Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1862-12-05

reIiSion, upon which, fnofeo- n ess15 %
,s.r, t,,e vyhole fabric Of their faith A. hope
Co 4; oI Is tased. Tits not really So tie IiEnt Of
1cd. Love did not shine less truly on pious
mirds when Enoch walled with God OF Old,
though there was then no Bible In existence,
than it docs now. And II Is, perhaps, Coos
Will that we shsil Le Taught in this our day,
among other precious lessons, not 10 build up
our filth upon book, though 1t be the haoic
itself, but 70 realize moro truly the olessedness
OF knowing that He Himself. the Living Go,i,
our Father AID Friend, Is nearer and closer 70
us than any book can oc-that HIS Voice within
the heart may be heard continually by the
obr dent child that listens for IL and that shall
be our Teacher and q uidp, In the path OF duty,
which is the path OF life, when all Other
helpeTS-syeR The words OF the Best OF BOOKS
may fail u.s."
A serIcs OF ari.hmctical Gale lation is intro
duced, to show that the history OF the children
of Israel in the Mosaic narrative must have been
written later period than tn. era Of Moses,
and that Moses himself could have had no
hand in its preparation.
Without taking ground for or against tho
theory announced in the Doctors work, we
append n few additional passage TO indicate
the points W hich are m36e in the course OF his
arguments:
A QUESTION OF MEMBERS.
1--WE cannot have recourse 70 the ordinary
supposition that there may De something wrong
in the Hebrew numerals. This suggestion Will
not avail here, however II mi be applied In
ether cases 20 reduce within tha bauads of
brew writ,rs-sach that in J u XIII o. where
We are told that the Giieaditss under Jeph-
than, slew of their brethren, the Erhraimitss,
i2.pCv men; that in in. xii, where, first, the
b. njaT,iniIes slay of the fsraslit$s i'lsUj mnn,
u, Us, and then the Isras,ites Kill OF sthe
Ben iGmites, 5000, V IS, ~, all these being
men OF valor,' that drew the sword.'-or that
in ] y ly, ~, where the Phi Astinss slew of
Israel 5000 footm-s4, or in - xiii, ), where
the Philisiin-s had ~, t-v war cha riots or in
:. x, -, wherc<David slew of tn. Syriaas
t,,rs or I'm,
Pekah, king of Israel, slew or Judah in one
day i2e,1tG sons OF yaior,' and carried away
captive "tstGt0 'woIaen, sons and aughtars,'
or III = I'll. xiii, =, where Aba j:.h Is force con-
sisted of iU, 0tD, and JerC boans OF ssi Uu;L and
Judah slew Israel, v. Il, with great slaughter;
20 there fell down slain OF Israel 5Gi,EpC chosen
menr-it being remembered that, At tile battle
OF Waterloo, there were killed Of the allies,
British, Germans, Hauoyerians, Bruins wick
err, men OF Nassau, Belgians, ana PruSsians,'
altogether only 1: t12 men.-AUts0as History of
EGTcfe, xix. =. S12.
But regards the Pentateuch, not only is
the number Gl Geo Oh foot, besides women and
Children, given distinctly III l.. XII, 81, at the
time OF their leaving Egypt; but we have il re-
corded again. thrice over, III different forms, in
T.. AN1Niii 2J-ES, 1T the beginning Of the forty
years WanderingS, when the imb.r OF all that
went 10 DC mum bcreG, from twenty years Old
and upward is rccEcned 1T 6il5h,. and this is
repeated again in ~. /, i6; and it i Modified
cnce more, az the end OF the wanderingS. 10
G0l,73i, n. XVI, 81. Besides which, on each
numbered, and the sums of the separate results
make up the whole.
THUS this number is woven, as kind of
thread into the whole story of the Exodus and
cannot be taken out without tearing the whole
fabric 10 pieces. 1t alects, directly the account
OF the construction OF the Tabernacle, Z. xXxyii,
25.s, and, therefore, also the reality OF The in
stitntion>, whether Of the priesthood or of sac
rifcF, connected W it'll il. And the multiplied
impossibilities introduced by this number alone,
independent Of all other considerations, are
n III hal
character of the whole narrative"
UHiNsPiRED CHARACTER or THE PENTATEUCU.
