(33.) Besides their efforts amongst the Jews, they also commissioned Ambassadors to distant nations and their rulers, for the purpose of inducing them to become disciples of the new Faith.

a. 'Jesus came and spake unto his disciples, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world' (Matt. xxviii. 18-20).
'The Lord said unto Ananias, Go thy way: for he [Saul] is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel; for I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake' (Acts ix. 15, 16).

b. Ibn Ishak records, 'Mohammed sent ambassadors from amongst his companions and gave them letters to different princes in which he called upon them to embrace Islam. A trustworthy person has told me the following, on the authority of Abu Bekr el Hudsali. One day, after Mohammed had returned from the pilgrimage, on the day of Hodeibia, he went to his companions, and said, "O ye people, God has sent me to you out of mercy, in order to avert evil from you; do not, therefore, resist me, as the apostles resisted Jesus the son of Mary." The companions asked, "Whereby did they resist him? and Mohammed answered, "He charged them with what I charge you; but only those whom he sent to a near place were content and did well, whilst those whom he sent to a distance showed discontent and raised difficulties. Jesus committed the matter to God, and next morning all those who had raised difficulties, spoke the language of the nation to which they were respectively sent." Of the ambassadors whom Mohammed then chose amongst his companions and sent to the princes, with letters inviting them to Islam, there were Dihye Ibn Khalifa, whom he sent to the Emperor of the Greeks; Abd Allah Ibn Hudsafa, to Chosroes, the King of the Persians; Amr Ibn Omeia, to Najashi, the Prince of

Abyssinia; Hatib Ibn Abi Balta, to Mokawkas, the Prince of Alexandria; Amr Ibn el Aasi, to Jeifar and Iyaz, the Princes of Oman; Selit Ibn Amr, to Thumama Ibn Uthal, and to Hawza Ibn Ali, the Princes of Yemama; Ala Ibn el Hadhrami, to Munzir Ibn Sawa, the Prince of Bahrein; Shuja Ibn Wahb, to El Harith Ibn Abi Shamir, Prince of the border districts of Syria; and Mohajir Ibn Omeia, to Harith Ibn Abd Kulal, the Prince of Yemen. — Yesid Ibn Abi Habib told me that he found a manuscript in which those are mentioned by name whom Mohammed sent to the Princes of the Arabs and of foreign countries; and which also contains what Mohammed told his companions in giving them their commission. He sent that manuscript to Ibn Shihab ez Zuhri who took knowledge of it.'

(34) They opened up to men the Way of Atonement and Pardon of Sin, to find Salvation.

a. 'The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many' (Matt. xx. 28; Mark x. 45).
As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God' (John iii. 14, 18).
'We rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement' (Rom. v. 11).
'Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others;...