let him seize and sell him.”  And many such things they say and teach.  Look now at the lives of Simon and Paul, who went about healing the sick and raising the dead, by the name of Christ our Lord; and mark the contrast.[58]

[Sidenote:  Such are the conclusions of a native of Chaldea.] Such are the reflections of one who lived at a Mohammedan court, and who, moreover, flourishing as he did a thousand years ago, was sufficiently near the early spread of Islam to be able to contrast what he saw and heard and read of the causes of its success with those of the Gospel, and had the courage to confess the same.

[Sidenote:  Hinderances or inducements inherent in the faith itself.] Apart, now, from the outward and extraneous aids given to Islam by the sword and by the civil arm I will inquire for a moment what natural effect the teaching of Islam itself had in attracting or repelling mankind.  I do not now speak of any power contained in the truths it inculcated to convert to Islam by the rousing and quickening of spiritual impulses; for that lies beyond my present purpose, which is to inquire whether there is not in material causes and secular motives enough in themselves to account for success.  I speak rather of the effect of the indulgences granted by Islam, on the one hand, as calculated to attract; and of the restraints imposed and sacrifices required, on the other, as calculated to repel.  How far, in fact, did there exist inducements or hinderances to its adoption inherent in the religion itself?

[Sidenote:  Requirements of Islam:  prayer.  Prohibition of wine, games of chance, and usury.  Fast of Ramzan.] What may be regarded as the most constant and irksome of the obligations of Islam is the duty of prayer, which must be observed at stated intervals, five times every day, with the contingent ceremony of lustration.  The rite consists of certain forms and passages to be repeated with prescribed series of prostrations and genuflexions.  These must be repeated at the right times—­but anywhere, in the house or by the wayside, as well as in the mosque; and the ordinance is obligatory in whatever state of mind the worshiper may be, or however occupied.  As the appointed hour comes round the Moslem is bound to turn aside to pray—­so much so that in Central Asia we read of the police driving the backward worshiper by the lash to discharge the duty.  Thus, with the mass of Mussulmans, the obligation becomes a mere formal ceremony, and one sees it performed anywhere and every-where by the whole people, like any social custom, as a matter of course.  No doubt there are exceptions; but with the multitude it does not involve the irksomeness of a spiritual service, and so it sits lightly on high and low.  The Friday prayers should as a rule be attended in the mosque; but neither need there be much devotion there; and, once performed, the rest of the day is free for pleasure or for business.[59] The prohibition of wine is a restriction which was