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Hindoos, to profit by such passages in their reasoning with them, and so, by 
God’s blessing, to save them hereafter from the atheism into which so many 
of them are in danger of falling. And I think we may say the same of the 
earlier evidence of the Vedas ; for the Puranas were probably of a date some 
time after these. Were not, let me ask, the extracts from the early Vedas, 
cited from “ Chips ” in Mr. Blencowe’s paper, very wonderful in respect of 
the touching sense they express of the blessedness of being at peace witli 
God, of their touching prayers for forgiveness, and of their touching peti- 
tions to God that he would receive them back to friendship and to peace ? 
Mr. Enmore Jones. — I do not think that we, or Professor Max Muller, 
whilst looking further and further into the future, have sufficiently sought 
after evidences in the past. Taking the evidence we have, we find that the 
Vedas only go back 2,380 years ; whereas the Book of Job, that great 
book, — the statements in which we neglect too much, — which acknowledges 
the Creator in the fulness of His mighty power, and the creation lie has 
formed, and gives so much information as to geography and astronomy, and 
the whole mechanism of the Universe, — dates back 3,400 years ; and we 
find that Abraham came from Egypt 3,798 years ago, which is conside- 
rably beyond the time referred to by Professor Max Muller. 
Mr. D. Howard. — It is one of the boasts of modern science that it accu- 
rately records facts and draws conclusions therefrom ; but I must confess 
that I have seldom seen a more unscientific statement than that which sets 
up, or lays down as a law, that we are to “ take for granted nothing but 
sensuous perception on one side, and the world by which we are surrounded 
on the other.” It is almost worth while to study that sentence in order to 
try and arrive at some conception of what it means. I am afraid it means 
that facts are to be put on one side if they do not fit in with the 
theory. I must say that I am surprised at the immense contrast which has 
been already noticed between the “Chips from a German Workshop” and 
the “ Hibbert Lecture,” and I have been sometimes inclined to draw a 
distinction between the first and second volumes of the “ Chips.” Certainly 
the progress has not been upwards even in that book. But what are 
the facts by which we are to judge of what the state of the early religions 
was ? The paper that has been read to-night brings before us, most interest- 
ingly and ably, the state of religion at the Vedic period. If we compare 
the knowledge we thus obtain of the religious ideas of India with those 
of the Zendavesta, and with those investigated by M. Benouf in the 
“ Hibbert Lecture ” of last year, we have strong evidence that in all parts 
of the world— the thinking world — at the period referred to, there was 
one particular stage of religious thought which, by the introduction 
of a new word into the language, is now called henotheism, -which 
used to be called nature-worship. The question is, Is this a progress 
upward, or is it a deterioration from a previous state ? What are the 
facts ? Is there the smallest proof that any human beings or tribes 
ever worked upward from that stage to a knowledge of the true God ? 
