the sword
of God against idolators, and the ambassador of God to believers; but
beyond the promise of a sensuous heaven, he offered no salvation. He had
no remedy for sin--except that in his own case he claimed a special
revelation of clemency and indulgence. Many a wholesome truth derived
from the Old Testament scriptures was promulgated to the faithful, but
self-righteousness, and especially valor in Mohammedan conquest, was
offered as the key to paradise.[206]

Doubtless we should view the false systems with discrimination. Like the
sublime philosophy of Plato, Mohammedanism does teach an exalted idea of
God, and there is, accordingly, a dignity and reverence in its forms of
worship. I once witnessed a very imposing spectacle in the great mosque
at Delhi, on the Moslem Sabbath. Several hundred Indian Mohammedans were
repeating their prayers in concert. They were in their best attire, and
fresh from their ablutions, and their concerted genuflections, the
subdued murmur of their many voices, and the general solemnity of their
demeanor, rendered the whole service most impressive. It contrasted
strongly with the spectacle which I witnessed a little later in the
temple of Siva, in Benares. The unspeakable worship of the linga, the
scattering of rice and flowers and the pouring of libations before this
symbol; the hanging of garlands on the horns of sacred bulls, and that
by women; the rushing to and fro, tracking the filth of the sacred
stables into the trodden ooze of rice and flowers which covered the
temple pavements; the drawing and sipping of water from the adjacent
cesspool, known as the sacred well; the shouting and striking of bells,
and the general frenzy of the people--all this could be considered as
nothing short of wild and depraved orgies. If we must choose, give us
Islam, whether in contrast with the Siva worship of India or with the
tyranny of the witch doctors of interior Africa.

Yet, I repeat, Islam has no salvation, no scheme of grace, no great
Physician. In visiting any Mohammedan country one is impressed with this
one defect, the want of a Mediator. I once stood in the central hall of
an imposing mansion in Damascus, around the frieze of which were
described, in Arabic letters of gold, "The Hundred Names of Allah." They
were interpreted to me by a friend as setting forth the lofty attributes
of God--for example, "The Infinite," "The Eternal," "The Creator," "The
All-Seeing," "The Merciful," "The Jus