whatever is corruptible must decay and perist.77 In the Au thor of the universe, his rational enthusiasm confessed and adored an infinite and eternal being, without form or place, without issue or similitude, present to our most secret thoughts, existing by the necessity of his own nature, and deriving from himself all moral and intellectual perfection. These sublime truths, thus announced in the language of the prophet,78 are firmly held by his disciples, and defined with metaphysical precision by the interpreters of the Koran. A philosophic theist might subscribe the popular creed of the Mahometans; 79 a creed too sublime, perhaps, for our present faculties. What object remains for the fancy, or even the understanding, when we have abstracted from the unknown substance all ideas of time and space, of motion and matter, of sensation and reflection? The first principle of reason and revelation was confirmed by the voice of Mahomet: his proselytes, from India to Morocco, are distinguished by the name of Unitarians; and the danger of idolatry has been prevented by the interdiction of images. The doctrine of eternal decrees and absolute predestination is strictly embraced by the Mahometans; and they struggle, with the common difficulties, how to reconcile the prescience of God with the freedom and responsibility of man how to explain the permission of evil under the reign of infinite power and infinite goodness.

The God of nature has written his existence on all his works, and his law in the heart of man. To restore the knowledge of the one, and the practice of the other, has been the real or pretended aim of the prophets of every age: the liberality of Mahomet allowed to his predecessors the same credit which he claimed for himself; and the chain of inspiration was prolonged from the fall of Adam to the promulga

77 This train of thought is philosophically exemplified in the character of Abraham, who opposed in Chaldæa the first introduction of idolatry, (Koran, c. 6, p. 106. D'Herbelot, Bibliot. Orient. p. 13.)

78 See the Koran, particularly the second, (p. 30,) the fifty-seventh, (p. 437,) the fifty-eighth (p. 441) chapters, which proclaim the omnipotence of the Creator.

79 The most orthodox creeds are translated by Pocock, (Specimen, p. 274, 284-292,) Ockley, (Hist. of the Saracens, vol. ii. p. Ixxxii.xcv.,) Roland, (de Religion. Moham. 1. i. p. 7-13,) and Chardin, (Voy ages en Perse, tom. iv. p. 4-28.) The great truth, that God is with out similitude, is foolishly criticized by Maracci, (Alcoran, tom i. part ni. p. 87-94,) be cause he made man after his own image.

of

pro

tion of the Koran.80 During that period, some rays phetic light had been imparted to one hundred and twenty-four thousand of the elect, discriminated by their respective meas. ure of virtue and grace; three hundred and thirteen apostles were sent with a special commission to recall their country from idolatry and vice; one hundred and four volumes have een dictated by the Holy Spirit; and six legislators of tran scendent brightness have announced to mankind the six successive revelations of various rites, but of one immutable religion. The authority and station of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Christ, and Mahomet, rise in just gradation above each other; but whosoever hates or rejects any one of the prophets is numbered with the infidels. The writings of the patriarchs were extant only in the apocryphal copies of the Greeks and Syrians: 81 the conduct of Adam had not entitled him to the gratitude or respect of his children; the seven precepts of Noah were observed by an inferior and imperfect class of the proselytes of the synagogue; 82 and the memory of Abraham was obscurely revered by the Sabians in his native land of Chaldæa: of the myriads of prophets, Moses and Christ alone lived and reigned; and the remnant of the inspired writings was comprised in the books of the Old and the New Testament. The miraculous story of Moses is consecrated and embellished in the Koran; 83 and the captive Jews enjoy the secret revenge of imposing their own belief on the

80 Reland, de Relig. Moham. 1. i. p. 17-47. Sale's Preliminary Discourse, p. 73-76. Voyage de Chardin, tom. iv. p. 28-37, and 37 -47, for the Persian addition, "Ali is the vicar of God!" Yet the precise number of the prophets is not an article of faith.

For the apocryphal books of Adam, see Fabricius, Codex Pseudepigraphus V. T. p. 27-29; of Seth, p. 154-157; of Enoch, p. 160 -219. But the book of Enoch is consecrated, in some measure, by the quotation of the apostle St. Jude; and a long legendary fragment is alleged by Syncellus and Scaliger.*

89 The seven precepts of Noah are explained by Marsham, (Canon. Chronicus, p. 154-180,) who adopts, on this occasion, the learning and credulity of Selden."

33 The articles of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, &c., in the Biblio thèque of D'Herbelot, are gayly bedecked with the fanciful legends of the Mahometans, who have built on the groundwork of Scripture and the Talmud.

