Lord Jesus addressed the first words to a Canaanite woman to apparently deprecate His working a miracle on her behalf because she did not belong to the people of Israel at large, amongst whom the two tribes were included (she having asked Him, because He had done many miracles in their midst, to extend His favours); and, when He used the second words, He was referring to the repentance and salvation of Zacchæus, who we may safely conclude belonged to the Two Tribes, since his home was at Jericho, in Judæa.

Again, whereas there are strong reasons, endorsed by the learned, for believing that the Afghans are Israelites, there is no proof that the inhabitants of Cashmere are such.

As to the arising of such Messiahs, we have lately had the Mahdi in Dongola and at Khartoum ; we have this man here spoken of; we have had a Messiah appearing in the western United States, and men getting leave from railway companies in order to follow him to be cured of their injuries sustained on the railways. The last man, after flourishing for a few weeks, disappeared, saying blasphemously that the Father needed him elsewhere. And now we have a remarkable man who has preached for many years to a certain small sect in London, claiming to be the Messiah: I speak of the leader of the Agapemonites. But this is just what our Lord Jesus Christ foretold, that shortly before His final coming one of the signs would be that many would arise in His name saying "I am Christ." Then what guidance did He give as to such startling announcements? "If they shall say unto you, Behold He is in the desert " (like the Mahdi), "go not forth; Behold, He is in the secret chambers" (like the man in the Agapemonite Retreat), "believe it not for, as the lightning cometh out of the East and shineth even unto the West, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be" that is to say, when the Lord Jesus Christ returns, as we have just heard, He will return in mighty power, and be visible to all mankind. In Zech. xiv, and in other places, though less clearly, both in the Old Testament and in the New, it is said that the foe whom we describe as the anti-Christ will gather an army drawn. from many nations, and lead it against Jerusalem, and that at first he will be victorious, but ultimately God will descend and "His feet shall stand upon the Mount of Olives," and from there He will pass on to victory and destroy that vast army and then establish His reign of justice and peace over all the earth. It is remarkable that

just as in Zech. xiv, 4, it says that the Lord's feet shall stand upon the Mount of Olives; so, when the eleven disciples with their companions were looking up into heaven after the ascending Jesus, two angels appeared to them and said: "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven," Acts i, 11-that is to say, comparing it with Zechariah, that He shall descend in glory upon the Mount of Olives.

The CHAIRMAN.-The paper is extremely interesting from many points of view, and not only from the personality of the Mirza, who claims to be the Messiah, but from the fact that his is one of the very latest of the many sects of Mohamedans and Hindus. New sects are very common in India in both religions. A large book has been written, I think, by a missionary at Ludhiana on the sects of Hindus alone. Some of them are of a very obscure and even degrading character; but, in the majority, there is a general tendency to cope with the special evils of the times and to start reform. The Sikh religion was a powerful effort of the kind. Also in Bengal was the extensive body which followed Chatanya, whose teaching had many good points. In Rajputana many small sects have arisen, such as the Dadu Panthis, the Ramsnehis and others. In most of them there was a groping after the truth. In the lifetime of the founder they flourished, but decay as a rule soon set in after his death. So in the ordinary course we may expect that, on the death of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad his cult will probably decline. He writes on quite familiar lines such, for example, when he makes much of the similarity and significance of words. Thus Mohamad has a jalāli name, that is a glorious one, and therefore, he had a triumphant career, but he had also a second or jamāli, that is beautiful name, viz., Ahmad (praiseworthy), which the new Messiah interprets as pointing to peace, and therefore which must apply to himself as that is his own name. His brother was also a religious leader for the sweeper community, hence he too must be a guide.

The usual thing is that when a prophet dies his memory is revered by worship of his foot-print, which is carved in stone, if he be not in Hindu sects converted into a god or a minor incarnation or an atom of one, and so the cult maintains some degree of permanency.

The speaker mentioned the ten lost Jewish tribes. I remember how, at the Royal Asiatic Society, the late Surgeon-General Bellew contended that not only were the Jews moved from one country to another, but that other tribes were forcibly migrated by Alexander the Great from Asia Minor to the Punjab, and strove to prove his views by the similarities which he saw between the Punjabi and Greek tongue. Other writers have also given in that way a Semitic or Central Asian origin for some of the inhabitants of the Punjab and Rajputana. It is probable that the prevailing ideas of both Europeans and natives therefore guided the Mirza in his speculations on this question.

