Jerusalem, was now at his mercy; and that for the "true believers" to be put in possession, he had only to come; for, strangely enough, the Christians chose to render up their sacred place only to the Kalif in person. Before this no less than four hundred thousand Greeks had been defeated in an obstinate battle, on the Yermuk, a river running into the Lake of Tiberias; and many other signal victories had been won, both in fort and field. Omar, in the simplest garb, and with the simplest retinue, journeyed to his conquering host; and, side by side with the Christian patriarch, entered the holy city. Bellaul, whom Mohammed had employed to call the people to prayer, had not raised his voice in public since the death of his master. But, that high day, the hearts of the Christians sank, and the eyes of the Mussulmans wept, the one at the of their fall, and the other at the memory of their prophet, when the potent voice of the elect crier made the holy city resound with the Muezzin of Islam.

woe

Syria their own, the Saracens dispatched into Egypt Kaled, a general whose victories, even in Mohammed's lifetime, had won him the name of "The sword of God." Alexandria, and the land of which it was the head, were speedily added to his conquests. In the tenth year of his reign, Omar, great with the glory of conquest, and greater with the glory of simplicity, was praying in the mosque, when a Persian, enraged at having daily to pay two pieces of silver, for being an infidel, stabbed him thrice, and mortally.

Othman, his successor, quickly displeased his generals. Discontent followed discontent. After a few years, seditious crowds thronged around Medina; and, finally, in the twelfth year of his reign, he was besieged in his own house, and, after a long defense, murdered with the Koran on his knee.

Ali, the prophet's son-in-law, now gained the throne, but the friends of Othman disputed his title. Mauwiyah, the lieutenant of Syria, became his rival; and with him, Ayesha, the prophet's widow, took part. In the wars which followed, Ali was brave, generous, and victorious. "The mother of the faithful" was taken in the field. But the "first of the true believers" fell, under the stroke of an assassin, in the same sacred place where Omar was killed.

His son and successor, Hassan, was defeated by Mauwiyah, and abdicated in his favor. The new Kalif became the founder of the dynasty of the Ommiades. He extended the reign of Islam to the Atlantic, having subjugated all North Africa. In the reign of his son, Yezzid, another son of Ali, called Hossein, appeared in arms, and being surrounded with seventy of his family, he saw them all destroyed, and finally sank himself under countless wounds. This fearful tragedy in the family of the prophet affects the breasts of Mussulmans, even to this day, with uncontrollable emotion. In the beginning of the eighth century the troops of the Kalif Walid entered Spain, and subdued that country. In about thirty years they had penetrated to the heart of France, where they were met on the Loire, by Charles Martel, and, after an obstinate battle, utterly routed. Had they gained that day, England itself would, most probably, have felt the cimeter. When the dynasty of the Ommiades had reigned about eighty years, the family of Abbas raised a sedition, which became strong enough to drive the Kalif Merwan into Egypt, where he was defeated and slain. Thus, the first dynasty of Kalifs became extinct, after having reigned eighty-nine years.

The dynasty of the Abassides had only reached its second prince, when the city of Bagdad was built, and the Kalifat removed thither. Under the Abassides all learn

ing flourished, and the original simplicity of the court yielded to princely grandeur. Political interests, however, were less flourishing. The empire soon gave signs of dismemberment. In Spain a branch of the Ommiades established an independent sway; as did also the Taherites in Khorassan. Through a succession of years, the real strength of the empire was in the hands of the last-named princes, and of the various dynasties of the Soffraides, Samanstetdes, and Buyides. In Egypt, also, descendants of Fatima, the prophet's daughter, established a separate Kalifat. Still, magnificent at court, and honored in form, the Kalifat rapidly waned. In its decadence a new dynasty arising in Guznee, carried the crescent into Hindoostan, and gradually brought the rich provinces of that region under the rule of Islam.

