HISTORICAL EVIDENCES OF THE TRUTH OF THE SCRIPTURES.
We suppose that all our readers are not aware how rapidly and how remarkably evidences to establish the truth of the Scripture records are being brought forth from the monumental and other remains of the buried past. Had the foresight and wisdom of man been employed from the building of Babylon to the fall of the Roman Empire, to collect and preserve from age such testimonials as might best meet and confute the skepticism of the present day in regard to the truthfulness of the historical portions of the Bible, it would not have produced so deep an impression on our age as what God has so wonderfully preserved and unexpectedly produced, when needed most, to confound all skepticism, and confirm the faith of Christendom. The assault which has been made by the learning and subtlety of the German infidelity upon the credibility of the Scripture narrative has ended as every previous attack upon Christianity has ended in establishing its truthfulness more clearly and firmly than before. Unbelief is continually stirred up to fresh attempts in order to show, as it would seem, that at every point the system of Christ is absolutely invulnerable. A few years only have passed since these treasures of the ancient world, which so completely, because undesignedly, prove the truthfulness of Scripture history, were entirely unknown, and when first discovered they were eagerly seized upon, as the very weapons wherewith to destroy the credibility of the Bible. The shouts of triumph with which the celebrated Zodiac of Dendorah was hailed by the infidel philosophy of Europe because, upon its first superficial examination it was thought to do away the whole chronology of the Scripture narratives, have scarcely had time to die away before Christianity has won for herself, and beyond all fear of future reversal of the world's verdict, the whole field of evidence, as drawn from the authentic records of every great empire of the ancient world—Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, Persia, Phoenicia, have come forth from their tombs, at the bidding of Christian science, and testify in the clearest manner to the truthfulness of those records which form the historical basis of the Christian system. One of the most impressive proofs of the genuineness of the books of the Bible, is derived from the late minute and accurate investigations of travelers in Palestine. Such is the minute faithfulness of the sacred story, in all matters connected with eternal things, that it forms the best possible hand-book for the tourist, and no candid man in traversing that portion of the East with the Bible in his hand, can escape the conviction that its writers lived among, and were perfectly familiar with, the scenes which they describe. Every great feature of the scene remains and presents itself to the eye of the modern traveler precisely as they were described by Moses and David, and the prophets; and, with the exception of the cities and towns, one knows that he is looking upon the very scenes which their eyes beheld, and which they described so faithfully, that they are recognized at once, after so many centuries have passed away. The land of the prophets, and of the wondrous people, the land of signs and wonders, remains as the writers of the Bible saw and described it—the inhabitants only are gone. Impressions equally strong in regard to the truth of the Scriptures are derived from the exhumed remains of the great empires of the East with which the Jewish union stood connected. The monuments of Egypt, the buried palaces of Babylon and Nineveh, and the Persian ruins, in connection with those of Phoenicia, have enabled Christian scholars to produce the history, and even the aspect—the manners and customs of a past which reaches almost to the Deluge; and, with the history of these ages, that of the Jewish people and their records have been found so interwoven, that the truth of sacred history must be admitted, or all ancient history must be abandoned at once as false. To deny the credibility of the Old Testament writers is not now to reject the Bible only, but it is to declare the state records of every empire false. Of course, men in the enjoyment of right reason must not be expected to make this monstrous assumption, and therefore, as we have said, the truth of the Bible is far more firmly established than ever. Nor must we forget that the proof of the historical accuracy of these writers in the circumstance in which they wrote, carries with it the truthfulness of their doctrines, unless we are prepared to believe that a perfect historical accuracy is connected with hypocrisy and dishonesty in doctrine.—Cincinnati Gazette.