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his ministry into the second century, joining hands with Justin Martyr, and others of the early Christian bishops. There is also strong collateral evi dence, for example, the recent discovery of copies of the Diatessaron. This dis covery completely refutes the claim of some that the fourth Gospel does not belong to the Apostolic era. The Dia tessaron was the first attempt at a har mony of the Gospels, containing the four Gosepls interwoven in one narra tive. It was prepared by a young As syrian named Tatian, born 110 A. D. and converted in Rome through the ministry of Justin to whom I have re ferred. Tatian labored earnestly among the Greeks for a number of years and the preparation of the Diatessaron grew out of his sense of the need of a com bined narrative of the life of Christ. An English translation of the Diatessar on which I have in my possession shows unmistakably that this early Christian layman, who was almost à contempor ary o f the Apostle John, accepted the same Gospei in the same terms as we know, it today. It demonstrates also that the four Gospels were already accepted and in general use by Chris tians within a few years of the close of the Canon. To establish in an equally conclusive way the authenticity of the Old Testa ment it is only necessary to follow the same lines of evidence. Back of the earliest Hebrew manuscripts there are the Targums, or paraphrases, arnd be yond these translations such as the Sep- tuagint, which was in use in the days of Christ and His Apostles. These con nect us directly with the fourth cen tury B. C. and the completion of the Old Testament Canon. 4. We find the claim of historical in accuracy in the Scriptures is not found ed on fact. Archaeological research is a comparatively new branch of investiga tion and, the chief discoveries lie within a generation or two. The archaeolo
gist’s spade, however, has been a factor of vast importance in adding to our knowledge of ancient history and the character of the buried civilizations of the past. Gre’at libraries of imperish able records in -the form of tablets of baked clay a few inches square, con taining curious spike-like characters, have been brought to light and decipher ed, the whole enterprise forming a rec ord of romantic achievement. It is a remarkable fact that while these rec ords continually bear upon history contemporaneous with Bible times and, in many cases, with actual Bible events, there has been no instance of actual conflict in the historical record. And while the records of the tablets and the ancient monuments have furnished re markable confirmation of the accuracy of Scripture in its historical details, yet when the tablet records deal with ques tions of philosophy, science and reli gion, the conflict is immediate and com plete.. To cite but a few illustrations along this line let me begin with the record of the flood. Practically every nation of antiquity has its own flood tradition which fact in itself affords striking evi dence of the universality of this early catastrophe. It is to be noted, how ever, that the accounts found on the tablets are surrounded by the grossest polytheism;* while the Genesis account bears consistent witness to the One God. The tablet story also abounds in gross superstition and is on a low moral level, while the Genesis account has the marks of Sober narrative and is on the lofty plane of Revelation. The tablet record is couched in extravagant statements representing the ark in some instances as several miles long and utterly un- seaworthy as to proportions and ap pointments, while the Biblical narrative tells of a craft of the general propor tions of a modern ocean liner and in every respect suited to the purpose in view. These striking differences must be
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