in them both must survive. Work out the teaching of the Koran and the teaching of the Gospel. Array before you the things of this world, and ask what says Mohammed to them, and what says Christ. See which is possible for you to sign. And, when the task is finished, what will be left for those who believe in the true Christian faith? Liberty, wisdom, knowledge, tolerance, purity, piety, peace! And what is the lot of the Christian man? To live in lovingness with all men, to force his way upon no man, to use only for his weapon the "Word," which was "with God in the beginning;" his means of pulling down the strongholds of error being the simple proclamation of the truth. And when these things shall be, then shall the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of the Lord God, and of His Christ.

Thus, then, I have endeavoured to do justice to a great religion, a religion that has made the Arab nation leap into a large, full, and noble life; but which, at the same time, is rushing on, and is doomed to pass away. The Christian religion is a universal solvent, which shall take into itself all the good of every other religion, and by-and-by abolish the evil in them all. Its kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and of its dominion there shall be no end.

CHRIST INCREASES: MOHAMMED

DECREASES.

Morning, September 24th, 1876.

"My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence."--JOHN xviii. 36.

IT is the duty, of course, of all wise and considerate people to separate from any religion the follies and errors that may accompany it. The mistake of St. Bartholomew, the fires of Smithfield-these things were not the outcome of religion, but of fanaticism. They are not to be charged upon the Christian Religion. Neither is it right to make the religion of Mohammed answerable for the beastly atrocities of the Turks, or for the disgraceful conduct of their rulers. And, lest in the heat and passion of righteous indignation you should be

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tempted to do so, we were pointing out to you last Sunday what of good there was in the Mohammedan religion, and what of evil; what was of permanence, and what was fleeting, "passing away." We ventured to think there are things contained in it which make it necessary that the fate which John the Baptist saw of himself, must be the fate of Mohammed as compared with the faith of Jesus Christ," He must increase, but I must decrease."

I have no part with those who are for ever calling Mohammed a "false prophet." He was false in the sense in which all teachers are falsethat is, they see not the whole of a thing, and cannot see it. But, false in the sense that he himself was an impostor? Impossible! We could not think worthily of a God who had suffered so much of the world to be guided by utter mist. When we remember that there are more men believing in the "gospel by Mohammed" than any other people in the world; and when we remember how his gospel woke religious enthusiasm in an obscure and barbarous people; we can but conclude that God's word came to the Arab nation through the voice of Mohammed. And the religion he taught, as compared to anything he found in his neighbourhood before he taught it, was as light in darkness,

life in death. For these Arabs were idolators, walking in a stupid ritualism. They had got a great black stone, which they said had fallen from heaven, and round about this stone they marched, and bowed, and kneeled, and drivelled. This wretched idolatry could produce nothing noble; for out of stones comes not bread of any kind. Into the midst, then, of this wretched idolatry, there came this great strong man, who saw as clear as though he beheld personally, the One God, One Only. Having seen all that comes of many gods -for many gods must be false gods-he set this one principle down of a Cardinal God, One Only Great.

His religion related to human duty, and was a grand proclamation of submission to a higher power. And therein he taught the supreme doctrine of Christianity; for, whether you call it obedience or submission, whether you bow down under a compulsion that cannot be resisted, or obey from a sweet loving unwillingness to do anything else than the will of God, the greatness of the Mohammedan creed is the supremeness of the Christian faith. It has been well said that "Mohammedanism is confused Christianity:" confused, dyed, deformed, dipped in the errors of sensuous humanity.

Now, I want to point out to you one or two other matters in the same direction. This grand principle of submission to God, based upon the thorough sovereignty of the Almighty, produced, as it always does, what we call "fatalism." Of course there are

metaphysical debates, of not much worth, about "free-will," and so on. But it is no use our discussing that question, because it has been discussed before by greater men than you and I. The supreme men of the world have discussed this question, the men who, like comets, come but now and then; men who, like mountain tops, are far away from little people like us—they have discussed it all before. They have brought their contributions to it, the like of which have not been brought to any other question; yet they could not settle it. Leaving it where it was, they come to this-We are all under necessity, we can do nothing; all is ordered beforehand; man has no freedom whatsoever—and, on the other hand, man can go wrong if he likes, or he can stand up like the angels! Both can be proved. And yet, if you go into deep argument, Fate wins. The question of the coexistence of Fate and Free-will can never get any further than it has got. You had better give it up. Gymnastics of the intellect are lawful for the