him, 'If thou desirest it, I will ask God to give thee patience and Paradise; and if thou desirest it, I will ask Him to restore thine eye.' Katada replied, 'Paradise is indeed a great reward; but I am one who is wrapt up in the love of women, and if they saw me thus, they would say, "He is one-eyed:" therefore I beg of thee to restore my eye.' Thereupon that Excellency took Katada's eye in his own blessed hand, put some saliva upon it, ¹ and restored it to its proper place. Katada could at once see with it as before, nay, it was his best eye and never ached the least, till he died.
39. Ibn Abbas stated that once a woman brought her child to the Prophet of God, saying, 'In truth this child has a sort of spirit which seizes it when we eat, so that we are in great distress.' That Excellency rubbed his blessed hand over the child's chest and prayed over it. Then the child retched, and there came forth an animal from its stomach like a puppy, and ran away. But the child was cured.
40. It is reported that once Abu Talib was ill and was visited by the Prophet of God, to whom he said, 'O nephew, pray to the God whom thou worshippest, that He may heal me.' Mohammed complying with the request, Abu Talib was cured instantaneously, and said to his nephew, 'O Mohammed, verily thy God obeys thee.' Mohammed replied, 'O uncle, if thou worshippest Him, He will also obey thee.'
41. Abu Nehik narrated that he heard Omar Ibn Akhtab say, 'Once the Apostle of God asked me for a draught of water. On reaching him a cupful, I observed a hair in it, which I first picked out, and then gave him the water. His Excellency drank it, and then said, 'O God, the Creator, keep thou Omar Ibn Akhtab beautiful and fresh.' Abu Nehik adds, 'When I saw him, he was ninety-one years old, and yet not a hair of his beard had turned white.' But God knows best.

BOOK III.

Mohammedanism viewed in its historical Position, especially as regards its Relation to Christianity and Christendom.

AFTER having taken a full view of the historical figure of Mohammed, as it impressed itself upon his time and nation; and after having contemplated the mythical form, with its exaggerated proportions, which the Prophet assumed in the fond recollection of his devoted admirers, it may be opportune briefly to direct our attention to the grave and important problem of the real nature of the position occupied by Mohammedanism, as an historical power in the world, surviving down to our own days.
In doing so, we must not be guided by mere subjective impressions, but judge by an objective canon of unquestionable authority. Accordingly we take our stand on the frank profession, in which all will join us whose belief in Christianity, as the highest stage of Revealed Religion, rests on personal conviction, that the Religion of Christ presents the Standard by which all other religions have to be judged. Christianity being the religion of the God-man, in whom the true ideal of religion was fully and perfectly realised, any person can only be genuinely religious in proportion as he resembles Christ, and any system of religion can only sustain its claim to truth so far as it harmonises with the plan of salvation laid down in the Gospel. Christ is the perfect man, the 'teacher come from God.' He solemnly declared, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me' (John xiv. 6). Christianity is the true religion, the right way that leads to communion with God. In this we have the test,