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CHRISTIANITY. 
 
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 OLD TESTAMENT . 
 
 AND 
 
 MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES, 
 
 JVITH AN HISTORICAL ESSA Y ON 
 
 CHRISTIANITY 
 
 AND 
 
 ITS EARLY INTRODUCTION INTO BRITAIN 
 
 / 
 
 BY / 
 
 J. CORBET ANDERSON 
 
 LONDON 
 GEORGE BELL AND SONS 
 
 YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN 
 1895 
 
Entered at Stationers^ Hall 
 
TO 
 
 F. JOHN HORNIMAN, Esq., M.R, F.R.G.S., 
 
 ETC., ETC., ETC. ; 
 
 TO WHOSE MUNIFICENCE KENT AND SURREY ARE 
 
 ALIKE INDEBTED FOR 
 
 THE HORNIMAN MUSEUM, 
 
 AT FOREST HILL; 
 
 WITH ITS RARE BIBLICAL LIBRARY, 
 
 AND BEAUTIFUL GROUNDS: 
 
 THIS LITTLE BOOK IS INSCRIBED, IN GRATEFUL 
 
 REMEMBRANCE OF HIS KINDNESS TO 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Introductory, 1-2. 
 
 Scepticism and Gentilism, 3-27. — Sceptical ob- 
 jection to miracles confuted by Sciences of Astro- 
 nomy and Geology, 4-6. — The Creator confers 
 life on a being endowed with reason and destined 
 to immortality, 6. — Fall of man, 6. — A future 
 state of rewards and punishments probable, 6. — 
 Idolatry: of the Babylonians and Assyrians, 7-8 ; 
 of the Ancient Egyptians, 8-10 ; Phoenicians and 
 Carthaginians, lo-ii ; and of the Greeks and 
 Romans, 11-15. — Ancient schools of philosophy : 
 the Ionic, 16; Pythagorean, 16-17; Eleatic, 
 17-18 ; Socrates and the Sophists, 18-22 ; Plato, 
 22-23; the Sceptics, 24; Stoics, 24-25; and 
 Epicureans, 25. — Brahmanism, Buddhism, and 
 Northern Mythology, 26. — A Divine Revelation 
 needed, 26-27. 
 
 Old Testament and Monumental Coinci- 
 dences, 28-162. — The Old Testament the vener- 
 able foundation of the New, 29. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Assyj'ta, 31-62 : it becomes the great power of 
 Western Asia, 32. — Site of Nineveh and Kouyun- 
 jik, Calah or Nimroud, and Khorsabad, 32-33. 
 — Unrivalled Collection of Assyrian Antiquities 
 in British Museum, 33. — Assyria and its monarchs 
 often referred to in Old Testament, 34. — Ashur- 
 nasirpal, 34. — Shalmaneser II., 35-38. — Monu- 
 ments of his inscribed with names of Omri, Jehu, 
 and Ahab, 36. — Cruelty of Shalmaneser, 37-38. 
 — Pul and Menahem, 38-39. — Tiglath Pileserand 
 Ahaz, 39-40. — Shalmaneser IV. andHoshea, 40- 
 41. — Sargon, 41-46. — Inscriptions found, relating 
 to his occupation of Samaria, and the Captivity 
 of Israel, 42-43. — His expedition against Ash- 
 dod, etc., 46. — Sennacherib, 46-58. — Official 
 Assyrian account of his campaign against Heze- 
 kiah and Jerusalem, 48-51. — Inscribed sculpture 
 and other relics dug out of debris of his palaces, 
 52-56. — Esarhaddon, 58-60. — Assyrian record of 
 his expeditions, and submission of Manasseh, 
 King of Judah, 59-60. — The destruction of 
 Nineveh, 60-62. 
 
 Babylon, 62-83 * — its rulers, Merodach-Bala- 
 dan, 62-63. — Nabopolassar, 63. — Nebuchad- 
 nezzar II., 64-74. — Expeditions of Nebuchad- 
 nezzar against the Jews, 64-67. — He plunders the 
 Temple, and carries captive to Babylon the king 
 and people of Judah, 65. — He destroys the 
 Temple and city of Jerusalem, 66-67. — Inscrip- 
 tions of Nebuchadnezzar found at Babylon, 68-70 ; 
 and at Senkereh, 71-72. — Site of Babylon, 72. — 
 Birs Nimroud, 72, 73, and 83. — Inscribed 
 
CONTENTS. IX 
 
 cylinders and other authentic memorials of 
 Nebuchadnezzar in British Museum, 73-74. — 
 Evil-Merodach, 74-75. — Belshazzar, 75-77. — The 
 fall of Babylon, 77-83. 
 
 Egypt, 83-122: — its ancient dynasties, 84. — 
 Menes, 85. — Kheops, 86. — Amenemhat III., 87. 
 — The Hyksos or Shepherd Kings, 87 ; and the 
 patriarchs Joseph and Jacob, 87-88. — Hiero- 
 glyphic painting representing the arrival of 
 Asiatics -in Egypt, 88-89. — Expulsion of the 
 Hyksos by Amasis I., 89. — Thothmes HI., 90. 
 — Discovery at Tel-el-Amarna of inscribed tablets 
 or dispatches from the governor of Uru'salim (Jeru- 
 salem) to Amenophis IV., 90-95. — The Pharaohs of 
 the eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties renowned 
 warriors, 95. — Their stupendous monumental re- 
 mains at Thebes, Karnak, and Luxor, etc., 95-96. 
 — Grand sculptures of eighteenth and nineteenth 
 dynasties also preserved in British Museum, 97. — 
 Alabastersarcophagusof Seti I., 97. — Rameses II. 
 identified as the oppressor of the Israelites, 98. 
 — His campaign against the Khita, and capture 
 of Salem, 98. — Employs captives on his great 
 works, 98. — Curious wall-painting discovered at 
 Thebes, representing prisoners with Jewish 
 countenances making bricks under the superin- 
 tendence of Egyptian taskmasters, 99-100. — In- 
 scribed tablet set up by Rameses in his rock-hewn 
 temple of Abu-Simbel, 100-104. — His inscription 
 on monolith, 104-105. — Relics of Rameses II. in 
 our National Collection, 105-108. — Menephtah, 
 108-109. — Rameses III., last of the great kings of 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Egypt, 109-110. — The twenty-second dynasty and 
 Shishak, no- 112. — Solomon marries Pharaoh's 
 daughter, iio-iii. — Jeroboam protected by 
 Shishak, 1 1 1. — Shishak plunders Temple of Jeru- 
 salem, 1 1 1- 1 12. — Sabaco or So, and Hoshea, 
 113-114. — Tirhakah, 114-115. — Pharaoh-Necho 
 kills Josiah, and puts Judah to tribute, 11 5- 117. 
 — Uah-ab-Ra or Hophra, 1 18-120. — Scarabs, 
 120-121. — Idolatrous influence of Egypt, 121. — 
 Ezekiel's prediction concerning Egypt, 121 -122. 
 Persia^ 122-147 : not mentioned in Genesis, but 
 Madai or Medes named, 122. — Highlands of 
 Central Asia the original home of Aryan Medes 
 and Persians, 122-123. — Date of establishment 
 of Median Empire, 123. — Cyaxares, 123. — 
 Astyages, 123-124. — Darius the Mede, 124. — 
 The Achsemenid^e, leading family of Persia, 124. 
 — Cambyses, 124. — Cyrus, 124. — Cylinder in- 
 scription of Cyrus, 125-128. — Discrepancy be- 
 tween Biblical account of Belshazzar and Baby- 
 lonian inscriptions, 129. — Terra-cotta tablets of 
 reign of Cyrus, 129. — Cyrus named, and capture 
 of Babylon by Medes and Persians foretold in 
 Holy Scripture before he was born, 130. — 
 Proclamation of Cyrus for re-building Temple at 
 Jerusalem, 130. — Death of Cyrus, 131. — His 
 tomb, 131. — Daniel the prophet, 131 -134. — 
 Vision of the ram and he-goat, 132-133. — Battle 
 of Arbela, 134. — Cambyses, 134. — Tablets of 
 his time, 134. — Darius Hystaspes divides his 
 dominions into satrapies, 134. — Establishes rapid 
 communication between Susa and Sardis, 135. — 
 
CONTENTS. XI 
 
 His invasion of Greece, 135. — Coinage, 135. — 
 His inscription on rock of Beliistun, 135-137. — 
 Cruelty, 137. — Inscription found amid ruins of 
 Persepolis, 138. — Cylinder and other relics of 
 reign of Daiius, 138-139. — His decease, 139. — 
 Tomb, 139. — The re-building of Temple at 
 Jerusalem recommenced and completed in reign 
 of Daiius Hystaspes, 139-140. — The prophets 
 Haggai and Zechariah incite to the work, 140. — 
 Xerxes, 140. — His invasion of Greece, 140-141. 
 — Supposed to be Ahasuerus, 141. — Esther, and 
 the Feast of Purim, 141-142. — Artaxerxes, i, 143. 
 — Relics of his time, 144-145. — Interest attaching 
 to his reign on account of Daniel's prophecy of 
 the Seventy Weeks, 145-146. 
 
 Assyrian story of the Creation, 147-148. — 
 Assyrian account of the Fall of Man, 148. — 
 Chaldean account of the Deluge, 148-150. — 
 Tower of Babel, 150. — Moabite Stone, 150-152. 
 — Inscription of Siloam, 152-155. — Plain of 
 Dura, 155. — Legend relating to Joshua, 156. — 
 Ancient Jewish shekels, 156-157. — Arch of 
 Titus, 157. — Circumcision, 157-158.— Feast of 
 Passover, 158-160. — Altei-ation from Jewish to 
 Christian Sabbath, 159-160. — The Lord's Sup- 
 per, 160. — Preservation of the Jews, 160-161. — 
 Moses' prediction respecting them, 161. — The 
 Samaritan Pentateuch, 162. 
 Connection between the Old and New Tes- 
 taments, 163-197 : shown, among other ways, 
 by narration in New Testament of fulfilment of 
 predictions recorded in the Old, 163. — Definition 
 
Xll CONTENTS. 
 
 of Prophecy, 163. — The Hebrew prophets, 163. 
 — The evidence for truth of Christianity arising 
 from fulfilment of prophecy important, 164. — 
 Exact fulfilment of predictions relating to Nineveh 
 and Babylon, 164. — Prophetic warnings of Moses 
 to the Jews, 164-165. — Rites and sacrifices of 
 Levitical priesthood and Temple premonitory 
 types of Christ and His redemption, 165. — The 
 advent of a deliverer indicated to man immedi- 
 ately after his fall, and fulfilment of same 
 primeval prophecy recorded by the Evangelists, 
 
 166-167. — Promise of God to Abraham, with 
 confirmation to Isaac and Jacob, and its fulfil- 
 ment, 167-168. — Prophetic utterance of Jacob, 
 
 168-169. — Balaam's prophecy, 169. — Reference 
 of Moses to Christ, 170. — Job's faith in his 
 Redeemer, 170- 171 . — The Hebrew bards, 171. — 
 Prophetic utterances in the Psalms relating to 
 Christ and their fulfilment, 171- 180. — God's 
 promise to David, 171- 172. — References to the 
 kingdom, priesthood, conquest, and passion of 
 Christ, 172-173. — His Divine nature, 173. — 
 — Majesty and grace of His Kingdom, 173-174. 
 — Christ's zeal, 174. — The crying of " hosannah " 
 by children in the Temple, 174. — Rejection and 
 exaltation of Christ, 175-176. — Incidents con- 
 nected with the crucifixion of our Lord noted 
 beforehand in the Psalms : His singular silence 
 when under accusation, 176. — Mockery, 176-177. 
 — The parting of Christ's garments, and casting 
 lots for his coat, 177. — Offer of gall and vinegar 
 to Him on the Cross, 178. — Omission of soldiery 
 
CONTENTS. Xlll 
 
 to break His bones, 178.— Piercing His hands 
 and feet, 178-179. — Christ's resurrection and 
 ascension, 179-180. ' 
 
 Prophecies relating to Christ from remaining 
 books of Old Testament and their fulfilment : 
 His miraculous conception and Divine nature 
 with other references to Messiah in Isaiah, 
 180-184. —Micah's prophecy, 184. — Prophecy 
 of Haggai, 184-185. — Beginning at Moses and 
 the Prophets, Christ expounds to his disciples the 
 things concerning Himself in the Scriptures, 185- 
 186. — Argument in favour of the Inspiration of the 
 Old Testament, 186. — The Samaritan Pentateuch, 
 186-187.— The Septuagint, 187.— Prophecies of 
 Daniel, 187-197. — Relating to the Four Great 
 Empires, 189-196. — Fourfold division of the 
 Empire of Alexander the Great, 193. — Dismem- 
 berment of the Roman Empire, and rise of ten 
 Kingdoms, 193-194.— The Little Horn, 194-196. 
 — The everlasting dominion of the Messiah, 196- 
 197. 
 Truth of Christianity, 198-224. Reference by 
 Tacitus and Suetonius to Christ, and Nero's perse- 
 cution of Christians, 198-199.— Pliny's letter to 
 Trajan respecting the Christians, 200-201.— The 
 account given in the Four G ospels the same as 
 the Apostles delivered, 202. — The Gospel first 
 preached and afterwards committed to writing, 
 202-203. — The New Testament not one but a col- 
 lection of several publications by eight or ten 
 contemporary authors, 203-204.-81. Matthew's 
 Gospel, 204-205. — Gospel according to St. Mark, 
 
XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 205. — St. Luke's Gospel, 205. — The Gospel 
 according to St. John, 205-207. — The Divine 
 Nature of Christ more fully declared in it, 206. — 
 St. Paul's Epistles, 207. — The Epistles of James, 
 Peter, Jude, John, and Book of Revelation, 208. 
 — Dates of birth and crucifixion of Christ, 208- 
 209. — The Resurrection of Christ from the dead 
 the confirmation of His Divinity and truth of 
 His religion, 209. — Attested by Apostles, and 
 numerous eye-witnesses, 210. — Porphyry's ob- 
 jection that Christ's miracles were wrought by 
 magic inadequate to account for them, 211. — 
 Sufferings voluntarily undergone by the Apostles 
 and original witnesses in attestation of accounts 
 they delivered of the miracles and resurrection of 
 our Lord, 211. — Concurrence of Apostolic Fathers 
 and their immediate successors, 212. — Evidence 
 of Clement, Ignatius, and Polycarp, 212-215. — 
 Testimony of Quadratus, 216. — Papias, Justin 
 Martyr, Hegesippus, 216-217. — Churches of 
 Lyons and Vienne, 217. — Irenseus, 217-218. — 
 The argument in favour of the genuineness of the 
 books of the New Testament drawn fi-om notices 
 of their contents found in works of ancient writers 
 against the Christian faith important, 218. — 
 Writings of Celsus, Porphyry, and Julian the 
 the Apostate, 219-220. — Testimony of the Here- 
 tics, 220-221. — The Four Gospels and other 
 documents forming New Testament publicly 
 read and explained in assemblies of early 
 Christians, and collected together into a distinct 
 volume in very early times, 221. — That the books 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 of the New Testament have come down to the 
 present time without any material alteration ap- 
 pears by various ancient vei'sions of them, 221. — 
 The Syriac and Old Latin Version ; the Egyptian, 
 including Coptic and Sahidic ; the Armenian, 
 Ethiopic, Arabic, and Gothic, 221-222. — The 
 agreement of numerous allusions to or quotations 
 from the Gospels and Epistles made by Greek 
 and Latin Fathers and an uninterrupted succession 
 of Christian writers from their time to the present 
 with the text of the sacred writings as it has come 
 down to us another strong evidence of the truth 
 of the Gospel history, 222. — The Sinaitic, Alex- 
 andrian, and Vatican MSS., 223. — The numerous 
 ancient manuscripts of the New Testament in 
 different languages guard the text of Holy Scrip- 
 ture, and assure us that the Scriptures we now 
 have are identical with those received by the 
 Church in the first century, 223-224. 
 Early Introduction of Christianity into 
 Britain, 225-265. Commission to Apostles to 
 teach all nations, 225. — When and by whom 
 Christianityfirstbrought to Britain unknown, 226. 
 — Druids, 226-228. — Rome visited by Britons 
 during imprisonment of St. Paul, 228. — Supposed 
 visit of St. Paul to Britain, 228-229. — Pomponia 
 Graecina, 229, — Claudia and Pudens, 229-231. 
 — Gildas and the Triads, 231. — Testimony of 
 Tertullian and Origen, 232. — British bishops at 
 Councils of Aries and Sardis, 232. — Diocletian 
 persecution and St. Alban, 232-233. — Constantine, 
 first Christian Emperor, born in Britain, 234. — 
 
XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 Early Christian schools of Ireland and Scotland, 
 234-235. — Columba, Aidan, Finan, 235. — Varia- 
 tion of ancient British Church from Roman, 236. 
 — The Picts and Scots, with Jutes, Angles, and 
 Saxons, force British Church to mountains of the 
 West, 236-237. — The Heptarchy, 237. — Anglo- 
 Saxon idolatry, 238-239. — Gregory moved to 
 attempt conversion of Anglo-Saxons, 239-241. — 
 Ethelbert and Queen Bertha, 242. — Landing on 
 Thanet of Augustine, and reception by Kentish 
 king, 242-244. — St. Martin's Church, 244. — 
 Ethelbert embraces Christianity, 245. — Augustine, 
 consecrated bishop of the English, fixes his seat 
 at Canterbury, 245. — Books he brought into 
 England, 245-246. — His conference with British 
 bishops, 246-247. — Sebert, King of the East 
 Saxons, 247-248. — Mellitus, first Anglo-Saxon 
 bishop of London, 247. — Churches of St. Paul, 
 London, and St. Peter, Westminster, 247-248. — 
 Apostasy of Sebert's sons and of Eadbald, and 
 retirement of Mellitus and Justus, 248. — 
 Laurentius reclaims Eadbald by stratagem, 248- 
 249. — Edwin, the pagan chief of North- Humbria, 
 marries Eadbald's sister, 249-250. — Paulinus ac- 
 companies Ethelburga northwards and becomes 
 bishop of York, 250. — Conference between Edwin 
 and his wise men about the Christian religion, 
 250-252. — Renunciation of paganism and desecra- 
 tion of idol temple, 252-253. — Origin of York 
 and Lincoln Cathedrals, 253-254. — Converts 
 baptized in the Trent, 254. — Eorpwald embraces 
 Christianity and is slain, 255. — Red wald sacrifices 
 
CONTENTS. XVll 
 
 both to Christ and to Woden, 255. — The North- 
 Humbrian chief killed in battle, and return of 
 Paulinus to Kent, 256. — England divided into 
 parishes, 256. — Growth of Anglo-Saxon Church, 
 257. — Visitation of heathen Northmen, 257. — 
 Cnut the Great, 258. — The Anglo-Saxons and 
 Danes indebted to Celtic and British Churches 
 for their conversion no less than to Augustine, 
 258. — Gradual formation of present Church 
 of England, 258-259. — The Norman Conquest 
 riveted papal system on England, 259. — Encroach- 
 ments of the Pope, 260. — Introduction of foreign 
 orders of monks, 260. — Edward I. passes Statute 
 of Mortmain, 261. — Anti-papal laws passed by 
 Parliament during reigns of Edw. III., Rich. II., 
 and Hen. IV., 261-264. — Antiquity of the 
 cathedrals and parish churches of England, 
 264-265. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 1. Royal city of Nineveh .... To face 32 
 
 2. Eagle-headed Assyrian divinity, found amid 
 
 ruins of the palace of Ashur-Nasir-pal at 
 Nimroud. Now in Nimroud Gallery, 
 British Museum 48 
 
 3. Site of Babylon 64 
 
 4. Map of Egypt 84 
 
 5. Colossal head of Rameses II. In granite : 
 
 from the Memnonium at Thebes. Now 
 in Egyptian Central Saloon, British Mu- 
 seum 104 
 
 6. Black -granite seated figure of the Egyptian 
 
 deity Sekhet, wearing the sun's disk and 
 serpent, and inscribed with names and 
 titles of Shishak. Now in Southern Egyp- 
 tian Gallery, British Museum .... 112 
 
 7. Sketch-Map, shewing relative positions of 
 
 Nineveh, Babylon, Susa, etc 144 
 
 8. Sculptured representation of the Seven- 
 
 Branched Golden Candlestick, etc. , on Arch 
 
 of Titus, at Rome 156 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. XIX 
 
 PAGE 
 
 9. Facsimile of a page of WyclifF's translation of 
 
 St. Luke's Gospel (viii. 28-39) : from an 
 original MS. at Sion College, London . 224 
 
 10. The Romano-British Church of St. Martin, 
 
 Canterbury : where Queen Bertha wor- 
 shipped before Augustine landed in Kent . 244 
 
 Note. — The monuments and relics stated in this work to be 
 preserved in the British Museum were in the situations de- 
 scribed when this book passed through the press. Alterations of 
 position and numbering of objects in museums, however, ofttimes 
 occur. In the event of such happening to any object referred 
 to in the following pages, the same probably will be found in 
 some adjoining case. 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 BOUNDED at a very remote period, 
 as many parish churches of our 
 country were, the interest attaching 
 to these ancient Houses of Prayer 
 cannot be fully realized, unless the high and 
 holy purpose for which they were erected, and 
 the circumstances under which they were first 
 planted over England, are taken into account. 
 x\t all times a deep human interest environs 
 our old parish churches, an interest that seems 
 to be enhanced when these, standing in a 
 primitive rural simplicity, rear their weather- 
 beaten shingle spires or ivy-mantled towers, 
 heavenwards, from lowly cemeteries around 
 them. Long have the sweet sounds of their 
 Sabbath bells been wafted over the green 
 meadows and lanes of England. Many ages 
 
2 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 ago these sacred fabrics were set apart for 
 the worship of Almighty God. Within their 
 hallowed walls the glad tidings of salva- 
 tion through Jesus Christ have been pro- 
 claimed, from generation to generation ; not 
 amid such an effulgence of light as illumined 
 the world in the days of the apostles, yet still 
 the same great truths have resounded here 
 from time immemorial, in the ears of a long 
 succession of listeners, whose dust nowmingles 
 with the soil of the adjoining yard — God's 
 Acre. 
 
 It was from the contemplation of an English 
 village church, in the quiet cemetery of which 
 a singularly large and very ancient yew tree 
 cast its shade over neighbouring mounds, 
 marking where, 
 
 ** Each in his narrow cell for ever laid 
 
 The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep," 
 
 that the author was led into reflections which 
 have resulted in the production of this little 
 book. 
 
SCEPTICISM & GENTILISM. 
 
 'T has been justly observed that the 
 difficulties which the sceptic of 
 Revelation has to encounter are 
 more in number and greater than 
 those that assail the believer. In his arro- 
 gancy, the infidel vainly endeavours to subject 
 the whole phenomena both of the natural 
 and moral world to his limited reason and 
 understanding. He leans on the force of 
 experience as an objection to miracles ; the 
 course of nature being, according to him, 
 invariable and unalterable. But is it so ? 
 Do all things continue, as the sceptic alleges, 
 the same now as at the commencement? 
 Rather, is it not a specious assumption ? 
 Because the mountains have always appeared 
 to man to be what they still are, he is apt to 
 
4 SCEPTICISM AND GENTILISM. 
 
 speak of them as the " eternal hills ;" yet old 
 as the mountains undoubtedly are, an exami- 
 nation of their contents enables us to trace 
 out their origin, and arrive at the records of 
 earlier times before they existed at all. 
 
 To the twin sciences of Astronomy and 
 Geology has been allotted the endeavour to 
 trace out the history of the formation of the 
 earth. From researches carried on regarding 
 the constitution of the sun and stars, it would 
 appear that the sun and the earth, together 
 with all the other heavenly bodies embraced 
 in what is called the Solar System, formed 
 one vast nebula, or cloudy mass of matter:- 
 and that the earth and the other planets 
 which revolve round the sun, have, one after 
 another, been detached from this nebula, of 
 which the sun is now the remaining central 
 mass. The changes through which the exist- 
 ing order of things has been evolved are 
 indeed manifold and great. The generations 
 of plants and animals now tenanting land and 
 sea are not the original races, but have been 
 preceded by others, and these again by now 
 extinct tribes still more remote. At the com- 
 mencement of this wonderful history life 
 
SCEPTICISM AND GENTILISM. 5 
 
 appears to begin with the simplest organisms, 
 like the foraniinifera dredged up from the 
 depths of the Atlantic; and to gradually 
 advance, through long ages, in more and 
 more highly organized forms, until at last 
 man, endowed with all his glorious faculties, 
 appears upon the scene. 
 
 So far from the so-called " laws of nature " 
 being unalterable, it can be proved that the 
 present terrestrial order of things has had a 
 beginning. The primitive fluidity of our 
 planet is shown by the astronomical pheno- 
 menon of the compression of its figure. The 
 exact shape of the earth is an oblate spheroid, 
 or flattened sphere ; the earth being slightly 
 flattened at the poles, caused by the once 
 fluid mass, held together by the mutual 
 attraction of its particles, modified by the 
 influence of centrifugal force. In this, the 
 early dawn of creation, man could have had 
 no existence. Here, therefore, we are con- 
 fronted with a miracle in the formation of 
 man ! 
 
 Assured of the Being and power of a 
 Divine Creator by the perfection of all His 
 works, does it then become vain man to 
 
6 SCEPTICISM AND GENTILISM. 
 
 assert, that He who framed the Laws of 
 Nature cannot, if for some wise purpose He 
 sees fit, also suspend them? Does any miracle 
 recorded either in the Old or New Testament 
 surpass in interest the geologically certified 
 fact of the comparatively recent creation of 
 man ? 
 
 The All-Wise Creator crowned His works 
 on earth by conferring life on a being en- 
 dowed with reason and a mind capable of 
 rendering obedience to His Holy Will; yet 
 man, able to discern good from evil, suffered 
 himself to be beguiled. The origin of evil is 
 one of those enigmas which the finite mind 
 of man is incapable of solving. That mankind 
 have fallen is, however, a fact but too plainly 
 attested both by the past history and present 
 condition of the human race. 
 
 A consideration of the attributes and 
 works of God leads to the conclusion that a 
 future state of rewards and punishments for 
 mankind is probable. Only upon this theory 
 can the objection to the Divine Government 
 in not putting a greater difference, during 
 the present state of existence, between the 
 good and the bad, be reconciled with the 
 
SCEPTICISM AND GENTILISM. 7 
 
 Otherwise innumerable contrivances for the 
 happiness of his sensitive creation discover- 
 able throughout the works of the Deity. 
 Destined then as man is to immortality, why 
 should it be deemed incredible that our 
 Heavenly Father has, in mercy, interposed 
 to acquaint his offspring how to attain lasting 
 happiness, and avoid misery ? 
 
 In very early times mankind appear to 
 have lapsed into idolatry and various kinds 
 of superstitions. They "changed the truth 
 of God into a lie, and worshipped and served 
 the creature more than the Creator." ^ The 
 worshippers of false gods, such as the greater 
 part of mankind formerly were, are called 
 gentiles, heathen, or pagans. The Baby- 
 lonians and Assyrians, who excelled in the 
 knowledge of astronomy and in astrology, 
 were worshippers of the heavenly bodies and 
 the powers of nature. They chose for gods 
 Shamash, the sun ; Sin, the moon ; Bel, the 
 god of the earth; Dagon, the fish-god; 
 Nergal, the god of war and hunting; Nebo; 
 Marduk, a form of the sun-god ; Tiamat, the 
 
 * Romans, c. i., v. 25. 
 
8 SCEPTICISM AND GENTILISM. 
 
 demon of night ; Ishtar ; with fish and eagle- 
 headed deities, etc. 
 
 The reh'gion of the ancient Egyptians was 
 also polytheistic, many of their deities being 
 mythological personifications of natural 
 phenomena. The goddess Nut, Isis, Sekhet. 
 etc., are names of the sky at sunrise or sun- 
 set. The sun had countless names, Ptah, 
 Ra, Horus, Amen, etc. Osiris and Sekru are 
 names of the sun after he has set, or, in 
 mythological language, has died and been 
 buried ; Sekru signifies " the coffined ; "' 
 Amen, "he who hideth himself." Set was 
 the personification of night. 
 
 The old Egyptians believed that the soul, 
 after passing for ages through various trans- 
 formations, would eventually re-inhabit the 
 body. Hence the extreme care they bes- 
 towed upon the preservation of their dead. 
 Within the innermost recess of the far-famed 
 great pyramid at Gizeh, with its astronomi- 
 cally planted base facing the four cardinal 
 points, Kheops hid his sarcophagus. To 
 embalm and deposit the dead in secure rest- 
 ing places was the most sacred duty imposed 
 upon the living. In the carefully concealed 
 
SCEPTICISM AND GENTILISM. 9 
 
 chamber of the dead, near at hand to the 
 elaborately swathed mummy, on tables of 
 wood or alabaster, they placed vessels filled 
 with wine, articles of food or amusement, 
 unguents, etc., to refresh and solace, as they 
 fondly hoped, the lost loved ones during 
 their long last journey ; whilst in the hiero- 
 glyphic inscribed coffin, or near to it, on the 
 ground, were deposited small Ushabti figures 
 of wood, porcelain, or stone, represented as 
 carrying hoes, pickaxes, and baskets, to do 
 the field labours in the nether-world, decreed 
 by Osiris. The god Anubis was god of the 
 dead. With head of jackal, Anubis is de- 
 picted in the judgment scene in the Book of 
 the Dead examining the indicator of the 
 balance, when the heart or conscience is 
 weighed against the feather, symbolical of 
 law ; whilst Thoth the scribe of the gods, 
 with head of ibis, notes the result. Behind 
 stands the monster Amemit, having the head 
 of a crocodile, the middle parts of a lion, 
 and the hind quarters of a hippopotamus, 
 ready to devour, should the case of the 
 deceased not prove " straight upon the great 
 balance." 
 
10 SCEPTICISM AND GENTILISM. 
 
 The Egyptians also fell down before the 
 bull Apis; Thoueris, the hippopotamus 
 goddess; the dog-headed ape, the cat, the 
 hawk, the beetle, and innumerable other 
 animals and creeping reptiles. It was after 
 their bondage in Egypt that the Israelites, 
 unmindful of the great deliverance vouch- 
 safed them by Jehovah, set up the idol of a 
 golden calf, in imitation of the Apis bull. 
 
 Those merchant princes of the ancient 
 world, the Phoenicians, whose chief cities 
 were Tyre and Sidon, with Carthage, that 
 great " new city " of their colony in the west, 
 adopted for divinities Hercules, Baal-Ham- 
 man, Taanith, Eshmun, Melkarth, Ashtoreth, 
 and Astarte. The oldest known inscription 
 in Phoenician characters is that on the 
 Moabite stone, about 900 b.c. This coeval 
 monument records how Mesha, king of Moab, 
 warred against Omri and Ahab, and how the 
 royal " sheepmaster " refused to render 
 tribute to the King of Israel, and threw off 
 his yoke. Mesha himself set the stone up 
 to Kemosh, the cruel demon to whom, 
 shortly before, he had pubhcly offered up his 
 eldest son a burnt offering upon the city wall, 
 
SCEPTICISM AND GENTILISM. II 
 
 as mentioned in the third chapter of the 
 Second Book of Kings. In Leviticus, chap, 
 xviii., verse 21, is a law against that most un- 
 natural idolatry, the causing children to pass 
 through the fire to Moloch. This pretended 
 deity was worshipped by the Ammonites, and 
 other neighbouring nations; it was the idol 
 by which they worshipped the sun, that great 
 fire of the world. When the Carthaginians 
 were besieged by Agathocles they sacrificed 
 200 children of their noblest famiUes to 
 Saturn or Moloch. Diodorus relates that 
 there was a brazen statue of Saturn, the hands 
 of which were so disposed that when the 
 child was laid on them it soon dropped into 
 a furnace beneath. The cries of the un- 
 happy victims were drowned by the noise of 
 musical instruments. 
 
 The religion of the Greeks led them to 
 embody the attributes of their gods in human 
 shape, and to this combination of religious 
 veneration with artistic skill we owe the 
 finest productions of sculpture. Zeus, Jove, 
 or Jupiter, father of gods and men, they re- 
 presented as seated in majesty upon his 
 throne on Mount Olympus, as in the centre 
 
12 SCEPTICISM AND GENTILISM, 
 
 of the universe, between Day and Night, the 
 beginning and the end, denoted by the 
 chariot of the sun, with HeUos or Hyperion 
 emerging from the sea, at dawn ; and by 
 Night, a winged female, descending with her 
 car into the ocean. Within the Altis or 
 sacred grove at Olympia, stood the Temple of 
 Jupiter, built by the Eleans, near to the 
 Stadium where athletae contended, and the 
 hippodromus appropriated to races of chariots 
 and horses, in games to which a multitude 
 thronged, both by sea and by land, from all 
 parts ; and which, in celebrity, surpassed all 
 the other solemnities of ancient Greece. 
 Here might be seen the statue of the god. It 
 was nearly sixty feet in height. Seated on a 
 throne, Jupiter appeared holding in his right 
 hand the figure of Victory ; in his left hand 
 was a sceptre of exquisite workmanship, sur- 
 mounted by an eagle. Both statue and 
 throne were of ivory, but the sandals and 
 robe of the figure were of gold ; the throne 
 was also variegated with gold and precious 
 stones and inlaid with ebony. At the base 
 was this inscription : " Phidias the Athenian, 
 son of Charmidas, made me." This re- 
 
SCEPTICISM AND GENTILISM. 1 3 
 
 nowned work of art is supposed to have been 
 executed between the third year of the 
 eighty-fifth and the third year of the eighty- 
 sixth Olympiad, that is, between 438 and 
 434 B.C. Quintilian writes that, in majesty 
 it equalled that of the god himself, and 
 added somewhat to the religion of those who 
 saw it. 
 
 Pallas or Minerva sprang, it was said, in 
 complete armour from the head of Jupiter ; 
 all the gods of Olympus were present at her 
 birth. Athena, Minerva, was the tutelary 
 divinity of Athens. Her temple, the Parthe- 
 non, an edifice of Doric simplicity and peer- 
 less symmetry, constructed entirely of white 
 marble, crowned the elevated height of the 
 Acropolis. Within it the statue of the god- 
 dess stood erect, twenty-six cubits or thirty- 
 nine feet seven inches high, formed also by 
 the hand of Phidias, in ivory and gold. 
 Plato says that the eyes of this statue were of 
 precious stones, approaching the colour of 
 ivory; probably of chalcedony or agate. 
 Thucydides made the gold on it amount to 
 forty talents. The grand allegorical sculp- 
 tures on the eastern pediment of the Parthe- 
 
14 SCEPTICISM AND GENTILISM. 
 
 non represented the birth of Minerva ; those 
 on the western the contest between Neptune 
 and Minerva for the land of Attica. The 
 boldly carved metopes related to the actions 
 of Minerva herself, and the principal Athe- 
 nian heroes ; the wars of the Amazons ; and 
 the battle of the Centaurs and I.apithae. A 
 rich frieze, in low relief, ran round the upper 
 part of the walls within the colonnade ; it 
 represented the sacred procession which, 
 every fifth year, was celebrated at Athens in 
 honour of Minerva. 
 
 One of the largest and most sumptuous of 
 the Grecian temples was that of Diana at 
 Ephesus. 
 
 Praxiteles was the sculptor of the far-famed 
 statue of Venus which stood in the Temple of 
 Cnidos. 
 
 The theogony of the Greeks, in unison 
 with Attic fable and the poets, represents the 
 Horse or Seasons as opening the gates of 
 heaven. Cephalus was styled by Plato " the 
 gateway of the beauty of heaven." Fond of 
 the chase, he is described as repairing nightly 
 to the east of Mount Hymettus to await the 
 dawn of day. Here Aurora saw him, and, 
 
SCEPTICISM AND GENTILISM. 1 5 
 
 enamoured of his beauty, married him, and 
 bore him off to Olympus. 
 
 The genius of Homer, Hesiod, Phidias, and 
 Ictinus has shed a halo of poetic and artistic 
 glory around the old gods and goddesses of 
 Greece : strip them of this, and they appear 
 in naked deformity but demons, and their 
 worship an invention of priestcraft. 
 
 As its legends show, the religion of Rome 
 was of Sabine origin, but much of its cere- 
 monial, and the names of its gods, were due 
 to Etruscan and Hellenic mythology. After 
 the fall of the Republic, when the ancient 
 oracles had become silent, Rome became 
 familiar with the mystic speculations of the 
 East, and with the worship of the Egyptian 
 divinities, Isis and Serapis ; astrology and 
 soothsaying also were common. But the old 
 religion had lost its hold upon the public 
 mind, and society was sunk in sensuality and 
 vice. 
 
 A glance at the principles propounded in 
 their various sects or schools by the vaunted 
 philosophers of Greece and Rome, may suffice 
 to show that, with one or two exceptions, 
 these exhibit but a mortifying picture of the 
 
1 6 SCEPTICISM AND GENTILISM. 
 
 weakness and caprice of the human mind. 
 The most ancient school of Greek philosophy, 
 that of the Ionic sect, had for its founder 
 Thales of Miletus, B.C. 640. Far in advance 
 of some of the later philosophers, he supposed 
 the world to be framed by the Deity out of 
 the original elements of water, and animated 
 by his essence as the body is by the soul ; 
 that the Deity therefore resided in every por- 
 tion of space, and that this world was only a 
 vast temple, where the sight of everything 
 around him reminded man of that Great 
 Being who inhabited and pervaded it.^ Thales 
 taught that neither the crimes of bad men, 
 nor even their thoughts, are concealed from 
 the gods. Health of body, a moderate 
 fortune, and a cultivated mind are, accord- 
 ing to this wise gentile, the chief ingredients 
 of happiness.^ 
 
 Pythagoras, ^/V^. 5 70 B.C., having spent some 
 years in Egypt, afterwards visited Babylon, 
 where he conversed with the Magi. He 
 travelled also into India to acquaint himself 
 with the doctrines of the Gymnosophists, and 
 
 ^ Cic. de Nat. Deor. 
 
 2 Diog. Laert. in Vita Thai. 
 
SCEPTICISM AND GENTILISM. 1 7 
 
 at length established his school at Crotona, 
 in Italy. Pythagoras inculcated that the 
 human soul consisted of two parts, the one 
 sensitive and common to man and the lower 
 animals, the other rational and part of the 
 Divine nature. The first perishes with the 
 body, to which it is inseparably joined ; the 
 other is immortal ; but after the death of one 
 body it enters into another, and so passes 
 through an endless series of transmigrations. 
 Its punishment is effected by degradation into 
 the body of an inferior animal, a notion which 
 led the followers of Pythagoras to abstain 
 from eating flesh. Pythagoras believed in 
 divination ; divination, he said, was the only 
 means remaining to man by which he can 
 discover the will of the gods. He affirmed 
 that his doctrine was dictated by the oracle 
 of Apollo. 
 
 An offshoot of the Pythagorean sect, the 
 sages of the Eleatic philosophy, maintained 
 that things had neither beginning or end, nor 
 were subject to change ; that our senses are 
 fallacious, and that we do not perceive the 
 reality, but only the appearance of things; 
 and consequently can have no assurance of 
 c 
 
1 8 SCEPTICISM AND GENTILISM. 
 
 the truth of anything whatever. Zeno, and 
 others of this sect, taught that there is but 
 one God who rules over all nature. Demo- 
 critus, an Eleatic philosopher, is said to have 
 laughed at everything ; on the contrary 
 Heraclitus, of the same school, betook him- 
 self to the desert, and fed upon roots and 
 water, making the beasts his companions in 
 preference to men. He wrote a treatise upon 
 Nature, in which he made fire the origin of 
 all things : this fire he conceived to be en- 
 dowed with mind, and to be in reality the 
 aniina viundi or the Divinity. 
 
