of Pompeii. The particular apart- 
 ment in question having been opened in December, 1856, 
 some traces of Greek characters were observed upon the 
 wall ; and, on a fuller examination by P. Garucci, who was 
 attracted to the spot by the news of the discovery, these 
 characters proved to be an explanatory legend written be- 
 neath a rude sketch upon the wall, in which P. Garucci at 
 once recognized a pagan caricature of the crucifixion 'of 
 
ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES. 419 
 
 our Lord, and of the Christians' worship of their crucified 
 God. This blasphemous sketch represents a figure with 
 arm uplifted and outstretched (as if in the act of kissing 
 the hand, a recognized attitude of worship or adoration), 
 turned towards a cross, upon which is suspended a human 
 figure with the head of a horse, or perhaps of an onager^ 
 or wild ass. 
 
 " If any doubt can be entertained as to the purport of 
 this sketch, it would be dispelled by the legend under- 
 neath : 
 
 'ALEXAMINUS WORSHIPS GOD.' 
 
 "Who this Alexaminus may have been, and what may 
 have been the special occasion (if, indeed, there were 
 any) of this rude caricature, it is of course impossible now 
 to conjecture. From the name it may be inferred that, 
 like a large proportion of the Christians of Rome in the 
 early centuries, he was a Greek, and perhaps a slave. But 
 whatever may be said as to the individual on whom it was 
 meant to be a satire, the singular graffito, thus unexpect- 
 edly brought to light after so many centuries, is at once a 
 most interesting illustration of the struggle between the 
 Christianity of that early age and its yet powerful and con- 
 temptuous rival, and a literal verification of one of the 
 most striking passages in the 'Apology' of Tertullian. 
 It is impossible to doubt that this blasphemous caricature 
 is, in one of its forms, the actual reality to which Tertullian 
 alludes. It is not alone that this father defends himself 
 and his fellow Christians from the general charge of having 
 an ass's head as their God, and that he retorts upon the 
 pagans themselves their charge against the Christians of 
 4 being superstitious respecting the cross,' by showing that 
 the pagans also worshipped the cross when they erected 
 trophies, or took the military oaths upon their standards ; 
 he describes something closely resembling the very picture 
 
420 TESTIMONY OP SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 which we have here before us in this rude graffito, as a car- 
 icature of the Christian worship which was then popular 
 among the pagan calumniators. 
 
 "We forbear to touch the higher associations which 
 this strange discovery presses upon th'e mind. But even 
 as a purely historical monument, the most unimaginative 
 reader will regard it with the deepest interest. It opens to 
 us with a distinctness which no written record could sup- 
 ply, a glimpse into those dark days of the infant Church, 
 while her divine founder was still ' a folly to the Gentile,' 
 and while it was still possible to present him to the pop- 
 ular mind of paganism under the hideous type of folly 
 which is here depicted in all its revolting coarseness." 
 
 Our proposed comparison of the discoveries of science 
 and the results of historic research and inquiry with the 
 statements of the Bible, has here reached its termination ; 
 and we trust it has been shown that the Bible has stood 
 every test which the refined scepticism of the present age 
 has brought against it the closer its claims have been 
 scrutinized, the more triumphant has been its vindication. 
 Did infidelity aspire to make its home among the stars ? 
 The glorious orbs of heaven have uttered solemn harmo- 
 nies to redemption's anthem. Driven from thence, did it 
 seek to erect a fortress down in the recesses of the earth ? 
 The rocks have uttered their testimony that the Author of 
 creation and of revelation must be the same. Did it then 
 strive to build up an array of proof that mankind was not 
 a race of one blood and one brotherhood ? Physiology 
 has uttered her assent to the declaration of Scripture that 
 " God has made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell 
 upon the face of the earth," while other sciences have 
 yielded a confirmatory testimony. The long successions 
 of Oriental dynasties the calculations of eclipses and 
 planetary conjunctions the Egyptian Zodiacs with which 
 it was sought to overthrow the Mosaic account of the 
 
ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES. 421 
 
 world's duration, when examined by the light of true sci- 
 ence, vanished into air, or rather went to confirm the Scrip- 
 ture narrative. And other objections with which it has 
 been sought to impugn its credibility, have been found to 
 supply internal evidence of its truth. And when a new 
 school of philosophic scoffers has risen, who would treat 
 the histories of the Bible as fables and its narratives of 
 miraculous occurrences as myths, a species of evidence has 
 been brought to light, precisely adapted to meet the emer- 
 gency. Accomplished travellers have traversed to and fro 
 through the lands of the East, and have returned to tell us 
 that the Bible is, as it were, written upon the scenes which 
 they have visited. The key to the Coptic tablets has been 
 discovered, and across the gulf of forty centuries, the in- 
 scriptions have been read. The gates of Mount Seir have 
 opened to disclose the rock-built palaces of Edom. The 
 old cities of Bashan and Moab have been found still stand- 
 ing in massive greatness almost as they were in the days of 
 Moses and Joshua. The mysterious mounds by the Tigris 
 and Euphrates have been explored, and the old palaces of 
 Assyrian and Chaldean monarchs have revealed their mag- 
 nificence and grandeur. All there are like witnesses sum- 
 moned from the grave. Their evidence is contemporane- 
 ous with the Scriptures, and it cannot be gainsayed or dis- 
 puted. And what is their testimony? Wherever the 
 same points are touched, it confirms the statements of the 
 sacred records. It is thus found to the confusion of the 
 infidel that if miracles are not now wrought to attest 
 the truth of revelation, yet illustrations and evidences mar- 
 vellous and manifold are laid up in the earth around him, 
 and are brought forth at the moment of exigency, to vin- 
 dicati? the divinity of the Bible and to shed new beauty 
 upon its hallowed pages. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 THE AUTHENTICITY AND GENUINENESS OF THE SACRED 
 WRITINGS. 
 
