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the fulfilment of prophecy, and what sceptics have said as to some accounts 
given in Scripture being forgeries, it might well be asked, how came the 
prophecies to be so wonderfully fulfilled ? There are certain events which 
have taken place that no one can deny in the face of the facts I have given. 
In the first place, it is very extraordinary that there is certainly one-fourth 
of the account given by the ancient historians which is not believed in these 
days, and that whatever they have said cannot be corroborated except where 
it is affirmed by sacred history. In the second place, we know that geo- 
graphers and historians, like Benjamin of Tudela and Josephus, have 
made great blunders, and if you take their books and go to the countries 
they have described, it will be found that a good deal of what they have 
told you is not correct. For instance, with regard to Jonah and the whale, - 
we of course know the correctness of the prophecy concerning that event ; 
but suppose I were an infidel, and did not believe in the Word of God, I 
could not but say that the Scriptural account of Jonah is correct, but the 
nonsensical allegation of Josephus, that the whale vomited Jonah on the 
shores of the Euxine, was inadmissible, seeing that that would more than 
double the distance to Nineveh. I say, therefore, that it would have been 
impossible for any forgers to have given these predictions to us, for they 
never could have come down later than the seventh century before Christ. 
How could any forgers, then, have told us that they knew that after 4,000 
years the Turks would be governing the Biblical land ; as it is well known 
that the Turks were Tartars who were formerly called Scythians, and admit- 
ted to be the descendants of Japhet? With regard to the destruction of 
different parts of Babylon and Nineveh, if I had had the opportunity of 
writing a longer paper I could have given proof upon proof ; but supposing 
I "were a Chinese, I could not help believing that those so-called forgeries 
had unmistakable veracity stamped upon them, and have been shown to be 
literally fulfilled. It is really wonderful ! (Cheers.) 
The Chairman. — Is there anyone present who can read the inscription 
on this cone (holding up a small cone that had been referred to by Mr. 
Bassam in his paper) ? It would be very interesting to know to what it has 
reference. It is a sort of newspaper 4,000 years old. 
Mr. Pinches (to whom the cone was handed). — This is a cone from 
Tel-loh. It contains an inscription relating to the king known as Gudea, who 
calls himself Viceroy of Zirgulla. The name by which Tel-loh is still known 
among the Arabs is, I believe, Zerghul. The cone is dedicated to a god called 
Nintsu, and speaks of the rebuilding of his Temple at Zirgulla. But this cone 
is not written, nor are any of the inscriptions of the period to which it 
belongs, in the Semitic language, but in a language supposed to be allied to 
the Turkish. There is only one word on which to base any connection, and I 
do not myself think that it is allied to the Turkish, though some of the 
grammatical forms are a little bit alike. (Hear, hear.) 
The meeting was then adjourned. 
