only too faithfully copied the worldliness and vices of their new allies, who in no long time lost the power to extend to them even that physical protection which had been the price of early purity and spiritualmindedness. But for this, the CROSS which had triumphed over the Roman eagles would never have yielded before the Moslem crescent, nor would the Faith, which, with a strength made perfect in weakness, had enabled feeble old men and tender girls to brave the organized persecution of the most powerful Empire the world ever saw, and to smile in the midst of torments so infernal as almost to seem worthy of the diabolical ingenuity of Christian inquisitors, have fallen beneath the sword of an obscure military adventurer. In truth, Roman civilization had had its day, and in the seventh century was fast decaying; an infusion of new energy from without was necessary to raise from its ashes a higher and more enduring civilization. This vivifying influence came from two sourcesfrom Mahomet in the East, from the Goths in the West. From the latter has sprung the gradually developed but vigorous civilization of modern Europe; from the former, the brilliant but shortlived splendours of the great Mahometan kingdoms.

It is also to be borne in mind that Christian ignorance and dishonesty have grossly misrepresented the real tendency and scope of the teaching of Mahomet. It was highly convenient for Richard I. or other pious Crusaders, of blessed and most religious memory, to depict the lives and doctrines of Mahometans as prodigies of diabolical malignity, in order to justify themselves for plundering Mahometan treasuries and ravishing Mahometan women. Popes and priests of a sumptuous turn of mind found the preaching of a Crusade an admirable device for replenishing empty coffers; and it would have been difficult to inculcate making war upon harmless foreigners as a solemn religious duty, without pourtraying these latter in rather a sable hue. Whoever will take the trouble of reading the Koran with attention, will find that many of the doctrines which are made the subject of greatest reproach to the Mahometans (such as the denial of souls to women),*

So far are modern Mahometans from denying the immortality of the female soul, that according to Dr. Draper the "orthodox assert that hell is already nearly filled with women.' A more gallant, if less rigid, Mahometan sect, however, makes part of the celestial joys of

so far from being there asserted, are there directly contradicted; while, viewed as a code of national laws, it is difficult to see how, any strenuous defender of the Pentateuch can consistently find much fault with the Koran. And, notwithstanding the excesses and barbarities of some of Mahomet's earlier followers, it would be as unjust to take the ruthless burning of the Alexandrian library by Omar as the legitimate outcome of Mahometanism, as it would be to take the extravagances of John of Leyden as the fair representation of Protestantism, or the barbarities of Torquemada as the typical development of Romanism. And how soon the ignorant intolerance of some of the immediate cotemporaries of the Prophet gave place to more liberal and enlightened sentiments may be perceived from the fact that Ali, the son-in-law of Mahomet, devoted himself to literary pursuits, and has left behind him many sayings such as might have been expected from one who adopted such a line of conduct; e.g., " Eminence in science is the highest of honours;" "He dies not who gives life to learning;" "The greatest ornament of a man is erudition."†

And yet, strangely enough, it was to a theological contest which took place in the Christian church during the fifth century that the Mahometans were chiefly indebted for their subsequent attainments in literature, science, and

About A.D. 430 Nestorius, bishop of Constantinople, having advanced (or, at least, been supposed to advance) the doctrines ever since associated with his name, was duly excommunicated by St. Cyril of Alexandria; the

the male believer to consist in the restoration to him of the wives whom he had on earth. Perhaps the " orthodox" doctrine was invented to relieve the minds of those who may have regarded the promised reunion with some apprehension. (Intellectual Development of Europe, Vol. I. p. 336.) I am indebted to Dr. Draper's excellent work for so much of the present chapter, that I prefer making here a general acknowledgment to crowding the text or the margin with constant references. As an instance of the ignorance of even comparatively modern writers, we are told by Nares that in the Jeu de S. Nicolas by Jean Bodel, one of the personages is "Tervagant, l'un des dieux prétendus des Mahométans"! (Kitchin's Glossary to the Faery Queen, Book II.)

† Op. citat., pp. 327-8.

This is the same ecclesiastic who, a few years previously, had given a satisfactory demonstration of how thoroughly he had imbibed the spirit of Christianity, by hounding on the mob which murdered Hypatia. The actual murderer was Cyril's own reader, Peter; the scene, a church; the precise spot, I think, the altar!

Review, April 1, 1875.

incensed prelate further testifying his zeal for orthodoxy by launching twelve distinct anathemas at the devoted head of the alleged heretic. Nestorius lost no time in repaying these sacerdotal amenities with a precise equivalent both in kind and amount, so Cyril induced Theodosius the younger to call a general council at Ephesus (A.D. 431). With the aid of the emperor's sister, and the not less valuable assistance of that great theological authority the chief of the eunuchs, whose eyes had been opened to the enormities of Nestorius by the silent eloquence of Cyril's orthodox gold, the Alexandrian bishop managed so to pack the council (of which he was himself president) as to insure a verdict against his opponent, and, as a further precaution against the triumph of error, had the whole question decided before the latter was allowed to utter a word, or the majority of his adherents had even arrived, actuated, perhaps, like Judge Jeffreys in the case of Richard Baxter, by the fear that, if the culprits were allowed to speak, the righteous souls of those present (including a collection of "sailors, bathmen, and women of the baser sort") would be vexed at least, if not contaminated, by listening to so much heresy. Accordingly, Nestorius was called a Judas and a blasphemer, and every thing else which was customary on such occasions, and duly deposed and exiled, first to Arabia and then to the African desert, where he died. Tradition assures us that his blasphemous tongue was devoured by worms during his life; but his doctrines survived him, and before the end of the century were carried into Persia by his follower Barsumas, who met with so much favour at the Persian court, that he not merely obtained perfect toleration for his own sect, but even (unhappily imitating the bigotry of the persecutors of Nestorius) persuaded the monarch to banish from his dominions all other Christian communities. The irreparable breach thus produced between the Nestorians and the soi-disant "Catholics," however deplorable as a violation of Christian charity, was pro'ductive of the happiest effects in the interest of science and literature. Ever since the unhappy day when Constantine had found it convenient to ally himself with the Christians, increasing efforts seem to have been made to confine all learning to the clergy, and to keep the laity in a state of unquestioning ignorance. Constantine himself ordered the destruction of the "Asclepions" where medi