 The principal aim of the elder Greek philo- 
 sophers appears to have been the framing of 
 theoretical systems of the origin and fabric of 
 the universe, and the nature of the Divinity, 
 accounted its soul or animating principle. It 
 was Socrates who, in the words of Cicero, 
 " first brought philosophy from heaven to 
 dwell upon earth, who familiarized her to the 
 acquaintance of man, who applied her divine 
 doctrines to the common purposes of life and 
 the advancement of human happiness, and 
 the true discernment of good and evil." 
 This great man was the bright pattern of 
 
SCEPTICISM AND GENTILISM. 1 9 
 
 every virtue which he taught, yet he became an 
 object of hatred to the corrupted Athenians. 
 In the days of Socrates, Greece was overrun 
 with Sophists, quacks who affected to main- 
 tain with plausibiUty either side of any pro- 
 position. Socrates saw the pernicious ten- 
 dency of this pretended philosophy upon the 
 minds of the Athenian youth, and set himself 
 to expose it. Affecting to know nothing, 
 Socrates, in the form of dialogue, brought 
 the Sophists from general arguments to par- 
 ticulars, setting out by some self-evident pro- 
 position, which being granted, another equally 
 undeniable followed, until the disputant was 
 conducted, step by step, by his own con- 
 fessions, to that side of the question on 
 which lay the truth. Thus detected, the 
 Sophists lost credit as philosophers, but they 
 had influence enough to poison the minds of 
 the people with the belief that Socrates taught 
 doctrines contrary to the religion of their 
 country. 
 
 As he never committed them to writing, the 
 principles of Socrates are only to be gathered 
 imperfectly from Plato and Xenophon. 
 Socrates appears to have founded all his 
 
20 SCEPTICISM AND GENTILISM. 
 
 morality on the belief of a God who delighted 
 in virtue, and whose justice would reward the 
 good and punish the wicked in an after state. 
 He believed, therefore, in the immortality of 
 the soul. He held that there were inter- 
 mediate beings between God and man, who 
 presided over the different parts of the 
 creation, and who were to be honoured with 
 an inferior worship. Virtuous men, he said, 
 were favoured by the Divinity, who manifested 
 his care of them by the constant presence and 
 aid of a good genius, that directed their actions 
 and guarded them by secret monitions from 
 evil. Socrates thought that the gods, com- 
 miserating the wants and moved by the 
 prayers of the virtuous man, on certain oc- 
 casions, by various signs, made known to him 
 future events. Accordingly, he exhorted his 
 disciples to consult the oracles and to study 
 divination ; whilst he himself, attentively 
 observing his dreams, obeyed them as notices 
 from heaven. He maintained that true wis- 
 dom consisted in the knowledge of ourselves, 
 so that from the discovery of our defects we 
 may be enabled to amend them. Our fluc- 
 tuating and uncertain minds, he said, can 
 
SCEPTICISM AND GENTILISM. 21 
 
 only discern by a dim light what is good or 
 evil, yet the gods have granted us a guide to 
 conduct us through these uncertain paths; 
 this guide is wisdom, or enlightened reason, 
 which is the greatest good, as ignorance is 
 the greatest evil. Socrates mingled with his 
 fellow-citizens in all ranks of life. His lessons 
 were familiar conversations, the subject of 
 which was generally suggested by the circum- 
 stances of the moment. In common with the 
 most reflecting of the gentiles, Socrates com- 
 plained of the universal tendency of men to 
 wickedness. He knew of no remedy, how- 
 ever, but waited in a painful uncertainty until, 
 as he expressed himself, " heaven shall more 
 clearly explain itself to us; and God, com- 
 passionating our ignorance, shall send some 
 messenger to deliver to us his word, and 
 reveal his will." ^ 
 
 To the lasting disgrace of Athens, this the 
 most virtuous of her citizens was condemned 
 to die by poison. Socrates received his sen- 
 tence with the tranquillity of a man who, 
 during his whole hfe, had been preparing to 
 
 ^ Plat. Apol. Socrat., id. in Phaed., id. in Alcib. 
 
2 2 SCEPTICISM AND GENTILISM. 
 
 die. " It is time for us to depart," he said to 
 his judges, " I to die and you to continue to 
 live ; but whether of these be the better lot 
 is known only to the Divine Being." Socrates 
 passed thirty days in prison, surrounded by 
 his disciples, whose grief he endeavoured to 
 assuage by an illustrious display of fortitude. 
 Having drank the fatal cup, and feeling death 
 approach, Socrates raised the mantle in which 
 he had wrapped himself and said to Crito, 
 " We owe a cock to ^sculapius, forget not to 
 pay the vow : " these were the last words of 
 the most enlightened man of pagan times. 
 
 The most celebrated of the disciples of 
 Socrates was Plato. According to his sub- 
 lime theory there was one Supreme God, 
 eternal and infinite, the centre of all perfec- 
 tions, and the inexhaustible source of intelli- 
 gence and being. The Divine essence per- 
 vades the universe. He created time : he 
 enkindled the sun. He formed the beautiful 
 fabric of the universe after that perfect arche- 
 type which from all eternity had existed in 
 himself Matter, according to Plato, was 
 equally eternal, containing within itself the 
 germs of all evils. Hence arose two con- 
 
SCEPTICISM AND GENTILISM. 23 
 
 trary motions, the Divine part of the universal 
 soul being ever in opposition to the material 
 part. All that was good in the universe pro- 
 ceeded from the Supreme God; all that is 
 defective from the viciousness inherent in 
 matter. The intellectual spirit or rational 
 soul of man is part of the Divine nature, and 
 therefore has existed from all eternity ; it is 
 incapable of extinction. Inhabiting a body 
 of corrupt matter, it is subject to vice and 
 misery ; but by the practice of Divine con- 
 templation and virtue, and by warring against 
 its unruly passions, it prepares itself for re- 
 turning to its original co-existence with God. 
 
 The gross darkness into which paganism 
 was plunged is seen in the little regard Plato 
 showed to decency and modesty, when, in 
 order to furnish vigorous defenders to his 
 ideal republic, in imitation of the Spartan 
 Lycurgus, he suggested the promiscuous inter- 
 course of the sexes under state regulations. 
 Comparing this with the purity both of 
 thought and deed enjoined by the evangelical 
 precepts, can we fail to perceive the excel- 
 lency of the Christian religion ? 
 
 A contemporary of the celebrated Aris- 
 
24 SCEPTICISM AND GENTILISM. 
 
 totle, Pyrrho the sceptic, had penetration 
 enough to perceive the inadequacy of the 
 human understanding to resolve the most im- 
 portant questions both in the sciences of 
 matter and of mind. Exposing the futiHty 
 of all the laborious exertions and irrecon- 
 cilable opinions of his predecessors in their 
 search after truth, he professed to have found 
 tranquillity in the belief that all was doubt 
 and uncertainty. In theory he held that 
 virtue and vice, truth and falsehood, had no 
 real difference. The attainment of a perfect 
 tranquillity of mind was the professed object 
 of the sceptics. 
 
 The rival sects of the Stoics and Epicu- 
 reans proposed the same end in their sys- 
 tems of philosophy. The Stoics strove to 
 attain it by an absolute command and sove- 
 reignty over the passions, and a perfect indif- 
 ference to all the accidents and calamities of 
 life. According to the founder of this sect, 
 the whole universe, and God himself, the 
 Creator and Soul of that universe, are regu- 
 lated by certain laws which are immutable 
 and resulting from necessity. The human 
 soul is a portion of that great Soul which 
 
SCEPTICISM AND GENTILISM. 25 
 
 pervades the universe. Virtue, according to 
 the Stoics, consisted in an entire resignation 
 to the unalterable laws of nature ; this was 
 the only true wisdom : to oppose those laws 
 was vice or folly. 
 
 Epicurus taught that the supreme happi- 
 ness of man consisted in pleasure. Pleasure, 
 as explained by him, arose from the practice 
 of virtue and in temperance ; in refraining 
 from all hurtful gratifications of the senses, 
 injurious either to mind or body : for when 
 either are diseased, there can be no true hap- 
 piness or pleasure. Epicurus may have found 
 his chief pleasure in being honest and tem- 
 perate, but others might think differently, and 
 find pleasure in fraud and vice. There is no 
 vice or crime, therefore, which has not found 
 its apology under this erroneous system of 
 morality. Epicurus did not deny that the 
 gods might exist, he even taught that they 
 did reside in some distant serene region, 
 undisturbed by care or concern for the in- 
 habitants of this material world. 
 
 From the foregoing brief account of the 
 different schools of pagan philosophy, we 
 may learn into what errors the mind of man, 
 
26 SCEPTICISM AND GENTILISM. 
 
 unenlightened by revealed religion, is liable 
 to fall. 
 
 Amid this pagan darkness regarding the 
 Supreme, an awful uncertainty prevailed re- 
 specting life beyond the grave. 
 
 As for the codes of religious belief among 
 those nations whom the more cultured Greeks 
 and Romans in their pride denominated bar- 
 barians; including countless worshippers of 
 Brahmanism and Buddhism, with Odin and 
 all the other hero-gods or wild demons and 
 fairies of Scythian or Northern mythology ; in 
 these, amidst a mass of incoherent absurdi- 
 ties, mingle some sublime truths and precepts 
 of morality. But the grossest profligacy and 
 most atrocious cruelties were likewise part of 
 their worship. 
 
 Enough has been advanced to show that 
 mankind in general had almost forgotten the 
 living and true God, their Creator. A Divine 
 revelation, therefore, was needed to make 
 known to men the will of God, and the duties 
 which they owe to their Maker. The ade- 
 quacy of the motive and cause for a miracu- 
 lous interposition must be conceded if we 
 believe in a holy, wise, and benevolent Ruler 
 
SCEPTICISM AND GENTILISM. 27 
 
 over all ; and in the immortality of the soul. 
 Mankind might glean the fact of the eternal 
 power and godhead of the Creator from His 
 works; but the mere light of nature never 
 could have pointed out to fallen man the 
 means by which he might become reconciled 
 to the offended Majesty of heaven. God, in 
 His redeeming love, however, having devised 
 a ransom for the soul of guilty man, miracu- 
 lously interposed to save him by the Incar- 
 nation of our Lord Jesus Christ. This alone 
 will account for the phenomenon of Christi- 
 anity as a religion now spread throughout 
 the world : commencement it must have had ; 
 but no other explanation can be given of how 
 it began. 
 
OLD TESTAMENT & MONUMENTAL 
 COINCIDENCES. 
 
 :UR knowledge of Assyrian and 
 Babylonian history is as yet in- 
 complete, since fresh discoveries 
 among the ruins of these bygone 
 empires are continually being made. Critical 
 and laborious scholars also are advancing 
 towards a more perfect acquaintance with 
 the dead language of Babylonia and Assyria ; 
 and of the exact interpretation of those 
 wedge-like or cuneiform inscriptions which 
 are uniformly found elaborately incised 
 over the Assyrian monuments of stone, and 
 impressed upon their cylinders and tablets of 
 clay. 
 
 The same observations respecting the im- 
 perfection of our knowledge of Assyrian and 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 29 
 
 Babylonian monumental history equally apply 
 to the history of ancient Egypt and to its 
 monuments, covered over, as these are, with 
 the writing known as hieroglyphic. 
 
 I preface this chapter with these remarks, 
 as it is my wish in it to direct the reader's 
 attention to certain ancient Assyrian and 
 Egyptian monuments that appear to relate to 
 various events and personages mentioned in 
 the Scriptures of the Old Testament. With 
 my scant knowledge of Assyriology and 
 Egyptology, it would be presumption in me 
 to affect to determine any controverted point 
 in connection with the monuments or inscrip- 
 tions of the countries referred to. Avoiding 
 uncertainty, therefore, it will be my aim to 
 notice only such monuments in respect to 
 which doubts are at rest, both in regard to 
 their inscriptions and identity. The monu- 
 ments to which reference will be made are 
 easily accessible, for they are almost all pre- 
 served in our national collection. 
 
 The Old Testament is the venerable foun- 
 dation of the New. No other history of equal 
 antiquity has been preserved. Manetho, the 
 Egyptian priest and annalist, and Berosos, 
 
30 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 the Chaldean chronicler, both lived in the 
 third century before Christ. Sanchuniathon, 
 the Phoenician, wrote several years after the 
 Trojan war, b.c. 1184. The Greeks had no 
 authentic history prior to the time of Hero- 
 dotus, B.C. 445. But Moses, according to 
 the chronology of Usher, conducted the 
 Israelites out of Egypt 1491 years before the 
 birth of Christ. Therefore the books of Moses 
 were penned centuries before either Manetho, 
 Berosos, Sanchuniathon, or Herodotus were 
 born. Isaiah, to whom we owe the details of 
 the invasions of Judaea by Sennacherib, was 
 an eye-witness of the events he describes. 
 Ezekiel and Daniel, whose writings treat 
 largely of the period of the Jewish captivity, 
 were themselves of the number of those whom 
 Nebuchadnezzar transported to Babylon. Ezra 
 and Nehemiah wrote of Cyrus, Darius, and 
 Artaxerxes, the return of the Jews to their 
 own land, and the rebuilding of Jerusalem, 
 with its Temple ; both lived at the time 
 these great transactions took place ; they were 
 acquainted with the monarchs named, and 
 had the best opportunities of acquiring and 
 of transmitting for the use of future ages, 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 3 1 
 
 a true relation of occurrences that had fallen 
 under their own observation. 
 
 Let us now, in a reverential and truth- 
 loving spirit, endeavour to test the accuracy 
 of these Old Testament historians, by com- 
 paring their statements with certain monumen- 
 tal relics that have survived from their times. 
 
 The two great nations that in historical 
 times are found in possession of Babylonia 
 and Assyria appear to have had a common 
 origin, Assyria having been colonized from 
 Babylonia. According to Genesis x. 8-10, 
 Nimrod, the son of Gush, founded Babel 
 (Babylon), Erech, Accad, and Galneh, in the 
 land of Shinar. Following the course of the 
 great river Tigris, Babylonian adventurers 
 pushed their way northwards, and eventually 
 the cities of Ashur (Kal'at Sherkat), Galah 
 (Nimroud), Ninua (Nineveh), and others were 
 built. 
 
 We read in Genesis x. 11-12, that Nineveh 
 was founded by Asshur ; " Out of that land 
 [namely Shinar] went forth Asshur, andbuilded 
 Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Galah : 
 and Resen between Nineveh and Galah ; the 
 same is a great city." 
 
32 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 Little is known concerning the old Baby- 
 lonian empire. It appears, however, to have 
 been of vast extent. About the year 1 700 B.C. 
 the northern portion of the empire asserted 
 its independence ; Ass5Tia became a separate 
 kingdom; and, after 1275 B.C., when the con- 
 quest of Babylon was effected, under renowned 
 kings Assyria became the great power of 
 Western Asia. 
 
 The ancient city of Ninua or Nineveh, 
 built on the eastern bank of the Tigris, was 
 intersected by the river Khosr. The ruins of 
 its walls and moat are still visible. Kouy- 
 unjik or Koyunjuk is the Turkish name given 
 to a group of mounds, nearly 9,000 feet in 
 circumference, situated on the eastern bank 
 of the Tigris, just opposite the modern town 
 of Mosul. From very early days tradition 
 has pointed to these mounds as the site of 
 part of the great city of Nineveh ; and the 
 ancient legend that the prophet Jonah was 
 buried under the mosque now standing on a 
 neighbouring mound, called to this day Nebi 
 Yunus, namely "prophet Jonah," supported 
 this view. Inscriptions, found on the site, prove 
 that the place was called Ninua or Nineveh. 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. ^^ 
 
 The mound of Nimroud marks the site of 
 the ancient city of Calah. The place is called 
 Nimroud by the natives, as they believe that 
 it was built by one of the generals of Nimrod 
 the " mighty hunter." Calah, or Nimroud, is 
 about twenty miles southward from Nineveh. 
 
 Khorsabad is situate a few miles north of 
 Mosul. 
 
 The excavations prosecuted by Sir Henry 
 Layard, Sir Henry Rawlinson, and others on 
 the sites of ancient Nineveh, Babylon, and 
 other cities of Mesopotamia, have resulted in 
 the discovery of the remains of temples ^nd 
 palaces, of the sculptures which have adorned 
 their walls and courts, of thousands of tablets 
 impressed with the cuneiform writing of Baby- 
 lonia and Assyria, from which the history 
 and literature of those countries have been 
 largely recovered ; and of numberless objects 
 illustrative of the life and manners of their 
 people. 
 
 The British Museum collection of Baby- 
 lonian and Assyrian antiquities is unrivalled. 
 It is the result of a series of excavations that 
 have been prosecuted in Assyria and Baby- 
 lonia during the last fifty years. 
 
 D 
 
36 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 Among these appears "Jehu, the son of 
 Omri," the ceremony of his payment of tribute 
 being sculptured on the second band from 
 the top. The accompanying inscription reads 
 thus : — " The tribute of Yahua {Jehu) son of 
 Khumri (Omri); silver, gold, bowls of gold, 
 vessels of gold, goblets of gold, pitchers of gold, 
 lead, sceptres for the King's hand (and) staves ; 
 I received." The monolith inscription set up 
 by Shalmaneser II. and found at Kurkh, 
 although mutilated, is also of much interest : 
 it contains the name of Ahab, King of Israel. 
 This inscription runs thus : — " The city of 
 Karkara, the city of (his) majesty, I threw down, 
 dug up, (and) burned with fire. 1,200 chariots, 
 1 ,200 magazines, (and) 20,000 men of Rim- 
 mon^-Hidri (Benhadad) of Damascus, 700 cha- 
 riots, 700 magazines, (and) 10,000 men of 
 Irkhuleni of Hamath, 2,000 chariots, (and) 
 10,000 men of Akhahbu (Ahab) of the country 
 of the Israelites," etc. 
 
 In the Nimroud Central Saloon also may 
 be seen a black basalt seated figure of Shal- 
 maneser II., found at Kalat Sherkat, about 
 forty miles south of Nimroud on the site of 
 the city Ashur, the most ancient capital of 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 37 
 
 Assyria. Shalmaneser appears to have set up 
 images of himself, inscribed with the laws of 
 Assur and his own deeds of might, wherever 
 he went. In the same Central Saloon is a 
 series of wall-sculptures illustrating the evacua- 
 tion of a city, in which are carved, with a 
 horrible minuteness, the impahng of his cap- 
 tives by order of this cruel conqueror. In 
 the Assyrian basement are exhibited the 
 bronze bands that ornamented the gates set 
 up at Tell-Balawat, near Nineveh, by Shal- 
 maneser II. On these bronzes are modelled 
 a series of small bas-reliefs representing Shal- 
 maneser's various campaigns. Here appears 
 a city besieged, its walls being overthrown by 
 battering-rams. On the right are rows of im- 
 paled captives and a procession of prisoners ; 
 on the left, the Assyrian king sits in state, 
 attended by his eunuchs. Not satisfied with 
 barbarously impaling his prisoners, the atro- 
 cious cruelty of this oriental despot again 
 appears in the hideous mutilation of his cap- 
 tives, whose feet and hands are seen being 
 cut off previous to the impalement of their 
 unhappy owners. Fastened around what are 
 intended to represent the walls and gates of a 
 
38 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 city, also appear numerous decapitated human 
 heads, with plenty of other human heads 
 pierced through and stuck one above another 
 on stakes/ On the inscription found at Kurkh 
 of a city he had taken, Shalmaneser boasts : — 
 " Its numerous fighting men I slew. Its spoil 
 I carried away. A pyramid of heads over 
 against that city I built up. The sons and the 
 daughters of their nobles for holocausts I 
 burned." In another part of the same in- 
 scription he records : — " Pyramids of the heads 
 of the people over against his great gate I built 
 up . . . heaps on stakes I impaled." 
 
 Shalmaneser II. was truly a devastating 
 monster. 
 
 In the Nimroud Central Saloon may be 
 seen a slab (No. 67), on which is carved a 
 representation of the evacuation of the city of 
 Azkuttu. The inscriptions thereon state that 
 Menahem, King of Israel, paid tribute to the 
 Assyrian king for whom these sculptures were 
 executed. Respecting Menahem, the in- 
 
 ^ The bronze ornaments of the palace gates of 
 Balawat have been admirably reproduced and pub- 
 lished by the Society of Biblical Archaeology. The 
 inscriptions were translated by Theo. G. Pinches. 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 39 
 
 human usurper-king of Israel, we read in 
 II. Kings XV. 19-20, that "Pul the king of 
 Assyria came against the land : and Menahem 
 gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, that his 
 hand might be with him to confirm the king- 
 dom in his hand. And Menahem exacted 
 the money of Israel, even of all the mighty 
 men of wealth, of each man fifty shekels of 
 silver, to give to the king of Assyria. So the 
 king of Assyria turned back, and stayed not 
 there in the land." 
 
 Tiglath-Pileser reigned eighteen years over 
 Assyria, from b.c. 745 to b.c. 727. Sum- 
 moned by Ahaz, King of Judah, to assist 
 him against Pekah, King of Israel, and Rezin, 
 King of Damascus, Tiglath-Pileser entered 
 Syria, subdued the enemies of Ahaz, and 
 carried away into captivity (b.c 734) the 
 Israelite tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the 
 half-tribe of Manasseh, whose territory lay on 
 the east side of Jordan.^ In the Kouyunjik 
 Gallery, Table-Case D, is a terra-cotta tablet 
 (No. 21), inscribed with the annals of this 
 
 ^ Compare II. Kings xvi. 5-9, and II. Chron. 
 xxviii. 16-21; with II. Kings xv. 29, and I. Chron. 
 V. 26. See also Isaiah vii. 
 
40 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 Tiglath-Pileser. Among the tributary kings 
 mentioned upon it appears the name of Ahaz, 
 King of Judah. In the Assyrian Room over 
 basement (No. 6i6) an inscription records the 
 conquests of Tiglath-Pileser : another slab, 
 in the same room, represents this monarch 
 receiving the submission of his foe. 
 
 Soon after, Hoshea, the new King of Israel 
 (b.c. 729), became the vassal of the Assyrian 
 king. In the reign of Tiglath-Pileser's succes- 
 sor, Shalmaneser IV. (b.c. 727-722), Hoshea, 
 King of Israel, was detected in an intrigue 
 with Egypt against Assyria ; and he also was 
 carried away prisoner by the King of Assyria. 
 Hoshea's dominion was invaded, and Samaria 
 besieged (b.c. 724). For three years the city 
 held out, and then, as we read in the seven- 
 teenth chapter of the Second Book of Kings, 
 " In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of 
 Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away 
 into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and 
 in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the 
 cities of the Medes, for so it was, that the 
 children of Israel had sinned against the Lord 
 their God.''^ Thus were the ten tribes of 
 ^ Refer also to II. Kings xviii. 9-12. 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 4 1 
 
 Israel carried away captive by two different 
 kings of Assyria, and lost. 
 
 A revolution appears now to have occurred. 
 Shalmaneser IV. disappears, and Sargon, "the 
 son of no one," a usurper, succeeded to the 
 empire. 
 
 Sargon's reign of nearly eighteen years 
 (b.c. 722-705) was one long series of foreign 
 campaigns. He defeated the combined Phi- 
 listine and Egyptian army at Raphia, near 
 the frontier of Egypt, whither he had marched 
 after the reduction of Samaria. He subdued 
 Babylonia, and carried devastation into Elam, 
 ruthlessly displacing, and removing into other 
 kingdoms, large numbers of the population 
 of the countries that he conquered. He 
 erected the great palace at Khorsabad, and 
 reared others, both at Calah and Nineveh. 
 
 At Khorsabad, M. Botta found the remains 
 of a large building, since proved to be the 
 palace of Sargon. The greater part of the 
 sculptures which he excavated were sent to 
 Paris, only a few reaching England. Sargon 
 caused his annals to be engraved in the halls 
 of Khorsabad. These annals formed an 
 immense ribbon of inscriptions, disposed in 
 
42 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 columns, round two halls. Entering the hall, 
 the reader commenced at his left hand, and 
 followed all round until he returned to the 
 entrance door, where the last lines of the in- 
 scription were opposite to its beginning. " / 
 plundered," says Sargon, ^^the district of 
 Samaria, and the entire house of Omri. . . . 
 Merodachhaladan, King of the Chaldeans, who 
 inhabited the shores of the sea, had exercised 
 the supreme power against the will of the gods 
 of Babylon; my hands reached him. . . . In 
 the beginning of my reign . . . the Samaritan 
 . . . (here three lines are unfortunately 
 wanting) . . . with the help of the Sun, who 
 aided me to vanquish my enemies, I besieged, I 
 occupied the town of Samaria and I brought 
 into captivity 27,280 persons; I took before 
 all parts over them 50 chariots, the part of my 
 kingdom. I took them to Assyria, and instead 
 of them I placed men to live there whom my 
 hand had conquered. I instituted over them my 
 lieutenants as governors, and I imposed on them 
 tributes like over the Assyrians. . , . I marched 
 against the tribes of Tasidi, oflbadidi, of Mar- 
 simani, ofHayapai, of the land \of Arabia\ the 
 remote inhabitants of the land of Bari whom the 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 43 
 
 teamed and the wise men had not known ; no one 
 among the kings my ancestors had ever heard 
 this name. I submitted them to the obedience 
 of Assur^ and those who remained^ I pulled 
 them, out of their dwellings^ and I placed them 
 in the town of Samaria.'' 
 
 What a remarkable confirmation of the 
 statement made by the sacred historian in 
 II. Kings xvii. 24 : — " And the king of 
 Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from 
 Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, 
 and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in 
 the cities of Samaria instead of the children 
 of Israel (whom Sargon had carried away 
 captive) : and they possessed Samaria, and 
 dwelt in the cities thereof." 
 
 Towards the end of his annals Sargon 
 adds : — " In these times, these people and these 
 countries which m.y arm had conquered, and 
 which the gods Assur, Nebo, and Merodach had 
 united under my domination, followed the road 
 of righteousness. With their help I made a 
 town with the divine will and the wish of my 
 heart, which I called Dur-Sarkin at the feet of 
 Musri, to replace Nineve. Salman, Sin, Samas, 
 Neho, Bin, Ninip, and their great wives, who 
 
44 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 reign eternally in the high regions and in the 
 ififernal tracts of Aralli, have blessed the 
 splendid wonders, the beautiful streets of Dur- 
 Sarkin. I rectified the institutions which were 
 not corresponding with their wills. The priests^ 
 the nisi ramki, the sarmakki supar debated, in 
 their learned discussions, the predomination of 
 their domination and the efficiency of their 
 sacrifices. 
 
 "/ built in the town, palaces covered with 
 skins, sandal, ebony, tamariscus, cedar, cypress, 
 wild pistachio-tree, of an incomparable splendour, 
 for the seat of my royalty . . . I covered their 
 walls, and for the admiration of men, I had the 
 images of the lands sculptured since the be- 
 ginning until the e7id, which I had occupied 
 with the aid of Assur, my Lord. After the 
 rules of art of skilful men, I have made these 
 palaces,! built the rooms of treasures. . . . May 
 Assur bless this town and these palaces in giving 
 to his images an eternal brightness. Might 
 it be accorded to them to be inhabited until the 
 most remote days. May dwell before its supreme 
 face the sculptured bull, the protector, the accom- 
 plishing god, may he watch there the day and 
 night time, and never his feet may move from 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 45 
 
 this threshold! . . . And may it be that I, 
 Sargon, who inhabits this palace, may be pre- 
 served by destiny during long years. . . . May 
 I accumulate in this palace immense treasures, 
 the booties of all countries, the products of 
 mountains and valleys .' Whoever, in the follow- 
 ing days, among the kings my sons, will succeed 
 to me, may he restorethis palace if it is threatened 
 with ruin, may he read my inscriptions, may he 
 count the tablets, and perform a sacrifice, may 
 he put all back in its place. Then Assur will 
 listen to his prayer 1 " ^ 
 
 On the eastern side of the Assyrian Tran- 
 sept in the British Museum are placed two 
 colossal human-headed bulls, with two ac- 
 companying figures of a mythological cha- 
 racter, as they originally stood at the entrance 
 of a chamber. These huge groups were ob- 
 tained from the palace of Sargon at Khorsa- 
 bad, by Sir Henry Rawlinson, in 1849. The 
 annals of Sargon, inscribed upon a terra- 
 cotta cyhnder, can be inspected in the 
 Assyrian Room on the upper floor, British 
 
 ^ From *'The Annals of Sargon : translated by Dr. 
 Julius Oppert." Printed in "Records of the Past," 
 vol. vii. pp. 21-56. 
 
46 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 Museum, Table-Case F. In Table-Case H 
 is a glass drinking-vessel having on it the 
 name Sargon ; it was found in the north-west 
 palace at Nimroud. In the Kouyunjik 
 Gallery, Table-Case B, No. 19, is a baked 
 clay tablet inscribed in cuneiform letters ; it 
 is a despatch to Sargon, King of Assyria, 
 concerning the rebellious movements of 
 Merodach-Baladan, King of Babylon. In 
 the same gallery, Table-Case C, Nos. 29- 
 39, are fragments of an historical cylinder 
 inscribed with an account of Sargon's ex- 
 pedition against Ashdod, referred to by the 
 prophet Isaiah, xx. i, thus : " In the year 
 that Tartan came unto Ashdod (when Sargon 
 the king of Assyria sent him), and fought 
 against Ashdod, and took it." 
 
 Sargon was succeeded by his warlike son 
 Sennacherib, who, for some months pre- 
 viously, had been associated with his father 
 in the government (b.c. 705-681). After 
 subduing the Babylonian King Merodach- 
 Baladan, Sennacherib invaded Syria, and 
 advancing against Ekron, was met by an 
 Egyptian army which had come to the assis- 
 tance of that city. At Altaku, in Dan, a great 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 47 
 
 battle was fought between the Assyrians 
 and Egyptians ; in it the latter were defeated 
 and Ekron fell. Then entering Judaea, after 
 capturing the smaller towns and enslaving 
 200,000 of the inhabitants, Sennacherib laid 
 siege to Jerusalem. Sore pressed by famine, 
 Hezekiah, King of Judah, was compelled to 
 purchase the safety of his capital by a tribute, 
 for which he stripped the Temple of its gold 
 and satisfied Sennacherib, who returned to 
 Assyria. We read in II. Kings xviii. 13- 
 16 : — "Now in the fourteenth year of king 
 Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of Assyria 
 come up against all the fenced cities of 
 Judah, and took them. And Hezekiah king 
 of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to 
 Lachish, saying, I have offended ; return 
 from me : that which thou puttest on me 
 will I bear. And the king of Assyria ap- 
 pointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah three 
 hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of 
 gold. And Hezekiah gave him all the silver 
 that was found in the house of the Lord, and 
 in the treasures of the king's house. At that 
 time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the 
 doors of the temple of the Lord, and from 
 
46 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 Museum, Table-Case F. In Table-Case H 
 is a glass drinking-vessel having on it the 
 name Sargon ; it was found in the north-west 
 palace at Nimroud. In the Kouyunjik 
 Gallery, Table-Case B, No. 19, is a baked 
 clay tablet inscribed in cuneiform letters ; it 
 is a despatch to Sargon, King of Assyria, 
 concerning the rebellious movements of 
 Merodach-Baladan, King of Babylon. In 
 the same gallery, Table-Case C, Nos. 29- 
 39, are fragments of an historical cylinder 
 inscribed with an account of Sargon's ex- 
 pedition against Ashdod, referred to by the 
 prophet Isaiah, xx. i, thus: "In the year 
 that Tartan came unto Ashdod (when Sargon 
 the king of Assyria sent him), and fought 
 against Ashdod, and took it." 
 
 Sargon was succeeded by his warlike son 
 Sennacherib, who, for some months pre- 
 viously, had been associated with his father 
 in the government (b.c. 705-681). After 
 subduing the Babylonian King Merodach- 
 Baladan, Sennacherib invaded Syria, and 
 advancing against Ekron, was met by an 
 Egyptian army which had come to the assis- 
 tance of that city. At Altaku, in Dan, a great 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 47 
 
 battle was fought between the Assyrians 
 and Egyptians ; in it the latter were defeated 
 and Ekron fell. Then entering Judsea, after 
 capturing the smaller towns and enslaving 
 200,000 of the inhabitants, Sennacherib laid 
 siege to Jerusalem. Sore pressed by famine, 
 Hezekiah, King of Judah, was compelled to 
 purchase the safety of his capital by a tribute, 
 for which he stripped the Temple of its gold 
 and satisfied Sennacherib, who returned to 
 Assyria. We read in II. Kings xviii. 13- 
 16 : — "Now in the fourteenth year of king 
 Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of Assyria 
 come up against all the fenced cities of 
 Judah, and took them. And Hezekiah king 
 of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to 
 Lachish, saying, I have offended ; return 
 from me : that which thou puttest on me 
 will I bear. And the king of Assyria ap- 
 pointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah three 
 hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of 
 gold. And Hezekiah gave him all the silver 
 that was found in the house of the Lord, and 
 in the treasures of the king's house. At that 
 time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the 
 doors of the temple of the Lord, and from 
 
48 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah 
 had overlaid, and gave it to the king of 
 Assyria." 
 
 The official Assyrian account of this cam- 
 paign, contained in the cylinder of Senna- 
 cherib, is preserved in our national collec- 
 tion (Assyrian Room, upper floor, Table-Case 
 H). '■'• Six-and-forty of the strong cities/' 
 boasts the conqueror in this, his coeval 
 record, ^' and the strongholds and the hamlets 
 round about them, belonging to Hezekiah the 
 Jew^ who had not submitted to my rule . . . 
 I besieged and captured. Two hundred thou- 
 sand and one hundred and fifty souls, young 
 and old, male and female ; horses, mules, asses, 
 camels, oxen, and sheep without number did I 
 make to be brought forth therefrom, and I 
 counted them as spoil. Hezekiah himself, like 
 unto a bird in a cage, did I shut up within his 
 house in Jerusalem. I cast up mounds against 
 the city, and I turned back every man who came 
 forth. His towns, which I had captured from 
 him, I took aivay from his kingdom, and gave 
 them to Mitinti, King of Ashdod, to Padi, King 
 ofEkron, and to Silbel (?) King of Gaza, and 
 I reduced his land. I increased the sum of the 
 
ASSYRIAN EAGLE-HEADED DIVINITY. 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 49 
 
 tribute which he paid yearly unto my majesty. 
 The fear of the glory of my majesty over- 
 powered Hezekiah ; and his captains and his 
 mighty men of valour, which he had brought 
 into Jerusalem to defend it, laid down their 
 arms. Thirty talents of gold, eight hundred 
 talents of silver, precious stones, ivory, trea- 
 sures, his daughters, the women of his palace, 
 musicians (f) . . . he sent unto my palace in 
 Nineveh." 
 
 The following is a translation of part of 
 the history of Sennacherib found on a slab 
 belonging to the Kouyunjik bulls, and now 
 preserved on the eastern side of the Assyrian 
 Transept in the British Museum. In this 
 inscription Sennacherib records : — " In my 
 first expedition, of Merodach-Baladan King of 
 Kardunias, together with many warriors of 
 Syria his allies, in the vicinity of the town 
 Kiski I effected the overthrow. For the pre- 
 servation of his life, by himself he fled away ; 
 his chariots, his horses, his goats, and oxen, 
 and beautiful woollens my hands captured; I 
 went up to his palace in the heart of Babylon ; 
 I opened it, and his treasure house, with gold 
 and silver, vessels of gold and silver, the 
 E 
 
50 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 precious stones, the choice spoils (kept in) that 
 palace, I plundered . . . The governors and 
 the population of the city of Ekron (Amgaruna) 
 who Padi their king and ally of Assyria with a 
 chain of iron had bound and to Hezekiah King 
 of Judah had delivered him, the shadows of 
 death overwhelmed them. The kings of Egypt 
 gathered archers, chariots, and horses of the 
 king of Ethiopia (Meroe), a force without 
 number. Under the walls of Albaku I fought 
 with them and overthrew them. The com- 
 mander of the chariots the sons of the Egyptian 
 kings, together with the commanders of the 
 chariots of the king ofyT^thiopia alive my hand 
 captured. To Ekron I approached; and the 
 princes who rebellion had caused, I slew with 
 the sword ; the sons of the city who had acted 
 thus to me I treated as a prey ; the rest of them 
 who had done nothing I proclaimed innocent. 
 Padi their king I brought forth from the midst 
 of Jerusalem and on the throne I set over them, 
 and fixed upon him the tribute due to my 
 dominion. Hezekiah King of Judah did not 
 submit to my yoke; forty-six of his cities, 
 strong fortresses and cities of their territory 
 which were without number, I besieged, 1 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 5 I 
 
 captured, 1 plundered, and counted as spoil. 
 Himself I made like a caged bird in the midst 
 of Jerusalem the city of his royalty : garrison 
 towers over against I raised: his cities which 
 I had plundered, from the midst of his country 
 I separated, and to the Kings of Ashdod, 
 Askelon, Ekron, and Gaza I made them over, and 
 diminished his land. In addition to previous 
 taxes, I imposed upon them a donation from 
 their own resources as tribute. Hezekiah him- 
 self the fear of the approach of my majesty 
 overwhelmed, and the urbi and his own soldiers 
 and the soldiers whom he had caused to enter 
 Jerusalem his royal city. He consented to the 
 payment of tribute: 30 talents of gold, 800 
 talents of silver: the bullion the treasure of his 
 palace, his daughters the women of his palace, 
 male musicians and female musicians to within 
 Nineveh the city of my power he caused to 
 carry and for the payment of the tribute he sent 
 his messenger." ^ 
 
 Two years after, Sennacherib again invaded 
 Palestine. The main body of the Assyrian 
 
 ' See "Bull Inscription of Sennacherib." Trans- 
 lated by Rev. J. M. Rodwell, M.A., in "Records 
 of the Past," vol. vii. pp. 59-64. 
 
52 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 host sat down before Lachish in the south, 
 whence messengers and an army were dis- 
 patched to Jerusalem by Sennacherib to 
 demand a renewal of the submission of the 
 King of Judah, but Hezekiah refused. Con- 
 tenting himself for the moment with a threat 
 of future vengeance, the Assyrian King 
 marched westward to engage the Egyptian 
 army, which lay at Pelusium on the frontier 
 of Egypt. But the battle was not fought. 
 A sudden and great disaster overtook the 
 Assyrian host, and the remnant of it returned 
 to Nineveh. Eventually Sennacherib was 
 assassinated by two of his sons, in the year 
 68i B.C. 
 
 Sennacherib repaired the works of his 
 predecessors, and reared a palace at Nineveh 
 on a grander scale than had ever before been 
 attempted, and this he adorned with sculp- 
 ture. In the mounds of Kouyunjik and of 
 Nebi-Yunus were found the imposing remains 
 of Sennacherib's palaces. His larger palace 
 and library stood close to the north bank of 
 the river Khosr. Many of the bas-reliefs, 
 now in the Kouyunjik Gallery, were excavated 
 from its ruins. The fractures on these are 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 53 
 
 doubtless the result of a conflagration that 
 succeeded the capture of Nineveh by the 
 ferocious Babylonians and Medes, by means 
 of which they finally destroyed the city, circ. 
 B.C. 609. Most of the inscribed cakes of 
 clay, or literary tablets, now in our national 
 collection, were discovered in the libraries 
 collected and established in their Nineveh 
 palaces by Sennacherib and his grandson 
 Ashur-bani-pal. 
 