 WERE the books of Holy Scripture the productions of 
 the writers whose names they bear, and have they come 
 down to us in a genuine and unadulterated form ? 
 
 In the preceding pages, whose particular object it has 
 been to vindicate the truth and authority of the Bible as a 
 revelation from God, the affirmative of this question is 
 necessarily assumed and implied. Its demonstration has 
 occupied the labors of numerous scholars of the highest 
 eminence, who have unanswerably shown that the authen- 
 ticity and genuineness of the inspired oracles are sustained 
 by a force and accumulation of evidence to which neither 
 the Commentaries of Caesar, the JEneid of Virgil, nor any 
 of the classical writings of antiquity can even approach. 
 
 As this is, however, a fundamental point, and many 
 readers are probably unacquainted with the facts and argu- 
 ments by which the conclusion is reached, it is deemed 
 proper to subjoin a brief sketch of the grounds upon which 
 the learned consider the question as set at rest. 
 
 We will first inquire how we are to satisfy ourselves 
 that we now possess the canonical writings of the Old Tes- 
 tament ? 
 
 Canon is a Greek word signifying rule, and is used figu- 
 ratively of that which governs or determines. As the Sa- 
 cred Scriptures were at a very early period carefully distin- 
 
AUTHENTICITY AND GENUINENESS OF THE BIBLE. 423 
 
 guished from all human writings, and as they formed the 
 only rule of faith and practice which Christians regarded 
 as authoritative or safe, they were soon designated as the 
 " canon," i. e., the rule of God. 
 
 As to the present canon of the Old Testament, it is gen- 
 erally admitted that its formation is to be traced to Ezra 
 and the prophets who returned with him to Babylon. This 
 is the uniform tradition of the Jews, and it is strengthened 
 by the fact that there were no prophets after Malachi, who 
 was a contemporary of Ezra, and consequently no authority 
 sufficient for the purpose. Josephus, moreover, distinctly 
 states that after the time of Artaxerxes (the age of Ezra 
 and Nehemiah), there had been no addition to the Jewish 
 sacred books. " Fact has shown what confidence we place 
 in our writings, for although so many ages have passed 
 away, no one has dared to add to them, nor to take away 
 any thing from them, or to make alterations." 
 
 To this collection of the inspired oracles, which were ar- 
 ranged in three classes, the Law, the Prophets, and the Sa- 
 cred "Writings, our Lord Jesus Christ and his apostles gave 
 .their explicit sanction. Our Saviour frequently reproved 
 the Jews for disobeying and misinterpreting the sacred 
 Scriptures, and adding their traditions thereto, but he never 
 charged them with unfaithfulness or negligence in preserv- 
 ing the sacred books. On the contrary, he often speaks of 
 the Scriptures (that is, of the Scriptures as then known) as 
 an infallible rule which could not be broken, and from which 
 not one jot or tittle should pass till all should be fulfilled. 
 To these Scriptures he ever refers as the unerring truth of 
 God. And so also the apostle Paul, alluding chiefly, if not 
 wholly, to the Old Testament writings, says " all Scripture 
 is given by inspiration of God," and again he speaks of them 
 as "the oracles of God" and as " the teachings of the Holy 
 Ghost." The testimony of the other apostles is equally 
 plain and explicit. One important point, then, is establish- 
 
424 APPENDIX. 
 
 ed with the utmost certainty : that the volume of Scripture 
 "which existed in the time of Christ and his apostles was un- 
 corrupted by the presence of any spurious works, and that 
 the whole of it was expressly declared by them to be in- 
 inspired and infallible. The question, then, becomes a mere 
 question of fact ; for if we can ascertain what were the par- 
 ticular books which were at that time received and known 
 by the Jews as the Scriptures, we shall know with absolute 
 certainty what books constitute the inspired canon of the 
 Old Testament. If Christ and his apostles had given us 
 the names of every one of the books then known as parts 
 of the Old Testament, the question would at once be set- 
 tled. But this they have not done. They have, indeed, 
 distinctly quoted from several of these books, and so far 
 the evidence is complete. And, more than this, they have 
 recognized as inspired all the works known to the Jews of 
 their day as " the Scriptures ; " and still more particularly 
 as " the Law," " the Prophets," and " the Psalms." But all 
 this, even, is not of itself sufficient to inform us whether the 
 Old Testament then contained precisely the same books 
 that it now does, and no others ; so that the question still 
 remains, What were the books which all the Jews of that 
 day received as included in the Scriptures in the threefold 
 division which has just been mentioned ? To ascertain this 
 point, we should naturally resort, if possible, to the testi- 
 mony of some Jew then living, just as, if we held any doubts 
 of the orations of Cicero being rightly ascribed to him, we 
 should examine the pages of contemporaneous history. In 
 Josephus, the celebrated Jewish historian, who was con- 
 temporary with the apostles, we have the witness, and find 
 the very information which we desire. He does not, in- 
 deed, name all the books of the Old Testament, but then he 
 numbers and otherwise so accurately describes them, that 
 there is no room for mistake. " We have," says he, in his 
 first book against Apion, " only twenty-two books which 
 
