Thus it would appear that Mohammed, after his flight, accommodated
his doctrines to the customs and tastes of his countrymen,--
blending with the sublime truths he declared subtile and pernicious
errors. The early missionaries did the same thing in China and
Japan, thinking more of the number of their converts than of the
truth itself. Expediency--the utterly fallacious principle of the
end justifying the means--is seen in almost everything in this
world which blazes with success. It is seen in politics, in
philanthropy, in ecclesiasticism, and in education. So the earlier
missionaries, disregarding their vows, made the cause to which they
were consecrated subservient to their personal gain. What do you
think of a man, wearing the livery of a gospel minister, devoting
all his energies to money-making, versed in the ways of the
"heathen Chinee,"--"ways that are dark, and tricks that are vain,"--
all to succeed better in worldly thrift, using all means for that
single end,--is he not a traitor to his God, his Church, and his
fellowmen? "Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the
throne." What would you think of a college which lowered the
standard of education in order to draw students, or selected, as
the guardians of its higher interests, those men who would
contribute the most money to its funds?

This spirit of expediency Mohammed entertained and utilized, in
order to gain success. Most of what is false in Mohammedanism is
based on expediency. The end was not lost sight of,--the
conversion of his countrymen to the belief in the unity and
sovereignty of God, but it was sought by means which would make
them fanatics or pharisees. He was not such a miserable creature
as one who seeks to make money by trading on the religious capital
of the community; but he did adapt his religion to the passions and