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07 - Raymond Lull- First Missionary to the Moslems by Samuel Zwemer · Raymond Lull- First Missionary to the Moslems

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  Speaker 1: Chapter six of Raymond Louell, first Missionary to the Moslems,
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  Speaker 1: by Samuel's Wemer. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: Chapter six, his first missionary journey to Tunis eighty twelve
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  Speaker 1: ninety one to twelve ninety two. In that bright, sunny
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  Speaker 1: land across the tideless sea, where long ago proud Carthage
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  Speaker 1: reared its walls beauteous and fair and large, Venetian galleys,
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  Speaker 1: laden deep with richest stores, sailed bravely to and fro
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  Speaker 1: where gospel, light and measure not unmixed with superstitions. Vain
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  Speaker 1: burned for a time and spread her peaceful conquests far
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  Speaker 1: and wide, and gave her martyrs to the scorching fire.
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  Speaker 1: There dwells to day, a darkness to be felt. Each
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  Speaker 1: ray of that once rising growing light faded and gone anonymous.
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  Speaker 1: When Raymond Lull met with disappointment on his first visit
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  Speaker 1: to Rome, he returned for a short time to Paris,
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  Speaker 1: as we have seen, and then determined to set out
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  Speaker 1: as a missionary, indeed, to propagate the faith among the
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  Speaker 1: Moslems of Africa. Loll was at this time fifty six
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  Speaker 1: years old and a travel in those days was full
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  Speaker 1: of hardship by land and by sea. The very year
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  Speaker 1: in which Loul set out, news reached to Europe of
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  Speaker 1: the fall of Acre and the end of Christian power
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  Speaker 1: in Palestine. All northern Africa was in the hands of
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  Speaker 1: the Saracens, and they were at once elated at the
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  Speaker 1: capture of Acre and driven to the height of fanaticism
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  Speaker 1: by the persecution of the Moors in Spain. It was
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  Speaker 1: a bold step that Loll undertook, but he counted not
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  Speaker 1: his life dear in the project, and was ready. So
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  Speaker 1: he thought to venture all on the issue. He expected
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  Speaker 1: to win by love and persuasion, at least in his
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  Speaker 1: own words. He would experiment whether he himself could not
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  Speaker 1: persuade some of them by conference with their wise men,
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  Speaker 1: and by manifesting to them, according to the divinely given method,
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  Speaker 1: the incarnation of the Son of God and the three
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  Speaker 1: persons of the Blessed Trinity in the divine unity of essence.
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  Speaker 1: Loll proposed a Parliament of religions, and desired to meet
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  Speaker 1: the bald Monosye of Islam face to face with the
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  Speaker 1: revelation of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
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  Speaker 1: Loull left Paris for Genoa, which was then the rival
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  Speaker 1: of Venice and contended with her for the supremacy of
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  Speaker 1: the Mediterranean. In the thirteenth century, Genoah was at the
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  Speaker 1: height of its prosperity, and the superb palaces of that
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  Speaker 1: date still witnessed to the genius of her artists and
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  Speaker 1: the wealth of her merchant princes. At Genoah, the story
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  Speaker 1: of Loul's life was not unknown. Men had heard with
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  Speaker 1: wonder of the miraculous conversion of the gay and dissolute Senesial,
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  Speaker 1: and now it was whispered that he had devised a
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  Speaker 1: new and certain method for converting the infidel, and was
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  Speaker 1: setting out all alone for the shores of Africa. The
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  Speaker 1: expectations of the people were raised to a high pitch.
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  Speaker 1: A vessel was found ready to sail for Africa, and
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  Speaker 1: Loll's passage was engaged. The ship was lying in the harbor,
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  Speaker 1: the missionaries books even had been conveyed on board. All
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  Speaker 1: was ready for the voyage and the venture. But at
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  Speaker 1: this juncture a change came over him. Louel says that
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  Speaker 1: he was overwhelm with terror at the thought of what
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  Speaker 1: might befall him in the country whither he was going.
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  Speaker 1: The idea of enduring torture or lifelong imprisonment presented itself
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  Speaker 1: with such force that he could not control his emotions.
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  Speaker 1: Such a strong reaction after his act of faith in
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  Speaker 1: leaving Paris must not surprise us. Similar experiences are not
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  Speaker 1: rare in the lives of missionaries. Henry Martin wrote in
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  Speaker 1: his journal, as the shores of Cornwall were disappearing, Would
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  Speaker 1: I go back? Oh? No, But how can I be supported?