AUTHENTICITY AND GENUINENESS OP THE BIBLE, 425 
 
 we hold to be of divine origin, and which we are bound to 
 believe. Of theSe^ye are the books of Moses, which treat 
 of the creation of the world, &c. From the death of Moses 
 to the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, the Prophets 
 who succeeded Moses have written in thirteen books, and 
 the remaining four books contain divine poems or hymns to 
 God, and moral precepts or rules of life for men." Accord- 
 ing to the method of arrangement formerly in use among 
 the Jews, the twenty-two books mentioned by Josephus, 
 though numbered differently, are, in fact, precisely the 
 same with those of the Old Testament as now received by 
 us. Shakspeare or Blackstone's Commentaries is still the 
 same work whether in one or in four volumes ; and so is the 
 Old Testament whether arranged in twenty-two or in thirty- 
 nine divisions. The whole argument, in a word, then, is this : 
 Jesus Christ and His Apostles expressly and repeatedly de- 
 clared that the Scriptures, as received by the Jews at the 
 time when they lived, were inspired. Jewish history writ- 
 ten at that very time informs us what books were then con- 
 tained in the Jewish Scriptures. These books, though di 
 ferently arranged and numbered, are found, on examination, 
 to be the very same which are contained in our English ver- 
 sion of the Old Testament. Therefore, the Old Testament, 
 as received by us, is expressly sanctioned by Jesus Christ 
 and His Apostles, its canonical authority is established, and 
 to every book of it we may safely trust as the inspired 
 words of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 To the Christian believer, this testimony of the Saviour 
 and His Apostles is abundantly sufficient. It is necessary, 
 however, to use another method to parry the assault of the 
 infidel, who asserts that these sacred books are forgeries, 
 and that their author or authors surreptitiously palmed 
 them off upon the ignorance and credulity of the Jewish 
 people. 
 
 This charge is conclusively met and its absurdity de- 
 
426 APPENDIX. 
 
 monstrated, in the following admirable argument condensed 
 from the Evidences of Dr. Gregory. 
 
 " No forgery was ever yet so complete as wholly to 
 escape detection for any great length of time. In fictitious 
 works, even in those in which most particularities abound, 
 there is a frequent want of proportion and coherency of 
 parts, so as to prove a deficiency of invention in the group- 
 ing and consistency of the events. There must certainly 
 always be some truth, where many particularities respect- 
 ing time, place, and persons are related, and in which con- 
 sistency is observable ; but where all or most of these are 
 absent, the inference is, that the account or history must 
 necessarily be far from authentic, and, of course, fictitious 
 or a narrative combined of fact and fiction. Writers of 
 avowed fiction, however true to nature, are frequently 
 careless respecting such consistency ; but writers, or rather 
 forgers, of what they wish to pass in the world as authentic, 
 because anxious about consistency, are careful to avoid 
 striking particularities, since critical readers might easily 
 find important errors and inconsistencies not obvious to 
 every eye. And further, when it is considered, what an 
 amount of minute knowledge is required in writing history, 
 to furnish particularities so as to be accurate in giving 
 names of persons, in stating times and describing places 
 and events it will appear evident, that no mere forger or 
 writer of superficial narrative, to suit a certain base pur- 
 pose, "could create them and make a show of consistency in 
 every part, so as to impose such history upon the intelligent 
 world as genuine and authentic. But, on the other hand, 
 if the writers themselves had been, though in different 
 times and places, concerned in the events narrated, or eye- 
 witnesses of the events as they occurred, or stated clearly, 
 simply, and impartially the stories they had received from 
 truthful testimony, the particularities related would bear 
 the impression of consistency and truth. And, again, if 
 forgers, hazarding the setting forth of such particularities 
 
AUTHENTICITY AND GENUINENESS OP THE BIBLE. 427 
 
 in their narratives, were certain of the fraud being detected 
 by common readers thousands of years after their death, 
 they must, a fortiori, have been certain of their fraud being 
 detected and exposed when first published by the persons 
 who, like the forgers themselves, had been concerned in the 
 transactions and witnesses of the events recorded. When, 
 therefore, such witnesses, and these to the number of thou- 
 sands, concerned in the events, could, when the histories 
 were written and preserved among the archives of their 
 race as of all but infinite importance, detect neither fraud, 
 misstatement nor imposture ; and when, moreover, the in- 
 ternal evidence has been, and is such, that no subsequent 
 critics or commentators could, upon comparison of books, 
 or dates, or circumstances, wring one single error or con- 
 tradiction from their pages, the fact of their authenticity 
 and genuineness becomes still more striking and incontro- 
 vertible. 
 
