They ask to be directed into the straight way, but oh how crooked is the way of God which Mohammed taught in his book!  Sadder still, what a crooked way it is that the Moslems walk!  Impure words, lying lips, hands that steal and feet that run after cruelty—­these are what children in Arabia possess.  But I dare say that some of them are really sorry for their sins and when they pray like Noorah in the desert they want to have peace and pardon.  Are they looking unconsciously perhaps for the footprints in the desert of One who said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life”?

Alas, Noorah and her many sisters (your sisters, too) have never seen His beauty nor heard of His love!  They do not know that the “way of those whom Thou dost compassionate” is the new and living way through Christ’s cross and death.  They are ignorant of the awful word, “He that believeth not on the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.”  Has God the Merciful then not heard Noorah’s prayer?  Will He not answer it?  Is His mercy to these children of Abraham clean gone forever?  How long they have waited and how many of the desert children are now sleeping in little desert graves!  Do you not think God wants you to carry the gospel to them and send them teachers to learn the way of Jesus?

Think of Noorah’s question, “You, why don’t you pray?” Think of Christ’s words, "Go tell quickly."

     “ARABIA THE LOVED.”

    There’s a land since long neglected,
      There’s a people still rejected,
    But of truth and grace elected,
      In His love for them.

    Softer than their night wind’s fleeting,
      Richer than their starry tenting,
    Stronger than their sands protecting,
      Is His love for them.

    To the host of Islam’s leading,
      To the slave in bondage bleeding,
    To the desert dweller pleading,
      Bring His love to them.

    Through the promise on God’s pages,
      Through His work in history’s stages,
    Through the cross that crowns the ages,
      Show His love to them.

    With the prayer that still availeth
      With the power that prevaileth,
    With the love that never faileth,
      Tell His love to them.

    Till the desert’s sons now aliens,
      Till its tribes and their dominions,
    Till Arabia’s raptured millions,
      Praise His love of them.

    —­J.G.L.

XI

PICTURES WITH WORDS ONLY

You already know many curious facts about the people of Topsy-turvy Land.  Would you like to hear something about their language and their writing?  The language of this land is very old, almost as old as its camels or its desert sands.  The Moslems even go so far as to say that Adam and Eve spoke Arabic in Paradise and they say it is called the language of the angels.  It is written from right to left just in the opposite way of this page of English writing.  The Arabic alphabet has twenty-eight letters, all of which are considered consonants.  There are marks put above and below the line to show the sounds of the vowels; just as we wrote the word potato in our first chapter.