ia, for example, there are Mohammedan races among
whom monogamy, as a rule, prevails by custom, and individuals exercising
their right of polygamy are looked upon with disfavor. On the other
hand, we meet occasionally with men who aver that rather against their
will (as they will sometimes rather amusingly say) they have been forced
by custom or family influence to add by polygamy to their domestic
burdens. In Mohammedan countries, however, when we hear of a man
confining himself to _one wife_, it does not necessarily follow that he
has no slaves to consort with in his harem. I may remark that
slave-girls have by Mohammedan laws no conjugal rights whatever, but are
like playthings, at the absolute discretion of their master.

[67] The case of the Corinthian offender is much in point, as
showing how the strict discipline of the Church must have availed to
make Christianity unpopular with the mere worldling.

[68] [Sidenote: Laxity among nominal Christians.]
_Apology_, p. 51. I repeat, that in the remarks I have made under this
head, no comparison is sought to be drawn betwixt the morality of
nominally Christian and Moslem peoples. On this subject I may be allowed
to quote from what I have said elsewhere: "The Moslem advocate will urge
... the social evil as the necessary result of inexorable monogamy. The
Koran not only denounces any illicit laxity between the sexes in the
severest terms, but exposes the transgressor to condign punishment. For
this reason, and because the conditions of what is licit are so
accommodating and wide, a certain negative virtue (it can hardly be
called continence or chastity) pervades Mohammedan society, in contrast
with which the gross and systematic immorality in certain parts of every
European community may be regarded by the Christian with shame and
confusion. In a purely Mohammedan land, however low may be the general
level of moral feeling, the still lower depths of fallen humanity are
unknown. The 'social evil' and intemperance, prevalent in Christian
lands, are the strongest weapons in the armory of Islam. We point, and
justly, to the higher morality and civilization of those who do observe
the precepts of the Gospel, to the stricter unity and virtue which
cement the family, and to the elevation of the sex; but in vain, while
the example of our great cities, and too often of our representatives
abroad, belies the argument. And yet the argument is sound. For, in
proportion as Christian