A tribe of Turks, called, from their founder, Seljukians, overran Syria, and by their barbarities, at Jerusalem, provoked the nations of Europe to attempt the rescue of the Holy Land. For nearly three centuries the flower of Christendom thronged to Palestine. Prodigies of valor were displayed; battles and cities won, Jerusalem itself delivered, and a Christian king crowned, in the city where Jesus redeemed man. For about eighty years this kingdom maintained its existence, but by degrees the Saracens regained their power, and after desperate struggles the Christians were unmercifully destroyed.

Though this struggle never materially affected the center of the Mohammedan empire during its continuance, the Kalifat went on to decline. When the house of Abbas had reigned about five hundred years, the thirty-eighth Kalif, Mustassem, was on the throne. He reigned in awful seclusion and magnificence. But a descendant of the famous Jengis Khan entered the domains of Islam, resolved to destroy all who would oppose him. Bagdad was besieged, and finally capitu

lated Hulaku, the victor, at a feast given by the Kalif, demanded a worthy present. The costliest jewels and garments were produced. These, he said, were his already, by virtue of the surrender; he wanted some secret treasure. The Kalif ordered a tank to be uncovered, which was filled with ingots of solid gold. The Kalif was placed in confinement, and kept without food. After some days he was presented with a service, in which, for food, he had only jewels. Hulaku, saying he did not wish to spill the Kalif's blood, ordered him to be wrapped in coarse camlet, and rolled about upon the ground till he expired. Thus perished the last of the Kalifs, six hundred and fifty-six years after the Hegira. The monster Hulaku then put to the sword eight hundred thousand of the inhabitants of Bagdad, or, as some authorities say, double that number.

The Crusades had not long passed, before the territories of the Seljukians were overrun by the Osmanlis, another Turkish tribe. The new conquerors had various fortunes, their severest reverses having been experienced at the hands of the resistless Timur or Tamerlane. They eventually crossed into Europe, made Adrianople their capital, and in several engagements defeated the confederated Christian armies of eastern Europe. At length, just in the middle of the fifteenth century, Constantinople fell, and thus furnished, for their European territories, the proud capital of the Cæsars.

At this period, Islam was powerful from the Ganges to the Atlantic; and in Europe, held, besides its new acquisitions, rich provinces of Spain. But it had reached its zenith. The close of the fifteenth century witnessed its expulsion from Spain. Then came the career of discovery, by which the Christians were brought into relation with its resplendent empire in the east. All events since then have been adverse. No hero of Islam

On all hands

The whole of

has arisen, no conquest of Islam been won. Christianity has gained upon the crescent. the Mogul dominion has passed into Christian hands. In the Levant, Islam has quailed before the disciples of the Greek Church; and has held its crown only by Christian suffrage. In Persia it lies at the mercy of the Russian power. In Algeria again, the disciples of the Roman Church have supplanted it in wide dominions. Thus, before all the three chief forms of Christianity has Islam fallen; before Protestantism in India; before Romanism in Africa; and before the Greek Church in Europe. In every part of the world a want of vigor marks the once impetuous Islam; and now, for many years, the only hero it has produced appears to be the wild and wondrous

Abd-al-Kadir.

Mohammedanism sweeps away idols, and abridges superstition; but it leaves man without any Gospel of redemption, without any atonement before God, and without any clear account of the way whereby the sinful obtain grace. It also dooms private life to the miseries of polygamy, and leaves woman in a position of contempt. Nations it curses with a code of blood, which wields the conscience by the sword. In the character of its author we have a forcible contrast with the stainless purity of our blessed Redeemer. Turning from the Koran to the Gospel, a deep awe falls upon us, to view that unearthly holiness; a holiness so far above the human heart to conceive, as are the starry worlds above the human hand to build. Mohammedanism is superior to paganism, borrowing so much from the holy Scriptures, that it is rather a Christian heresy of the most fatal kind, than an original system. Heathenism, in its dark night, exhibits a few feeble rays of truth, glimmering like stars; Mohammedanism, like its own emblem, the waxing moon, outshines the stars of heathenism; but leaves man