roofs, that the "Sabbath," both in
name and nature, was derived by the Hebrews from the Chaldeans, see pp.
74 et seq. For a very full and fair acknowledgment of the "Babylonian
element in Genesis," see chap. iii, including the statement regarding
the statement in our sacred book, "The Lord smelled a sweet savour," at
the sacrifice made by Noah, etc., on p. 119. For an excellent summary of
the work, see Dr. Driver's article in the Contemporary Review for March,
1894. For a pungent but well-deserved rebuke of Prof. Sayce's recent
attempts to propitiate pious subscribers to his archaeological fund, see
Prof. A. A. Bevan, in the Contemporary Review for December, 1895. For
the inscription on the Assyrian tablets relating in detail the exposure
of King Sargon in a basket of rushes, his rescue and rule, see George
Smith, Chaldean account of Genesis, Sayce's edition, London, 1880, pp.
319, 320. For the frequent recurrence of the Sargon and Moses legend
in ancient folklore, see Maspero and Sayce, Dawn of History, p. 598 and
note. For various other points of similar interest, see ibid., passim,
especially chaps. xvi and xvii; also Jensen, Die Kosmologie der
Babylonier, and Schrader, The Cuneiform Inscriptions and the Old
Testament; also Lenormant, Origines de l'Histoire.

No less fruitful have been modern researches in Egypt. While, on one
hand, they have revealed a very considerable number of geographical and
archaeological facts proving the good faith of the narratives entering
into the books attributed to Moses, and have thus made our early sacred
literature all the more valuable, they have at the same time revealed
the limitations of the sacred authors and compilers. They have brought
to light facts utterly disproving the sacred Hebrew date of creation and
the main framework of the early biblical chronology; they have shown
the suggestive correspondence between the ten antediluvian patriarchs
in Genesis and the ten early dynasties of the Egyptian gods, and have
placed by the side of these the ten antediluvian kings of Chaldean
tradition, the ten heroes of Armenia, the ten primeval kings of Persian
sacred tradition, the ten "fathers" of Hindu sacred tradition, and
multitudes of other tens, throwing much light on the manner in which the
sacred chronicles of ancient nations were generally developed.

These scholars have also found that the legends of the plagues of Egypt
are in the main but natural exaggerations of what occurs