And now, before we go any further, we must plainly state what we mean by asking, is Christianity as taught by the Christian Church the same as Christianity as taught by Jesus? We do not mean thereby to ask, whether the different systems of organization and all the various methods of Church discipline which exist to-day throughout Christendom, have always existed from the beginning. These are not the central facts of Christianity. We must form no a priori conclusion as to what kind of system Christianity must be, and having decided that it must have been given a definite organization from the beginning, seek to find what that organization was. The investigation must be carried out with open mind, and having come to a conclusion from the facts before us, as to what Jesus actually claimed, and taught, we must seek to answer the question, are these the claims which the Christian Church has always made for Him? Does He hold in the Christian Church to-day, the position which He claimed? or have other claims been made for Him which He never put forward? Are the fundamental teachings of the Church to-day what He taught, or are they not?

Again we must bear in mind that the various theological explanations or systems of theology are not Christianity. They are the attempts, more or less successful, to explain from the point of view of human philosophy and the categories of

the human mind how such claims as Jesus made and how such teaching as He gave, may be systematized and stated in terms of human experience and human reasoning. Christianity as taught by Jesus consists in a certain attitude of the soul to God, an attitude which it takes up through Him. It is a knowledge of God, which is acquired through Him; a submission to God, which is manifested by a certain personal relationship adopted to Him. The investigator must not be led away from the point under investigation into the discussion of the gradual development of Christian doctrine, as it took place during the centuries following the commencement of the Christian era. On investigation, he will see that Jesus did not teach any definite system of Christian doctrine, any more than did Muhammad develop any definite system of Muhammadan theology. Our respective systems are not the fundamental principles of the Faith. The Christian Church has been slow to recognize this, and has often confused the two. The Muhammadan theologians have yet to learn even the beginning of what this means. They have yet to learn that Islam is not a theological system, but a certain attitude of the soul to God.

Another point which must be cleared up, before the question at issue resolves itself into its true form, and proper proportions, is the question of 'practice'. Christianity and Muhammadanism