Page:The Moslem World - Volume 02.djvu/47

 reigning eternally in a realm inaccessible to the most fervent human appeal. And thus has developed that rigid legalism observed in rite and ceremony, where correctness of posture and genuflection is of more importance than attitude of soul and mind.

Is there, then, any hope for the solution of the problem ? The title of this paper, " The Entering Wedge," will find its significance in what follows. There are promises in God's Word that are individual, some that are national, but all having to do with the Kingdom of God are universal.

"The world shaU be filled v,ith the glory of God." " Ask of me, and I shaU give thee the heathen for thine inlieritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." I need not dwell on the thought that the Moslem is included in God's purpose for the salvation of mankind. Christ's last commission is most pertinent here. " And He said unto them, Go ye into aU the world and preach the gospel to every creature." Has the Church obeyed this command ? Making full allow- ance for aU that has been done, we must confess, with confusion, that the Church has in a very meagre way obeyed her Lord. If you apply the commission to the Moslem problem, the Church must confess disloyalty. The question is a difficult one, so difficult that the great Cathohc Church has not dared it. The Moravian Church, ever seeking the difficult fields of the world, has made no attempt to answer it. But God has not for- gotten the sons of Ishmael. He has wTOught in many ways to prepare the Mohammedan world for the reception of Christ.

One outstanding and massive argument, that has had, perhaps, a greater influence than we can ea^sity estimate, has been the fact that the followers of Christ have con- trolled the destinies of the world for more than three hundred years. Any hope of Moslem domination, except, perhaps, among the fanatical element, has gradually waned until now, even among loyal Moslems, the hope of the fifteenth century is no longer even a dream, and wliile the Islamic propaganda is steadily marching south in Africa, the world \asion gives the command of the