cine was taught with at least some pretence to scientific method; substituting in their stead hospitals where the medical attendants were monks and ecclesiastics, of whose devoted care and kindness, in many cases, it would be difficult to speak in too high terms, but who ere long transformed the practice of medicine into little better than a series of superstitious forms, by replacing ordinary therapeutical appliances with relics of the saints and the performance of various devotional rites, which, however laudable in themselves, can hardly be supposed (without miraculous intervention) to have any special bearing on the healing of disease. The Nestorians, on the other hand, emancipated from priest-ridden state control, established flourishing churches on the banks of the Euphrates, founded the College at Edessa with its affiliated schools, famous for the Syriac translations of Pliny and Aristotle; and, in conjunction with the Jews, established the no less celebrated medical College of Djondesabour, where the system of academical honours, which has descended to our own times, was first instituted. They also established a school at Nisibis, whence missionaries issued who propagated their tenets with the utmost success throughout India, Tartary, China, Egypt, and Arabia, thus coming into direct contact with Mahomet and his immediate successors. The characteristic feature of the Nestorian "heresy" rendered its votaries less obnoxious than the Catholics in the eyes of the Mussulmans, who in many cases employed members of this sect as tutors in their own families, and under the superintendence of one of whom (John Mesuë) Haroun Alraschid placed all his public schools.

This is, of course, not the place to introduce definitions of theological tenets, whether orthodox or heretical; but in order that the reader may the more readily perceive the reasons of the greater favour extended by the Mahometans to the Nestorians than to the "Catholics," it may be well to remind him that the obvious offence given by Nestorius (apart from certain metaphysical niceties) was his denying the title of "Mother of GOD" to the Virgin Mary, and that the worship of the Virgin was precisely what seemed to offend Mahomet more than almost any other practice of the Church. It is repeatedly condemned in the Koran in the severest terms. We are probably indebted, if not for the introduction, at least for the prevalent use, of the epithet objected to by Nestorius, to the heretic Apollinaris of Laodicea, of whom Tillemont says 66 we cannot admit the hope of any other lot for him than the condemnation of hell."-Mosheim, Ecclesiast. Hist., Vol. I. p. 423, and II. p. 65. Lardner's Works, Vol. IV. cap. 95.

But while the Nestorians were, perhaps, the principal instructors of their Moslem rulers, the services rendered by the Jews in this respect must not be overlooked. After the destruction of their temple and the consequent decay of the power of the Levitical priesthood, and their national expulsion from Palestine, the members of that singular nation developed an amount of intellectual energy, of which they had given but few indications while still remaining denizens of the Land of Promise. Alexandria continued to be the head-quarters of the Jewish philosophers, but Syria and Mesopotamia were speedily filled with Jewish schools. The Levites at first made a desperate effort to retain something of their former influence by means of keeping the practice of physic in their own hands, but fortunately the attempt failed.* Hannina, A.D. 205, is called the earliest Jewish physician; then we have "Samuel, equally distinguished as an astronomer, "accoucheur, and oculist, the inventor of a collyrium "which bore his name; Rab, an anatomist, who wrote a "treatise on the construction of the body of man as ascer"tained by dissections, thereby attaining such ability that "the people, after his death, used the earth of his grave as a medicine; Abba Oumna, whose study of insanity plainly shows that he gave a material interpretation to "the national doctrine of possession by devils ... and "after the fall of the Alexandrian school . . . . when the "tumult of the Arabic conquest was over

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Maser

Djaivah, physician to the Caliph Moawiyah, was dis"tinguished at once as a poet, a critic, and a philosopher; "Kalid translated many books from Greek; Haroun of "Alexandria, said to have written the first elaborate "description of small-pox and method of its treatment; "Isaac Ben Emran, who wrote an original treatise on poisons and their symptoms; and Joshua Ben Nun, the "most celebrated professor of the school at Bagdad.”— Draper's Intellectual Development of Europe, Vol. I. pp. 389-91.t

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One of these Levitical prescriptions might have been adduced by Sir James Simpson as a "fair () representation" of homoeopathy; this was, that any person bitten by a mad dog should take (not a "hair," but) the diaphragm of the "dog who had bitten him"!

It is scarcely necessary to observe that the reason of the favour shown by the Mahometans to the Jews, was the strenuous assertion by the latter of the Unity of GOD; and perhaps their common hatred of the Catholics.