ahomet; but a Heaven symbolical of sacred
Duty, and to be earned by faith and welldoing, by valiant action, and
a divine patience which is still more valiant. It is Scandinavian
Paganism, and a truly celestial element superadded to that. Call it
not false; look not at the falsehood of it, look at the truth of it.
For these twelve centuries, it has been the religion and life-guidance
of the fifth part of the whole kindred of Mankind. Above all things,
it has been a religion heartily _believed_. These Arabs believe their
religion, and try to live by it! No Christians, since the early ages,
or only perhaps the English Puritans in modern times, have ever stood
by their Faith as the Moslem do by theirs,--believing it wholly,
fronting Time with it, and Eternity with it. This night the watchman
on the streets of Cairo when he cries "Who goes?" will hear from the
passenger, along with his answer, "There is no God but God." _Allah
akbar, Islam_, sounds through the souls, and whole daily existence, of
these dusky millions. Zealous missionaries preach it abroad among
Malays, black Papuans, brutal Idolaters;--displacing what is worse,
nothing that is better or good.

To the Arab Nation it was as a birth from darkness into light; Arabia
first became alive by means of it. A poor shepherd people, roaming
unnoticed in its deserts since the creation of the world: a
Hero-Prophet was sent down to them with a word they could believe:
see, the unnoticed becomes world-notable, the small has grown
world-great; within one century afterwards, Arabia is at Grenada on
this hand, at Delhi on that;--glancing in valour and splendour and the
light of genius, Arabia shines through long ages over a great section
of the world. Belief is great, life-giving. The history of a Nation
becomes fruitful, soul-elevating, great, so soon as it believes. These
Arabs, the man Mahomet, and that one century,--is it not as if a spark
had fallen, one spark, on a world of what seemed black unnoticeable
sand; but lo, the sand proves explosive powder, blazes heaven-high
from Delhi to Grenada! I said, the Great Man was always as lightning
out of Heaven; the rest of men waited for him like fuel, and then they
too would flame.

LECTURE III

THE HERO AS POET. DANTE; SHAKSPEARE.

[_Tuesday, 12th May 1840_]

The Hero as Divinity, the Hero as Prophet, are productions of old
ages; not to be repeated in the new. They presuppose a certain
rudeness of conception, whic