Bible Studies, III

BIBLE STUDIES,

BY NEPHI L. MORRIS.

III.

' 'This lamp, from off the everlasting throne,

Mercy took down, and in the night of time

Stood, casting on the dark her gracious bow,

And evermore beseeching men with tears

And earnest sighs, to hear, believe, and live." — Pollock.

We have examined the testimonies of witnesses who wrote in various periods reaching from the beginning of the Christian era back to days when history writing was in its infancy. Strong as that class of evidence is for the genuineness and authenticity of the books of the Bible, in the Bible itself we find much testimony of equal strength — testimony that cannot be refuted. This I shall call /«/(fr«<?/ evidence, because it comes from within the book itself. It consists of the language, the style of its diction, of the historical facts recorded, and the spirit in which it is written.

Many of our readers may not be conscious of the fact that languages grow; that they pass through the various stages of infancy, youth, maturity and old age; but they do grow, and precisely in the same manner as do nations in various departments of education and industry. And v/hat is more forceful still, the civilization of a people is reflected more perfectly in their language than in any other one thing. With equal precision and certainty you will observe this truth in the language of individuals. Culture and urbanity are manifest in the slightest utterance of a truly educated person, while the reverse is apparent when an uncouth person opens his mouth. A very simple illustration of the growth of language will be

brought to your attention if you will examine a few lines from Chaucer or Spencer, poets who stand on the very threshold of that resplendent domain — English literature. They wrote in a style so quaint and queer to us, that it is hardly inteligible without much study. To that same period of literature belongs John Wycliffe, the "morning star" of the Reformation as he is called. Here is an interesting and intricate bit from his translation of the New Testament (Matt. 3: 1-3):

In iDiike days came Joon Baptist precDytidc in tDc aesert cf judc, sayindt Do ye penauttce: for the Ryttddom of Deuns sftali neigb. TorsotDe tbis is be of wbom it is said by Psaye tbe propbete, as a voice of a crying in desert, make ye ready tbe wayes of tbe Cord« make ye rigbtf ul tbe patbes of bym.

Compare this plain, homely extract to the fine English of the Elizabethan age, which was graced by Shakespeare and Bacon; then compare it to the finished English of today, and you will see that our language has passed through a wholesome and beautiful growth. Now the history of our language is the history of all other languages in point of growth. So it was at all events with the Hebrew tongue, the one in which the Old Testament was written. If such apparent changes were accomplished in the lapse of five hundred years, from Wycliffe to the present, may we not with consistency look for like changes to have occurred during the period of one thousand years, reaching from Moses to Malachi? Of all the Oriental, or rather, Shemitic languages (i. e. languages that sprang from Shem) — the Hebrew is said to bear the marks of being the most ancient. Hence it had passed through the periods of infancy and youth long before it had a Moses to perpetuate its fame. In fact the period reaching from the age of Moses to that of David has been called the golden age of the Hebrew language. It declined in purity from that time to the reign of Hezekiah or Manasseh. It was corrupted by the political and commercial intercourse with the Babylonians and Assyrians. This is called the silver age. Then succeeded the still more inferior age called the iron age, extending down to the captivity. After this the leaden age followed; leaden because it became so bad, being fatally cor-

BIBLE STUDIES. 191

rupted by the Chaldean tongue. It was laid aside and replaced by the Greek language. By comparison there will be found to exist in the Hebrew literature of these various periods pronounced changes and differences in style, an altered manner of expression. Upon this fact Hebrew scholars universally agree. Here then may be found an argument which proves beyond refutation that the different books of the Old Testament were composed at different times and at distant periods, and hence this fact may become a strong evidence of their genuineness. The various books of the Old Testament have too great a variety of style to be the product of one age, or the work of one or a set of contemporary Jews. The argument is that if the books of the Old Testament are forgeries, there must have been a succession of imposters, each in his own age, with hundreds of years sometimes intervening, each of whom concurred to impose upon posterity, and voluntarily taking up the design of his predecessors — a thing preposterous to right reason — inconcievable — and therefore most likely untrue.

