Judaism"; by abandoning those portions of the system which, though suited
for a bygone age, are now obsolete; and by retaining only the eternal verities
which form the Catholic basis of the faiths.1 But with Islâm, how
can this be possible? The whole stands upon the same ground of divine Authority;
pilgrimage, lustration, and fasting are as binding as the creed itself, and the
Moslem may in vain seek to free himself from the obligation of the veil, to
abolish the licence of polygamy, divorce, and slavery, or to abate the command
which reduces Jews and Christians to a position of inferiority and humiliation.
In deference to the opinion of Christian nations, some amelioration and
improvement in these things may be attempted, but it will be against the grain
and contrary to the law that binds the Moslem conscience.
The same learned author would have the Missionary to the Mussulmans put by
his "Bible and his Catechism," and trust to education. Not thus
"can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots." The evil
lies deeper than that. We, on the contrary, hold the saving part of the Corân
to be that which (as we have seen) so fully recognizes the authority of the
Bible, and which warrants us therefore in pressing the acceptance of the Gospel
upon the votaries of Islâm.
The second part of this treatise will accordingly be devoted to a review of
the testimony contained in the Corân to the genuineness and authority of the
Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.