The Ancient Record Verified.
By Editor
No one can read the Hebrew Scriptures without being impressed with this fact, that in ancient times as men lived much longer than they do now, there would of necessity be a correspondent increase in size. Moses in speaking of the inhabitants before the flood, says, "there were giants in the earth in those days." Gen. vi, 4. Goliath, the Philistine, who fell in the duel with David had a hight of "six cubits and a span." 1 Sam. xvii, 4. An ancient cubit was nearly 22 inches; a span nearly 11 inches. This would make the Philistine chieftain about twelve feet high—nearly twice the hight of a common man now. Og, the king of Bashan, slept on an iron bedstead "nine cubits long." This, reduced to English measure, by the standard given in our common Bibles, would make his couch over sixteen feet long! Many reliable ancient historians, as Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, Pliny, Homer, Plutarch, &c., bear testimony to the great size of human beings in the earlier age of the world. Occasionally, also, we find fossil remains and skeletons, which fully authenticate the ancient records. We are happy to call the attention of the reader to the following which we clip from the last issue of the Gospel Herald, Dayton, Ohio: ANTHROPOLOGY—WONDERFUL DISCOVERY.
“In the Scientific Department of one of our most popular weekly exchanges, we find an interesting account of a large human skeleton, recently discovered in the department of Ain, France. The frame is complete in all its parts, and is four yards in hight. It was found in a soil of alluvium, the head buried in the earth, with the feet upward. “This is said to be the only authentic giant skeleton ever yet discovered. It will therefore become an interesting141object as connected with the historic and scientific speculations of our learned anthropologists.” Before dismissing the question, let the reader turn to “Spiritual Gifts,” Vol. III, p. 84, and see how beautifully modern discoveries occasionally corroborate the teachings of God’s Spirit. G.