 The sculptures on the western side of the 
 Kouyunjik Gallery are, with the exception of 
 No. I, all of the period of Sennacherib ; and 
 illustrate the wars he waged in Babylonia and 
 other countries. Of these Nos. 20-26 are 
 part of a series representing the assault on 
 the city of . . . alammu (the beginning of 
 the name is lost, probably it was Jerusalem) 
 by the Assyrians. The city is seen planted 
 on a hill on slab 25 ; the archers of the 
 besieging force shelter themselves beneath 
 screens. On slabs Nos. 27-29 is repre- 
 sented the execution of prisoners with Jewish 
 features. No. 44 is a stone commemorating 
 the restoration of the royal palace of Nineveh 
 by Sennacherib. Of the remaining bas-reliefs 
 
54 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 in this gallery, on Nos. 51 and 52 is sculptured 
 an unfinished colossal bull, lying sideways 
 on a sledge that is being moved into position 
 by ropes and levers, Sennacherib himself 
 superintending the operation. On No. 53 
 captives are seen making preparations to 
 build the gates of his palace. On No. 56 is 
 carved a representation of the great king in 
 his chariot; in the immediate background 
 men carry picks, saws, spades, etc., others 
 drag carts laden with ropes and beams, whilst 
 beyond appears a view of the surrounding 
 country, with its rivers and trees. On Nos. 
 57-59 Sennacherib and his veterans are seen 
 besieging a city on the bank of a river ; next, 
 the King is represented in his chariot receiv- 
 ing the spoil, and captives, who are beheaded 
 in his presence. 
 
 Along the middle of the Kouyunjik Gallery 
 are placed Table-Cases in which are exhibited 
 some of the most interesting inscribed tablets 
 from the famous library of the Assyrian kings 
 at Nineveh. No. 18, Table-Case B, is a letter 
 from Sennacherib to Sargon, his father, giving 
 extracts of letters which he had received, con- 
 cerning the affairs of the empire, circ. B.C. 706. 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 55 
 
 In Table-Case D, No. 25, is the so-called 
 "Will of Sennacherib;" it is a small terra- 
 cotta tablet referring to certain objects given 
 by Sennacherib to Esarhaddon, his son. The 
 tablet No. 14, Table-Case E, records the re- 
 covery by Sennacherib of a crystal seal, which 
 had been carried off by a king of Babylonia 
 600 years previously. 
 
 Various sculptures arranged in the Assyrian 
 Gallery and basement were also found amid 
 the ruins of Sennacherib's palace at Nineveh. 
 On slabs Nos. 21-32 are carved a represen- 
 tation of the assault and capture of the city 
 of Lachish by Sennacherib, who is here re- 
 presented seated on a throne. 
 
 In the Assyrian Room on the upper floor 
 of the British Museum are exhibited a miscel- 
 laneous collection of smaller antiquities from 
 Assyria. Here is a sun-dried brick with 
 Sennacherib's name impressed upon it (see 
 Wall-Cases 43-48). Here an agate cylinder 
 inscribed with his name (Table-Case B. 60). 
 In Table-Case F is preserved a fragment of 
 the crystal throne of Sennacherib, dug out of 
 the debris of his palace at Nineveh. The 
 same Table-Case F contains some bronze Hon 
 
56 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 weights, inscribed on the back, " The Palace 
 of Sennacherib King of the Country.'' In the 
 upper part of Table-Case H are five barrel- 
 shaped terra-cotta cylinders, inscribed with a 
 summary of the wars of the earlier years of 
 the reign of Sennacherib ; of these, two relate 
 to the siege of Jerusalem and defeat of 
 Hezekiah, King of Judah. We have previ- 
 ously noticed the hexagonal cylinder, also 
 preserved in Table-Case H, giving the official 
 Assyrian account of Sennacherib's first cam- 
 paign against Jerusalem. On the floor of this 
 same case are the stone sockets of the gates 
 of Sennacherib's palace at Kouyunjik. 
 
 These authentic relics of the reign and 
 times of the dread Assyrian foe of the pious 
 King of Judah are of singular interest. View- 
 ing them in connection with the account of 
 Sennacherib's first invasion of Judea contained 
 in II. Kings xviii. 13-16 ; and with the descrip- 
 tion of his siege of Jerusalem handed down to 
 us in II. Kings xviii. and xix. ; in II. Chron. 
 xxxii. 1-22 ; and in the thirty-sixth and thirty- 
 seventh chapters of Isaiah ; the entire drama 
 vividly presents itself before the mind. " And 
 Hezekiah received the (blasphemous and in- 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 57 
 
 suiting) letter (of the King of Assyria) of the 
 hand of the messengers, and read it : and 
 Hezekiah went up into the house of the 
 Lord, and spread it before the Lord. And 
 Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said, 
 O Lord God of Israel, which dwellest between 
 the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou 
 alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth ; thou 
 hast made heaven and earth. Lord, bow 
 down thine ear, and hear : open. Lord, thine 
 eyes, and see : and hear the words of Sen- 
 nacherib, which hath sent him to reproach 
 the living God. Of a truth, Lord, the kings 
 of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their 
 lands, and have cast their gods into the fire : 
 for they were no gods, but the work of men's 
 hands, wood and stone : therefore they have 
 destroyed them. Now therefore, O Lord our 
 God, I beseech thee, save thou us out of his 
 hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may 
 know that thou art the Lord God, even thou 
 only." ^ Uttered when the proud subject of 
 these monuments was alive, how awful re- 
 sounds through the vista of many ages the 
 
 ^ II. Kings xix. 14-19. 
 
50 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 answer which the prophet was commissioned 
 to deliver : — " Then Isaiah the son of Amoz 
 sent unto Hezekiah, saying, thus saith the 
 Lord God of Israel, whereas thou hast prayed 
 to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria : 
 this is the word which the Lord hath spoken 
 concerning him ; the virgin, the daughter of 
 Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to 
 scorn ; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken 
 her head at thee. . . . Then the angel of the 
 Lord went forth, and smote in the camp of 
 the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and 
 five thousand. ... So Sennacherib king of 
 Assyria departed, and went and returned, and 
 dwelt at Nineveh. And it came to pass, as 
 he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch 
 his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his 
 sons smote him with the sword ; and they 
 escaped into the land of Armenia : and Esar- 
 haddon his son reigned in his stead." ^ 
 
 An internal struggle in Assyria appears to 
 have followed the parricidal murder of Sen- 
 nacherib; it resulted in the accession of 
 Esarhaddon, B.C. 681-668. Among the wars 
 
 ^ Isaiah xxxvii. 21, 22 and 36-38. 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 59 
 
 of this reign occurred that of the conquest 
 and occupation of Lower Egypt; and the 
 revolt of Manasseh, King of Judah, who was 
 punished by the reduction of his kingdom 
 and his own captivity, although eventually he 
 was allowed to return to Jerusalem.^ Like 
 his predecessors, Esarhaddon was a famous 
 builder ; he erected not only palaces for him- 
 self, but also temples to his gods. Under the 
 mound of Nimroud, occupying its south-west 
 angle, they discovered and excavated the great 
 palace of Esarhaddon, A still more magni- 
 ficent home of this monarch remains only 
 partially explored beneath Nebi Yunus. Far 
 from his capital, cut in the hard rock near 
 Beyrtit, close to the ancient highway between 
 Syria and Egypt, is a bas-relief representing 
 Esarhaddon, King of Assyria, standing in an 
 attitude of worship, with emblems of deities 
 above him ; the inscription is mutilated. A 
 cast from the sculpture referred to may be 
 seen in the Kouyunjik Gallery, No. i. In the 
 same gallery, Table-Case C, No. 3 is part of 
 a cylinder of Esarhaddon, mentioning his 
 
 ^ II. Chron. xxxiii. 11-13. 
 
6o OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 campaign against Tarqu (Tirhakah), King of 
 Egypt, circ. 672 B.C. The tablet referring to 
 certain objects given to Esarhaddon by Sen- 
 nacherib, his father, has been already noticed. 
 Among the Assyrian antiquities on the upper 
 floor of the British Museum, the series of bricks 
 preserved in Wall-Cases 43-48 includes one 
 stamped with the name Esarhaddon. Table- 
 Case H contains an hexagonal cylinder in- 
 scribed with a chronicle of the expeditions of 
 Esarhaddon, and recording the submission of 
 Manasseh, King of Judah. " And even after 
 the time that Ashur, the Sun, Bel, Nebo, Ishtar 
 of Nineveh and Ishtar of Arhela had me, Esar- 
 haddon, on the throne of my father {Sennacherib) 
 happily seated. . . . I assembled the kings of 
 Syria, and of the nations beyond the sea; Baal 
 King of Tyre : Manasseh King of Judah," etc} 
 After a siege of two years' duration Nineveh 
 was captured and utterly destroyed by the 
 combined forces of Cyaxares of Media and 
 of Nabopolassar, an Assyrian officer holding 
 high command in Babylonia^ about 609 B.C. 
 
 ^ See " First Inscription of Esarhaddon." Trans- 
 lated by H. F. Talbot, F.R.S., etc., in vol. iii. 
 "Records of the Past." 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 6 1 
 
 In its day, Nineveh was a very great and 
 strong city. But the judgments of the Lord 
 were denounced against it on account of its 
 wickedness. The idolatrous practices of the 
 doomed city are apparent from carvings of 
 Nebo and Bel, of fish and eagle-headed 
 divinities, with many another curious monster- 
 god dug up from its ruins. The oft-repeated 
 representations of the torturing and impaling 
 of captives found carved in the chambers of the 
 Assyrian kings bear witness to their extreme 
 cruelty. The miserable end of Nineveh was 
 predicted. "He will make an utter end of 
 the place thereof. ... I will make thy grave ; 
 for thou art vile. . . . And it shall come to 
 pass that all they that look upon thee shall 
 flee from thee and say, Nineveh is laid waste." ^ 
 
 " Where are those ramparts of Nineveh ?" 
 inquired Volney. Shrouded in obscurity as 
 in his time the subject slumbered, Httle did 
 the eloquent Frenchman suspect, that from 
 beneath that dreary waste which he apostro- 
 phized, at length would come the most striking 
 evidences of the truth of that sacred volume 
 
 ^ Nahum i. 8, 14, and iii. 7. 
 
62 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 he impugned. It has been reserved for the 
 skill and indomitable perseverance of explorers 
 in our own time to solve the problem of the 
 true site of the long lost city of Nineveh, 
 which has been found, where tradition pointed 
 to, beneath huge desolate mounds not far from 
 Mosul. For five-and-twenty centuries the 
 relics to which the reader's attention has been 
 directed lay buried deep under the debris of 
 the palaces of the once formidable kings of 
 Assyria. At length, exhumed, they attest the 
 historic truthfulness, and the inspired cha- 
 racter, of the Scriptures of the Old Testament. 
 
 Babylon. 
 
 The kings of Babylon mentioned in the 
 Old Testament are Merodach-Baladan ; Sen- 
 nacherib, who was also King of Assyria and 
 has already been referred to ; Nebuchad- 
 nezzar ; Evil-Merodach ; and Belshazzar. 
 
 It was Merodach-Baladan who sent am- 
 bassadors, with letters and a present, to 
 Hezekiah, King of Judaea, to congratulate 
 him on his recovery from his dangerous illness. 
 Flattered by this notice from the King of 
 Babylon, Hezekiah showed the messengers 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 63 
 
 his treasures and armoury; " there was nothing 
 in his house, nor in all his dominion, that 
 Hezekiah showed them not." Hearing of it, 
 the prophet Isaiah came to Hezekiah and 
 foretold the Babylonish captivity.^ 
 
 In the Babylonian arid Assyrian Room 
 on the upper floor of the British Museum, 
 Table-Case C, is an inscribed terra-cotta tablet 
 containing a list of the gardens or planta- 
 tions belonging to Merodach-Baladan : it was 
 found at Babylon. In the Kouyunjik Gallery, 
 Table-Case D, is preserved the clay tablet 
 recording the annals of Tiglath-Pileser : 
 among the tributary kings mentioned thereon 
 occurs Merodach-Baladan. The despatch to 
 Sargon, King of Assyria, respecting the re- 
 bellious movements of Merodach-Baladan, 
 has been already noticed. 
 
 After the fall of Nineveh its conquerors 
 divided the vast Assyrian empire, one half of 
 which then passed under the rule of the 
 Medes, whilst Babylonia proper fell to Nabo- 
 polassar, who thus became founder of the 
 new Babylonian empire. Nabopolassar died 
 
 ^ II. Kings XX. 12-19, ^^^ Isaiah xxxix. : in the 
 former he is called Berodach-Baladan. 
 
64 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 about the year 605 B.C. He was succeeded 
 by his son, the celebrated Nebuchadnezzar II., 
 who reigned until B.C. 562. At the moment 
 of his father's death Nebuchadnezzar was 
 absent on a campaign, the object of which 
 was to re-conquer from Pharaoh-Necho the 
 countries he had taken. At Karkemish Ne- 
 buchadnezzar had inflicted a crushing defeat 
 upon the King of Egypt, and was preparing 
 to invade that country, when the news of his 
 father's decease necessitated his return to 
 Babylon. 
 
 In the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth chap- 
 ters of the Second Book of Kings, in 
 the thirty-sixth chapter of the Second Book 
 of Chronicles, and in the thirty-ninth and 
 fifty-second chapters of Jeremiah, we have 
 an account of the expeditions of Nebu- 
 chadnezzar II. against the Jews. It was in 
 the reign of Jehoiakim that this King of 
 Babylon came up against Judah, and Jehoia- 
 kim became his servant for three years. 
 Afterwards Jehoiakim rebelled against Nebu- 
 chadnezzar, when the latter bound the King 
 of Judah with fetters, and carried him away 
 to Babylon. It was Jehoiakim who cut with 
 

MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 65 
 
 a knife and afterwards cast into the fire the 
 roll on which had been written the prophecy 
 of Jeremiah against Judah, as described in 
 Jeremiah, chapter thirty-six. Nebuchadnezzar 
 then made the youthful Jehoiachin King of 
 Judah. Yet but a short time of his misrule 
 had expired ere the Babylonian army laid 
 siege to Jerusalem and captured it. The 
 glorious Temple, erected by Solomon on 
 Mount Moriah, was stripped of its seven- 
 branched golden candlestick, and all the other 
 golden vessels he had placed therein, and 
 Jehoiachin, along with 10,000 of his princes 
 and men of valour, with all the treasures of 
 the House of the Lord, and the treasures of 
 the king's house, were carried in captivity 
 from Jerusalem to Babylon. 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar next made Mattaniah King 
 of Judah, changing his name into that of 
 Zedekiah; he was twenty-and-one years old 
 when he began to reign. Zedekiah also re- 
 belled against the King of Babylon, "who 
 had made him swear by God" to be his 
 faithful vassal. In the ninth year of his reign, 
 in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the 
 month, came Nebuchadnezzar and all his 
 
 F 
 
66 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 host against Jerusalem, and built forts against 
 it round about. Jerusalem defied its assail- 
 ants until the ninth day of the fourth month 
 of the eleventh year of King Zedekiah, when 
 famine and pestilence prevailing, about mid- 
 night the city was taken. Escaping from the 
 carnage, Zedekiah was pursued and overtaken 
 by the Chaldeans not far from Jericho, and 
 brought before Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah, 
 there judgment was passed on him. The 
 sons of Zedekiah were cruelly put to death in 
 their father's sight, and afterwards Zedekiah's 
 eyes were put out. He was then bound with 
 fetters of brass, and carried to Babylon. 
 " These things," observes Josephus, " hap- 
 pened to him, as Jeremiah (xx. 4), and Eze- 
 kiel (xii. 13) had foretold to him that he 
 should be caught and brought before the 
 King of Babylon, and should speak to him 
 face to face, and should see his eyes with his 
 own eyes; and thus far did Jeremiah pro- 
 phecy : but he was also made blind and 
 brought to Babylon, but did not see it, ac- 
 cording to the prediction of Ezekiel."^ Soon 
 after the Temple of Jerusalem, with all the 
 ^ Josephus : " Antiq. of the Jews," b. x., c. vii. 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 67 
 
 palaces and mansions of the city, by com- 
 mand of Nebuchadnezzar, were burnt down, 
 the walls of Jerusalem were levelled to the 
 ground, and the inhabitants of Judaea trans- 
 ported to Babylon. 
 
 The destruction of the kingdom of Israel 
 by the Assyrians, and the subsequent carrying 
 away into captivity of the kingdom of Judah 
 by the Babylonians, may be assigned to the 
 comparatively small force which the Hebrews 
 could place in battle array against the hosts of 
 Assyria and Babylon. The primary cause of 
 the destruction of the kingdoms of Israel and 
 Judah, however, must be traced, as it is in 
 Holy Writ, to the general departure of these 
 nations from the worship and service of the 
 living God. Idolatry of the worst description, 
 with all kinds of wickedness, had become 
 fearfully prevalent; and their rulers, almost 
 without exception, were either usurpers or 
 murderers. The destruction of the kingdoms 
 of Israel and Judah, therefore, was from the 
 Almighty, even as their own intrepid pro- 
 phets had predicted. The mighty despots of 
 Nineveh and Babylon were but the rods of 
 His anger. 
 
68 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar repaired the ancient tem- 
 ples of Babylon and largely added to the 
 grandeur of that city. " Is not this," said he, 
 " great Babylon, that I have built for the 
 house of the kingdom by the might of my 
 power, and for the honour of my majesty?" 
 (Dan. iv. 30.) 
 
 The acumen with which the sacred writer, 
 in the above brief sentence, has recorded the 
 boastful character of Nebuchadnezzar's utter- 
 ances receives ample confirmation from co- 
 eval inscriptions of this proud monarch's 
 reign. One of these, an inscription in ten 
 columns containing 619 lines, engraved on a 
 short black basalt stone, has been found at 
 Babylon.^ The following is a translation of 
 part of the inscription referred to : — " / {Nebu- 
 chadnezzar) his (Nabopotassar's) eldest son, the 
 chosen of his heart, Imgur-Bel and Nimetti- 
 Bel, the great walls of Babylon completed : 
 buttresses for the embankment of its fosse, and 
 
 ' It was discovered by Sir H. J. Bridges, and now 
 forms part of the India House collection. A fine 
 cast of this inscription may be seen in the Assyrian 
 Room of the British Museum, Upper Floor, Pier- 
 Case A. 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 69 
 
 two long embankments with cement and brick I 
 built, and with the embankment my father had 
 
 made I joined them 
 
 Those large gates for the admiration of multi- 
 tudes of men with wreathed work I filled : the 
 abode of Imzu-Bel the invincible castle of 
 Babylon, which no previous king had effected, 
 4,000 cubits complete, the walls of Babylon, 
 whose banner is invincible, as a high fortress 
 by the ford of the rising sun, I carried round 
 Babylon. Its fosse I dug and its mass with 
 cement and brick 1 reared up and a tall tower 
 
 at its side like a mountain I built 
 
 Great waters like the might of the sea I brought 
 near in abundance, and their passing by was 
 like the passing by of the great billows of the 
 Western ocean : passages through them were 
 none, but heaps of earth I heaped up, and em- 
 bankments of brickwork I caused to be con- 
 structed. The fortresses I skilfully strengthened, 
 and the city of Babylon I fitted to be a treasure 
 city. The handsome pile the fort of Borsippa 
 I made anew : its fosse I dug out and in cement 
 and brick I reared up its mass. Nebuchad- 
 nezzar King of Babylon whom Merodach, the 
 Sun, the great lord, for the holy places of his 
 
70 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 city Babylon hath called, am I : and Bit-Sag- 
 gatu and Bit-Zida like the radiance of the Sun 
 I restored : the fanes of the great gods I com- 
 pletely brightened. .... Therefore with rever- 
 ence for Merodach my lord, the exterior and 
 interior in Babylon as his treasure city and for 
 the elevation of the abode of my Royalty his 
 shrine I neglected not: its weak parts which 
 were not completed, its compartments that were 
 not remembered, as a securely -compacted edifice 
 I dedicated and set up as a preparation for war 
 by Imgur-Bel, the fortress of invincible Baby- 
 lon, 400 cubits in its completeness, a wall of 
 Nimitti-Bel an outwork of Babylon for defence. 
 Two lofty embankments, in cement and brick, a 
 fortress like a mountain I made, and in their 
 sub-structure I built a brickwork ; then on its 
 summit a large edifice for the residence of my 
 Royalty,'' etc} 
 
 On another inscription of Nebuchadnez- 
 zar's," found on a cy Under which was dug up 
 amidst the ruins of the Temple of the Sun at 
 
 ^ Translated by Rev. J. M. Rodwell, M.A., in 
 "Records of the Past," vol. v., pp. 111-135. 
 
 2 " Senkereh Inscription of Nebuchadnezzar." 
 Translated by H. Fox Talbot, F.R.S. 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 7 1 
 
 Ellasar (Senkereh is the modern name), this 
 king records : — " Nebuchadnezzar King of Ba- 
 bylon the monarch devout and pious ^worshipper 
 of the lord of lords (the god Marduk) restorer 
 of the temples of Saggathu and Zida, the noble 
 son of Nabopolassar King of Babylon, I am he. 
 When the great lord Marduk the renowned chief 
 of the gods of this land and people gave unto 
 my rule, at that time the temple of Tara which 
 is the temple of the Sun at Senkereh from ex- 
 treme old age had mouldered into ruin : its in- 
 terior had fallen, and lay scattered about ; its 
 figures (sculptures and idols) were no longer 
 visible. And during my reign the great lord 
 Marduk that temple shook with an earthquake. 
 Towards all the four quarters of the heavens it 
 was thrown down, the earth of the interior had 
 been dug up in looking for the figures. Then 
 me Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon his chief 
 worshipper to restore that temple greatly he 
 commanded me. Of its ancient foundation I 
 made a repair. On its ancient platform fine 
 earth I broke small, and flat bricks I placed 
 thereon. Then the temple of Tara, a noble 
 temple, the dwelling of the Sun my lord for the 
 Sun dwelling in Tara which is within the city 
 
72 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 of Senkereh, the great lord, my lord, I built. 
 O Sun .' great lord ' into the temple of Tara. 
 thy divine dwelling place in joy and gladness 
 when thou shall enter the pious works of my 
 hands regard with pleasure ! and a life of pro- 
 longed days, a firm throne, a long reign may thy 
 lips proclaim for me ! and may the gates and 
 doors, and halls, and apartments of the temple of 
 Tar a which I have built with no sparing expense 
 remain recorded in thy book ! " 
 
 Babylon, the imposing capital of Babylonia, 
 was situated on the river Euphrates, of which 
 it occupied both banks. In the year 1854 
 Sir Henry Rawlinson excavated the mound 
 known as Birs Nimroud (Borsippa), the tra- 
 ditional site of the Tower of Babel, standing 
 at the south-west corner of the area covered 
 by Babylon. Inscriptions found there proved 
 that the building, of which remains still exist 
 beneath, was the once famous Tower of the 
 Seven Planets, built by Nebuchadnezzar II. 
 upon the ancient site of a temple. It appears 
 to have been originally a building in seven 
 receding stages, which were coloured so as to 
 represent the seven planetary spheres, accord- 
 ing to the tints regarded by the worshippers 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 73 
 
 of the heavenly bodies as appropriate to each. 
 In the same neighbourhood were found the 
 buried ruins of Kasr, " the Palace " of Nebu- 
 chadnezzar. 
 
 A sun-dried brick, brought from the ruins 
 of one of Nebuchadnezzar's buildings, and 
 stamped with his name, is preserved in the 
 Babylonian and Assyrian Room on the upper 
 floor of the British Museum, Wall-Case 43-48. 
 In the same room, Pier-Case A, can be seen 
 the bronze doorstep, bearing an inscription of 
 Nebuchadnezzar II., brought from ruins of 
 the temple of E-zida at Birs Nimroud. Nume- 
 rous terra-cotta cylinders and baked clay 
 tablets of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II. are 
 to be seen in Table-Case C. Among these is 
 a terra-cotta cylinder containing an inscrip- 
 tion of Nebuchadnezzar referring to the re- 
 storation of the temple of the Sun-god, at 
 Sippara, B.C. 604. Another terra-cotta cylin- 
 der has an inscription of this king, relating 
 to the restoration of the various temples, 
 B.C. 605. In the same Table-Case C is a 
 baked clay tablet recording a loan of silver 
 from Marduk-Nasir-Ablu to Nabii-Aalu, his 
 servant, dated at Babylon, sixteenth day of 
 
74 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 Tisri, first year of Nebuchadnezzar, King 
 of Babylon, 604 B.C. The same Table-Case 
 contains a baked clay tablet on which is 
 recorded the sale, by Marduk-Sapik-Zeri to 
 Nabu-Ahi-Iddina, of a house and grounds 
 situated in the province of Te within Babylon, 
 dated the second day of Ab, in the twenty- 
 sixth year of Nebuchadnezzar, 578 B.C. In 
 the same Table-Case is a baked clay tablet 
 recording a loan by Iddin-Marduk to Muse- 
 zib-Marduk upon security, dated the sixteenth 
 of Marcheswan, in the thirty-third year of 
 Nebuchadnezzar, B.C. 571. And a terra-cotta 
 tablet referring to a sum of one mana of silver 
 awarded to a man named Sarru-ukin, as com- 
 pensation for the death of his servant, supposed 
 to have been killed by Idihi-Ilu; dated at 
 Opis, the seventh day of Marches van, in the 
 fortieth year of Nebuchadnezzar, King of 
 Babylon, b.c. 565. 
 
 Evil-Merodach (b.c. 562-360) ascended the 
 throne on the death of Nebuchadnezzar. 
 " And it came to pass in the seven-and- 
 thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin, 
 King of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the 
 seven-and-twentieth day of the month, that 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 75 
 
 Evil-Merodach, King of Babylon, in the year 
 that he began to reign did lift up the head of Je- 
 hoiachin, King of Judah, out of prison; and he 
 spake kindly to him, and set his throne above 
 the throne of the kings that were with him in 
 Babylon ; and changed his prison garments : 
 and he did eat bread continually before him 
 all the days of his life," etc. (II. Kings, xxv. 
 27-29; and Jer. Hi. 31-33). 
 
 In the Babylonian and Assyrian Room, 
 British Museum, Table-Case C, is an unbaked 
 clay tablet, the same being a receipt for a sum 
 of money paid by Busasa, the Nurse, to Kun- 
 nabatu, dated the twenty-sixth day of Sivan, 
 in the second year of Evil-Merodach. Also, 
 a baked clay tablet, recording a loan of four 
 mana of silver granted by Nadin-Ahi to Sapik- 
 Zeri, dated the fourth of Ab, in the second year 
 of Evil-Merodach ; this was found at Babylon. 
 
 The name Belshazzar, or, as it is written in 
 Babylonian, Bilu-sarra-utsur, signifying, "O 
 Bel, defend the King," recalls to memory that 
 impious feast, with its tragic sequel, of which 
 we have an account in the fifth chapter of the 
 prophet Daniel. " Belshazzar the king made 
 a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and 
 
76 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 drank wine before the thousand. Belshazzar, 
 whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to 
 bring the golden and silver vessels which his 
 father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the 
 temple which was in Jerusalem; that the 
 king, and his princes, his wives, and his con- 
 cubines, might drink therein. Then they 
 brought the golden vessels that were taken 
 out of the temple of the house of God which 
 was at Jerusalem ; and the king, and his 
 princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank 
 in them. They drank wine, and praised the 
 gods of gold and of silver, of brass, of iron, 
 of wood, and of stone." In the same hour 
 that this deliberate insult was offered to the 
 majesty of Heaven, came forth fingers of a 
 man's hand and wrote on the wall of the 
 king's palace, " Mene," God hath numbered 
 thy kingdom, and finished it ; " Tekel," thou 
 art weighed in the balances and art found 
 wanting; "Peres," thy kingdom is divided, 
 and given to the Medes and Persians. " In 
 that night was Belshazzar the King of the 
 Chaldeans slain." 
 
 Among numerous cuneiform documents of 
 the same class, three contract tablets have 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 77 
 
 been discovered, which are interesting on 
 account of their references to this Belshazzar. 
 In all of them he is described as " Belshazzar, 
 the son of the king." One of them reads 
 thus : — " The sum of twenty manehs of silver 
 for wool, the property of Belshazzar, the son 
 of the king, which has been handed over to 
 Iddin-Merodach, the son of Basa, the son of 
 Nur-Sin, through the agency of Nebo-tsabit 
 the steward of the house of Belshazzar, the 
 son of the king, and the secretaries of the 
 son of the king," etc. 
 
 Nineveh and Babylon both were enemies 
 of the chosen people of God ; the one sub- 
 verted the kingdom of Israel, and the other 
 the kingdom of Judah. " Israel," exclaimed 
 the prophet, " is a scattered sheep ; the lions 
 have driven him away : first the king of 
 Assyria hath devoured him; and last this 
 Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, hath broken 
 his bones. Therefore thus saith the Lord of 
 hosts, the God of Israel ; Behold I will punish 
 the king of Babylon and his land, as I have 
 punished the king of Assyria" (Ter. 1. 17, 18). 
 It was her pride (Isa. xlvii. 7, 8) ; her cruelty 
 towards the Jews (Isa. xlvii. 6) ; and the sac- 
 
yS OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 rilegious impiety of her king, that brought 
 down upon Babylon the wrath of the Ahiiighty. 
 The fall of Babylon is one of the greatest 
 events in ancient history. The circumstances 
 attending the capture and destruction of 
 Babylon were foretold in the Holy Scriptures 
 many years before they happened. Cyrus, 
 whom the Divine Providence was to make use 
 of as an instrument for executing his designs 
 of goodness and mercy towards his people, 
 was mentioned in the Scriptures by his name, 
 above a hundred years before he was born. 
 " Cyrus, he is my shepherd, and shall perform 
 all my pleasure" (Isaiah xliv. 28). ''Thus 
 saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, wliose 
 right hand I have holden, to subdue nations 
 before him ; and I will loose the loins of 
 kings, to open before him the two 4eaved 
 gates ; and the gates shall not be shut ; I will 
 go before thee, and make the crooked places 
 straight : I will break in pieces the gates of 
 brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron : 
 and I will give thee the treasures of darkness, 
 and hidden riches of secret places, that thou 
 may est know that I, the Lord, which call thee 
 by thy name, am the God of Israel. For 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 79 
 
 Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine 
 elect, I have even called thee by thy name : 
 I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not 
 known me. I am the Lord, and there is 
 none else, there is no God beside me " 
 (Isaiah xlv. 1-5). 
 
 The army that was to capture Babylon was 
 to consist of Medes and Persians : " Go up, 
 O Elam," that is Persia, "besiege, O Media" 
 (Isaiah xxi. 2). "Make bright the arrows; 
 gather the shields : the Lord hath raised up 
 the spirit of the kings of the Medes : for his 
 device is against Babylon, to destroy it" 
 (Jeremiah li. 1 1). 
 
 Babylon reckoned on her impregnable posi- 
 tion by the deep Euphrates ; yet that very 
 river shall be the means of her ruin : — " A 
 drought is upon her waters; and they shall 
 be dried up " (Jeremiah 1. 38). " I will dry 
 up her sea, and make her springs dry" 
 (Jeremiah li. 36). The Euphrates ran through 
 the midst of Babylon. The capture of the 
 city was effected by Cyrus diverting the river 
 from its usual course through the city, by 
 means of a canal, which, at a vast expense 
 of labour, he caused to communicate with a 
 
8o OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 lake at some distance outside the walls of 
 Babylon. The sluices of the canal being 
 opened, the waters of the Euphrates were 
 intercepted, and the bed of that portion of 
 the river which ran through the city becoming 
 fordable, by this means the Medio-Persian 
 soldiery entered the city. 
 
 Babylon was to be surprised in the night- 
 time, after feasting : "I have laid a snare for 
 thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and 
 thou wast not aware : thou art found and also 
 caught " (Jeremiah 1. 24). " I will make their 
 feasts, and I will make them drunken, that . 
 they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep 
 and not wake, saith the Lord " (Jeremiah U. 39). 
 
 The fear and confusion that were to ensue 
 were all foretold : " One post shall run to 
 meet another, and one messenger to meet 
 another, to show the king of Babylon that his 
 city is taken at one end, and that the passages 
 are stopped" (Jeremiah li. 31, 32). "The 
 mighty men of Babylon have forborn to fight, 
 they have remained in their holds : their might 
 hath failed ; they became as women : they 
 have burned her dwelling-places ; her bars 
 are broken " (Jeremiah li. 30). 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 8 1 
 
 The capture of Babylon by Cyrus occurred 
 in the year 539 b.c. 
 
 Isaiah prophesied upwards of one hundred 
 and fifty years before the taking of Babylon : 
 and " Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil 
 that should come upon Babylon " (Jeremiah li. 
 60), nearly sixty years before the fall of the city. 
 
 "Babylon, theglory of kingdoms, the beauty 
 of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when 
 God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It 
 shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be 
 dwelt in from generation to generation : 
 neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there ; 
 neither shall the shepherds make their fold 
 there. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie 
 there ; and their houses shall be full of doleful 
 creatures ; and owls shall dwell there," etc. 
 (Isaiah xiii. 19-21). "I will also make it a 
 possession for the bittern, and pools of water : 
 and I will sweep it with the besom of destruc- 
 tion, saith the Lord of hosts " (Isaiah xiv. 23). 
 "Every purpose of the Lord shall be per- 
 formed against Babylon, to make the land of 
 Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant " 
 (Jeremiah h. 29). " Babylon shall become 
 heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons, an 
 
 G 
 
82 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 astonishment, and an hissing, without an in- 
 habitant." " Thus saith the Lord of hosts ; 
 the broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly 
 broken, and her high gates shall be burned 
 with fire " (Jeremiah li. 37, 58). 
 
 No predictions in Holy Scripture have been 
 more awfully accomplished. 
 
 Babylon has become a vast succession of 
 mounds of various sizes. Writing concerning 
 the site, Captain Mignan ^ observes, " I am 
 perfectly incapable of conveying an adequate 
 idea of the dreary, lonely nakedness that 
 appeared before me." " The whole place," 
 says the eminent explorer, Mr. Rassam, "seems 
 to have been destroyed by an earthquake, or 
 some other supernatural event. Nothing can 
 now be seen of what is called in the Bible 
 ' The glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the 
 Chaldees' excellency,' but heaps of rubbish 
 intermixed with broken bricks, pottery, and 
 enamelled tiles of different colours. The 
 latter are supposed to have embellished the 
 famous palace of the kings of Babylon." ^ The 
 
 ^ " Travels," p. 116. 
 
 ^ "Transactions of the Soc. of Bibl. Archaeology," 
 vol. viii., p. 367. 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 83 
 
 ruins of the Birs Nimroud, or Temple of Belus, 
 still rise one hundred and fifty-three feet above 
 the level of the plain. Scattered about the 
 tower, huge vitrified boulders exhibit a myste- 
 rious evidence of having been exposed either 
 to the fiercest fire, or scathed by lightning. 
 About five hundred yards to the north-east 
 of Birs Nimroud is another immense heap. 
 Large collections of inscribed clay tablets 
 have been dug out of these mounds. 
 
 In our National Collection is preserved a 
 terra-cotta cylinder of Cyrus, giving an account 
 of the capture of Babylon : it was found at 
 Babylon. (Babylonian and Assyrian Room, 
 Table-Case C.) 
 
 Egypt. 
 
 Through a long narrow valley, that is pro- 
 tected on either side by a low range of granite, 
 sandstone, and limestone hills, courses the 
 majestic river Nile. The sun shines gloriously 
 over this valley, and the sky is rainless ; yet 
 it is a rich alluvial soil; for, supplied from 
 melting snow upon the mountains, and a 
 consequent overflow from the great lakes of 
 
84 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 Central Africa, the Nile annually rises, and 
 spreading its beneficent waters over the 
 neighbouring valley, causes it to teem both 
 with vegetable and animal life. Beyond the 
 barren hills that skirt the fertile valley of the 
 Nile, stretches an arid and lifeless desert. 
 In this well-secured happy valley dwelt that 
 remarkable race, the ancient Egyptians. 
 
 Egypt was one of the earliest kingdoms, 
 its history reaches back into the night of 
 time. Her kings, or, as they came to be 
 designated, her "Pharaohs" (from the title 
 "Peraa" — "great house"), have been ar- 
 ranged in thirty dynasties. As in the case 
 of early Babylonian and Assyrian dates, how- 
 ever, it is impossible to reconcile the pre- 
 tended chronology of ancient Egypt with the 
 other information which we possess. These 
 so-called thirty dynasties have been divided 
 into three groups, namely : 
 
 Dynasties I. — XI. The Ancient Empire. 
 „ XII.— XIX. The Middle Empire. 
 „ XX.— XXX. The New Empire. 
 
 The centre of government shifted its posi- 
 tion at different periods. Under the Ancient 
 
MEDITERRANEAN SEA 
 
 
 
 MEMPHIS^ ^ HON J /f ■§■■ Desert of 
 
 HEP T/k)^ o M I S" "^ 
 MIDDLE \M\mOYPT,, \ 
 
 b • If ^fc 
 
 ^ nH'BENI-MASAN 4, 
 
 <\> -siVteu-el-amarna vYjV 
 
 /s 
 
 ABYDOS 
 
 
 
 ^^\EaYPTK 
 
 b'LUXOR. 
 
 THEBES - 
 
 UPPEK 
 
 ELEPH ANTING ^SYENE 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 85 
 
 Empire we find it first seated at Memphis ; 
 and then moving south to Abydos, or other 
 places, as the power of its kings extended. 
 Under the Middle Empire, when Egypt was 
 at the height of her glory, the centre was 
 chiefly in the great city of Thebes ; at the 
 period of revolution or foreign oppression it 
 was withdrawn again northwards to Memphis, 
 and other cities of Lower Egypt ; but during 
 the time of the Asiatic wars it was found 
 more convenient to have the centre of 
 government nearer to the Asiatic frontier, 
 and Rameses and his immediate successors 
 held their court in the northern city of San 
 or Tanis. Under the New Empire, the 
 period of decadence, the centre shifted with 
 each political change, now to Thebes, then 
 to Memphis, next to Tanis, or Bubastis, or 
 Sais. 
 
 Of the first three dynasties we know little 
 beyond a bare list of kings' names. Menes 
 is said to have been the earliest king of the 
 first dynasty. He founded Memphis. The 
 worship of the god Ptah, creator of gods and 
 men, was cultivated at Memphis ; and there 
 the worship of Hapi, or the Apis bull (the 
 
S6 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 Serapis of the Greeks), sacred to that false 
 divinity, was first instituted. 
 
 The kings of the fourth dynasty have left 
 behind them enduring records of their power. 
 Of this dynasty were the kings Khufu 
 (Kheops), Kha-f-Ra (Khephren), and Men- 
 kau-Ra (Mykerinos), the builders of the 
 Great Pyramids at Gizeh. Not far off these 
 remains that imposing monument of primeval 
 Egypt, the Sphinx. The Sphinx represents 
 Har or Harmachis, the youthful or rising 
 sun, that is, the sun rising on the horizon. 
 Wrought out of the solid rock in the form of 
 a man-headed lion, it may have been the 
 work of even an earlier time. 
 
 The fifth dynasty appears also to have 
 been an energetic race. 
 
 Of the seventh to the eleventh dynasties 
 the history is almost entirely lost. 
 
 The Pharaohs of the eleventh dynasty, of 
 Theban origin, gradually extended their sway 
 northwards, and laid the foundation for the 
 twelfth dynasty, the kings of which were 
 celebrated for great engineering works of 
 lasting utility. One of these, a vast artificial 
 inland sea, known to the Greeks as Lake 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 87 
 
 Moeris, was excavated to receive the surplus 
 waters and control the inundations of the 
 Nile. It was completed in the reign of 
 Amenemhat III., and on its shore he formed 
 the famous Labyrinth. At one corner of the 
 Labyrinth stood a pyramid, entered by a 
 subterranean passage; two other pyramids 
 appeared in the centre of the lake, three 
 hundred feet high above the surface of the 
 water, which was of the same depth at this 
 spot. These pyramids were kings' sepulchres, 
 their entrances were guarded by the deep 
 waters of the lake. 
 
 During the centuries that succeeded, 
 Egypt appears to have been disturbed by in- 
 ternal troubles, and finally to have passed 
 under a foreign domination, apparently that 
 of nomad tribes of Syria, who, establishing 
 themselves at Memphis, founded the dynasties 
 known as the Hyksos or Shepherd Kings. 
 The fifteenth and sixteenth were Hyksos 
 dynasties. 
 
