Thought
     of Borrowing from it—Points of Contrast.

LECTURE VI.

MOHAMMEDANISM PAST AND PRESENT 178

     Posthumous Legends of Mohammed; how they were Produced—Ancient
     Arabia and its Religious Systems—The Vale of Mecca and its Former
     Uses—The Birth of Mohammed, and his Religious Associations—His
     Temperament and Character—The Beginnings of his Prophetic
     Mission—Jews and Christians in Arabia and their Influence on
     Mohammedanism—Their Errors and Shortcomings a Help to the
     Reformer—Strange Doctrines of the Christian Church in Arabia—The
     Lost Opportunity of the Early Christian Sects and the Fatal Neglect
     of the Surrounding Nations—The Nomads of Arabia specially Prepared
     for Conquest by their Manner of Life and their Enlistment as
     Mercenary Soldiers—The Question of Mohammed's Real Character—The
     Growth of his Ambition and his Increasing Sensuality and
     Cruelty—Blasphemous Revelations in Behalf of the Prophet's Own
     Lust—Discriminating Judgment Required on his Career as a
     Whole—Mohammedan Schools—Noble Characters the Exception—General
     Corrupting Influence of the System—Its Conquests in Northern
     Africa and in the Soudan—The Early Races of Northern Africa, and
     the General Deterioration of the Country—The Piracies of the
     Barbary States—Civilization in Modern Egypt Due to Foreigners—The
     Bloody Ravages of El Mahdi in the East and the Fanatic Samadu in
     the West—The Testimony of a Secular Newspaper
     Correspondent—Professor Drummond and Henry M. Stanley on the Slave
     Traffic and Mohammedan Civilization—The Alleged Missionary
     Operations of Mohammedans in West Soudan—The Account Given of Them
     by Bishop Crowther, Schweinfurth, and Others—Canon Taylor and the
     Egyptian Pashas—The Effects of European Education—Palgrave on
     Mohammedan Intolerance of To-day—Mohammedanism and Temperance;
     Exaggerated Accounts of it; Proofs to the Contrary—R. Bosworth
     Smith's Protest against Canon Taylor's Extravagant Glorification of
     Islam—His Plea for Missions.

LECTURE VII.

THE TRACES OF A PRIMITIVE MONOTHEISM 222

     Two Conflicting Theories on the History of Religion—That of the
     Old and New Testaments—That of Modern Evolution—The Importance of
     this Question—Professor Henry B. Smith's Estimate of Ebrard's
     Discussion of it—Ebrard's Summing-up of the Argument—Professor
     Naville's View of the Subject—Conclusions of Rev. W.A.P. Martin,
     D.D., and Max Müller—How far May we Attempt to Establish the Fact
     of an Early Monotheism from Heathen Traditions?—Conceptions
     Differing in Different Nations—Evidences of Monotheism in the
     Vedas—Professor Banergea's Testimony—The Views Held by the Modern
     Somajes—Monotheism in China—Monotheistic Worship in the Days of
     Yao and Shun, 2300 B.C.—The Prayer of an Emperor of the Ming
     Dynasty Quoted by Professor Legge—Remarkable Monument of
     Monotheism in the Temple of Heaven—A Taouist Prayer—Zoroaster a
     Monotheistic Reformer—The Inscription at Behistun—Testimony of
     the Modern Parsee Catechism—No Nation without some Notion of a God
     Supreme over All—Buddhists in Thibet—Egyptian Monotheism—The
     Greek Poets—Old Monotheism in Mexico and Peru—Evidences of
     Ramification and Decline in Polytheism—Egypt and India Give
     Abundant Proofs—Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taouism all Show
     Degeneration—Mohammedan Corruption since the Days of the Early
     Caliphs—The Religions of Greece and Rome Became Effete—Even
     Israel, in Spite of Instruction and Reproof, Lapsed into Idolatry
     again and again—Even the Christian Church has Shown Similar
     Tendencies.

LECTURE VIII.

INDIRECT TRIBUTES OF HEATHEN SYSTEMS TO THE DOCTRINES OF THE BIBLE 266

     The Universality and Similarity of Race Traditions—Their General
     Support of the Old Testament History—Traditions of the Creation
     Found in India, China, among the Northern Turanians and some
     African Tribes—The Fall of Man as Traced in Assyria and among the
     Hindus—The Buddhists of Ceylon, Mongolians, Africans and Tahitans
     had Similar Traditions—The Flood—Traditions of the Chinese, the
     Iranians, Greeks, Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Peruvians—The
     Prevalence of Piacular Sacrifice and Tokens of a Sense of
     Guilt—Traditions or Traces of Substitution Found in the
     Vedas—Faint Traces in the Religion of the Egyptians—Traditions of
     the Iroquois—Prophecies Looking to Divine Deliverers—The Tenth
     Avatar of Vishnu yet to Come as a Restorer of Righteousness—The
     Influence of the Tradition as Utilized by a Missionary—A Norse
     Deliverer and Millennium—The Prediction of the Cumæan Sibyl Forty
     Years before the Birth of Christ—Prevailing Conceptions of some
     Mediator between God and Man—The Hindu Krishna as an
     Example—Changes in Buddhism from the Old Atheism to Theism, and
     even to a Doctrine of Salvation by Faith—A Trinity and at last a
     Saviour—All the False Systems Claiming the Teachings and the
     Character of Christ.

LECTURE IX.

ETHICAL TENDENCIES OF THE EASTERN AND THE WESTERN PHILOSOPHIES 294

The Prevalence of Speculation in all Ages in Regard to the Great Questions of Man's Origin and Destiny, and His Relations to God—The Various Schemes which have Seemingly Dispensed with the Necessity for a Creator in Accounting for the Existence of the Visible World—The Ancient Atomic Theories and Modern Evolution—Kanada, Lucretius, Herbert Spencer—Darwin's Theory of the Development of Species—Similar Theories Ascribed to the Chinese—The Ethical Difficulties Attending Many Philosophic Speculations, Ancient and Modern—Hindu Pantheism and Moral Responsibility—In the Advance from Instinct to Conscience and Religion, where does Moral Sentiment Begin?—If It was Right for Primeval Man to Maraud, why Might not Robbery again Become His Duty in Case of Extreme Deterioration?—Mr. Spencer's Theory of the Origin of Moral Intuition—The Nobler Origin which the Scriptures Assign to Man's Moral Nature—The Demonstrated Possibility of the Most Radical and Sudden Moral Changes Produced by the Christian Faith—Tendency of Ancient and Modern Theories to Lower the General Estimate of Man—The Dignity with which the New Testament Invests Him—The Ethical Tendency of the Doctrine of Evolution—The Opinion Expressed on the Subject by Goldwin Smith—Peschel's Frank Admission—The Pessimistic Tendency of all Anti-Biblical Theories of Man's Origin, Life, and Destiny—Buddha, Schopenhauer, and the Agnostics—The more Hopeful Influence of the Bible—The Tendency of all Heathen