revelation, and even the facts of the Old and New Testament dispensations, are conceded; the most of the attributes of God, the immaculate conception of Christ, and the miracles which attested his Mission are all admitted. But Mahommed well knew that he more than neutralized all these concessions, by the suspicions which he cast upon the genuineness of our Scriptures. The Mahommedans believe a Gospel, but it is not ours they worship a God, but not the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: they acknowledge a Jesus, but not Him who was so called, because he should save his people from their sins. Hear Mirza Ibrahim :

"For we are not sure of the miracles of that Moses and Jesus, of whom the Jews and Christians speak; and who as they say did not believe in the Mission of our prophet; but we speak of the miracles of that Moses and Jesus, who have given their testimony to the mission of Mahommed: and how great is the difference between them when viewed in these different lights? Let it not be said that the persons are the same in both cases. We believe in these prophets, in consequence of their being described in the Koran, and not as described by the Jews and Christians." (Cont. tracts. p. 33.)

Yes, it must be borne in mind, that it is simply as they are mentioned in the Koran, and only because they are mentioned there, that the Mohammedan believes in the prophets and the Bible; and the misrepresentations of the Koran not merely destroy their identity, but substitute a false and noxious* system, which requires exclusive belief, cancels and overturns all preceding revelations, and by requiring its adherents to believe all former scriptures corrupted and interpolated, takes from us the only means we have of proving the imposture false. Could the infernal counsels of the Apostate angel have devised any more perfect and invincible plan for frustrating the Gospel and grace of God?

It is true, indeed, that the Koran contains many plagiarisms from the Bible, and abounds therefore with approaches to the truth; and it might have been hoped that these would prove as foundations upon which to build, as a fulcrum whereon to ply our arguments; but it appears to be a melancholy truth, that in some stages of human nature, a certain amount of light and knowledge only renders it more difficult to drive the bigot from his prejudices. Thus the Mussulman is conscious of possessing truths, behind which he proudly entrenches himself, persuading himself that he has the whole truth, and that every thing else is absurd. The supposed advantages then, the points common

Mr. Forster, having quoted a verse from the Koran, says, be the matter asserted, true or false, this assuredly is none other than the voice of Satan speaking by the mouth of a "false apostle."-Strange Epithets for the promised blessing!

to both, are thus turned into a barrier against us,-into a thick, and, to human effort, impenetrable veil, which effectually excludes every glimmering of the true light. How delusive, therefore, are the anticipations quoted with approbation by Mr. Forster, (vol. I, p. 107.) "Since we find among the followers of Mahommed, such favourable prepossessions, and established doctrines,

AS WILL RENDER EASY THE APPROACH TO THEIR CONVER

*

SION, neither force of obligation, NOR PROSPECT OF SUCCESS, is wanting to encourage our progress, and animate our zeal :" and again, he affirms, that the two religions "hold so many great fundamentals in common, that they contain a natural and necessary tendency to convergence:-the imperfect scheme, when its providential work shall have been accomplished, becoming absorbed in the perfect, and the moon of Mahommed resigning its borrowed rays, to melt in the undivided light of the everlasting Gospel." It is certainly a novel idea to speak of Mahommed or his Koran, under the simile of the moon; his own peoplet style him the sun, and our Saviour the moon, and they would laugh to scorn any mention of "borrowed light" for their prophet. The radiancy of Judaism, indeed, bore testimony, like the moon, to the existence of an unseen but approaching luminary; but that of Mahommedanism is a baleful vapour luring only to destruction.

These are melancholy reflections. Have we, then, no more encouraging thoughts with which to conclude this article; have all our efforts been thrown away; and after all this controversy, do we find our cause not in the least advanced? God forbid! for, amid these discouragements, we think we can discern the pleasing tokens of actual progress. And first, the Mahommedans, it is evident, are closely and carefully examining our Scriptures; this, the controversy we have been considering leaves without a doubt: the simple fact, therefore, of the perusal of the word of God is a step gained, and with His blessing will lead to favourable results. Again, as the controversy advances, and books on the subject are spread abroad, the mistaken views, which Mahommedans have hitherto entertained of most of our leading doctrines, will be removed, and correct and scriptural knowledge substituted in their stead; this will of necessity sweep away many of their strongholds which were built on erroneous notions of Christianity; and if they continue faithless, it will be in the face of the clearest light. We trust, too, that christian character is now more generally exhibited to the view of our adversaries; and its

*The italics are not ours.
As in the Saulat uz Zaigham.

excellencies and graces cannot fail (if we are but true to our profession,) to aid their conviction of the truth of our holy faith. And, lastly, we look with anxious hope, to the society of native christians, which we earnestly expect will soon spring up from among our Orphan asylums and converts generally, and to the effect which appeals, thus sounding from among themselves, and addressing their feelings and reason with native home-drawn arguments (to which we have but little access,) will have throughout the country.

But of all human means we trust most to those exhibitions of earnestness and anxiety, which christian love is now prompting its professors to put into active motion.* Yes; it is a matter of joy and congratulation, that the attitude, which Protestant evangelical Europe and America are now assuming, is just that which is likely to strike conviction into the frozen heart of the Mahommedan. When he sees Christians so vitally alive to the infinite blessings their religion is calculated to impart ;-so tenderly concerned for the perishing condition of his brother Mahommedans and Heathens, and so filled with burning love and zeal to make them sharers of their own blessings, as cheerfully to undergo loss and suffer privation;-this is a practical argument, the most likely of any to convince him of the reality and divine nature of the Gospel. God be praised that Christianity is beginning gradually to assume her rightful position; and no sooner shall she have fully done so, than a light must break forth establishing, before the world, her truth and the unspeakable difference between her and every false religion.

