April 1929
183
T h e
K i n g ' s
B u s i n e s s
“Take Joseph’s story, for example. Do you remember how the butler dreamed that he was pressing the grapes into Phar aoh’s cup and then gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand ? Do you know that every detail-of that is correct? That it was a custom of the country? Here, graven in stone, we find numerous in stances of slaves and servitors so ‘expressing the juices.’ “Shall I go on? I can draw you a plan of Potiphar’s house, or a house like it. I can scratch a picture of the seven kine in Pharaoh’s: own dream; they appear often in the funeral ritual papyri. “Here is an old Theban painting—eleven men and a boy prostrating themselves before some Egyptian dignitary—just as Genesis tells us Joseph’s eleven brothers prostrated themselves. It was a custom of the times. “ God’s Book told u s'all about these things long before the spade unearthed them. “Go back to the story of the battle of the kings in Genesis 14. Let us show you how all these ‘fictitious characters’ have been established as men who really lived and fought in the vale of Siddim, whose slime pits have been authenticated as well. “There’s more than we can tell! ‘Bricks without strain/ are found in the upper courses of the walls of the grain treasury at Pithom (Ex. 1 :11). Lower down in the walls are bricks made with stubble (Ex. 5:11-12). And lowest of all, i.e., the first bricks laid, are those made in the old way with straw. Think this through for yourself. “Enough, Archeology! You are dismissed for the present. We know you have volumes more to tell, but it is not necessary,” cried Elise. Pauline had been listening with ears, eyes and heart wide open, as it were, so vital was this matter to her. She uttered a little laugh of delight. Small Sister gave a rap turous wriggle on the grass. It was such fun to watch her tall college sister! “How about astronomy ?” asked Pauline. “Yes, my dear! Astronomy is about to point us to the flashing starry hordes that are nightly ignored by us in their march across the sky. Everyone knows the milky way. Hear this: ‘A photographic plate was exposed to a rich portion of this milky way, and,.with a microscope, 500,000 suns were estimated on about one-quarter of the plate, while the rest was a perfect blaze of light in which there might have been from a million to a million and a half suns.’ Mr. Blackstone says this in ‘Our God and His Universe.’ And then, Pauline, I thought of that verse, ‘L ift up your eyes on high and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number; he calleth them all by name.’ But I forgot! Astronomy is here as a witness. I Speak u p ! This baby fig that’s fallen off the tree shall stand for you. “A stronomy : “In the very chapter just quoted (Isa. 40) you will find that the Creator says of Himself: ‘It is He that sitteth upon the cir cle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in.’ “It is strange that any of us demand proof of this wonderful Word when Truth is so evidently set forth in these majestic utterances.. Only consider this phrase:— ‘He. that sitteth upon the circle of the earth/ Here, centuries before Christopher Columbus startled a world that considered itself flat by saying it was round, we find ‘a remarkable reference to the sphericity of the earth.’ It is true, a Hebrew scholar tells us that this word translated ‘circle’ implies a sphere. How could Isaiah know this, back—back in those unscientific days? Revelation is the only answer. “Job tells us (chapter 38) that God asked him:— ‘Const thou guide Arcturus with his sons?’ “Job was accurate in his quotation of the Mighty One who was showing him the patience of eternity. The other night on a stereopticon screen there was thrown a picture of part of the heavens, and an astronomer told of the marvelous way in which the huge Arcturus, many times larger than our sun, had been kept from demolishing other systems, although it is known as the wandering star of the universe. How did Job give this character to Arcturus? He says God told him.
:: H e a r t to H ea r t
Spades, Stars and Stones B y F lorence N ye W h itwell HINGS are so puzzling that I don’t see how there can be a God!” The one who said this was a high-school girl. She was sitting on the grass absently tearing up tiny clover leaves as she spoke. “The Bible says there is a God!” announced It was wonderful that God had so arranged matters that a young college woman was present who not only believed His Word but had studied to show herself approved before God, a workman that needed hot to be ashamed. But then, as someone said, it was just like Him to arrange it so. “Pretty serious words!” she cried. “Can you prove that the Bible is not true, ‘sweet coz’?” “Don’t be Shakespearian, Elise. I am in deadly earn est,” replied the girl, Pauline, and the quick tears sprang to her' eyes. “And so am I, Pauline,” replied Elise, with a loving smile. “But I am just happy because I know you cannot prove your point. I might put it:—-Your premise is untenable. You realize that, I hope.” “I wish I did,” the girl replied. “I should be a lot more comfortable.” “Let me make one statement and then we shall pro ceed to action,” said Elise, still with the gay, confident note in her voice. “What is it?” asked'Pauline. “Just th is: God’s Word says over and over that He is, and there is no other. Furthermore, this Book of His tells us just what He is like and what we are to expect of Him. Now, if we can show the Bible to be dependable, in this brief and extemporaneous debate, and that many of its statements about actual things and events have been proved, then we may logically proceed to accept what it says about the spiritual world and the God whose Word it professes to be. May we not ?” “Of course! That’s fair enough,” said Pauline. And Little Sister chimed in, as loyal and adoring little sisters are apt to do. “I am going to call upon three different witnesses in this case,” said Elise, with genuine relish. “H e re ! This rosebud—I ’ll stick it up in the grass—stands for Arche ology. What have you to say, Archeology? Ah, this is interesting! Let’s tune in on this. “A rcheology : “What wonders we have unearthed down here in the hot sands of Egypt! Tombs of Kings? Yes—but more than these! We have been able to reconstruct the life of a vanished people. Fascinating, isn’t it? Inscriptions! Early drawings and paint ings ! Remains of dwelling houses! her younger sister, in a tone of finality. “Therefore I do not believe the Bible.”
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