 "Apply these criteria to the books of the Old Testa- 
 ment and the result will be demonstrative of their authen- 
 ticity. Not only do they contain the names of the persons 
 who wrote the various books, known in their own various 
 ages as the authors of them, and recognized as the writers 
 of undoubted truths, but they abound in those particulari- 
 ties with regard to times, places, and events of the most 
 note and importance in relation to the human race, without 
 which no history can be authentic and genuine. Look to 
 the particular account of the creation and the fall, of the 
 deluge, the building of Babel, the dispersion of mankind, 
 and the short duration of human life after the deluge ; 
 look to the accounts of the successive patriarchs, the inter- 
 esting history of Joseph in Egypt, the sojourn in that coun- 
 try of the Israelites, and their escape from the tyranny of 
 Pharaoh, and their long journeyings in the wilderness, 
 marked by such marvellous events, before they entered the 
 promised land ; look to the history of the Israelites after- 
 wards, their various offences against God, both in the times 
 
428 APPENDIX. 
 
 of the Judges and the Kings, and their as signal punish- 
 ment and subsequent captivity in Babylon : and in connec- 
 tion with all these events, look at the accuracy of geograph- 
 ical detail, which no geographer, ancient or modern, from 
 Strabo down to the present day, could prove erroneous ; 
 and consider also that the Jewish historians and prophets 
 were not depicting the manners and customs, or chronicling 
 the deeds of Gentile nations, but of their own peculiar 
 people, and then mark the impartiality of their narratives 
 the simplicity with which they record their iniquities 
 against God, as well as their obedience to His laws, and the 
 manner in which they state the nature and extent of the 
 awarded punishments ; look to all those features and con- 
 sider whether any profane histories, such as those of Thu- 
 cydides or Tacitus in ancient, or of Clarendon or Hume in 
 modern times, all received as genuine, and in most part 
 authentic, show such internal evidences of authenticity, and 
 then say, after all this, whether or not the sacred Scriptures 
 can be forgeries ! 
 
 " Forgeries are never committed without some particu- 
 lar motive, or without some probability of success. But 
 the sacred writers could not be influenced by any such 
 motives as those of literary vanity, pecuniary gain, or a 
 desire through their histories to perpetuate national glory ; 
 and when writing for their own people accounts of them- 
 selves, and the events distinguishing them as a people 
 chosen of God for a particular purpose, they must be 
 afflicted with no common blindness, who can imagine them 
 to have written falsehoods. As the characters of all authors 
 are some guarantee for the honesty or otherwise of their 
 productions, it cannot be denied by even the enemies of 
 Scripture, that the books of both the Old and New Testa- 
 ments are written in the highest style of morality, and that, 
 hence, the writers themselves were men of the highest 
 characters. Otherwise their books would not have been 
 
AUTHENTICITY AND GENUINENESS OF THE BIBLE. 429 
 
 treasured by the people, and been regarded for so many 
 centuries as the archives of their history and of their laws, 
 rites and ceremonies, and revered with a degree of inalien- 
 able affection, which persecutions, proscriptions, and mas- 
 sacres could not quench, nor even weaken. And, further, 
 as those writers or books possess such diversity of style, as 
 to prove them the work of no single Jew, or of any one 
 age, and as allusions are frequently made to each other by 
 successive writers, it would inevitably follow, if the books 
 were forgeries, that there must have existed a number of 
 impostors in successive ages from Moses to Malachi, a 
 period of one thousand and fifty-four years, all animated by 
 one spirit, as if the living and dead were in actual collusion, 
 all writing in harmony and having reference, more or less, 
 to one great and absorbing event, seen prophetically in the 
 far distance, and yet all proclaiming the iniquity of their 
 own people, and threatening them with, and warning them 
 of, impending woes and judgments. Now all this is absurd 
 and incredible. 
 
 " But when could such forgeries have been written and 
 imposed upon the Jews as genuine and authentic histories 
 and prophecies ? Before or after the Babylonish captivity ? 
 Not assuredly before it, because the imposition thus prac- 
 tised upon the minds and belief of a whole people would 
 have been detected and exposed ; and as assuredly not after 
 it, as the Hebrew then ceased to be a spoken language. 
 And as no Hebrew grammar existed till many ages after- 
 wards, and it is difficult to write in a dead language, even 
 with the help of a grammar, it is next to impossible to 
 write without one. It is therefore plain that all the books 
 of the Old Testament must have been written prior to the 
 Babylonian captivity ; and as, from internal evidence, they 
 could not all have been written in the same age, and by 
 one or more authors, some of them must have been written 
 long previous to the others, and hence, if they be not gen- 
 
430 APPENDIX. 
 
 uine and authentic, we are again led back to a collusion of 
 impostors living centuries apart, all ^esolved upon deceiv- 
 ing a whole people, who openly and willingly submitted to, 
 and professedly believed in, the inconceivable deception ; 
 and who also transmitted it through their successors, 
 amidst trying and singular events, to the present day. 
 
 " Admitting that some changes had necessarily taken 
 place in the language during the thousand and fifty-four 
 years between Moses and Malachi, the narrative styles of 
 the various writers still retained the majesty and simplicity 
 suitable for the people for whose more immediate informa- 
 tion they wrote, and to the circumstances of the authors 
 themselves. And this simple naturalness is alone sufficient 
 to disprove the assertion of their being forged. The dra- 
 matic and sublime parts of Job, and much of the prophetic 
 writings, may be less simple, and more .glowing and figura- 
 tive in style ; but still this was natural in looking along the 
 vistas of futurity, and deciphering in figures the threaten- 
 ings of woe upon peoples and empires, and the promises of 
 grace and peace to the followers of the 'Man of Sor- 
 rows ; whereas, a style strained and affected in even the 
 loftiest narrative, proves that the writer is more anxious to 
 display himself than his subject. But the Scripture narra- 
 tives are models of simplicity and perfection. Nothing is 
 afiected nothing is strained ; the majesty of the subject is 
 seen, and great truths are stated, and events narrated, 
 with a force and clearness, often with a beauty and pathos 
 which no other writers ever rivalled, whilst the writers 
 themselves are personally, as authors, hid behind the veil." l 
 
 .It is because they will not stand such tests as the above 
 that the books termed the Apocrypha are by Protestants 
 rejected from the sacred canon. The term Apocrypha is 
 Greek, signifying hidden or concealed, and is applied to 
 those books whose origin is unknown, or the authority of 
 which is either doubtful or absolutely denied. The books 
 McBurnie's Prize Essay on Infidelity. 
 
