186 3HV. RICHARD COLLINS, M.A. 
writers. Merodach is the “heaier” who goes between the Gods and men, 
and is assumed to be the nearest approach between man and God that has 
ever been found in the Assyrian inscriptions. This and other resemblances 
which are very striking, are all belonging to a period before the time of 
Christ. I would, for my own part, repudiate any attempt to establish that 
the Hebrew Messiah was an echo of Merodach; in the Babylonian 
inscriptions we frequently find these resemblances. 
The CuarrmMAn.—It seems to me that the question is whether certain 
minute points of resemblance—minor points of similarity—do not show 
historical connexion? That certain wide similarities may appear in dif- 
ferent myths of independent origin, there is no doubt ; but one can hardly 
refuse to say that in certain particular cases there are similarities that can 
hardly be accidental. Each case must, or ought to be taken and investi- 
gated by itself. It is a moot point as to which of these two classes this 
history belongs ; but we must not say that, because Mr. Collins thinks 
these idylls of the life of Krishna copied from the life of Christ, therefore 
all similarities of history must have been derived one from the other. 
Mr. Boscawen,—What I think is, that if we adopt the view put forward by 
Mr. Collins, other people may use the same argument in the opposite way. 
The Cuarrmay.—With regard to what has been said about the Nicene 
Creed, it is exceedingly possible that Athanasius derived many of the 
expressions he used from secular sources. 
Mr. Boscawrn.—I saw the manuscript I have mentioned, and it is a strong 
argument in your favour. 
Tur AuTHor.—As far as my own belief is concerned, I am of opinion 
that throughout the whole of the time before the Christian era there was a 
continuous knowledge of an early Revelation from God, and that would 
account for almost everything we want to account for, and I say that we have 
in the case of Krishna some particular facts and teachings which are, ina very 
special way, similar to the facts and teachings of Christianity. If the two_ 
do not belong to each other, how have they come to display this similarity, 
and how is it that these teachings of Krishna are so very distinct from 
everything in Hindooism previously ? 
Mr. Sratkarrr.—The question seems principally to turn on a chrono- 
logical question about which there can be no certainty, namely, whether this 
book or that was written first. We know that the Hindoos are very fond 
of making evidence. They make evidence for the courts. They will lay 
evidence twenty years in advance, and it is impossible to rely on any Hindoo 
chronological table, unless you have evidence on which you can base your 
decision. 
The Meeting was then adjourned. 
