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condensed so much matter into so small a compass. As one reads this essay, 
one’s attention is called to the very great events and the very startling 
coincidences to which it refers, and which some of us may, at some future time, 
be able to follow up. But, of course, the discussion of such a paper as this 
can only be entered upon by confining one’s self to one or two of the 
particular points which have been raised by the author, and which will 
probably be found to give quite sufficient opportunity for a very interest- 
ing discussion. I may say, speaking from my own point of view, that the 
general idea which is apt to strike one on perusing a paper like this is, 
how remarkably Scriptural names and events are continually leaping up in 
the discovery of those grand antiquities wdiich, as the writer has shown, the 
researches of antiquarian explorers are constantly bringing to view — relics 
which tend to throw a great deal of light on names and subjects that have 
hitherto been a matter of difficulty to the Biblical student. What is an 
extremely striking part of the paper is that which relates to the Hittites, 
because this was one of the instances in which imperfect knowledge, giving 
rise to rash conclusion, aroused objections against the Scriptures with regard 
to the historical statements they contain— statements which, on further 
research, we find have not only been justified, but on which modern 
discoveries have thrown great light. We find with respect to that remark- 
able people, the Hittites, widely spread as they were — that these discoveries 
very clearly prove that names, which at first seemed to be unimportant, 
have been found by the comparisons they suggest, and in other ways, to 
furnish most important evidence as to the veracity of the records contained 
in the ancient Scripture history. We observe, too, that these names are 
connected with the higher attributes and moral virtues we are accustomed 
to admire. This is the more striking, because sometimes it has been 
supposed that all these names were simply derived from the heathen gods ; 
but in this paper it is shown that in some cases the names of the heathen 
gods and goddesses were derived from the attributes which the gods them- 
selves possessed. This makes us think of the origin of pantheism. Pro- 
bably the first idea of a god was derived from some great truths connected 
with, and symbolised by, the heavenly bodies. It is not simply that persons 
looking at those bodies, regarded them as very striking objects, and therefore 
proceeded to worship them ; but, as the investigation goes on, we discover 
that the myths or legends that have been connected with the heavenly 
bodies are associated with something symbolical and deep in reference 
to the motions of the earth and to the stellar system, and also with 
the moral attributes and physical virtues and strength of human kind. 
In this way we may go back to the fact that the first notions of religion 
which God was pleased to give to man were more ]3ure and more widely 
separated from the worship of many gods which afterwards took possession 
of the world. We thus are able to see how religion was gradually perverted 
into the worship of a number of gods, supposed to exercise powers and 
attributes which, after all, belong only to the one Supreme Governor 
of the earth. This is what Scripture represents with regard to the origin 