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  Speaker 1: My faith fails? I find by experience I am as
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  Speaker 1: weak as water. Oh, my dear friends in England, when
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  Speaker 1: we spoke with exaltation of the missions to the Heathen,
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  Speaker 1: what an imperfect, ideated reform of the sufferings by which
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  Speaker 1: it must be accomplished. Loll had to face a darker
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  Speaker 1: and more uncertain future than did Martin. His faith failed,
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  Speaker 1: his books were taken back on shore, and the ship
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  Speaker 1: sailed without him. However, no sooner did he receive tidings
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  Speaker 1: of the vessel's departure than he was seized with bitter remorse.
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  Speaker 1: His passionate love for Christ could not bear the thought
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  Speaker 1: that he had proved a true to the cause for
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  Speaker 1: which God had specially fitted and called him. He felt
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  Speaker 1: that he had given opportunity for those who scoffed Christ's
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  Speaker 1: religion to mock him and his great mission. So Keen
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  Speaker 1: was to sorrow that he was thrown into a violent fever.
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  Speaker 1: While yet suffering from weakness of body and prostration of mind,
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  Speaker 1: he heard that another ship was ready in the harbor
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  Speaker 1: and loaded to sail for the port of Tunis. Weak
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  Speaker 1: though he was, he begged his friends to put his
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  Speaker 1: books on board and asked them to permit him to
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  Speaker 1: attempt the voyage. He was taken to the ship, but
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  Speaker 1: his friends, convinced that he could not outlive the voyage,
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  Speaker 1: insisted on his being again landed. Lull returned to his bed,
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  Speaker 1: but did not find rest or recuperation. His old passion
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  Speaker 1: consumed him. He felt the contrition of Jonah and cried
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  Speaker 1: with Paul, woe was me if I preach? Not another
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  Speaker 1: ship offering fit opportunity. He determined at all risks to
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  Speaker 1: be put on board. It is heroic reeing to follow
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  Speaker 1: Lull in his autobiography, as he tells how from this
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  Speaker 1: moment he was a new man. The vessel had hardly
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  Speaker 1: lost sight of land before all fever left his conscience
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  Speaker 1: no more rebuked him for cowardice. Peace of mind returned,
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  Speaker 1: and he seemed to have regained perfect health. Blull reached
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  Speaker 1: Tunis at the end of the year twelve ninety one
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  Speaker 1: or early in twelve ninety two. Why did the philosophic
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  Speaker 1: missionary choose Tunis as his first point of attack on
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  Speaker 1: the citadel of Islam. The answer is not far to seek. Tunis,
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  Speaker 1: the present capital of the country of the same name,
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  Speaker 1: was founded by the Carthaginians, but first rose to importance
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  Speaker 1: under the Arab conquerors of North Africa, who gave it
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  Speaker 1: its present name. This comes from an Arabic root which
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  Speaker 1: signifies to enjoy one's self. Tunus was the usual port
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  Speaker 1: for those going from Kiwuan, that mecca of all North
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  Speaker 1: Africa the Spain. In twelve thirty six, when the Half
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  Speaker 1: Sites displaced the al Mohad dynasty, Abu Zakariyah made it
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  Speaker 1: his capital. When the fall of Baghdad left Islam without
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  Speaker 1: a titular head twelve fifty eight, the Half Sites assumed
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  Speaker 1: the title of Prince of the Faithsful and extended their
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  Speaker 1: rule from Tlemkin to Tripoli. The dignity of the Tunisian
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  Speaker 1: rulers was acknowledged even in Cairo and Mecca, and so
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  Speaker 1: strong were they in their government that unaided they held
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  Speaker 1: their own against repeated Frankish invasions. The Seventh Crusade ended
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  Speaker 1: disastrously before Tunis. Tunis was in fact the western center
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  Speaker 1: of the Moslem world in the thirteenth century, where Saint
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  Speaker 1: Louis failed as a king with his great army, Raymond
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  Speaker 1: Louell ventured on his spiritual crusade single handed. Tunis is
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  Speaker 1: on an isthmus between two salt lakes, and is connected
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  Speaker 1: with the port of Goletta by an ancient canal. Two
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  Speaker 1: buildings still remained from the days of lol the Mosque
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  Speaker 1: of Abu Zachariah in the citadel and the great Mosque
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  Speaker 1: of the Olive Tree in the center of the town.
