England to preach the faith of
Christ in Germany and the adjoining countries.

PART II.

CHAPTER I.

MAHOMETANISM--IMAGE-WORSHIP.

A.D. 612-794.

Within a few years after the death of Gregory the Great, a new religion
was set up by an Arabian named Mahomet, who seems to have been honest,
although mistaken, at first, but grew less honest as he went on, and as
he became more successful and powerful. His religion was made up partly
from the Jewish, partly from the Christian, and partly from other
religions which he found around him; but he gave out that it had been
taught him by visions and revelations from heaven, and these pretended
revelations were gathered into a book called the Koran, which serves
Mahomet's followers for their Bible. This new religion was called
_Islam_, which means submission to the will of God; and the sum of it
was declared to be that "there is but one God, and Mahomet is his
prophet."

One point in the new religion was, that every faithful Mahometan (or
Mussulman, as they were called) was required once in his life to go on
pilgrimage to Mecca, a city which was Mahomet's birthplace, and was
considered to be especially holy; and to this day it is visited every
year by great companies of pilgrims. Another remarkable thing was, that
he commanded his followers to spread their religion by force; and this
was done with such success, that within about sixty years after
Mahomet's death they had conquered Syria and the Holy Land, Egypt,
Persia, parts of Asia Minor, and all the north of Africa. A little
later, they crossed the Straits of Gibraltar, and got possession of
Spain, where their kingdom of Granada lasted until 1492, nearly eight
hundred years. In the countries which the Mussulmans subdued, Christians
were allowed to live and to keep up their religion; but they had to pay
a heavy tribute, and to bear great hardships and disgraces at the hands
of the conquerors.

I have mentioned that before Gregory the Great's time almost all Europe
had been overrun by the rude nations of the north.[62] Learning nearly
died out, and what remained of it was kept up by the monks and clergy
only. There is but little to tell of the history of those times; for,
although in the Greek empire there were great disputes about some
doctrines and practices, these matters were such as you would not care
to know about, nor would you be much the wiser if you did know.

[62] See Part I., chap XXIII.

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