The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-10-20
THE BIBLE AND SCIENCE.
Discoveries Which Throw Light
Upon the History of the Scriptures.
London Gable in New York Sun

London Gable in New York Sun.
Those who take an interest IN the latest
phase of the question as to the scientific
and historical accuracy of the Bible will
ind mass of material of the highest
Importance in a series or papers presented
by friendly experts to the annual church
congress at Norwich this week Archae-
illogical discoveries within the past few
months have thrown a flood of light
upon many disputed points. 1t is refresh
ing at time when such a bigot as Mr.
Athelstan Riley has plunged the London
school board into another disgraeefuI
wrangle over the teaching of religious
dogmas in the public schools to hear a
scholar like Prof. Bonney, canon of Man
chester, declare
u cannot deny that the increase of sci
entific knowledge has deprived parts of
the earlier books of the Bible of the his
torical value which was generally a1trib-
uted to them by our forefathers. The
story of the creation in Genesis, unless
we play fast and loose either with words
or with science, cannot be brought into
harmony with what we have learned from
geology. Its chronological statements are
imperfect If not sometimes Inaccurate
The series of the flood and of the Tower
OF Babel are incredible in their present
from. Some historical element may under
lie many of the traditions in the first
eleven chapters of that book, but this
we cannot hope to recover.
Mr. Theodore Pinches. the well-known
archaeologist, described the discovery of
the probable originals of the Biblical le-
SCli0 VI Allt NItdllOI. Inc position OF Far
adise was still uncertain, but time seemed
TO have proved that Deltzsch's location of
Paradise in Babylonia was correct Eden
was, in all probability, an Akkadian name
applied to portion, If not the whole of
Babylonia, though the Inscriptions of that
country had not yet furnished the Garden
OF Eden. Further excavation would possi-
bly, find it. A text had been discovered
which described a glorious city containing
a dark vine filled with the fulness of fer
tility, the seat of the central place of this
earth. called Erider. and watered by the
path of Ea. the god of rivers. This text
formed the introduction to an incarnation
couched in an exceedingly poetical form.
was that OF the Hebrews The city remain
ed, or another of the same name was built
but the glorious vine, the type of the Tree
of knowledge, was no more.
There was also another tablet which
spoke of the cedar beloved of the great
gods, and possibly gave rise to the numer-
Gus representations of the sacred tree. An
other important point was the divine
names of Jah and Jehovah. and he had
come to the conclusion that the name Jah
as the name OF God. was not only known
TO the Hebrews, but TO most of the Sem
ties of Western Asia. including the Baby
lonians and Assyrians.
Prof. Sayce dealt with great mass of
newly discovered material in recent ex-
cavations. He said:
rom Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria, from
Palestine itself, old literature and in
scrtbed monuments are pouring in coeval
with the age of the Datriarchs and of
Moses, and Offering numberless opportu-
mites for testing the truth and ambiguity
OF the Biblical record. We now know that