In conclusion, we would earnestly press the necessity which lies upon all of removing, as far as their ability extends, the ignorance of the Mahommedans; and the responsibility those are under, who possess the requisite qualifications, of affording them access to those numerous subjects, a knowledge of which we are obliged to pre-suppose in most of our religious discussions. Let us attend to Dr. Lee:-" In ancient History and Scripture, the Persians are necessarily very ignorant,† the best means

We recollect a simple anecdote in a late number of the "Calcutta Free Churchman," which vividly exemplifies what we mean: A person who had long sought in vain the conversion of an infidel neighbour, once burst into tears in his presence, and could say nothing more to his astonished friend than "Oh, I am concerned for your soul." This exhibition of feeling meletd the rigid scepticism which no arguments could affect. We do not mean to imply that untempered zeal should be employed or encouraged towards the conversion of our infidel neighbours; but we do believe that CONCERN for their salvation, appearing in all our conduct, would be the most cogent of all arguments we could resort to; it would prove the steadfastness of our faith, and the value we put upon the blessings it carries with it.

† As an instance of the ignorance of our opponents in History, we may mention a passage in the Saulat uz Zaigham, where the author adduces the fall of Babylon,

they have of obtaining either being the fragments found in the Koran or the traditions; nor is there much probability of their improving in this respect, until they shall possess a good translation of the whole Bible, with some such works as the connections of the Old and New Testaments by Prideaux, the connections of sacred and profane History by Shuckford, and some good commentary on the Text of Scripture."—(Pref. p. сххіі.)

And again: "It would be well to translate into the Persian some of our standard books on the apparent contradictions of the Scriptures, with Paley's evidences of Christianity, or the recent work of Mr. Sumner." Mere* translations, however, will seldom or ever do; they must be adapted and remodelled, leaving out much that would be unsuitable to an oriental,—and supplying much that would be superfluous to a European reader. We would urge this sacred and paramount duty, as incumbent not upon our Indian Society alone, but upon the learned of England. Mahommedanism is not, like the religion of the Hindu, a subject foreign to the European; for twelve centuries it has been his near neighbour; it effected a footing in Spain and Italy, and it now reigns in Turkey; from the stores of its learning was the darkness of the middle ages first enlightened; and our libraries are full of learned and controversial works in defence and in defiance of both religions. Why then have we not more instances of our countrymen treading in the steps of Dr. Lee? The stimulus of a prize is sufficient to entice the learned inmates of Oxford and Cambridge to combat the remote and dimly distinguished tenets of the Hindu. And shall not the interest and proximity of the subject, its close connection with Europe, and the ample resources near at hand for obtaining a knowledge of the principles of Islam, be sufficient to tempt our

as the accomplishment of ancient prophecies in favour of Mahommed. He says, plausibly enough. that Isaiah and Jeremiah successively predicted the destruction of this city, but had it fallen in their times, its overthrow would not again have been foretold by St. John in the Revelations. At last, he tells us, the priest Satih predicted it to Noushirvan, as about to follow the establishment of Mahommed's creed. Our adversary here has evidently the best of the argument, in the eyes of his fellow Mussulmans; and it will be difficult to disabuse them of the error, and of the idea that we are deceiving them in representing John's as a spiritual Babylon without a considerable knowledge of History on their part.

* A thousand such works are urgently required: when will our philanthropic spirit prompt us to supply our native fellow subjects with a theological library? A running commentary on the whole Bible, but especially on the New Testament. is urgently needed. Brief notes taking up and satisfactorily explaining every difficulty, and lithographed in the margin of the text, would prove an invaluable book; such a work should be executed so as to accommodate the native taste; take the Lucknow Koran, with its running marginal Urdu notes as the model; and a wide margin and smaller writing for the notes, will afford ample room for all that needs to be said. We do trust soon to see some such work of this description.

learned and pious countrymen to come forward in the Mahommedan contest; and thus without the labour or the banishment of a missionary life, to forward the Christian cause by aids more valuable than thousands of silver and gold?

We would also impress upon those who are unable to help by writing themselves, the duty which the more heavily devolves upon them of furnishing means for the printing, and forwarding the circulation, of the books which are already provided. We understand that Mr. Pfander's works are nearly out of print; and we would strongly recommend that five, or, if possible, ten thousand copies of Mizan ul Haqq, and two thousand of the other treatises, be struck off in Urdu, and a reasonable proportion in Persian; for this, we believe, extraordinary funds will be required, but we are greatly mistaken if the Christian public, when fully and intelligently awakened to a sense of the magnitude and urgency of the object, will be backward in furnishing them. At all events, we feel that, in thus prominently directing public attention to the subject, we have discharged a duty towards one of the worthiest of men and one of the noblest of causes. Of Mr. Pfander or his writings, many of our Indian residents may probably have never heard. And if what has been written shall prove the means of leading any of them so to esteem the author and so to appreciate the value of his works, as to stir them up to lend effective aid in circulating them throughout the Mahommedan world, one great object which we had in view shall have been gained. The Rev. Gentleman himself is an ordained minister of the Church of England; and it is by the multiplication of such agents, that that or any other branch of the Christian church can expect to obtain a secure footing and permanent ascendancy among the hitherto unreclaimed realms of heathenism.

Since writing the above article we have perused the treatise published by the Mujtahid of Lucknow, to which a reference was made at page 447. At the close of the volume are printed the letters which passed between the Mujtahid and Mr. Pfander, who appears to have forwarded his books to the