142 OBJECTIONS TO SOME CHRISTIAN DOCTRINES

not produce its like, though the one should help the other." The miracles granted to the prophets varied with the requirements of each separate age. In Moses' time the power of the magicians was greatly feared, therefore the miracles of Moses resembled theirs, but were more wonderful. In Jesus' time the healing art had reached its acme, hence Jesus came with miracles of healing, which at that time impressed people more than anything else would have done. So in Muhammad's time eloquence among the Arabs had reached perfection, and he was sent with the Qur'an, a marvel of eloquence, which no one could equal. Even if he wrought no other miracle, this was quite enough for the "illiterate prophet" to do.

C. We have already seen that the Qur'an is not a miracle. Many other books, in other languages, far surpass it in eloquence: for example, the Book of Isaiah the prophet, the Psalms of David, the Book of Deuteronomy, to say nothing of the works of the Arabic, European, Indian, and Persian writers already mentioned. Eloquence cannot be considered as sufficient proof of a prophet's calling. We now know from what erroneous sources1 the Qur'an was derived, and this alone suffices to prove that the book is not from the all-wise God.

1 See this proved in my Yanabi'u'l Islam, and Original Sources of the Qur'an.
AS ALLEGED TO BE TAUGHT IN THE BIBLE 143

From this whole investigation we see that the Qur'an itself ascribes a higher power, dignity, and nature to Christ than to Muhammad or to any of the prophets, since Christ is represented as alone sinless, miraculously born, and the worker of miracles, and is called "God's Word" and "A spirit from Him." Moreover, the ability to create, which is peculiar to God the Creator, is ascribed to Christ. Should not, therefore, believers in the Qur'an give due weight to these statements regarding Christ? The Gospels give us His own statements about Himself, which agree with these assertions of the Qur'an, though other verses in the Qur'an may conflict with these. It follows therefore that our statements about the deity of Christ should not be rejected without careful study of the Bible, to which your own Qur'an bears such high testimony. In the Bible you will see that His deity is repeatedly asserted in the clearest terms1. And surely, if you believe what your own Qur'an says of Christ, it is

1 It is not necessary here to quote passages to prove this to a Christian missionary. He will know where to find them in both the Old and the New Testament. Vide Liddon's Bampton Lectures on the Divinity of Christ, Bull's Defensio Fidei Nicaenae, &c. &c. Rev. Dr. Rouse, in a tract on The Nature of God, well and simply shows that the attributes of God are displayed and claimed by Christ as His own, and assigned to Him in Scripture, so that very many of the "ninety-nine" special names or titles which Muslim theologians give to God suit what the Bible tells us of Jesus Christ. He indicates the same line of argument in reference to the Holy Spirit. (Vide Bp. Harold Browne on Art. I. of the Thirty-Nine Articles.)