And as ne has by these reasonings absolutely
convinced himself OF the unins pired character
OF the Pcntateuch, he now can write:
.But how thankful must be that We are
no longer obliged TO believe, as matter Of fact
OF titaI eonseG uenee to our eternal hope, the
story related in n. XXI, where We are told
THAI force of u; tG0 Israciitas slGw All the
males OF the Midanites, took captive ali the
females and children, seized all their cattle and
HOOKS t12,CD oxen, 81 800 asses, G15, GG1 shpep,)
and ali thtir goods. and burnt all their cities
and all their gOCdiy castles, without the loss of
single man; and n:en. by command of Moses
outchGred Iii cold blood all the women and
children, except all the woIis children " no
lave not known a man by lying with him.
1beSe last the 1sr1ci:ies were To keep for
themselves They amounted, We are told, 10
Sue, v IS, mostly, We must suppose, under
The age OF sixteen or eighteen. We may fairly
reckon that there were as many more under tn,
aga Of forty, and half as MANY more ahoya
forty, making altogether 20, $50 femaI's: of whom
according to the story, Moses ordered A. go 10
b. killed, besides say 2j,009 young boys. Tn,
tragedy OF Cawnpore, where $50 were butch.
eIed, would Sink into nothing, compared with
such mas acrc, if, indeed. we were REQUIRED
TO believe it. And these 1890 females must
have II pres1 ntcd 5000 men, oil Of whom. IN
that case, We must also believe to have been
killed, their property piIiaged, their castles de.
noiisEed and town destroyed by i?,fpUO Israel
Iies, who, III addition. must have carried OF
ltG,Lo0 eaptiHes, (more Than eigh; persons 10
hi
Oh cattle, (lnore than sixty-fe Tor ca ch man)
and all without tic loss of a single man
How Is 1t possible 10 quote the Bible AZ in
any way ccndemning slavery, when we road
here, verse 20, OF sJchoyah's tribute of slaves.
thirtytVO pereons!;'
CKITICIsING THE SCRIPTURE
I'm We" OF THIS change in thc manner OF ap-
Ply ing ciltcis N &c III" letter of Scripture which
i believe. i near at hand, and in order 10 avert
tie shock which our chidr. Ms faith must 9TH
eTWise experience when they find, as they GER
tainiy w;ii hr.orc long, :lat The Bible can no
longer be regarded Is infalllbly true liz matters
OF common history, as we value their reyrr-
ence and love for the Sacred Booklet us teach
fii' M a once 10 know chat they are not In IonL
Tor llfr inspiration OF the HOLY One whic,
hie;theS through its pages in respect tn anv
such matters as these, which the writers yrot.
us 1reD, with the same liability to error from
any causr us other men. and where they must
tie Judged az men, as all other writers would he.
hy thu. just laws OF Criticism.
"Let us rather teach them 10 look for the sign
In that OF which their own hearts alone can b..
the Judges, of which the heart of the siTnulo
child can judge as we'll as-often, alas! better
than - that of the seif-willed phiiosophrr
critic or sart-in that which speaks 10 the Wit
ness lcr Goa within them, tor which alone, un-
DER God Himself, Whose voice il ritterS i'm the
secrets OF his inner heinz, each man is t!I!i-
mateiy responSible-to the Reason and Con.
science. Let us bid them look for IL in that
Within the Bible which tells them OF what is pure
and good, holy and loving, faithful and true,
ks ,Iirc S,.fr AZ
spirits. though clothed with the outw ard form Of
law, or parable, or rToverb, or narrati,e-in
that which they will feel and know in
themselves I be righteous and excaI
lent however they may peryersely choose
The base and e.il-in that which make
uie living man leap up, as it were, in the
strength ofs,ire con viciop, which no arguments
could bring, no GsgInas OF church or council
cn!or>e. saying, a. The Scripture words are ut
tered, which answers TO the voice of Tr,,tl,
within, Il Gse words are q od shot the flesh
TEE outward matter, the mere letter, bit the in
ward core and ms aiming of them-for they ar,
spirit .Ecy are life"