received or which he
conscientiously or intuitively believed to have received from his God
and which had all the signs and marks of truth in itself. What is meant
by a True Prophet or a Revelation is not more than what we find in the
case of Mohammad.[132]

The general office and main business of a prophet is to proclaim to
mankind the Divine Perfection, to teach publicly purer theology and
higher morality, to enjoin the people to do what is right and just, and
to forbid what is wrong and bad. It is neither a part of the prophet to
predict future events, nor to show supernatural miracles. And further, a
prophet is neither immaculate nor infallible. The Revelation is a
natural product of human faculties. A prophet feels that his mind is
illumined by God, and the thoughts which are expressed by him and spoken
or written under this influence are to be regarded as the words of God.
This illumination of the mind or the effect of the Divine Influence
differ in any prophet according to the capacity of the recipient, or
according to the circumstances--physical, moral, and religious--in which
he is placed.

[Footnote 130: The early followers of Mohammad bore persecutions and
exile with patience and steadfastness; and never recanted. Look to the
increasing number of these early Moslems, their magnanimous forbearance,
and the spontaneous abandonment of their dear homes and relations, and
their defending their Prophet with their blood. The number of Christian
believers during the whole lifetime of Christ was not more than 120 (Act
I, 15). They had a material view of the Messiah's kingdom, and had fled
at the first sound of danger. Two of the disciples when walking to
Emmaus observed, "We trusted that it had been He who should have
redeemed Israel," and the apostle asked Jesus after the so-called
resurrection, "Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore the kingdom of
Israel?"

"During the periods thus indicated as possible for comparison,
persecution and rejection were the fate of both. But the thirteen years'
ministry of Mahomet had brought about a far greater change to the
external eye than the whole lifetime of Christ. The apostles fled at the
first sound of danger, and however deep the inner work may have been in
the 500 by whom our Lord was seen, it had produced as yet but little
outward action. There was among them no spontaneous quitting of their
homes, nor emigration by hundreds, such as distinguished the early
Moslems; nor