fits hoped for; that of the Moslem, a devout expression of gratitude for benefits and mercies already received.

THE KORAN.

Of that book, the Koran, or Al Koran, so much revered by the believers in Mohammed, a few words will be appropriate. Different views are entertained of it owing to the various standpoints occupied. The Christian very naturally thinks far more of the scriptures of the Jews, with the gospel and epistles, than of the Bible of Islam. Goethe, one of the greatest and fairest minds the world has produced, spoke thus of the Koran, "As often as we approach it, it always proves repulsive anew; gradually, however, it attracts, it astonishes, and in the end forces the admiration." The Koran contains the entire code of Islam. It is not a book of religious precepts merely, but governs all that a Moslem does. It is entirely the work of Mohammed, and is made up of revelations which he believed came to him from the time of his sojourn on Mount Hira. It is regarded by the faithful not only as inspired in every word, but as uncreated and eternal. It consists of one hundred and fourteen suras or chapters, which were dictated by Mohammed to a scribe, and the copies thus made were thrown into a box. A year after Mohammed's death such portions as remained were collected from dateleaves, tablets of white stone, bones, parchment-leaves, and memories of men, and copied without order of time or subject, the longest chapters being put first. The titles of the chapters are taken from some chief matter in them, but are mostly unmeaning, affording no clue to the contents, as for example, the "Cow," "Thunder," the "Fig," the "Elephant." Each sura begins with the words, "In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful," and also tells when it was revealed to Mohammed. It is written in the purest and most elegant Arabic, and is said to suffer much by translation. Teaching the oneness of God, it is largely made up of stories, legends, laws, and counsels which show how much use Mohammed made of all he had heard of Jewish history and lore Much of it to the ordinary common reader seems utterly

unmeaning, while other parts move one by the beauty of their desert songs of God's majesty and purity. The Moslems will not touch it with unwashed hands, and never hold it below the girdle round their waist. Nothing is more unpleasant to them than to see it in the hands of an unbeliever. Their veneration and careful treatment of their sacred scriptures nearly equals that of the Hindoos toward the Vedas, the Institutes of Menu, and the Puranas. A few selections from the Koran will be given. The following bit is regarded by the pious Moslems as equal in value to nearly all the rest of the Koran:

Say there is one God alone

God the eternal;

He begeteth not, and he is not begotten,

And there is none like unto him.

The following, named the "Folding Up," describes the last day, or day of judgment:

When the sun shall be folded up,

And when the stars shall fall,

And when the mountains shall be set in motion,

And when the she-camel with young shall be neglected,
And when the wild beasts shall be huddled together,

And when the seas shall boil,

And when the souls shall be joined again to their bodies,

And when the leaves of the book shall be unrolled,

And when the heavens shall be stripped away like a skin,

And when hell shall be made to blaze,

And when paradise shall be brought near,

Every soul shall know what it has done.

At the end of another sura, and one of the latest in point of time, this grand passage occurs:

God; there is no God but he, the Living, the Eternal. Slumber doth not overtake him, neither sleep. To him belongeth all that is in heaven and earth. Who is he that can plead with him but by his own permission? He knoweth that which is past and that which is to come unto them, and they shall not comprehend anything of his knowledge but so far as he pleaseth. His throne is extended over heaven and earth, and the upholding of both is no burden unto him. He is Lofty and Great.

Again:

It is God who hath ordained the night for your rest, and the day to give you

light; verily God is rich in bounties-to most men; but most men render not the tribute of thanks.

This is God your Lord, creator of all things. No God is there but he. Why then do ye turn away from him?

Another:

O my son, observe prayer and enjoin the right and forbid the wrong, and be patient under whatever shall betide thee; for this is a bounden duty. And distort not thy face at men, nor walk thou loftily on the earth, for God loveth no arrogant, vain-glorious one. But let thy peace be middling, and lower thy voice, for the least pleasing of voices is surely the voice of asses.

Here is another:

There is no piety in turning your faces toward the east or the west, but he is pious who believeth in God and the last day and the angels and the scriptures and the prophets, who for the love of God disburseth his wealth to his kindred and to the orphans and to the needy and the wayfarer and those who ask and for ransoming, who observeth prayer and payeth the legal alms, and who is of those who are faithful to their engagements when they have engaged in them, and patient under ills and hardships and in time of trouble, these are they who are just, and these are they who fear the Lord.

This one describes how to pray:

Observe prayer at sunset till the first darkening of the night, and the daybreak reading for the daybreak reading hath its witnesses.

