THE WITNESS OF ARCHiEOLOG Y TO THE BIBLE. 



203 



reported it to his teacher, Herr Schick. The inscription describes 

 the meeting of the workmen in the tunnel (1,700 feet long) which 

 they were excavating, and how they heard each other's picks at 

 work, and cut through the intervening rock. We have in II. 

 Chron., xxxii., an account of the making by Hezekiah of what is 

 generally believed to be the same conduit, in order to prevent the 

 water supply of the city falling into the hands of the invaders. 



The Greek Papyri, discovered in Egypt, have provided a key 

 to the better understanding of New Testament Greek. Searching 

 for archasological treasures the explorers came across a number 

 of mummified crocodiles. The apparent worthlessness of the 

 find, and the great number of these crocodiles, so exasperated the 

 men, that they broke one of them to pieces and disclosed the 

 surprising fact that the creature was wrapped in sheets of papyrus. 

 The result was a systematic search through the crocodile ceme- 

 tery, and the discovery of many valuable papyri of the second 

 century B.C. 



The keys having been found, we can now call upon the 

 nations one by one to give their witness to the truth of the 

 Bible record. But before doing so, let us see what the land 

 of Palestine itself has to give in the way of evidence. 



Dr. Masterman tells us that, " the light thrown directly on 

 the Bible by investigations in the Holy Land has been out of 

 all proportion to the extent of the excavations, and without 

 doubt more important discoveries yet lie hidden under the heaped 

 up dust of many ' tells.' " 



The Eev. James Neil, who was chaplain to Bishop Gobat, 

 the first bishop of Jerusalem, was in that city in the early days 

 of the Palestine Exploration Society, when a band of young 

 men under Lieutenant Conder began operations. Charles Terry 

 Drake, a descendant of Admiral Drake, was acting as dragoman. 

 He was at that time sceptical in his views of Christianity, but 

 would exclaim to Mr. Neil, It is wonderful: here we are, 

 testing the Bible as it has never been tested before. Often we 

 think we find it wrong; but as sure as we stop about three 

 weeks in a place, in every case we find the Bible minutely ac- 

 curate." This went on for about three years, and then Drake 

 died at his post, leaving a clear testimony to his faith in the 

 Lord Jesus Christ. 



The land and the Book," continues Mr. Neil, " answer to 

 one another hke the two parts of an indenture. The ancient, 

 unchanged hfe of the Holy Land, its manners and customs, 

 natural features and colloquial speech — truly a divinely pre- 

 served commentary — everywhere throws light upon the letter of 

 Holy Scripture, confirming its verbal accuracy and elucidating 

 its meaning." As an instance of this he tells us that there 