 From chronological calculations which 
 have been made, it appears that Joseph was 
 sold into Egypt towards the end of the 
 Hyksos rule. A king named Nubti is sup- 
 
88 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 posed to have occupied the throne at the 
 time; and the famous Hyksos king, Apepa 
 II., is said to have been the Pharaoh who 
 raised Joseph to high rank, and welcomed 
 the patriarch Jacob and his family into 
 Egypt. We read in Genesis xli., 45, that 
 " Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnath- 
 paaneah ; and he gave him to wife Asenath, 
 the daughter of Poti-pherah priest of On," 
 or HeHopolis, in Lower Egypt. 
 
 The Egyptian Monuments record the 
 existence of the butler and the baker of the 
 palace. 
 
 There may not be any visible record of 
 the arrival of Jacob and his family in Egypt, 
 but there is a hieroglyphic painting on the 
 walls of a tomb at Benihassan appearing to 
 represent a similar incident. The celebrated 
 Egyptologist, M. Brugsch, thus explains the 
 picture referred to : "A family of Asiatics of 
 the descendants of Shem. For some un- 
 known reason they are come. There are 
 thirty-seven persons in the party — men, 
 women, and children. They are in presence 
 of the governor of the nome Sdh, ChnunJibtep 
 by name. A royal scribe, named Nefer-hotep, 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 89 
 
 presents to the monarch a leaf of papyrus 
 with an inscription dated in the sixth year of 
 Osirtasen II, The chief of the family, named 
 Abu-Sd, respectfully approaches the person 
 of Chnunh6tep, and offers him the present 
 of a wild buck. He is followed by com- 
 panions armed with lances, clubs, and bows. 
 Over the picture there is written, 'Come to 
 present the cosmetic of Mesram, which the 
 thirty-seven Aams offer him.'"^ Differing 
 although it does, both in the names and 
 number of persons mentioned in connection 
 with the arrival of Jacob and his family in 
 Egypt, still that event is vividly recalled by 
 the above description. 
 
 The seventeenth dynasty was partly Hyksos 
 and partly native Theban; for Sekenen-Ra, 
 the Theban under-king, having refused tribute, 
 a war of liberation began, which ended in the 
 expulsion of the Hyksos by Ahmes or Ama- 
 sis I., who founded the eighteenth dynasty. 
 
 Conquering Nubia, and keeping Lybia in 
 check; having also subdued the Sinaitic 
 peninsula; under war-like monarchs of the 
 
 ^ M. Henri Brugsch: " Histoire d'Egypte des les 
 premiers temps." Leipzig, 1859. Vol. I., p. 63. 
 
90 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 eighteenth dynasty the Egyptian army crossed 
 the Asiatic frontier, and came into colUsion 
 with the Khita or Hittites, the Syrians, and 
 other powerful nations of Western Asia. 
 The long lists of places in Northern Syria 
 and Palestine conquered by Thothmes III., 
 of the eighteenth dynasty, engraved on the 
 walls of his temple at Karnak, shed light 
 upon the early geography of Palestine and its 
 neighbourhood. Considered with attention, 
 it will be found that the names of places 
 figuring on the Assyrian, Babylonian, and 
 Egyptian monuments establish the veracity 
 of the geography of the Bible. 
 
 In the winter of the year 1887 a remark- 
 able discovery was made among the mounds 
 of Tel-el-Amarna, covering the site of the 
 capital of Khu-en-Aten (Amenophis IV.), 
 the so-called heretic king of the eighteenth 
 dynasty. Half-Semitic in descent, Khu-en- 
 Aten appears to have surrounded himself 
 with officers and courtiers of Phoenician and 
 Canaanitish extraction. After his accession 
 to the throne, he professed himself a convert 
 to a Semitic faith, and endeavoured to sub- 
 stitute the adoration of the winged solar disk, 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 9 1 
 
 called Aten in Egyptian, for the old religion 
 of his people. This caused a rupture with 
 the powerful priesthood of Thebes, and Khu- 
 en-Aten, deserting his ancestral capital, built 
 for himself and his followers a new city, 
 further north, the site of which is now known 
 as Tel-el-Amarna. Thither Khu-en-Aten 
 carried the archives of his kingdom ; and it 
 is a portion of these that were discovered 
 among the foundations of his palace. They 
 consist of imperishable burnt clay tablets, 
 inscribed with cuneiform writing of the Baby- 
 lonian type; and are copies of letters or 
 despatches, some of which are from Phoenicia 
 and Palestine ; written in the century before 
 the Exodus. Palestine and Phoenicia were 
 at the time garrisoned by Egyptian troops; 
 but the Canaanite population were threatened 
 by the Khita from the north. Southern 
 Palestine and the territory of Uru'salim or 
 Jerusalem, was also in danger from the 
 Khabari^ whose name occurs frequently on 
 the tablets referred to. Elimelech was the 
 name of the leader of the Khabari. Jeru- 
 salem, and the district depending on it, was 
 so seriously menaced that the governor Ebed- 
 
92 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 tob repeatedly wrote that, if assistance was 
 not sent to him at once, the province would 
 be lost to Khu-en-Aten and Egypt. 
 
 The name Khabari, according to Professor 
 Sayce, has been identified with that of the 
 Hebrews. The word Khabari is Assyrian, 
 and signifies " confederates," from the same 
 root as that which has given Heber, "the 
 confederate," and Hebron, " the confederacy," 
 in Hebrew. Kirjath-Arba, as we learn from 
 Genesis xxiii. 2, was the original name of 
 Hebron ; it probably acquired its later appella- 
 tion in consequence of having been the meet- 
 ing-place for Amorite, Canaanite, and other 
 confederate tribes. From behind its fortified 
 walls the confederates sallied to attack the 
 officers of the Egyptian king, and the despair- 
 ing communications from the governor of 
 Jerusalem, recovered from the ruins of Tel- 
 el-Amarna, prove how formidable these con- 
 federates had become : 
 
 " / (am) not " (writes Ebed-tob,) " a gover- 
 nor, a vassal (■') to the king my lord. Behold : 
 I (am) the ally of the king, and I have paid the 
 tribute of the king, even I. Neither my father 
 nor my mother, (but) the oracle of the mighty 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 93 
 
 king (the god Salim), established (me) in the 
 house of {my) father ." 
 
 Another tablet reads thus : — " To the king 
 {namely the Pharaoh Khu-en-Aten) my lord 
 speaks thus Ebed-tob thy servant ; at the feet 
 of the king my lord seven times seven (/) pros- 
 trate myself. (The king knows the deed) which 
 they have done, even Malchiel and Su-ardatum, 
 against the country of the king my lord^ 
 marshalling the forces of the city of Gezer, the 
 forces of the city of Gath, and the forces of the 
 city ofKeilah. They have occupied the country 
 of the city of Rabbah, which opens the country 
 of the king to the confederates. And now at 
 this moment the city of the mountain of Jeru- 
 salem (Uru' salim), the city of the temple of the 
 god Uras, (whose) name (there is) 'Salim, the 
 city of the king, is separated from the locality 
 of the men of the city ofKeilah. May the king 
 listen to Ebed-tob thy servant, and may he 
 despatch troops, and may he restore the country 
 of the king to the king. But if no troops arrive, 
 the country of the king is gone over to the men^ 
 even the confederates.'" 
 
 The despatches of Ebed-tob, according to 
 Professor Sayce, tell us for the first time how 
 
94 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 ancient the name Jerusalem is, and also its 
 meaning. It was^ the seat of the worship and 
 oracle of 'Salim, whose temple stood on " the 
 mountain" of Moriah. The word U7'il was 
 the equivalent of the Assyrian alu, "city." 
 'Salim is the Hebrew shdlo??i, denoting the 
 "god of Peace." The tutelary deity of 
 Jerusalem therefore was one in whose temple 
 feuds were laid aside, and the surrounding 
 tribes met in peace. Ebed-tob states that 
 his authority did not devolve upon him by 
 descent or right of inheritance ; he had been 
 called to exercise it by a divine voice. 
 
 At the date of this correspondence between 
 Ebed-tob, governor of Jerusalem, and Khu- 
 en-Aten, King of Egypt, the Israelites were 
 still in Egypt. Yet centuries had passed by 
 since Abraham, having defeated Chedor- 
 loamer and his kingly confederates, was met 
 and blessed by Melchizedek, " King of 
 Salem," and " priest of the most high God." 
 Concerning this extraordinary personage there 
 have been many conjectures. The Scriptures 
 are silent respecting his genealogy, as if to 
 raise our thoughts to Him whose generation 
 cannot be declared. 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 95 
 
 It is remarkable, so many years after 
 Abraham's time, that a Canaanitish governor 
 of Jerusalem, a successor of Melchizedek — yet 
 not like him a worshipper of the true God, 
 since it evidently appears from his letters 
 that Ebed-tob was an idolater — should be 
 found pointing out to the King of Egypt in 
 these tablets, that, unlike other princes in the 
 province, he alone derived his office of priest- 
 king from the oracle of a god/ 
 
 The nineteenth dynasty (b.c. 1400-1200) 
 was founded by Rameses I. He, as well as 
 his son Seti I., and his still more famous 
 grandson Rameses 11. (the Sesostris of the 
 Greeks), were renowned warriors. 
 
 Nor was foreign conquest all that the 
 Pharaohs of the eighteenth and nineteenth 
 dynasties achieved. In the days of Thothmes, 
 Amenophis, and Rameses, temples and 
 monuments arose at Thebes, Karnak, Luxor, 
 and other places, the stupendous remains of 
 which still excite our admiration and wonder. 
 
 ^ The tablets from Tel El-Amarna are preserved 
 in the Museum of Boulaq, in the Royal Museum at 
 Berlin, and in the British Museum. Translations of 
 some of them, by A. H. Sayce, appear in "Records 
 of the Past," New Series, vol. ii., pp. 57-71. 
 
96 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 It was Amenophis III. who erected at 
 Thebes the two colossal statues of himself, 
 of which the northern one was the so-called 
 vocal Memnon. The upper part of this 
 colossus was broken by an earthquake, 
 B.C. 27. Restored by the Roman emperor 
 Severus, about a.d. 160, it spoke no more to 
 the rising beams of morning. The celebrated 
 Hall of Columns at Karnak was built by 
 Seti I. and his son Rameses II. ; the columns 
 are sixty feet high, and thirty-five feet in 
 circumference. Carved all over with sculp- 
 tures and hieroglyphics, the yellow, red, and 
 blue colours of these shine as resplendent 
 beneath the cloudless sky of Egypt, as on the 
 day, more than 3,000 years ago, when they 
 were put on. The far-famed temple of Abu- 
 Simbel, in Nubia, with its four colossal seated 
 figures in front, was hewn out of the solid 
 rock by Rameses II. to commemorate his 
 victory over the nations of Northern Syria. 
 Amid the grand ruins of the Ramessium, or 
 temple which Rameses 11. erected at Thebes 
 in honour of the god Amen-Ra, the thrown- 
 down statue of this king extends full sixty 
 feet. 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 97 
 
 Most Striking also is the effect of that 
 series of huge sculptures of the eighteenth 
 and nineteenth dynasties preserved in the 
 Northern Egyptian Gallery and Central 
 Saloon of the British Museum. Executed in 
 porphyry or hardest black granite, their 
 hieroglyphic -covered polished surfaces, to 
 judge from the perfect state in which many 
 of them have come down to our time, bid 
 fair to endure as long as the world shall last. 
 Viewed in connection with the admirable 
 wall-paintings, also to be seen in the Northern 
 Egyptian Gallery (Nos. 1 69-181), these attest 
 the power and high civilization to which Egypt 
 had attained even before the birth of Moses. 
 
 The superb alabaster sarcophagus of Seti I., 
 father of Rameses II., is in the Soane 
 Museum. The tomb from whence it was 
 brought was discovered by Belzoni in the 
 Biban-el-Meluk. It was richly ornamented, 
 the subject represented being the passage of 
 the sun through the hours of the night. 
 
 Rameses II., on account of his personal 
 exploits, the magnificence of his monuments, 
 and the long duration of his reign, ranks 
 among the most remarkable of the monarchs 
 
 H 
 
98 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 of ancient Egypt. His great campaign against 
 the Khita commenced in the fifth year of his 
 reign; it is represented in the temples of 
 Luxor, Abusimbel, BeitonaUi, and the Rames- 
 sium ; and it is also described on a papyrus 
 in the British Museum, known as the "Sallier 
 Papyrus." In the eighth year of his reign 
 Rameses captured the fortress of Shaluma 
 or Salem, the name of Jerusalem prior to its 
 occupation by the Hebrews. In that same 
 year he took from the Canaanites Askaluna 
 or Ascalon, this stronghold not yet having 
 fallen into the hands of the Philistines. 
 
 It is Rameses II. who is identified as the 
 Pharaoh that oppressed the children of Israel. 
 Rameses constructed many temples in Egypt 
 and Nubia, on which he employed captives 
 taken in war. Among other works of 
 Rameses II., " on the eastern side of Egypt 
 he finished " (writes Dr. Birch) " a great wall, 
 commenced by his father, Seti, from Pelusium 
 to Heliopolis, as a bulwark against the 
 Asiatics. It was on this line that it is sup- 
 posed the king constructed the fortresses Pa- 
 khatem-en-Tsaru, or the citadel of Tanis, and 
 Paramessu or Raamses, the two cities on 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 99 
 
 which the Hebrews were employed, as men- 
 tioned in the book of Exodus (i. ii) : ' And 
 they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom 
 and Raamses.' " 
 
 A picture discovered on the walls of a 
 funeral chapel at Abd-el-Kurna, at Thebes, 
 exhibits prisoners with Israelitish coun- 
 tenances hard at work making bricks, and 
 building the walls of a temple of Ammon. 
 Task-masters, armed with clubs and scourg- 
 ing whips, watch over, and superintend their 
 labour. In the curious painting referred to, 
 the Egyptians are distinguished by their red 
 skin and dark hair, whilst the captives are of 
 a sallow countenance. The whole process of 
 brick-making, even to the counting of the tale 
 of bricks, is minutely represented. Inscrip- 
 tions inform us that these brickmakers are 
 captives taken by Pharaoh to build the temple 
 of his father Ammon. This illustrates the 
 Scripture where it says, "There arose up a 
 new king over Egypt which knew not Joseph," 
 who set over the children of Israel " task- 
 masters to afflict them." " And the Egyptians 
 made the children of Israel to serve with 
 rigour : and they made their lives bitter with 
 
lOO OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick," etc. 
 (Exodus i. 8, II, and 13-14). 
 
 In his rock-hewn temple of Abu-Simbel, 
 Rameses caused a great tablet to be placed, on 
 which is a hieroglyphic inscription purporting 
 to be a speech of the god Ptah Totunen to 
 the King Rameses II., and the answer of the 
 king. The god is represented standing, and 
 before him the king, who strikes with his 
 mace a group of enemies whom he holds by 
 the hair. The inscription is as follows : — 
 ^' The 35^^ year, the I2,th of the month Tybi, 
 under the reign of Ra-Haremakhu, the strong 
 hull, beloved of truth, the lord of the thirty 
 years, like his father Ptah Totunen, the lord of 
 diadems, the protector of Egypt, the chastiser of 
 foreign lands, Ra, the father of the gods, who 
 possesses Egypt, the golden hawk, the master 
 of years, the most mighty sovereign of Upper 
 and Lower Egypt. 
 
 " Ra- Userma-Sotep-en-Ra, the son of (the 
 sun-god in full strength) Ra, the issue of (the 
 god) Totunen, the child of the (lion-headed 
 goddess) queen Sekhet, Rameses, beloved of (the 
 god) Amen, ever living. 
 
 " Thus speaks Ptah Totunen with the high 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. lOI 
 
 plumes, armed with horns, the father of the 
 gods, to his son who loves him, the first-born of 
 his loins, the god who is young again, the prince 
 of the gods, the master of the thirty years, like 
 Totunen, King Rameses. I am thy father, I 
 have begotten thee like a god ; all thy limbs are 
 
 divine Num and Ptah have nourished 
 
 thy childhood The great princesses of 
 
 the house of Ptah and the Hathors of the temple 
 of Tern are in festival, their hearts are full of 
 gladness, their hands take the drum with joy, 
 when they see thy person beautiful and lovely 
 like my majesty. 
 
 " The gods and goddesses exalt thy beauties, 
 they celebrate thee when they give to me their 
 praises saying ; ' Thou art our father who has 
 caused us to be born ; there is a god like thee, 
 
 the king Rameses." / have made thee 
 
 an eternal king, a prince who lasts for ever. . 
 . . . . I have given thee a high Nile, and it fills 
 ^Sypifir l^^€ ^ith the abundance of riches and 
 
 wealth King Rameses, I grant thee to 
 
 cut the mountains into statues immense, gigan- 
 tic, everlasting ; I grant that foreign lands find 
 for thee precious stone to inscribe {^) the monu- 
 ments with thy name 
 
I02 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 " Thou hast built a great residence to fortify 
 the boundary of the land, the city of Rameses ; 
 it is established on the earth tike the four pillars 
 of the sky ; thou hast constructed within a royal 
 palace, where festivals are celebrated to thee as 
 is done for me within. I have set the crown on 
 thy head with my own hands 
 
 " King Rameses, I grant that the strength, the 
 vigour and the might of thy sword be felt among 
 all countries ; thou castest down the hearts of 
 all nations ; I have put them under thy feet. 
 
 Thou givest life to whom thou wishest, 
 
 and thou puttest to death whom thou pleasest, 
 etc." 
 
 Then follows the answer of the king : — 
 " Thus speaks the divine king, the master of the 
 two countries, who is born like Khepra-Ra, in 
 his limbs, who appears like Ra, begotten of 
 Ptah Totunen, the king of Egypt ; Ra-userma- 
 sotep-en-Ra, the son of Ra, Rameses, beloved of 
 Amen, ever living, to his father who appears 
 before him, Totunen, the father of the gods : 
 
 " / am thy son, thou hast put me on thy throne, 
 thou hast transmitted to me thy regal power, 
 thou hast made me after the resemblance of thy 
 person, thou hast transmitted to me what thou 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 103 
 
 hast created ; I shall answer by doing alt the 
 
 good things which thou desirest / 
 
 have provided the land of Egypt with all neceS' 
 saries ; I shall renew Egypt for thee as it was 
 of old, making statues of gods after the sub- 
 stance, even the colour of their bodies. Egypt 
 will be the possession of their hearts, and{l) will 
 build them temples. I have enlarged thy abode 
 in Memphis, it is decked with eternal works, 
 and well-made ornaments in stones set in gold, 
 with true gems; I have opened for thee a court on 
 the north side with a double staircase ; thy porch 
 is magnificent ; its doors are like the horizon 
 of the sky, in order that the multitude may 
 worship thee. Thy magnificent dwelling has 
 been built inside its walls; thy divine image is 
 in its mysterious shrine, resting on its high 
 foundation; I have provided it abundantly 
 with priests, prophets, and cultivators, with 
 land and with cattle ; I have reckoned its offer- 
 ings by hundreds of thousands of good things. . 
 
 the bulls and calves are innumerable ; 
 
 . . . the smoke of their fat reaches heaven. . . . 
 *'■ I give that all lands may see the beauty of the 
 buildings which I have created to thee ; I have 
 marked with thy name all inhabitants and 
 
I04 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 foreigners of the whole land; they are to thee 
 for ever ; for thou hast created them, to be under 
 the command of thy son, who is on thy throne, 
 the master of gods and men, the lord who cele- 
 brates the festival of thirty years like thou, he 
 who wears the double sistrum, the son of the 
 white crown, and the issue of the red diadem, 
 who unites the two countries in peace, the king 
 of Egypt, Ra-userma-sotep-en-Ra, the son of 
 Ra, Rameses, beloved of Amen, living eter- 
 nally:' ' 
 
 The name of the king is throughout written 
 in full, with the two cartouches. 
 
 Rameses II. set up a monolith of red 
 granite before the temple of Ammon-Ra at 
 El- Luxor : this obelisk is now in Paris. On 
 it the king is represented on his knees, offer- 
 ing two vases of wine to Ammon-Ra. Of 
 the deeply-cut vertical inscriptions one runs 
 thus : — " The Horus-sun, strong bull of the 
 sun, who has smitten the barbarians, lord of the 
 diadems, who fights millions, magnanimous 
 lion, golden hawk, strongest on all the world 
 
 ^ The great Tablet of Rameses II. at Abu-Simbel. 
 Translated by Edouard Naville, in vol. xii. ' ' Records 
 of the Past." 
 
COLOSSAL HEAD OF RAMESES H. 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. I05 
 
 Ousor-ma-Ra bull at his limit, obliging the 
 whole earth to come before him, by the will of 
 Ammon his august father. He has made (the 
 obelisk) the Son of the Sun Mei-Ammon-Ramses 
 living eternally." 
 
 Yet, besides these imposing mementoes of 
 this once potent Pharaoh, other interesting 
 rehcs of Rameses II. are preserved in the 
 various museums of Europe, and there are 
 many reUcs of him in our own national 
 collection. Conspicuous amid the grand 
 Egyptian collection in the British Museum, 
 may be seen the upper part of a colossal 
 granite statue of Rameses II. ; it came from 
 the Memnonium at Thebes (Central Saloon, 
 No. 19). Here also is the upper portion of 
 another statue of this conqueror, wearing the 
 crowns of the North and South, and holding 
 in his hands the whip and crook, emblematic 
 of dominion and rule (No. 67). A kneeling 
 statue of this Pharaoh, with a table of offerings 
 and a water vessel, may also be seen here 
 (No. 96). In the Fourth Egyptian Room, 
 Upper Floor, Wall-Case 155, No. 2777b, is 
 a very perfect small bronze of Rameses II., 
 wearing the white crown (Hut), emblem of 
 
Io6 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 Upper Egypt : he is kneeling and offering 
 wine. On the walls of this same room are 
 exhibited some fine coloured casts of sculp- 
 tures representing the conquest of Kush or 
 Ethiopia by Rameses II., and his wars in 
 Asia and Libya : the originals still adorn the 
 temple at Beitoualli or Beit-el- Walli, in Nubia. 
 In the lower part of Wall-Cases 114- 119, 
 Fourth Egyptian Room, is a collection of 
 glazed tiles, inlaid with the names and titles 
 of Rameses II. and Rameses III., figures of 
 captives, decorative designs, etc., from Tell- 
 el-Yahiidiyyeh, or " Vicus Judseorum," in the 
 Delta. They formed part of the ornaments 
 of walls of the palaces built there by those 
 kings; about B.C. 1330-1200. Not the least 
 interesting relics in the British Museum are 
 some sun-dried bricks, made of clay mixed 
 with broken pottery and straw, bearing the 
 name of Rameses II. impressed on the moist 
 clay with a stamp (Wall-Case 138). They 
 recall to mind those verses in Exodus v. : 
 " And Pharaoh commanded the same day 
 the taskmasters of the people, and their 
 officers, saying. Ye shall no more give the 
 people" (namely, the Israelites) "straw to 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 107 
 
 make brick, as heretofore : let them go and 
 gather straw for themselves. And the tale 
 of the bricks, which they did make hereto- 
 fore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not 
 diminish ought thereof: for they be idle; 
 therefore they cry, saying. Let us go and 
 sacrifice to our God." 
 
 Rameses II. did not disdain to appropriate 
 the works of others to himself by carving 
 upon them his own cartouche. The obelisk 
 now standing on the Thames Embankment 
 was originally erected at On (Heliopolis) by 
 the Pharaoh Thothmes III., about B.C. 1500 ; 
 it bears, however, lateral inscriptions that 
 were added nearly two centuries later by 
 Rameses the Great. 
 
 In the Southern Egyptian Gallery of the 
 British Museum is a wooden figure of 
 Rameses II., brought from the doorway of 
 his tomb at Thebes. The tomb and sarco- 
 phagus of Rameses II. are in the Biban-el- 
 Melook, at Thebes; but his wooden cofiin 
 and embalmed remains, according to an 
 ancient inscription, having been hurried from 
 their original place of sepulture through fear 
 of a foreign invasion — probably the invasion 
 
Io8 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 of Egypt by the Assyrian king, Esarhaddon 
 — were found in the year 1882 at Deir-el- 
 Bahari, and the body of this oppressor of the 
 Israehtes now rests in the museum at Gizeh. 
 A photo of the faded form and features of 
 Rameses may be seen in the First Egyptian 
 Room, Upper Floor, of the British Museum. 
 
 Egypt attained the zenith of its grandeur 
 in the days of Rameses 11. His was the 
 golden age of Egyptian literature. Coeval 
 with this time, the adopted son of Pharaoh's 
 daughter, "Moses, was learned in all the 
 wisdom of the Egyptians."^ The rising 
 monarchies of Asia were, however, gradually 
 becoming more than a match for the power 
 of Egypt, which henceforth began to decline. 
 
 The release of the Israelites from their 
 bondage in Egypt took place, according to 
 some authorities, during the reign of Meneph- 
 tah, the son and successor of Rameses II. 
 (B.C. 1300-1266); but others place it some- 
 what later. On the wall of a small court, 
 lying south of the great outer wall of the 
 principal temple of Karnak, an inscription 
 
 ^ Acts vii. 22. 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 109 
 
 was found giving an historical account of the 
 earliest years of the reign of this Menephtah 
 of the nineteenth dynasty. It records an 
 invasion of Egypt from the west by the allied 
 armies of Lybians, Sicilians, etc., and fur- 
 nishes the earliest mention hitherto dis- 
 covered of the Greeks. The inscription runs 
 thus : " Victorious by the valour of Amen, 
 was the King of the Upper and Lower Country, 
 Ba-en-Ra, beloved of Amen, the Son of the Son 
 of the Sun Menephtah at peace through Truth, 
 giver of life,'^ ^ etc. In the Northern Egyptian 
 Gallery of the British Museum there is a 
 granite statue of Rameses II., which was set 
 up at Karnak by his successor Menephtah 
 (No. 61). In the Southern Egyptian Gallery 
 are preserved two fine granite columns with 
 palm-leaf capitals ; one of these, brought 
 from Heracleopolis, is inscribed with Me- 
 nephtah's name. 
 
 The twentieth dynasty had for its founder 
 Rameses III., who was the last of the great 
 
 ^ See "The Invasion of Egypt by the Greeks, under 
 the Nineteenth Dynasty in the reign of Menephtah." 
 Translated by S. Birch, LL.D., vol. iv., New Series, 
 ♦•Records of the Past," pp. 37-48. 
 
no OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 heroic kings of Egypt. When his strong 
 hand was withdrawn, the rapid succession of 
 the following kings of his dynasty is a sure 
 indication of their weakness, and of civil 
 trouble. During this period the Hebrews, 
 guided by their judges, are supposed to have 
 established themselves in Palestine. 
 
 The twenty-first dynasty, a race of usurping 
 priest-kings, was swept away by the military 
 power of the twenty-second dynasty. 
 
 We read in I. Kings iii. i, that "Solomon 
 made affinity with Pharaoh King of Egypt, 
 and took Pharaoh's daughter, and brought 
 her into the city of David, until he had made 
 an end of building his own house, and the 
 house of the Lord, and the wall of Jerusalem 
 round about." In 1. Kings ix. i6, we are told 
 that " Pharaoh King of Egypt had gone up, 
 and taken Gezer, and burnt it with fire, and 
 slain the Canaanites that dwelt in the city, 
 and given it for a present unto his daughter, 
 Solomon's wife." Again, in II. Chron. viii. 
 II, we are further informed that "Solomon 
 brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of 
 the city of David unto the (costly palace or) 
 house that he had built for her : for he said, 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. Ill 
 
 my wife shall not dwell in the house of 
 David King of Israel, because the places are 
 holy, whereunto the ark of the Lord hath 
 come." The Egyptian princess referred to 
 was apparently an idolatress, one perhaps of 
 those numerous wives who, when Solomon 
 was old, turned away his heart after other 
 gods. The name of the Pharaoh who be- 
 came father-in-law of Solomon is not stated ; 
 it may have been Shasshank, Shishak of the 
 Bible. 
 
 Shishak was the first king of the twenty- 
 second dynasty. He it was who protected 
 Jeroboam when he fled into Egypt from King 
 Solomon (I. Kings xi. 40). On the death of 
 Solomon, when the ten tribes revolted from 
 Rehoboam, in order to prevent the Israelites 
 going up to Jerusalem to worship, and so 
 weakening his authority over them as their 
 king, Jeroboam, in imitation of the bull- 
 worship he had seen practised in Egypt, set 
 up two golden calves as idols, one in Bethel 
 and the other in Dan (I. Kings xii. 28-30). 
 In the fifth year of Rehoboam, King of 
 Judah, "Shishak King of Egypt came up 
 against Jerusalem : and he took away the 
 
112 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 treasures of the house of the Lord, and the 
 treasures of the king's house; he even took 
 away all : and he took away all the shields of 
 gold which Solomon had made. And King 
 Rehoboam made in their stead brazen shields " 
 (I. Kings xiv. 25-27). On the walls of a por- 
 tico at Karnak, Shishak has recorded the 
 names of more than 130 cities he had taken ; 
 given to him, as he alleges, by Amon 'and 
 the goddess of the Thebaid. Among the 
 cities that can be recognized in the hiero- 
 glyphic legends are Taanach, Gibeon, Beth- 
 Horon, Ajalon, Megiddo, and Judah Maluk, 
 " the royal city of Judah " or Jerusalem. In 
 the Southern Egyptian Gallery of the British 
 Museum (Nos. 63, 517), are two black granite 
 seated figures of Sekhet, wearing the sun's 
 disk and serpent, inscribed with the names 
 and titles of Shishak I. 
 
 Egyptian history here becomes shrouded 
 in darkness, for amid the tablets of the Sera- 
 peum there is no record of an Apis bull 
 either having been born or having died during 
 the twenty-third or Tanite dynasty. The 
 twenty-fourth dynasty appears to have con- 
 sisted of a single king, Bochoris, or Bak-en- 
 
EGYPTIAN DEITY SEKHET. 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. II3 
 
 ren-f by name, a native of Sais. During the 
 brief twenty-third and twenty-fourth dynasties 
 Egypt was assailed by the Assyrian power 
 from the north, and by the Ethiopians or 
 Nubians on the south. Obtaining supremacy, 
 the Ethiopian Sabaco or Shabaka took Bo- 
 choris captive, and burning him alive about 
 B.C. 715, became the first king of the twenty- 
 fifth dynasty. He is the " So, King of Egypt," 
 mentioned in II. Kings xvii. 4 : " And the 
 King of Assyria found conspiracy in Hosea 
 (King of Israel) : for he had sent messengers 
 to So King of Egypt, and brought no present 
 to the King of Assyria, as he had done year 
 by year : therefore the King of Assyria shut 
 him up, and bound him in prison." The 
 death of an Apis in the second year of the 
 reign of Sabaco is recorded at the Serapeum ; 
 and the name of this king is also found on 
 the temple at Karnak. Sabaco concluded a 
 treaty with one of the Assyrian monarchs, to 
 which he attached his seal ; and the mutilated 
 clay impression of the same was found among 
 the archives at Kouyunjik (Nineveh). A 
 relic of the Pharaoh here identified may be 
 seen in the Southern Egyptian Gallery, No. 
 
114 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 135*. It consists of a black basalt slab, 
 with inscription referring to the contest be- 
 tween Horus and Set. According to the old 
 Egyptian belief, Horus, the young sun-god 
 and conqueror of Set, was son of Osiris, the 
 sun-god after setting, and great king of the 
 nether-world, and of I sis, the dawn goddess. 
 Set, or Typhon, was the brother and rival of 
 Osiris, and the evil principle of Egyptian 
 mythology. The inscribed slab referred to 
 was placed in the temple of the god Ptah, at 
 Memphis, by command of Sabaco. He reigned 
 about B.C. 700. 
 
 The last Pharaoh of the twenty-fifth dy- 
 nasty was Taharka, or Tirhakah, B.C. 693. 
 It was probably this Ethiopian usurper to 
 whom the Assyrian king's messenger alluded 
 when, taunting Hezekiah, he said, " Lo, thou 
 trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on 
 Egypt ; whereon if a man lean, it will go into 
 his hand, and pierce it : so is Pharaoh King 
 of Egypt to all that trust in him" (Isaiah 
 xxxvi. 6). It was when on his way to en- 
 counter Tirhakah that Sennacherib sent that 
 second message to Hezekiah, of which we 
 read in II. Kings xix. 9, and Isaiah xxxvii. 9 ; 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. II5 
 
 immediately after which the Assyrian host 
 was dispersed. After the death of Senna- 
 cherib his son Esarhaddon invaded Egypt, 
 and defeating the Egyptian forces, occupied 
 the Delta; whence, penetrating south as far 
 as Thebes, he sacked that city. Upon this 
 Tirhakah fled back to Nubia, where, after 
 another ineffectual struggle against Assyria, 
 he eventually died. In the fourth Egyptian 
 Room on the Upper Floor of the British 
 Museum, Wall-Case 155, is preserved a small 
 bronze figure of Tirhakah, as the god Anhar 
 (No. 2277^). 
 
 The twenty-sixth dynasty dates from the 
 death of Tirhakah to the Persian Conquest, 
 B.C. 666-527. Of this dynasty Psammeticus 
 was the founder, and his son the war-like 
 Necho was its second king. Under their rule 
 Egypt escaped from the yoke of Assyria, for 
 Nineveh had fallen. Ancient cities were now 
 rebuilt, the monuments restored, and Greeks 
 with other foreigners in large numbers settled 
 in Egypt. It was Pharaoh-Necho, King of 
 Egypt, who slew Josiah, the good King of 
 Judah. " In his days Pharaoh-Nechoh, King 
 of Egypt, went up against the King of Assyria 
 
Il6 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 to the river Euphrates : and King Josiah went 
 against him ; and he slew him at Megiddo " 
 (II. Kings xxiii. 29). The circumstances at- 
 tending this sad catastrophe are more minutely 
 described in II. Chron. xxxv. 20-25 • " After 
 all this (viz., the solemn passover which the 
 King of Judah had kept, etc.), when Josiah 
 had prepared the temple, Necho, King of 
 Egypt, came up to fight against Charchemish 
 by Euphrates: and Josiah went out against 
 him. But he sent ambassadors to him, say- 
 ing. What have I to do with thee, thou king 
 of Judah ? I come not against thee this day, 
 but against the house wherewith I have war : 
 for God commanded me to make haste : for- 
 bear thee from meddling with God, who is 
 with me, that He destroy thee not. Never- 
 theless Josiah would not turn his face from 
 him, but disguised himself, that he might 
 fight with him, and hearkened not unto the 
 words of Necho from the mouth of God, and 
 came to fight in the valley of Megiddo. And 
 the archers shot at King Josiah ; and the 
 king said to his servants, have me away, for I 
 am sore wounded. His servants therefore 
 took him out of that chariot, and put him in 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. II 7 
 
 the second chariot that he had; and they 
 brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and 
 was buried in one of the sepulchres of his 
 fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem 
 mourned for Josiah. And Jeremiah (the 
 prophet) lamented for Josiah." 
 
 This king of Egypt dethroned Jehoahaz, 
 and making Eliakim king, changed his name 
 to Jehoiakim ; he also put Judah to tribute. 
 " And Pharaoh-Nechoh put him (Jehoahaz) 
 in bands at Riblah in the land of Hamath, 
 that he might not reign in Jerusalem ; and 
 put the land to a tribute of an hundred 
 talents of silver, and a talent of gold. And 
 Pharaoh-Nechoh made Eliakim, the son of 
 Josiah, king in the room of Josiah his father, 
 and turned his name to Jehoiakim, and took 
 Jehoahaz away : and he came to Egypt, and 
 died there. And Jehoiakim gave the silver 
 and the gold to Pharaoh ; but he taxed the 
 land to give the money according to the 
 commandment of Pharaoh : he exacted the 
 silver and the gold of the people of the land, 
 of every one according to his taxation, to 
 give it unto Pharaoh-Nechoh" (II. Kings 
 xxiii. 33-35, and II. Chron. xxxvi. 2-4). But 
 
Il8 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 Necho sustained at Karkemish a severe de- 
 feat at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar II. ; 
 the conqueror being only prevented from in- 
 vading Egypt by the intelligence of his 
 father's death, which caused him to hasten 
 home to Babylon. 
 
 Two peaceful events occurred during the 
 reign of Necho deserving of notice. One 
 relates to the voyage round Africa, which 
 some Phoenician mariners in his service ac- 
 complished : the other refers to an attempt 
 this Egyptian despot made, at a great sacri- 
 fice of life, to connect, by means of a canal, 
 the Gulf of Suez with the Nile. 
 
 Of the same twenty-sixth dynasty was Uah- 
 ab-Ra, b.c. 591-572 : he is the Hophra of the 
 Bible. Of him the prophet wrote : " Thus 
 saith the Lord ; behold, I will give Pharaoh- 
 Hophra, King of Egypt, into the hand of his 
 enemies, and into the hand of them that 
 seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah, King of 
 Judah, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar,^ 
 King of Babylon, his enem.y, and that sought 
 his life " (Jer. xliv. 30). Again ; " The Lord 
 
 ^ The same as Nebuchadnezzar II. 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. IIQ 
 
 of Hosts, the God of Israel, saith ; behold I 
 will punish the multitude of No, and Pharaoh, 
 and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings ; 
 even Pharaoh, and all them that trust in him : 
 and I will deliver them into the hand of those 
 that seek their lives, and into the hand of 
 Nebuchadrezzar, King of Babylon, and into 
 the hand of his servants " (Jer. xlvi. 25, 26). 
 Ezekiel also prophesied : " Thus saith the 
 Lord God ; behold I am against Pharaoh, 
 
 King of Egypt, and will break his arms 
 
 I will strengthen the arms of the King of 
 Babylon, and put my sword in his hand ; but 
 I will break Pharaoh's arms .... and they 
 shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall 
 put my sword into the hand of the King of 
 Babylon, and he shall stretch it out upon the 
 land of Egypt," etc. (Ezek. xxx. 22-25). 
 
 Apries, Hophra, or Uahprahet, as he is 
 called in the hieroglyphic inscriptions, made 
 a descent on the Phoenician coast and cap- 
 tured Sidon. Invited to assist Zedekiah, 
 King of Judah, against Nebuchadnezzar, King 
 of Babylon, Pharaoh-Hophra provoked an 
 Assyrian invasion of Egypt. Ultimately he 
 was dethroned by an insurrection among his 
 
I20 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 subjects, and strangled ; when Ahmes or 
 Amasis IL, one of his generals, reigned in 
 his stead. 
 
 In the Museum of the Louvre (No. A. 90, 
 of the Catalogue), there is a fine statue repre- 
 senting Nes-Hor, a functionary of this Pharaoh: 
 it came from the more ancient of the two 
 temples of Elephantine, now destroyed. In 
 the British Museum (Third Egyptian Room, 
 Upper Floor, Case C) may be seen the 
 bronze segis of Ra, inlaid with gold, and in- 
 scribed with the name of Apries (Hophra). 
 
 Scarabs or beetles made of stone, lapis- 
 lazuli, porcelain, etc., inscribed with the name 
 and title of the deceased, and used as amu- 
 lets, were placed by the ancient Egyptians on 
 the bodies of their dead. The beetle was to 
 them an emblem of the god Khepera, the 
 self-created source whence sprang gods and 
 men. According to the Egyptian myth, Ra, 
 the sun-god, who rose again daily, was a 
 form of Khepera ; hence the burial of scarabs 
 with mummies probably had reference to the 
 resurrection of the dead. Scarabs of Ra- 
 meses IL, Shashank (Shishak), Sabako (So), 
 Tirhakah, and Uah-ab-Ra (Hophra) are pre- 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 121 
 
 served in the British Museum (Fourth Egyp- 
 tian Room, Upper Floor, Table-Case D). In 
 Table-Case H is preserved a glazed steatite 
 scarab inscribed with the nomen and pre- 
 nomen of Shishak, set in a gold ring. 
 
