A Review.

A REVIEW .

ISLAM . * IP OR many a long day now has the Crescent been upreared above the lofty dome of -L Saint Sophia ' s faith-diverted fane , but IIOAV many to-day care to inquire about the faith of Avhich that Crescent is the symbol ? Many a year has passed since Peter the Hermit , by his earnest denunciations , shook all Europe to its foundations , and finally

led forth an army against the Moslems under the renoAvned Solyman ; but hoAV many have ever entered into the question as to the right and AA'rong of those protracted struggles ? From our early days , Avhilst sAvearing fealty to Richard the First of England , him of the " lion-heart , " Ave have still been drawn Avith no little affection to Saladin the Saracenthat beau-ideal of a Moslem hero . And 3 et AveAvhile admiring in him the

, , noblest qualities of mediaeval chivalry , invincible courage , imdolable fidelity to treaties , greatness of soul , piety , justice , and moderation , that ei'en his opponents most frankly and unreservedly attribute to him , seldom think of the raison-d ' etre of those magnificent characteristics of his—the S 3 'stem under Avhich those noble and manly qualities were brought to such hi gh perfection . Wiry should that system be so disregarded ? Is it that AA * e have no interest in it ?

As children of those AVIIO fought and bled against the Moslem on the fields of Palestine , surely Ave might Avell ask against Avhat principles they thus contended in the name of their holy faith ? Further , as subjects of a monarch Avho holds , under her gracious and gentle SAva 3 , many a thousand adherents of the Moslem Creed , surely Ave might be expected to eiiuce some curiosity as to the tenets of that creed Avhich Ave have ahvays seemed to regard

with a kind of mysterious and inexplicable aAve . Still further , as iellow-inen , drawing the same breath of heaven , pressing the same soil of earth , fired by different aims , may be , yet ever pushing onward to the same common end of humanity ; and , more than this , animated ( let us hope ) by the same Avish to do right , hoAvever our Avtvys of doing it may differ ; surety , Ave might spare more than a riassing thought for our Lrother-man .

But , in any or all of these cases , as Freemasons , it is our bounden duty to do all and each of these , and more too , if only the subjects of them should prove worthy of our paternal regard ; especially as , if Ave are to believe Brother Mackenzie , amongst the Moslems are to be found Brethren of our mystic tie . t But IIOAV are Ave to solve these " ifs " and to ascertain the truth of their Avorthiness , or otherwise , unless AA-e can grasp something reliable about the system itself ?

There can be but little doubt that the comparative indifference Avith Avhich the institutions of the Moslems have teen regarded has been mainly duo fo the difficulty hitherto experienced in ascertaining anyibing concerning their bearing and tendencies . They are contained , of course , in the Koran ; the Koran is to most , as it has ever been , a sealed look—" caviare to the general "—for although it is quite true that a most excellent translation of it Avas made bSaleAvho could be found having the

y , requisite number of decades to spare necessary to its reading ? It is quite manifest fhen , that , unless some public benefactor could he found who would make that heavy book a study and give to the world Ihe concentrated essence that he should distil from it , the Avorld at large must still remain in ignorance of the ruling spirit of thousands of our felloAV-men and folioAV-subjects .