CULTURE AND PROGRESS. 
133 
“Mohammed and Mohammedanism.”* 
Among the traditions of a New England college 
is one which may serve as a text wherewith to in- 
troduce our notice of this interesting volume. The 
story is to this effect. It was the custom of the 
college to require attendance at the religious serv- 
ices in its chapel, except in the case of students who 
had conscientious preferences for some other denom- 
ination than that to which the college church belong- 
ed. Such students were permitted to select some 
church of their own denomination, where they were 
expected regularly to attend. But, to the great per- 
plexity of the college authorities, upon the entrance 
of a certain new class, one of its members avowed 
himself a Moslem ; and, as the quiet college town, 
though abundantly supplied with churches of almost 
every Christian name, contained no mosque, the young 
man’s religious privileges were seriously curtailed. 
But, if Mr. Bosworth Smith had been a resident 
rector near the college, it would seem that the disci- 
ple of Mohammed might have attended on his minis- 
try without just ground of complaint or fear of offend- 
ed prejudices. For the estimate in which Mr. Smith 
holds the Arab prophet is so lofty, and his apology 
comes so near to being a eulogy, that it is at times 
a little difficult to see what more he would claim for 
Mohammedanism if he were writing as one of “the 
faithful,” instead of as an unbeliever; and the note- 
worthy fact about it is that his enthusiasm seems 
spontaneous and disinterested. Apparently, it is not 
because he is a student- of the Arabic literature in 
its original, nor because he has been an observer of 
practical Mohammedanism in lands where it has be- 
come a prevalent religious faith, that his estimate 
of it is so high ; but rather, having taken up his sub- 
ject as one likely to be interesting, and one to which 
there is a side which has been insufficiently heard 
by Christian audiences, he glows with the fervor 
of his advocacy, and his enthusiasm “grows by 
going.” We are forced to the conviction that it has 
grown unduly. And, indeed (if it be not too se- 
vere a criticism), Mr. Smith’s enthusiasm for Mo- 
hammedanism seems to have grown at the cost of 
his admiration for Christianity. We may admit the 
study of “comparative theology,” and of “the sci- 
ence of religion” to be a legitimate scientific study; 
but when we are asked to concede the improbability 
“that Islam will ever give way to Christianity in 
the East, however much we may desire it, and what- 
ever good would result to the world,” or that Mo- 
hammedanism is “perhaps the nearest approach to 
Christianity which the unprogressive part of hu- 
manity can ever attain in masses,” — we are asked 
to leave out of sight, in our scientific study, an es- 
sential characteristic of Christianity. For, while it 
is, in its spirit, tolerant of other religions, and while 
its master claims to have “ other sheep that are not 
of this fold,” — yet it promises to be the universal 
religion, and claims more, a great deal, for itself, 
than a primacy inter pares., or a restriction of it- 
self to the “progressive part of humanity.” Its 
. By R. Bosworth Smith. 
divinity is largely proved by its fitness to succeed, 
and by its actual successes, among all nations and 
kindreds and tongues. And it is a strange miscon- 
ception of its genius and spirit to suppose that such 
a compromise or such a partnership as Mr. Smith 
suggests is for a moment possible to it. 
Moreover, Mr. Smith is not fortunate in his asser- 
tions concerning the excellencies of Mohammedan- 
ism in practice. He has to resort, for example, to 
some special pleading, in an appendix, to defend 
Mohammedanism in Africa against the damaging 
testimony of Dr. Livingstone. Since then we have 
had Livingstone’s “ Last Journals,” in which is 
additional testimony more serious and damaging 
than ever. It is hard to put confidence in his asser- 
tions of fact which have no personal observation to 
justify them, and which, in some instances, require 
special explanation, and some fervor of advocacy, to 
make them seem to stand. 
And yet there is something to be said on Mr. 
Smith’s side. It happened years ago to the writer 
of this criticism to come upon a Mohammedan 
mosque in the remote Chinese city of Foo-chow. 
After a day spent among Buddhist temples, with 
their innumerable images, and in dirty streets and 
noisome alleys of the crowded city, it was an im- 
mense relief to come suddenly into the quiet and 
cleanliness of this mosque. There were no images; 
there was (comparatively) no dirt. The legends 
written on the walls spoke of the Unity of God. 
The calm and dignified old Tartar in charge of the 
place, recognizing us as Christians, claimed fellow- 
ship with us, as, in a sense, co-religionists. Nor 
were we any way unwilling to admit the claim and to 
reciprocate the fellowship. It was a purer spiritual 
atmosphere to breathe than that of polytheism. 
Mr. Smith’s book is very readable ; and the Messrs. 
Harper have greatly added to the value of it by giv- 
ing in an appendix' Mr. Emanuel Deutsch’s famous 
“Quarterly Review” article on Islam. 
Gautier’s Travels.* 
Gautier had a captivating way of throwing him- 
self into harmony with a new landscape, of getting 
from an old view new lights and tints. He was 
both poet and painter, and these two books on lands 
that lie at the two extremities of Europe, are mod- 
els in the line of rapid, sketchy travel. They be- 
long strictly to these modern times when the Cor- 
respondent flourishes, but their want of depth is 
made up by Gautier’s sympathetic nature, his mar- 
velous sensitiveness to color, and unequaled ability 
to flash picture after picture before the reader’s eyes, 
all at their most favorable point of vantage. He 
never nods ; all is brisk life, hurry, and joyousness. 
In the Russian book we get, in the midst of a long- 
sweeping sleigh journey over snowy steppes, a sud- 
den photograph. It is only a beautiful young Jew- 
ess in rags in some squalid Polish town, but the 
hand that drew her was masterly in its own way, 
and the picture remains. 
* A Winter in Russia. Translated by M. M. Ripley.— Con- 
stantinople. Translated by R. H. Gould from the French of 
Theophile Gautier. New York : H. Holt & Co. 
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