As regards the remarks on the grave of Yus Asaf in Srinagar, there is great respect everywhere for such tombs. Several years ago I occupied rooms in the palace of the Hindu Maharajah of Bardwan, and just outside our window we saw the grave of a Mahomedan pir or saint, which was not only tolerated but visited, and offerings placed upon it by Hindus as well as Musalmans in order to propitiate the occupant. On the road to Baalbek, a little later, we were shown the tomb of Noah, which was 120 feet long but only two or three feet wide. It was covered with pocket handkerchiefs, which women placed there in the hope of getting children or of saving their sick ones. Some people said it was part of an old water pipe! The tomb of Abel was not far off, and I believe there is another of his near Mecca; but all these old monuments have one thing in common in that they refer to the antediluvian patriarchs and were very large. In later ages the length diminished; but as our Lord's stature was that of an ordinary man, the Srinagar tomb could not have been his. Indian Mohamedans would readily understand such an argument; but the truth is the Mirza is a very clever man who makes the most of a little knowledge. His astuteness is shown also in making use of current beliefs and of all the religions of which he knows anything. All people in the East are at present on the look out for some great prophet Messiah-or Mahdi. The Hindus expect the tenth incarnation of Vishnu or the Kalki Avatāra, and even say where he is to appear-viz., at Sambal in the central provinces of India. He will be seated on a horse of which three legs are on the ground and the fourth is raised. When the beast puts the uplifted foot on the ground the incarnation will appear and conquer and rule the world.

The Mohamedan Mahdi must be born in the family of Husain, and be a descendant of Fatima the daughter of the prophet. A common belief in North India is also that as a child he will have milk in his veins. The new Messiah gets over the difficulty of not being of the lineage of Mohammed, but I should like to ask whether milk instead of blood circulates in his body? It is believed by the vulgar that the British vaccinate in order to discover the new Mahdi, so that like Herod of old they may slay the innocent. The extensive bibliography on the last page of the paper shows that the sect is attracting a good deal of attention, but, at the same time, that it was being adequately dealt with, and its fallacies, absurdities and feeble arguments exposed, especially from the Christian point of view this was being done with special ability in the Epiphany, the able publication of the Oxford Mission in Calcutta, which is now so much appreciated by thoughtful Europeans and natives in India.

Mr. J. O. CORRIE, B.A.-The successful insistence by Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian on the peaceful character of his Messiahship, as opposed to the popular Mohamedan doctrine of a bloody Mahdi, who will a wage a bloody jihad or war against unbelievers, is an evidence of the infiltration that goes on of Christian ideas into Indian religious notions:-other evidences are the Brahmo Somaj and the Arya Somaj (vile C.M.S. Intelligencer, Feb. 1905, pp. 93, 94; and May, 1905, p. 335).

The phenomena of false Messiahs, and spiritual leaders, such as Brigham Young, Dowie and others obtaining considerable numbers of followers point to a longing in humanity for a spiritual leader. (Perhaps the Papacy is another case in point.) It is forcibly argued that the yearning for immortality, so general in mankind, is an evidence that man is immortal; for, otherwise, God would not have given it. Does not a like consideration apply to this widespread desire for a spiritual leader? May it not be an indication, that One will come, who will satisfy that longing? namely, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Colonel HENDLEY then moved that the cordial thanks of the meeting be conveyed to the author of the paper for his valuable communication.

ORDINARY MEETING.*

MARTIN L. ROUSE, ESQ., B.L., IN THE CHAIR.

The Minutes of the previous meeting having been read and confirmed, the Secretary (in the absence of the author) read the following paper :—

THE MINERALS AND METALS MENTIONED IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. Their paramount influence on the Social and Religious History of the Nations of Antiquity. By Chev. W. P. JERVIS, F.G.S., Member of the Italian Geological Society, Rome; late Conservator of the Royal Italian Industrial Museum, Turin.

PRECIOUS STONES, ISRAELITISH TIMES.

B.C. circum 1520. The first allusion we know of to precious stones as already sought for in those ancient times is that of Job. As for the earth out of it cometh bread, and under it is turned up as it were fire; the stones of it are the place of sapphires (lapis lazuli, see below, p. 262, etc.), and it hath dust of gold." (Job xxviii, 6.)

B.C. 1491. Although Moses simply records that the children of Israel on their departure from Egypt spoiled the people, or land, of jewels of gold and jewels of silver, the sequel proves that many of these must have formed the settings of precious stones, of very great value, since in the wilderness the free-will offerings of the host included the twelve precious stones for the breastplate of the ephod.

Though numerous specialists have devoted the most conscientious study to the precise signification of the Hebrew

Monday, May 22nd, 1905.