51

THE MOHAMMEDAN CONTROVERSY

found in the Coran or the traditions; nor is there much probability of their improving in this respect, until they shall possess a good translation of the whole Bible, with some such works as the connections of the Old and New Testaments by Prideaux, the connections of sacred and profane History by Shuckford, and some good commentary on the Text of Scripture" (p. cxxii.). And again: "It would be well to translate into the Persian some of our standard books on the apparent contradictions of the Scriptures, with Paley's Evidences of Christianity, or the recent work of Mr. Sumner."

Translations, however, to make them useful, should be adapted and remodelled, leaving out much that would be unsuitable to an Oriental, and supplying much that would be superfluous to a European reader.1 We would urge this duty, not upon our Indian Society alone, but upon the learned of England. Islam is not, like the religion of the Hindoo, a subject foreign to the European; for twelve centuries it has been his near neighbour; it effected a footing in Spain and Italy, and it now reigns in Turkey; from the stores of its learning was the darkness of the Middle Ages first enlightened; and our libraries are full of learned and controversial works in defence and in defiance of both religions. Why then have we not more instances of our countrymen treading in the steps of Dr. Lee? The stimulus of a prize is sufficient to entice the learned inmates of Oxford and Cambridge to combat the remote and dimly distinguished tenets of the Hindoo. And shall not the interest and proximity of the subject, its close connection with Europe, and the ample resources at hand for obtaining a knowledge of the principles of Islam, be sufficient to tempt our learned countrymen to come forward in the Mohammedan contest; and thus, without the labour or the banishment of

1 A thousand such works are urgently required. When will our Philanthropic spirit prompt us to supply our native fellow-subjects with a theological library? A running commentary on the whole Bible, but especially on the New Testament, is urgently needed. Brief notes, lithographed in the margin, would prove invaluable; such a work should be executed so as to accommodate the native taste. Take the Lucknow Coran with its running marginal Urdoo notes as the model. A wide margin and smaller writing for the notes, will afford ample room for all that needs to be said. We trust soon to see some work of this description.