The Rev. J. H. Bradney's Address. 235 



Rev. Chairman then offered some remarks in praise of Archaeology. 

 He observed that if the axiom of the great moralist, Dr. Johnson, 

 held good, that " whatever withdraws us from the power of our 

 senses — whatever makes the past and the distant predominate over 

 the present, advances us in the dignity of human beings," then he 

 contended that the pursuit of archaeology was a peculiarly elevating 

 and dignifjdng one ; for archaeology lived in the past. All her 

 sympathies were connected with the past, and indeed but for the 

 past they would be non-entity. Was there not something eleva- 

 ting — •something advancing us in the dignity of thinking beings, 

 in attempting to trace out the manners and customs and the habits 

 of those who had gone before us, by a patient investigation of the 

 monuments which they had left behind them, whether strewed 

 over, or buried under, the surface of the earth? Was there not 

 something worthy of a reflecting mind in comparing them with the 

 historic records of the times in which they lived, and in observing 

 how they mutually explained and illustrated each other? The 

 antiquities discovered threw a light upon history, and history from 

 the undersigned coincidence derived confirmation of its veracity. 

 If we pursued our enquries further into the region of sacred his- 

 tory, then we should find that archaeology might be made subser- 

 vient to higher purposes than those of mere intellectual entertain- 

 ment. Archaeology then became the handmaid of religion. What 

 a flood of light, for instance, had been shed upon the writings of 

 the Old Testament through those stupendous discoveries made by 

 Layard amid the ruinous mounds of Nineveh! How had they 

 been the means of elucidating passages hitherto shrouded in 

 obscurity, and how on the other hand had the Bible received from 

 it new and unexpected additional attestation to its truth ! Who 

 could tell what effect such evidence might have on the mind of the 

 sceptic — of the proud disputer of this world, on whom mere formal 

 demonstration would bo thrown away ? And who could tell the 

 comfort, the satisfaction, and the joy it is productive of to tlie 

 sincere and humble Christian, when he sees how everything ccm- 

 Bpirc'8 to establiHli tlie truth of the word on which his every hope 

 of happiness is built ! Archicology was therefore a refining and 