 Situated as Palestine was between Nineveh 
 and Babylon on the one side, and Egypt on 
 the other, it was often invaded or became the 
 battle-field of those rival great powers, each 
 of whom, in turn, afflicted the chosen race. 
 So long, however, as the Jewish people 
 adhered to the worship of Jehovah they en- 
 joyed security. It was only after they had 
 abandoned themselves to idolatry and wicked- 
 ness, that their state became crushed under 
 the cruel Assyrian or Egyptian yoke. 
 
 Egypt in particular appears to have exer- 
 cised a disastrously idolatrous influence, not 
 only over the minor kingdoms of Judah 
 and Israel, but over the then known world. 
 Accordingly, Egypt was denounced by the 
 Hebrew prophets. Among numerous pro- 
 phecies relating to Egypt in the Old Testa- 
 ment, a remarkable one is recorded in 
 Ezekiel xxix. 14-15, where it is predicted that 
 Egypt " shall be there a base kingdom. It 
 
122 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 shall be the basest of the kingdoms." First 
 conquered by the Babylonians, then subjected 
 by the Persians, next by the Macedonians, 
 afterwards by the Romans, then by the 
 Saracens, next by the Mamelukes, and now 
 under the Suzerainty of Turkey; who can 
 deny the fulfilment of this prophecy ? Com- 
 pared with the might of the ancient Egyptian 
 Empire, Egypt certainly has shrunk into a 
 base kingdom. 
 
 Persia. 
 
 The tenth chapter of Genesis briefly records 
 all that is certainly known respecting the origin 
 and spread of the human race, yet there is no 
 mention in it of Persia; but the Madai or 
 Medes are named among the sons of Japhet. 
 The highlands of Central Asia, in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Ararat and the Caspian Sea, 
 appear to have been the historical cradle of 
 that Japhetic or Aryan family which, descend- 
 ing south-east on the one side into India, and 
 on the other migrating north-west into Europe, 
 philology has identified as one and the same 
 renowned Indo-European race. Corroborat- 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 1 23 
 
 ing as it does the Scriptural account, it should 
 be mentioned that the name Persia does not 
 occur on any Assyrian monument until the 
 ninth century B.C. The Aryan Medes, there- 
 fore, had acquired distinction among the 
 Western Asiatic populations before the de- 
 scent from their mountains of those other 
 Aryan tribes subsequently called Persians. 
 Still, as in the case of the origin of most 
 nations, the early history of the Medes and 
 Persians is wrapped in obscurity. 
 
 The Median empire appears to have been 
 established about 647 B.C., some thirty-eight 
 years ere the combined forces of Media under 
 Cyaxares, and those of Babylon under Nabo- 
 polassar, extinguished in blood the tyranny 
 of Nineveh. Cyaxares is said by the Greek 
 historians to have been father to Astyages, 
 King of Media ; who, they allege, gave Man- 
 dane, his daughter, in marriage to Cambyses, 
 ruler of Persia. Yet, according to an inscrip- 
 tion found at Sippara, Istuvegu, or Astyages, 
 was not, as represented by the classical writers, 
 King of the Madai or Medes, but chief of the 
 Manda, a Cimmerian or Scythian nomad 
 horde from the north, who, having invaded 
 
124 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 Western Asia, remained masters of Ekbatana. 
 Upon the death of Astyages the crown of 
 Media descended to his son, the prince known 
 in Scripture as Darius the Mede. When 
 Darius took the Babylonian kingdom he was 
 about threescore and two years old (Dan. v. 
 
 31)- 
 
 Among the Persians the Achaemenidas 
 were acknowledged as the leading family. 
 Of it came Cambyses, the same who is said 
 to have married Mandane, the Median king's 
 daughter ; and from this union sprang Cyrus, 
 who, in conjunction with his uncle Darius, 
 captured Babylon. The account of the rise 
 of Cyrus handed down by the Greek writers 
 also conflicts with that revealed to us by the 
 cuneiform inscriptions. According to the 
 latter Cyrus was originally king, not of Persia, 
 but of Ansan or Anzan, a district of Elam, to 
 the north of Persia ; and Teispes, the ancestor 
 of Cyrus, is said to have been son of the 
 Persian Akhsemenes. Teispes probably con- 
 quered Ansan and established his authority 
 there. By the decease of Darius, who left no 
 male issue, and of Cambyses, Cyrus became 
 heir to the crowns of both his father and 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 1 25 
 
 uncle ; when, welding the Medes and Persians 
 into one empire, henceforth it took the place 
 in Western Asia formerly held by the Shemitic 
 empires of Assyria and Babylon. 
 
 In the edict of Cyrus, known to Assyrio- 
 logists as his " Cylinder Inscription " (referred 
 to on p. 83), he says : Merodach, the king of 
 the gods, ^^ granted pardon to all countries, 
 even all of them : he rejoiced and fed them ; 
 he appointed also a prince who should guide in 
 righteousness the wish of the heart which his 
 hand upholds, even Cyrus the King of the city 
 of Ansan ; he has prophesied his name for sove- 
 reignty ; all men everywhere commemorate his 
 name. The land of Kurdistan and all the people 
 of the Manda he has subjected to his feet ; the 
 men of the black-heads [the Babylonians'] he has 
 caused his hand to conquer. In justice and 
 righteousness he has governed them. Merodach, 
 the great lord, the restorer of his people, beheld 
 with joy the deeds of his vice-gerent, who was 
 righteous in hand and heart. To his city of 
 Babylon he summoned his march ; he bade him 
 also take the road to Babylon ; like a friend 
 and a comrade he went at his side. The weapons 
 of his vast army, whose number, like the waters 
 
126 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 of a river ^ could not be known, were marshalled 
 in order, and it spread itself at his side. With- 
 out fighting and battle [Merodach] caused him 
 to enter into Babylon; his city of Babylon he 
 spared; in a hiding-place Nabonidos the king, 
 who revered him not, did he give into his hand. 
 The men of Babylon, all of them, and the whole 
 of Sumer and Akkad, the nobles and the high 
 priest, bowed themselves beneath him ; they 
 kissed his feet; they rejoiced at his sovereignty ; 
 their faces shone. Bel-Merodach, who through 
 trust in himself raises the dead to life, who 
 benefits all men in difficulty and fear, has in 
 goodness drawn nigh to him, has made strong 
 his name. I am Cyrus the king of multitudes, 
 the great king, the powerful king, the king of 
 Babylon, the king of Sumer and Akkad, the 
 king of the four zones, the son of Cambyses, the 
 great king, the king of the city of Ansan ; the 
 grandson of Cyrus the great king, the king of 
 the city of Ansan ; the great-grandson of Teis- 
 pes the great king, the king of the city of 
 Ansan ; of the ancient seed royal, whose rule 
 Bel and Nebo love, whose sovereignty they desire 
 according to the goodness of their hearts. At 
 that time I entered into Babylon in peace. With 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. I 27 
 
 joy and gladness I founded the throne of 
 dominion in the palace of the princes. Mero- 
 dach, the great lord, enlarged my heart ; the 
 sons of Babylon and , ... on that day I ap- 
 pointed his ministers. My vast army spread 
 itself peacefully in the midst of Babylon ; 
 throughout Sumer and Akkad I permitted no 
 gainsay er. Babylon and all its cities I governed 
 in peace. The sons of Babylon igave me] the 
 fulness of their hearts., and they bore my yoke, 
 and I restored their lives, their seat, and their 
 ruins. I delivered their prisoners. For my 
 work .... Merodach the great lord .... 
 established a decree; unto me, Cyrus, the king, 
 his worshipper, and to Cambyses my son, the 
 offspring of my heart, \^and <o] all my people 
 he graciously drew nigh, and in peace before 
 them we duly [rided}^^. All the kings who 
 inhabit the high places of all regions from the 
 Upper Sea (of Van) to the Lower Sea (the 
 Persian Gulf), the inhabitants of the in- 
 land, the kings of Syria, and the in- 
 habitants of tents, all of them brought their 
 rich tribute and in Babylon kissed my feet. 
 From the city of .... to the cities of Assur, 
 Istar-sumeli (?), and Accad, the land of Umlias, 
 
128 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 the cities of Zamban, Me-Turnut, and Durili^ 
 as far as the frontier of Kurdistan, the cities 
 [which lie upon^ the Tigris, whose seats had 
 been established from of old, I restored the gods 
 who dwelt within them to their places, and I 
 founded for them a seat that should be long- 
 enduring; all their peoples I collected, and I 
 restored their habitations. And the gods of 
 Sumer and Accad whom Nabonidos, to the 
 anger of(Merodach) the lord of the gods, had 
 brought into Babylon, by the command of Mero- 
 dach the great lord I settled in their sanctuaries 
 in peace in seats according to their hearts. 
 May all the gods whom I have brought into 
 their own cities intercede daily before Bel and 
 Neho that my days be long, may they pronounce 
 blessings upon me, and may they say to Mero- 
 dach my lord: Let Cyrus the king, thy wor- 
 shipper, and Cambyses his son [accomplish the 
 desire] of their heart ; [let them enjoy length] 
 of days," etc. 
 
 It will be observed in this account of the 
 capture of Babylon by Cyrus there is no men- 
 tion of Belshazzar, but that Nabonidos is 
 represented as king. From other cuneiform 
 inscriptions we learn that Belshazzar was not 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. I 29 
 
 the son of Nebuchadnezzar, as represented 
 in Daniel v. ii, but the eldest son of Na- 
 bonidos, who was an usurper. Some have 
 conjectured that Belshazzar was grandson to 
 Nebuchadnezzar. At all events there is a 
 discrepancy between the Biblical account of 
 Belshazzar and that handed down to us of 
 him by the Babylonian inscriptions ; a diver- 
 gence which, in the present imperfect state 
 of our knowledge of the cuneiform writings, 
 cannot be reconciled. 
 
 The same Table-Case C (Assyrian Room, 
 British Museum, Upper Floor) wherein is 
 preserved the " Cylinder Inscription " of 
 Cyrus, just quoted, also contains a small 
 terra-cotta inscribed tablet, dated in the 
 second year of Cyrus : and likewise a terra- 
 cotta contract tablet, referring to the sale of 
 two slaves, the ownership of whom being dis- 
 puted, is settled by the payment of a half- 
 maneh of silver by the buyer, Itti-Marduki- 
 Baladhu, to the representative of the rival 
 claimant. Dated at Babylon, loth day of 
 Elul, in the eighth year of Cyrus. ^ 
 
 ^ This, with all the other relics mentioned in this 
 book as preserved in certain rooms and cases at the 
 
 K 
 
130 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 Cyrus's name was expressly mentioned, and 
 the capture of Babylon by the Medes and 
 Persians foretold in Holy Scripture, long be- 
 fore he was born, or the event happened ; as 
 already noticed (see pp. 78-81). 
 
 In the first year of his reign Cyrus issued 
 a proclamation for the re-building of the 
 Temple at Jerusalem, as we read in the first 
 chapter of Ezra : " Thus saith Cyrus king of 
 Persia, the Lord God of heaven hath given 
 me all the kingdoms of the earth ; and he hath 
 charged me to build him an house at Jeru- 
 salem, which is in Judah. Who is there 
 among you of all his people ? his God be 
 with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, 
 which is in Judah, and build the house of the 
 Lord God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is 
 in Jerusalem." " Also Cyrus the king brought 
 forth the vessels of the house of the Lord 
 which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out 
 of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house 
 
 British Museum, was to be seen, as described, when 
 these sheets passed through the press. In the event 
 of any alteration of position or numbering (and 
 changes of this kind occasionally are necessitated in 
 all museums), the object sought for probably will be 
 found in some adjoining case. 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. I31 
 
 of his gods ; even those did Cyrus, king of 
 Persia bring forth by the hand of Mithredath 
 the treasurer, and numbered them unto Shesh- 
 bazzar, the prince of Judah ; " who brought 
 back the restored vessels to Jerusalem, along 
 with those of the Jews who at that time re- 
 turned from captivity in Babylon. 
 
 After a reign of twenty-nine years, Cyrus 
 died in 529 b.c. His tomb, constructed of 
 enormous blocks of white marble, may still 
 be seen in the plain of Murghab, on a site 
 usually identified with that of Pasargadae, the 
 capital of Persia in the time of Cyrus. Near 
 to the tomb stands a huge monolith on which 
 is carved a colossal winged man wearing an 
 Egyptian headdress, with this inscription, '• / 
 am Cyrus, the King, the AchcEtnenian." 
 
 In early youth the prophet Daniel was 
 carried captive to Babylon, where in the 
 second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar 
 he interpreted that monarch's dream of the 
 Four Great Empires ; of it, however, more 
 hereafter. Nebuchadnezzar in return "gave 
 him many great gifts, and made him ruler 
 over the whole province of Babylon " (Dan. 
 ii.). It was in the third year of Belshazzar, 
 
132 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 when Daniel was at the palace of Shushan 
 (Susa), as he stood by the river of Ulai, that 
 the vision of the ram and he goat appeared to 
 him. " Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, 
 and, behold, there stood before the river a 
 ram which had two horns : and the two horns 
 were high ; but one was higher than the other, 
 and the higher came up last. I saw the ram 
 pushing westward, and northward, and south- 
 ward; so that no beasts might stand before 
 him, neither was there any that could deliver 
 out of his hand ; but he did according to his 
 will, and became great. And as I was con- 
 sidering, behold, an he goat came from the 
 west, on the face of the whole earth, and 
 touched not the ground : and the goat had a 
 notable horn between his eyes. And he came 
 to the ram that had two horns, which I had 
 seen standing before the river, and ran unto 
 him in the fury of his power. And I saw him 
 come close unto the ram, and he was moved 
 with choler against him, and smote the ram, 
 and brake his two horns : and there was no 
 power in the ram to stand before him, but he 
 cast him down to the ground, and stamped 
 upon him : and there was none that could 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 1 33 
 
 deliver the ram out of his hand. Therefore 
 the he goat waxed very great : and when he 
 was strong, the great horn was broken ; and 
 for it came up four notable ones toward the 
 four winds of heaven," etc. 
 
 When Daniel sought for the meaning of 
 this vision, the angel Gabriel thus interpreted 
 it to him : — " The ram which thou sawest 
 having two horns are the kings of Media and 
 Persia. And the rough goat is the king of 
 Grecia : and the great horn that is between 
 his eyes is the first king. Now that being 
 broken, whereas four stood up for it, four 
 kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, 
 but not in his power," etc. (Dan. viii. 3-8, 
 and 20-22.) 
 
 Of this prophetic vision Daniel lived to see 
 the realization only of the first part, namely, 
 that relating to the pre-eminence of the Medo- 
 Persians; and we read that "this Daniel 
 prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the 
 reign of Cyrus the Persian" (Dan. vi. 28). 
 For although Daniel lived to a great age, he 
 had been in his grave many years ere the 
 Grecian empire was created by Alexander the 
 Great, who did not come to his throne until 
 
134 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 E.c. 336. The decisive battle of Arbela, 
 which placed the Persian empire at the feet 
 of Alexander, was fought in October, B.C. 331. 
 On the death of Alexander the Great his vast 
 empire was divided by four of his captains 
 into the kingdoms of Macedon, Thrace, 
 Egypt, and Syria : precisely as it had been 
 foretold in the book of Daniel. 
 
 Cyrus was succeeded by his son Cambyses, 
 whom Herodotus represents as a madman 
 and monster of cruelty. He caused his 
 brother Bardes, or Smerdis, as he is called in 
 Greek history, to be secretly assassinated ; 
 but the fratricidal act led.to a strange imper- 
 sonation of the deceased prince by an im- 
 postor; on hearing of whose success, Cam- 
 byses is said to have destroyed himself. 
 
 Among the inscribed baked clay tablets 
 preserved in the British Museum (Assyrian 
 Room, Upper Floor, Table-Case C) are 
 several dated during the reign of Cambyses. 
 
 Having slain the pseudo-Bardes, Darius 
 Hystaspes next ascended the Persian throne, 
 B.C. 521. Crushing a Babylonian and other 
 formidable revolts, this monarch then divided 
 his vast dominions into a number of local 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 1 35 
 
 governments called Satrapies, from whence 
 he exacted tribute, either in money or kind. 
 Between his superb palace at Susa, and Sardis 
 the western capital of his empire, Darius 
 established a rapid communication by means 
 of couriers, who travelled from post to post, 
 along the " royal road." Like other Oriental 
 despots, Darius waged great wars, both east 
 and west. In his day occurred those Persian 
 invasions of Greece that culminated in the 
 glorious victory of the Athenians at Mara- 
 thon. During the reign of this monarch was 
 struck the gold and silver coinage known as 
 " Darics." These bear for their device a rude 
 representation of an archer, and are said to 
 be the earliest coinage of the Persian empire. 
 One of the famous Persian gold darics, struck 
 in this reign, is exhibited among the coins in 
 the British Museum (Upper Floor, Archaic 
 Art, I. A-7V 
 
 On the rock of Behistun, which rises 
 
 ^ The creation of the first coinage, however, is not 
 due, as some have supposed, to Darius ; for in the 
 same British Museum collection, I. A-i, may be 
 seen a coin struck in Lydia about B. C. 700 : it is the 
 earliest known coin. 
 
136 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 abruptly 1,700 feet from a plain near Kir- 
 manshah in Persia, is carved an enduring 
 triumphal memorial of this monarch. It 
 consists of a bas-relief sculptured some 300 
 feet above the plain, representing Darius and 
 the rebels he crushed, together with nearly a 
 thousand lines in cuneiform characters. But 
 little injured by time, a row of nine persons 
 are represented tied by the neck, like slaves, 
 and approaching a personage of majestic 
 stature, who treads on a prostrate body. Be- 
 hind the king stand two warriors armed with 
 bow and spear. Over the monarch and the 
 captives are placed inscribed tablets to iden- 
 tify them. The legend over the head of the 
 king reads thus : — " / am Darius the king, the 
 king of kings, the King of Persia, the great 
 king of the provinces, the son of Hystaspes, the 
 grandson of Arsames, the Achcemenian. Says 
 Darius, the king : My father was Hystaspes ; 
 of Hystaspes, the father was Arsames ; of Ar- 
 sames, the father was Ariyaramnes ; of Ariya- 
 ramnes, the father was Teispes ; of Teispes, 
 the father was Achcemenes. Says Darius the 
 king : On that account we are called Achce- 
 menians. From antiquity we have descended; 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 1 37 
 
 from antiquity those of our race have been 
 
 kings Says Darius the king: By 
 
 the grace of Ormazd I am king. Ormazd has 
 granted to me the empire. Says Darius the 
 king : These are the countries which belong to 
 me; by the grace of Ormazd I have become 
 king of them; Persia, Susiana, Babylonia, 
 Assyria, Arabia, Egypt ; those which are of 
 the sea (i.e., islands of the Mediterranean), 
 Sparta and Ionia, Media, Armenia, Cappa- 
 docia, Parthia, Zarangia, Aria, Chorasmia, 
 Bactria, Sogdiana, Gandara, the Sacce, the Sat- 
 tagydes, Arachosia, and Mecia ; in all twenty- 
 three countries." 
 
 The atrocious cruelty of Darius son of 
 Hystaspes towards Phraortes, King of Media, 
 is recorded in the second column of the 
 Median text of this Behistun inscription. 
 After being defeated, Phraortes fled, but 
 seized, he was brought before Darius. "/ 
 cut off his nose, his tongue, and his ears, and I 
 sizing out his eyes,'' boasts the inhuman victor. 
 " He was held chained in my court. All the 
 people saw him. And afterwards I put him on 
 the cross (that is, crucified him) at Ecbatana. 
 And the men who had been his principal ad- 
 
138 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 herents I cut off their heads in the citadel of 
 Ecbatana, and I hung them up within." Who 
 can deny but that Christianity has done 
 something towards curbing the cruelty of 
 conquerors, and ameHorating the horrors of 
 war ? 
 
 Amid the ruins of his palace at far-famed 
 Persepolis, on a slab of stone twenty-six feet 
 long and six high, is incised another and 
 worthier memento of this king : ''Says Darius 
 the king : May Ormazd bring help to me, with 
 the deities who guard my house; and may 
 Ormazd protect this province from slavery^ 
 from decrepitude^ from lying: let not ivar, 
 nor slavery^ nor decrepitude, nor lies, obtain 
 power over this province. That I hereby com- 
 mit to Ormazd, with the deities who guard my 
 house." 
 
 In the British Museum Babylonian and 
 Assyrian Room, Upper Floor, Table-Case B3, 
 is a very perfect grey chalcedony cylinder, 
 containing a representation of Darius stand- 
 ing up in his chariot, and drawing the bow 
 against a lion, which, rearing on his hind legs, 
 stands before him. On each side is shown a 
 palm-tree, and above, the winged figure of 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 1 39 
 
 Ferouher. The inscription contains in Per- 
 sian, Median, and Assyrian, the words, " I am 
 Darius the Great King." In the adjoining 
 Table-Case C, is a basalt weight for two-thirds 
 of a maneh and one shekel. The trilingual 
 inscription in Persian, Median, and Babylo- 
 nian, records the name of Darius, the son of 
 Hystaspes, the Ach^emenian. About B.C. 
 520. Various inscribed clay-tablets of the 
 reign of this monarch are also preserved in 
 the same Table-Case C. One of these refers 
 to a loan of corn, by Samas-Ahi-Iddin to 
 Samas-Iddin, for " Food for the Handmaids of 
 the king," dated the sixth of Tisri, in the 27th 
 year of Darius, arc. 493 B.C. 
 
 Darius, the son of Hystaspes, died b.c. 486. 
 His richly sculptured tomb is excavated out 
 of the face of a rocky height at Nakhsh-i- 
 Rustam, about four miles from Persepolis. 
 
 The re-building of the Temple at Jerusalem, 
 long interrupted in consequence of a counter- 
 decree which the Samaritans had obtained 
 from Artaxerxes (probably the pseudo-Bardes), 
 was re-commenced in the reign of Darius 
 Hystaspes. Appealed to by the enemies of 
 the Jews, Darius commanded search to be 
 
I40 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 made for the original decree of Cyrus con- 
 cerning the Temple ; which having been 
 found among the records preserved in the 
 Median palace at " Achmetha " Ecbatana, 
 Darius issued a new decree for the advance- 
 ment of the building. The prophets Haggai 
 and Zechariah patriotically incited their 
 countrymen to the work. "And the elders 
 of the Jews builded, and they prospered 
 through the prophesying of Haggai the pro- 
 phet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And 
 they builded, and finished it, according to 
 the commandment of the God of Israel, and 
 according to the commandment of Cyrus, 
 and Darius, and Artaxerxes, king of Persia. 
 And this house was finished on the third day 
 of the month Adar, which was in the sixth 
 year of the reign of Darius the king " (Ezra 
 vi. 14-15)- 
 
 Xerxes, who then ascended the Persian 
 throne, although not the eldest son of Darius 
 Hystaspes, was born to him while he was 
 actually king, by Atossa, the daughter of 
 Cyrus. Adopting his father's project of en- 
 slaving the free states of Greece, Xerxes 
 invaded Europe by a bridge of boats thrown 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 141 
 
 across the Hellespont ; when, mustering his 
 host on the plains of Thessaly, he proceeded 
 thence by rapid marches southward towards 
 the Pass of Thermopylae. The defile was 
 gained by treachery; yet not until after a 
 dreadful slaughter of the Asiatics by Leonidas 
 and his Spartan band, who, disdaining to fly, 
 were cut off to a man, disputing the passage. 
 By the subsequent great naval victories of 
 Salamis and Mycale, with their counterpart 
 on the memorable field of Platsea, the triumph 
 of the Greeks was complete. The ambitious 
 scheme of the despot thwarted, Xerxes re- 
 turned to Susa ; and soon after his inglorious 
 life came to a violent end. 
 
 Some see in the monarch named Ahasuerus, 
 in the Book of Esther, a strong resemblance 
 to the effeminate Xerxes. Ahasuerus is the 
 natural Hebrew form of the Persian Khsha- 
 yarsha. Yet whether or not they are right 
 who identify Xerxes as that luxurious monarch 
 who "reigned from India even unto Ethiopia," 
 and who, sitting on " the throne of his king- 
 dom which was in Shushan his palace," made 
 the Jewess maiden Esther his queen ; at 
 whose suit the Jews were saved from that 
 
142 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 imminent destruction which the wile of 
 Haman had prepared for them : certain it is 
 that the Feast of Purim, the circumstances 
 attending the original appointment of which 
 are recorded in the ninth chapter of the Book 
 of Esther, and which the Jews observe to this 
 day, remains an evidence of the truth of the 
 story. 
 
 Among Perso-cuneiform inscriptions, those 
 relating to Xerxes at Persepolis are numerous. 
 The bilingual inscription of Xerxes, engraved 
 on the south side of the cliff at Van, mentions 
 that it was his father Darius who originally 
 had intended to have it made. Two vases 
 of Egyptian alabaster, one of which originally 
 belonged to Count Caylus, the other having 
 been found in the tomb of Mausolos at Hali- 
 carnassos, now in the British Museum (Mau- 
 soleum Room), bear the inscription, " Xerxes 
 the great king," written in the three types of 
 cuneiform letters, namely, Persian, Median, 
 and Assyrian ; and also an Egyptian royal 
 cartouche containing his name hieroglyphic- 
 ally expressed. 
 
 In the British Museum, Assyrian Room, 
 Upper Floor, Table-Case C, is hkewise pre- 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 1 43 
 
 served a baked clay tablet, recording a loan 
 of fruit or field produce from Bel-Iddina to 
 another person bearing also the same name. 
 Dated at Babylon, in the third year of Xerxes, 
 " King of Persia and the Medes, King of Baby- 
 lon and countries" 
 
 To Xerxes succeeded his third son Arta- 
 xerxes I. (Longimanus), B.C. 466. 
 
 It was Artaxerxes I. who commissioned 
 Ezra, the priest and scribe, to return with the 
 second body of Jewish exiles from Babylon 
 to Jerusalem ; and, as we read in the seventh 
 chapter of Ezra, they arrived at the city of 
 their fathers in the fifth month of the seventh 
 year of the king. 
 
 Nehemiah was cup-bearer to this Persian 
 monarch. In the twentieth year of his reign 
 Artaxerxes commissioned Nehemiah to re- 
 build the walls of Jerusalem ; for these, not- 
 withstanding Zerubbabel had rebuilt the 
 Temple, still remained in ruins. By appoint- 
 ment of Artaxerxes, Nehemiah continued for 
 a number of years governor of Judah. We 
 read in Nehemiah xiii. 6, that in the thirty- 
 second year of Artaxerxes, Nehemiah had 
 an audience with the king, who appears to 
 
144 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 have increased his authority to reform the 
 civil and religious condition of his country- 
 men. 
 
 A vase of grey porphyry, preserved in the 
 treasury of St. Mark's at Venice, bears the 
 inscription in Perso-cuneiform writing, then 
 falling into disuse, and also in hieroglyphics, 
 " Artaxerxes the great King." Another in- 
 scription, at Susa, attributes the restoration 
 of a palace there to the same monarch. 
 
 In the British Museum, Assyrian Room, 
 Upper Floor, Table-Case C, is a singularly 
 perfect terra-cotta tablet or syllabury contain- 
 ing the Akkadian pronunciation, the names, 
 and the Babylonian meanings of wedge-formed 
 characters : dated Ve-Adar of the tenth year 
 of Artaxerxes, arc. e.c. 455. In the same 
 Table-Case C is a baked clay tablet, referring 
 to the sale of a slave named Nana-Babili- 
 Siminni, by three men, for one mana eight 
 shekels of silver, to a man named Urmanu. 
 On the edges and blank spaces are nail marks, 
 etc. Dated at Babylon in the twenty-third 
 year of Artaxerxes, 442 e.c. Another baked 
 clay tablet, in the same Table-Case is inscribed, 
 with a kind of deed of partnership between 
 
^ $ 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 1 45 
 
 Nidintu™-Bel and Minu-Ana-Bel-Danu; dated 
 at Babylon in the twenty-eighth year of Arta- 
 xerxes, B.C. 437. 
 
 Viewed in connection with a memorable 
 prophecy, relating to the completion of our 
 Saviour's mission upon earth, the reign of 
 Artaxerxes I. is invested with peculiar inter- 
 est. It was in the first year of the reign 
 over Babylon of Darius the Mede, when 
 having, as he states, "understood by books 
 the number of the years, whereof the word of 
 the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that 
 he would accomplish seventy years in the 
 desolations of Jerusalem," Daniel set himself 
 earnestly to pray for the restoration of the 
 Holy City and its sanctuary. While he was 
 praying the angel Gabriel announced to him 
 the commencement of the period, the fulfil- 
 ment of which the same angel afterwards 
 declared to Zacharias. " Seventy weeks," 
 said the angel, " are determined upon thy 
 people and upon thy holy city, to finish the 
 transgression, and to make an end of sins, 
 and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and 
 to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to 
 seal up the vision and prophecy, and to 
 
 L 
 
146 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 anoint the most Holy." As the word "Sab- 
 bath " is often used to signify the Sabbatical 
 year, the phrase seventy weeks means seventy 
 cycles of Sabbatical years. A week consists 
 of seven days, and consequently seventy weeks 
 of 490 days. By substituting years for days 
 490 years are obtained. Now, reckoning by 
 ordinary chronology these years to commence 
 at the date of the final and effectual decree 
 of Artaxerxes Longimanus, by authority of 
 which Ezra returning with a body of Jews 
 from captivity revived the Jewish worship and 
 appointed magistrates in all the land, B.C. 457, 
 and to end with the death of Christ in a.d. ^;^, 
 exactly 490 years may be counted. By join- 
 ing the accomplishment of the prophecy with 
 the expiation of sins it is clear that the great 
 work of the Messiah was here foretold. This 
 is the famous prophecy of the Seventy Weeks, 
 recorded in the ninth chapter of the Book of 
 Daniel. 
 
 The reign of Artaxerxes I. terminated 
 B.C. 425. 
 
 As the Old Testament history ends with the 
 Book ofNehemiah, who wrote during the life- 
 time of Artaxerxes, at a period when profane 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. I47 
 
 history, no longer fabulous and uncertain, 
 becomes authentic through other than Biblical 
 sources, we will now close these references to 
 those ancient empires so often mentioned in 
 Holy Writ. 
 
 By the discovery of many ancient inscrip- 
 tions and the unravelling in recent times of 
 their long-locked-up meaning, we gain a great 
 insight into the histories of the bygone empires 
 of the Old Testament, and their now extinct 
 idolatries ; and the result is to strengthen our 
 conviction of the historic accuracy of the 
 Bible. Not that the truth of the Old Testa- 
 ment scriptures depends on the interpretation 
 which may be given by scholars of any 
 hieroglyphic or cuneiform writing ; we cite 
 these monumental records merely as generally 
 confirmatory of that mass of independent 
 evidence for the truth of the Bible which had 
 been previously accumulated. 
 
 The Assyrian story of the Creation in its 
 main outHnes bears a resemblance to the 
 sublime account of the Creation given in the 
 first chapter of Genesis. The terra-cotta 
 fragments whereon the Assyrian legend is 
 
148 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 inscribed, brought from the mounds of Nine- 
 veh, beneath which they had been hidden for 
 twenty-five centuries, are now exhibited in the 
 British Museum, Kouyunjik Gallery, Table- 
 Case A. Fragment No. 3 describes the first 
 three days of the Creation, when, as yet, the 
 heavens and earth were not, when there were 
 no plants, and when the water-deep was the 
 origin of all things. The creation of the 
 moon and stars is referred to on fragment 4. 
 
 The Assyrian account of the Fall of Man 
 is inscribed on the terra-cotta fragment No. 6, 
 preserved in the same Table-Case. 
 
 In the autumn of 1872 the late Mr. George 
 Smith discovered in the British Museum col- 
 lection of cuneiform tablets the principal frag- 
 ments of a Chaldean account of the Deluge. 
 Afterwards he found several new pieces of the 
 same in the Museum collection ; and during 
 two successive journeys which he made to the 
 site of Nineveh, from the royal library of which 
 all the tablets had been originally abstracted, 
 he procured about a dozen other fragments 
 of the legend. An interlinear translation of 
 these Deluge tablets, by Mr. George Smith, 
 appeared in the " Transactions of the Society 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 1 49 
 
 of Biblical Archaeology," vol. iii., p. 530 ; 
 it was reprinted in "Records of the Past," 
 vol. vii., pp. 133-149- 
 
 In this very ancient traditional account of 
 the Deluge, various circumstances are men- 
 tioned tallying in a remarkable manner with 
 the account of the Deluge recorded by Moses 
 in the sixth, seventh, and eighth chapters of 
 Genesis. Thus, in the tablets we read of the 
 building of a ship or ark, and the pouring of 
 bitumen over both her outside and inside ; of 
 the destruction of the world on account of 
 sin ; of the provisioning, and the going up 
 into the ship of " the seed of life, the whole," 
 with beasts, etc. ; of the shutting of the door 
 of the ship when " The raging of a storm in 
 the morning arose, from the horizon of heaven 
 extending and wide. Vul in the midst of it 
 thundered, and Neho and Saru went in front, 
 the throne bearers went over mountains and 
 plains^ the destroyer Nergal overturned, Ninip 
 went in front and cast down, the spirits carried 
 destruction, in their glory they swept the earth; 
 of Vul the flood reached to heaven. The bright 
 earth to a waste was turned, the surface of the 
 earth like . ... it swept, it destroyed all life 
 
150 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 from the face of the earth .... the strong 
 deluge over the people reached to heaven." The 
 grounding of the ship on a mountain is also 
 related, and the sending forth of a dove. 
 " The dove went and turned, and a resting-place 
 it did not find, and it returned. . . . I [Xisu- 
 thrus, JVoa/i] sent forth a raven and it left. 
 The raven went, and the corpses on the water it 
 saw, and it did eat, it stvam, and wandered 
 away, and did not return. I sent the animals 
 forth to the four tvinds, I poured out a libation, 
 I built an altar on the peak of the mountain. 
 . . . The gods collected at its burning, the gods 
 collected at its good burning,'" etc. 
 
 All the inscribed terra-cotta tablets referred 
 to above may be seen in the Kouyunjik 
 Gallery, Table-Case A. There also can be 
 viewed another terra-cotta tablet (No. 12), on 
 which is recorded the building of the Tower 
 of Babel. 
 
 The Moabite stone found at Dhiban, 
 August 19th, 1868 (briefly noticed on p. 10), 
 contains an inscription of deep interest. It 
 is the narrative by Mesha, a Moabite king, of 
 his battles and conquests, the same who was 
 a contemporary of x^hab, King of Israel, and 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 151 
 
 it refers to events which are recorded in 
 II. Kings iii. 4-27. " Mesha king of Moab 
 was a sheepmaster, and rendered unto the 
 king of Israel an hundred thousand lambs, 
 and an hundred thousand rams, with the 
 wool. But it came to pass, when Ahab was 
 dead, that the king of Moab rebelled against 
 the king of Israel," etc. The characters of 
 the inscription belong to the southern branch 
 of the old Phoenician alphabet. The foUow- 
 is the general tenor of the translation : " /, 
 Mesha, son of Chemosh-Melech King of Moab 
 the Dibonite. My father reigned (over Moab) 
 thirty years and I reigned after my father. I 
 made this monument to Chemosh at Korkhah, a 
 monument of salvation, for he saved me from 
 all invaders, and made me look upon all my 
 enemies with contempt. 
 
 " Omri (was) King of Israel, and he op- 
 pressed Moab many days, for Chemosh was 
 angry with his land. His son (Ahab) sue- 
 ceeded him, and he also said, ' I will oppress 
 Moab.' In my days (Chemosh) said I will 
 visit him and his house. And Israel surely 
 was ruined for ever. Omri took the land of 
 Medeba. And he dwelt there during his days 
 
152 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 and half of the days of his son, altogether forty 
 years. But Chemosh dwelt in it in my time. 
 
 " Then I built Baal Meon and constructed 
 Qiriathaim. 
 
 '•^ And the men of Gad dwelt in the country 
 of (Ataroth) from ancient times, and the King 
 of Israel had built the city of Ataroth. 1 at- 
 tacked the city and I took it, and I killed all 
 the people of the city, as a spectacle to Chemosh 
 and to Moab," etc. 
 
 In the second northern gallery of the 
 British Museum, Room II., Wall-Case 29, is 
 a cast of the inscription on the Moabite stone, 
 with restorations from a paper squeeze of the 
 whole, which had fortunately been secured 
 before the wild Arabs, angry at the probable 
 removal of a stone which in their eyes ap- 
 peared to possess supernatural powers, lit a 
 fire under the precious relic, and making it 
 red-hot, then poured cold water on it, and 
 smashed it to pieces. About two-thirds of the 
 stone, consisting of twenty-eight fragments, 
 have been recovered, and are now preserved 
 in the museum at Constantinople. 
 
 Next in antiquity to the inscription on the 
 Moabite stone is the inscription of Siloam. 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 1 53 
 
 This also belongs to the southern or Jewish 
 branch of the old Phoenician alphabet. It is 
 engraved on the rocky wall of the subter- 
 ranean channel that conveys the water of the 
 Virgin's Spring at Jerusalem into the Pool of 
 Siloam. According to Captain Conder's 
 measurement, the tunnel is 1,708 yards long. 
 From the inscription we learn that the work- 
 men began to cut the conduit simultaneously 
 at both ends, intending to meet in the middle. 
 This, however, they did not succeed in doing ; 
 although they approached one another near 
 enough for the miners in the one half of the 
 tunnel to hear the sound of the pickaxes of 
 those in the other; when, the two halves being 
 joined, the tunnel was completed. The 
 Virgin's Spring is outside the wall of Jeru- 
 salem, on the side of a hill overlooking the 
 valley of Kedron. Being the only natural 
 spring or " Gihon " in the neighbourhood, the 
 command of its water supply was of great im- 
 portance to the inhabitants of the Jewish 
 capital ; hence the necessity of cutting this 
 conduit to convey its waters to the ancient 
 reservoir within the city, known as the Pool 
 of Siloam. In II. Kings xx. 20, we read that 
 
154 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 Hezekiah " made a pool, and a conduit, and 
 brought water into the city;" and inll.Chron. 
 xxxii. 30, it is stated that "this same Heze- 
 kiah also stopped the upper watercourse of 
 Gihon, and brought it straight down to the 
 west side of the city of David." The upper 
 watercourse of Gihon here mentioned is only 
 another name for the Virgin's Spring, to con- 
 vey the waters of which into Jerusalem the 
 King of Judah caused an underground con- 
 duit to be constructed. Again, we read that 
 " When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was 
 come, and that he was purposed to fight 
 against Jerusalem, he took counsel with his 
 princes and his mighty men to stop the waters 
 of the fountains which were without the city : 
 and they did help him" (H.Chron. xxxii. 2,3). 
 In other words, Hezekiah caused this outside 
 spring to be then concealed, probably under 
 masonry or earth, so that the besieging As- 
 syrian army might suffer from thirst, whilst 
 Hezekiah's own subjects inside the walls of 
 Jerusalem, by means of the conduit he had 
 made, enjoyed the waters of the outside 
 spring. 
 
 The date of the inscription on the Siloam 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 1 55 
 
 tunnel has been assigned to the reign of 
 Hezekiah, about b.c. 700. A cast of the in- 
 scription can be seen in the Second Northern 
 Gallery of the British Museum, Room 11. , 
 Wall- Case 30-1. 
 
 "The plain of Dura, in the province of 
 Babylon " (Dan. iii. 1-30). The scene of the 
 narrative of the golden image which Nebu- 
 chadnezzar set up is now known to have been 
 an extensive plain southward of Babylon. 
 Describing the ruins aictour de Baby lone ^ M. 
 Oppert writes, "the group which touches 
 nearest on the boundary of the city is that of 
 Dura" (Oppert, "Mesopotamie," liv. ii. c. x.) 
 Journeying thence a short distance, an old 
 water-course called Nahi'-Dicra (River Dura) 
 is reached, and at length a number of little 
 mounds on the south-east, bearing the name 
 of Tolul-Dura^ or mounds of Dura. 
 
