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CONTENTS |
PART
II
RELATION BETWEEN MUHAMMADANISM
AND CHRISTIANITY |
CHAPTER |
Page |
VI. |
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DID ISLAM, AS A RELIGION, EVINCE
A SUPERIORITY TO CHRISTIANITY BY A HIGHER VITALITY
AND GREATER POWER IN CONVERTING MEN, AND IN SPREADING
SPIRITUAL AND TEMPORAL BLESSINGS |
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VII. |
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ARE MUHAMMAD AND ISLAM FORETOLD
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, AS CHRIST AND CHRISTIANITY
HAVE BEEN IN THE OLD? |
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VIII. |
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MUHAMMAD AND ISLAM, INSTEAD OF
ORIGINATING IN CHRISTENDOM, AS CHRISTIANITY HAD
CAST ITS FIRST ROOTS AMONG THE ISRAELITES, SPRANG
FROM 'THE MIDST OF IDOLATERS IN ARABIA |
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IX. |
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CAN THE CLAIMS OF MUHAMMAD, AS
THE FOUNDER, OF A NEW RELIGION, BE ESTABLISHED
BY THE PROOF OF MIRACLES? |
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X. |
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IS THE TEACHING OF ISLAM AS SUPERIOR
TO THAT OF THE GOSPEL, AS THE TEACHING OF THE
GOSPEL IS TO THAT OF THE MOSAIC LAW? |
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CONCLUSION |
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INTRODUCTION
I VENTURE to address a few words of truth and love
to my Muhammadan brethren on a subject I well know they
agree with me in thinking one of the most important,
solemn, and sacred, which can occupy the thoughts of
man, namely, religion. If our intercourse is to be really
profitable, we must speak according to truth, and our
object must be to apprehend God's truth more clearly,
and grasp it more firmly and fully, as well as to practise
it more diligently. As the claims of truth are paramount,
every man ought to be ready to submit himself to it.
If, therefore, in the course of our investigation, we
become acquainted with divine truths hitherto unknown
to us, it is our duty to embrace them; and should we
also arrive at the conviction that there are other points
we have held as of divine authority which have not the
characteristic and the claims of truth, then we must
be ready to renounce them; for nothing ought to stand
in the way of that obedience which every man owes to
the truth of God when he knows it. The discovery of
error is the first step on the way to truth. |
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