their monotheism, and to strengthen that implacable hatred of idolatry which they had cherished ever since the Babylonian captivity.  Associated with the Nestorians, they translated into Syriac many Greek and Latin philosophical works, which were retranslated into Arabic.  While the Nestorian was occupied with the education of the children of the great Mohammedan families, the Jew found his way into them in the character of a physician.

Fatalism of the Arabians.  Under these influences the ferocious fanaticism of the Saracens abated, their manners were polished, their thoughts elevated.  They overran the realms of Philosophy and Science as quickly as they had overrun the provinces of the Roman Empire.  They abandoned the fallacies of vulgar Mohammedanism, accepting in their stead scientific truth.

In a world devoted to idolatry, the sword of the Saracen had vindicated the majesty of God.  The doctrine of fatalism, inculcated by the Koran, had powerfully contributed to that result.  “No man can anticipate or postpone his predetermined end.  Death will overtake us even in lofty towers.  From the beginning God hath settled the place in which each man shall die.”  In his figurative language the Arab said:  “No man can by flight escape his fate.  The Destinies ride their horses by night. . . .  Whether asleep in bed or in the storm of battle, the angel of death will find thee.”  “I am convinced,” said Ali, to whose wisdom we have already referred—­“I am convinced that the affairs of men go by divine decree, and not by our administration.”  The Mussulmen are those who submissively resign themselves to the will of God.  They reconciled fate and free-will by saying, “The outline is given us, we color the picture of life as we will.”  They said that, if we would overcome the laws of Nature, we must not resist, we must balance them against each other.

This dark doctrine prepared its devotees for the accomplishment of great things—­things such as the Saracens did accomplish.  It converted despair into resignation, and taught men to disdain hope.  There was a proverb among them that “Despair is a freeman, Hope is a slave.”

But many of the incidents of war showed plainly that medicines may assuage pain, that skill may close wounds, that those who are incontestably dying may be snatched from the grave.  The Jewish physician became a living, an accepted protest against the fatalism of the Koran.  By degrees the sternness of predestination was mitigated, and it was admitted that in individual life there is an effect due to free-will; that by his voluntary acts man may within certain limits determine his own course.  But, so far as nations are concerned, since they can yield no personal accountability to God, they are placed under the control of immutable law.