wealth, and forego even wife and family;—or he that goeth forth, ravaging and laying waste, plundering and spoiling, slaying the men, carrying off their children into captivity, and ravishing their wives and maidens in his unlawful embrace; and then shall call it Jehd in the ways of the Lord, and shall say of him that slayeth or is slain that 'he hath inherited Paradise.' Judge aright, my Friend, in this matter. If a robber plundering a house should fall into a well, or the wall fall down upon him, or the owner rush out and strike him, so that he die; would bloodmoney at all be claimable for such a one? I trow that no Cadhee would so decide. How then shall Paradise be to him who falleth upon a people unawares, secure and at peace in their homes,—he knowing not them nor they him; plundering, enslaving, and ravishing? And, not content therewith, instead of humbling thyself before the Lord and seeking pardon for the crime,—thou sayest of such a one, whether he slay or be slain, that 'he hath earned Paradise,' and thou namest him 'a Martyr in the ways of the Lord'! If such be thy judgment, it is naught but the judgment of Satan, the Enemy of Adam and his race from of old. But well I know that thy reason and justice both forbid it."

He pauses to apologise for the warmth of his language. Sparks will fly from the flint when it is struck by steel. It was his friend himself who had enlarged the sphere of this discussion; and there had been much need for the stipulated forbearance on either side. Moreover, his argument was intended

not merely for his friend, but for all who should read his book.

Temporal inducements offered by Islam Sura ii. 56. Jeremiah iii. 1. Deut. xxiv. 4.

Of the temporal enjoyments held out as a motive for his conversion, he says that these flit past like a dream of the night, or the lightning which, dazzling the eye of the bystander for a moment, leaves him in deeper darkness. Such was not the chief end of a rational and immortal being. Holy men of God sought rather to be freed from these allurements. The Coran tells us that the Almighty "created Men and Genii only that they might serve Him." That was the true end of man: and now his Friend turned round and tried inconsistently to snare him with this bait,—Marry such women as are pleasing to thee, two, three, or four; and slave-girls without stint;¹ eat, drink, and enjoy life like the beasts that have no restraint either of reason or revelation. As for the "change of wives," and especially the "thrice-repeated divorce," he had already dwelt upon it,—the latter being an abomination, denounced by the prophet Jeremiah, and by all other creeds and nations; and he would not defile his book by dwelling further on the revolting subject.

Coming now near to the close of his argument against Islam, our Author thankfully acknowledges the guarantee of immunity in the free treatment of their discussion. Our Saviour, indeed, bade us