 Doubtless many ancient monuments have 
 fallen victims to the ravages of time that 
 might, had they survived, also have attested 
 the historic accuracy of the Old Testament ; 
 such, for instance, as the memorial referred 
 to in the following description. The tract of 
 land occupied by the Phoenicians or Canaan- 
 
156 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 ites in very early times, extended from Le- 
 banon on the north to the Dead Sea on the 
 south, and from the Mediterranean on the 
 west, to the river Jordan on the east. About 
 the year 1300 B.C. the Israelites, led by Joshua 
 the son of Nun, invaded the country, and 
 driving the inhabitants from the interior con- 
 fined them to a narrow strip of the Mediter- 
 ranean coast. From their chief cities of Tyre 
 and Sidon the Phoenicians became the great 
 traders of the ancient world ; they were also 
 early colonizers. Procopius mentions (" De 
 bello Vandalico," ii. 10) that in his time two 
 huge stone pillars existed in the Numidian 
 town of Tirgisis, inscribed by the inhabitants, 
 in Phoenician, with the legend, " We are they 
 who fled from before Joshua the Robber, the 
 son of Nun." 
 
 Among many other rare coins preserved in 
 the British Museum (IV. A. 31) are some 
 Jewish shekels having on the obverse a chalice 
 which is believed to represent the Pot of 
 Manna, and on the reverse a triple lily, sup- 
 posed to stand for Aaron's rod. The inscrip- 
 tions in the old Hebrew character are to be 
 translated " Shekel of Israel," and ^^ Jerusalem 
 

 ^^ms»m 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 157 
 
 the Holy." These are the oldest Jewish coins 
 known. They are said to have been struck 
 by Simon Maccabaeus, B.C. 143-135. 
 
 A sculptured representation of the (six, or 
 inclusive of the central stalk or shaft, the) 
 seven-branched Golden Candlestick (Exod. 
 xxxvii. 17, 18); the Table of Shew-bread, 
 and Pot of Manna, with the Trumpets, 
 snatched by the Roman soldiery, on the cap- 
 ture of Jerusalem, from the burning Temple ; 
 appears in bold relief on the side of that well- 
 known monument, the Arch of Titus, which, 
 by order of the Senate was erected at Rome, 
 to commemorate the triumph of the Roman 
 arms in Judaea. 
 
 The foregoing are but a few out of many 
 examples that might be cited to show how 
 extensive and varied is the range of monu- 
 mental coincidences with the Old Testament. 
 If to the evidence these yield be added the 
 confirmation to be derived from certain me- 
 morials of a different character, each in its 
 way, however, a veritable monument, the 
 truth of the scriptures of the Old Testament 
 is further assured. 
 
 For instance : — The rite of circumcision 
 
158 OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 Still practised by the Jews remains an endur- 
 ing token of the covenant that God made 
 with Abraham their ancestor (Gen. xvii. 9- 
 
 14). ^ 
 
 Think for a moment on what is signified by 
 the Feast of Passover. At the institution of 
 the Passover the beginning of the year was 
 changed. " This month shall be unto you 
 the beginning of months : it shall be the first 
 
 month of the year to you In the 
 
 tenth day of this month they shall take to 
 them every man a lamb (without blemish), 
 according to the house of their fathers, a lamb 
 
 for an house And ye shall keep it up 
 
 until the fourteenth day of the same month : 
 and the whole assembly of the congregation 
 of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And 
 they shall take of the blood, and strike it on 
 the two side posts and on the upper door 
 post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. 
 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, 
 roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and 
 
 with bitter herbs they shall eat it And 
 
 thus shall ye eat it ; with your loins girded, 
 your shoes on your feet, and your staff in 
 your hand ; and ye shall eat it in haste : it is 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 1 59 
 
 the Lord's passover. For I will pass through 
 the land of Egypt this night, and will smite 
 all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both 
 man and beast ; and against all the gods of 
 Egypt I will execute judgment : I am the 
 Lord. And the blood shall be to you for a 
 token upon the houses where ye are : and 
 when I see the blood, I will pass over you, 
 and the plague shall not be upon you to 
 destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. 
 And this day shall be unto you for a memo- 
 rial ; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord 
 throughout your generations ; ye shall keep it 
 a feast by an ordinance for ever " (Exodus xii. 
 2-14). To the due celebration of the Passover, 
 down to the time of our Lord, we have 
 repeated attestations in the Scriptures ; and 
 at the present day the ordinance is religiously 
 observed by the Jews. 
 
 If the account handed down to us by Moses 
 of the institution of the Passover is a fable, 
 how comes it that this Feast is kept by the 
 Jews ? But it would be as hard for the sceptic 
 to answer this, as to explain why the Jews 
 keep their Sabbath on the last day of the 
 week, whereas the first day of the week is 
 
l6o OLD TESTAMENT AND 
 
 set apart by the Christians. Like the institu- 
 tion of the Lord's Supper, these are historical 
 monuments of much interest. The first de- 
 monstrates the fact that the destroying angel 
 did ^ass over the dwellings of the Israelites, 
 whilst the first-born of their oppressors were 
 cut off. The second points to the Resurrec- 
 tion of Christ from the dead on the third day 
 after his Crucifixion ; in commemoration 
 whereof the alteration was made from the 
 Jewish to the Christian Sabbath. The third 
 dates uninterruptedly from its institution by 
 the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was 
 betrayed. 
 
 The preservation of the Jews after so many 
 wars, massacres and persecutions, and the 
 destruction of their enemies, constitute a 
 monument of Divine Providence, singularly 
 coincident with Holy Writ. The Assyrians 
 who carried away captive the ten tribes of 
 Israel ; the Babylonians who afterwards trans- 
 ported the tribes of Judah and Benjamin ; 
 the Syro-Macedonians who cruelly persecuted 
 the Jews in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes ; 
 and the Romans by whom the Jewish State 
 was finally broken up ; these famous empires 
 
MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. l6l 
 
 have perished : yet weak, and dispersed among 
 all nations as they are, the Jews subsist as a 
 distinct people to this day. " Fear thou not, 
 
 Jacob my servant, saith the Lord : for I am 
 with thee ; for I will make a full end of all 
 the nations whither I have driven thee : but 
 
 1 will not make a full end of thee" (Jer. 
 xlvi. 28). 
 
 There could not be a stronger evidence 
 of the Divine legation of Moses than the 
 history of the Jews. The prediction contained 
 in the twenty-eighth, twenty-ninth, and thir- 
 tieth chapters of Deuteronomy respecting the 
 future condition of a people who at the time 
 of its delivery were on the eve of victoriously 
 entering the land of Canaan, and which their 
 great lawgiver uttered more than fourteen 
 hundred years before the final dispersion of 
 the Jews, has been exactly fulfilled in all its 
 numerous particulars. Every student of his- 
 tory knows this. 
 
 The subterfuge that the prophecy was 
 uttered after the event will not apply to the 
 prediction of Moses, since it can be proved 
 to have been existent in writing many hundred 
 years before the destruction of Jerusalem. 
 ]\i 
 
1 62 MONUMENTAL COINCIDENCES. 
 
 The Samaritan Pentateuch, which contains 
 the prophecy referred to, certainly belongs to 
 a date earlier than the captivity of Judah, as 
 the Samaritans had no intercourse with the 
 Jews subsequently. A careful comparison of 
 its text with that of the Hebrew has shown 
 that they agree in every material point, the 
 differences being merely verbal. 
 
CONNECTION BETWEEN THE OLD 
 & NEW TESTAMENTS. 
 
 HE connection between the scrip- 
 tures of the Old Testament and 
 the scriptures of the New, is 
 shown, among various other ways, 
 by the narration in the New Testament of the 
 fulfilment of predictions recorded in the Old. 
 Prophecy has been defined as a declaration, 
 description, or representation of something 
 future, beyond the power of human sagacity 
 to discern or calculate. The Hebrew pro- 
 phets were a race of men successively raised 
 up, who, under the special guidance of the 
 Holy Spirit, for many ages delivered one pre- 
 diction after another, and gave notice of the 
 great events which, beginning in early ages, 
 reach to the consummation of all things. 
 
164 CONNECTION BETWEEN THE 
 
 Among numerous other evidences for the 
 truth of Christianity, the evidence arising 
 from the fulfilment of prophecy, therefore, 
 demands our attention. 
 
 In the previous chapter we have shown by 
 a reference to existing monuments recovered 
 from their ruins, how various predictions 
 recorded in the Old Testament, relating to 
 the destruction of Nineveh and Babylon, 
 have been exactly fulfilled. Yet besides the 
 prophecies already cited, the Old Testament 
 contains many other predictions, the equally 
 strict accomplishment of which proves them 
 also to belong to that "sure word of prophecy; 
 whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as 
 unto a light that shineth in a dark place, 
 until the day dawn." "For the prophecy 
 came not in old time by the will of man : 
 but holy men of God spake as they were 
 moved by the Holy Ghost" (II. Peter i. 19, 
 21). Mark the warnings of Moses to the 
 Jews, recorded in the tv/enty-eighth chapter of 
 Deuteronomy. Moses plainly foretold to the 
 Israelites that if they forsook the covenant of 
 the Lord God of their fathers, and worshipped 
 other gods, they would be "plucked from 
 
OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 1 65 
 
 off" their own land, and scattered from " one 
 end of the earth even unto the other ; " that 
 they should become "an astonishment, a 
 proverb, and a by- word, among all nations ; " 
 and yet, that they should continue to subsist as 
 a distinct people. For the accomplishment, 
 ages after their delivery, of these singular 
 denunciations of their great lawgiver, we 
 have but to turn over the pages of Jewish 
 history. If Moses was not an inspired pro- 
 phet, how can the extraordinary fulfilment of 
 his threatenings be accounted for? And 
 what were all the rites and propitiatory 
 sacrifices of the Levitical priesthood, and the 
 Temple, but *' a shadow of good things to 
 come ; " premonitory types of Christ and His 
 glorious redemption. The intimate analogy 
 between the Mosaical and Christian dispen- 
 sations is explained by our Lord and His 
 Apostles. God, in His goodness, has fur- 
 nished every age with sufficient evidence of 
 the truth. Miracles were the proofs of revela- 
 tion to the first ages who saw them performed : 
 prophecies are the proofs of revelation to us, 
 and to the last ages who shall see them ful- 
 filled. 
 
l66 CONNECTION BETWEEN THE 
 
 In this short treatise we must confine our- 
 selves to a few out of the numerous prophecies 
 in the Old Testament relating to Christ. 
 " Of which salvation the prophets have 
 enquired and searched diligently . . . search- 
 ing what, or what manner of time the Spirit 
 of Christ which was in them did signify, 
 when it testified beforehand the sufferings of 
 Christy and the glory that should follow" 
 (I. Peter i, lo-ii). It is from the scriptures 
 of the New Testament we learn that "the 
 testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy " 
 (Rev. xix. id). 
 
 The advent of a great deliverer is indicated 
 at the commencement of the Bible. Im- 
 mediately after the fall of our first parents, 
 and their consequent arraignment, the Lord 
 God said unto the serpent, that instrument 
 of their seduction, " I will put enmity between 
 thee and the woman, and between thy seed 
 and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and 
 thou shalt bruise his heel " (Gen. iii. 15). 
 Searching the Scriptures for a record of the 
 fulfilment of this primeval prophecy, we 
 alight upon accounts transmitted to us by 
 four Evansrelists of the life and death of 
 
OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 1 67 
 
 Christ. " For this purpose," says St. John, 
 "the Son of God was manifested, that he 
 might destroy the works of the devil " (I. John 
 iii. 8). " The God of peace shall bruise Satan 
 under your feet shortly," wrote St. Paul, 
 Romans xvi. 20. 
 
 When God called Abraham, He blessed him, 
 and promised : " in thee shall all famiUes of 
 the earth be blessed" (Gen. xii. 3). On 
 another occasion the Lord said, " Abraham 
 shall surely become a great and mighty 
 nation, and all the nations of the earth shall 
 be blessed in him " (Gen. xviii. 18). Again, 
 in Gen. xxii. 16-18, occur these remarkable 
 words : " By myself have I sworn, saith the 
 Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, 
 and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son : 
 that in blessing I will bless thee, and in 
 multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the 
 stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is 
 upon the sea shore, and thy seed shall possess 
 the gate of his enemies ; and in thy seed 
 shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." 
 This promise was afterwards solemnly con- 
 firmed both to Isaac, the son, and to Jacob, 
 the grandson, of Abraham. In His human 
 
1 68 CONNECTION BETWEEN THE 
 
 nature our Lord descended from Abraham. 
 The Virgin Alary, and also Zacharias, in 
 their hymns of holy joy on account of the 
 near advent of Christ, dwelt, with rapture, on 
 the fulfilment of the divine assurance to 
 Abraham. "And Mary said, my soul doth 
 magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath re- 
 joiced in God my Saviour. . . . He hath 
 holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance 
 of his mercy ; as he spake to our fathers, to 
 Abraham, and to his seed for ever " (Luke 
 i. 46-55). And Zacharias, filled with the 
 Holy Ghost, prophesied, saying : " Blessed 
 be the Lord God of Israel ; for he hath 
 visited and redeemed his people, and hath 
 raised up an horn of salvation for us in the 
 house of his servant David; as he spake 
 by the mouth of his holy prophets, which 
 have been since the world began : that we 
 should be saved from our enemies, and from 
 the hand of all that hate us ; to perform the 
 mercy promised to our fathers, and to re- 
 member his holy covenant ; the oath which 
 he sware to our father Abraham," etc. 
 (Luke i. 67-73). 
 
 Gathering his sons together that he might 
 
OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 1 69 
 
 tell them what should befall them in the last 
 days, the dying patriarch Jacob gave utter- 
 ance to this prediction: "The sceptre shall 
 not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from 
 between his feet, until Shiloh come; and 
 unto him shall the gathering of the people 
 be" (Gen. xlix. lo). As is well known, the 
 Jewish polity was not finally broken up until 
 the time of Christ. 
 
 Prophesying of the happiness of Israel, 
 Balaam exclaimed : " I shall see him, but 
 not now : I shall behold him, but not nigh : 
 there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a 
 Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite 
 the corners of Moab, and destroy all the 
 children of Sheth. . . . Out of Jacob shall 
 come he that shall have dominion " (Numb, 
 xxiv. 17, 19). When announcing the mira- 
 culous conception of our Lord, the angel 
 Gabriel thus addressed the Virgin Mary : 
 *' Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, 
 and bring forth a son, and shalt call his 
 name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall 
 be called the Son of the Highest : and the 
 Lord God shall give unto him the throne 
 of his father David : and he shall reign over 
 
lyo CONNECTION BETWEEN THE 
 
 the house of Jacob for ever ; and of his 
 Kingdom there shall be no end " (Luke i. 
 
 3^-33)' 
 
 We read in Deuteronomy xviii. 18-19, 
 that the Lord said unto Moses, " I will raise 
 them up a Prophet from among their brethren, 
 like unto thee, and will put my words in 
 his mouth; and he shall speak unto them 
 all that I shall command him. And it shall 
 come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken 
 unto my words which he shall speak in my 
 name, I will require it of him." Soon after 
 the Resurrection, the Apostle Peter announced 
 that Christ was the Prophet thus referred to in 
 Deuteronomy ; quoting in his sermon these 
 words from the Pentateuch : " For Moses 
 truly said unto the fathers, a prophet shall 
 the Lord your God raise up unto you of your 
 brethren, like unto me ; him shall ye hear in 
 all things," etc. (Acts iii. 22). 
 
 The infinite righteousness, unsearchable 
 wisdom, and power of the Eternal, are sub- 
 limely contrasted, in the book of Job, with 
 the ignorance and impotence of man. Living 
 at a period probably antecedent to any written 
 word, yet divinely instructed, the patriarch, 
 
OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 171 
 
 rising superior to despair, looked beyond the 
 storms and troubles of this mortal life : 
 "For I know," said he, ''that my Redeemer 
 liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter 
 day upon the earth : and though after my 
 skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh 
 shall I see God " (Job xix. 25, 26). 
 
 Nothing can be more elevated and beau- 
 tiful than the compositions of the Hebrew 
 bards. The Greek and Roman poets em- 
 ployed themselves on subjects often very 
 trifling or worse ; not so the Hebrew poet, 
 who worshipped Jehovah as the sovereign of 
 his people, and delighted to celebrate the 
 Divine attributes and perfections. 
 
 There are many prophetic utterances in 
 the Psalms relating to Christ ; who, through 
 the line of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, 
 and Jacob, lineally descended from King 
 David. In Psalm Ixxxix. 3-4, it is written : 
 " I have made a covenant with my chosen, I 
 have sworn unto David my servant, thy seed 
 will I establish for ever, and build up thy 
 throne to all generations; " and at verses 35- 
 37: "Once have I sworn by my holiness 
 that I will not lie unto David. His seed 
 
172 CONNECTION BETWEEN THE 
 
 shall endure for ever, and his throne as the 
 sun before me. It shall be established for 
 ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in 
 heaven." Observe the fulfilment of this in 
 the passage just quoted from Luke i. 31-33. 
 
 The kingdom, priesthood, conquest, and 
 passion of Christ are all evidently referred to 
 in Psalm ex., commencing : " The Lord said 
 unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, 
 until I make thine enemies thy footstool." 
 Our Lord confuted the Pharisees who denied 
 his divinity by citing this scripture. "Jesus 
 asked them, saying, what think ye of Christ ? 
 Whose son is he ? They say unto him, the 
 son of David. He saith unto them, how 
 then doth David in spirit call him Lord, 
 saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit 
 thou on my right hand till I make thine 
 enemies thy footstool? If David then call 
 him Lord, how is he his son ? And no man 
 was able to answer him a word, neither durst 
 any man from that day forth ask him any 
 more questions" (Matt. xxii. 41-46). In 
 reference to this same passage in the Psalms, 
 it is expressly declared, Mark xii. 36, that 
 *' David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The 
 
OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 1 73 
 
 Lord said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right 
 hand, till I make thine enemies thy foot- 
 stool." 
 
 The divine nature of Christ is also in- 
 dicated by words occurring, Psalm ii. 7 : 
 " The Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my 
 Son ; this day have I begotten thee." Preach- 
 ing at Antioch, that Jesus is Christ, St. Paul 
 observed: "As it is also written in the 
 second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day 
 have I begotten thee " (Acts xiii. :^:^). 
 
 In Psalm xlv. 6, 7, are displayed the 
 majesty and grace of the Kingdom of Christ : 
 "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: 
 the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre. 
 Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wicked- 
 ness ; therefore God, thy God, hath anointed 
 thee with the oil of gladness above thy 
 fellows." This passage is quoted in Hebrews 
 i. 8-9, where it is classed among other 
 Divine utterances by the Old Testament 
 prophets. 
 
 See also Psalm Ixxii. 13, 14 and 17; where- 
 in David, praying for Solomon, evidently 
 represents him as a type of the goodness 
 and glory of Christ's kingdom: "He shall 
 
174 CONNECTION BETWEEN THE 
 
 spare the poor and needy, and shall save the 
 souls of the needy. He shall redeem their 
 soul from deceit and violence : and precious 
 shall their blood be in his sight . . . His 
 name shall endure for ever : his name shall 
 be continued as long as the sun : and men 
 shall be blessed in him : all nations shall call 
 him blessed." 
 
 The prediction involved in Psalm Ixix. 9 : 
 " For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me 
 up/' was fulfilled at the purging of the 
 Temple by Christ : " And his disciples re- 
 membered that it was written, The zeal of 
 thine house hath eaten me up " (John ii. 17). 
 
 "Out of the mouth of babes and suck- 
 lings hast thou ordained strength because of 
 thine enemies" (Psalm viii. 2). Compare 
 with it Matt. xxi. 15, 16: "When the chief 
 priests and scribes saw the wonderful things 
 that he did, and the children crying in the 
 temple, and saying, Hosanna to the son of 
 David ; they were sore displeased, and said 
 unto him, Hearest thou what these say ? 
 And Jesus saith unto them. Yea; have ye 
 never read. Out of the mouth of babes and 
 sucklings thou hast perfected praise ? " 
 
OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 1 75 
 
 Rejection of Christ. Psalm ii. i, 3: "Why 
 do the heathen rage, and the people imagine 
 a vain thing? The kings of the earth set 
 themselves, and the rulers take counsel to- 
 gether, against the Lord, and against his 
 anointed, saying, Let us break their bands 
 asunder, and cast away their cords from us," 
 etc. That this is a prophetic psalm, relating 
 to Christ, appears from the following passage 
 in Acts iv. 24, 25 : " Lord, thou art God, 
 which hast made heaven, and earth, and the 
 sea, and all that in them is : Who by the 
 mouth of thy servant David hast said. Why 
 did the heathen rage, and the people imagine 
 vain things ? The kings of the earth stood 
 up, and the rulers were gathered together 
 against the Lord, and against his Christ," 
 etc. 
 
 The Exaltation of Christ is foreshadowed 
 in that verse : " The stone which the builders 
 refused is become the head stone of the 
 corner. This is the Lord's doing ; it is mar- 
 vellous in our eyes" (Psalm cxviii. 22, 23). 
 At the conclusion of His parable of the hus- 
 bandmen who slew such as were sent unto 
 them, Jesus put this question to the listen- 
 
176 CONNECTION BETWEEN THE 
 
 ing chief priests and elders, " Did ye never 
 read in the Scriptures, The stone which the 
 builders rejected, the same is become the 
 head of the corner : this is the Lord's doing, 
 and it is marvellous in our eyes" (Matt, 
 xxi. 42). 
 
 Various incidents connected with the cru- 
 cifixion of our Lord are plainly noted before- 
 hand in the Psalms. Thus : 
 
 The singular silence of Christ when under 
 accusation is indicated, Psalm xxxyiii. 13 : 
 *' But I, as a deaf man, heard not ; and I was 
 as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth." 
 It is recorded in Matt, xxvii. 12-14, that 
 " When he [Jesus] was accused of the chief 
 priests and elders, he answered nothing. 
 Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not 
 how many things they witness against thee ? 
 And he answered him to never a word ; inso- 
 much that the governor marvelled greatly." 
 
 The cruel mockery our Saviour endured is 
 foretold in Psalm xxii. 7, 8 : " All they that 
 see me laugh me to scorn : they shoot out 
 the lip, they shake the head, saying, he trusted 
 on the Lord that he would deliver him : let 
 him deliver him." Compare this with Matt. 
 
OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 1 77 
 
 xxvii. 39, 41, 43 : "And they that passed by 
 reviled him, wagging their heads. . . . Like- 
 wise also the chief priests mocking him, with 
 the scribes and elders, said, . . . He trusted 
 in God ; let him deliver him now, if he will 
 have him." 
 
 The parting of Christ's garments and cast- 
 ing lots for His coat are both clearly foretold 
 in Psalm xxii. i8 : "They part ray garments 
 among them, and cast lots upon my vesture." 
 The evangelist John, who was an eye-witness 
 of the crucifixion of our Lord, has handed 
 down to us a circumstantial account of the 
 way in which this prophetic utterance of the 
 Psalmist came to be fulfilled: "Then the 
 soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took 
 his garments, and made four parts, to every 
 soldier a part ; and also his coat : now the 
 coat was without seam, woven from the top 
 throughout. They said therefore among 
 themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots 
 for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture 
 might be fulfilled, which saith. They parted 
 my raiment among them, and for my vesture 
 they did cast lots. These things therefore 
 the soldiers did" (John xix. 23, 24). 
 
 N 
 
178 CONNECTION BETWEEN THE 
 
 The offer of gall and vinegar to Christ on 
 the cross is plainly referred to in Psalm Ixix. 
 21:" They gave me also gall for my meat ; 
 and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to 
 drink." We read in Matt, xxvii. 34, that 
 " They gave him vinegar to drink mingled 
 with gall : and when he had tasted thereof, he 
 would not drink." 
 
 In Psalm xxxiv. 20, occur these words : 
 " He keepeth all his bones : not one of them 
 is broken." It is written in Psalm xxii. 16 : 
 " They pierced my hands and my feet." The 
 apostle John records that, when, in answer to 
 the request of the Jews to Pilate that the 
 bodies of Christ and those who were crucified 
 with Him might not remain on the cross on 
 the Sabbath day, but that their deaths should 
 be hastened, by breaking their legs, so that 
 they could be taken away : " Then came the 
 soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and 
 of the other which was crucified with him. 
 But when they came to Jesus, and saw that 
 he was dead already, they brake not his legs : 
 But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced 
 his side, and forthwith came there out blood 
 and water. And he that saw it bare record, 
 
OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 1 79 
 
 and his record is true : and he knoweth that 
 he saith true, that ye might believe. For 
 these things were done that the scripture 
 should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not 
 be broken. And again another scripture 
 saith, They shall look on him whom they 
 pierced " (John xix. 32-37). 
 
 The Resurrection of Christ is foretold in 
 Psalm xvi. 8-1 1 : "I have set the Lord 
 always before me : because he is at my right 
 hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my 
 heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth : my 
 flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt 
 not leave my soul in hell ; neither wilt thou 
 suffer thine Holy One to see corruption," 
 etc. After quoting this passage, the Apostle 
 Peter thus commented on it : " Men and 
 brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the 
 patriarch David, that he is both dead and 
 buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this 
 day. Therefore being a prophet, and know- 
 ing that God had sworn with an oath to him, 
 that of the fruit of his loins, according to the 
 flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his 
 throne ; he seeing this before spake of the 
 resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not 
 
l8o CONNECTION BETWEEN THE 
 
 left in hell, neither his flesh did see corrup- 
 tion. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof 
 we all are witnesses " (Acts ii. 29-32). 
 
 Finally, the Ascension of Christ is pre- 
 figured, Psalm Ixviii. 18: "Thou hast as- 
 cended on high, thou hast led captivity cap- 
 tive," etc. The fulfilment of this will be 
 found Acts i. 9 : " And when he [the Lord] 
 had spoken these things, while they beheld, 
 he was taken up ; and a cloud received him 
 out of their sight." 
 
 To cite from the remaining books of the 
 Old Testament one or two other prophecies 
 relating to Christ. Instance the following : 
 " Behold a Virgin shall conceive, and bear a 
 son, and shall call his name Immanuel" 
 (Isaiah vii. 14). The parallel passage will be 
 found Matt. i. 22, 23: "Now all this was 
 done," says the evangelist, " that it might be 
 fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the 
 prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with 
 child, and shall bring forth a son, and they 
 shall call his name Emmanuel, which being 
 interpreted is, God with us." 
 
 Remarkable words occur, Isaiah ix. 6, 7 : 
 "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son 
 
OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 151 
 
 is given : and the government shall be upon 
 his shoulder: and his name shall be called 
 Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, 
 The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 
 Of the increase of his government and peace 
 there shall be no end, upon the throne of 
 David," etc. Compare Luke i. 31-33, pre- 
 viously quoted. 
 
 Who can doubt that those spiritual graces, 
 described with such beauty of language by 
 Isaiah throughout his book, appertain to the 
 Messiah only. Read the eleventh chapter 
 of Isaiah, beginning " And there shall come 
 forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a 
 Branch shall grow out of his roots : And the 
 spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the 
 spirit of wisdom and understanding, the 
 spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of 
 knowledge and of the fear of the Lord," etc. 
 As for the passage in Isaiah xlii. 1-4, it is 
 acknowledged to be a prophecy relating to 
 our Lord, and thus quoted in Matt. xii. 17- 
 21 : "That it might be fulfilled which was 
 spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying. Be- 
 hold my servant, whom I have chosen; my 
 beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased : I 
 
l82 CONNECTION BETWEEN THE 
 
 will put my spirit upon him, and he shall 
 shew judgment to the Gentiles. He shall 
 not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man 
 hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed 
 shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he 
 not quench, till he send forth judgment unto 
 victory. And in his name shall the Gentiles 
 trust." 
 
 Of the beautiful commencement of the 
 sixty-first chapter of Isaiah, it is narrated by 
 St. Luke iv. 16-21, that when our Lord came 
 to Nazareth, "as his custom was, he went 
 into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and 
 stood up for to read. And there was de- 
 livered unto him the book of the prophet 
 Esaias. And when he had opened the book, 
 he found the place where it was written, The 
 Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he 
 hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the 
 poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken 
 hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, 
 and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at 
 liberty them that are bruised, to preach the 
 acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed 
 the book, and he gave it again to the minister, 
 and sat down. And the eyes of all them 
 
OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 1 83 
 
 that were in the synagogue were fastened on 
 him. And he began to say unto them, This 
 day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." 
 
 Or turn to the lovely fifty-third chapter of 
 Isaiah. "Who hath believed our report? 
 and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed ? 
 For he shall grow up before him as a tender 
 plant, and as a root out of a dry ground : he 
 hath no form nor comeliness ; and when we 
 shall see him, there is no beauty that we 
 should desire him. He is despised and re- 
 jected of men ; a man of sorrows, and ac- 
 quainted with grief: and we hid as it were 
 our faces from him ; he was despised, and we 
 esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne 
 our griefs, and carried our sorrows : yet we 
 did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and 
 afflicted. But he was wounded for our trans- 
 gressions, he was bruised for our iniquities : 
 the chastisement of our peace was upon him ; 
 and with his stripes we are healed," etc. To 
 whom, but to Christ, and his vicarious suffer- 
 ings, may the above description appropriately 
 be applied ? In short, every verse of this 
 sublime chapter contains one or more pro- 
 phecies relating to our Lord, which either 
 
184 CONNECTION BETWEEN THE 
 
 have been accomplished, or are now in course 
 of fulfilment. 
 
 *'But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though 
 thou be little among the thousands of Judah, 
 yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me 
 that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings 
 forth have been from of old, from everlasting " 
 (Micah V. 2). Writing of the birth of our 
 Saviour, the evangelist Matthew relates, that 
 when King Herod demanded of the chief 
 priests and scribes where Christ should be 
 born, they replied, in Bethlehem of Judaea, 
 and quoted, as their authority, the above 
 words of Micah's prophecy : Matt. ii. 3-6. 
 
 During the reign of the Persian king, 
 Darius, when reproving the Jews for their 
 neglect in re-building the second Temple at 
 Jerusalem, as a messenger of the Lord, 
 Haggai incited the people to the work by 
 these words : — " I will shake all nations, and 
 the desire of all nations shall come : and I 
 will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord 
 of hosts. . . . The glory of this latter house 
 shall be greater than of the former, saith the 
 Lord of hosts " (Haggai ii. 7, 9). " The 
 Word," says St. John, " was made flesh, and 
 
OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 1 85 
 
 dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, 
 the glory as of the only begotten of the 
 Father,) full of grace and truth" (John i. 14). 
 Haggai's prophecy was accomplished when 
 our Lord entered the Temple. 
 
 Enough has been advanced to show the 
 intimate connection that exists between the 
 scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. 
 
 On the evening of the third day after the 
 crucifixion of Christ, as two of his disciples 
 walked towards the village of Emmaus, and 
 communed in sadness of the great event that 
 had so recently taken place at Jerusalem, 
 Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. 
 Gently upbraiding their ignorance and incre- 
 dulity, "Then he said unto them, O fools, 
 and slow of heart to believe all that the 
 prophets have spoken : Ought not Christ to 
 have suffered these things, and to enter into 
 his glory ? And beginning at Moses and all 
 the prophets, he expounded unto them in all 
 the scriptures the things concerning himself." 
 That same evening, Jesus appeared also to 
 the eleven Apostles at Jerusalem, when, be- 
 nignly reproving them too for their unbelief, 
 he showed them his hands and his feet, and 
 
1 86 CONNECTION BETWEEN THE 
 
 did eat before them. "And he said unto 
 them, These are the words which I spake 
 unto you, while I was yet with you, that all 
 things must be fulfilled which were written in 
 the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and 
 in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened 
 he their understanding, that they might 
 understand the scriptures, and said unto 
 them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved 
 Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the 
 third day : and that repentance and remis- 
 sion of sins should be preached in his name 
 among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 
 And ye are witnesses of these things " (Luke 
 xxiv. 13-48). 
 
 Here we have a strong argument in favour 
 of the inspiration of the books of the Old 
 Testament ; since, although penned by many 
 different writers, in ages distant from one 
 another, still they harmonize ; and all point 
 to one future event, namely, the Coming of 
 Christ ; which it was impossible for any of 
 the writers to have foreseen, except by divine 
 revelation. 
 
 In the Samaritan Pentateuch are to be 
 found all the predictions relating to Christ 
 
OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 187 
 
 contained in the five books of Moses. The 
 Samaritan Pentateuch probably dates from 
 the time of the revolt of the Ten Tribes, circ. 
 975 B.C. It must belong to a date earlier 
 than the Captivity of Judah, as subsequently 
 the Samaritans had no intercourse with the 
 Jews. We have thus direct evidence of 
 prophecies relating to Christ existing in 
 writing many hundred years before He 
 appeared upon earth. 
 
 Another certain proof of the genuineness 
 of these prophecies is furnished by the fact 
 that the entire Old Testament was translated 
 from the Hebrew into Greek long before the 
 time of Christ : we refer, of course, to that 
 ancient version of the Scriptures known as 
 the Septuagint. 
 
 If then these various prophecies, uttered 
 throughout the previous ages by men inspired 
 by the Deity, all relate to and centre in Jesus 
 Christ, how great must this Personage be ! 
 
 Prophecies of Daniel. — Daniel pro- 
 phesied during the time of the Babylonish 
 Captivity. The prophecies of Daniel are so 
 clear that, both in ancient as well as in 
 
I06 CONNECTION BETWEEN THE 
 
 modern times, it has been asserted that they 
 must have been written after the events 
 which they foretell. Porphyry, who flourished 
 at the latter end of the third century after 
 Christ, denied their genuineness, affirming 
 that these prophecies were composed by 
 someone who lived in Judaea about the time 
 of Antiochus Epiphanes. Another opponent 
 of the Christian faith, Collins, in his " Scheme 
 of Literal Prophecy Considered," laboured to 
 show that they must have been written in 
 the days of the Maccabees. From internal 
 and external evidence, however, it has been 
 demonstrated that the prophecies of Daniel 
 were written at the time Scripture says they 
 were penned, during the reigns of four kings, 
 namely, Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar, 
 Kings of Babylon; Darius the Mede, and 
 Cyrus, King of Persia. It can likewise be 
 proved that several of Daniel's prophecies 
 have been fulfilled since the days of Antiochus 
 Epiphanes and the Maccabees; so that his 
 credit as a prophet is established beyond 
 contradiction. 
 
 Our Lord testified that Daniel was a 
 prophet: Matt. xxiv. 15, and Mark xiii. 14. 
 
OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 189 
 
 It was in the second year of the sole reign 
 of Nebuchadnezzar that, in answer to prayer, 
 the secret of the Babylonian monarch's dream 
 was revealed unto Daniel. And he blessed 
 the God of heaven ; " for wisdom and might 
 are his : and he changeth the times and the 
 seasons : he removeth kings, and setteth up 
 kings : he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and 
 knowledge to them that know understanding : 
 he revealeth the deep and secret things : he 
 knoweth what is in the darkness, and the 
 light dwelleth with him " (Dan. ii. 19-22). 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar dreamt that a great image 
 stood before him, whose brightness was ex- 
 cellent, and the form thereof terrible. The 
 head of this image was of fine gold, his breast 
 and his arms were of silver, his belly and his 
 thighs of brass, his legs were of iron, his feet 
 and toes part of iron and part of clay. Con- 
 tinuing to address the astonished monarch, 
 " Thou sawest," said Daniel, " till that a stone 
 was cut out without hands, which smote the 
 image upon his feet that were of iron and 
 clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was 
 the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and 
 the gold, broken to pieces together, and 
 
190 CONNECTION BETWEEN THE 
 
 became like the chaff of the summer thresh- 
 ing-floors ; and the wind carried them away, 
 that no place was found for them : and the 
 stone that smote the image became a great 
 mountain, and filled the whole earth " (Dan. 
 
 ii. 34-35)- 
 
 The prophet next proceeded to interpret 
 the dream. The four different metals, gold 
 and silver, brass, and iron mixed with clay, 
 prefigured so many great kingdoms which 
 should successively reign over the earth. Of 
 these, the first was the Assyrian or Babylonian, 
 represented by the head of fine gold : 
 ''Thou," Nebuchadnezzar, " art this head of 
 gold. And after thee shall arise another 
 kingdom inferior to thee, and another third 
 kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over 
 all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall 
 be strong as iron " (Dan. ii. 38-40). 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar's empire was of vast 
 extent. The ancient historian Berosos, 
 quoted in Josephus, says that "he held in 
 subjection Egypt, Syria, Phoenicia, Arabia, 
 and by his exploits surpassed all the Chal- 
 deans and Babylonians who reigned before 
 him." His empire, however, was but of 
 
OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 191 
 
 short duration, for within a few years of his 
 decease, the Median and Persian forces being 
 united, Cyrus besieged and took Babylon, 
 and, putting an end to that empire, reared 
 upon its ruins the Medo-Persian or Persian 
 empire. This second empire was denoted 
 by the silver breast and arms of the image. 
 After lasting a little over two hundred years, 
 the Persian empire was overthrown by 
 Alexander the Great, who then set up instead 
 of it his Macedonian or Grecian empire. In 
 the dream it was fitly represented as of brass, 
 since " the brazen-coated Greeks " was an 
 epithet often appUed to the soldiery who com- 
 posed the well-trained Macedonian phalanx. 
 The fourth kingdom, typified by the lower 
 part, or iron legs, with feet and toes part of 
 iron and part of clay, of the image that Nebu- 
 chadnezzar saw in his dream, was the Roman. 
 Strong as iron, it extended its sway over the 
 known world, and then declined. By the feet 
 being part of iron and part of clay is signi- 
 fied the mingling of the Romans with the bar- 
 barous nations they had conquered. The toes 
 are the ten smaller kingdoms that sprang up 
 out of the ruins of the fallen Roman empire. 
 
192 CONNECTION BETWEEN THE 
 
 *'And in the days of these kings," said 
 Daniel, " shall the God of heaven set up a 
 kingdom which shall never be destroyed : 
 and the kingdom shall not be left to other 
 people, but it shall break in pieces and con- 
 sume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand 
 for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the 
 stone was cut out of the mountain without 
 hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, 
 the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold" 
 (Dan. ii. 44-45). This evidently refers to the 
 kingdom of Christ, Vvhich was set up on earth 
 during the days of the last of the four king- 
 doms. To show how unlike it was to the 
 kingdoms of this world, the prophet describes 
 it as forming no part of the image, but as the 
 stone cut out of the mountain without hands, 
 which smote the image and shattered it. 
 
 In this vision of the image composed of 
 four metals the foundation of all Daniel's 
 prophecies is laid. " The prophecies of 
 Daniel," says Sir Isaac Newton, "are all of 
 them related to one another, as if they were 
 but several parts of one general prophecy 
 given at several times. The first is the 
 easiest to be understood, and every follow- 
 
OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 1 93 
 
 ing prophecy adds something new to the 
 former." 
 
 In Daniel's next vision, which is that of 
 the four beasts, the prophecy of the four 
 empires is repeated, with several additions, 
 Dan. vii. The first beast was like a lion and 
 had eagle's wings ; it denotes the empire of 
 Babylonia : the second beast, like a bear, 
 represents the empire of the Persians : the 
 third beast, like a leopard, having four wings 
 and four heads, signifies the Macedonian 
 empire, which on the death of Alexander the 
 Great, after a brief struggle for power among 
 his generals, was divided by the four vic- 
 torious princes into as many kingdoms. 
 Ptolemy had Egypt and Libya, etc. ; Cassander 
 reigned over Macedonia and Greece; Lysi- 
 machus, Bithynia and Thracie ; and Seleucus, 
 Syria. The fourth beast, dreadful and exceed- 
 ing strong, which had great iron teeth, and 
 that devoured and brake in pieces and 
 stamped the residue with its feet, was the 
 Roman empire. It was larger and more 
 formidable than any of its predecessors. 
 This fourth beast is described as having ten 
 horns. The Roman empire continued in 
 o 
 
194 CONNECTION BETWEEN THE 
 
 Strength till the reign of Theodosius the 
 Great, but during the fifth century it was 
 overwhelmed by barbarian hordes from be- 
 yond the Danube and the North ; when, out 
 of its dismemberment and the settlements 
 then made, arose the ten kingdoms repre- 
 sented by the ten horns of this beast : the 
 kingdom of Ravenna, of the Lombards, the 
 Huns, Franks, Saxons, etc. 
 