AUTHENTICITY AND GENUINENESS OF THE BIBLE. 431 
 
 in question were, most of them, the work of Jews in the 
 century before Christ. Some of them, as Tobit, Susannah, 
 and (as it is called by Jerome) the fable of Bel and the 
 Dragon, &c., are religious romances. Some of the books 
 contain false doctrine, as praying for the dead, praising 
 suicide, &c. ; and some are distinguished by anachronisms. 
 Some of them contain much that is instructive, and have 
 been held in high esteem by not a few of the greatest men 
 in the Christian Church. But it is certain that they have 
 never been considered as on a level with the Hebrew Bi- 
 ble. They never belonged to it. The Jews never ac- 
 knowledged them as inspired writings. Philo and Jo- 
 sephus never mention them ; the New Testament is alto- 
 gether silent about them never once quoting them. At 
 length in the sixteenth century, the Council of Trent ven- 
 tured to decree that they should be regarded as an integral 
 part of the Word of God. By those, however, who do not 
 accept the dogma of Papal infallibility, the judgment of 
 St. Augustine will be regarded as carrying far more weight. 
 " Let us," he says, " lay aside those books which have been 
 called apocryphal, because their authors were not known 
 to our fathers, who have by a constant and certain succes- 
 sion transmitted down to us the certainty and truth of the 
 Holy Scriptures. Though some things in these apocryphal 
 books are true, yet as there are hi them multitudes of oth- 
 ers which are false, they are of no authority." 
 
 u It is an important fact," says Dr. Alexander, " that a 
 short time after the canon of the Old Testament was closed, 
 a translation was made of the whole of the books into the 
 Greek language. This translation was made at Alexandria, 
 in Egypt, at the request, it is said, of Ptolemy Philadel- 
 phus, king of Egypt, that he might have a copy of these 
 sacred books in the famous library which he was engaged 
 in collecting. It is called The Septuagint, from its being 
 made, according to the accounts which have been handed 
 
432 APPENDIX. 
 
 down, by seventy, or rather seventy-two, men; six from 
 each of the tribes of Israel. So many fabulous things have 
 been reported concerning this version, that it is very diffi- 
 cult to ascertain the precise truth. But it is manifest from 
 internal evidence, that it was not the work of one hand, 
 nor, probably, of one set of translators ; for, while some 
 books are rendered with great accuracy, and in a very lit- 
 eral manner, others are translated with little care, and the 
 meaning of the original is very imperfectly given. 
 
 " The probability is, that the Pentateuch was first trans- 
 lated, and the other books were added from time to time, 
 by different hands ; but when the work was once begun, it 
 is not likely that it would be long before the whole was 
 completed. 
 
 " Now this Greek version contains all the books which 
 are found in our canonical Hebrew Bibles. It is a good 
 witness, therefore, to prove that all these books were in the 
 canon when this version was made. 
 
 " There is, moreover, a distinct and remarkable testi- 
 mony to the antiquity of the five books of Moses in the 
 Samaritan Pentateuch, which has existed in a form entirely 
 separate from the Jewish copies, and a character totally 
 different from that in which the Hebrew Bible has been 
 for many ages written. It has also been preserved and 
 handed down to us by a people who have ever been hostile 
 to the Jews. This Pentateuch has, without doubt, been 
 transmitted through a separate channel, ever since the ten 
 tribes of Israel were carried captive. It furnishes authen- 
 tic testimony to the great antiquity of the books of Moses, 
 and shows how little they have been corrupted, during the 
 lapse of nearly three thousand years." 
 
 Overwhelming as is the train of evidences of the au- 
 thenticity of the books of the Old Testament, the testimony 
 in behalf of those of the New Testament is even yet more 
 cogent and irresistible. 
 
AUTHENTICITY AND GENUINENESS OF THE BIBLE. 433 
 
 We have, it is true, no precise information as to when 
 the New Testament canon was completed. There does 
 not appear to have been any particular time or place in 
 which the writings were collected and authenticated. From 
 the manner in which they were at first circulated, some of 
 them were necessarily longer of reaching certain places 
 than others. Owing to this circumstance, and to that of a 
 few of the books being addressed to individual believers, 
 or to their not having the name of their writers affixed or 
 the designation of the apostle added, a doubt for a time 
 existed among some respecting the genuineness of the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews, the Epistle of James, the second 
 Epistle of Peter, the second and third Epistles of John, 
 the Epistle of Jude, and the Book of Revelation. These, 
 however, though not universally, were generally acknowl- 
 edged ; while all the other books of the New Testament 
 were without dispute received from the beginning. ' The 
 hesitation with which the claims of a portion of them were 
 regarded in some places of the Christian world, is of itself 
 a strong presumption that the universal and cordial recep- 
 tion which was given to all the other books of the New 
 Testament, proceeded upon clear, incontestable evidence 
 of their authenticity. 
 