Splendid argument for the genuineness and authenticity of the Old Testament is found in the numberless circumstances of time, place, persons, etc., mentioned in the various books. The geography of places of Hebrew history are always mentioned and to this day are marked and preserved. To employ our space best we will substitute the mention of these many well known events and happenings, customs, etc., by argument of a confirmator}' nature taken from outside sources, viz. : civil and natural history. The work of imposters or forgers do not abound in particularities as does the Bible; for if an imposter were to mention so great a number of particulars it would place him in a position where he would most likely and most easily be detected, and it would be difficuit indeed for a forger to supply such a detailed statement of facts. Parties concerned in the transactions would be quite likely to keep an accurate record of them, but it would be a work of almost super-human invention, and an immense stretch of human ingenuity to produce from nothing such numberless particularities as abound in all parts of the scriptures. Suppose these books to be forgeries, surely the people on the ground

192 IMPR O VEMENT ERA .

at the time of their production had it in their power to detect the fraud, and it certainly would have been in their hearts to do so, since by doing so they would liberate themselves from the reproaches written, from the obligations the moral law imposed, and the condemnation their disobedience challenged; moral laws too, demanding observances which were not easy or at all pleasing to their natures to perform. But that people did not expose the cheat (supposing the books spurious), but from the very beginning, the act being almost contemporary to the account, they observed the laws and ceremonies; and for three thousand years have continued to commemorate various historical events (as, for example, the Passover, which to this day is kept), and the religious rites, all of which stand as enduring momuments to the authenticity and genuineness of these very remarkable records.

We might safely rest the credibility of the Old Testament narrative on the arguments adduced, but there comes to us such an abundance of strong and willing testimony from natural and ci\il or profane history that, had we space in proportion to the evidence and argument at hand, the common objections of infidels could be met by a complete refutation.

Geographical research has located nearly all the ancient cities, streams, mountains, plains, etc., mentioned in the Bible. The pick and shovel have removed the dust of centuries and opened to the sunlight cities, dwellings, temples, human remains and records, all of which go far in confirming the place, time, custom, manner of living, state of civilization, as described in this book called the Old Testament. The creation of the earth and the introduction on it of plant and animal life though told best in it are by no means told alone in the book of Genesis. There was published quite recently an interesting account of the discovery of six stone tablets, dug up from the ruins of Nineveh. Though sadly disfigured and time-mutilated, enough has been deciphered from these tablets, buried from the sight of man for more than two thousand years, to make out a complete story of the creation. Within the last few years the ruins of six great Chaldean or Babylonian cities have been excavated with the result that the historv of man has been traced back more

BIBLE STUDIES. 193

than six thousand years (presumably), and it is elicited that at that remote age a high state of civilization existed. These excavations of Nineveh, Ur, Babylon and other cities have brought to light seven distinct accounts of the creation. In relation to these accounts and the Bible the following statement stands under the eminent name of Dr. Henry Mason Baum, editor of "Monumental Records:" "Therefore it can be safely said that wonderful as these recent discoveries are they dot not shake the historical foundation of the book of Genesis. In fact these historical discoveries would seem to confirm rather than contradict the statements of the Bible."

One of the most striking confirmations of the Mosaic account of the creation is the very general adoption of the division of time into weeks, which extends from western and Christian Europe to the far distant shores of Hindostan; it has equally prevailed among the Hebrews, the Egyptians, Chinese, Greeks, Romans and the northern barbarians. Some of these nations had little or no intercourse with the Hebrews, or in fact with any other nation, being, like the Chinese, walled out from the rest of the world. The creation was completed in six days, more properly speaking, six epochs or eras, and the Creator rested from his labors on the seventh. In commemoration thereof man was commanded to labor six days only and set apart the seventh for rest and divine worship.

