The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-01-15
DISCOVERIES REFUTING THE EN-
EMIES OF THE BIBLE

The Messenger has more than once
considered some Of the revelations
made by explorers in confirmation of
the statements of h Bible. The lat
agnostics, calling themselves
the Higher Critics." who have ex-
|hausted their diligence and learning in
Itryin gto destroy the credence of the
Holy Bible, have come to grief more
than once when utting against reveal
ed facts and the arguments of profound
Christian thinkers. and controversial
lists. The sappers and miners took the
Book Of Daniel as their special object
of attack. They proposed to destroy
its credibility as any part of Gods
Book. 1t was not written. said these
Iwiseacres, when it was pretended that
1t was written, but late down near the
met and repealed with splendid ability
and complete success by polemics of
the true Christian school.
There are some recent combinations
tof the Scriptures that are attracting
deserved attention and should interest
Ia GAS III lit
inerrancy of the Eternal Scriptures.
We can not go into it here, but much
light has fallen upon the name of Sam
Iuel, which had been long thought to
mean asked of Cod But an Orien-
tai scholar, DR.. Jastrow. has shown
that it's real meaning is none of the
three or four hitherto assigned it, but
means Goods son." It has been very
impressively said:
at appears in Assyrian names, and
means "son." 1t is the word Sunni.
Samuel is Sumu-el. and means Goods
son." How beautiful a light does this
east upon Hannah's spirit and on the
words: "She called his name Samuel,
saying, Because I have asked him of
the Lord" Il Samuel i 2O). So full was
her gratitude to Him who had heard
her cry and rolled away her reproach
that she devoted her child from his
very birth to God. His very name
would mark her surrender. She called
him Goods son."
Psychologists, Orientalists and ex-
Iplorers have done a great deal to con-
firm what the Bible states. We regret
1--WE w not the space to illustrate at
SoLAS SASN VIA NiCSC lobOIS hoFC
amounted to in confirmation of the
words of the Lord. AS to Daniel new
evidence is forthcoming. 1t is proved
Satisfactorily that the Book of Daniel
is history, the very thing the advanced
school Of sceptics deny. 1t is also made
plain that 1t was written many entu-
ries before Christ. as has been asserted
all along. 1t has beer given out that
Aramaean manuscript has been
found that "a certainly written at the
thine Daniel lived. and it makes special
mention Of some Of the very personages
referred to in that boo pronounced but
"a fiction by the destruclIves.
Anther attack of the sappers was to
|discredit the Books of Chronicles,
many of the Psalms n Ecclesiastes as
they ~discredited Daniel. The recovery
of the Hebrew text of the apochyphal
Book Of Ecclesiasticus has done a great
deal towards refuting the position
taken by the higher or lower critics.
The subject is too full to be elaborated
here. As to the value of the discovery
|of Hebrew text of Ecclesiaticus in un-
the contention of the assailants
Iof the Bible we give n quotation not
long enough. however. to make plain
the whole point so clearly stated in the
Sunday Magazine. John Urqu-
art being the writer, but it will show
the drift Of the replication" as it puts
the challenged books back of the time
which the sceptical critics dared to as
sign to them. The passage is this:
''The result has passed expectd-
ltion. TIE date of Ben Sira'S COX can
mot be placed later han 200 B. c. The
Theory about Maccabean Psalms has
consequently received it's oiuetus: for
IthSe Psalms are actually quoted and
referred to some forty years before
they wer supposed to be in existence
For another thing Ben Sira knows moth
ing of two Isaiahs.' He quotes from
the latter part of the prophecy in the
full assurance that it is from the same
pen as the first. From the end of chap.
Xviii says DIR. Taylor. the master OF
lSt. Johns. Cambridge. 1t was suffi-
Iciently obvious that he credited one
author with the Book Of Isaiah as a
whole; but the Hebrew was wanted to
show that in speaking of 'exactness OF
balance and weights tchap. xiii. ~ he
appropriated a phrase from Isaiah xl
Us: The nations are counted as the
small dust of the balance There are
distinct references also the Ecclesias-
ties, another supposed late book of the
bible. There are five references to ]
lChronic1es n four to 2 Chronicles