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Certainly not. I can yield to no man present in my respect for Christianity 
and the Holy Scriptures. The object of this paper is their defence, and I 
should have thought it almost unnecessary to point it out. I am glad 
to find that other speakers have relieved me from the charge. This 
paper was not written merely for persons who accept Holy Scripture. Id 
is a paper intended for the whole world. The object of this society is to 
set forth the truth of religion, and in doing so it must start from a common 
basis. It is no good appealing to people on grounds which your opponents 
disavow. You must say, “I will look at the question from your own point 
of view ” : that is the basis of this paper, and that is why extracts from the 
Scriptures are not more introduced, as the second speaker appeared to wish 
The object is to show that the statements of the Bible are supported by history. 
We believe the Bible to be inspired ; but, at the same time, we are not on 
that account to neglect the teachings of nature. We should make a threefold 
cord that cannot be easily broken. This paper, I trust, may be examined by 
people who have not a belief in Holy Scripture. If it only has the effect of 
bringing them to a more careful study of these questions, it will lead 
towards the truth. Mr. Howard has alluded to Tarnmuz as a prophet. 
I think that he will find that Tarnmuz is the Assyrian Dumuzi, and that 
the women who wept for him wept for the setting sun. One gentleman has 
alluded to the great differences of opinion which exist as to the age of Zoroaster. 
I have given all the different opinions as to the age of Zoroaster, not because 
I follow them, but because I wish to give something like literary completeness 
to my paper. The highest authorities, who have devoted many years to this 
subject, place him at B.C. 1400, or 1300, and they educe this from the 
progressive state of the language. That is the chief means of fixing his date. 
As to the evidence, that is also comparative. You cannot call direct evidence 
of the original fact whether there was such a man or not, but I will read you 
a letter which I have received from Professor Sayce, of Oxford : — 
“ I am altogether of your way of thinking in regard to the historical 
personality of the Iranian prophet. The character of Zoroastrianism seems 
to me to postulate an individual founder, just as much as Christianity, 
Muhammedanism, or Buddhism.” 
One gentleman has objected to my analysis of the Yedic Agni, and asked 
how it was that he was fire 1 We have the word “ ignis,” and we know that 
“ ignis ” means “ fire.” As to mythology and religion, my meaning is simply 
this, that mythology is the result of man’s childlike and simple considerations 
of the world around us. If I may quote from a passage in a note on page 
302 of the essay, I would say, — 
“ Prof. J ebb well observes, ‘ There was a time when they [i.e. archaic 
men] had begun to speak of the natural powers as persons, and yet had not 
forgotten that they were really natural powers, and that the personal names 
were merely signs.’ ” 
That, I take it, was the simple primitive origin of mythology, and that is 
