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English and Foreign.

ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE BIBLE. DISCOVERIES IN ASSYRIA. The archaeological researches in Assyria, under the direction of Lieut.-Colonel Ravrlinson, may be classed amongst the most important events of the age. Whether we regard the difficulties oveicome, the grandeur of the discoveries made, the importance of the light those discoveries throw upon durk passages of ancient history in th.3 Sacred Records, or their value as irrefragable proofs of the reliableness of the Bible, we are constrained to accord to Col. Rawlinson a lofty position p.mongst British worthies. By 'our last file of English papers, we learn that the great discoverer has been lecturing before the Leeds Philosophical Society, oa " The Testimony of Archaeology to Sacred History." This event has been variously noticed by the Knglish press, from which we take the following extracts : — The_{reoh>gisi and the theologian proceed on very ilifu-reist principles, um | UR . el vv j t j, ve ,. v muuii tliu same tn-atnvjiit. The former peneI u-.uca the crnsi of the earth,and exc<>»ilales the ! truth of his science from what he finds there, livery sicp h« takes in constructing his system must be first harmonised with the actual appearance ami the known processes of nature. What he testifies is that which be has seen, and when ho ventures to theorise it must boon acknowledged principles. The theologian, on the contrary, sicunpis implicitly what be reads, even wnen he has no fact to adduce in support—his creed is made ready to his hand, and instead of waning for proof before be speaks, his ingenuous cojiiesuwu is, » \y c . believe and therefore speak "

The authority which nature h;is with the one, is more llian equalled by that -.which the Bonk h;ts with the other. Both are shut up to believe what they find registered, because neither the inscriptions of the natural world, nor th« utterances of the written word can deceive. Both, however, are met with incredulity when they address the unthinking and the uninformed." Men don't care to believe what at first hearing- is strange to them, and even opposed to their prepossessions ; and hence both geologists and theologians have been loaded with shame, and reported false witnesses for God. Time, however, has been the avenger of both ; and as year after year has accumulated fresh discoveries in the earth's strata, and in the" remains of antiquity, the truthfulness of Scripture, and the claims of geology to be considered a veritable science, have been more and more demonstrated. And in some cases the testimonj to Scripture history has been most unexpected, therefore the mote welcome, and the most complete. The discoveries in Assyria, for instance, are such as to authenticate the incj^ dental allusions to the history of that country beyond all possible questioning, and to throw a clear light upon the literature, manners, laws, religion, and domestic economy of the most ancient, and one of the most renowned kingdoms of the young world. And these discoveries have been made by men who were formerly unconnected with theology, and therefore were under no seductive influence to modify the Scriptures, or to dress up the stones of Assyria so as to afford apparent help to the explicit but brief annals of those venerable documents. Had clergymen, or others wh<> stand publicly committed to Christianity, been the discoverers, although it never could be supposed they could have foisted upon the public counterfeit bricks,, and covered them with cuneiform inscriptions, as relics disinterred from the ruins of Babylon and Nineveh,infidelity might have insinuated suspicion, however gratuitously; but when military men and civilians, whose only motive has been one inspired by archaeology or scientific curiosity, have been the party, the testimony borne is irrefragible, and as unexceptionable as can well be imagined. It must, therefore, have beeeu quite a treat at Leeds, on Thursday week, when Lieut.-Col. Kawlinsou lectured on the subject. Lieut-Col, Itawlhison, after sketching how he became interested, and then embarked iv the investigation, described the difficulties which barred his progress. Difficulties, however, only sharpened his invention and fired his spirit. At great ri.«-k, but with perfect success, he took copies of the mysterious writing which had been "graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever.'* He says modestly* describing his operations—

" The inscriptions were at an elevation of about 500 feet, and the only means he had of copying them was by placing v ladder on a projection about a foot or 18 inches wide, ;it the base of the inscriptions-. The ladder stood nearly perpendicular, and in order to ascend he bad to place a man on the inner side, to bold it down while he ascended ; and nfier he had passed the ctniifi t>i' gravity it became comparatively safe. A portion of ibe inscription, however, was considerably above the ladder ; and, in order to copy it, he bad to stand on the top round of the ladder, with no other support than by steadying llie body against the rock with the left arm, while the led hand held the note book, and the right arm was employed with the pencil. But the danger attending the copying the Scythic record of Dan us was much greater. It was placed in the recess of a projecting crag which overhung the tablets containing the Persian text of the record. He succeeded in obtaining a native who crept up a cleft in the ruck at oiid side o( the inscriptions, fixed a peg in the rock, fastened a crd to it, and by great exertion swung himself to a cleft on the , opposite side, when; he drove another peg. ;/ Fasteni nu; ibe end of this cord to that peg, lie had forn»ed a swinging seat, like a painter's cradle ; and that swinging seat was the only means of getting at the inscription. " Who does tioi. admire the patience, courage, and self-devotion which these labours involved, and rejoice that they have been recompensed with sticii satisfactory and priceless results? But after these anuieut inscriptions had been secured, there was the task of deciphering, them—a more herculean one than the former, and requiring a very different order of miml The Colonel, however, mastered it sufficiently to he able to interpret the monuments of Babvlouiuu greatness, consisting of grammars,

