Why should we conclude this work, in this age of infidelity, without at least stating what was known of the Bible? Why should we not bring the "cloud of witnesses" of the ruins we have already described? The discovery of the Assyrian and Babylonian historic records running contemporaneously with Scripture narratives have afforded innumerable points of proof. From the ruins of Nineveh and the Valley of the Nile; from the slabs and bas-reliefs of Sennacherib and the tombs, the catacombs with their 1,100 Christian inscriptions, and the monuments of Pharaoh; from the rolls of Chaldee paraphrasts and Syrian versionists; from the cells and libraries of monastic scribes and the dry and dusty labors of scholars and antiquarians, the skepticism of history has almost been silenced by the vivid reproductions of the ancient and eastern world.
An attentive perusal of the present volume will afford many illustrations of these remarks. Knowing that the substance of the narrative is drawn from sources of indisputable authority, the reader can have no anxiety respecting the truth of the facts recorded. He will, therefore, be able to resign himself altogether to the gracious influence which such a history is calculated to exercise on the mind.
The assistance which the reader will derive from a well-arranged narrative of these sublime events will be found of importance, not only as exciting attention to facts, otherwise less noticed, but as habituating him, in perusing the divine originals, to arrange and classify the several portions of the history for himself. When this ability is acquired, the mind will have a readier command over the materials of reflection, and the several arguments on which the proof of heavenly truth is founded will be seen with greater distinctness, and appreciated with a more practical feeling of their strength and value.
With the assistance of the many scholarly productions on this matter, why should we not at least set the Bible side by side with Homer, Herodotus, Virgil, Horace, and others, which have already taken quite a space in the present work. The Scripture surely contains, independently of a divine origin, more true sublimity, more exquisite beauty, purer morality, more important history, and finer strains both of poetry and eloquence, than could be collected within the same compass from all other books that were ever composed in any age or in any idiom.
The Bible accords in a wonderful manner with universal history. There is nothing more common in history than the recognition of a God. Sacred and profane history alike involve this principle. The fictions of the poets respecting the different ages of the world coincide with Scripture facts. The first, or Golden Age, is described as a paradisiacal state, feebly representing the bliss of the first pair in Eden, Gen. ii. And the second, or Iron Age, described in the fiction of Pandora and her fatal box of evils, which overspread the earth, is in accordance with the history of the introduction of evil into the world, Gen. iii. The celebrated Vossius shows, with great ingenuity, the similitude there is between the history of Moses and the fable of Bacchus. The cosmogony of the ancient Phœnicians is evidently similar to the account of creation given by Moses, and a like assertion may be made respecting the ancient Greek philosophy. Travel north, south, east and west, and you find the period employed in creation used as a measure of time, though no natural changes point it out as a measure, as is the case with the month and year. Consult the heathen classics, the records of our Scythian ancestors, the superstitions of Egypt, of the Indies, both East and West, and, indeed, of all the varied forms in which superstition has presented herself, and in one or in all you meet with evidences of a universal flood, of man's fall, of the serpent having been the instrument in it, of propitiatory sacrifices, of the expectation of a great deliverer. The long lives of men in the early ages of the world are mentioned by Berosus, Manetho, Hiromus and Helanicus, as also by Hesoid and many other writers quoted by Josephus, and afterwards by Servius, in his notes on Virgil. Pausanius, Philostratus, Pliny and several other writers give us accounts of the remains of gigantic bodies which have been found in the earth, serving in some degree to confirm Moses' account of the antediluvian giants. Berosus, the Chaldean historian, quoted by Josephus, and Abidenus by Eusebius, Plutarch, Lucian, Molo, Nicholas Damascenus, as well as many of the heathen poets, mention the deluge; and some traditions respecting it are to be found among the Americans and Chinese; not to mention what some modern travelers have fabulously related concerning some ruins of the ark, said to remain on Mount Ararat, and to have been seen there a few centuries ago. Alexander Polyphistor quotes Artapanus and Eupolemus, as mentioning the Tower of Babel; and the former speaks of it as built by Belus. Strabo, Tacitus, Pliny, etc., give us an account of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring cities, in the main agreeable to that of Moses. Herodotus, Diodorus, Strabo, etc., mention circumcision as a rite used by several of those nations into which, according to Moses, Abraham traveled, or which were descended from him. Berosus, and several others, make express and honorable mention of Abraham and some of his family. Eupolemus and Dius, as quoted by Eusebius and Grotius, mention many remarkable circumstances of David and Solomon, agreeing with the Old Testament story. As for the mention of Nebuchadnezzar, and some of the succeeding kings of Babylon, as well as of Cyrus and his successors, it is so common in ancient writers, as not to need a more