insisted upon the late appearance of writing, but now, in face of all the facts, the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction. We are told that at the very beginning of the race, as far as the records reach— back to 3500 B. C.—men had learned the art of writing. If God dictated’to Adam the Genesis account of creation, he, the first man, probably previously taught by his Maker, was able to inscribe the words on tablets. If that be so, and many eminent scholars believe it to be, then here in Genesis we have God’s literary style, greatly condensed, but infinitely accurate and altogether divine. It is not possible to follow this fascinating angle of investigation in these simple studies, but enough has been given to show that we who accept the divine authorship of this great record are not victims of credu lity, but simply accept the irresistible conclusions demanded by scientific and scholarly research. What a Book! What an Author! How foolish it is to ignore either of them! When the Bible tells me I must link myself to Jesus Christ, I believe with all my heart that its advice is wise and scientific. It profits me to pay attention to it and act according ly. Since I’ve found Christ, I know— and you know—that He is the incom parable One!
A silver vase found in Telloh by the excavators is said to be nearly 4,500 years old. On it is the coat of arms of Lagash, four e a g l e s with out stretched wings, also representations of stags and lions, a remarkable and skillful piece of work. Even down to our day, their lapidary skill has never been excelled; in fact, with all of our modern implements, it is not pos sible to surpass the excellence of these early products. The pottery of the Sumerian age, which is the earliest civilization of Babylonia, is more ex pertly made than at any later period. Wiseman writes in his book, New Discoveries in Babylonia (p. 35): “Neither the Bible nor Babylonian excavation knows anything of un civilized man. Life at the beginning was necessarily simple, but it was not only enlightened, it was cultured. This is the only logical conclusion we can draw and it effectively nulli fies evolution.” This seems to be the place to draw attention to another remarkable fact, that the art of writing began in the earliest historical times known to man. All the authorities agree that Babylonian civilization is the oldest in the world. Yet, no matter how deeply the excavator digs into the distant past, he finds written Baby lonian records to illuminate his dis coveries. Until recent times, scientists
tomb in the world.” Although this astonishing structure was erected in the childhood of the race, no further progress in architecture h a s been made. Sir Flinders Petrie, writing on this subject, states: “The materials used in building tell much about the builders. In the series of Pyramids, the finest material and work are seen at the beginning; through the fourth to the sixth dynasties, the degenera tion is continuous, until a pyramid was a mere shell of a building filled with chips.” It is not possible to describe in de tail the wonders of the Great Pyramid, but it is well known by every student that in its construction the builders revealed a greater knowledge of astronomy than that which was prev alent in civilized Europe 3,500 years later. Art and science reached their zenith at the beginning. The Sphinx, a statue by the second Pyramid builder, is a marvelous structure as we l l . It represents a king’s head, with a lion’s body, one hundred and eighty-seven feet long, the head being sixty-six feet high. Certainly the men who planned these structures and were able to cut the stones with such finesse as to fit with such amazing perfection, who or ganized a transportation system which carried millions of tons of stone to their site, piling piece upon piece until the apex reached into the heavens, were not half savages with pigmy brains, emerging f r om ' an anthropoid ancestry. But this is what the critic of Genesis would have us believe. Without doubt, the assumed slow progress of early man is a disproved idea. There is absolutely no evidence that man existed through an infinite ly prolonged period before civiliza tion, but without any facts, this is constantly and dogmatically asserted by men who should know better. This is indeed a real phenomenon: dog matic assertiveness in the face of total absence of factual evidence, but it is not an uncommon practice among the enemies of the Word of God. When we know that six thousand years ago men were very highly de veloped in certain arts and technical trades, we stand in awe of their ac knowledged achievements. Sir Leonard Wooley w r i t e s in The Sumerians (p. 44): “In so far as we know, the fourth millennium before Christ saw Sumerian art at its zenith.” These distinguished archaeologists are al ways in a state of surprised wonder as they make their discoveries. Archaeologists give an account of two bronze goats’ heads, an analysis of which shows them to be made of 82.9 per cent copper, 1.33 per cent nickel, .88 per cent iron, .23 per cent antimony, and 14.61 per cent oxygen. DECEMBER, 1946
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