 At length these books, which had not at first been ad- 
 mitted, were, like the rest, universally received, not by the 
 votes of a council, as is sometimes asserted, but after delib- 
 erate and free inquiry by many separate churches, under 
 the superintending providence of God, in different parts of 
 the world. And it is certain, that though several Apocry- 
 phal writings were published under the name of Jesus 
 Christ and His Apostles, most of which have perished, 
 though some are still extant, yet no other books besides 
 those which at present compose the volume of the New 
 Testament, were admitted by the churches. 
 
 The arguments which sustain the authenticity of that 
 10 
 
434 APPENDIX. 
 
 volume may be thus briefly summed up. Its several por- 
 tions are quoted as the productions of the writers whose 
 names they bear, by Christian authors of the first century, 
 several of whom had known and conversed with the Apos- 
 tles and immediate disciples of Christ. They were uni- 
 formly spoken of in terms expressive of the highest respect, 
 as inspired compositions. They were publicly read and 
 expounded in the religious assemblies of the early Chris- 
 tians. They were in very early times collected into a dis- 
 tinct volume, and distinguished by appropriate names and 
 titles of respect. Commentaries were anciently composed 
 upon them, 'harmonies were formed out of them, and trans- 
 lations of them were made into different languages. They 
 were received, not only by orthodox Christians, but by 
 heretics of various descriptions, and were appealed to as 
 authorities in matters of doctrine and controversy. Even 
 the early adversaries of Christianity, such as Julian and 
 Porphyry, have never questioned the genuineness of the 
 sacred books, but speak of the Gospels as the composition 
 of the Evangelists. And formal catalogues of the Scrip- 
 ture were formed by private individuals and by councils, 
 from which it appears that the same books were then re- 
 ceived which are at present acknowledged. In short, no 
 evidence which the subject admits of is found wanting. 
 
 The impossibility of the New Testament being a forgery 
 is thus forcibly demonstrated by Bishop Wilson. " The 
 sacred books are either the productions of the Apostles 
 and Evangelists, or they are a direct and bare-faced fabri- 
 cation, composed by impostors of the apostolic or a succeed- 
 ing age. Now, I affirm that it is morally impossible, from 
 the circumstances of the case, that they could be false pro- 
 ductions imposed upon the Christian Church. For, take 
 what age you please, and tell me when such an attempt 
 could have been made. 
 
 " Could it have been made during the lives of the Apos- 
 
AUTHENTICITY AND GENUINENESS OP THE BIBLE. 435 
 
 ties ? What ! twenty-seven books, the production of eight 
 distinct authors, palmed upon the very converts of those 
 authors, with whom they were in constant intercourse, 
 during the very period of that intercourse ? The suppo- 
 sition refutes itself. 
 
 " But, could it have been in a subsequent age ? Cer- 
 tainly not after the commencement of the third century, 
 when the books were actually in circulation over the world, 
 were read in the churches, transmitted by versions into 
 new languages, and preserved as the most precious deposit 
 in the Christian archives! Could false books have been 
 imposed, under such circumstances, upon the wakeful minds 
 of Christians, in every part of the world ; and imposed on 
 them, not only as inspired writings, but as the works of the 
 Apostles and Evangelists, which had been received by their 
 immediate parents and forefathers, as their sacred books, 
 and had been handed down to them from the Apostles, from 
 age to age ? Incredible absurd morally impossible ! 
 Ten thousand voices would instantly have cried out that 
 they had never heard of such books previous to their pro- 
 duction by the supposed impostor. 
 
 " Then the only time when a forgery of such magnitude 
 appears even possible, is between the death of the Apostles 
 and the period of the universal diffusion of the books. But 
 St. John lived till quite the close of the first century his 
 own disciple, Polycarp, till beyond the middle of the second 
 and Irenseus, the disciple of Polycarp, to the commence- 
 ment of the third ; when Tertullian and a host of witnesses 
 put the supposition of forgery quite out of the question. 
 Can any one imagine, that during this brief period a daring 
 falsification, such as we are considering, could have been 
 made a falsification which must at least have demanded a 
 long series of ages much obscurity many favorable oppor- 
 tunities, to have been attempted even as to a single book 
 out of the twenty-seven, in a single community, out of the 
 
436 APPENDIX. 
 
 thousands which overspread, according to all testimony, 
 the Roman empire, by the beginning of the second century \ 
 
 "But not only so. Christianity was planted in the 
 midst of enemies and persecutors. Christianity raised its 
 head amidst Judaism and heathen idolatry. Christianity 
 was assaulted for three hundred years by a succession of 
 violent and cruel and unjust persecutions. Christianity was 
 never without some false disciples in its own bosom, watch- 
 ful to seize every advantage. It was morally impossible 
 that any fraud should have escaped, not only discovery, but 
 that public exposure and disgrace from all parties, which at- 
 tend on a detected imposition." 
 
 Having ascertained to our satisfaction the authenticity 
 of the books of the Old and New Testaments, we proceed 
 to inquire whether they have come down to us with a 
 genuine and uncorrupted text f 
 
 The importance of this inquiry will be readily seen. 
 For although it is proved that the sacred books proceeded 
 at first from the prophets or apostles whose names they 
 bear, it may still be said that they may have been so altered 
 since that time as to convey to us very false information 
 with regard to their contents. Granted that they may have 
 had the infallible guidance of the Spirit of God ; yet if we 
 have not the message as it was imparted to them, if in the 
 course of time the Bible has been mutilated by the drop- 
 ping out of precious words, while others have been inter- 
 polated, how can it command our homage or claim our con- 
 fidence ? Like a harp with broken and missing chords, it 
 has lost its power to charm. 
 
