the time of his sojourn on Mount Hira. It is regarded not only as inspired every word, but as uncreated and eternal. It consists of 114 Súrahs or chapters, which were dictated by Mohammad to a scribe, and the copies thus made were thrown into a box. A year after Mohammad's death, such portions as remained were collected from dateleaves, tablets of white stone, bones, parchmentleaves,' and memories of men, and copied without order of time or subject, the longest chapters being put first.

The titles of the chapters are taken from some chief matter in them, but are mostly unmeaning, affording no clue to the contents, as for example, The Cow; Thunder;' The Fig;' The Elephant.' Each begins with the words, 'In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful,' and also tells where it was revealed to Mohammad.

The Koran is written in the purest and most elegant Arabic, and suffers much by translation. Teaching the oneness of God, it is largely made up of stories, legends, laws and counsels which show how much use Mohammad made of all that he had heard of Jewish history and lore.

Much of it, as we read it, seems utterly unmeaning, other parts of it move us by the beauty of their desert songs of God's majesty and purity.

The Muslims do not touch it with unwashed hands, and never hold it below the girdle round their waist, while to them nothing is more hateful than to see it in the hands of an unbeliever. They regard this short chapter as equal to onethird of the whole book in value :

'Say there is one God alone

God the eternal;

He begetteth not and He is not begotten,

And there is none like unto him.'

I have marked many Súrahs with the view of quoting from them, but can give only three or four specimens.

This Súrah, named 'the folding up,' thus describes the last day:

'When the sun shall be folded up,

And when the stars shall fall,

And when the mountains shall be set in motion,

And when the she-camels with young shall be neglected, And when the wild beasts shall be huddled together, And when the seas shall boil,

And when the souls shall be joined again to their bodies,

And when the leaves of the Book shall be unrolled,
And when the heavens shall be stripped away like a skin,
And when hell shall be made to blaze,

And when paradise shall be brought near,
Every soul shall know what it has done.'

At the end of another Súrah, and one of the latest in point of time, this fine passage occurs:

'God! there is no God but He, the Living, the Eternal. Slumber doth not overtake Him, neither sleep; to Him belongeth all that is in heaven and earth. Who is he that can plead with Him but by His own permission? He knoweth that which is past, and that which is to come unto them, and they shall not comprehend anything of His knowledge but so far as he pleaseth. His throne is extended over heaven and earth, and the upholding of both is no burden unto Him. He is the Lofty and Great.'

Again:

'It is God who hath ordained the night for your rest, and the day to give you light: verily God is rich in bounties to most men; but most men render not the tribute of thanks.

'This is God your Lord, Creator of all things; no god is there but He: why then do ye turn away from Him?

Again:

'O my son! observe prayer, and enjoin the right and forbid the wrong, and be patient under whatever shall betide thee for this is a bounden duty. And distort not thy face

at men; nor walk thou loftily on the earth; for God loveth no arrogant vain-glorious one.

'But let thy pace be middling; and lower thy voice; for the least pleasing of voices is surely the voice of asses.'

And as a last quotation :

'There is no piety in turning your faces towards the east or the west, but he is pious who believeth in God, and the last day, and the angels, and the scriptures, and the prophets; who for the love of God disburseth his wealth to his kindred, and to the orphans, and to the needy, and the wayfarer, and those who ask, and for ransoming; who observeth prayer, and payeth the legal alms, and who is of those who are faithful to their engagements when they have engaged in them, and patient under ills and hardships, and in time of trouble; these are they who are just, and these are they who fear the Lord.'

CHAPTER XIII.

ON THE STUDY OF THE BIBLE.

IN the remarks which were made on the right use of legends of the past, I promised to show you why the Bible should be read as we read other books. It is a common notion that the Bible has to be treated in some different way; and owing to that chiefly, it is, although one of the most read, yet the most misread of books and the least understood. The care which has to be applied, the free, full use of the powers of the mind which has to be made to enable us to get at the meaning of any book, is often most strangely withheld by people when reading the Bible.

The fact has already come before you that there are several book-religions in the world, and this will have caused you to ask in what way the book on which our Christian religion is founded differs from the books on which other religions are founded.

For it is clear that what Christians