212 OBJECTIONS ON THE GROUND OF MUHAMMAD'S

C. Yes, but you will hardly assert that he dwells in the hearts of Christians and abides with them for ever (John xiv. 16); yet it was to Christians that Christ was speaking. The angel Gabriel is not the Holy Spirit. It was a strange way of glorifying Christ to teach men that His doctrine was false, and that when He claimed to be God's Son He was blaspheming. The rest of your argument is assertion, and you have not fully answered mine. Besides, in Acts i. 4, 5, 8, Christ commanded His disciples, before doing the work of evangelizing the world which He had enjoined on them (Acts i. 8; Matt. xxviii. 19, 20) to "tarry in Jerusalem" until the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, came, assuring them that He would come "not many days hence" (Acts i. 5) Did this mean that these specially chosen apostles were to wait nearly 600 years in Jerusalem (Luke xxiv. 49) until Muhammad's coming? Long ages before that they were all dead. Moreover, the promise was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost descended on them (Acts ii).

223. M. The early Christians understood that Christ foretold the coming of another prophet, hence many of them believed on Manes (Mani) when he claimed to be the Paraclete. This proves your explanation wrong and ours right. After all, the Bible is an Eastern book, and you are from the West. We understand it better than you do.

C. It is to prove your understanding of the Bible that you accept the erroneous explanation of Mani

DIVINE MISSION AS LAST OF THE PROPHETS 213

in this matter, though you acknowledge him to have been a false prophet? He did make very much the same claim as Muhammad did in this respect. But remember that it is you and not I who compare Muhammad to Mani. [The only prophets of whose coming Christ informed His disciples are those mentioned in Matt. xxiv. 11 and similar passages.] No real Christians ever thought that the Paraclete was a future prophet1.

224. M. In John xiv. 30 Muhammad is styled "the prince of this world," a well-known title of his, and his coming is foretold.

C. It would offend you were I to tell you who is really spoken of by that title, and elsewhere called "the god of this world." If you consult Luke x. 18; John xii. 31, xvi. 11; 2 Cor. iv. 4; Eph. ii. 2 and vi. 11, 12, you will discover for yourself who the awful being is of whom Christ speaks2.

225. M. The "kingdom of heaven" prophesied of by John the Baptist (Matt. iii. 2) and by Jesus (Matt. iv. 17) was that established by Muhammad when he gave the new Law contained in the Qur'an. So also Matt. xiii. 31, 32.

C. More assertion, contrary to fact. The Gospels show that this was the kingdom which Christ founded.

1 This is shown by the fact that, when Montanus and Mani (Manes) claimed to be the Paraclete, they were accused of blasphemy. (Rev. W. Goldsack.)
2 Perhaps the only distinct prophecy of Muhammad and of the Arab conquest of many Eastern lands is that contained in Rev. ix. 1-12.