7. It has again and again been asked, "Why should missionaries enter at all on the discussion of such doctrines as that of the Trinity when dealing with either Muhammadans or heathens? Why not imitate the Apostles and at first inculcate belief in the Divine Unity, letting the doctrine of the Trinity evolve itself, as it were, in the minds of converts, very much as it did in the early Church?" This seems very sensible advice indeed as far as our dealings with polytheists are concerned, and it is doubtless just what workers among them do. But missionaries to Muhammadans are forced to enter upon the doctrine of the Trinity, because all Muslims know that Christians hold it, and Muhammadans deem it the weakest point in the Christian faith and therefore invariably select it for attack. As they imagine that by the doctrine of the Trinity we express our belief in three Gods (one of whom they often fancy to be the Virgin Mary), we have to explain what the true faith is, and to prove that it is taught in Holy Scripture.

8. It must be borne in mind that this book is not intended to be a manual of Christian dogmatics, but only to be a handbook dealing simply and briefly with the most usual Muhammadan objections