in shadow. And yet a comparison between two systems, if it is to have any fruitful results, if its object is to unite rather than divide, if, in short, it is to be of the spirit of the Founder of Christianity, must, in matters of religion above all, be based on what is common to both. There is, in the human race, in spite of their manifold diversities, a good deal of hunan nature; enough, at all events, to entitle us to assume that the Founders of any two religious systems which have had a great and continued hold upon a large part of mankind must have had many points of contact. Accordingly, in comparing, as he has done to some extent, the founder of Islam with the Founder of Christianity-a comparison which, if it were not expressed, would always be implied-the author of these Lectures has thought it right mainly to dwell on that aspect of the character of Christ, which, being admitted by Musalmans as well as Christians, by foes as well as friends, may possibly serve as a basis, if not for an ultimate agreement, at all events for an agreement to differ from one another upon terms of greater sympathy and forbearance, of understanding and of respect.

THE FIRST EDITION.

XXV

That Islam will ever give way to Christianity in the East, however much we may desire it, and whatever good would result to the world, it is difficult to believe; but it is certain that Mohammedans may learn much from Christians and yet remain Mohammedans, and that Christians have something at least to learn from Mohammedans, which will make them not less but more Christian than they were before. If we would conquer Nature, we must first obey her; and the Fourth Lecture is an attempt to show, from a full recognition of the facts of Nature underlying both religions--of the points of difference as well as of resemblance —that Mohammedanism, if it can never become actually one with Christianity, may yet, by a process of mutual approximation and mutual understanding, prove its best ally. In other words, the author believes that there is a unity above and beyond that unity of Christendom which, properly understood, all earnest Christians so much desire; a unity which rests upon the belief that 'the children of one Father may worship Him under different names;' that they may be influenced by one spirit, even though

they know it not; that they may all have one hope, even if they have not one faith.

HARROW : April 15, 1873.

I have to return my best thanks to my friend Mr. ARTHUR WATSON, for a careful revision of my manuscript, and for several valuable suggestions.

It may be serviceable to English readers to mention the more accessible works upon the subject, to the writers of which I desire here to express my general obligations, over and above the acknowledgment, in the text, wherever I am conscious of them, of special debts. I am the more anxious to do this fully here, as, while I am quite aware that I could not have written on this subject at all without making their labours the basis of mine, I have yet in the exercise of my own judgment been often obliged to criticise their reasonings and their conclusions. only hope that even where I have ventured to express a somewhat vehement dissent from my authorities, they will kindly credit me with something at least of the verecunde dissentio, which becomes a learner, and of the zeal for truth, or for his idea of it, which becomes a writer, however diffident of himself, on a great subject.

I can

THE FIRST EDITION.

xxvii

'The Koran,' translated by Sale, with an elaborate Introduction and full Notes drawn from the Arabic Commentators (1734).

'The Koran,' translated by Savary (1782), also with instructive explanatory Notes.

'The Koran,' translated by Rodwell (1861): the Suras arranged, as far as possible, chronologically, with an excellent Introduction and concise Notes.

Gagnier's 'Vie de Mahomet' (1732); drawn chiefly from Abul Feda and the Sonna.

Gibbon's 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire;' Chapters L., LI., LII. (1788). A most masterly and complete picture. Weil's Mohamed der Prophet' (1845). Able and to the point.

Caussin de Perceval's Essai sur l'Histoire des Arabes,' &c. (1847) gives particularly full information upon the obscure subject of early Arabian history and literature, and is written from an absolutely neutral point of view.

Sprenger's 'Life of Mohammed,' Allahabad, 1851; and his greater work, Das Leben und die Lehre des Mohamad' (1851– 1861), the most exhaustive, original, and learned of all, but by no means the most impartial; he is often, as I shall point out, on one or two occasions, in the notes, flagrantly unfair to Mohammed.

Sir William Muir's Life of Mahomet' (1858–1861). Learned and comprehensive, able and fair; though its scientific value is somewhat impaired by theological assumptions as to the nature of inspiration, and by the introduction of a personal Ahriman, which, while it is self-contradictory in its supposed operation, seems to me only to create new difficulties, instead of solving old ones.

'The Talmud,' an article in the ' Quarterly Review' (October, 1867); ' Islam,' an article in the 'Quarterly Review' (October, 1869); two most brilliant essays. Had the lamented author lived to finish the work he shadowed forth in the last of these,

he would probably have drawn a more vivid picture of Islam as a whole than has ever yet been given to the world.

For less elaborate works :

Ockley's History of the Saracens from 632-705.' Picturesque; dealing largely in romance (1708-1718).

Hallam's Middle Ages,' Chapter VI. (1818); Milman's 'Latin Christianity,' Book IV., Chapters I. and II. (1857); both good samples of the high merits of each as an historian.

6

Carlyle's Hero as Prophet' (1846). Most stimulating. Washington Irving's 'Life of Mahomet' (1849). The work of a novelist, but strangely divested of all romance.

Lecture by Dean Stanley in his 'Eastern Church' (1862). Has the peculiar charm of all the author's writings. Catholic in its sympathies, and suggestive, as well from his treatment of the subject as from the place the author assigns to it on the borders of, if not within, the Eastern Church itself.

Barthélemy St.-Hilaire's 'Mahomet et le Koran' (1865), a comprehensive and very useful review of most of what has been written on the subject.

On the general subject of Comparative Religion:

'Religions of the World,' by F. D. Maurice (1846). Perhaps of all his writings the one which best shows us the character and mind of the man.

'Études d'Histoire Religieuse,' by Renan (1858). Ingenious and fascinating, but not always, nor indeed often, convincing.

'Les Religions et les Philosophies dans l'Asie Centrale,' by Gobineau (1866), gives the best account extant of Bâbyism in Persia.

'Chips from a German Workshop' (1868), and 'Introduction to the Science of Religion' (1873), by Max Müller. Unfortunately the author says very little about Mohammedanism, but from him I have derived some very valuable suggestions as