for three hundred years spread without any political power, amidst cruel persecutions, God, in His all-wise providence, has yet so diminished the worldly power of the Muslim nations, and so marvellously increased the general prosperity and political power of the nations professing Christianity, that there are a number of Christian lands, e. g. England, America, France, Prussia, Austria, Italy, and Russia, each one of which is more civilized, more generally educated, and politically more powerful, than the Osmanli empire, which, of all remaining Muhammadan states, is, without contradiction, the most civilized, the best educated, and the most powerful.

The facts referred to having shown that the politico-religious system of Islam, as compared with the pure religion of Christianity, has proved a failure, so far as the Muhammadan nations themselves and mankind in general are concerned, we have now to draw attention to another point in which Muhammadanism is likewise inferior to Christianity. The gospel, as has been already noticed, shows us the kingdom of God, or the true religion. in its most spiritual and universal character, no less applicable to, than intended for, the whole human race, and not encumbered by the trammels of any particular nationality. But what the Qur'an presents to us as the highest and last stage of the kingdom of God in this world wears again an unmistakable national character, and is burdened with

a load of external forms which must not only retard its propagation, but actually prevent its establishment over the entire globe. Having already had occasion to show how the external forms of Islam deprive it of a truly universal character, or render it inapplicable to all the various nations of the earth (see p. 93), we may here confine ourselves to two points — the extensive introduction of the Arabic language wherever Muhammadanism becomes the religion of a people, and the injunction to take a pilgrimage to Mecca and Madina as a religious duty.

To begin with the latter, i. e. the pilgrimage to Mecca, it is a fact known to every one acquainted with Arabic history, that the Arabs observed this national custom for many centuries before Muhammad. The different tribes had agreed, when still given to idolatry, to assemble every year as one nation before their national sanctuary at Mecca, during which time all their feuds were suspended, and they could meet in brotherly concord as members of one great nation. No one can deny, that from a national point of view this was a wise and useful arrangement, the observance of which by a people of more or less nomadic habits involved no very considerable sacrifice. But when this institution was also adopted, though with some modifications, into the religion of Muhammad, claiming a mission to all the nations of the earth, it became