Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1904-04-07

MRS. LEWIS AND MRS. GIBSON.
entrance TO Of any of the eastern re-
ligious establishments; consequently
there. if anywhere. the ladies' would be
apt to get results from their search
So they knocked at the doors of st.
GATHERINGS.
1t was difficult indeed to get IN But
the fame Of the twin sisters IS Bib
lical scholars was wide. They were
Phi DIS Of the University u Halle
and LII. DIS Of ST Andrews After
they found what they did find at ST
GATHERINGS the University Of Leipsic
bestowed On them also the degree Of
D. d. The sisters Lad letters of intro
duction 10 the abbot Of st. GATHERINGS
from some u tie most distinguished
theologians and Bible scholars of En-
rope besides their university degrees
Although oriental monks consider wo-
man q creature 10 be horribly afraid
OF, these two seemed entirely harmless
and they proved by the letters they
brought that their intention was just
to look for old documents and not at
all for men. so they were allowed to
enter and go at viii through the mon
astery. There was an unused cell that
had lot of rubbish, even some faded
writings, III it, but the monks had never
taken the trouble TO investigate these.
The sisters searched every nook and
Granny in their devoted quest And
finally how their hearts bounded at the
find! They came upon batch of New
Testament writings older than any ex-
tant in the known world so old in
fact that the date showed them to
reach within a century and half of
the time of Christ himself. The writ
ings were upon papyrus. which at first
appeared to contain something quite
different from original Scripture say
ings. But the sisters scanned it close
~, and, 10, it was a palimpsest. Paper
was scarce in those days
From word here and there that had
escaped the eraser's touch when he
rubbed out the first writing preparato-
~ to inscribing the second the learned
twins found there really was an old
document under the later one. With
infinite pains they applied chemicals
to the superposed inscription and
effaced it, leaving the older one to be
made out with difficulty and with pa
tent study. And their patient study
was rewarded by discovering here in
the monastery Of st. GATHERINGS an
undoubted transcription of teachings
of Christ, some new. others different
from the ordinary version of them
One of the most important discov-
cries Of the sisters is that, as is claimed
by Jewish rabbits and scholars, the
Golden Rule itself is a saying of Rabbi
HiIlel of Babylon fifty years before the
time of Christ Jesus was not a
plagiarist, and he himself in this newly
discovered document quotes the saying
as from Rabbi HiIlel. AS found in the
Talmud it differs somewhat from the
ordinary version. The story there is
that scoffer went to Rabbi Hillel and
asked him to state the moral principles
of Judaism while standing upon one
foot. Instantly the rabbi answered
THAT which We would not that 9TH
ers should do unto you do you rot also
unto Others
The ladies at once took photographs.
a great number of them. of the pre-
cious writings, which OF course they
were not allowed to remove. The sec
ond writing. which they effaced with
chemicals. was a later review Of some
Scripture writings, a review penned by
one Father Sebastianan, who thought
his comment was Of more value than
the original sayings. Father Sebas-
tianan long since turned to dust. No
body even knows who he was, but the
writings he erased in order to use the
| papyrus for recording his own thoughts
has now come to be Of priceless value
because of the original writing, and
this writing was brought to light
through the labors Of two new women
Of nation which did not exist when
the precious record was made.
Drs. Lewis and Gibson hurried with
their treasures over the sands Of Ara.
bia by camel back and returned home
rejoicing. they will shortly embody
their discoveries In q book called "Uh-
d. the Shadow az
: ~