Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1906-02-27
mean Penniman Lectured to a
Select and Intelligent
Audience.
THE BIBLE IS A TRUE WORK.
e,hicct Was "Thc Old Testament In
The Light OF the U. OF l.. Exca-
walton In Babylonla.'


Greats ever given the Salt Lake public
,ras the lecture last evening, in Lii
brary hall, by Dean Penniman of the
Academic Faculty of the University Of
pennsylvania, on THE Old Testament
IN the Light Of the T. OF p, Excavations
IN Babylonla.' The attendance was by
invitation card. and the result was an
audience of the most intelligent and
cultured people In this city. Dean PEN
rinoan is an easy, fluent speaker, readi-
lv understood and evidently with Il
nrofound knowledge Of Semitic history,
On the rostrum with him We're Y. $.
Attorney Joseph Lippman OF the class
Of 10, and Drs Niles and Ebaugh OF
The L. Of 7. medical department. DR..
Ebaugh introducing the lecturer.
LITERATURE OF AGES.
Dean Penniman began by remarkins
that when one seeks for the secret Of
The Bibles power, he Is impressed with
the intense humanity of the people,
whose lives are depicted therein. The
Old Testament represents the literature
OF ages gone by, and the excavations
being made IN Egypt, Palestine and old
Babylonia are bringing to light remark
able corrOborations Of ancient Biblical
records, as we'll as giving interesting In
formation concerning the history OF the
human race during periods which We
only think of as exceedingly remote, but
which, In the light OF the human inter-
est Of the inscriptions seem 10 us sin
gularly close.
The speaker then said. Most people
are inclined to look askance upon such
statements as 1900 or 5000 years before
Christ They think that records OF
such a long time ago are impossible.
They regard lightly the statements OF
learned men TO the effect that the Bible
is a true work, historical account OF
the doings of a people. and not the work
Of Imagination of some fertile brain,
PROOF OF AUTHENTICITY
The proof Of the authenticity of the
Bible lies In its preservation. II Is the
only written work, or book, which has
come down to us perfect. Another
proof Of the auth enticity Of the Bible
lies in the fact that the Jew Of thou
sands Of years ago, Is an Individual OF
today.
1T Is q great comfort to believers In
the Bible. that just as science seems to
break down the logic of the Bible, she
at the same times supplies some uneN'
pected corroboration of the Bibles his
torlcal feats. Archaeology has traced
hack through countless ages, the story
Of religious belief. II has sifted from
the dust of milleniums facts already re-
corded in the Scriptures. and 1t has
supplied many missing links, thus max
Ing the chain Of Biblical argument the
stronger. The latest Biblical proofs arr
to be found in the excavations now be-
ing carried on In Nippur, Persia, under
the direction OF Prof. ii. V. Hllprecht
Of the University of Pennsylvania.
IN the tenth chapter and the tenth
verse OF Genesis these words are
found. Calneh, in the land Of Shinar
BY tablets and other stone-age mes
sages. we have learned that the present
city Of Nippur Is Calneh. | mean BY
this that Nlppur is built for the most
part on the site where Calneh Is buried.
From the ruins of Calneh we have
taken tablets telling stories of Won
derful development thousands Of years
ago
1T was known for a long time that
the ruins of Biblical cities lay under
the sands of Mesopotamla. The name
Of Nippur was familiar 10 n few schol-
mrs. When excavations finally begun
In and around Nppur great were the
expectations. The results are far In
excess OF what was thought they would
be.
LIVED 1000 YEARS AGO.
From what has been found in Nip
pur we know that the men who built
the ancient city. who lived there and
who have left the tablets for US to de-
cipher. lived at least 1000 years ago.
This is little hard to realize mt flrst,
but II is harder yet to believe that
these men did not live within COM
paratively few generations OF the Gre
alton Of the world. but that they were
part OF civilization as highly devel-
bped as that of the Greeks. Men car"
rIed on business In those days In a
manner and with ambitions and desires
not very different from those of our
Tine. Most remarkable OF all Is the
Tact that from the tablets and vases
found we are led to believe that this
state Of affairs had been going on for
many thousands OF years before the
making of the tablets.
So many persons ask, How did the
lncient cities become buried, and then
new cities become built on almost the
iame SPOT as the location OF the an
tient placesP II Is easy to answer
hts question. Most OF the people liv-
lng In the olden days were nomadic.
They travelled from place 70 place.
They might live for many years In one
ocality and then they would forsake IT,
Nobody knows why, and seek other hab-
Nations. Possibly because of wars and
ihe like cities were DESTROYED and the
10 AHtr hA
countries far distant. as the only means
81 preservation.
The buildings being built largely Of
ldobe would. as time went by. fall in.
The sands OF the desert would be