The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1873-04-19
THE BURR LECTURES.

THE BURR LECTURES.
have neither the desire nor intention
OF prolonging an Improbable discussion
with Mr.. Burr.
| l attended all his lectures, and listened
attentively to all he had to say, endeavor
ing to pay him all the respect due from one
gentleman to another.
had been led by the previous announce.
ment of his coming, to understand, thai
his purpose was to overthrow the philoso
ply Of Darwin, and harmonize the teach
lngs OF scientific investigation with the
revealed word of God, and having peculiar
reasons for desiring light on that subject
attended nightly, hoping to be instructed
l was so unfortunate as to be disappointed
perhaps in consequence Of my own stupid.
ity, ignorance Or incapacity to comprehend
or appreciate the learned lecturers argu.
ments and illustrations.
ventured to express some doubts as to
the propriety Of introducing such subjects
in a popular lecture before mixed au-
dience of young and old-educated and
uneducated people, for the reasons given
in my former article.
In what l had to say of his Scripture
references spoke Of them as "sinister."
On looking into Webster, find that word
defined "weak," imperfect" "unlucky,"
"inauspicious." If these terms do not
apply to every reference he made to Bible
texts, l am indeed ignorant and wholly
unable to judge.
But the word is offensive to Mr. Burr,
and we are told that "among gentlemen
such epithets are Evidence Of aoeakness, not
to sag hl-manners, on the part Of those pho
use them"
The Indignation of the lecturer at such
bad manners on my part impels him to
vindicate his one claim to gentility by the
profuse use of such terms as "ignoranee
and to1ly," "presumption and ignorance, :"
ignorance, digotry and prejudice" and in
the pride Of his assumed intellectual SUPER
iority, he condescends to "pity the degra-
dation into which my intellect has fallen
by the misuse of Gods sacred wordr' l
confess am greatly indebted to him for
his kind commiseration.
That his reference to Gains Punishment
in his lecture wherein he distinctly stated
that Cain found a wife among an entirely
different people, was "unlucky and insu-
sptcious," seems to be tacitly admitted by
the lecturer himself; for finding the record
fails him, he disdains to take further no.
tice of that point; alleging that "Me &c
count makes no mention Of any children but
Cain and Abel until after Gains Danish
ment, although Adam and Eve had lived
together nearly 1870 years. By way of sub
jecting the theory of DR.. Clarke, to which
l referred, to contemptuous ridicule, Mr..
Burr asserts that it makes "Ae account
a confused medley, uith the beginning in the
middle and the end at the commencement"
and further claims that unless it is admit
ted that adams children possessed a
fecundity beating that of cats and mice,
there is no point in my remarks" This
is truly very sublime reasoning and exceed
ingly dignified.
According to the lecturers mode of inter-
preting the Sacred Record, Adam had no
children but Cain, Abel and Seth, because
they alone are named; anG Seth had no
other children than Enos, although 105
years old at his birth; and Enos no other
children than Cainan, although 90 years
old at his birth,-because these only are
named; and so on through the whole patr-
archal table, given in the 9Th of Genesis.
Almost any we'll instructed Sabbath
school scholar will tell the lecturer that Cain
and Abel only are named, because God pur-
pose was to teach US the special truths con-
nected with their lives and their respective
offerings. And Seth only is named as the
head of the Patriarchal family from which
the promised Saviour was to come, and
which ended in the antediluvian world in
Noah, by whom the restored earth was to
be repeopled.
But the story Of the flood, as generally
understood, is an extraordinary fable, and
needs the light of science to explain it.
The entire earth was not covered-only a
part of Asia, and its habitants only were
destroyed. Genesis VII: 81, 90, 90, declares:
CAN flesh died that moved upon the earth,
both of fowl and of cattle, and of beast and
of every creeping thing upon the earth
and every man."
"All in whose nostrils was the breath of
life died. And every living substance was
destroyed which was upon the face of the
ground, both man and cattle, and creeping
things and the fowl Of heaven, and they
were destroyed from the earth, and Noah
only remained alive and they that were
with him in the Ark"
Whether the waters covered the whole
earth or not, they swept away every living
creature, man and beast then living on the
face of the inhabited earth, or the Sacred
Record contains gross falsehood.
Christ in warning his disciples of the
terrible scenes that will attend the end of
the world and the final destruction of all
tuluRs upOu tuc coiIu, lclelS W way VI
illustration to the flood as one of the known
facts of history-Matt. XIV: 81, SO, 80;
Luke WI: &c, %.
"But as the days of Noe acere, so shall
also the coming of the Son of man be.
For as in the days that were before the
flood they were eating and drinking, mar
rying and giving in marriage, until the
day that Noe entered into the Ark,
And knew not until the flood came and
took them all away; SO shall also the COM
ing of the Son Of man be-"
Either the reference was an apt and pro-
per reference, intended accurately to char
actsrize the final destruction of all things
earthly; or the Blessed Christ was trihing
with those he was seeking to instruct.
But.we are told the learned Jewish "RaJ-
Jies"" should be allowed to interpret their
own Scriptures in questions involving
their philology and history. Jewish his
tory and prophecy are so intimately blend
ed it is difficult to separate them.
If the Jewish Rabbins are the true and
proper Interpreters of their own scriptures
then the whole christian world has blum
dered for over eighteen hundred years