yet we see that the Prophet did so, in accepting the vain imagination of the heretic as given in the verse of the Qur'an quoted above.

The Muslims hold that Christ announced to his followers that they were to expect a Prophet named Ahmed; and in proof they adduce the following verse from the Qur'an, Surah lxi. 6:— And when Jesus Son of Mary said, 0 children of Israel, I am the apostle of God unto you, confirming that which was delivered unto me in the Torah and bringing good tidings of an apostle who shall come after me, named Ahmed. This passage no doubt refers to the Comforter, the Paraclete promised in the Gospel of John.¹ But anyone who attentively reads what is said in the passages on the subject, will perceive that they make no promise of any prophet's advent, but of the coming of the Holy Ghost;— a promise fulfilled shortly after our Saviour's ascent to heaven, by the descent of the Holy Spirit, as described in Acts ii. 1-11.

The origin of the misapprehension in the Qur'an came from the Arabs not knowing the meaning of Paraclete (Faraclete), and fancying it to signify Ahmed, or "the praised one"; while the real sense of the name is the Comforter. But there is in Greek another word which to the ear of a foreigner would have a nearly similar sound, namely, Periclete (praised or celebrated); and it is extremely probable that the people of Arabia, not familiar with Greek, mistook its meaning thus and named the promised one Ahmed, or "the praised."²

We read in ancient times of one Mani¹ in Iran, who fancied himself a prophet, and claimed to be the Paraklete promised by the Messiah. But he was rejected by the Christians of Persia, who, being well acquainted with the gospel, knew that our Saviour made no promise of any prophet to come.

We have it in tradition that Muhammad said Jesus would descend upon earth, there live forty years, and become married.² Anyone acquainted with the Bible will understand how this strange imagination arose; for in Rev. xix. 7-9, we read as follows:

Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

And if it be asked, Who is the Bride spoken of here? the answer is in ch. xxi. 2: "And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." We see then that the Bride spoken of here is the Christian Church which will be on earth at the second coming of Jesus; and their "marriage" is simply the symbol of the perfect union, love and devotion that will subsist between the two, as between a husband and his wife. The whole story of the Commentators is but a foolish myth.³