THE FUNDAMENTALS VOLUME II.
CHAPTER I. THE TESTIMONY OF THE MONUMENTS TO THE TRUTH OF THE SCRIPTURES.
BY PROF. GEORGE FREDERICK WRIGHT, D. D., LL. D.pjj| OBERLIN COLLEGE.
All history is fragmentary. Each particular fact is the cen ter of an infinite complex of circumstances. No man has in telligence enough to insert a supposititious fact into circum stances not belonging to it and make it exactly fit. This only infinite intelligence could do. A successful forgery, therefore, is impossible if only we have a sufficient number of the orig inal circumstances with which to compare it. It is this prim ciple which gives such importance to the cross-examination of witnesses. If the witness is truthful, the more he is ques tioned the more perfectly will his testimony be seen to accord with the framework of circumstances into which it is fitted. If false, the more will his falsehood become apparent. Remarkable opportunities for cross-examining the Old Tes tament Scriptures have been afforded by the recent uncover ing of long-buried monuments in Bible lands and by decipher ing the inscriptions upon them. It is the object of this essay to give the results of a sufficient portion of this cross-examina tion to afford a reasonable test of the competence and honesty of the historians of the Old Testament, and of the faithfulness with which their record has been transmitted to us. But the prescribed limits will not permit the half to be told; while room 7
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