Part 8 (1/2)

[Footnote 34: P. 245.]

[Footnote 35: P.F. 222.]

[Footnote 36: Thus he a.s.sumes Mr. Spurgeon's definition of inspiration as the basis of operations (See H.O. 189), and says, ”It is perfectly obvious that for those who accept these confessions of faith ... all the discoveries of modern science, from Galileo and Newton down to Lyall and Darwin, are simple delusions.”]

[Footnote 37: M.S. 215.]

[Footnote 38: Ibid. 251.]

[Footnote 39: ”The _simplest straightforward evidence_ of the _earliest_ Christian writer who gives any account of their origin, viz., Papias.”

(P.F. 236.) ”What does Papias say? Practically this: that he preferred oral tradition to written doc.u.ments.... This is a _perfectly clear_ and _intelligible_ statement made apparently in good faith without any dogmatic or other prepossession.... It has always seemed to me that all theories ... were comparatively worthless which did not take into account _the fundamental fact_ of this statement of Papias.” (238.) ”The _clear_ and _explicit_ statement of Papias.” (250.)]

[Footnote 40: PP. 258--260.]

[Footnote 41: P. 262.]

[Footnote 42: P.F. 266.]

[Footnote 43: With regard to this ”very precise statement,” it is noticeable that Matthew speaks of ”Mary the mother of James and Joses;”

Mark, of ”Mary the mother of James the less and of Joseph and Salome,”

but not ”of Salome.” If Mr. Laing's precise mind had looked for a moment at the text he was criticizing he would have seen that Salome is a common name in the nominative case. St. Luke does not give the names of the women at all. These points are trifling in themselves, but important as evidencing Mr. Laing's standard of intellectual conscientiousness.]

[Footnote 44: P.F. 235]

[Footnote 45: M.S. 332 ff.]

[Footnote 46: H.O. 2.]

[Footnote 47: H.O. 8.]

[Footnote 48: H.O. II]

[Footnote 49: H.O. 9 and 199.]

[Footnote 50: H.O. 10.]

[Footnote 51: This seems, later, to be an inference, not an a.s.sertion.

”Manetho was a learned priest of a celebrated temple, who _must have had_ access to all the temples and royal records and other literature of Egypt, and who _must have been_ also conversant with foreign literature to have been selected as the best man to write a complete history of his native country.” (H.O. 22.)]

[Footnote 52: He seems to think that Josephus was a Christian, and Syncellus a ”Father.” We might mention that from the fragments of Africa.n.u.s' _Pentabiblion Chronicon_, preserved in Eusebius, the author places the Creation at 5499 B.C., which is certainly hardly compatible with his giving such fragments of Manetho as would place Menes one year before that date. If we know nothing of Manetho's results except through these ”orthodox” sources, it is inconceivable that Mr. Laing's version of them should have any historical basis whatever. It comes in fine to this, that because their report of Manetho does not give Mr. Laing what he wants, they have been tampered with.]

[Footnote 53: H.O. 11.]

[Footnote 54: H.O. 22.]

[Footnote 55: H.O. 17.]

[Footnote 56: H.O. 42.]

[Footnote 57: ”There can be no doubt, moreover, that this Sargon I. is a perfectly historical personage. _A statue of him has been found at Agade.”_ (H.O. 55.)]