James P. McNaughton

“ No single event in recent history has had so remarkable an influence in stirring to the depths patriotic sentiment of a Uberal character. And so we find Persia and Turkey daring to ask the question : Is our destiny forever sealed in the unchanging mould of a fixed despotism ? ”

“ Despotism and the paternal form of administering justice are giving way before the demand of a limited monarchy, controlled by a constitutional government. If one were asked five years ago, when would Turkey and Persia adopt modern methods in their political systems, what answer would probably be given ? The most sanguine enthusiast, or most rabid revolutionist would hardly dare suggest a date earlier than from fifty to a hundred years. ”

“ The Koran is of divine origin, therefore must be taken literally, and so there is no hope that the Moslem will entertain anything so blasphemous as the division of his splendid Oriental God, reigning eternally in a realm inaccessible to the most fervent human appeal. ”

“ A religion that stands for the unity and sovereignty of God is a religion that is to be reckoned with. The true Moslem stands for these with a conviction that would put to shame many of the so-called Christians of to-day. It is in the deficiency of the conception that Islam fails. God is not a God of love ; and sovereignty without love is little more than arbitrarj^ force. Its great strength appeals to people who are all their lives in bondage to the belief in evil spirits that rule the destinies of men. ”

“ Again, practically all modern improvements, such as railroads, telegraphs, the reconstruction of the postal and customs departments, the use of modern mechanical and even household utensils, all wearing apparel, even to the fez, are of Christian invention and of Christian manufacture. The old Turkish soldier is no longer seen. The army is modelled after the German type and the navy after that of Britain. Any comparison made between Europe or America and Turkey brings confusion to the loyal Turk. Moslem States are rapidly adopting Christian political institutions. ”

“ We have seen its cruelties, its deceptions, its imblushing disloyalty to promises and the most sacred treaties. Its accommodation to human weakness cannot alone account for the impressive fact that it has made its appeal, with such striking success, to so great a variety of peoples. ”

“ A religion that asserts deficiencies in the very nature of woman, not found in man, is sure to be received with favour b\^ savage and semi-savage peoples, among whom woman has never been admitted to her proper rights. ”

“ The Sultans of Turkey have had remarkable success in quelling discord among their Christian subjects by pitting the members of one community against those of another. The welcome extended to, and protection afforded the early missionaries by the Tmrkish Government, were due largely to the expectation that successful mission work would raise a Protestant community at the expense of the other Christian bodies, that Protestants would be converted Greeks, Armenians, and Catholics, and instead of three Christian sects there would be four weaker bodies and thus easier to control. ”

“ Large numbers of young men and maidens, of the most promising type, flock to the mission schools and, after years of discipline and study, emerge from these institutions with changed characters, changed outlook, changed ideals, and withal changed vision, to return to their own cities, towns and hamlets and enter the teaching, legal and medical professions, each one a power to reckon with. ”

“ There can be no deviation from what is written, even in the smallest detail. This would preclude the exercise of the medical art, as it would be blasphemous for man to interfere in what is already settled and foreordained by God. While Christ is a prophet. He is not divine ”

“ Present conditions in Arabia strongly point to the severance of that peninsula from the political sway of the Sultan. If Arabia gain her independence, it is not at all likely that it will long remain autonomous. The remnants of the great Turkish Empire are passing under Christian sovereigns. ”

“ Even now, a compara- tively small portion of the Moslem world is under the sway of the Caliph of the Prophet, and that a rapidly diminishing portion. If the convictions of a man so thoroughly acquainted with conditions in Turkey as Professor Ramsay, the eminent archaeologist of Aberdeen, are to be seriously entertained, then Asia Minor is in a fair way of being divided between Germany and Russia. ”

“ For, he continued, a woman should not know more than enough to read, and possibly to write, that she might be able to pen a line or two to her husband when absent from home ; more than that would probablly fit her for her proper sphere. She was born to serve man, she should be taught manual trades so that she could help her husband support the family, and assume the whole burden when he was called to military service. ”

“ One outstanding and massive argument, that has had, perhaps, a greater influence than we can ea^sity estimate, has been the fact that the followers of Christ have con- trolled the destinies of the world for more than three hundred years. Any hope of Moslem domination, except, perhaps, among the fanatical element, has gradually waned until now, even among loyal Moslems, the hope of the fifteenth century is no longer even a dream, and wliile the Islamic propaganda is steadily marching south in Africa, the world \asion gives the command of the future to the Christian Church. ”

“ The IMoslem world is being honey- combed by Christian missions. An increasingh' large number of Moslem cliildren are attending mission scliools. The impact of pure Christianity, for the first time, is being brought to bear upon the Mohammedan problem, and it is felt. The Pan-Islamic movement is defensive. In the recent Moslem conferences, the causes of the failure of Islam were freely discussed, and the question asked, how can the decay be stopped ? ”

“ It is not at all hkely that a faith could have triumphed over so many types of rehgion unless it was girded with elements of great strength. I think it may safely be predicted that the strength of any rehgion will depend on that religion's conception of God. The higher the conception, the purer the rehgion ; the higher the conception, the stronger the hold rehgion t akes of a people. Now Islam's conception of God is vastly higher than that of any idolatrous people. ”

“ It has become an axiom that the Moslem problem is to-day the most difficult facing the Christian Church. Its points of weakness and its points of strength unite to make this true. The moral code of Islam is eminently suited to our fallen nature. The religion that permits an almost unbounded Ucense in the moral sphere is the religion that is sure to be popular in aU but highly- ci\ahsed races. ”

“ Although ninety names are used in characterising God, Father is not one of them. Moslems have no con- ception of God in the capacity of fatherhood ; their idea is more that of an Oriental despot, merciful, if you will, but arbitrary to the last degree. ”

“ Islam keeps woman in a position of marked inferiority. Islam, speaking not so much through the Koran as through traditions which cluster round the Koran, crj^stallises religion and law into one inseparable and immutable whole, with the result that all elasticity is taken away from the social system. ”

“ It has freely been acknowledged by intelligent Moslems, that one of the controlling factors that inspired and hastened the bloodless revolution of 1908 was the enlightening influences of the missions, schools, and colleges ”

“ However that may be, a rapidly develop- ing school system, of modern mould, attracting an increasingly large attendance, until an army of 25,000 of the most intelligent and ambitious young lives in the empire were gathered into the Protestant schools of Asia Minor alone, must exercise an immense influence on the destinies of an awakening nation. ”

“ The educational, comprising a thoroughly graded school system, frbm the kindergarten through to the college, theological seminary and medical school, in all of these the Bible being a regular text-book. ”