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  Speaker 1: The ruins of Carthage, famous center of early Latin Christianity,
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  Speaker 1: lie a few miles north of Goletta. Even now Tunis
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  Speaker 1: has a population of more than one hundred and twenty
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  Speaker 1: five thousand, it was much larger at the period of
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  Speaker 1: which we write. Loul must have arrived at Goletta and
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  Speaker 1: thence proceeded to Tunis. His first step was to an
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  Speaker 1: write the Moslem in Lemma or Literati to a conference,
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  Speaker 1: just as did Siegenbog in South India and John Wilson
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  Speaker 1: at Bombay. He announced that he had studied the arguments
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  Speaker 1: on both sides of the question and was willing to
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  Speaker 1: submit the evidences for Christianity and for Islam to a
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  Speaker 1: fair comparison. He even promised that if he was convinced,
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  Speaker 1: he would embrace Islam. The Moslem leaders willingly responded to
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  Speaker 1: the challenge, and coming in great numbers to the conference,
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  Speaker 1: set forth with much show of learning the miracle of
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  Speaker 1: the Koran and the doctrine of God's unity. After long
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  Speaker 1: the fruitless discussion, Lol advanced the following propositions, which are
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  Speaker 1: well calculated to strike the two weak points of Mohammed
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  Speaker 1: and Monotheism lack of love in the being of Allah
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  Speaker 1: and lack of harmony in his attributes. Every Wise man
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  Speaker 1: must acknowledge that to be the true religion which ascribed
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  Speaker 1: the greatest perfection to the Supreme Being, and not only
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  Speaker 1: conveyed the worthiest conception of all his attributes his goodness, power, wisdom,
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  Speaker 1: and glory, but demonstrated the harmony and equality existing between them.
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  Speaker 1: Now their religion was effective in acknowledging only two active
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  Speaker 1: principles in the Deity, his Will and his wisdom, while
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  Speaker 1: it left his goodness and greatness inoperative, as though they
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  Speaker 1: were indolent qualities and not called forth into active exercise.
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  Speaker 1: But the Christian faith could not be charged with this defect.
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  Speaker 1: In its doctrine of the Trinity, it conveys the highest
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  Speaker 1: conception of the Deity as the Father, the Son, and
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  Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit in one simple essence and nature. In
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  Speaker 1: the incarnation of the Son, it evinces the harmony that
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  Speaker 1: exists between God's goodness and his greatness, and in the
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  Speaker 1: person of Christ displays the true union of the Creator
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  Speaker 1: and the creature. While in his passion, which he underwent
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  Speaker 1: out of his great love for man, it sets forth
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  Speaker 1: a divine harmony of infinite goodness and condescension, even the
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  Speaker 1: condescension of Him who, for us men and our salvation
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  Speaker 1: and restitution to our primeval state of perfection, underwent those
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  Speaker 1: sufferings and lived and died for man. This style of argument,
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  Speaker 1: whatever else may be thought of, it is orthodox and
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  Speaker 1: evangelical to the core. It surprizes one continually to see
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  Speaker 1: how little medieval theology and how very few romish ideas
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  Speaker 1: there are in Lol's writings. The office of the cross
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  Speaker 1: is met everywhere in Lul's argument with Moslems. He never
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  Speaker 1: built a rickety bridge out of planks of compromise. His
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  Speaker 1: early parliament of religions was not built on the Chicago platform.
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  Speaker 1: The result proved it when persecution followed. There were some
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  Speaker 1: who accepted the truth, and others who turned fanatics. But
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  Speaker 1: note these post cherat viros fomose repatutionis et AliOS quamplurimos
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  Speaker 1: ad baptismum quos toto animo afactabat de ducherre ad perfectum
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  Speaker 1: lumen fidei orthodoxe fta s Loli and footnote one. A
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  Speaker 1: mom pointed out to the Sultan the danger likely to
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  Speaker 1: be set the law of Mohammed if such a zealous
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  Speaker 1: teacher were allowed freely to expose the errors of Islam,
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  Speaker 1: and suggested that Lol be imprisoned and put to death.
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  Speaker 1: He was cast into a dungeon and was only saved
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  Speaker 1: from a worse fate by the inter session of a
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  Speaker 1: less prejudiced leader. This man praised his intellectual ability and
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  Speaker 1: reminded the ruler that a Moslem who imitated the self
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  Speaker 1: devotion of the prisoner in preaching Islam would be highly honored.
