Hitherto Mohammedanism has proved no common barrier to the Spreading of the Gospel; and its aggressive hostility to the Kingdom of Christ has been marked by no ordinary violence and persistency. Should the future happen to differ from the past, by presenting to us the novel Spectacle of Islamism becoming a stepping-stone to Christianity, even this could not change its original character or clear the Arabian prophet of his anti-Christian designs. We should then only have a fresh illustration placed before us of the fact that it is one of the most glorious achievements of the great God who guides the destinies of man to call light out of darkness and to overrule evil for good.

Mohammed's antipathetic behaviour towards Christianity could not but have the most fatal consequences for himself and the world. As soon as he made up his mind not to follow his friends who placed themselves under the leadership of Christ, but rather to set himself up as His rival and opponent, by founding a counter-religion, he practically violated the highest principle of Truth, and placed himself more completely under the dominion of error. Thus he fatally laid himself open to being used by spiritual powers as an instrument for carrying out dark designs, far beyond the horizon of his own will and perception.

From a general historical and religious standpoint, therefore, the question is of subordinate importance, How far Mohammed realised the sinister nature and fatal bearings of his enterprise and how far he believed himself God's chosen apostle or, to what extent he was a conscious deceiver and to what extent the unconscious victim of deception. In either case-and there can be no doubt that sometimes the one and sometimes the other predominated-the indisputable fact remains that he consciously rejected Christianity and strenuously sought to supplant it. He made himself guilty of the great 'Sin of the world, by not believing in Jesus, the Saviour of man (John xv. 8, 9). He branded himself with the stigma 'Not of the Truth!' by refusing to follow the guidance of 'the good Shepherd;' according to the word of Christ, 'Every one that is of the Truth heareth my voice' (John xviii. 37). Consequently his politico-religious system also, as being essentially anti-Christian, and implying the

principle of cruel war and galling subjugation to all non-Mussulmans, cannot have been initiated in the interest of the kingdom of God or propagated for the promotion of the cause of righteousness and truth.

But in giving expression to this frank avowal, we need hardly add that it is not intended to convey the impression as if we held that Islam may not at some times and under some circumstances have proved, and still prove, a positive temporal boon and a relative spiritual blessing to its professors. The borrowed truths, embodied in the system, and the overruling government of an all-wise and all-merciful God, indeed amply justify us in expecting so much. We readily make this candid admission to those who may feel disposed to remind us of the brighter periods in the dark history of Islam, or who wish to lay stress on the superiority of the Mohammedan religion and civilisation, as compared with the utter darkness and deep degradation of many heathen lands.

Thus far we have traced how Mohammed became the prophet he was, and what were the different elements combining to produce in him the belief that he had to fulfil a great mission in the world. We have contemplated him in his own distinct individuality, his family relationship, his religious tendencies, and his political aspirations, till he stood before us in the form of a fully developed prophet and a miraculously commissioned ambassador. It now is our duty in the following chapter to inquire how his pretensions were received by his countrymen, and what success he achieved in the Arab nation.

The well-known Flight or Hegira (pronounce: Hetchra) naturally divides the period about to be treated into two halves, of pretty equal duration, but of very unequal result first, the prophet's Meccan period of ill success; and secondly, his Medinan period of complete triumph.