 "I considered the horns," says Daniel, 
 *'and, behold, there came up among them 
 another little horn, before whom there were 
 three of the first horns plucked up by the 
 roots : and, behold, in this horn were eyes 
 like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking 
 great things ; " " whose look was more stout 
 than his fellows ; " " and the same horn made 
 war with the saints and prevailed against 
 them " (Dan. vii. 8, 20, 21). This was a horn 
 of the fourth beast, and therefore we are to 
 look for it among the nations of the Latin 
 empire after the rise of the ten horns. Ac- 
 cording to the Romanists this part of the 
 prophecy is not yet fulfilled : on the other 
 hand, the generality of Protestant writers 
 conclude that by this eleventh horn is meant 
 
OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 1 95 
 
 the Papacy. The earlier bishops of Rome 
 were eminent for their virtues, and the excel- 
 lence of their example added numbers to the 
 church. But primitive Christianity waxed 
 cold and waned. The bishop of Rome 
 gradually began to claim as a right that 
 superiority which, as bishop of the metropolis, 
 and as an enlightened guide in cases of diffi- 
 culty, had willingly been conceded to him by 
 the bishops and presbyters of the neighbour- 
 ing cities and towns. Moreover, as the 
 Roman empire declined, the power of the 
 bishop of Rome increased, first under the 
 Goths, then under the Lombards, and after- 
 wards by the calling in of the Franks. ''Three 
 of the first horns," that is, three of the first 
 kings or kingdoms, were to be plucked up 
 before him, namely: I. The exarchate of 
 Ravenna : II. The kingdom of the Lom- 
 bards : III. The state of Rome. "These," 
 according to Sir Isaac Newton, "were the 
 dominions whose kings were in the lap of St. 
 Peter, and whose crowns are now (or rather 
 were until lately) worn by the Popes (the 
 triple crown), and by the conquest of which he 
 became the little horn of the fourth beast." 
 
196 CONNECTION BETWEEN THE 
 
 The little horn had eyes, denoting watch- 
 ing and foresight ; a seer, overseer, or bishop. 
 It also had *' a mouth speaking great things," 
 and "a look more stout than his fellows." 
 Compare these indications with the gradual 
 rise and unrivalled statesmanship of the 
 Papacy; the pretended infallibility of the 
 bishop of Rome; and with that authority 
 which, during the Middle Ages, the Pope 
 asserted not only over all churches but also 
 over all the kings of the earth. " And the 
 same horn made war with the saints." Who 
 so ignorant of history as not to have heard of 
 the persecuted Waldenses and Huguenots? 
 Who so thoughtless as to forget lessons 
 taught by the Massacre of St. Bartholomew, 
 and the fires of Smithfield? Add to these 
 the horrors of the Inquisition, and the iden- 
 tification — not with the primitive church of 
 Rome but with a corrupted Papacy — seems 
 complete. 
 
 All these kingdoms will be succeeded by 
 the kingdom of the Messiah. " I beheld," 
 continued Daniel, "till the thrones were cast 
 down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose 
 garment was white as snow, and the hair of 
 
OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 1 97 
 
 his head like the pure wool : his throne'Jwas 
 like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burn- 
 ing fire. A fiery stream issued and came 
 forth from before him : thousand thousands 
 ministered unto him, and ten thousand times 
 ten thousand stood before him : the judg- 
 ment was set, and the books were opened." 
 " I saw in the night visions, and behold, one 
 like the Son of man came with the clouds of 
 heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, 
 and they brought him near before him. And 
 there was given him dominion, and glory, 
 and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and 
 languages, should serve him. His dominion 
 is an everlasting dominion, which shall not 
 pass away, and his kingdom that which shall 
 not be destroyed " (Dan. vii. 9-10, 13-14). 
 
TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 WRITING, about seventy years after 
 Christ's death, of the fire which 
 happened at Rome in the time of 
 Nero, forty years previously, the 
 historian Tacitus, referring to the Christians, 
 observes : — " Christus, the founder of that 
 name, was put to death as a criminal by 
 Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea, in the 
 reign of Tiberius : but the pernicious super- 
 stition, thus checked for a while, broke out 
 again ; and spread not only over Judea, where 
 the evil originated, but through Rome also, 
 whither everything bad upon earth finds its 
 way, and is practised. Some who confessed 
 their sect were first seized, and afterwards, by 
 their information, a vast multitude were con- 
 victed, not so much of the crime of burning 
 
TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 1 99 
 
 Rome, as of hatred to mankind. Their 
 sufferings at their execution were aggravated 
 by insult and mockery : for, some were covered 
 with the skins of wild beasts, and worried to 
 death by dogs ; — some were crucified; — others 
 were wrapped in pitched shirts, and set on fire 
 when the day closed, that they might serve as 
 lights to illumine the night. Nero lent his 
 own gardens for these executions, and ex- 
 hibited at the same time a Circensian enter- 
 tainment ; being a spectator of the whole, in 
 the dress of a charioteer ; sometimes mingling 
 with the crowd on foot, and sometimes viewing 
 the spectacles from his car." ^ 
 
 Suetonius, a contemporary of Tacitus, says : 
 — " The Christians, a set of men of a new and 
 mischievous (or magical) superstition, were 
 punished." ^^ Affecti suppliciis Christiani, genus 
 honiinum superstUionis novcB at maleficceJ^^ 
 
 The cruelties alluded to took place within 
 thirty-one years after Christ's death; during 
 the lifetime probably of some of the Apostles, 
 and certainly in the lifetime of many of their 
 converts. 
 
 ^ Tacitus, Annal. 1. xv., c. 44. 
 ^ Suet. Nero, c. 16. 
 
200 TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 In the celebrated letter to Trajan, written 
 by Pliny the Younger about a.d. 112, he 
 reports to the Emperor, as the result of his 
 inquiries, that some of those who had relin- 
 quished the Christian society, or who to save 
 themselves pretended that they had renounced 
 it, " affirmed the whole of their guilt, or their 
 error, was that they met on a stated day 
 before it was light, and addressed a form of 
 prayer to Christ, as a divinity, binding them- 
 selves by a solemn oath, not for the purposes 
 of any wicked design, but never to commit 
 any fraud, theft, or adultery, never to falsify 
 their word, nor deny a pledge when they 
 should be called upon to deliver it up ; after 
 which they were wont to separate, and then 
 reassemble, to eat in common a harmless 
 meal." Pliny, in the same letter, also bears 
 witness to the spread of Christianity, the 
 number of Christians in Bithynia and Pontus 
 being, even at that early date, so considerable 
 as to induce him, being governor of these 
 provinces, to speak of them in the following 
 terms : — " There are many of every age and of 
 both sexes; — nor has the contagion of this 
 superstition seized cities only, but smaller 
 
TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 20I 
 
 towns also, and the open country." " Multi 
 omnis cetatis^ utriusque sexus \ etia??t ; — neque 
 etiim civitates tantimi^ sed vicos etiam et agros^ 
 siiperstitionis istius contagio pervagata estJ^ ^ 
 
 These quotations from heathen writers of 
 that age prove that a Person named Christ 
 did suffer death under Pontius Pilate in Judea, 
 during the reign of Tiberius, as our Scriptures 
 allege ; and that to this Person his followers 
 paid Divine honours. The testimony of these 
 adversaries to the Christian faith also shows 
 that, notwithstanding its profession was 
 attended with great danger, yet, within about 
 eighty years after the putting to death of its 
 Founder, the Christian religion had spread 
 over Judea, and become extensively diffused 
 throughout the Roman Empire. The descrip- 
 tion handed down to us by Pliny of the manners 
 of the Christians of his time is in conformity 
 with the accounts extant in our books ; and 
 bears witness to the pure and strict morality 
 
 1 Plin. Litt., 1. X. 97. The "stated day" men- 
 tioned by Pliny, probably was the first day of the 
 week or Christian Sabbath : in the " harmless meal " 
 described as being "eat in common" by the Chris- 
 tians, there appears to be a reference to the celebration 
 of the Lord's Supper. 
 
202 TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 that prevailed among the early Christians, in 
 contrast to the frightful corruption of a sur- 
 rounding paganism. 
 
 The account given in the four Gospels, and 
 which our Scriptures contain, is the same in- 
 telligence which the Apostles and original 
 teachers of Christianity delivered. We should 
 bear in mind that the Gospel was first preached 
 and afterwards committed to writing. The 
 primary aim of the Apostles was to deliver in 
 living words a personal testimony to the grand 
 facts of the Gospel : — the Ministry, the Death, 
 and the Resurrection of our Lord. The sub- 
 stance of the history recorded by the Evan- 
 gelists was already well known, for the trans- 
 action was recent, and numerous witnesses 
 were alive to relate it. Whilst the Apostles, 
 harassed by persecution, travelled about, 
 preaching and forming societies of converts, 
 although they might address an occasional 
 letter to some of their converts, they were not, 
 as Eusebius has remarked, " greatly concerned 
 about the writing of books, being engaged in 
 a more excellent ministry." But when, through 
 the extension of the Church, a personal inter- 
 course with the Apostles could no longer be 
 
TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 203 
 
 maintained, to guard against error, it became 
 expedient to send forth authentic memoirs of 
 the life and doctrines of the Founder of the 
 Christian rehgion. Accordingly, the Evan- 
 gelist Luke introduces his narrative in the 
 following words : — " Forasmuch as many have 
 taken in hand to set forth in order a declara- 
 tion of those things w^hich are most surely 
 believed among us, even as they delivered 
 them unto us, which from the beginning were 
 eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word ; it 
 seemed good to me, also, having had perfect 
 understanding of all things from the very first, 
 to write unto thee in order, most excellent 
 Theophilus, that thou mightest know the 
 certainty of those things, wherein thou hast 
 been instructed." ^ Hence the four Gospels. 
 And these were at once recognized and 
 received by the earliest Christians, as con- 
 taining an undoubted record of facts which 
 they themselves had either witnessed, or had 
 previously heard the account of from the lips 
 of the Apostles. 
 
 The New Testament is not one, but a 
 collection of several publications by eight or 
 ^ St. Luke, c. i., vv. 1-4. 
 
204 TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 ten contemporary authors, most of whom had 
 actually seen Christ after the great event of 
 His Resurrection. From childhood we have 
 been so accustomed to regard the New Testa- 
 ment as one book, that we see in it only one 
 testimony, the whole occurs to us but as a 
 single evidence. Yet, if we reflect that, in 
 their original composition, the several docu- 
 ments which form our volume were most of 
 them the productions of separate and inde- 
 pendent witnesses, the force of the cumulative 
 testimony belonging to the evangelic history 
 will strongly impress us. Two of the Gospels 
 and several of the Epistles were written by the 
 immediate disciples of our Saviour, and pub- 
 lished in their lifetime. Celsus, an enemy to 
 Christianity, who wrote about one hundred 
 years after their publication, refers to these 
 pieces as having been written by the com- 
 panions of Jesus ; and his testimony may be 
 considered as decisive of the fact. 
 
 St. Matthew's Gospel is universally acknow- 
 ledged by Christian antiquity to have been 
 published before any other of the four Gospels. 
 There is also a considerable amount of ancient 
 testimony in favour of the opinion that the 
 
TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 205 
 
 Gospel of St. Matthew was written by him 
 originally in Hebrew or Syro-Chaldaic, the 
 common language of Palestine in his age, and 
 afterwards in Greek, the form in which it has 
 come down to us. This may account for a 
 variation in the testimony respecting the date 
 of St. Matthew's Gospel, some ancient writers 
 assigning its composition and publication to as 
 early a date as six or eight years after the 
 Ascension of Christ ; others say fifteen years, 
 or even more ; those authors who assign the 
 earlier date refer perhaps to the Hebrew 
 Gospel, whilst they who name a later date 
 may mean the Greek edition.^ 
 
 The Gospel according to St. Mark appears 
 to have been made public before the end of 
 the year 65 a.d. 
 
 St. Luke's Gospel was published A.D. 53, or, 
 at the latest, a.d. 58. 
 
 The destruction of Jerusalem occurred 
 A.D. 70. Alone of the Evangelists and the 
 Apostles, St. John wrote after that awful 
 catastrophe. He addressed a generation who 
 with their own eyes saw the fulfilment of our 
 
 ^ Bp. Wordsworth's "Introduction to St. Matthew's 
 Gospel." 
 
2o6 TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 Lord's prophetic warning concerning the 
 guilty city. For Jerusalem, after a prolonged 
 siege, had succumbed to the legions of Caesar, 
 the Jewish polity had been overthrown, the 
 magnificent Temple on Mount Moriah had 
 been burnt, its sacrifices and sacred ritual 
 abolished, and the remnant of Jews who 
 survived the horrors of that siege had been 
 either sold into slavery, or scattered to the 
 four winds of heaven. 
 
 In the Gospel according to St. John, the 
 Divine Nature of Christ is more fully declared. 
 " In the beginning was the Word, and the 
 Word was with God, and the Word was God. 
 The same was in the beginning with God. All 
 things were made by him ; and without him 
 was not anything made that was made. In 
 him was life ; and the life was the light of 
 men. And the light shineth in darkness ; and 
 the darkness comprehended it not." ^ " And 
 the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among 
 us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the 
 only-begotten of the Father,) full of grace and 
 truth." "" St. John the Evangelist, the beloved 
 
 ^ St. John, c. I, vv. 1-5. 
 ^ St. John, c. I, V. 14. 
 
TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 207 
 
 disciple who reclined on the bosom of Christ 
 at Supper, was present at most of the events 
 related by him in his Gospel. He was an eye 
 and ear witness of our Lord's journeyings, 
 discourses, miracles, Crucifixion, Resurrection, 
 and Ascension. 
 
 Of the other books forming the Canon of the 
 New Testament, the First Epistle to the Thes- 
 salonians was the earliest written of all the 
 Apostle Paul's Epistles. Both the First and 
 Second Epistle to the Thessalonians were 
 written from Corinth, a.d. 53, 54 ; the Epistle 
 to the Galatians, the First and Second Epistle 
 to the Corinthians, appear to have been written 
 A.D. 57. The Epistle to the Romans was 
 written in a.d. 58. St. Paul was at Rome 
 when he wrote his Epistles to the Ephesians, 
 Colossians, and to Philemon, a.d. 62, 63 ; 
 and that to the Philippians, at the close of his 
 imprisonment there, in a.d. 63. The Acts of 
 the Apostles conclude a.d. 63. In a.d. 64 
 was penned the Epistle to the Hebrews. 
 A.D. 65-67 saw the First Epistle to Timothy; 
 Titus ; and the Second Epistle to Timothy, 
 the latter being written probably during Paul's 
 second imprisonment, not long before his 
 
2o8 TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 martyrdom. The General Epistle of James 
 seems to have been written about a.d. 6o : to 
 this date also has been assigned the First 
 Epistle General of Peter. About a.d. 66-67, 
 were published the Second Epistle General of 
 Peter, and the General Epistle of Jude. The 
 First, Second, and Third Epistles of John 
 appear to have been written after a.d. 90. 
 And the Book of the Revelation of S. John 
 the Divine, probably in a.d. 96, at Patmos, 
 in the .^gean Sea. 
 
 Thus silently, and in places distant from 
 each other, the books of the New Testament 
 were penned ; and under the guidance of the 
 Holy Spirit the Canon of Scripture was com- 
 pleted. 
 
 The birth of Christ took place three years 
 before the common era. Our Lord is said to 
 have been about thirty years of age in the 
 fifteenth year of Tiberius. Now Tiberius was 
 admitted by Augustus in partetn imperii two 
 or three years before the death of Augustus 
 Caesar, which took place in August, a.u. 767.^ 
 The fifteenth year of Tiberius corresponds 
 with A.U. 779 or 780, and since our Lord was 
 ^ Tacit. Ann., I, 3 ; Sueton. Tiber., 20, 21. 
 
TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 209 
 
 then thirty years old, he was born A.u. 749 or 
 750. Our Saviour was crucified in the Con- 
 sulate of the two Gemini, a.u. 782.^ His 
 ministry commenced when he was thirty years 
 of age, and lasted three years and a half. The 
 common era Anno Domini (due to Dionisius 
 surnamed Exiguus, a.d. 527, and thence 
 called the Dionisian era), which makes the 
 first year from the Incarnation to coincide 
 with a.u. 753, begins three years too late. 
 
 The Crucifixion of Christ occurred at the 
 Passover, a.d. 30 ; His Ascension forty days 
 after His Resurrection ; and the Descent of 
 the Holy Spirit at the Feast of Pentecost, 
 fifty days after the Passover. 
 
 The Resurrection of our Lord from the 
 dead is the seal and confirmation of His 
 divinity and of the truth of His religion. 
 Among the numerous well-attested miracles 
 recorded in the New Testament, none is so 
 Hkely to arrest attention as the Resurrection 
 of Christ. It stands out the great central fact 
 among the evidences of Christianity, the 
 pillar of hope in our own immortality. When 
 choosing a successor to take part in that 
 ^ Tertull. adv. Jud., 8 ; Aug., Civ. D., xviii., 54. 
 P 
 
2IO TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 ministry and apostleship from which Judas by 
 transgression fell, great care was taken by the 
 assembled Aposdes and disciples that only 
 one who could personally testify to the truth 
 of the Resurrection of Christ should be or- 
 dained to the office.^ " And with great power 
 gave the apostles witness of the resurrection 
 of the Lord Jesus : and great grace was upon 
 them all." ^ Nothing is more certain than that 
 the Apostles and the first teachers of Christi- 
 anity asserted that Christ rose from the dead. 
 St. Paul, in the fifteenth chapter of the First 
 Epistle to the Corinthians, afiirms that " Christ 
 died for our sins according to the scriptures ; 
 and that he was buried, and that he rose again 
 the third day according to the scriptures ; and 
 that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve ; 
 after that he was seen of above five hundred 
 brethren at once ; of whom the greater part 
 remain unto this present." They were alive 
 at the date when the epistle quoted was 
 written, a.d. 57; that is about twenty-seven 
 years after the stupendous event of our Lord's 
 Resurrection occurred. 
 
 ^ Acts, c. i., vv. 15-26. 
 = Acts, c. iv., V. 33. 
 
TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 211 
 
 The number of the original witnesses of the 
 numerous miracles, and of the Resurrection of 
 Christ, forms a strong argument for the authen- 
 ticity of the Christian revelation. It is impos- 
 sible that such a multitude of persons could 
 have been misled by their own senses, or so 
 dazed as to have mistaken illusory appearances 
 for realities. Nor will the solution of magic, 
 resorted to by Porphyry and other ancient 
 heathen writers against Christianity, account 
 for the phenomena, any more than modern 
 rationalism does. Many of these witnesses 
 encountered extraordinary dangers and suffer- 
 ings, voluntarily undergone, in attestation of 
 the accounts which they delivered j and thus 
 gave the strongest proof of sincerity that human 
 nature is capable of giving. What motive 
 could have induced the Apostles and early 
 Christians to sacrifice their comfort, ease, and 
 even subject themselves to the most cruel 
 death, except a strong conviction of the cer- 
 tainty and supreme importance of what they 
 announced. If for no other purpose they 
 went about the world but to bolster up a 
 forgery, then we are asked to believe that they 
 willingly became villains, in order to teach 
 
212 TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 men a religion, by which " whosover loveth 
 and maketh a lie " ^ is expressly excluded from 
 the City of God. 
 
 The concurrence of the Apostolic Fathers 
 and their immediate successors rivets the chain 
 of testimony to the truth of Christianity. 
 Clement, the same whose name is mentioned 
 in the Epistle to the Philippians as the fellow- 
 labourer of St. Paul,^ writing in the name of 
 the Church of Rome to the Church of Corinth, 
 says : — " Let us understand, dearly beloved, 
 how the Master continually showeth unto us 
 the Resurrection that shall be hereafter; where- 
 of He made the Lord Jesus Christ the first- 
 fruit, when He raised Him from the dead." ^ 
 In another part of the same epistle Clement 
 writes that, — "The Apostles received the 
 Gospel for us from the Lord Jesus Christ ; 
 Jesus Christ was sent forth from God. So 
 then Christ is from God, and the Apostles are 
 from Christ. Both therefore came of the will 
 of God in the appointed order. Having 
 therefore received a charge, and having been 
 
 ^ Rev., c. xxii., v. 15. 
 
 ^ Phil., c. iv., V. 3. 
 
 ^ Ep. Clem. Rom., c. xxiv. 
 
TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 213 
 
 fully assured through the Resurrection of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ and confirmed in the word 
 of God with full assurance of the Holy Ghost, 
 they went forth with the glad tidings that the 
 kingdom of God should come." ^ Clement 
 also makes use of expressions that enable us 
 to perceive the high respect paid to the words 
 of Christ as recorded by the Evangelists, 
 thus : — " Remember the words of the Lord 
 Jesus;" "By this command and by these 
 rules let us establish ourselves, that we may 
 always walk obediently to His holy words." It 
 was St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians 
 which Clement had before him, when, also 
 addressing the Church of Corinth, he wrote, 
 "Take into your hands the Epistle of the 
 blessed Apostle Paul." 
 
 Ignatius became bishop of Antioch about 
 thirty-seven years after the Ascension of Christ. 
 Judging from the time, place, and station in 
 which he lived, it is probable that he had 
 known and conversed with some of the 
 Apostles. The Epistles of Ignatius contain 
 various allusions to the Gospels of St. Matthew 
 and St. John. He speaks of St. Paul in terms 
 ^ Ep. Clem. Rom., c. xlii. 
 
214 TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 of great respect, and quotes his Epistle to the 
 Ephesians by name. The descent of Christ 
 from David, his mother Mary, his miraculous 
 conception, the star at his birth, his baptism 
 by John and the reason assigned for it, his 
 appeal to the prophets, the ointment poured 
 on his head, and the institution of the Lord's 
 Supper in both its parts ; also the sufferings 
 of Christ under Pontius Pilate and Herod, 
 his Resurrection, and the Lord's Day being 
 called and kept in commemoration of it, are 
 all referred to in the remaining works of this 
 apostolic father. Ignatius mentions the cir- 
 cumstance of the Apostles eating and drinking 
 with Christ after His Resurrection, their feeling 
 and their handling of Him. This causes him 
 to remark : — "They believed, being convinced 
 both by His flesh and spirit ; for this cause, 
 they despised death, and were found to be 
 above it." ' 
 
 In an Epistle of Polycarp, who was a dis- 
 ciple of St. John, the humility, sufferings. 
 Resurrection, and Ascension of Christ are all 
 plainly represented.^ Irenaeus, in his letter to 
 
 ^ Ad Smyr., c. iii. 
 
 - Pol. Ep. ad Phil., c. ii., iii., v., viii. 
 
TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 215 
 
 Florinus, preserved by Eusebius, has the fol- 
 lowing passage : — " I saw you, when I was 
 very young, in the Lower Asia, with Polycarp. 
 For I better remember the affairs of that time, 
 than those which have lately happened : the 
 things which we learn in our childhood grow- 
 ing up with the soul, and uniting themselves 
 to it. Insomuch, that I can tell the place in 
 which the blessed Polycarp sat and taught, 
 and his going out, and coming in, and the 
 manner of his life, and the form of his person, 
 and the discourses he made to the people; 
 and how he related his conversation with John 
 and others, who had seen the Lord ; and how 
 he related their sayings, and what he had 
 heard from them concerning the Lord ; both 
 concerning his miracles and his doctrines, as 
 he had received them from the eye-witnesses 
 of the Word of Life ; all which Polycarp 
 related agreeably to the Scriptures. These 
 things I then, through the mercy of God to- 
 ward me, dihgently heard and attended to." ^ 
 The martyrdom of the venerable Polycarp 
 happened a. d. 155 or 156, about fifty-five years 
 after the decease of the Apostle John. 
 1 Ir. ad Flor. ap. Euseb., 1. v., c. 20. 
 
2l6 TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 Of the same age as Ignatius and Polycarp, 
 Quadratus has handed down to us the follow- 
 ing remarkable testimony : — " The works of 
 our Saviour were always conspicuous, for they 
 were real; both they that were healed and 
 they that were raised from the dead; who 
 were seen not only when they were healed or 
 raised, but for a long time afterwards; not 
 only whilst he dwelt on this earth, but also 
 after his departure, and for a good while after 
 it, insomuch that some of them have reached 
 to our times." ^ 
 
 Papias, a hearer of St. John, was Bishop of 
 Hierapolis in Phrygia, at the beginning of 
 the second century. He was a friend of 
 Polycarp and of others who had known the 
 Apostles. He tells us from what materials 
 St. Mark collected his account, namely, from 
 the instruction of St. Peter, and in what 
 language St. Matthew wrote, namely, in 
 Hebrew. 
 
 About twenty years after Papias came 
 
 Justin Martyr. Throughout his remaining 
 
 works are numerous quotations from the four 
 
 Gospels. He calls the books " Memoirs 
 
 ^ Ap. Euseb. H. E., 1. iv., c. 8. 
 
TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 21 7 
 
 composed by the Apostles and their Com- 
 panions;" a description very applicable to the 
 Gospels and Acts of the Apostles. 
 
 Hegesippus flourished some thirty years 
 after Justin. He relates that on his journey 
 from Palestine to Rome he visited many 
 bishops ; and that " in every succession, and 
 in every city, the same doctrine is taught, 
 which the Law, and the Prophets, and the Lord 
 (that is Christ) teacheth." 
 
 About the year 170 the Churches of Lyons 
 and Vienne, in Gaul, sent an account of the 
 sufferings of their martyrs to the Churches of 
 Asia and Phrygia. In this epistle are exact 
 references to the Gospels of Luke and John, 
 and to the Acts of the Apostles. As Pothi- 
 nus, their bishop, was ninety years old when 
 he was put to death, his early life joined on 
 with the times of the Apostles. 
 
 Irenseus succeeded the martyr Pothinus 
 as Bishop of Lyons, a.d. 178. The time in 
 which Irenseus lived was distant not much 
 more than a century from the publication of 
 the Gospels. He quotes almost every book 
 of the New Testament, and often names the 
 writers. " The tradition of the Apostles," 
 
2l8 TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 says this Father, " has spread itself over the 
 whole universe ; and all they who search after 
 the sources of truth will find this tradition to 
 be held sacred in every Church. We might 
 enumerate all those who have been appointed 
 bishops in these Churches by the Apostles, 
 and all their successors up to our days. It is 
 by this uninterrupted succession that we have 
 received the tradition which actually exists 
 in the Church, as also the doctrines of truth, 
 as it was preached by the Apostles."^ 
 
 These early persecuted Christians lived 
 near to the sources of evidence for the truth 
 of Christianity — a circumstance that adds 
 much weight to their testimony; they had 
 too great an interest in the matter to be 
 satisfied with a superficial examination of 
 it, and could not have been deceived. Their 
 decision, therefore, ought to be held sufficient 
 by us. 
 
 The argument in favour of the genuineness 
 of the books of the New Testament, drawn 
 from notices of their contents found in the 
 works of ancient writers against the Christian 
 faith, is also most important. Among the 
 ^ Iren. in Haer., 1. iii., c. 3. 
 
TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 219 
 
 early adversaries of Christianity was Celsus, 
 a heathen philosopher, who flourished near 
 the middle of the second century, that is, 
 about one hundred years after the Gospels 
 were published. He wrote a treatise against 
 Christianity, which is lost, although his words 
 and arguments have been preserved by Origen. 
 From his repeated references to the accounts 
 of Christ contained in the four Gospels, we 
 glean that Celsus was well acquainted with 
 these writings . 
 
 In the third century Porphyry wrote a 
 treatise against the Christian religion, which 
 has likewise perished. His objections are, 
 however, to be gathered from Christian 
 writers, who have noticed in order to answer 
 them. Enough remains to prove that Por- 
 phyry had studied the Go spels and the Acts 
 of the Apostles for the purpose of attacking 
 them, and so, as he judged, overthrowing the 
 Christian religion founded on them. 
 
 About a century after Porphyry, another 
 writer against Christianity appeared in the 
 person of the Emperor Julian, commonly 
 called "the Apostate." By his numerous 
 quotations from the four Gospels and the 
 
220 TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 Acts of the Apostles, and from his quoting 
 no other, Julian has shown that these books 
 were received by the Christians as the au- 
 thentic memoirs of Jesus Christ and his 
 Apostles. Neither Celsus, Porphyry, nor 
 Julian appear to have doubted the genuine- 
 ness of these books, or to have ever in- 
 sinuated that the Christians were mistaken in 
 the authors to whom they ascribed them. 
 When we consider the early date at which 
 they wrote, and how ready these acute and 
 learned opponents of Christianity were to take 
 advantage of every circumstance calculated 
 to cast a doubt upon this point, and how 
 much it would have availed them if they 
 could have succeeded, their unintentional 
 testimony to the authenticity of the Gospels 
 is very valuable. The cavils of Celsus, Por- 
 phyry, and Julian prove that our present 
 Gospels are the same as those Gospels against 
 which they objected. 
 
 Nor was it otherwise with those early 
 sects, generally denominated Heretics, who, 
 prompted by an unrestrained curiosity, or philo- 
 sophic pride, engaged in controversies of various 
 kinds with Catholic Christians. These also, 
 
TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 221 
 
 all without dispute, received the Scriptures of 
 the New Testament. However the Heretics 
 may have perverted, they endeavoured to 
 support their arguments by the authority of 
 the Gospels. In his work against heresies, 
 Irenaeus says : — " Such is the truth of our 
 Gospels, that the heretics themselves bear 
 testimony to them, every one of them en- 
 deavouring to prove his particular doctrines 
 from thence." " Produce," said Augustine 
 to the Donatists, "some proof from the 
 Scriptures whose authority is common to us 
 both." 
 
 The Four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, 
 the thirteen Epistles of St. Paul, and the 
 various other documents forming the New 
 Testament, were publicly read and explained 
 in the religious assemblies of the Early Chris- 
 tians. In very early times they were collected 
 into a distinct volume. 
 
 That the books of the New Testament have 
 come down to the present times without any 
 material alteration appears by the various 
 ancient versions of them. As early as the 
 second century they were translated from the 
 original Greek into Syriac, and the Old Latin. 
 
222 TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 The venerable Syrian Version, the Peshito, 
 and the Old Vulgate ( Veins Latine) are of 
 nearly equal antiquity. The Egyptian, includ- 
 ing both Coptic and Sahidic ; the Armenian, 
 the ^thiopic, the Arabic, and the Gothic, are 
 likewise ancient versions. The various ver- 
 sions, all agreeing in the main relation, yet 
 written in different languages, and found in 
 countries far apart, show that they had a 
 common origin — the original autographs of 
 the Evangelists and Apostles. 
 
 The numerous allusions to, or quotations 
 from, the Gospels and Epistles, made by the 
 Greek and Latin Fathers, and by Christian 
 writers, beginning with those who were con- 
 temporary with the Apostles, or who imme- 
 diately followed them, and proceeding in a 
 close and regular succession from their time 
 to the present, also substantially agree with 
 the text of the Sacred Writings as it has come 
 down to us. So that the truth of the Gospel 
 History rests firmly on one strong and un- 
 broken series of testimonies from the days of 
 its first publication until now. 
 
 The original autographs of the Evangelists 
 and Apostles have perished. Yet many hun- 
 
TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 223 
 
 dreds of ancient manuscripts of the New 
 Testament exist, written in all parts of the 
 world. Of the ancient Greek MSS. of the 
 Scriptures in uncial letters, the Sinaitic, found 
 by Tischendorf in the convent of St. Catherine 
 on Mount Sinai in 1859, is at St. Petersburg. 
 Its execution is assigned to circa a.d. 350. The 
 Alexandrine MS. is in the British Museum; 
 and the Vatican MS. is at Rome. The writing 
 of both the last named belongs to the fourth or 
 fifth century. Thus it has providentially come 
 to pass that, of the three most valuable ancient 
 Greek manuscripts of the Bible, one is in 
 possession of the Greek Church, another is 
 guarded by the Protestants, whilst the Church 
 of Rome has in its keeping the third. 
 
 The numerous ancient manuscripts of the 
 New Testament in different languages, found 
 throughout Christendom, guard the text of 
 Holy Scripture, as well as witness to its purity. 
 In all essentials they agree; and the com- 
 paratively insignificant minutiae in which they 
 differ afford the means, by their number and 
 variety, of adjusting these differences, and of 
 settling the Text of Holy Scripture. They 
 assure us that the Scriptures we now hold in 
 
224 TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 our hands, and which are publicly read, not 
 only in all parish churches of England but 
 throughout Christendom, every Sabbath-day, 
 are identical with those received by the Church 
 in the first century as inspired by the Holy 
 Ghost. 
 
if^ Jfei W W^iftw «r«iyme« and W««0e«ttml W* 
 
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 FACSIMILE OF PAGE OF WYCLIFFE S BIBLE. 
 
EARLY INTRODUCTION OF 
 CHRISTIANITY INTO BRITAIN. 
 
 URING our Saviour's abode upon 
 earth, the ministry of His Apostles 
 appears to have been confined to 
 Judaea and "to the lost sheep of 
 the house of Israel." But after the resurrec- 
 tion of the Lord, and just before His ascen- 
 sion, "Jesus came and spake unto them, 
 saying. All power is given unto me in heaven 
 and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all 
 nations, baptizing them in the name of the 
 Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
 Ghost : teaching them to observe all things 
 whatsoever I have commanded you : and lo, 
 I am with you alway, even unto the end of 
 the world." ^ Having received this commis- 
 ^ Matt. c. xxviii., v. 1 8 to 20. 
 Q 
 
2 26 EARLY INTRODUCTION OF 
 
 sion, and being " endued with power from on 
 high," the Apostles proceeded to pubUsh the 
 Gospel of their Divine Master, beginning at 
 Jerusalem, and from thence in every country 
 of the then known world. Considering the 
 great and unwearied exertions of the Apostles 
 and their fellow-labourers, and also the fervid 
 zeal of the early Christians, it is not surpris- 
 ing that the knowledge of Christ soon reached 
 the shores of Britain ; yet, by whose instru- 
 mentality, or through what particular agency 
 the momentous intelligence was brought to 
 this island, remains unknown. 
 
 When the Romans landed in Britain the 
 supremacy of the Druids was firmly estab- 
 lished among the British tribes. The capital 
 settlement of this priestly order was at Mona, 
 the Isle of Anglesey, where, surrounded by 
 Faids and Bards, the chief Druid resided. 
 The Druids of Britain were looked up to by 
 the Gauls as more profoundly acquainted 
 with the learning, rites, and mysteries of their 
 common superstition. " The Druids," wrote 
 Caesar,^ " act in all sacred matters ; they at- 
 tend to the sacrifices, which are offered either 
 ^ De Bell. Gall., lib. vi., cap. 13, 14. 
 
CHRISTIANITY INTO BRITAIN. 227 
 
 by the tribe in general or by individuals, and 
 answer all questions about their religion. . . . 
 It is they who decide in all controversies, 
 whether public or private, and they judge all 
 causes, whether of murder, of a disputed in- 
 heritance, or of the boundaries of estates. 
 They assign both rewards and punishments, 
 and whoever refuses to abide by their sen- 
 tence, whether he be in a public or private 
 station, is forbidden to be present at the 
 sacrifices to the gods ; " in short, he was ex- 
 communicated. Amid the shadowy recesses 
 of groves of sacred oaks, the Druids incul- 
 cated that souls do not become extinct, but 
 pass after death from one body to another. 
 They also instructed the young men who 
 resorted to them concerning the motions of 
 the heavenly orbs, and the attributes of the 
 gods. The Druids held that the wrath of the 
 gods could only be appeased, and man's life 
 be redeemed, by the offering up of human 
 sacrifice. On occasions of more than ordi- 
 nary solemnity they caused great images of 
 wicker-work to be constructed, and filled with 
 human beings, whom they thus burned alive 
 as an offering to their deities. It was this in- 
 
228 K-\RI.Y IXTRODUCriON OK 
 
 human suj>erstition, a compound apparently 
 of the worship of Moloch, Ashtaroth, and 
 Baal, which enthralled our countn-men in its 
 cruel bondage when the light of Christianity 
 first dawned upon Britain, 
 
 During the centuiy that intervened be- 
 tween the descent of Julius Ci^5;ir on our 
 shore and the invasion of Britain by Clau- 
 dius, Rome received tribute from Tascio- 
 vanus, Cunobeline, and other British chiefs. 
 These, emulating Roman manners, struck at 
 Vcridlamium, near St. Albans, CamulodunuKu 
 Colchester in Essex, and other of their little 
 capitals, a coinage bearing legends couched 
 in Latin letters and contractions. Not un- 
 frequently during the earlier half of the first 
 centur}- Britons might have been seen in 
 Rome, and it is probable that some natives 
 of our island were a: Rome whilst the great 
 Apostle to the Gentiles was a prisoner there. 
 
 In his Epistle to the Romans St. Paul 
 writes, " Whensoever I take my journey into 
 Spain I will come to you.*'^ Clement of 
 Rome, the same of whom the Aposde wrote * 
 
 ' Rom., c XV., V. 24. * Phil., c iv.. v. 3. 
 
CHRISTIANITY INTO BRITAIN. 22 9 
 
 "whose name is in the book of life," says 
 that St. Paul " preached righteousness to the 
 utmost bounds of the West." * Vague as the 
 expression is, some have inferred from it that 
 the Apostle visited Britain. 
 
 Tacitus writes : " Pomponia Graecina, an 
 illustrious lady, the wife of Aulus Plautius 
 Cwho, upon his return from Britain, had been 
 honoured with an ovation), being accused of 
 having embraced a foreign superstition, her 
 trial was committed to her husband."* It is 
 supposed that what Tacitus here describes as 
 a foreign superstition was Christianity. If 
 so, this lady could not but feel an interest in 
 the welfare of that Roman province, in 
 Britain, towards the subjugation of v/hich her 
 husband's valour had so much contributed ; 
 and considering Christianity as the greatest 
 blessing that could be conferred upon a 
 nation, she may have exerted herself to ex- 
 tend its influence among the Britons. 
 
 In St. Paul's Second Epistle to Timothy, 
 ch. iv., V. 21, we find this passage : " Eubulus 
 greeteth thee, and Pudens, and Linus, and 
 
 ' Clem., Epist. ad Corinth., L, c. 5. 
 - Tacit., Anna!., lib. xiii., c. 32. 
 
230 EARLY INTRODUCTION OF 
 
 Claudia." The Roman poet Martial writes 
 thus : — 
 
 ^^ Claudia, Rufe, meo nupsit peregrina Pudenti: 
 Made esto tcedis, Hymencce, tuis!^^ etc.^ 
 
 "O Rufus ! my friend Pudens marries the foreigner 
 
 Claudia. 
 O Hymen ! be propitious with thy nuptial torch, " etc. 
 
 Again, Martial speaks of Claudia Rufina : — 
 
 " Claudia ccet'uleis cum sit Rufina Britannis 
 Edita, air Latice pectora gentis habet? " etc.^ 
 
 " Seeing Claudia Rufina has sprung from the azure 
 Britons, 
 How comes she to have the feelings of a Latian 
 maid ? " etc. 
 
 In the latter epigram Pudens is called Holy 
 — " Sanctus Maritus," a singular epithet, and 
 implying that he was one of those who were 
 esteemed such, or, in other words, was a 
 Christian. Claudia is said to have been a 
 British princess, daughter of Cogidunus, client 
 king of the Emperor Claudius C^sar, in con- 
 sequence of which she received that name. 
 Cogidunus reigned over the Regni, who in- 
 habited Sussex and the greater part of Surrey; 
 
 ^ Martial, lib. iv., Epigr. 13. 
 ^ Martial, lib. xi., Epigr. 54. 
 
