28 DISCUSSION. 



The Chairman (Professor E. Hull, LL.D., F.R.S.)- — I ain sure 

 you have all listened with great gratiBcation and interest to tins 

 very suggestive paper. It shows an extraordinary amount of 

 learning and research into those ancient tablets of Babylonia, and 

 it contains so many references which we all recognise as regards 

 their Hebrew equivalents. I will ask you to return your hearty 

 thanks to the Author, and after one or two letters have been read, 

 we shall be very happy to hear any observations from those present. 



The Hon. Secretary (Captain ¥. Petrib). — Among other letters 

 the following have been received : — 



The Rev. G. Ensor, M. A., writes: — 



I very really appreciate the vital work which the Institute is 

 accomplishing. 



I have read Mr. Pinches' paper with great interest, and think it 

 disposes excellently of the imagination that Abraham was the 

 first Monotheist, an opinion which has found credence in certain 

 high quarters. I think, too, that the author's presentation of the 

 tablets on p. 5, contributes very importantly to supplying the 

 background and environment of vaguely monotheistic thinking 

 mingled with polytheism ; which is exactly what we tnight 

 look for in the circles outside the family of God in Patriai'chal 

 times. 



The Rev. Canon R. B. Girdlestone, M.A., writes : — ■ 



I have read the proof of the paper with the deepest interest, 



as it points in the direction of Primitive Monotheism* and illustrates 



the antiquity of the name "Jehovah." 



Major C. R. Conder, R.E., D.C.L., LL.D., wi-itcs :— 



In this valuable paper, Mr. Pinches sums up the results of 

 discoveries which he has been making for some time past, and 

 which are of great value and importance. I feel convinced that 

 his view as to the monotheism of the Babylonians is correct. Their 



* Mr. Pinches has deduced many valuable facts from the inscriptions 

 to which his paper refers, but I venti;re to think the one of highest 

 interest in these days is that the Babylonian lecords point to tlie fact 

 that in the earliest known times men were Monotheists; and in lhis 

 connection it may be noted that another member — the late Canon F. C. 

 Cook — arrived at the same conclusion from his investigations of the 

 earliest known Eg^yptian records. — Ed. 



