“You ask what I think of it now that I am on the spot. First: that the need has not been exaggerated, and that Mohammedanism is as bad as it is painted. Second: that we have a splendid fighting chance here in Arabia, and the land is open enough so that we can enter if we will. If a man never got beyond the Bahrein Islands he would have a parish of 50,000 souls. Third: that on account of the ignorance of the people they must be taught by word of mouth and therefore if we are to reach them all, we must have many helpers. Fourth: that I am glad I came to Arabia, and that to me has been given a part in this struggle. I do firmly believe that the strength of Islam has been overestimated, and that if ever the Church can be induced to throw her full weight against it, it will be found an easier conquest than we imagine—_not but what it will cost lives_, it has always been so, but I do believe that Islam is doomed.” Little did he think, perhaps, _whose_ life it would first cost. Will his call be heeded and will the Church, will you, help to throw the whole weight of your prayers against Islam? “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone, but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit.” “The seed must die before the corn appears Out of the ground in blade and fruitful ears. Low have those ears before the sickle lain, Ere thou canst treasure up the golden grain. The grain is crushed before the bread is made; And the bread broke ere life to man conveyed. Oh, be content to die, to be laid low, And to be crushed, and to be broken so, If thou upon God’s table may be bread, Life-giving food for souls an hungered.” XXXV PROBLEMS OF THE ARABIAN FIELD “A word as to the task your mission attempts. It is to me the hardest in the whole mission-field. To conquer Mohammedanism is to capture Satan’s throne and I think it involves the greatest conflict Christianity has ever known. In attacking Arabia you aim at the citadel of supreme error occupied by the last enemy that shall bow to the kingship of Christ.”—_Rev. W. A. Essery_, Hon. Secretary of the Turkish Mission Aid Society. “While the difficulties in the way of missionary work in lands under Mohammedan rule may well appear to the eye of sense most formidable, this meeting is firmly persuaded, that, so long as the door of access to individual Mohammedans is open, so long it is the clear and bounden duty of the Church of Christ to make use of its opportunities for delivering the gospel message to them, in full expectation that the power of the Holy Spirit will, in God’s good time, have a signal manifestation in the triumph of Christianity in those lands.”—_Resolution of the Church Missionary Society_, May 1st, 1888.