shall he also reap." Men may, in one sense, mock God here, that is, they may scoff and blaspheme: but finally their folly will be manifested (Ps. ii. 4)¹.

246. M. In Matt. i. 11, we are told that Josiah was the father of Jeconiah. Now in 1 Chron. iii. 15-17 it is stated that Jeconiah's father was not Josiah but Jehoiakim. This is a contradiction.

C. Some MSS. read in Matt. i. 11, "Josias begat Joakim, and Joakim begat Jechonias," &c., in accordance with 1 Chron. But this has not been admitted into the text, because we are not quite sure that the additional words stood in the original MS. In any case the supposition of a contradiction arises from ignorance of the fact that it was the habit of the Jews to contract genealogies by passing over certain intermediate generations when considered advisable. There can be no reason assigned to account for any one deliberately corrupting the text, nor is a contradiction conceivable when 1 Chron. was readily accessible.

247. M. How can you bring an accusation of cruelty against Muhammad for his treatment of the Jews, when the Emperor Heraclius acted so ruthlessly towards them when he recaptured Jerusalem from the Persians, and that too with the approval of the leading Christian teachers of the time?

C. As one of our Church historians well says, such conduct on Heraclius's part "resulted² from

the barbarism of the age and from ignorance of the true principles of Christianity." We condemn it very severely. But Heraclius did not claim to be a prophet, as Muhammad did. The Sunnah records Muhammad's deeds for the most part as examples to be followed, as far as circumstances permit, by all true Muslims: hence evil conduct on his part produces like deeds on that of his disciples. This renders him doubly guilty.

248. M. How can the Gospels be inspired when they do not always agree in actual details? For example, Matthew (xxvii. 51) says that the veil of the Temple was rent at the Crucifixion, while John does not mention the fact.

C. How does your objection apply to the various Surahs of the Qur'an? For example, portions of the story of Abraham are told in many different Surahs, but many incidents mentioned in one Surah are omitted in another when dealing with the same narrative. But you must see that it would be absurd to found an objection upon this fact. The answer to what you urge is really this, that our doctrine of Inspiration does not coincide with yours (vide § 79). According to our view, there was no need whatever that the Gospels should each relate every single detail of an occurrence. If they did, there would be much useless repetition. Moreover, we should thus lose the important evidence in support of the truth of the facts upon which our faith is based which we now have in