The war will be over some day, and those who survive it and those who come {198} after will not forget their glorious dead. They will realize that these lives were given to redeem Britain's opportunity. It will lie with the present generation of Britain's schoolboys to see to it that they did not purchase that opportunity in vain. To you for whom this book has been written, and for whom it has been revised in barracks, will come the nobler opportunity of the truly holy war--the rebuilding of the world's waste places, the healing of its sores, the substitution of truth and purity where now there is falsehood and wrong. It is the opportunity of the ages. What can we say of it all but this--'God fulfils Himself in many ways'? It is God, God moving behind and shaping history towards its goal. 'For I doubt not through the ages one increasing purpose runs, And the thoughts of men are widened with the process of the suns.' [Sidenote: The Call of Christ.] Christ walks to-day upon our streets, He is with us in our homes, He draws near to our great schools, He stands over us as we kneel in prayer, seeking for young knights of His cross, weak enough to lean {199} on His great strength; dependent enough to trust with childlike faith; willing to be made pure enough to see God; true enough to reveal His love to men; brave enough to make a great adventure for His sake; utterly His, that in them for the sake of the great needy Moslem world He may fulfil His word: VERILY, VERILY, I SAY UNTO YOU, HE THAT BELIEVETH ON ME, THE WORKS THAT I DO SHALL HE DO ALSO; AND GREATER WORKS THAN THESE SHALL HE DO; BECAUSE I GO UNTO THE FATHER. AND WHATSOEVER YE SHALL ASK IN MY NAME, THAT WILL I DO, THAT THE FATHER MAY BE GLORIFIED IN THE SON. 'O may Thy soldiers, faithful, true, and bold, Fight as the Saints who nobly fought of old, And win with them the Victor's crown of gold, Alleluia!' [1] C. M. S. Day of Opportunity pamphlets, _The Moslem Menace_, by W. H. T. Gairdner. [2] Cf. Illingworth, _Christian Doctrine of the Trinity_, Appendix. [3] Acts i. 8. [Illustration: THE MOHAMMEDAN WORLD TODAY - left half] [Illustration: THE MOHAMMEDAN WORLD TODAY - right half] {202} APPENDICES AND INDEX Some Books on Islam (A) Chronological Table (B) Moslem Population of the World (C) Political Survey of Moslem World (D) Index {203} APPENDIX A SOME BOOKS ON ISLAM The following books will be found very valuable by those who, as leaders or members of Missionary Study Bands or in private reading, desire to pursue further the fascinating Story of Islam. Only a few of the smaller and less expensive books are included in this list. THE REPROACH OF ISLAM.* By W. H. T. Gairdner. (2_s._ net.) The 'Senior Study Book' of this series is an invaluable companion to the 'Story of Islam.'