Thus Judaism was monotheism, first as a seed, then as a blade, and then as the ear which the sun of Christianity was to ripen into the full corn.  The highest truth was present, implicitly, in Judaism, and became explicit in Christianity.  The law was the schoolmaster to bring men to Christ.  It taught, however imperfectly, a supreme and living God; a Providence ruling all things; a Judge rewarding good and punishing evil; a holy Being, of purer eyes than to behold iniquity.  It announced a moral law to be obeyed, the substance of which was to love God with all the heart, and one’s neighbor as one’s self.

Wherever the Apostles of Christ went they found that Judaism had prepared the way.  Usually, in every place, they first preached to the Jews, and made converts of them.  For Judaism, though so narrow and so alien to the Greek and Latin thought, had nevertheless pervaded all parts of the Roman Empire.  Despised and satirized by philosophers and poets, it had yet won its way by its strength of conviction.  It offered to men, not a philosophy, but a religion; not thought, but life.  Too intolerant of differences to convert the world to monotheism, it yet made a preparation for its conversion.  This was its power, and thus it went before the face of the Master, to prepare his way.

Chapter XI.

Mohammed and Islam.

Sec. 1.  Recent Works on the Life of Mohammed. 
Sec. 2.  The Arabs and Arabia. 
Sec. 3.  Early Life of Mohammed, to the Hegira. 
Sec. 4.  Change in the Character of Mohammed after the Hegira. 
Sec. 5.  Religious Doctrines and Practices among the Mohammedans. 
Sec. 6.  The Criticism of Mr. Palgrave on Mohammedan Theology. 
Sec. 7.  Mohammedanism a Relapse; the worst Form of Monotheism, and a

              retarding Element in Civilization.

Note.

Sec. 1.  Recent Works on the Life of Mohammed.

Dr. Samuel Johnson once declared, “There are two objects of curiosity, the Christian world and the Mohammedan world; all the rest may be considered as barbarous.”  Since Dr. Johnson’s time we have learned to be curious about other forms of human thought, and regard the famous line of Terence as expressing more accurately the proper frame of mind for a Christian philosopher.  Nevertheless, Mohammedanism still claims a special interest and excites a peculiar curiosity.  It is the only religion which has threatened Christianity with a dangerous rivalry.  It is the only other religion, whose origin is in the broad daylight of history.  Its author is the only one among the great men of the world who has at the same time founded a religion, formed a people, and established an empire.  The marvellous spread of this religion is a mystery which never ceases to stimulate the mind to new inquiry.  How was it that in the short space of a century the Arab tribes, before always at war among themselves, should have