dictionaries, scientific observation, &o. Some conception may be formed of the complexity of the language, anil of the extent of the recovered monuments, when it is staled that tins dead tongue contained 3000 letters and about. 20,000 idiograpbs, and that to print the records would fill 100,000 dose pages ; and this, too, will shew the prodigious energy and singular tact possessed by the discoverer. The lime and genius thus absorbed has completely demonstrated ihe folly and ignorance ol those who have insinuated a suspicion of the reliableness of early Scripture history. Lieut.-Col. Rawlitisou bears his unqualified testimony, and asserts the " Perfect coincidence between tho history and these inscriptions as to the general facts, and only such slight differences in detailb as might be anticipated, especially mi. the part of a people who were at enmity with the Jews. His discoveries showed that there had been three distinct dynasties on the Tigris and Euphrates '_'. the Assyrian, Chaldean, and Babylonian. While pointing out many important instances in which the interpretation <>' the inscriptions connected with these several dynasties corroborated the Scriptures, he dwelt at some length on the lecent discovery, under his own direction, of the celebrated tower of Bibylon. Upon uncovering the green mound, he found that it was laid out in seven stages, dedicated to the seven spheres—Saturn, Jupiter, the Sun, Veuus, &c.—each platform being dedicated to a oarticular sphere, and bearing the colour of that sphere. Travellers had believed that the Tower of Babel had been destroyed by lightning, i» consequence of the vitrified stale of the bricks at the summit. But examination disproved this. The seventh platform was dedicated to Mercury, and had to be coloured blue. To give the bricks that colour, they were subjected to intense heat, until the whole platform became what was known as blue " slag," or vitrified bricks. Perhaps the most remarkable cylinder found was that discovered in the Temple of the Spheres, erected by Nebuchadnezzar at Babylon, a literal translation of which was read. It was almost providential at this time, when there was a disposition to call in question the authenticity of the Scriptures, especially abroad, that such a source of evidence should have been discovered—evidence which was unimpeachable, because contemporary with the facts related, and from a people who were hostile to the Jews. As the result of all his discoveries, he avowed his conviction that wherever the two were compared, the authenticity of Scripture history was established beyond all doubt."

The argument thus afforded on behalf of Scripture generally is very strong, even when separately considered ; but when considered in connexion with others, it tends to expose the miserable credulity of those who can affect to throw douot upon its statements. Thus, archaeology, as well as geology, bears its unsolicited, constant, and most absolute testimony to a book which, while unquestionably the oldest and most instructive in the world, claims also to be one of an unique kind, not simply written by the industry and skill of honest men, as others are ; but given by inspiration ol God— its peculiar and exclusive glory.

The Leeds Mercury, on the same subject, remarks. —

"In Colonel Rawlinson we have to admire a very unusual combination of qualities, namely, the hardiest courage and enterprise, with the faculty of the most unwearied analysis. To conduct excavations through a thousand miles of almost desert country, to scale the fearful precipices of Bihistuin, to discipline the armies of Persia, to make use of the wandering Arabs as his labourers, to bunt with trained wolves, and to have tamed lions and leopards following him (all of which he did), must have required the energies of the fearless soldier. But whilst doing all this, to possess the power of research, of analysis, and of comparison, which has made the chief instrument in re-erecting three extinct languages, of which not a single letter was known, is indeed extraordinary. Researches such as he has carried through might have occupied the entire lives of the most indefatigable and scientific scholars \ yet he has conducted them iv a few years of leisure from his duties us an officer, and is still a young man. We must regard his achievmentsas truly marvellous. Nor are they less valuable from their peculiar direction than from their extent and depth. Except the Sacred Scripture, we have no

historian earlier than about four centuries before Christ; and there were unbelievers who, in the wantonness of their scepticism, and despising the moral and internal evidence, threw discredit on the history of the Old Testament, and alleged that it was all the invention of Ezra, who live.l only in the fifth century before the Christian era ! It seemed as if we were destined to remain for ever without external confirmation of the truth of sacred Writ; as all books or wiitings of an earlier date were supposed to have perished irrevocably. But here go a few Englishmen from the furthest west, and with their .shovel and pick-axe plunge into the shapeless mounds which border the Tigris ami Euphrates, and bring out palaces, and temples, and monuments, and sculptures, aye, and the historical Jrolls and libraries of Assyrian and Babylonian kings—for such we may call the stone tablets covered with inscriptions, of which such numbers have been found ! And, having collected ship-loads of these disentombed autiquities, one of the adventurers sils down in his tent, and with a leopard sleeping on one side of him and a lion on the other, looks at the inscriptions with the penetration of intuition, till the unknown scrawls shape themselves into letters, words, names, dates, sentences, and history! Yes, and Colonel Rawlinson finds dynasties going back beyond the time of Abraham. He discovers the name of Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, mentioned in the book of Genesis. He finds evidence which goes to settle the date of the book of Job. He learns the Arab nation from which the Queen of Sbeba catne, and over which nation only Queens were allowed to reign. He reads details of the tribute'paid by Jehu, king of Israel, —of the campaigns and conquests of Sennacherib, with the names of the cities which he captured, and the sum of money paid him by Hezekiah, king of Judah, —whilst the destruction of his army before Jerusalem, though not acknowledge:! in these self glorifying records, may be inferred from them. He finds references to Hiram, king of Tyre; Benhaded and Huzael, kings of Syria ; and Ethbael, father of Jezebel. Of Nebuchadnezzar he discovers chronicles almost amounting to a diary, with numerous particulars of the great Babylon which he built, and a notice of the mental malady which interrupted his government and his works. And lastly, he finds the names of Belshazzar and his father as reigning together over Babylonia at the fatal close of the dynasty. These are mere specimens of the particulars which have already rewarded the industry of Colonel Rawlinson, and foretastes of the ample stores of ancient hi>iory, confiimatory of Holy Scripture, which are to be brought to light if he should be spared to prosecute the translation of the vastly numerous inscriptions he has brought to England.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/LT18560329.2.8

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 356, 29 March 1856, Page 4

Word count
Tapeke kupu
2,227

English and Foreign. Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 356, 29 March 1856, Page 4

English and Foreign. Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 356, 29 March 1856, Page 4

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