acknowledgment of victory through the righteousness of Christ.  Mohammed never claimed to be a saviour or even an intercessor.  He was the sword of God against idolators, and the ambassador of God to believers; but beyond the promise of a sensuous heaven, he offered no salvation.  He had no remedy for sin—­except that in his own case he claimed a special revelation of clemency and indulgence.  Many a wholesome truth derived from the Old Testament scriptures was promulgated to the faithful, but self-righteousness, and especially valor in Mohammedan conquest, was offered as the key to paradise.[206]

Doubtless we should view the false systems with discrimination.  Like the sublime philosophy of Plato, Mohammedanism does teach an exalted idea of God, and there is, accordingly, a dignity and reverence in its forms of worship.  I once witnessed a very imposing spectacle in the great mosque at Delhi, on the Moslem Sabbath.  Several hundred Indian Mohammedans were repeating their prayers in concert.  They were in their best attire, and fresh from their ablutions, and their concerted genuflections, the subdued murmur of their many voices, and the general solemnity of their demeanor, rendered the whole service most impressive.  It contrasted strongly with the spectacle which I witnessed a little later in the temple of Siva, in Benares.  The unspeakable worship of the linga, the scattering of rice and flowers and the pouring of libations before this symbol; the hanging of garlands on the horns of sacred bulls, and that by women; the rushing to and fro, tracking the filth of the sacred stables into the trodden ooze of rice and flowers which covered the temple pavements; the drawing and sipping of water from the adjacent cesspool, known as the sacred well; the shouting and striking of bells, and the general frenzy of the people—­all this could be considered as nothing short of wild and depraved orgies.  If we must choose, give us Islam, whether in contrast with the Siva worship of India or with the tyranny of the witch doctors of interior Africa.

Yet, I repeat, Islam has no salvation, no scheme of grace, no great Physician.  In visiting any Mohammedan country one is impressed with this one defect, the want of a Mediator.  I once stood in the central hall of an imposing mansion in Damascus, around the frieze of which were described, in Arabic letters of gold, “The Hundred Names of Allah.”  They were interpreted to me by a friend as setting forth the lofty attributes of God—­for example, “The Infinite,” “The Eternal,” “The Creator,” “The All-Seeing,” “The Merciful,” “The Just.”  No one could help being impressed by these inspiring names.  They were the common heritage of Judaism and Christianity before Islam adopted them, and they are well calculated to fill the soul with reverence and awe.  But there is another class of names which were predicted by Judaism and rejoiced in by Christianity, but which Islam rejects; for example, “Messiah,” “Immanuel,” or