(Luke xx. 30) in which our Lord says to His disciples, "That ye may eat and drink at My Table in My kingdom." Muhammad doubtless knew that the Christians celebrated the Lord's Supper, in accordance with Matt. xxvi. 20-9; Mark xiv. 17-25; Luke xxii.14-30; John xiii. 1-30; and 1 Cor. xi. 20-34. But what doubtless led to the idea that the Table descended from Heaven was the passage in the Acts of the Apostles (x. 9-16), in which we read the following account of Peter's vision:—

"Peter went up upon the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour: and he became hungry, and desired to eat: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance; and he beholdeth the heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending, as it were a great sheet, let down by four corners upon the earth: wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts and creeping things of the earth and fowls of the heaven. And there came a voice to him, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ But Peter said, ‘Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.’ And a voice came unto him again the second time, ‘What God hath cleansed, make not thou common.’ And this was done thrice: and straightway the vessel was received up into heaven."

The concluding words of the passage which we have quoted from Surah Al Maidah are an additional proof that Muhammad was thinking of the Lord's Supper, for they seem to be a faint echo of

St. Paul's warning against unworthily partaking of that sacrament (I Cor. xi. 27-9).

The whole passage is an additional proof of how very little knowledge of the New Testament Muhammad had. No one who had read the book or heard it read could have confounded Peter's vision with the institution of the Lord's Supper, or transformed that vision into the descent of a table of provisions from heaven in our Lord's lifetime. The passage is an interesting illustration of the way in which legends grow.

5. Muhammad's Misconception of the Doctrine of the Trinity.

In the early part of the present chapter we have briefly referred to this subject, but it must be again noticed here to make our treatment of the influence of "Christian" ideas and practices upon Islam somewhat more complete. The conception which Muhammad formed of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity in Unity is about as accurate as that which the last few paragraphs show that he entertained with reference to the institution of the Lord's Supper. This is evident from the following passages:—

Surah V., Al Maidah,, 116: "And when God said, ‘O Jesus, Son of Mary, hast Thou said unto men, Take Me and My Mother as two gods besides God?’"

Surah IV., An Nisa, 169: "O People of the Book,