It is not an uncommon thing in these days to set science in opposition to
the Scriptures, and to speak as if the one were opposed to the other. As
a general rule, the persons who do so are persons who have a very shallow
acquaintance with either, for the truly scientific man, and the true
student of the Scriptures, are both so conscious of their own limited
attainments in the face of the vast fields of unlimited knowledge which
are still unexplored, that they are sure to feel humbly on the subject,
and to be very shy of bold assertions respecting matters that they do not
understand. But, instead of science being opposed to the Scriptures, we
are quite prepared to call in science as a witness to its truth; for
science is the study of the creation of God, and it would be indeed
strange if His own works were at variance with His Word. So we will turn
now, if God permit, to one of the great results of modern scientific
discovery, and see what testimony it bears to the truth of the
Pentateuch.
The particular branch to which I would refer is what is called
“Ethnology,” or the study of the nations of the world. This is
comparatively quite a modern science, for it is only quite lately that
the world has been thrown open to the investigation of scientific men.
The two means by which it has been thrown open have been the
steam-engine, and Christian missions. The steam-engine has enabled
investigators to travel in all directions, and Christian missions have
led to the study of hundreds of languages that were previously unknown.
The history of one of these languages is worth recording. When the late
Mr. Darwin visited the islands of Tierra del Fuego, in the celebrated
voyage of the _Beagle_, he considered the inhabitants to be below
ordinary manhood, and to have no language. But a devoted missionary,
settled amongst them, has not only found that they have a language, but
he has learned it, reduced it to writing, and translated into it the
Gospel of St. Luke. It has been printed by the British and Foreign Bible
Society, and is now read amongst the people. Mr. Darwin, being a truly
scientific man, was so deeply interested at the discovery of his own
mistake, that for the last few years of his life he subscribed £5 a year
to the South American Missionary Society.
Thus the missionary movement has brought about a vast increase of
scientific knowledge respecting the languages of the world, and
scientific men have had before them a mass of fresh material to which
their predecessors had no access whatever. The British and Foreign Bible
Society has circulated the Scriptures in no less than 250 languages, by
far the greater number of which had never before been reduced to writing.
By this means there has been an immense impetus given to the researches
of scientific men. The two points to which especial attention has been
directed have been the structure of language, and the formation of the
skull. On these two points men of science have most carefully collected
information from all quarters of the globe—north, south, east, and west;
and they have endeavoured to group, or classify, the various scattered
nations of mankind.
And now I come to the most remarkable and assuring fact, that, after
patient, laborious, and most elaborate scientific comparison, they have
come to the conclusion that all the nations of the earth may be grouped
into three great families, and have probably descended from three
original centres. They name these three great divisions the Aryan, the
Semitic, and the Turanian. But we need not trouble ourselves about the
names. The classification itself is the matter of supreme importance;
for in this discovery of the nineteenth century we find the full
confirmation of the account, written by Moses more than 3,000 years ago,
of the three sons of Noah surviving the flood more than 4,000 years ago.
In that narrative we find the account of mankind starting afresh under
three heads, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Since that time there have elapsed
more than 4,000 years, and now, in this nineteenth century, after all the
changes that have taken place, we find a body of learned and unprejudiced
men, enabled by the discovery of steam to discover amongst mankind, as we
now exist, precisely the same threefold division that is described in the
Scriptures as having taken place in the days of Noah. Now how are we to
explain this fact? What is the cause of this strange coincidence? It is
utterly impossible that the Mosaic record should have been constructed in
order to suit the scientific discoveries of our own day. And those who
honour science would be the last to admit that men of science have
constructed their system on the lines of the Mosaic record. But, there
is one word that is a key to the whole, one word that is the
connecting-link between the fifteenth century _before_ Christ, and the
nineteenth century _after_ Him; between the statements of the Scripture
and the researches of science, and that one word settles all. That one
word is _Truth_, truth in science, and truth in Scripture; truth in the
Word, and truth in the works of God.
But we have not yet done with history, for the tenth chapter of Genesis
gives us some idea of the direction in which these three great families
spread themselves over the surface of the globe. A moment’s thought will
be sufficient to show that it must be next to impossible to trace these
descriptions now. Vast changes have taken place during the 4,000 years
that have elapsed. Cities have sprung up and disappeared; whole nations
have risen to power, and passed away; names have changed; there have been
migrations, invasions, captivities, and dispersions; so that the
different families have in many cases been strangely intermingled. But
still there is a certain outline given in the Pentateuch, and a certain
outline agreed upon by the men of science. Now look at this outline.
Begin with Japheth. Amongst his sons we meet with three well-known
names, all connected by Ezekiel (xxxviii.) with the north; viz., Mesech,
Tubal, and Togarmah, leading us to suppose that his descendants most
probably spread along the North of Europe and Asia; and in Genesis x. 5
it is added, “By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their
lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their
nations”—an expression invariably used for Europe, and all countries
approached from central Asia by sea. Now, curiously enough, that very
district, Europe and Northern Asia, is regarded by the men of science as
the head-quarters of those whom they call the Aryans.
As for Shem, there is no difficulty in ascertaining his head-quarters,
for Abraham was his lineal descendant; and we know that from the river of
Egypt to the river Euphrates was the country given him by God. That
country, therefore, was his starting-point; and accordingly men of
science tell us that Western Asia, including Palestine and the adjacent
countries, must have been the home of the great Semitic family. Again,
therefore, there is the closest possible agreement between ancient
history and modern discovery.
The case of Ham is not so perfectly clear. According to the book of
Genesis he appears, if we understand the names, to have spread in two
directions—eastward towards Southern Asia, and also south-west to Gaza,
the gateway to Africa. Though Africa is not mentioned in that passage it
is clear that the descendants of Ham spread over the isthmus of Suez into
that continent; for in Psalm cv. 23, 27, Egypt is actually called “the
land of Ham.” And now once more I turn to the men of science, and I find
that these very districts are thought by them to be the ancient homes of
those they call Turanians. Now, let it be well understood, I do not say
that these outlines are never crossed, and that the races are not found
in many cases to be intermixed. But what I do say is, that in their
great local outlines the arrangements of the men of science correspond,
in a very remarkable manner, with the arrangements which we gather from
all that we can learn from the Scripture history. Once more then modern
discovery bears its testimony to Scriptural accuracy, and we welcome the
men of science as unanswerable “witnesses” to historical truth.