to make man pure and holy. But for argument's sake, taking it for granted that the terms proposed should approve themselves to an enlightened mind, let us inquire, whether they are ever perfectly carried out. No Moslem will hesitate to acknowledge, that as no one strictly performs what is required, none can be saved by the performance. But, if God does not exact all the fasts, alms, prayers and pilgrimages commanded in the Koran and in the approved traditions, who shall determine how much may be safely dispensed with? In other words, how often shall Allah alter his purposes, accommodate his conditions of salvation to man's frailty, and so demonstrate his changeableness and weakness to the universe? If he make no change in the said terms; this plan of saving mankind must be defeated, in that no one is saved: if he make a change, it follows, that Allah is neither just, nor holy, but capricious, weak, and inconsistent. The deity of the Koran accepts an imperfect obedience; making known that he will be satisfied with sorrow for past sins, and a promise to commit less for the future; that some things he most enjoin, but that he will not be very strict in exacting an observance of them; that he is ready to abridge his demands from time to time, as occasion may require; that he is willing to receive whatever amount of obedience man may please to render and decide on for himself; that he indeed, punished Adam severely for his one sin, but that he has changed his plan of salvation in favour of his posterity; that Adam is now recompensed in heaven for having suffered an unne

cessarily severe sentence; and that if any of us were to sin, it need not be a cause of anxiety, for God is merciful and easy to be reconciled.

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The plan of salvation, as taught by Mohammed, is however, obnoxious and unsound, upon the ground of its being man's own work of obedience which is put forth as the rock of salvation; this being the case, he cannot divest himself of the idea, that his attaining it, is justly due to this obedience, rather than to God's free mercy and grace alone. Salvation given upon the fulfilment of these conditions, becomes, plainly speaking, a matter of work performed, and wages received. When the work is done, the wages will be claimed; and when the wages are received, pride and self-complacency inflate the mind of the recipient. Or if short-comings be felt, God will be regarded as a cruel taskmaster; and the service required, instead of being perfect freedom, will be a yoke too hard to be borne. That the Moslem thus, regards what the Christian deems his highest privilege, viz., approaching God in prayer,-will appear from this tradition: Allah first required fifty prayers a day from Mohammed and his followers, but being advised by Moses, the Arab prophet obtained a gradual reduction of the number till it was brought down to five prayers a day." Islamism represents God not as bestowing a gift, but as prescribing a task, on the performance of which, He pays its due; the principle of this plan

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162 . . اتوب عليهم وأنا التواب الرحيم

Sur. II.

63 Mishcat Vol. II. pag. 694. Hayat ul Kulub Vol. II. leaf 176.

of salvation nourishes pride, awakens distrust, yields neither motive nor power for sanctification, engenders despair, and excluding for ever the exercise of both love and gratitude, fully accounts for the frigid character of this miserable creed.

CHAPTER VI.

GENERAL SURVEY AND AGENDA.

"Why will ye not willingly contribute of your substance for the true way of God, or the carrying on of war against the unbelievers, since God alone is the possessor of heaven and earth? Whosoever will lend unto God an acceptable loan, to him he will double it again and he shall receive moreover an honourable reward." Sur. LVII. 10. 11.

1. The zeal of Moslemin in proselytizing was not extinguished, when they ceased to conquer. The duty of spreading the faith is still made paramount in the education of every Mohammedan; and it is equally incumbent on the governor, the soldier, the merchant, the captain of the ship, and the Sheich or Mollah, to watch every opportunity of disseminating the doctrines of the Koran. It cannot be without humiliation, that we contrast this zeal, with the culpable apathy of Christians concerning the souls of Mohammedans. Although the first tide of Moslem invasion had been successfully repelled, some of the Saracen settlements continued to exist for centuries in Europe; and the closing conquest of European Turkey with Constantinople

in the fifteenth century, perpetuated the approximation of Christianity and Islamism. During those twelve centuries that the Church of Christ stood face to face with her gigantic foe, should we not have expected that many a David would have gone out to meet this blaspheming adversary, "in the name of the God of the armies of Israel?" But how little was attempted in comparison with the magnitude of Christian responsibility! Yet to our shame we must confess, that our forefathers did more in darker ages, than has been accomplished, or even attempted, in this our selfconceited generation. We have, for instance, noble relics of the eighth century, 65 and subsequent ages were not altogether inactive in the work of converting the Moslem. 66

With a view to christianize the Saracens, Pope Honorius IV. strove in 1285 to establish schools at Paris, in which Arabic and other oriental languages might be acquired; and the Council of Vienna A. D. 1312 recommended professorships to be established for the same purpose in Oxford, Salamanca, Bologna and Paris; but the resolution remained without effect

6 Maraccio, in his preface, justly remarks, "Contra Mahumetum, Mahumeticamque superstitionem, quae per annos supra mille perseverat, qui scripserint, sive ex antiquioribus, sive ex recentioribus, pauci, ne dicam paucissimi, numerantur."

65 Disceptatio Christ. et Saraceni exstat. Tom. I. oper. Joann. Damasceni.

66 A list of works is found in J. Alb. Fabric. syllab. Script. de ver. relig. Christ. cap. L. pag. 735. Eusebii Renaudoti historia patriarcharum Alexandrin. pag. 377. may also be consulted, as mentioning various works against Islamism. But still, how true it is, "Apparent rari nantes in gurgite vasto."

until Francis I. called it into life; the result however of these feeble efforts was scarcely perceptible. There was no practical tendency which could lead to any tangible issue; and a few learned works on the Arabic language, some translations of Arabic authors, and a couple of commentaries of small value, alone remain to testify to the deplorably inert condition of the Church, which during the whole period, from the rise of Islamism to the time of the Reformation, failed to make one vigorous attempt for the conversion of the Mohammedans. Nor was it, as we might justly have expected, one of the immediate consequences of that blessed event, to remember either the Heathen or the Moslem world. It was left to the Church of Rome to renew the Missionary work among the Mohammedans, when Hieronymo Xavier, at the commencement of the seventeenth century, presented a somewhat elaborate treatise on the truth of Christianity to the Emperor Jahangueir; but the chef-d'oeuvre is the well known work of Maraccio. Lest however we should ascribe to the Romish Church, what was achieved by a few enterprizing members of her community, it is but just to add, that in 1530 a Venetian edition of the Koran was publicly burned, and Maraccio himself had to struggle with unheard-of difficulties to procure permission to print his work from Pope Innocent XI. whose father-confessor he was. Amongst other writings against Islamism,67 that of Philippo Guada

67 We might mention "Triumphus catholicae fidei contra sectam Mahumetanam;" also "Manuductio ad conversionem Mahumetanorum" by the Spanish Jesuit P. Turs. Gonzales.