74 MANUAL OF INSTRUCTION 



perverted from the Sacred Scriptures, and pre- 

 tended revelations made to himself as a prophet 

 of God. " There is but one God, and Mohammed 

 is the prophet of God, " was the cry of his followers. 

 It was taken up with renewed zeal after his death, 

 and was at length heard all through Persia and 

 Syria. In subsequent ages, even the holy places 

 of Judea were overrun by followers of the false 

 prophet, and their hold upon them has never yet 

 been entirely overthrown. 



The events briefly alluded to, did not, of course, 

 bloom out in their fulness in these three centuries, 

 but had their rise and some of their development then. 



The sixth and seventh centuries were truly a 

 period of sorrow. The empire was falling to 

 pieces. Upon one side the Goths, Vandals, and 

 Huns were battering at its gates ; upon the other 

 the towering form of a false religion, sustained by 

 armed hosts, was crushing all before it. Through- 

 out the empire contending factions in the Church 

 were quarrelling, and effeminacy was superceding 

 the old Roman vigor. Manhood, patriotism and 

 Christianity were in a degraded condition, and it 

 seemed probable to human vision that the civiliza- 

 tion of the past would be swept away by the 

 two forces that were coming in opposite directions. 

 However, God interposed, holding back Moham- 

 medanism, and infusing new principles into th<? 

 barbarians of the West. 



