Life of Ahmad — Page 757
as BISHOP OF LAHORE AND ISLAM 757 preference to those of Christ, but we object to the logic of the hustings being introduced in discussion on religion. If the whole Muslims would have acclaimed the Mirza, would the Right Reverend prelate of Lahore have altered his opinion of his mission? Religious beliefs in his country are in a state of dissolution just now. It behoves those who are anxious to see them crystallize round the truth not to employ arguments which are not of the purest temper. ' Lefroy was born on August 11th, 1854. He knew Hebrew, Arabic and Persian and could speak Urdu. He used to preach in the bazaars at Delhi and wore a beard. He came to the See of Lahore in 1899. It should be remembered that the Christian missionaries working in India, like Lefroy, were much more uncharitable towards Islam than their brethren in England. The following incident recorded in The Life and Letters of George Alfred Lefroy by H. H. Montgomery (Longmans, Green and Co. , London, 1920) amply illustrates it: Archbishop Bensen made a speech at the annual meeting of the S. P. G, in St. James Hall on June 16th, 1892, and said: 'We know what the sins of Muhammadanism are, but do we not know what the sins of Europe and London are?. . . Muhammadanism does form high characters. No one can go into a Muhammadan place of worship without being struck by the evidence of sincerity, gravity,