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ORDINARY MEETING, April 16, 1877. 
Rev. R. Thornton, D.D., Vice-President, in the Chair. 
The Minutes of the last Meeting were read and confirmed, and the follow- 
ing Elections were announced : — 
Members: — Sir W. Burton, K.C.B., London; Rev. H. A. Hall, 
Th.A.K.C.L., Kent. 
Associates: — S. S. Bacon, Esq., Liverpool; Rev. J. M. Fuller, M.A., 
Kent ; Rev. C. Hole, B.A. , London ; Rev. F. Kellet, Liverpool ; Rev. 
A. F. Muir, M.A., London ; Rev. Preb. W. R. W. Stephens, M.A., 
Midhurst. 
The following paper was then read by the author : — 
THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM, ILLUSTRATED BY REGENT 
RESEARCHES. By the Rev. H. G. Tomkins, M.A. 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
Since the following paper was printed I have read the transla- 
tion, by Mr. Russell Martineau, of Professor Goldziher's 
Mythology among tlio Hebrews. 
In this elaborate work it is seriously asserted that Abraham, 
Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Esau, and the whole group of patriarchal 
characters of the Bible in general had no real existence, but 
are mythical creations belonging to a system of very early 
development. 
The general line of argument is twofold. The author first 
endeavours to establish an etymology of the proper names 
suitable to his theory, and then knits up the story, or some 
selected particulars, into the mythical web. He has thus 
translated the old fathers far away from the earth and its 
doings. 
For instance, Abram’ (father of height) is the nightly sky. 
Sarah (princess) is the moon : so is probably Milka. Hagar 
(the flying one) is a solar name. Isaac (the laugher) is 
originally the sun, but further on “ the ‘ smiling one 1 whom 
the ‘ high father > intends to slay, is the smiling day, or more 
closely defined the smiling sunset, which gets the worst of 
the contest with the night-sky and disappears ” (p. 96). 
Thus narratives which are distinctly treated in the Penta- 
teuch by Moses, and by Joshua and the Prophets, and the 
Evangelists and Apostles, and especially by our Lord himself, 
as veracious history, are resolved into fables, not indeed 