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  Speaker 1: The spectacle of a learned and aged Christian philosopher freely
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  Speaker 1: disputing the truth of the Koran in the midst of
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  Speaker 1: Tunis was indeed a striking example of moral courage in
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  Speaker 1: the dark ages. This, says doctor Smith was no careless crusader,
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  Speaker 1: cheered by martial glory or worldly pleasure. His was not
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  Speaker 1: even such a task as that which had called forth
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  Speaker 1: all the courage of the men who first won over
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  Speaker 1: goth And Frank Saxon and Slava Raymond Loew preached christ
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  Speaker 1: to a people with whom apostasy is death, and who
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  Speaker 1: had made Christendom feel their prowess for centuries. Even his
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  Speaker 1: enemies were amazed at such boldness of devotion. The death
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  Speaker 1: sentence was changed to banishment from the country. Well might
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  Speaker 1: Loull rejoice that escape was possible, since the death penalty
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  Speaker 1: on Christians was often applied with barbarous cruelty. Yet Louell
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  Speaker 1: was not ready to submit even to the sentence of banishment,
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  Speaker 1: and so leave his little group of conn coverts to
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  Speaker 1: themselves without instruction or leadership. The ship which had conveyed
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  Speaker 1: him to Tunis was on the point of returning to Genoa.
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  Speaker 1: He was placed on board and warned that if he
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  Speaker 1: ever made his way into the country again, he would
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  Speaker 1: assuredly be stoned to death. Raymond Lowell, however, felt that
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  Speaker 1: with the apostles it was not for him to obey
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  Speaker 1: their threatening that he should speak henceforth to no man
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  Speaker 1: in this name. Perhaps also he felt that his cowardice
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  Speaker 1: at Genoa when setting out, demanded atonement. At any rate,
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  Speaker 1: he managed to escape from the ship by strategy and
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  Speaker 1: to return unaware to the harbor town of Goletta, and
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  Speaker 1: defiance of the edict of banishment. For three long months,
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  Speaker 1: the zealous missionary concealed himself like a warfrat and witnessed
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  Speaker 1: quietly for his master. Such was the character of his
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  Speaker 1: versatile genius that we read. How at this time even
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  Speaker 1: he composed a new scientific work. But since his favorite
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  Speaker 1: missionary method of public discussion was entirely impossible, he finally
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  Speaker 1: embarked for Naples, where for several years he taught and
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  Speaker 1: lectured on his new method, and later, as we have
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  Speaker 1: already seen, he revealed visited Rome. It is evident from
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  Speaker 1: all of Lull's writings as well as from the writings
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  Speaker 1: of his biographers, that his preaching to the Moslems was
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  Speaker 1: not so much polemical as apologetic. He always speaks of
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  Speaker 1: their philosophy and learning with respect. The very titles of
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  Speaker 1: his controversial writings proved the tact and love of his method.
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  Speaker 1: It was weak only in that it placed philosophy ahead
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  Speaker 1: of revelation, and therefore at times attempted to explain what
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  Speaker 1: must ever remain a mystery of faith. As a theologian,
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  Speaker 1: we should remember Lull was not a schoolman, nor did
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  Speaker 1: he ever receive instructions from the great teachers of his time.
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  Speaker 1: He was a self taught man. The speculative and the
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  Speaker 1: practical were blended in his character and also in his system.
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  Speaker 1: His speculative turn entered even into his enthusiasm for the
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  Speaker 1: cause of missions and his zeal as an apologist. His
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  Speaker 1: contests with the school of Averroes, and with the sect
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  Speaker 1: of that school which affirmed the irreconcilable opposition between faith
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  Speaker 1: and a knowledge, would naturally lead him to make the
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  Speaker 1: relations subsisting between these two a matter of special investigation.
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  Speaker 1: Loll did not go to Naples because he had given
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  Speaker 1: up the battle. He went to burnish his weapons and
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  Speaker 1: to win recruits, and to appeal to the popes to
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  Speaker 1: arm for his spiritual crusade against the strongest enemy of
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  Speaker 1: the Kingdom of Christ. When, as we have seen in
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  Speaker 1: a previous chapter, these efforts proved nearly fruitless, he made
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  Speaker 1: other missionary journeys, and in thirteen O seven was again
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  Speaker 1: on the shores of North Africa, fifteen years after his
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  Speaker 1: first banishment. End of chapter six read by Alathia Chris