The morning news., 1899-04-28

Rev. j. l.. Scuuy's Lecture UpO
what an Old world Teaches U.s.,

Rev. j. l.. Scuuy's Lecture Upon
''What an Old world Teaches U.s."
Rev. J. L. scully. rector of St. Paurs
Episcopal Church, leetured to an apprecia-
tive audience at the Guards hall last
night, upon the subject: what an Old
World Teaches Us" The lecture was
forcible and learned discourse upon the
discoveries that have been made during
the present century anent the writings and
history of the old Eastern peoples, and the
more recent decipherment OF the cunei-
form inscriptions of the Assyrians and
Babylonians.
The lecture was designed to show that
these discoveries and the facts of history
that they had revealed do not discredit the
truths of the Bible. but that on the con-
trary they have received additional con-
firmation and each discovery made more
evident their divine origin and inspiration.
The first step in the unravelling of the
meaning of the cuneiform inscriptions was
made by Grotefend, German student and
philosopher, who, examining the writings
on some of the tablets, identified one of the
letters. His work was continued by other
scholars, until now sufficient has been
learned of the language imperishably pre-
| served on tablets of burnt clay, to carry
the history of this part of the world back
to a period 1000 B. c.
Recently an expedition sent out by the
University of Pennsylvania made other
and important discoveries, among them
what is thought with good ground to be
the ruins of the tower of Babel, a photo
graph of which ancient structure was
brought back to this country. Besides
this the expedition found upward of %, 900
of the tablets bearing the cuneiform in
scriptions which We're also brought to this
country and deciphered and which have
added greatly to the knowledge of the sci
entifc world concerning the origin and
early history of the Aryan race.
Through these discoveries and others of
analogous nature. the Identity of the
Aryan peoples has been esta blished and
languages of modern Europe traced back
and through the Sanskrit tongue. The
civilizations of the past have been re.
vealed to the eye of the scholar, and that
which a few years ago was unknown and
thought TO be unknowabie established al
most with the certainty of mathematical
demonstration.
But these discoveries" said Mr. Scully
have done a greater and more important
good in the light that they have thrown
upon the truth of Divine revelation They
have disproved beyond dispute or quibble
the criticisms of the rationalists and have
added certainty to our faith in the Biblical
accounts of the creation and the fall
These criticisms of the nationalist philoso-
piers are based principally upon the con-
tention that the Hebrews were rude and
savage people in the earlier stages of their
history, and if this contention is shown to
be incorrect. rationalistic criticisms upon
the inspiration and truth of the Scriptures
fall to the ground. The discoveries have
thown that the Hebrews must have reach
I'd a comparatively high scale of civiliza-
ton and that all deductions drawn from
the assumption that they We're savages
are based upon false premise and cannot
be maintained
b Mr. Scully's lecture was illustrated by
diagrams upon the blackboard upon which
had been drawn the Assyrian account of
the creation, written in the cuneiform
characters. Diagrams and charts were also
shown to make clear and plain the sub
jects that were being discussed. The lee
ture was technical, necessarily, but in it's
descriptions of the scenes where the stir
ring dramas of the olden time were enact
ed and In its argument of the Divine in
spiration of the essential truths of the
Christian religion forcible, vivid and elo-
uuent