ITS ORIGIN, ITS STRENGTH, AND ITS WEAKNESS. 175 
the case, it is evident that Muhammadanism cannot, with 
advantage to any section of the human race, take the place 
Divinely assigned to Christianity. To talk, as some do, as if 
the Religion of the “ Prophet of Arabia” were well suited to 
the Semites, or to the Mongol and Turkish races, or again to 
the Negro—is merely to show one’s self culpably ignorant at 
once of human nature, of Christian truth, and even of Isl&Am 
itself. Such platitudes will never satisfy anyone who has at 
heart the highest interests of his fellow-men. 
Just as was the case at Rome at the close of one of the 
great wons in the world’s history, so now among ourselves, 
there are men, priding themselves on their enlightenment and 
liberality of sentiment, who—as their prototypes worshipped 
Isis and Serapis, or again followed Epicurus or Plato, accord- 
ing as the varying fashion ot the day might impel them—are 
ready to call themselves now Agnostics, now Buddhists, and 
now Muhammadans, as the fancy may strike them. Sueh 
men may perhaps bolster up Islam for a time, and thus for 
a time retard its inevitable downfall. But, in spite of their 
utmost efforts, the true nature of this religious system will 
become generally known, and will then be seen to be indefen- 
sible. Muhammad is in every way unfitted to be the ideal 
of a single human being. In spite, therefore, of its many half 
truths borrowed from other systems, it is not too much to 
say that Islam has preserved, in the life and character of its 
Founder, an enduring and ever active principle of degrada- 
tion and decay. 
APPENDIX. 
After the proof-sheets of this paper were in my hands, there 
appeared a very important book entitled “The Spirit of 
Islam” (Syed Ameer Ali), which constitutes in itself a sign 
of the way in which orthodox Islam is losing its hold on the 
minds of thoughtful Muslims who have come in contact with 
Western thought. The author professes (Preface) his hope 
that his book “ may assist the Muslims of India to achieve 
their intellectual and moral regeneration,” and may at the 
oe time “help in the diffusion of Islimic ideas in the 
est.” 
