or else it is the Black stone of the Caaba, which once was white; and, who
could have been predicted to walk in "white garments," but our
Prophet who was so fond of them? The descendants of Ishmael inherit every
promise intended for the Israelites; and "more are the children of the desolate
(i.e. of Hagar), than of the married wife,"— viz. Sarah (Isa. liv. 1).
It is Mecca that was "forsaken," but is now "an eternal
excellency, the joy of many generations" (Isa. Ix. 15). Again, in the
parable of the sower, the three unfruitful species of seed are the Greeks,
Jews and Christians; they that produced an hundredfold, the Mohammedans; the
"tares" are the scoffing infidels who were slain in the battle of
Dedr, and fell into the furnace of hell-fire; the "righteous" are
the Mohammedans, "who shone forth as the sun."1 In the
parable of the vineyard, the husbandmen are the Jews, who are said to
have killed Christ, who was called2 the Son of God; the
garden was therefore taken from them and given to the Arabs; on hearing this,
the Jews expressed their astonishment; on which Jesus bade them not to be
surprised, for Isaiah had told them this long ago, when he said, " The
stone which the builders rejected, i.e. the despised Ishmaelites, will
become the head of the corner; and thus in Mohammed will be fulfilled the
blessing promised to Abraham." Such are the gratuitous assumptions to
which the Moslems descend. The disquisition on the Fárkalete, or Holy
Spirit, are fair specimens of the sophistry of the Mussulmans, —a
counterpart of the Jews who opposed Paul "contradicting and
blaspheming." Various other topics are taken up, but are all treated in
the same arrogant and wayward manner. Indeed, the abusive and insulting
language
