Muhammad told them that the only persons at whose birth Satan had not been present and ¹ whom he had not then pricked were Christ and His Mother. This perhaps explains the fact that there is no mention of any sin in the Qur'an ascribed to Christ, although in very many places it accuses Adam ², Noah ³, Abraham ⁴, Moses ⁵ and other prophets of sin, as it does Muhammad also (as we have already seen). Moreover, these prophets all died, as did Muhammad himself; but Muslims hold that Christ is still living, having ascended up to heaven without ⁶ dying. The New Testament does not teach this; though it does teach us that He is 'alive for evermore.' ⁷ His empty tomb at Madina keeps the fact that He is alive fresh in the mind of Muslims, while they know that Muhammad's grave is not empty. Christ alone is expected to return before the final judgement. In all these points His excellence and pre-eminence are admitted even by the Qur'an and the Traditions. Hence, since He is thus pre-eminent, it is not at all strange to learn

from the holy Scriptures that Christ is the one Mediator between God the All Holy and sinful men. It must not be imagined that we are endeavouring to prove the Lord Jesus Christ's claims from the Qur'an and the Traditions. They need no such proof, because His life and character, the fulfilment of His prophecies and of His gracious promises to His Church, the very nature of His holy teaching, its perfect accord and harmony with the moral law of conscience written by the finger of God Most High on the tablets of the human heart, His resurrection, His fulfilment of preceding prophecies contained in the Old Testament, and the inspired testimony borne to Him by His Apostles and other disciples whom God's Holy Spirit guided into all the truth in writing the New Testament—all these things are among the innumerable evidences that he was what He claimed to be, 'the ¹ way, and the truth, and the life.' Nor do we assert that the language of the Qur'an and the Traditions is in complete accord with the teaching of holy Scripture in reference to Christ's nature and work. If it were so, there would be no need for us to write this book. But our reason for referring to the evidence of the Qur'an and of the Traditions is that we believe that, if our Muslim brethren will duly consider what has been quoted from them above, they will by God's mercy find less difficulty in understanding the Gospel message, and will see that it is