A glimpse of the Garden of Eden and man's pristine purity and innocence is seen through the traditionary fragments of the classic poetry, ancient fables, and legends of antiquity. And it is quite probable, too, that the ancients borrowed their custom of consecrating groves to the worship of their deities from the paradise described in Genesis.

The fall of man as recorded in the same book is not to be put aside as a fable or allegory. The painful reality of the Fall is indicated in the tragic scene enacted on Calvary, and there and then re-attested by heaven. The story of the introduction of evil into this world, though partly obscured by mythology is seen like a gem gleaming through encompassing rubbish in the heathen legend of Pandora. Our mother Eve who was the instrument used in bringing evil to us or us to

evil, is represented in the story by Pandora who, being led by a fateful curiosity to open a casket that had been given her by Jupiter, out of it flew all the evil into the world, and she became the cause of all the miserable occurrences that befall mankind. Hope alone, — the hope of promised and long remembered deliverance— remaining at the bottom of the casket.

Original sin has been universally recognized though under various titles, by all the philosophers and poets of antiquity. Pythagoras termed it the fatal companion of man, the noxious strife that lurks within us, and which was born along with us. Plato called it natural wickedness. Cicero lamented that men are brought into the world frail and infirm, with souls prone to divers lusts. Seneca said that the seeds of all vices are in all men, though they do not break out in everyone. And Juvenal has strikingly corroborated Paul of Tarsus (Rom. VII: 18-23), where he says, "Nature unchangeably fixed runs back to wickedness, bodies to their centres."

The translation of Enoch is easily traced in the Grecian fables of the translation of their heroes, or demigods; some of whom are fabled to have ascended to the heavens alive and to have been turned into stars and celestial signs. An interesting legend is preserved by the Mayas of Yucatan who claim that there once lived on this continent a man so mighty and powerful that when he spoke the ground trembled beneath him, and that he and his city were taken up to heaven. No part of the Mosaic history has been so ridiculed as that which pertains to the deluge, though no part that ever occurred has been better attested both by civil and natural history. The natural history of this event is recorded on the loftiest mountain tops of the earth, such as the Andes, the Alps, Apennines, Pyrenees, Libanus, Atlas and Ararat. There, and in short on all the mountains under heaven, whenever search has been made, are found the fossilized remains of animals belonging to a former world, shells, skeletons of fish, and mammals of every kind. And these are found at elevations ranging from seven thousand to sixteen thousand feet above the present sea level.

The history of all races is seen with clearness if the re-

BIBLE STUDIES. 196

peopling of the earth be recognized in our second father, Noah, and his three sons. To this family racial tradition and histories are invariabl}^ traceable. Chaldean history freely confirms the Mosaic account of the Tower of Babel, which was the first great event in history after the deluge. Such respectable authorities as Strabo, Diodorus Seculus, Solinus, Tacitus, Pliny and Josephus, expressly attest the Bible history of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. And so we might go on with this class of evidence.

The history of the Bible is of far greater antiquity than any other records extant; and it is remarkable that, in many instances, it shows the real origin of those absurd fables which disgrace and weaken all other histories of remote times, which is no feeble proof that it was derived from some surer source than human tradition. Contrast the natural, accurate, simple and sensible account given of the origin of the Hebrew race with the myth-shrouded beginnings of Greek, Roman and other heathen nations. The latter emerge from clouds of oblivion in a manner more absurd than the fabulous stories of the Arabian Nights, while the former is just as it must have been, real and natural.

Now, to all this add the testimony of the Jews themselves, as bearing witness to this day in all countries of the world to the truth of their ancient history, that is, to the truthfulness of the Old Testament. Consider the strength of that testimony as manifested in the tenacity exhibited in their racial characteristics, the fixed and lasting attachment to their religion and laws, then consider the awful predictions wrought into the fabric of their national history, which predictions condemn them in their past and their present, and that prophecy-interwoven-history of the Old Testament, finds an absolute vindication in the present state of the Jews.