CAN stones speak? Can rocks make their voice to be heard? The Lord said of His people on His entrance into Jerusalem, “If these should hold their peace the stones would immediately cry out.” And this is very much what those very stones are now doing; for the stones of Palestine are beginning to speak with a voice so clear and decisive that it seems a perfect marvel that any thinking man should be able to resist their evidence. Now therefore, if God permit, we will study their testimony; we will put the rocks into the witness-box, and endeavour calmly to learn from them what they teach us of the truth of God. There are three subjects on which their evidence is conclusive—the geographical accuracy, the historical truth, and the prophetic inspiration of the Scriptures. Let us examine them on all three points, and may that divine Spirit who inspired the word of His own great grace bring it home to our understandings and our hearts! I. THE GEOGRAPHICAL ACCURACY. We must remember that a large portion of the Old Testament consists in the history of that chosen line which connected the Lord Jesus Christ with Abraham, and that the country which we generally call “Palestine” was given to that family as their home. It was in that country that Abraham sojourned, and that his family lived for the 1,400 years between the Exodus and the Advent. It is obvious therefore that the history of that family during all those centuries must abound in allusions to the different places in that country, and as the history enters very much into social life, we must naturally expect very frequent allusions to the places in which the people lived. It is important for us also to remember that the history was not one book written by one author at one time, but that much of it was evidently contemporary history; so that there were different books written by different authors at different times, beginning with Moses 3,300 years ago, and ending, as some suppose, with Ezra, or Nehemiah, about 2,300 years ago. Now the question is, “Do the various allusions to places which lie scattered up and down the history agree or disagree with what we know of those places from observation on the spot?” Through the patient labours of some eminently scientific men working for the Palestine Exploration Fund, we know a vast deal more of the country than has ever been known since the dispersion of the people. We have before us the result of a most careful scientific survey, from which we may learn in perfect confidence the evidence of the rocks. What we have to do therefore is to lay side by side the evidence of the rocks and the evidence of the Books—to compare the two carefully, and to ascertain whether or not the “witnesses” agree. The ancient rule was, that “out of the mouth of two witnesses shall every word be established.” Here then there are two witnesses—the rocks and the Books—do they or do they not agree?