 Still there is danger of misapprehension and unreason- 
 able expectation upon this subject. It will not do to rest 
 in the presumption that because God has given us a revela- 
 tion, His providence would necessarily guard it from all in- 
 jury, and cause it to be transmitted entire and uncorrupted 
 to all coming generations. The analogy of nature does not 
 
AUTHENTICITY AND GENUINENESS OF THE BIBLE. 437 
 
 support this presumption ; for the best blessings of Heaven 
 are abused and perverted by the vices and negligences of 
 those upon whom they are bestowed, and the faults, political 
 or moral, of one generation, entail their evil consequences 
 upon generations following. As to the matter in question, 
 it is an undeniable fact that there are numerous various 
 readings both in the Old and New Testaments, which have 
 been occasioned by frequent transcription. The inspired 
 autographs have long ago perished, and the most ancient 
 copies to which we have access exhibit many textual varia- 
 tions. No promise of infallibility was made to transcribers, 
 and no pledge that the copy should be a perfect copy of 
 the original. Hence that has befallen the Bible which is 
 common to other books that have come down from an- 
 tiquity. Many of the words and letters of the inspired 
 pages are occasion of question and debate. 
 
 When the fact of the various readings was first made 
 known in the course of the last century, it was a subject 
 of triumph to the enemies of the Christian faith and a 
 cause of some apprehension to its friends. It led, however, 
 to a most thorough investigation of the state of the sacred 
 text, and the result of the untiring labors of numerous 
 great scholars has vindicated the inspired oracles on this 
 point also. It is now conceded that, though there are nu- 
 merous various readings, yet they are all of an exceedingly 
 unimportant character. Referring to this subject, it is said 
 by the learned Dr. Adam Clarke " that all the omissions of 
 the ancient manuscripts put together, would not counte- 
 nance the omission of any essential doctrine of the Gospel, 
 relative to faith and morals, beyond what may be found in 
 the Complutensian or Elzevir editions." The Jews, it is 
 well known, were most scrupulous in preserving entire the 
 works of their inspired writers, and in preventing the intru^ 
 sion of literal errors into the copies which were from time 
 to time transcribed. Among the means which they adopt- 
 
438 APPENDIX. 
 
 ed to this end, was that of noting and recording the exact 
 number of words, verses, points and accents, in each book. 
 The duty of doing so was the province of the Jewish doc- 
 tors or learned men, called Masorites. By these acute 
 grammarians, all" the verses of each book and of each sec- 
 tion were numbered, and the amount placed at the end of 
 each in numerical letters, or in some symbolical word form- 
 ed out of them ; the middle verse of each book was also 
 marked, and even the very letters were numbered ; and all 
 this was done to preserve the text from any alteration by 
 either fraud or negligence. 
 
 What has been said of the integrity of the text of the 
 Old Testament, applies equally to that of the New. Though 
 it must be admitted that the New Testament text, by being 
 more frequently transcribed than the Old, became liable to 
 a greater proportion of various readings, originating from 
 the mistakes of the transcribers, yet this very circumstance 
 was likewise a sure protection against wilful perversion or 
 corruption ; for in proportion as copies were multiplied, 
 the difficulty of effecting a general corruption was in- 
 creased. No such system as that of the Masorites was 
 ever adopted to preserve the purity of the New Testament 
 text, but there are not wanting ample means for ascertain- 
 ing the true reading. More than three hundred and fifty 
 ancient manuscript copies of the books of the New Testa- 
 ment, written in different ages and countries, have come 
 down to us. There are numerous ancient translations, 
 some of which were made as early as the second century. 
 And a third source of correction exists in the numberless 
 quotations from the New Testament with which the works 
 of the Christian fathers and other early writers abound. 
 In all these sources of evidence there is a substantial agree- 
 ment, proving beyond dispute that the words spoken by 
 the Saviour, and those written by the Apostles and Evan- 
 gelists, have come down to us unchanged. 
 
AUTHENTICITY AND GENUINENESS OF THE BIBLE. 439 
 
 The arguments for the genuineness and authenticity of 
 the Holy Scriptures require volumes in order fully to do 
 them justice. They have been thus conclusively summed 
 up by Isaac Taylor, in the last chapter of his work on the 
 Transmission of Ancient Books : " In the number and an- 
 tiquity of manuscripts ; in extent of early circulation ; in 
 the importance attached to them by their possessors; in 
 the respect paid to them by copyists of later ages ; in the 
 various and conflicting sentiments of those who accepted 
 the sacred writings as the rule of faith ; in the visible ef- 
 fects of these books from age to age ; in the body of ref- 
 erences and quotations ; in the number of early versions ; 
 in the peculiar circumstances connected with the extinc- 
 tion, as vernacular idioms, of the languages in which the 
 originals were written ; in the means of comparison with 
 spurious or rival compositions ; in the strength of the in- 
 ference from the genuineness to the credibility of the 
 books ; in all these points, the comparative weight of evi- 
 dence in favor of the records of Christianity, is incontro- 
 vertibly and immeasurably greater than that which is al- 
 lowed, without a scruple, in the instance of the remains of 
 profane antiquity." 
 
 THE END. 
 
THE TRIUMPHS OF THE BIBLE, 
 
 WITH THE TESTIMONY OP SCIENCE TO ITS TRUTIL 
 BY KEY. HENRY TULLIDGE. 1 vol. 12mo. $1 50. 
 
 Extracts from Testimonials, etc. 
 
