t, as all Sanskrit
scholars saw at a glance, the whole idea was a delusion. The Pandit is
now dead; and the Arya Samaj may not long survive him.

At the time we write we hear of an attempt to defend idolatry and caste
made by men of considerable education.

[Sidenote: Theosophists.]
The so-called "Theosophists" have, for several years, been active in
India. Of existing religions, Buddhism is their natural ally. They are
atheists. A combination which they formed with the Arya Samaj speedily
came to an end.

Lastly, the followers of Mr. Bradlaugh are diligent in supplying their
books to Indian students.

Poor India! No wonder if her mind is bewildered as she listens to such
a Babel of voices. The state of things in India now strikingly resembles
that which existed in the Roman Empire at the rise of Christianity; when
East and West were brought into the closest contact, and a great
conflict of systems of thought took place in consequence.

But even as one hostile form of gnostic belief rose after another, and
rose only to fall--and as the greatest and best-disciplined foe of early
Christianity--the later Platonism--gave way before the steady,
irresistible march of gospel truth, so--we have every reason to hope--it
will be yet again. The Christian feels his heart swell in his breast as
he thinks what, in all human probability, India will be a century, or
even half a century, hence. O what a new life to that fairest of Eastern
lands when she casts herself in sorrow and supplication at the feet of
the living God, and then rises to proclaim to a listening world

"Her deep repentance and her new-found joy!"

May God hasten the advent of that happy day!

THE RISE AND DECLINE OF ISLAM.

OUTLINE OF THE ESSAY.

The progress of Islam was slow until Mohammed cast aside the precepts of
toleration and adopted an aggressive, militant policy. Then it became
rapid. The motives which animated the armies of Islam were
mixed--material and spiritual. Without the truths contained in the
system success would have been impossible, but neither without the sword
would the religion have been planted in Arabia, nor beyond. The
alternatives offered to conquered peoples were Islam, the sword, or
tribute. The drawbacks and attractions of the system are examined. The
former were not such as to deter men of the world from embracing the
faith. The sexual indulgences sanctioned by it are such as to make Islam
"the Easy way."