The Cairo bulletin. [volume] (Cairo, Ill.) 1872-1878, 1873-02-23

Moses so stupid, his opponcts.
In Job xvi. Z: He stretcheth
out the north over the empty place, and
hsngeth the earth upon nothing" Sir
John Herschel finds the armament at
the north pole to be comparatively des
titute of stars but how dii job
know that?' Job probably didn't
know it but the inspiring God did.
But job continues, And hangeth
the earth upon nothing job is
right. Science says so. Now, as you
know, all men of Information who talk
about the law of gravitaton, have the
earth gravitatiug sunward, yet never
falling into it hence, literally, on the
voice of modern astronomy, God has
hung the world upon nothing God
knew it, if job didn't; and Job ox-
pressed the fact by inspiration from the
God who did know. Such an idea
Plato, Socrates and Aristotle would
have scoffed. How comes it that this
Bible contains the positive statement
of scientific fact that none Of the
wise philosophers among the ancients
knew, but which is now confirmed by
all modern science?
And what more need VIC say? l
can give many other astronomical evil
deuccs if you want them, of the cor.
rectncss of these records. Ought we
not to feel very thankful indeed, that
astronomy is permitted to wing us
through, the universe, weigh and count
worlds, sing of the stars in their courses,
and bear its testimony for the Bible ?
GEOLOGY.
Docs geology confirm Genesis, or
conflict herewith p? This question is
the more important, in view of the de-
gree of merit that infidels have given
the subject. Heretofore an entirely
different line of attack was pursued to
tho one now taken. Then the infdel
argument had peculiar force that it
does not now possess, and which it
never will have again. III Bib. c. j.,
p % -" 1t was once taught by intelli-
gent sccptics,' that men and animals
had descended, in an "infinitc series, +"
from similar progenitors, for ever.
Geology has retuted this heretofore
nearly unanswerable theory. Man and
the animals began 10 BE-. And
as none Of the powers concerned
in their pcrpetuation are competent to
their creation, some other power must
necessarily have created them" But
now the same class of skeptcs want to
disprove Genesis by geology. They
try to level the force of that science
against the account ~ detailed by
Moses. | say, g" the account as de
tailed by Moses" because the Mosaic
authorship of Genesis is a fact in his
tory, on the threefold basis of
]. Internal
2. External. and
3. Collateral evidence.
AS no proofs to the contrary have
been adduced, the candid man cannot
hesitate to admit the Mosaic authorship
of Genesis. He unquestionably had
every essential qualification for the
work, and We know Of nobody else who
did have all the necessary qualiiica-
tons and hence, the claim of Mosaic
authorship is reasonable beyond i'm
parchment. Besides, the whole Mosaic
economy is based upon facts recorded
only IN Genesis, making that book cs-
sen,ial to an understanding Of the laws
of Moses. This proves that the author
of Genesis in tended it to be intro
duced to the law, which would be un
Ineligible in many places without it
and therefore, the great aw-giver, Moses
himself, is the onl ~ one who could have
written the book of Genesis. The
Mosaic authorship of Genesis may be
argued;
LIST. From all antecedent probability.
2ndly. From the connection of
Genesis with the other books of Moses.
3rdly. From the subsequent Biblical
references.
4thly. From the consideration that nc
proofs of any other authorship have
been adduced
5thly. From the widest marks of the
antiquity Of the book.
Gthly. From the general recognition
in ancient times of Its Mosaic author
ship,
1thly. From the incidental testimony
of ancient proianc authors.
Sthly. From the well-known Jewish
article Of faith, that Moses wrote the
pentateuch as whole.
9thly. From the peculari,ies OF
the style and expression, aud Mosaical
sinsularitic' found everywhere in the
book.
With nine such proofs of its Mosaic
authorship, n person must be shame.
fully ignorant to attribute Genesis to
any other pcnman than Moses; for all
the marks in Genesis Of any later age
than the Mosaic, are found by the learn
ed to be the few explanatory words
in fact, Que notice--inserted by Ezra
in setting forth under divine guidance
revised copy Of the law. But even
thi. sparing addition DOES not belong
to the substance of the book and refer,
to mere incidentals, without dctracting
an iota from the overwhelming mass OF
testimony TO the Mosaic penmanship OF
Genesis. | am not ignorant that Mo.
ses writes of himself in "the third per-
som for that was the style Of all an,