 From the Rt. JBev. ALONZO POTTEE, D.D., LL.D., Bishop of the Diocese of 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 The Eev. Mr.-Tullidge has written a work on Modern Unbelief and its objec- 
 tions, with which, from a cursory examination, I have been favorably impressed, and 
 which I think peculiarly calculated to arrest and multiply readers. It is spirited, 
 forcible, and enlivened as well as graced by many quotations from the best writers. 
 It seems to me fitted to command an extensive sale. 
 
 Tours truly, 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 24M, 1862. ALONZO POTTEE. 
 
 From the Et. Eev. W, H. ODENIIEIMER, D.D., Bishop of the Diocese of 
 New Jersey. 
 
 From an examination of the Eev. Mr. Tullidge's work, I am prepared to expres 
 my favorable opinion of its merits and of its adaptation to the wants of Biblical 
 scholars at the present time. 
 
 BURLINGTON, N. J., Jan. 1863. W. H. ODENHEIMEE. 
 
 From the Eev. S. H. TYNG, D.D., Rector of St. George's Church, New York. 
 
 The Eev. Henry Tullidge, long and well known to me, has prepared a very com- 
 pact and extended work on the Triumphs of the Bible, &c., designed to Illustrate 
 the complete vindication of its historic truth from all the discoveries of modern in- 
 vestigations. The scheme is laid out with skill, and from the superficial view I hav 
 been able to take of it, connected with my knowledge of the ability of its author, I 
 cannot doubt that the work will prove useful and desirable. 
 
 ST. GEORGE'S RECTORY. Jan. Wi, 1863. S. H. TYNG. 
 
 from, the Eev. ISAAC FERRIS, D.D., LL.D , Chancellor of the University of Ou 
 City of New York. 
 
 I cheerfully add my commendation of Mr. Tullidge's work to that of Dr. Tyng. 
 
 ISAAC FEEEI9. 
 UNIVERSITY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, Jan. 9th, 1863. 
 
 From the Rev. WILLIAM M. ENGLES, D.D., Editor of the Presbyterian. 
 
 EEV. AND DEAR SlR : 
 
 I have examined the portion of the MS. which you left with me on the Trinmphs 
 of the Bible, &c., and feel free in expressing the opinion, that both in its plan and 
 execution, it is admirably adapted to be a popular and useful work, impressive in it 
 argument and calculated to interest all classes of readers. I remain, 
 
 Yours, very truly, WILLIAM M. ENGLES. 
 
From, thi Eev. EENET A. BOAEDHAN, D.D., Pastor of the Presbyterian Church, 
 Corner of Twelfth and Walnut Streets, Philadelphia. 
 
 On a cursory examination of the Eev. Mr. Tullidge's book on the Evidences of 
 Christianity, 1 am very favorably impressed both with the plan of the work and tha 
 execution of the same. It will be found, I think, a useful aid in dealing with tha 
 shifting phases of modern Infidelity. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 31st, 1862. HENEY A. BOAEDMAN. 
 
 from the Eev. J. P. DTTHBIX, D.D., Secretary of Missionary Society of 
 
 Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 I have taken time and pains to examine largely the plan and the execution of 
 "The Triumphs of the Bible, with the Testimony of Science to its Truth, by Eev. 
 Henry Tullidge, A.M,' 1 and can commend it strongly. I know of no work that covers 
 the same ground. That part of it on the Testimony of Science to the Authenticity 
 of the Bible, is of great value. 
 
 NEW YORK, Jan. 10tt 1863. J. p. DUEBIN. 
 
 From the Eev. EICHARD NEWTON, D.D., Rector of the C7turch of the Epiphany, 
 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 I have examined with great interest portions of the MS. of the Eev. H. TuIIidge'a 
 work on the "Triumphs of the Bible," &c., and the perusal of a part of it has given 
 rise to an earnest desire to enjoy the pleasure of reading the whole. It will prove a 
 very valuable addition to our works on the evidences of the divine origin of our holy 
 religion. It will furnish most efficient aid to the lover of the Bible in defending it 
 against the plausible attacks of infidelity in its latest developments. The student 
 will prize it for its sound learning, the general reader will be interested and attracted 
 by the lively and agreeable style in which it discusses the grave and important ihcuiea 
 of which it treats. It can hardly fail to prove both a useful and a popular book. 
 
 EICHABD NEWTON. 
 
 From the Eev. G. EMLEK HARE, D.D., Professor of BilUcal Learning in 
 
 Philadelphia Divinity School. 
 
 The subject of the book is most important. Mr. Tullidge's treatment of his theme 
 bespeaks a man much acquainted with literature, and fluent in the use of the pen. 
 And I am not without hope that the work will attract and benefit many readers. 
 
 G. EMLEN HABE. 
 
 From the Eev. EDTVAED LOTTKSBKRRY, Rector of St. Jude's Church, 
 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 I fully concur with Dr. Newton in the conviction of the usefulness of Mr. Tul- 
 lulge's work, and an earnest desire to 8ee it given to the public in a permanent form. 
 The field of inquiry is to some extent comparatively new ; the style sufficiently at- 
 tractive to ensure a reading; and the materials he has industriously collated such as 
 cannot fail to interest and instruct. It is a book adapted to the times and to the gen- 
 eral reader. 
 

 

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 DAY AND TO $1.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAY 
 OVERDUE. 
 
 NQV 3 1935 
 
 LD 21-100m-7,'33 
 
YC 29772 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY