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Mr. Rassarn has drawn out the very point which we, the members of this 
Institute, desire to have drawn out, namely, the defence of Holy Scripture. 
(Cheers.) In his discoveries in Assyria and Babylon he has shown the ful- 
filment — the literal fulfilment— of prophecy. (Hear, hear.) That, I con- 
ceive, is a very great point. We all of us know how this argument is met by 
sceptics. They tell us that these prophecies of Jeremiah, Nahum, and others 
were all written after the event. For my part, I am not so credulous as to 
believe that any persons could have existed who could have forged the dif- 
ferent prophecies that are given to us in the differing styles, say, of Jeremiah 
and Nahum, and make them so well suit the history, not only of Genesis, 
but also of Kings and Chronicles, and at the same time to fit in with the 
present state of things as truly as they do. (Hear, hear.) I confess it appears 
to me — not being a credulous person — to be a more reasonable plan to 
believe in prophecy, than to admit that such accomplished forgers could 
have existed as those who are believed to have concocted such extremely 
clever prophecies, so accurately corresponding with facts. (Hear, hear.) 
I think, therefore, that the argument which Mr. Rassarn continually im- 
pressed on us throughout his interesting and valuable paper in regard to the 
fulfilment of prophecy is a very telling one. I have thought it right to 
trouble you with these few observations because I could not help speaking on 
a matter of so much interest to us all. (Hear, hear.) I hope now that Mr. 
Pinches will respond to the challenge Mr. Rassarn has offered, but before he 
does so I should state that I have just had placed in my hands a letter from 
Dr. Porter, President of Queen’s College, Belfast (who has often travelled 
over, explored, and examined almost every part of Palestine, and regions 
eastward), — Dr. Porter expresses his great regret that circumstances prevent 
his being present to-night, adding that the paper is one of high value, and 
calculated to be of much service . 
Mr. T. G. Pinches. — I think we cannot but express our obligations to 
Mr. Rassarn for the interesting account he has given us of his travels. 
That, however, is a subject on which I, of course, cannot presume to speak ; 
but there is one point upon which Mr. Rassarn has touched in his paper t 
which I may briefly refer. He tells us that at the end of the tablets he 
found in the Temple at Balawat “there is a curious invocation made to 
Estar, the goddess of war and battle, against those who would see them and 
desecrate them by removing them from their place, and, as I was the guilty 
party, I fear that I have fallen under their condemnation.” I think that 
Mr. Rassarn has misunderstood this inscription, because it is said that 
whoever “ destroyed ” the tablets should fall under the condemnation there 
mentioned ; but Mr. Rassarn, on the contrary, has not destroyed them, but 
has been the means of bringing them to light, and thus has incurred the 
thanks rather than the reprobation of the monarch who erected them. 
Therefore, I hope he will experience all the blessings which we are told await 
the fulfilment of the prophecy. I may say also that I do not think from these 
tablets that the copper gates mentioned thereon are those which Mr. Rassarn 
