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and not to men in general, and he admits his failure. Again, were it possible to gather from all over the world a collection of moral precepts which would be analogous to those of the New Testament (a thing which men have often attempted, and always failed to accomplish), it would be thereby proved that the one little book which we call the New Testament holds enshrined in it at least as much moral teaching as all other books put together. This alone would prove its inspiration, for by no amount of study could the writers of the New Testament in their own time have culled all these precepts from Chinese, Indian, Egyptian, Greek, Latin, Persian, and other writers, many of whom had not then been born. Moreover, the New Testament system of morality is a system, which this collection would not be. It would be a mere heap of withering flowers, whereas the New Testament is the fresh and fertile flower-garden, a garden in which are no weeds. Again, in Christ Himself we have the perfect example, who carried out His own lofty precepts. Nowhere else do we find any such character. Besides all this, while other books give us good precepts mixed with bad, the New Testament gives us good only. The difference will be understood if we remember that, though doubtless the shoulder of mutton given to Muhammad and his companions for supper after the capture of Khaibar was itself good, yet the poison1 which was in it injured Bishr and others who partook of it. Finally, the Gospel gives a motive-power— love to Christ—which is found nowhere else. A student once asked a learned Buddhist monk in Ceylon, "You have studied the Bible as well as the books of your own religion: what is the greatest difference between them?" The Buddhist replied: "There are noble sentiments in the books of my religion as well as in the Bible: but the great difference between them is that Christians know what to do, and


1 Ibn Athir, vol. ii, p. 84.
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have power to do it; while we know what to do, but have not power to do what we know to be right." Other religions, we may say, can, as it were, lay down the railway lines: Christ alone can supply the motive power to move the carriages of the train towards the desired goal. This difference is vital. Let it not be forgotten that Confucius only once in all his works mentions God, and then it is in a quotation. He gives absolutely no religious teaching whatever.

7. The inspiration (إلهام) of the Holy Scriptures is proved by the fulfilment of the prophecies which they contain. This fact is unparalleled in the other religious books of the world. Besides the numerous prophecies in the Old Testament concerning Christ, which He fulfilled when He came, as the New Testament shows, we have many others. An infidel King of Prussia once asked a Christian to prove the inspiration of the Bible in two words. He replied, "The Jews, your Majesty." The prophecies about their fate (for instance in Deut. xxviii. 15-68; Matt. xxiv. 3-28; Mark xiii. 1-23; Luke xxi. 5-24) have been fulfilled, as our eyes have seen, in their condition to-day. Similarly, the ruins of Nineveh, Babylon, and other great cities show us that the prophecies regarding them have been fulfilled. Long before Alexander's time, Daniel prophesied of his overthrow of Media and Persia (Dan. viii. 3-27) and of the division of the Macedonian Empire after Alexander's death. And history proves that all these predictions, as well as those about the spread of Christianity, the persecutions of Christians, the rise of false prophets, the growth of infidelity in the latter days, have received fulfilment. But as no one except the All-Wise God knows and can foretell the far distant future, it is clear that He has spoken unto men in the Holy Scriptures which contain these marvellous predictions.

8. The miracles wrought by Christ and His Apostles furnish another proof of this. Of these the greatest is the Resurrection of Christ, which proved