KT. HON. SIR E. TEMPLE, BART., ON THE UNITY OF TRUTH. 29 



many liistoric occasions, and that was done by the Jews. 

 But are not these intelhgible ? It has been assumed, from 

 the want of h^cal and scientific knowledge, that these narra- 

 tives are unintelligible, and no narrative has astonished 

 people more than the passage of the Red Sea. 



Need we say that that is miraculous ? We have found 

 that in certain states of the wind at the north end of the 

 Ked Sea, near which the Egyptians must have crossed from 

 that part of Egypt, the waters of the sea are driven back for 

 several miles. When you hear that, it amounts to a scientific 

 fact — it is very intelligible and you see how the thing- 

 happened. 



There occurred at that moment and at that juncture some 

 tremendous wind that drove back the sea, and the Israelites 

 saw there was a dry passage and a short cut lor them. They 

 were terribly pressed for time, with their pursuers behind 

 them, and they rushed across and made good their passage. 

 The wind abated and the sea began to flow back on the 

 return of the tide and caught the Egyptians in their pursuit. 

 I see it in my own mind as clearly as though I had seen it 

 with my eyes. 



Take the case of the Dead Sea. People assume that fire 

 and brimstone and hail tempestuously rolled down from 

 Heaven. That is a very good description ; but of course it 

 was by some extensive combustion of the fiery bituminous 

 elements in the earth, of which tlie traces are seen there to-day. 



Take the other case of the Jordan. The only passage for 

 the Ark of the Covenant was over the river .Jordan. I dare- 

 say that many have assumed that to be miraculous, because 

 no one could undeistand how they could have got across 

 dry-shod particularly at that time of the year. It is a narrow 

 river no doubt comparatively, but deep, and they could not 

 understand how, by any natmal process, the .Jews could have 

 crossed dry, and yet they did so cross. I take that with a 

 sure and certain belief in the accuracy of every word of 

 Scripture. It was said there must have been a miracle ; but 

 in our days we quite see how it happened. The Jordan at 

 that time and at subsequent times had been liable to con- 

 vulsions in its bed. Every physical geographer knows it is 

 the most extraordinary river on the face of the globe, and is 

 liable to those convulsions, and many have happened since. 

 Mark you the Scriptures never said that the river was banked 

 up at the place where the Israelites crossed, but the water 

 was banked up like a wall at a place callerl Zaretan, which is 



