The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-11-26
QUESTIONS OF RELIGION.
CONTINUATION OF THE REMARK
ABLE DISCUSSION
A Mystical Combination of sevons Alleged
TO Provo Biblical Inspiration.

w.
o,thodoxy to step into the arena" and give
bIm some facts" Now. I will give some facts:
III The FIRST seventeen verses Of the New
Testament contain the genealogy OF Jesus
christ This genealogy consists OF two parts.
yorses Ill contain the Renealogy from Abra-
nam. the father OF the jewish people. to the
rsntiyity, when the jews ceased 10 be an inde-
n.ndent people. Verses 1917 contain the gene
,lory from the Captivity to the Christ. Let us
.,smlne the first part OF this genealogy.
1,s vocabulary has 40 words. or sevens. Of
xhich ~. or o sevcns. are nouns. and are not
,ouus. or the nouns. 80 or 0 sevcns. are
proper names and Z are common nouns. Oh
| The proper names. -. or 4 sevens. IRE male
ancestors Of Jesus. and are not male an
eestors OF Jesus
The 40 words are distributed among the
,s,ters Of the Greek alphabet thus: Words
under Alpha to Epsilon are II In number. or
eseysns; under Zeta to Kappa. IA, or sevens;
| under Nh to Chi. also II. again 2 sevens.
The ~ words OF the vocabulary have
oas letters. or ~ seyens. which among the
I.,,.ts Of the alphabet arc distributed not at
random, but by sevens. thus: Words under
IIpha TO Gamma have 81 letters. or IL sovens;
unaer Delta. I: under Epsilon to Zeta. 81. or
s,ersns under Theba to 1ota. 10. or 10sevsns;
und.r Kappa TO Mu. II. or 3 sevons: under
Nh. 7; under 0micron to Phi. 40. sevens:
under Chi. l.
Il is clear. therefore. that the writer OF this
mart O, the genealogy constructed II on an
elaborate design Of
Ietus now turn to the genealogy as whole.
I, tll not weary your readers with rccounting
AT the numerical phenomena displayed there.
In Pages alone would exhaust them. l will
only point out one single feature. The Greeks
hal no figures, but used instead the letters OF
their alphabet. Their first letter. aloha. stood
| for |: their second. beta, for 2. &c. Every
Greek word Is thus simply an arithmetical
sun. obtained by adding the values OF its
angle letters. The vocabulary to the entire
eenealocy contains ~ words. Let us write
,ssias. each Of these ~ words its numerical
value and add the numbers. We obtain for
their sum 1884. or 6052 sevens. and these
1862 seyens are distributed among the letters
o,the alphabet not at random but by ssvens
thus; Words under Alpha to Beta have q
value Of 9 .s2l or 1.403 sevcns. aud so on.
II is clea:. therefore. that not only are the
srst clever verses oiths gcnealogy constructed
on a highly elaborate numerical design OF
/ sayens, but the entire genealogy Is thus con-
structed
One other feature must point out in
connection with this genealoRy. The ~ words
OF ito vocabulary occur In 80 forms. II
we add the numerical values OF these 90
form. we get 5+075. or 7.725 sevens. with cor
responding distribution into 7 groups OF
ssvens among the letters OF the alphabet.
Let MI LaughIln sit down and try 70 write
some three hundred words intelligently. like
this genealogy and reproduce some numerical
phenomeua Of equal or like design: II he does
tin month he will do well. Let us assume
that Matthew accomplished that feat in a
week
~ The rassage which follows this geneaogy.
verses 1925 Of the frst chapter OF Matthew.
tells OF the birth OF Jesus Christ II contains
l3l words. or % sevens. Its vocabulary has
II words. or IL seyens: and these n words
occur In lO5 forms. or Il sevens. In this
passage Joseph is addressed by the angel.
Now. OF the II words. the angel uses %. or
sevens; he does not use ~. or sew
ems Oithc l0j forms. he does use 30. or D
seyens; he does not use 10. or 10 sevens
Among the letters OF the alphabet. tho II
worls are distributed by sevens: the l05
forms are distributed by sevens the 16l occur
rsnces are distributed by sevens.
The sum OF the II numerical values is 1905.
or 1915 sevens, with CORE spending alphabet
cal groups OF sevens: the sum OF the numerical
values Of the 1O5 forms is e5.42a or 9347
sevens. with alphabetical groups OF sevens also.
The fact that the angels speech has also a
scheme OF sevens makes it kind Of ring within
airing. a wheel within a wheel. II Mr.. Laugh
lin can write a similar story OF about $50 words.
with the same or similar double scheme OF
sevens. In two months. he will do very we'll In
deed. Let VA assume that Matthew accom- :
pllshed that feat in only two weeks.
% The second chapter OF Matthew tells the
story OF the childhood OF Jesus. II has a vo-
cabulary o, l01 words. or 20 sevens. which
occur In 23S forms. or "a sevens. and
have S.5 letters. or l2S sevens, with n
numerical value OF 123.529. or 1891 sevens.
while the 23S forms have u numerical value OF
le3os5, or 1855 sevens. each item In turn
having Alphabetical groups OF sevens. which II
would be too tedious TO enumerate This chap
ter consists Of at least four logical divisions.
md each division shows exactly the same
numerical phenomena. as lit were individually
wholly independent from the rest Thus. the
hrst SIX verses have vocabulary OF 56 words
se'ens. and so on. There are some
speeches here. Herod speaks. the Magi speak
the angel speaks. The numerical phenom Oh
are so accurate that though there are, as II
wer'. about dozen rings within rings. wheels
within wheels each is perfect In itself. yet
forms necessary part OF tho rest.
L Mr Laugh'in can write q chapter like this
Isnaural!y as Matthew writes. but containing
''T''A'' 'l't huHiINu WDIus suCl u IuTRt cOIltc-
'loA .: int.rwlned and yet perfectly harmo-
nous mathematics. II, I say. he can write n
CHAPTER like this in five years. he will do very
We'll indeed. Let us assume that Matthew
eoh'rHed to write 1t in ono year only.
- Moreover, there is not a single para
graph out OF the hundreds In Matthew that Ia
not constructed on exactly the same plan.
ohy with each additional paragraph the din
Guilty Ia Increased not in arlthmetical progress
hon but In geometrica For he contrlves to
Wflte hi' paragraphs in such a way as TO de-
"!op constantly definitely fixed relations to
What has gone before and what follow. Thus
ior example. IN the last chapter OF his
gospel Matthew contrives to use Just 7
words that he had not used before. Or again,
no con'rves to use lust 40 words not found
elsewhere in the New Testament at ALL 1t is
mus easy 10 show that Mr.. LaughlIn would
REQUIRE several hundred years to write book
IKE Matthew'S. How long 1t took Matthew
onot know, But how he contrived TO do II
between A. d, 80. when Christ was cruciiied
ana the Gospel could not have been written
earlier and A. d, 10, when Jerusalem was de
"royed Iand tho Gospel could not have been