liable to two serious objections. In the first place it must be readily conceded, that whilst there was no insuperable obstacle in the way of Arabs visiting Mecca, with their multitudes of camels and horses, yet at present, since there are Muhammadans in Turkey, Persia, Afghanistan, India, Algiers, Morocco, and other remote parts of Africa, it cannot but be difficult for the less wealthy, and almost impossible for the poor, to afford the time and money required for so long a pilgrimage; and if Islam were to spread to still more distant lands, it would, in proportion, become less possible for the inhabitants to fulfil this demand of their faith, and reap the benefits held out by it. Where then, in a religion claiming universality, is the wisdom of an injunction, or the benefit of a promise which must remain beyond the reach of a very large proportion of Musalmans, in spite of their most earnest desires? In the second place, this obligation on Muslims to visit Mecca and Madina once at least in their life, shows that these are still to be regarded as the proper centre of the entire Muhammadan world, to which they must turn in veneration, and from which they must be more or less influenced, or, in other words, it indicates a design and tendency in Islam to preserve as much as possible its original Arabic character, in whatever country it may be professed. There would be no harm in such a tendency if Islam pretended only to be the religion of the

Arabic tribes; but asserting a mission for all other nations as well, and yet retaining the peculiar Arabic impress, it cannot fail to do great violence to the other races over which it gains power. The Arabic nationality being so prominently brought forward, the others, equally God's creatures, must in proportion be undervalued and slighted. To what extent this can be done can easily be seen from the existing state of things: e.g. although Arabia, at the present moment, has not even political independence, but is subjected to the Osmanlis, yet these latter, being Muhammadans, are enjoined by their religion to regard Mecca and Madina as more sacred than their own capital Stambul, and to take a long pilgrimage to Arabia, as if this were more pleasing to God than if they remained in their own native land to serve Him. How different Christianity in this respect, having no provincial or local garb, but equally at home in every town and country, in virtue of its own divine and essentially spiritual character.

The other point above referred to as likewise showing how little Islam was able to shake off the trammels of the nationality amidst which it arose, and to adapt itself to the various exigencies of mankind, is its servile dependence on the Arabic language, which must to some extent be adopted by every nation embracing Islam. To prove this, nothing more is required than to examine the