178 REV. RICHARD. COLLINS, M.A. 
In the paper we have just heard, Mr. Collins has given us a history 
of the Krishna myth, which is of exceeding value. He holds that 
this Krishna myth in all probability took its rise from evident and 
flagrant imitations of the Gospel histories ; and on this point it is very 
interesting to study the Apocryphal Gospels to see how in them the in- 
congruities and extravagances of thought, which cling to the supernatural, 
attach themselves like a parasite, even around the history of our Lord 
Himself. Itis to the accurate and minute verification of these early 
writings and their meanings that we must look for any information as 
to the real rise of religious thought among the different nations of the 
earth. And there is another point, that it is not sufficient for us to 
read the translations, however accurate, of these early writings; we 
ought to be able, more or less, to throw ourselves into the habit of 
mind and thought of the people themselves. It is not enough to read the 
Vedas or any other of those ancient writings ; we must read them, as far as 
possible, as the original writers, as well as those for whom they wrote, 
understood them. I do not say it is easy to do this ; but this, I think, is 
the only method by which our researches can have any real value. It is 
difficult for us even to throw ourselves into the feelings of the writers 
of the Old Testament, and it must necessarily be more difficult for us to form 
other than a vague idea of the mind of Homer, or the actual facts about 
which he wrote; when we go back to the most distant ages and the 
habits of thought most distant from our own, it becomes more difficult 
still ; and we are exceedingly apt to read what was then written in a sense 
that would profoundly amaze the authors of the books themselves. I trust 
that after the Honorary Secretary has read some communications that have 
been received, those present who have studied these subjects, will give us 
the benefit of their experience. ) 
Captain Francis Perris, F.G.S. (Hon. Sec.).—The following communi- 
cations have been received :— 
the Veda as in the Bible. Again, Sanctify this life and all its trials, says our 
Bible ; Get rid of the troubles of life, says the Veda. Sanctify the body, says 
our Bible ; Get rid of the body, says the Veda. Sanctify your daily work, says 
our Bible ; Get rid of all action, says the Veda. Rest not on any merits of 
your own, says our Bible ; Rest on your own merits alone, says the Veda. Get 
rid of sin, says our Bible ; Get rid of misery, says the Veda. Moreover, 
the historical element is wholly wanting both in the Veda and the Koran. 
Then note one other very remarkable feature. Progressive development 
marks our Bible. The light of Revelation is gradually unfolded till the 
perfect illumination of the Epistles and the Revelation of St. John is reached. 
The very reverse is the case in the Veda and the Koran. In these the 
earliest utterances contain the greatest light, the later become darker and 
darker.” After a life-long study of the religious books of the Hindoos, 
Professor Monier Williams said he felt compelled to express publicly his 
opinion of them. “They begin with much promise amid scintillations of 
truth and light and occasional sublime thoughts from the source of all truth 
and light, but end in sad corruptions and lamentable impurities.” —Ep, 