particular notice of it. And very many passages of the Old Testament are mentioned by Celsus, and objections to Christianity formed upon them. Is not all this in favor of the credibility of the Old Testament? And with respect to the New Testament, we have the testimony of Tacitus and Suetonius to the existence of Jesus Christ, the Founder of the Christian religion, and to His crucifixion in the reign of Tiberius, and during the procuratorship of Pontius Pilate, the time in which the evangelists place that event. Porphyry, also, though an inveterate enemy to Christianity, not only allowed that there was such a person as Christ, but honored Him as a most wise and pious man, translated into heaven as being approved by the gods; and accordingly quotes some oracles, referring both to His sufferings and virtues, with their subsequent rewards. Celsus, likewise, an Epicurean philosopher, full of enmity to the Christian religion, mentions numberless circumstances in the history of Christ, indeed so many, that an abstract of the Christian history might almost be taken from the very fragments of his book preserved by Origen, and never pretends to dispute His real existence, or the truth of the facts recorded of Him. Hierocles, a man of learning and a magistrate, who wrote against the Christians, speaks of Jesus as extolled by the Christians as a god; mentions Peter and Paul by name; and refers both to the Gospels and to the Epistles. The Emperor Julian, in the fourth century, called "Apostate," writes of the birth of Jesus in the reign of Augustus; bears witness to the genuineness and authenticity of the Gospels, and the Acts of the Apostles; and allows that Jesus Christ wrought miracles. He aimed to overthrow the Christian religion, but has confirmed it. The slaughter of the infants at Bethlehem is attested by Macrobius; the darkness at the crucifixion is recorded by Phlegon, and quoted by Origen. The manners and worship of the primitive Christians are distinctly named by Pliny. The great dearth throughout the Roman world, foretold by Agabus, in the reign of Claudius (Acts xi. 28), is attested by Suetonius Dion, Josephus, and others. The expulsion of the Jews from Rome by Claudius (Acts xviii. 2) was occasioned, says Suetonius, by the insurrection they had made about Chrestus, which is his way of spelling Christ. It has been repeatedly proved, with laborious research, and profuse erudition, that vestiges of all the principal doctrines of the Christian religion are to be found in the monuments, writings, or mythologies of all nations and ages. And the principal facts contained in the Gospels are confirmed by monuments of great fame subsisting in every Christian country at this very day. For instance, baptism in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, the rite by which from the beginning men have been initiated into the Church of Christ, and the profession of Christianity. The Lord's Supper, celebrated in memory of the dying love of Christ. And the stated observation of the first day of the week, in honor of Christ's resurrection from the dead. Who can say, and prove, that this is not evidential of the truth and credibility of the New Testament? What but inspiration could have produced such internal harmony, and such external accordance?
FRIEZE FROM THE ARCH OF TITUS.[ToList]
Of the monuments, none is more striking than the Arch of Titus. This celebrated structure was erected by the Senate and the people of Rome in estimation of the services of Titus in conquering the Jews. It is probable that the monument was completed after the death of Titus. It consists of a single arch of Grecian marble, of exquisite proportions, with fluted columns on each side. The frieze, which gives it special interest and value, is on the right-hand side passing under the arch going towards the Coliseum. It represents the triumphal procession of captive Jews, the silver trumpets, the tables of shew-bread, and the golden candlestick, with its seven branches. The candlestick itself is said to have been thrown into the Tiber from the Milvina Bridge, on the occasion of the battle between Maxentius and Constantine. Should the proposal to turn the course of the Tiber be carried into effect it is not impossible that this precious relic may yet be recovered.
No book was ever produced by chance. Every volume in the world is indebted for its existence to some being or beings. And the Bible, we are assured, could not but have had an intelligent author. But within the range of intelligence there exist only bad beings, good beings, and God. Hence, among these must be found whatever originates in intelligence, for this classification includes all beings that are intelligent. Now that bad beings—wicked men and infernal spirits—could not have originated a book so full of goodness, is a reasonable opinion; for it bears no resemblance to such an origin. It commands all duty, forbids all sin, and pronounces the heaviest penalties against all unholy conduct; and as darkness can not originate light, so neither can evil originate good. Nor would it help the matter to suppose that good beings—pious men and holy angels—were the contrivers of these well-arranged records; for they neither could nor would write a book, ascribing their own inventions to divine inspiration; especially as such forgeries are most severely reprobated in every part of it. As therefore God is the only remaining being within the range of intelligence to whom the Scriptures can be reasonably ascribed, they must, of necessity, have been written by Him. And, indeed, the Bible is a work as much exceeding every effort of mere man as the sun surpasses those scanty illuminations by which his splendor is imitated, or his absence supplied.