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January 13, 1909. THE PRESBYTERIA
Defence of the Faith
SCIENCE PROVES THE BIBLE.
"Scientific confirmations of the Old Testament" was
the subject of an interesting sermon by Dr. George
Frederick Wright, of Oberlin College, before the congregation
of the New York Avenue Presbyterian
chuich. He said:
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will its discrepancies appear. The more a true story is
studied the clearer will be its claims to confidence. In
these last days both science and history are confirming,
as never before, the statements of the Old Testament.
"It was a bold venture to preface the Bible with a
picture of the progress of creation from the beginning
of things to the creation of man. But modern science
has no occasion to criticise that brief but magnificent
introduction. It is confirmed rather than contradicted
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than it did before our knowledge of the glacial
period and of its connection with human history. Science
now shows that the early history of man was interrupted
by numerous deluges connected with the close
of the glacial period.
"The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the crossing
of the Jordan by Joshua's host, and the fall of the
walls of Jericho are easily credible now that we know
the geology of the valley of the Jordan and the Dead
Sea. It is an earthquake region where the internal fires
can easily be made to burst forth, and looselv built citv
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walls made to topple to the ground. The crossing of the
Red Sea, likewise, is now easily explained as made possible
by the effect of the wind, which, it is said,
the Lord caused to blow at the opportune time. These
are all mediate miracles, in which God made use of
natural forces to accomplish superhuman results. The
conformity of these accounts with the natural conditions
involved establishes their truth beyond reasonable
doubt.
"In a similar manner are other statements of the Old
Testament supported by historical investigations. The
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jivi ji in vjcucsis ui -rvinrapnei s cxpcumon irom
Babylonia to Palestine, in the time of Abraham, is now
confirmed by numerous discoveries made in the Euphrates
valley. Amraphel was the same as Hammurabi,
whose laws have recently been discovered.
"Hannathon, the place mentioned in the text, was not
otherwise known until a few years ago. when a reference
to it was found in the Tel el Amarna tablets discovered
in Egypt and containing an extensive corre
spondence carried on in the fifteenth century before
Christ between the king of Egypt and his vassals in
Palestine and Syria. The Hittites, too, were declared
by many to be a mythical people until they were found
to be frequently referred to in these same tablets. Now
the sculptures and remains of that remarkable people
are found in abundance.
"Darius the Mede,. said by Daniel to have reigned a
year in Babylon after its capture by Cyrus, has also
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N OF THE SOUTH. 5
been regarded by many as a mythical person. But within
the past year mathematical calculations concerning
a total eclipse of the sun in that region make correct-ions
in the accepted chronology of the period, which practically
prove that he was no less a personage than Astyages,
the last of the Median kings. And so we might
go on indefinitely.
"The Old Testament bears the closest examination
and cross-questioning, and comes out of it all with the
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history, revealing the waywardness of man and
the mingled goodness and severity of God in dealing
with him."
Washington, D. C.
THE BOOK'S UNITY.
The unity of the Bible is a feature whi^h all who
reason must recognize. First of all is its outward
unity. Though made up of sixty-six separate books, it
is one book. So accordant are they, in all their differences,
that the world has come, all unconsciously, to
recognize and accept them as one. It has actually, by
popular usage, converted the earlier plural Greek name
for the collection into a singular noun, "the books" into
"the book,'' its unconscious but willing tribute to their
unity. The very word "Bible" means "book," not many
books!
This unity appears next in that development which
one part shows out of other parts, not in the way of
mere suggestion or in the progress of thought, but ir
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and a glorious scheme of grace. The books of the Bible,
when put in chronological order, as they should always
be put and as every careful student will certainly investigate
them, show the definite unfolding of-a plan
until that plan was complete and applied and set forth
in its fullness to the world.
It appears next in that marvellous agreement, though
the several parts be so diverse, in the general thought,
expression, and purpose of the books. No one can care
tully study tliem without feeling in some indefinable
way that they emanated from a common source, that
they are actuated by a common motive, that they enfold
a common thought. The evident unity of design
makes itself so felt that it carries the thoughtful reader
clear over certain difficulties here and there which in
any other volume might justly be regarded as fatal to
its integrity. The history of the Bible, as one book,
for ages and through all the severest tests of criticism,
scholarship, and use, is the proof of the quiet yet in
vincible bold ot this book as one upon the minds and
hearts of men in all ages.
Better never to be born than not be born again.
Infancy is beautiful only in its time. To remain an
infant is a calamity.
It is better to grow straight than strong; better stilt
to grow straight and strong.