ust remain in
view outside, nor any church-bells be rung. They must refrain from
processions in the street at Easter, and other solemnities; and from any
thing, in short, whether by outward symbol, word, or deed, which could
be construed into rivalry, or competition with the ruling faith. Such
was the so-called _Code of Omar_. Enforced with less or greater
stringency, according to the intolerance and caprice of the day, by
different dynasties, it was, and (however much relaxed in certain
countries) it still remains, the law of Islam. One must admire the rare
tenacity of the Christian faith, which, with but scanty light and hope,
held its ground through weary ages of insult and depression, and still
survives to see the dawning of a brighter day.[52]

[Sidenote: Continuing inducements in times of peace.]
Such, then, was the hostile attitude of Islam militant in its early
days; such the pressure brought to bear on conquered lands for its
acceptance; and such the disabilities imposed upon recusant Jews and
Christians. On the one hand, rapine, plunder, slavery, tribute, civil
disability; on the other, security, peace, and honor. We need not be
surprised that, under such constraint, conquered peoples succumbed
before Islam. Nor were the temporal inducements to conversion confined
to the period during which the Saracens were engaged in spreading Islam
by force of arms. Let us come down a couple of centuries from the time
of Mohammed, and take the reign of the tolerant and liberal-minded
sovereign, Al Mamun.

[Sidenote: Evidence of Al Kindy in second century of Hegira, A.D. 830.
Speech of Al Mamun.]
Among the philosophers of all creeds whom that great caliph gathered
around him at Bagdad was a noble Arab of the Nestorian faith, descended
from the kingly tribe of the Beni Kinda, and hence called _Al Kindy_. A
friend of this Eastern Christian, himself a member of the royal family,
invited Al Kindy to embrace Islam in an epistle enlarging on the
distinguished rank which, in virtue of his descent, he would (if a true
believer) occupy at court, and the other privileges, spiritual and
material, social and conjugal, which he would enjoy. In reply the
Christian wrote an apology of singular eloquence and power, throwing a
flood of light on the worldly inducements which, even at that
comparatively late period, abounded in a Moslem state to promote
conversion to Islam. Thus Al Mamun himself, in a speech delivered before
his council, ch