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ancient Germans, from which Easter, the festival, is said to be derived, 

 is a problematical question ; but I think there can be little doubt that 

 the Astarte of the Carthaginians was connected with the Ashtoreth of 

 the Scriptures. Passing on to a later period of history we ought to find 

 many traces of these Hebrew names in the history of Babylon and Assyria. 

 The word Babylon itself connects us with very early times if we look for its 

 derivation. Of course two derivations are given one is " confusion," and 

 the other makes it the gate of the god Ilu ; but whichever is adopted, it 

 certainly connects the histories together. In Jeremiah 1. 2, the Prophet 

 plays with the names Bel and Meroclach : "Bel is confounded; Mero- 

 dach is broken in pieces." In the Book of Ezra, a number of Persian 

 proper names, expressed in Hebrew characters, are found sufficient to 

 enable the philologist to compose comparative alphabets of the two lan- 

 guages. I have but culled a few proper names from a few of the books 

 of the Old Testament. But the fortuitous coincidences which may thus be 

 shown between the statements of the sacred historians and other histories 

 corroborate the truth of both. It is to be wished that some writer would 

 take as a model Paley's Horw Paulina, and compose a similar work upon 

 the Old Testament. Broad, obvious, and explicit agreements would pro^e 

 little ; but a plurality of examples would convince the incredulous, and the 

 minuteness, circuity, or obliqueness of the undesigned coincidences would 

 establish the genuineness of the writings and the authenticity of the nar- 

 ratives. 



Mr. HORMUZD RASSAM. I feel that I am labouring under a disadvantage 

 after the learned lecture we have just listened to, and, therefore, anything I 

 may say will necessarily be of a superficial character. In the few remarks 

 I wish to offer I will endeavour to connect the past with the present usages 

 in the land of the Bible, because, knowing as I do from my travels and 

 the discoveries I have made, I think every one, either in this or any other 

 country, will be able to comprehend more forcibly the truth of the Bible by 

 merely riding through the country and examining the languages of the 

 different races, and seeing the marvellous connexion which still links them 

 with each other. With reference to the question of Biblical names, we ought 

 to remember that, with very few exceptions, all the Semitic languages, such 

 as the Hebrew, the Chaldean, and the Arabic, contain words which have a 

 meaning ; and it is very remarkable that, if you begin with Genesis and end 

 at the old dispensation, we shall find that every name has a connexion with 

 an attribute of a God, whether it is connected with idolatry or the worship of 

 Jehovah. It is the same way in the present day amongst the different 

 nationalities referred to. We must take into account the three distinct sects 

 which exist in the East, and which have occupied a conspicuous position in 

 regard to the inspired Book. I allude to the Jews, the Christians, and the 

 Mohammedans. Amongst these nationalities we find that in most cases 

 every person is named according to the tenet of his sect. Amongst the 

 Christians, men and women are named after their Saints ; the Jews take 

 their names from the Pentateuch or the Prophets, such as Isaac, MOSCSJ 



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