abandoned the practice of non-resistance and announced to his followers that there was a better way, advising them that "when the months wherein ye are not allowed to attack them, (the unregenerate), shall be passed, kill the idolatrous wherever ye shall find them, or take them prisoners; besiege them, or lay in wait for them." So, naturally, there was a fresh influx of converts and once more in the history of the world civil government borrowed a strength from ecclesiastical, and artificial laws and expediency measures received a sanction from revelations. At the age of sixty-three, Mahomet was a power in the eastern world and had founded a nation that was to spread onward and outward until it offered a serious obstacle to nations of another faith even in our own day. Nor did he meet serious opposition until the last days of his life when two opposition prophets arose to dispute his authority, the one, Al Aswad, the other, Moseilma. The first named seems to have been a weak imitation of Mahomet, who imposed upon the Arabs in his own vicinity with pretended miracles and frequent revelations. He was despatched by the dagger of an assassin. The second pretender was a man of some ability who set about composing a Koran of his own. Like Alexander I of Russia, who had a mind to ally his forces with those of Napoleon to the end that the pair of them might rule the earth, he made no effort to usurp the authority of Mahomet, but instead, proposed an alliance. So he forwarded to the ruler a letter.
