Muhammadanism, and it is absolutely necessary to approach the subject without any preconceived ideas as to what the nature of the Qur'an is. It must be taken simply as it stands, the record of a supposed revelation, and must be used in the investigation without any appeal to the authority given it by the theological dogma that it is the eternal Word of God. In other words, it must be regarded simply as a historical document in which Muhammad claims to present to mankind the revelation which he professed to have received, just as we, on our side, are willing for the sake of the argument, to appeal to the Christian record as a historical document, without basing any part of our argument on the belief, which we hold just as firmly as our opponents hold theirs that the Bible is the Word of God.

We have already seen that the question which comes up for investigation between the two systems, finally narrows down to this, Is Christianity as it now exists, the same as Christianity as it existed in the time of Christ? and this question must be decided on historical and critical grounds, without any appeal on the one side, or on the other, to the documents as 'the Word of God'. We must be free to see, for instance, what the Qur'an teaches as to Christianity, but we must be equally free to use our historical information and our critical judgement, to decide

whether what it teaches, is in agreement with historical fact. We find, for example, that the Qur'an teaches that Christianity as taught by Christ is truly a revelation from God, and we are willing to accept this historical witness. Our opponents must also be ready to accept this, or they would at once be denying that the Qur'an is correct in its teachings. On this point, then, both sides are agreed, and we do not need to ask for any proof that Christianity as taught by Jesus is the truth.

When we come to other statements, however, we ask for proof, and we have the right to make the demand. We find, for example, the Qur'an stating that Jesus did not claim to be more than a prophet, that, in fact, he denied that he was other than a man like other men. We ask, where is the proof of this beyond the mere assertion? The simple statement of the Qur'an cannot be accepted as evidence. We find, further, that the Qur'an states that the Christians claimed to hold certain doctrines; for example, that God, Jesus and Mary were the three Persons of the Trinity. Again we have the right to ask, where is the proof of this? We cannot admit it simply because the Qur'an says so. If it be said that this was a view held by certain sects, we still ask, where is the proof of this? And even if we were to admit that a certain body of Christians may possibly—a very