And watch unto it in the night .... and say, O my Lord, cause me to enter (Mecca) with a perfect entry, and to come forth with a perfect forthcoming, and give me from thy presence a helping power.

Here is a beautiful sermon on charity:

When God made the earth it shook to and fro till he put mountains on it to keep it firm. Then the angels asked, "O God, is there anything in thy creation stronger than these mountains ?" And God replied, "Iron is stronger than the mountains, for it breaks them." "And is there anything in creation stronger than iron ?" "Yes, fire is stronger than iron for it melts it." "And is there anything stronger than fire?" "Yes, water, for it quenches fire." "Is there anything stronger than water?" "Yes, wind, for it puts water in motion." "O our sustainer, is there anything in thy creation stronger than wind?" "Yes, a good man giving alms; if he give it with his right hand and conceal it from his left he overcomes al things. Every good act is charity; your smiling in your brother's face; your putting a wanderer in the right road; your giving water to the thirsty is charity; exhortation to another to do right is charity. A man's true wealth hereafter is the good he has done in this world to his fellow-men. When he dies people will ask, What property has he left behind him? But the angels will ask, What good deeds has he sent before him?"

Mohammed commanded his disciples to make no image of any living thing, to show mercy to the weak and orphaned, and kindness to brutes; to abstain from gambling, smoking tobacco, and the use of strong drink. The great truth which he strove to make real to them, as has already been observed, was that GOD IS ONE. The Koran says, "They surely are Infidels who say God is the third of three, for there is no God but one God."

This is sura 103:

By the declining day I swear:
Verily, man is in the way of ruin;
Excepting such as possess faith
And do the things which be right

And stir up one another to truth and steadfastness.

This is sura 93:

By the rising sunshine!

By the night when it darkeneth!

The Lord hath not removed from thee, neither hath he been displeased.
And verily the future shall be better than the past.

What! did he not find thee an orphan and give thee a home?
And found thee astray and directed thee?

The reader may see nothing in these selections from the Koran that is necessarily of a supernatural character-nothing but what a devout religious man of fair ability could easily write. This is no doubt a correct conclusion, and the same remark will just as truthfully apply to the sacred writings of all other nations and religions, whether it be the Hindoos, the Chinese, the Persians, the Egyptians, the Jews, the Scandinavians, or the Christians. There is not a chapter, a paragraph, or a sentence in all of them above the power of man to write, to equal, or even to excel.

PROPHECIES POINTING TO MOHAMMED.

It may be remarked that Moslems claim that the Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled in Mohammed as much as Christians do that they pointed to Jesus, and it is not easy to see why the claim is not made with equal justice and truth.

In the opinion of the writer, what are called the prophecies had not the slightest allusion to either Jesus or Mohammed; but one has the same right to claim to the contrary that the other has. Where Moses is claimed to predict in Deuteronomy xviii, 15, 18, that the Lord will raise up a prophet for the Jews from among their brethren, by emphasizing this latter clause and arguing that the Jews had no brethren except the Ishmaelites, from whom Mohammed descended, his followers claim that he was directly referred to. This is strengthened by the declaration attributed to Moses, that this prophet should be "like unto me," since Deuteronomy xxxiv, 10, declares that "there arose no prophet in Israel like unto Moses." Habakkuk iii, 3, says, "The Holy One came from Mount Paran." The Moslem argues that Mount Paran is the Mountain of Mecca. The Hebrew word translated "desire" in Haggai ii. 7, "The desire of all nations shall come," is claimed to be the same word as the name Mohammed. It is therefore insisted that he was prophesied of directly by name. When Isaiah says (xxi. 7), according to the Septuagint translation, that he "saw two riders, one on an ass and one on a camel," it is argued that the rider on the ass was Jesus, who so entered Jerusalem, and that the rider on the camel is none other than Mohammed. When John the Baptist was asked if he were the Christ, or Elijah, or "that prophet," Moslems claim "that prophet" thus anticipated was their own. So it' appears that Mohammedans derive about the same amount of consolation from the fulfilment of ancient prophecies in their leader and prophet that the followers of Jesus get from a belief in their fulfilment in him. It is a cheap kind of con-1 solation, which, perhaps, both are entitled to enjoy to their fill.

MOHAMMED A REAL CHARACTER.

There is an amount of certainty as to the real existence of Mohammed that is not to be found with reference to Jesus. Dr. Sprenger edited in Calcutta the first volume of the "Icaba," which contains the names and biographies of eight thousand persons who were personally acquainted with Mohammed. Mr. Muir follows with his work of four volumes, and goes over the whole grouud of the history of Arabia