Page:Thomas Patrick Hughes - Notes on Muhammadanism - 2ed. (1877).djvu/29

 8 contemplation, the inner pulsations of our spiritual life bound within us at the study of a character so divine, so pure.

We are not insensible to the beauties of the Qurán as a literary production, although they have, without doubt, been overrated; but as we admire its conceptions of the Divine nature its deep and fervent trust in the power of God, its frequent deep moral earnestness, and its sententious wisdom, we would gladly rid ourselves of our recollections of the Prophet, his licentious harem, his sanguinary battle-fields, his ambitious schemes; whilst as we peruse the Christian scriptures we find the grand central charm in the divine character of its founder. It is the divine character of Jesus which gives fragrance to His words; it is the divine form of Jesus which shines through all He says or does; it is the divine life of Jesus which is the great central point in Gospel history. How then, we ask, can the creed of Muhammad, the son of Abdullah, supersede and abrogate that of Jesus, the Son of God? It is a remarkable coincidence that whilst the founder of Islam died feeling that he had but imperfectly fulfilled his mis-