The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1891-07-25

I
his Dragging, wrote q work against th
Jews. Josephus, tho noted Jewish his
torian. replied to him, and tho follow
ing sentences are quoted from that ne
ply: I'VE have not thousands|of book
discordant and contradlctiIIg eacl
other, but we have only twenty-five
which comprehend the history of Al
former ages, and are justly tegarde
as divine"
The books" mentioned in The fore
going translation OF Jusephusws re no
what are known MS books" ind Dur day
They were long strips of pabyrus o
parchment, attached at either end L
rolls or cyclinders upon which the,
were rolled In the same manner tina
large maps and charts are in our time
These rolls were termed yolumina b.
the Latins, and from that term arcs,
the English word volume"
The Old Testament consists of thir
ty-nlne distinct books, and dill thes,
We're inscribed upon the TWENTY-FIVE,
rolls mentioned by Josephus. Eacl
roll was marked by Hebrew letter
and as there are Just twenty-five let
tiers In the Hebrew alphabet, the Israe
lites, for convenience in handling theil
rolls, marked them with distinct ant
separate Hebrew letters. In som,
cases several small books were writer
on one and the same roll. Every In
telligent skeptic can understand how
thirty-nine books can be inscribed up
on twenty-five rolls. 1t Is no more
difficult to comprehend than is the
circumstance that thirty-niIo books
are included in one volume called The
Old Testament.
MT MANY t-aaIc no ethnttaio Innfa
ed vehementIy that the five books oil
Moses could not have been written go
far back as B. @. 1880; and the reuson
they gave was this: WRITING with
ink was unknown at that time. All
records were inscribed on stohe.n But
recent discoveries in the landof Egypt
prove that writing was I|ractlced.
Moses was learned In all the wisdom
of the Egyptians, and In his day they
had an alphabet, and writing materials
IN the shape OF paper, pen hnd ink.
Their paper was called "papyrds," be.
cause 1t was prepared from d reed of
that namo that grow abundantly In
the Nile In those times.
CadmuS who lived in or very near
the time Of Moses is credited with in
Producing an alphabet OF sixteen let
tiers derived from Egypt into Greece.
Ten years ago the mummied of Ra-
meses H., the Pharoah who oppressed
the Israelltish nation, and OF Ifs daugh.
ter who took Moses from his little ark
in the Nile and adopted him, were dis
covered IN a tomb at Deir-cl1 Bahari in
Egypt. The mummies OF other Egyp-
tan personages were found in the
same chamber. Four perfect papyri
were found. One pupyrua writing
was found in the coffin of Queen RG.
maka. 1t was sixteen inches wide and
more than one hundred Neet long.
Numerous fragments of papyrus writ
inGs have been found in the collins
and tombs of Egyptian mummies. No
Intelligent skeptic now denies that in
the days of Moses writing with pen
and ink was a common custom. OF
course their pens were not like ours
The books OF the Old Testament
were written within period of about
1000 years commencing in thu fifteenth
century before the birth bf Christ
Moses wrote the first five books, Gene
sis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers und
deuteronomy. Some persons imagine
that Moses could not have write n
those books, because he speaks OF him
self in the third person; but there il
nothing strange about that circum-
stance, for many other meek writers
have pursued the same course. Others
Insist that Moses did not write the les
book OF the five, because it gives IN
account of his death. All Christians
agree that Moses could not have writ
ted the account of his detease: but
experts in rhetoric inform uB that the
language OF the last chapter OF Deut-
eronomy and the first chapter OF Josh
ua are alike in character, and they CON
clude that Joshua wrote the last chap
ter of Deuteronomy in order to COM
plete the history OF MosOs Modern
photographs and histories have
been amended in tho same way.
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
endorsed the writings of Mbses, and
and the Psalms. He quoted
from their books. II was his custom
to begin ut Moses and the Prophets
and expOund unto his disciples the
things therein recorded concerning
himself. All the Old Testament was
into the Greel, langungoI
In the third century before Christ, /
and that version was in common use
in the days OF our Saviour and his
and 1t was the version from
which the writers OF the New Testa-
ment quoted Scripture.
The genuineness, authenticity and
of the Old Testament are
advocated and defended bv anafmy
of learn Israeitisha and Chrls1ia schoi- |
mrs. We are as certain that Malachi,
and Ezra wrote the books
to them as we are that
wrote his history In their
days. We have no more dbubt that |
Daniel wrote his wonderful prophecies
In the pnuturv that EapD Hyrhta hia 70
bles and Scion his laws for Greece.
Il an we have that the latter men really
When Jeremiah wrote, Draeo
was drawing up lnws for Athens. In
the days of Isaiah, Hezekinhand Jonah
Romulus, Belesis, Merodach, Baladin, !
ohalmaneser, Sennacherib and other
notable men ilourished.
When Elijah and Elisha were pro-
phets OF Isreal, Homer the prince Of
poets wrote his wonderful verses, and,
Lycurgus the spartan framed his re-
laws. In Solou on's time
llcsiod the distinguished Greek poet
penned his thoughts. In thb time Of
David and Saul lived Sanchdniathon a
leathen who wrote about the people
Israel. When Samuel and ELI and
samson were judging Isrhel, Pario, |
Helen and Achilles were aching parts
n WY ulailia ol llIlS MoIluS nlslufytI
hat have heen recorded by historians
.or our inspection. And SO way back
o the time OF Moses we ilnC cotempo-
aries OF noted Isruelites in the heather
World who are more or less reno wned. +
Some skeptics doubt the credibility
IF Moses writings, and others reject
hose writings altogether because l
hey consider them Inconsistent, CON I
unreasonable ami unseien-
ilie. Tho trouble with these skeptias (
rose from u very scanty Hnowledg G {
If Moses. II they had studied his
thoroughly they would have
Jeen freed from skepticIsm. II Is sail
hot n Nlfttla L az, l., a 49,, .