convey their Christian theological meaning at the first glance to the interlocutor. Guard against any misunderstanding on his part. Use his own theological terms as far as possible, making quite sure that you fully understand them.

Whenever your opponent quotes and founds an argument upon any passage in the Bible, make a point of turning to that passage (in the original, if possible) and ascertaining from the context exactly what is said and what is meant. Do not rely upon memory. This is of the utmost importance. To read the verse aloud with the context will often afford a complete reply to the difficulty which has been mooted. The same plan might profitably be applied to the Qur'an, which must be quoted in the original.

9. Remember that although, generally speaking, the Bible, being an Oriental book, is more readily understood in some respects by Orientals than by Europeans, yet passages which to us present no difficulty to an Oriental occasionally require explanation. E.g., in Persia a very intelligent Kurdish convert asked me the meaning of Isa. i. 18, "Though your sins be . . . red like crimson, they shall be as wool." His difficulty is readily understood when we remember that in Persia most sheep are black. I once found a Persian of some learning under the impression that John the Baptist (Yahya') was Yahya' ibn Barmak, the noted minister of Harunu 'r Rashi. In India the expression (Matt.

xxvii. 7) "to bury strangers in" seemed to the native mind to denote "to bury strangers alive in!" Other similar mistakes have occurred and should be guarded against.

10. Before entering into an argument—before going out as a missionary at all—one should not only know the Bible well, but should have made up one's mind on matters which are in dispute. Of course we must be fully convinced of the truth of all the main Christian doctrines; but we should also know exactly what the Bible teaches and what it does not teach on such subjects as, e.g., the Fall, "Conditional Immortality," "Eternal Hope," the Atonement, and many more. The case of F. W. Newman, and his difficulty when in Baghdad he was asked a question about the Trinity, affords an extreme example of the danger of want of preparation for our work.

11. Readily accept, and make it plain that you heartily accept, all the truth that is in any way common to Christianity and Islam. Then lead on from these points of agreement and show how much truer are some of their tenets than they have any idea of. You can show that the Bible teaches all that is true in such tenets of theirs, and that it goes very much further on such points than their theology does¹. Illustrations of this will be afforded