Some people have the impression that Mohammed was a man of good character and great simplicity. Possibly this was true of him in the earlier part of his life, but he degenerated as Solomon, but unlike the wise preacher of "vanity" he never repented. Mohammed was a slave of sensual passion. The doctrine of polygamy which he taught was the result of his own sensuality. Ayesha his favorite wife said: "The prophet loves three things, women, perfumes and food." He, at the age of fifty-three years, married this woman when she was at the age of nine years. Again he claimed to have a special revelation from heaven to marry Zey-nab the wife of his adopted son. To gratify this wish, it was necessary for Zeyd, his faithful son, to get a divorce from Zey-nab. THE CONQUEST OF ISLAM. "The secret of success for Islam is in the sword," said Mohammed. His faith teaches that one drop of blood shed for Allah, or God, avails more than all prayer, fastings and sacrifices. One night spent in the holy armies of Islam will be rewarded by Allah more than human reason can think. Everyone that falls in battle is received in heaven as a martyr and rewarded for his devotion to the faith. After Mohammed's death, his successor became aggressive as his forces grew stronger. His command to his armies was: "Before you is paradise, behind you is hell." Inspired by this belief, the wild and superstitious Arabs rushed forward and subdued Syria, Palestine and Egypt. The churches in the large cities of these lands were converted into mosques for the worship of Mohammed. In 668 and 717 they besieged Constantinople and in 707 subdued the northern provinces of Africa. In 711 they established a Califat in Spain at Cordova. The Arabs crossed the Pyrenees and made the threat that they would soon stable their horses in St. Paul's cathedral at Rome. But they were defeated by Charles Martel in 732. Ferdinand drove them out of Spain into Africa. In the East the Moslems had, in the ninth century subdued Persia, Afghan, Bloogiston, a large part of India, also a large part of Brahmanism and Buddhism. The Turks were conquered in the eleventh century; the Mongols in the thirteenth century. Constantinople fell into the hands of the unspeakable Turks in 1453. The magnificent church of St. Sophia in which Chrysostom preached the gospel with a fiery tongue and many church fathers chanted in it the true Word of God was converted into a mosque. To-day the Koran is read there in instead of the gospel. The Sultan occupies the throne of Constantine and calls himself the "shadow of Almighty," boasts in his fanatical religion, and scorns Christian powers. On the other hand the Christian powers look at him with the cold spirit of Christianity but I believe the time will come and is near when the Gospel will be preached again in the church of St. Sophia instead of the Koran. CHAPTER III. THE MOHAMMEDAN RELIGION.