CHRISTIANITY INTO BRITAIN. 23 1 
 
 Regmcm Chichester was his capital. This 
 Pudens and this Claudia, whose praises were 
 sung by the heathen poet, are believed to be 
 the Christians mentioned by St. Paul. It is 
 possible that, along with his distinguished 
 wife, Pudens may have come over into 
 Britain ; and taking up their abode at Chi- 
 chester, here these bosom friends of the 
 Apostle may have taught the cause that lay 
 nearest to his heart. 
 
 According to Gildas, Christianity was in- 
 troduced into Britain whilst the Roman 
 troops were overrunning the southern portion 
 of the island, apparently about the time of 
 the revolt of Boadicea, a.d. 6o.^ The un- 
 doubtedly ancient British Triads assert that 
 it was Bran, a British prince, the father of 
 Caradog or Caractacus, who brought the 
 faith first into this island. Hence we read 
 in the thirty-fifth triad relating to "The Three 
 Sovereigns of the Isle of Britain who con- 
 ferred blessings : — i. Bran the Blessed, who 
 first brought the faith of Christ to the Cymry 
 from Rome, where he had been a hostage for 
 his son Caradog seven years," a.d. 51-58. 
 ^ The Works of Gildas, sees. 6-9. 
 
232 EARLY INTRODUCTION OF 
 
 Tertullian, writing in the latter half of the 
 second century, says : "-£/ Brifan?iorum inac- 
 cessa Romafiis loca, Christo vero subdita^ and 
 those parts of Britain which were inaccessible 
 to the Romans are become subject to Christ." ' 
 Origen, who flourished a.d. 220, in his fourth 
 Homily on Ezekiel, bears similar decisive 
 testimony to the antiquity of the British 
 Church, for "when," asks he, "before the 
 advent of Christ did the land of Britain agree 
 in the worship of one God ? Qimndo enwt 
 terra BritannicE ante adventum Christi, in 
 unius Dei consensit religiojiem ? " 
 
 The Bishops of York and London, and a 
 third bishop, apparently of Caerleon-upon- 
 Usk, with a presbyter and a deacon, repre- 
 sented the British Church at the Council of 
 Aries in Gaul, held a.d. 314. Athanasius, 
 alluding to his trial before the Council of 
 Sardis, a.d. 347, states distinctly that bishops 
 came from the British territories to this 
 Council.'^ 
 
 The year 303 a.d, has been assigned for 
 the commencement of the Diocletian per- 
 
 ^ Tertull., Adv. Judze., c. 7. 
 
 - Athan., Apol. IL, contra Arianos. 
 
CHRISTIANITY INTO BRITAIN. 233 
 
 sedition in Britain, during which numbers of 
 British Christians perished. Among those 
 who then sealed the testimony of their faith 
 by their blood was Alban, who suffered at 
 Verulamium, now St. Albans, in Hertford- 
 shire. " When the storm of persecution 
 ceased," says Venerable Bede, *' the faithful 
 Christians, who, during the time of danger 
 had hidden themselves in woods, and deserts, 
 and secret caves, appearing in public, rebuilt 
 the churches which had been levelled with 
 the ground."^ Paganism, however, still pre- 
 vailed in Britain, to judge from the numbers 
 of altars found in this island dedicated to 
 Jupiter, Mars, Apollo, Diana, Ceres, and the 
 other gods of Rome, and from altars to 
 deities belonging to distant provinces, whence 
 the auxiliary soldiery derived their birth. 
 Many sepulchral inscriptions of the Romano- 
 British period also remain, commencing D.M., 
 signifying ^^ Diis Manibus^ To the gods of 
 the shades," and thus likewise have the marks 
 of heathenism stamped upon them. The 
 territory and revenues of the country were 
 still in pagan hands, whilst the Christians 
 1 BedseEccl. Hist., I. i., c. 8. 
 
234 EARLY INTRODUCTION OF 
 
 remained poor. Under such circumstances 
 the first churches in Britain probably were 
 humble fabrics of wood, and thatched with 
 straw. 
 
 The first Christian emperor, Constantine, 
 surnamed the Great, was born in Britain, at 
 Eburacuvi^ York. In this city his father, 
 Constantius, expired on the 25th of July, 
 A.D. 306, when Constantine assuming the 
 purple at York, eventually became sovereign 
 of the Roman empire. Paganism then re- 
 ceived a check from which it never after- 
 wards fully recovered. South Britain, once a 
 Diocese of Old Rome, ought not to forget all 
 she owes to her imperial foster-mother, whose 
 policy, both civil and military, engrafted on 
 their original barbarism, is more or less dis- 
 tinctly traceable in all the states of modern 
 Europe. 
 
 Dilating on the proofs of the early intro- 
 duction of Christianity into our country, the 
 fact must not be overlooked that in Ireland, 
 and in Scotland also, in the fifth and sixth 
 centuries, were Christian schools famous for 
 their learning. The Celtic Church was so 
 renowned that Ireland received the appelia- 
 
CHRISTIANITY INTO BRITAIN. 235 
 
 tion of Insula Sanctorum, the Island of 
 Saints. In the year 565, Columba, the pres- 
 byter, crossing over from Ireland in a boat 
 made of ox-hides, carried the Gospel to the 
 Northern Picts (the Southern Picts had long 
 before forsaken their idolatry at the preach- 
 ing of the British bishop Ninias), Columba 
 founded a college or monastery in Hii or 
 lona, a small romantic island on the western 
 coast of Scotland, now honoured by the 
 name of Icolmkill, or the Island of Columba 
 of the Cells. In this retreat the Holy Scrip- 
 tures were diligently studied and transcribed. 
 From the monastery of lona Aidan was sent 
 to Lindisfarne or Holy Isle, off the coast of 
 Northumberland ; whilst Finan and other 
 devoted Scottish missionaries helped to plant 
 Christianity over the northern provinces of 
 Britain. Thus, athwart a surrounding dark- 
 ness and barbarism, bright rays of light shot 
 far and wide from the renowned Celtic semi- 
 nary of St. Finian, at Clonard, near the 
 Boyne, and from the Isle of Hii or lona in 
 the Hebrides. 
 
 The Church, as it was originally spread 
 throughout the island, appears to have fol- 
 
236 EARLY INTRODUCTION OF 
 
 lowed the discipline and practice of Smyrna 
 and of Lyons. In fixing the festival of Easter 
 the Britons varied from the Roman practice, 
 nor did they baptize after the Roman manner ; 
 the liturgical service used by the ancient 
 British Church also materially differed from 
 the Romish Liturgy. These pecuHarities 
 bespeak the high antiquity of the British 
 Church; they imply moreover that Christi- 
 anity was first introduced into these islands, 
 not by missionaries from Rome, but from 
 Asia, either by direct communication, or 
 through the churches of Gaul. 
 
 The warlike manhood of South Britain, 
 drained to fight the battles of successive 
 aspirers to the purple, fell in the continental 
 convulsions of the expiring Roman Empire, 
 leaving no adequate force behind to defend 
 their homes. This, inviting attack, caused an 
 inroad of the Picts and Scots ; and while the 
 fierce northern Gael once more descended 
 from his mountains, fresh tribes of adven- 
 turous Jutes, Angles, and Saxons, inflamed 
 by the sanguinary creed of Woden, plundered 
 and dispossessed the unfortunate Britons. 
 At length, after an exterminating struggle of 
 
CHRISTIANITY INTO BRITAIN. 237 
 
 two centuries' duration, the fair-haired in- 
 vaders remained masters of the fertile lands 
 of Britain south of the Frith of Forth, of that 
 part the Romans had held ; of all of it save 
 an irregular and wild territory that formed its 
 western coast. Sheltered amid the bristling 
 mountains of this inaccessible tract which 
 projected rudely into the ocean, here the 
 ancient British Church found a secure 
 asylum. 
 
 Of the seven or eight kingdoms into which 
 the warriors of Teuton race partitioned the 
 territory of the Britons, the Jutish settlement 
 of Kent is said to have been founded first, 
 in A.D. 457 : the latest province of the Hep- 
 tarchy was Mercia, it became a state about 
 A.D. 585. We know nothing of the numerous 
 petty governments, or chieftainships of clans, 
 which probably were comprised under these 
 general appellations; the genuine details of 
 the Germanic conquest of our country having 
 been lost. A dim historic era is that which 
 succeeded the dismemberment of the Roman 
 Empire. The names of some of their tribes 
 and families have survived in the localities 
 where they settled, but for the equipment 
 
238 EARLY INTRODUCTION OF 
 
 and usages of the Teutonic conquerors of 
 South Britain we must search their graves. 
 
 The religion of our heathen Anglo-Saxon 
 forefathers appears to have been an union of 
 the worship of the celestial bodies or Sabseism, 
 as it is termed, and of hero-worship. Sun* 
 naaUaec* Sunday, was the great festival of the 
 sun, as iHonantiaec, Monday, was of the moon; 
 the latter luminary being ranked by the 
 Teutons as a male, for, oddly enough, they 
 had a notion that if they addressed the moon 
 as a goddess their wives would be their 
 masters. ^ito'0="DaeCt Tuesday, was Tiw's day. 
 Woden or Odin, the venerated hero-god of 
 Saxon and of Scandinavian adoration — dread 
 " Furious One," that mysterious personage 
 from whose loins all the kings of both 
 branches of the great Teutonic family claimed 
 to have sprung, and from whom proceeded 
 both their lore and their song, — Woden was 
 lord of ai23oline0Dae(3, or Wednesday. '2Df)unre 
 or ^i)or'05tiacc, Thursday, was consecrated to 
 Thunre orThor, whose thunderbolt, a hammer, 
 encountered giant and demon in many a wild 
 and strange story. The name JFrea or iFnGe* 
 Uaec, Friday, was derived from P'rea or Frige, 
 
CHRISTIANITY INTO BRITAIN. 239 
 
 wife of Odin, the Venus of the North. On 
 €)aetern5'Dae0, Saturday, the pagan Anglo-Saxons 
 Avorshipped Saetern. Yet, besides these seven, 
 the Anglo-Saxons reverenced many other 
 deities. Of the goddess Eostre, whose fes- 
 tival was celebrated in April; her name is 
 still retained to express the season of our 
 great paschal solemnity. Some of their deities 
 were black and malevolent, Zernbogus for 
 instance. Noke or Loke was the evil prin- 
 ciple that, under the guise of Old Nick, still 
 disturbs us, the descendants of the Teuton. 
 They offered their prayers too by the lonely 
 rocks, or running streams, and under the 
 forest shade, where haunted, as their creed 
 taught them, the elves, although unseen to 
 mortal eye. Of the superstitious Saxons and 
 heathen Northmen generally, it may be truly 
 said they worshipped they knew not what. 
 The undying spirit yearned after a surer path. 
 The religion of Christ brought to the de- 
 stroyers of the Romano-Britons struggled 
 with the powers of darkness. The oft-told 
 tradition of the incident that moved Gregory 
 to endeavour to convert our pagan Anglo- 
 Saxon ancestors to Christianity is interesting. 
 
240 EARLY INTRODUCTION OF 
 
 Some boys, it appears, being exposed for sale 
 in the Roman market, the whiteness of their 
 skins, fine flaxen hair, and beautiful coun- 
 tenances attracted Gregory's notice as he 
 passed on his way. Observing the slaves 
 more closely he enquired from what country 
 they were brought, and was told the island of 
 Britain, whose inhabitants were of such per- 
 sonal appearance. Gregory then asked 
 whether those islanders were Christians or 
 idolaters ; he was informed that they were 
 pagans. Fetching a deep sigh, " Alas ! what 
 pity," said he, " that the author of darkness is 
 possessed of men of such fair countenances, 
 and that being remarkable for such graceful 
 aspects their minds should be void of inward 
 grace." Again, Gregory enquired the name 
 of that nation, when, being told they were 
 called Angles, "Right," said he, "for they have 
 an angelic face, and it becomes such to be 
 co-heirs with the angels in heaven. What 
 is the name," he continued, " of the province 
 from whence they are brought?" It was re- 
 plied, " Deiri." " Truly are they De ira,'' he 
 observed, " withdrawn from wrath and called 
 to the mercy of Christ. How is the king 
 
CHRISTIANITY INTO BRITAIN. 24 1 
 
 of that province called ?" They told him that 
 his name was Aella; then harping on the 
 name Gregory exclaimed, " Hallelujah ! the 
 praise of God the Creator must be sung in 
 those parts." Repairing to Benedict L, who 
 at that time filled the papal chair, he entreated 
 him to send missionaries to the English, de- 
 claring that with God's assistance he was ready 
 to undertake the work. It was deemed inex- 
 pedient to enter on the Christian enterprise 
 just then ; afterwards, however, when Gregory 
 himself became bishop of Rome, he did not 
 forget the fair English slaves, but sent 
 Augustine to the King of Kent. 
 
 To the devotional care of the great and 
 good Gregory the Church of England is mainly 
 indebted for the Litany, which Gregory com- 
 piled from still more ancient Litanies : in his 
 Sacramentary Gregory embodied the collects 
 of the ancient Church, many of which are 
 also retained in our Book of Common Prayer. 
 Infected although he was with the growing 
 superstition of his day, it appears from 
 Gregory's epistles that he repudiated the 
 authority since claimed for his see, and dis- 
 approved of the worship cf images. 
 
 R 
 
242 EARLY INTRODUCTION OF 
 
 The Bretwalda, or superior King Ethelbert, 
 married to Bertha the Christian daughter of 
 Charibert, king of Paris, doubtless had often 
 heard of Christianity from his wife, whom, 
 accompanied by Bishop Luidhard, her chap- 
 lain, he had received on condition that she 
 should be permitted to enjoy her religion. 
 Augustine, with his company of nearly forty 
 persons, in a.d. 597, landed on the Isle of 
 Thanet, which was then separated from the 
 mainland by a wide channel. It was not long 
 before the missionary sent to the Kentish 
 king his Frank interpreter (the Franks and 
 Anglo-Saxons, equally German nations, at that 
 time spoke the same language), to say that, 
 having come from Rome, he had brought a 
 joyful message, which assured to all who took 
 advantage of it everlasting joys in heaven, 
 and a kingdom that would never end, with 
 the living and true God. The pagan monarch 
 received the message, but took time to con- 
 sider what he should do ; when some days 
 afterwards crossing over to the island, Ethel- 
 bert ordered the missionaries to be brought 
 into his presence. The wary heathen, how- 
 ever, took the precaution to have the confer- 
 
CHRISTIANITY INTO BRITAIN. 243 
 
 ence out in the open air, and not under any 
 roof, lest some undue influence or magical 
 arts, which his superstition led him to suppose 
 would be practised on him, might warp his 
 judgment. Yet, as Bede relates,^ Augustine 
 and his companions " came furnished with 
 divine, not magic virtue, bearing a silver cross 
 for their banner, and the image of our Lord 
 and Saviour painted on a board ; and singing 
 the Litany, they offered up their prayers to 
 the Lord for the eternal salvation both of 
 themselves and of those to whom they were 
 come." Ethelbert desired the missionary to 
 be seated, when Augustine, having explained 
 the Christian tenets, the King observed : 
 ** Your words and promises are very fair, but 
 as they are new to us, and of uncertain im- 
 port, I cannot approve of them so far as to 
 forsake that which I have so long followed 
 with the whole English nation. But because 
 you are come from far into my kingdom, and, 
 as I conceive, are desirous to impart to us 
 those things which you believe to be true, 
 and most beneficial, we will not molest you, 
 but give you favourable entertainment, and 
 ^ Eccl. Hist, b. i., c. 25. 
 
244 EARLY INTRODUCTION OF 
 
 take care to supply you with your necessary 
 sustenance ; nor do we forbid you to preach 
 and gain as many as you can to your religion." 
 Accordingly, Ethelbert permitted them to 
 take up their abode in Canterbury, the metro- 
 polis of his dominions. " It is reported," 
 continues venerable Bede, " that, as they drew 
 near to the city, after their manner, with the 
 holy cross, and the image of our sovereign 
 Lord and King, Jesus Christ, they in con- 
 cert sang this Litany : ' We beseech Thee, O 
 Lord, in all Thy mercy, that Thy anger and 
 wrath be turned away from this city, and 
 from Thy holy house, because we have sinned. 
 Hallelujah!'" Eastward of Canterbury was 
 even then an ancient Christian church, for 
 it had been built in Romano-British times. 
 Here Queen Bertha, Ethelbert's wife, was 
 wont to worship ; and within the walls of this 
 sacred edifice the missionaries met to pray, 
 to sing, to preach, and to baptize those whom 
 their manner of living and delightful promises 
 induced to forsake heathenism. 
 
 If the walls and foundations of the present 
 Church of St. Martin, near Canterbury, are 
 not the identical structure in which Au2fustine 
 
CHRISTIANITY INTO BRITAIN. 245 
 
 and his monks performed their sacred offices, 
 the masonry is composed of the same ma- 
 terials, Roman bricks being worked up into it. 
 
 Shortly afterwards Ethelbert the pagan 
 Bretwalda embraced Christianity. 
 
 Repairing to the south of France Augustine 
 was consecrated by Vergilius, archbishop of 
 Aries, " Bishop of the English," in a.d. 597. 
 He fixed the seat of himself and his suc- 
 cessors in Christ Church, then, as it still is, 
 the Cathedral of Canterbury. Augustine 
 either brought with him from Rome, or the 
 books were forwarded to him by Pope 
 Gregory, in a.d. 601, a Bible in two volumes ; 
 a Psalter, and a book of the Gospels ; a book 
 of Martyrology ; apocryphal lives of the 
 Apostles ; and expositions of certain Epistles 
 and Gospels. The Canterbury book in the 
 library of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, closes the 
 brief catalogue in these expressive words : 
 *' These are the foundation or beginning of 
 the library of the whole English Church : 
 H(B sunt priinitice. librorum totius Ecclesicz 
 Anglicancer It is a deeply interesting cir- 
 cumstance that there are still extant some of 
 the very books named in the above list. One 
 
246 EARLY INTRODUCTION OF 
 
 of these, an MS. copy of the Gospels, is pre- 
 served in the Library of Corpus Christi 
 College, Cambridge (No. 286), another of 
 Augustine's books is in the Bodleian Library, 
 at Oxford (No. D2, 14 Bod. 857). These are 
 two of the oldest Latin MSS. written in pure 
 Roman uncials, existing in this country, and 
 they contain Anglo-Saxon entries more than 
 a thousand years old, which connect them 
 with the monastery of St. Augustine at Can- 
 terbury. 
 
 Backed by the power of the superior 
 sovereign, Ethelbert, in a.d. 603, Augustine 
 sought and obtained an interview upon the 
 borders of Wales with the bishops and chiefs 
 of the British Church. This celebrated con- 
 ference was held " at a place which is to this 
 day," says Bede, " called Augustine's Ac, that 
 is, Augustine's Oak, on the borders of the 
 Wicii and West Saxons ; " ^ probably at Aust- 
 Cliffe, in Gloucestershire. Here Augustine 
 urged the clergy of the British Church to 
 keep Easter at the same time as the Church 
 of Rome did ; to administer baptism accord- 
 
 ^ Eccl. Hist, 1. ii., c. 2. 
 
CHRISTIANITY INTO BRITAIN. 247 
 
 ing to the custom of the Roman Church ; and, 
 conjointly with the ItaHan, that they should 
 undertake the labour of preaching the Gospel 
 to the English, their pagan destroyers. After 
 a long disputation, the chiefs of the British 
 Church refused to comply with any of these 
 propositions, and declined to receive Augus- 
 tine as their archbishop. Could anything 
 show more distinctly the antiquity and inde- 
 pendence of the British Church ? 
 
 The conversion to Christianity of the 
 Bretwalda was followed by that of his nephew, 
 Sebert, the tributary king of the East Saxons. 
 Mellitus, the first Anglo-Saxon bishop of 
 London, was consecrated, a.d. 604. Upon 
 the ruins of the Roman temple of Diana, 
 situate in the heart of London, a great 
 Christian church soon rose, which was dedi- 
 cated to St. Paul; and upon the site of it 
 stands the present cathedral. The change in 
 Sebert's sentiments was also evidenced by his 
 erecting to the westward of London, amid 
 the thickets and brushwood of " Thorney " 
 or " The Isle of Thorns," on the spot where 
 formerly the heathen god Apollo had been 
 sacrificed to by the Romans, another Christian 
 
248 EARLY INTRODUCTION OF 
 
 fane, which he dedicated to St. Peter the 
 Apostle, now Westminster Abbey ; and within 
 this fabric Sebert's bones repose. 
 
 Upon the decease of this king of the East 
 Saxons, his three sons conjointly inherited 
 his crown ; but they returned, as Ethelbert's 
 successor Eadbald had done, to the worship 
 of Woden, and drove MelHtus from his see. 
 Mellitus consulted with Laurentius, who, 
 Augustine being dead, had succeeded to the 
 primacy in a.d. 619, and with Justus, first 
 bishop of Rochester, as to what should be 
 done ; when it was agreed that it would be 
 better for them to return to the continent 
 than any longer endeavour to convert the 
 Anglo-Saxons. Accordingly Mellitus and 
 Justus withdrew into France, and Laurentius 
 prepared to follow. Determined, however, 
 to make one more effort to reclaim the 
 apostate king, on the last night Laurentius 
 was to pass among the Kentish Saxons, he 
 had his bed set up in the church of St. Peter 
 and St. Paul (St. Augustine's Abbey) at 
 Canterbury. On the following morning 
 bloody and bruised he issued from it. Going 
 to King Eadbald, Laurentius showed him 
 
CHRISTIANITY INTO BRITAIN. 249 
 
 his scars. The astonished monarch enquired 
 who had presumed to lacerate him so cruelly, 
 and was answered that the prince of the 
 Apostles had thus scourged him for attempt- 
 ing to forsake the flock of Christ. Arrested 
 by the spectacle, Eadbald was frightened at 
 the supposed manifestation of the incensed 
 Apostle. Abjuring the worship of idols, and 
 renouncing his unlawful marriage (for the 
 heathen had wedded Judith his stepmother), 
 King Eadbald re-embraced Christianity, and 
 promoted the Church to the utmost of his 
 power. 
 
 Thus fared it with the Roman mission to 
 the Anglo-Saxons of the south. 
 
 Soon afterwards, Edwin, chief of the 
 Angles, who lived on the north side of the 
 river Humber, the North-Humbrians, sent 
 an ambassador to Eadbald to ask his sister 
 Ethelburga in marriage, but the Kentish 
 monarch gave answer " that it was not lawful 
 to marry a Christian virgin to a pagan hus- 
 band, lest the faith and the mysteries of the 
 heavenly king should be profaned by her 
 dwelling with a husband that was altogether 
 a stranger to the worship of the true God." 
 
250 EARLY INTRODUCTION OF 
 
 Upon this the King of Northumberland 
 offered to guarantee Ethelburga the utmost 
 freedom in the exercise of her faith, adding 
 that if, after an investigation by his wise men, 
 the new rehgion should be found more 
 worthy of the Deity than paganism, he would 
 embrace Christianity. On these conditions 
 Eadbald gave his sister to the Northumbrian 
 ruler; and Paulinus, who had previously 
 been ordained bishop, accompanied Ethel- 
 burga northwards. Paulinus, first bishop of 
 York under the Saxon rule, was ordained on 
 the 2ist of July, a.d. 625. 
 
 Agreeably to the promise he had made 
 when seeking the hand of the sister of 
 Eadbald, the King of Northumberland 
 gathered around him his wise men, to confer 
 with them about Christianity. To each of 
 his council, individually, the unprejudiced 
 pagan put the solemn question, ''What do 
 you think of the new religion ? " The chief 
 of the heathen priesthood of Edwin's king- 
 dom, Coifi by name, answered, " O King, no 
 one has more devotedly served our gods 
 than I have done, yet there are many who 
 have received richer gifts from you than I 
 
CHRISTIANITY INTO BRITAIN. 25 1 
 
 have. Now if the gods were good for any- 
 thing they would rather have forwarded me, 
 who have been more careful to serve them." 
 Another of the king's chief men addressed 
 him thus : " The life of man on this earth, 
 in comparison to that space of time which is 
 unknown to us, is like to that which may 
 happen when you with your nobles and 
 attendants are seated at supper in winter, 
 with a fire blazing in the midst, and the 
 room filled with a genial heat, whilst the 
 whirlwind rages, the rain beats, and the 
 snow falls outside ; and a sparrow flutters 
 quickly in at one door, and flies as hastily 
 out at the other. During the brief period 
 that it is within the room, the chill of winter 
 does not touch it ; but in an instant the 
 serenity it has enjoyed in its flight has dis- 
 appeared, and as you look upon it, it has 
 flashed from the darkness of winter at one 
 door, into the darkness of winter in which it 
 disappears at the other; such, too, is the 
 brief measure of human existence. We know 
 not what went before, and we are utterly 
 ignorant as to what shall follow. If the new 
 doctrine can make us more certain as to this, 
 
252 EARLY INTRODUCTION OF 
 
 then it is one in my opinion that ought to be 
 adopted." 
 
 Other pagan wise men bore similar 
 testimony to the unsatisfactory nature of 
 heathenism. 
 
 Upon this, Coifi, the chief priest, desired to 
 hear more concerning the true God, when 
 Paulinus, by the king's command, stood forth 
 and preached the gospel. The wavering 
 and uncertain minds of the Northumbrian 
 heathen council were powerfully influenced 
 by the words of Paulinus. At its conclusion 
 the chief priest again cried out, " I have 
 long since been sensible that there was 
 nothing in that which we worshipped ; because 
 the more diligently I sought after truth in 
 that worship, the less I found it. But now," 
 continued Coifi, " I freely confess, that such 
 truth evidently appears in this preaching as 
 can confer on us the gifts of life, salvation, 
 and eternal happiness. For which reason I 
 advise you, O king, that we instantly abjure 
 and set fire to those temples and altars which 
 we have consecrated without reaping any 
 benefit from them." In short, King Edwin 
 with his nobles renouncing idolatry em- 
 
CHRISTIANITY INTO BRITAIN. 253 
 
 braced Christianity. The Northumbrian 
 ruler anxiously enquired of his chief priest 
 who should lead the way in the destruction 
 of their old gods. " I," exclaimed Coifi, " I, 
 as an example to others, for who can more 
 properly than myself destroy those things 
 which I worshipped through ignorance." At 
 his request, therefore, King Edwin furnished 
 him with arms and a stallion, so with sword 
 girt by his side and spear in hand, in viola- 
 tion of the rules of his order which prohibited 
 priests to carry arms or ride on anything but 
 a mare, the chief priest galloped up to the 
 house of the gods in the sight of all the 
 people, who thought him mad, profaned the 
 temple by casting his spear into it, hacked 
 the images, and then fired the temple with 
 its enclosures. 
 
 King Edwin was baptized at York, on 
 Easter day, in the church of St. Peter the 
 /postle, which he had caused to be built of 
 timber while he was undergoing instruction 
 in the Christian faith. But as soon as he 
 was baptized, by direction of Paulinus, he 
 commenced to build, in the same place, a 
 larger and nobler church of stone; in the 
 
2 54 EARLY INTRODUCTION OF 
 
 midst whereof that same oratory which he 
 had first erected was enclosed ; it was the 
 origin of the stately cathedral of York. 
 
 Following the example of Edwin and 
 Coifi, the common people next embraced 
 Christianity, and multitudes were baptized in 
 the streams both of Bernicia, the northern 
 province of the nation of the Northumbrians 
 and of Deiri, its southern province; "for as 
 yet," observes Bede, '' oratories or fonts 
 could not be made in the early infancy of the 
 Church in those parts." 
 
 Paulinus extended his missionary labours 
 south of the Humber, into the province of 
 Lindsey, and built a stone church at Lincoln. 
 A very old man told Deda, abbot of Par- 
 teney, that he himself, in the presence of 
 King Edwin, had been baptized with a great 
 many others in the Trent, at noonday, by 
 Bishop Paulinus. The old man was wont to 
 describe the Italian missionary as of tall 
 stature but with a slight stoop, black hair, 
 thin meagre countenance, aquiHne nose, and 
 as having an aspect at once venerable and 
 majestic. Deda personally conveyed this 
 information to Bede, by whom the inter- 
 
CHRISTIANITY INTO BRITAIN. 255 
 
 esting tradition has been handed down to 
 us.^ 
 
 Zealous for his new creed, the recently 
 baptized Northumbrian king sought to per- 
 suade Eorpwald, ruler of the East Saxons, to 
 embrace Christianity. Redwald, father of 
 Eorpwald, had previously undergone the 
 initiatory rite, in Kent; but in vain, as, re- 
 turned to his own kingdom, his pagan wife 
 and ministers induced him to become, if not 
 hostile, at the least very indifferent to the 
 faith. It is recorded that in the same temple 
 Redwald had two altars, on one of these he 
 sacrificed to Christ, and to Woden on the 
 other. Eorpwald, however, listened to Edwin, 
 and forsaking the superstitions of his an- 
 cestors soon after was slain by Richbert the 
 pagan. 
 
 Edwin is said to have reigned gloriously 
 seventeen years over the nations of the 
 English and the Britons ; during the last six 
 of these he was a Christian. But the British 
 King Cadwalla, animated with intense hatred 
 of the English, rebelled against him, and 
 joining forces to those of Penda, the furious 
 ^ Eccl. Hist., 1. ii., c. 16. 
 
256 EARLY INTRODUCTION OF 
 
 pagan King of Mercia, together they met 
 Edwin in battle, and slew him in the year 
 633. By this disaster the affairs of the 
 Northumbrians were thrown into confusion. 
 Paulinus, taking Queen Ethelburga with him 
 in his flight, returned by sea into Kent, and 
 was honourably received by King Eadbald 
 and Archbishop Honorius, at whose request 
 he took charge of the vacant bishopric of 
 Rochester until his death. 
 
 Camden states that " Honorius, arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, about the year 633, 
 first began to separate parishes in England." 
 The complete organization of the ecclesiasti- 
 cal power in England, appears to have been 
 effected by Archbishop Theodor. He was 
 solemnly enthroned at Canterbury, a.d. 668. 
 Guided by an usage of his native Asia, when 
 planning the establishment in England of a 
 parochial clergy, with the sanction of King 
 ^thelstan, Theodor urged upon opulent 
 proprietors the expediency of building and 
 endowing churches on their lands; by way 
 of encouragement, offering them the right of 
 patronage to the churches they might erect. 
 Hence the origin of existing rights of 
 
CHRISTIANITY INTO BRITAIN. 257 
 
 patronage, and since some estates were large, 
 whilst others were small, this accounts for 
 
 the unequal sizes of parishes. 
 
 Thus planted and watered by the self- 
 denying labours and prayers of Augustine, 
 Laurentius, Mellitus, Paulinus, with others, 
 the Anglo-Saxon Church took root; and 
 adorned by Caedmon, Adhelm, Bede, Alcuin, 
 King Alfred, Asser, with here and there one 
 in advance of those rude times, it shed a 
 gentle influence over our country. Then was 
 experienced by the churl or villain and by the 
 poor slave that tilled England the blessings 
 of a seventh day's rest — the holy Sabbath, the 
 observance of which was rigidly enforced. 
 Yet vital religion everywhere was suffocated 
 beneath the folds of superstition and ignor- 
 ance. Literary appliances were scarce and 
 costly, and the scant learning of the age was 
 confined to the clergy. 
 
 The dread Vikings of the North, in long, 
 gilt-prowed craft, with Reafen ominously 
 flouting at mast-head, traversing the ocean, 
 next bore down upon England ; and the 
 charred and blackened ruins of Lindisfarne, 
 Croyland, and many another monastery in 
 s 
 
258 EARLY INTRODUCTION OF 
 
 the north, and on the east, throughout that 
 district afterwards known as " Danelagh," 
 supplied melancholy evidence of the unre- 
 lenting hostility to Christianity of the heathen 
 Northmen. Becoming in 1017 sole monarch 
 of England, although the son of an apostate, 
 Cnut the Great displayed zeal for the Church. 
 He discountenanced the eating of horseflesh 
 in honour of Odin. With the view still further 
 to discourage the old pagan creed and stem 
 that host of heathen superstitions which clung 
 with the inveteracy of ancient association 
 to the Danish converts, Cnut enacted laws 
 against witchcraft and charms, the worship of 
 stones, fountains, runes by ash and elm, and 
 the incantations that do homage to the dead. 
 The dislike on the part of the British 
 Christians to attempt the conversion of their 
 pagan destroyers yielded in time to a sense 
 of duty. To the Celtic and British Churches 
 not less than to Augustine and his followers, 
 the Anglo-Saxons and the Anglo-Danes were 
 indebted for their conversion. At an early 
 period the various branches of the Celtic or 
 British Church were merged into the Anglo- 
 Saxon, and the present Church of England 
 
CHRISTIANITY INTO BRITAIN. 259 
 
 thus connected with the Primitive and 
 Apostolic Church, through the Gallican, was 
 gradually formed. 
 
 With the Norman Conquest the papal 
 system was more firmly riveted upon 
 England ; it interfered with the rights of our 
 princes and clashed with the working of the 
 civil power. " The antient British Church," 
 says Blackstone, "by whomsoever planted, 
 was a stranger to the Bishop of Rome and all 
 his pretended authority. But the pagan 
 Saxon invaders, having driven the professors 
 of Christianity to the remotest corners of our 
 island, their own conversion was afterwards 
 effected by Augustine the monk and other 
 missionaries from the Court of Rome. This 
 naturally introduced some few of the papal 
 corruptions in point of faith and doctrine : 
 but we read of no civil authority claimed by 
 the Pope in these kingdoms till the aera of the 
 Norman Conquest; when the then reigning 
 pontiff, having favoured Duke William in his 
 projected invasion by blessing his host and 
 consecrating his banners, took that oppor- 
 tunity also of establishing his spiritual en- 
 croachments ; and was even permitted so to 
 
26o . EARLY INTRODUCTION OF 
 
 do by the policy of the Conqueror, in order 
 more effectually to humble the Saxon clergy 
 and aggrandize his Norman prelates." The 
 holy father exacted first-fruits from the bene- 
 ficed clergy, and levied by means of his legates 
 a latere, Peter-pence and other exactions. 
 As a consequence of his papal provisions the 
 best livings were filled by Italian and other 
 foreign clergy, equally unskilled in, and ad- 
 verse to, the laws and constitution of England. 
 The Pope partially succeeded in wresting 
 from our kings that ancient prerogative of 
 the crown, the nomination to bishoprics. By 
 the introduction into England of various 
 foreign orders of monks, men separated from 
 the world by a vow of perpetual celibacy, 
 who looked up to and obeyed the Pope as 
 their grand superior, numerous abbeys and 
 rehgious houses were built within a century 
 after the Norman Conquest, and endowed 
 not only with the tithes of parishes, but also 
 with lands, manors, and lordships; all this, 
 although calculated to aggrandize the ponti- 
 fical power, was detrimental to the king and 
 to the secular clergy. 
 
 The exorbitant power claimed and exer- 
 
CHRISTIANITY INTO BRITAIN. 26 1 
 
 cised in England by the Pope at length im- 
 pelled King Edward I. to cope with the in- 
 creasing evil. He made light of papal bulls 
 and processes. He limited and established 
 the bounds of ecclesiastical jurisdiction. He 
 closed the gulf into which the landed property 
 of the kingdom was in danger of being 
 swallowed, by his reiterated statutes of mort- 
 main. In the thirty-fifth year of his reign was 
 passed the first statute against papal pro- 
 visions, being the foundation, according to Sir 
 Edward Coke, of all the subsequent statutes 
 of prcBmimire. During the weak reign of 
 Edward II. the Pope again endeavoured to 
 encroach, but the Parliament manfully with- 
 stood him. In the reign of Edward III. it 
 was enacted,^ severally, that the court of 
 Rome shall not present or collate to any 
 bishopric or living in England; and that 
 whoever disturbs any patron in the presenta- 
 tion to a Hving by virtue of a papal provision, 
 such provisor shall pay a fine and ransom to 
 the king at his will, and be imprisoned till 
 he renounces such provision; and the same 
 
 ^ Stat. 25 Echv. 3, St. 6 ; 27 Edw. 3, st. i. c. 3 ; ^Z 
 Edvv. 3, St. i., c. 4 ; and st. 2, cc. i, 2, 3, 4. 
 
262 EARLY INTRODUCTION OF 
 
 punishment is inflicted on such as cite the 
 king, or any of his subjects, to answer in the 
 court of Rome. When, resenting these pro- 
 ceedings, Pope Urban V. attempted to revive 
 the vassalage and annual rent to which King 
 John had subjected the kingdom, it was 
 unanimously agreed by all the estates of the 
 realm in Parliament assembled, in the fortieth 
 year of Edward III., that King John's dona- 
 tion was null and void : being without the 
 concurrence of Parliament, and contrary to 
 his coronation oath ; and all the temporal 
 nobihty and commons engaged, that if the 
 Pope should endeavour, by process or other- 
 wise, to maintain these usurpations, they 
 would resist and withstand him to the utmost 
 of their power.^ 
 
 In the reign of Richard II. these laws were 
 made more stringent. It was enacted that 
 no ahen should be capable of being presented 
 to any ecclesiastical preferment. By the 
 statute, 12 Ric. II., c. 15, all liege men of 
 the king accepting of a living by any foreign 
 provision, are put out of the king's protection, 
 and the benefice made void. 13 Ric. II., 
 ' Seld. in Flet. 10, 4. 
 
CHRISTIANITY INTO BRITAIN. 263 
 
 St. 2, c. 2, adds banishment and forfeiture of 
 lands and goods ; and by the third chapter 
 of the same statute, any person bringing over 
 any citation or excommunication from beyond 
 sea on account of the execution of the fore- 
 going statutes of provisors shall be imprisoned, 
 forfeit his goods and lands, and, moreover, 
 suffer pain of Hfe and member. 
 
 In the writ for the execution of all these 
 statutes the words prcermmire facias being 
 used to demand a citation of the party, hence, 
 not only the writ, but the offence itself of 
 maintaining the papal power, has become 
 known by the name of prcemunire : so that 
 the original meaning of the offence called 
 pi'cemunire is the introducing a foreign power 
 into this land; and creating imperium in 
 imperio^ by paying that obedience to papal 
 process which constitutionally belonged to 
 the king alone. It is, however, the statute 
 16 Ric. II., c. 5, that is usually referred to as 
 the Statute of Prcemunire. It enacts that 
 whoever procures at Rome, or elsewhere, 
 any translations, processes, excommunica- 
 tions, bulls, instruments, or other things 
 which touch the king, against him, his crown 
 
264 EARLY INTRODUCTION OF 
 
 and realm, and all persons aiding and assist- 
 ing therein, shall be put out of the king's 
 protection, their lands and goods forfeited to 
 the king's use, and they shall be attached by 
 their bodies to answer to the king and his 
 council, or process oi _prcB7mmire facias shall 
 be made out against them, as in other cases 
 of provisors. By the statute 2 Hen. IV., 
 c. 3, all persons who accept any provisions 
 from the Pope, to be exempt from canonical 
 obedience to their proper ordinary, are also 
 subject to the penalties oi prcemiinh-e. The 
 establishment of a laborious parochial clergy 
 by the endowment of vicarages out of the 
 overgrown possessions of the monasteries 
 added lustre to the close of the fourteenth 
 century. In the reign of Henry V. the alien 
 priories or abbeys for foreign monks were 
 suppressed and their lands reverted to the 
 crown. 
 
 By these ancient statutes the usurped civil 
 power of the Bishop of Rome in England 
 v/as broken, as his usurped religious power 
 was finally thrown off in the reign of Queen 
 Elizabeth. 
 
 Most of the glorious cathedrals and very 
 
CHRISTIANITY INTO BRITAIN. 265 
 
 many of the parish churches of England were 
 in existence when Domesday Book was com- 
 piled ; this is apparent from entries relating 
 to them in that priceless national record; 
 and of these quite a number were founded 
 ages before the Norman Conquest. Long, 
 therefore, have they been hallowed by the 
 worship of the Lord. 
 
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