The whole book has since been recovered in the Ethiopic language, and has beer. edited and translated by Archbishop Lawrence, Oxford, 1821 -M

nations whose recent creeds they deride. For the author of Christianity, the Mahometans are taught by the prophet to entertain a high and mysterious reverence.84 "Verily, Christ Jesus, the son of Mary, is the apostle of God, and his word, which he conveyed unto Mary, and a Spirit proceeding from him; honorable in this world, and in the world to come; and one of those who approach near to the presence of God." 1985 The wonders of the genuine and apocryphal gos. pels 86 are profusely heaped on his head; and the Latin church has not disdained to borrow from the Koran the immaculate conception 87 of his virgin mother. Yet Jesus was a mere mortal; and, at the day of judgment, his testimony will serve to condemn both the Jews, who reject him as a prophet, and the Christians, who adore him as the Son of God. The malice of his enemies aspersed his reputation, and conspired against his life; but their intention only was guilty; a phantom or a criminal was substituted on the cross; and the innocent saint was translated to the seventh heaven.88 During six hundred years the gospel was the way of truth and salvation; but the Christians insensibly forgot both the laws and example of their founder; and Mahomet was in

84 Koran, c. 7, p. 128, &c., c. 10, p. 173, &c. D'Herbelot, p. 647, &c 85 Koran, c. 3, p. 40, c. 4, p. 80. D'Herbelot, p. 399, &c.

96 See the Gospel of St. Thomas, or of the Infancy, in the Codex Apocryphus N. T. of Fabricius, who collects the various testimonies concerning it, (p. 128-158.) It was published in Greek by Cotelier, and in Arabic by Sike, who thinks our present copy more recent than Mahomet. Yet his quotations agree with the original about the speech of Christ in his cradle, his living birds of clay, &c. (Sike, c. i. p. 16, 169, 2. 36, p. 198, 199, c. 46, p. 206. Cotelier, c. 2, p. 160, 161)

87 It is darkly hinted in the Koran, (c. 3, p. 39,) and more clearly explained by the tradition of the Sonnites, (Sale's Note, and Maracci, tom. ii. p. 112.) In the xiith century, the immaculate conception was condemned by St. Bernard as a presumptuous novelty, (Fra Paolo, Istoria del Concilio di Trento, l. ii.)

8 See the Koran, c. 3, v. 53, and c. 4, v. 156, of Maracci's edition. Deus est præstantissimus dolose agentium (an odd praise) ... nec crucifixerunt eum, sed objecta est eis similitudo; an expression that may suit with the system of the Docetes; but the commentators believe (Maracci, tom. ii. p. 113-115, 173. Sale, p. 42, 43, 79, that another man, a friend or an enemy, was crucified in the likeness of Jesus; a fable which they had read in the Gospel of St. Barnabus, and which had been started as early as the time of Irenæus, by some Ebionite heretics, (Beausobre, Hist. du Manicheis me, tom. ii. p. 25. Mosheim, de Reh Christ. p. 353.)

structed by the Gnostics to accuse the church, as well as the synagogue, of corrupting the integrity of the sacred text.89 The piety of Moses and of Christ rejoiced in the assurance of a future prophet, more illustrious than themselves: the evangelic promise of the Paraclete, or Holy Ghost, was prefigured in the name, and accomplished in the person, of Mahomet,9 the greatest and the last of the apostles of God.

The communication of ideas requires a similitude of thought and language: the discourse of a philosopher would vibrate without effect on the ear of a peasant; yet how minute is the distance of their understandings, if it be compared with the contact of an infinite and a finite mind, with the word of God expressed by the tongue or the pen of a mortal! The inspiration of the Hebrew prophets, of the apostles and evangelists of Christ, might not be incompatible with the exercise of their reason and memory; and the diversity of their genius is strongly marked in the style and composition of the books of the Old and New Testament. But Mahomet was content with a character, more humble, yet more sublime, of a simple editor; the substance of the Koran,91 according to himself or his disciples,, is uncreated and eternal; subsisting in the essence of the Deity, and inscribed with a pen of light on the table of his everlasting decrees. A paper copy, in a volume of silk and gems, was brought down to the lowest heaven by the angel Gabriel, who, under the Jewish economy, had indeed been despatched on the most important errands; and this trusty messenger successively revealed the chapters and verses to the Arabian prophet. Instead of a perpetual and perfect measure of the

"This charge is obscurely urged in the Koran, (c. 3, p. 45;) but neither Mahomet, nor his followers, are sufficiently versed in languages and criticism to give any weight or color to their suspicions. Yet the Arians and Nestorians could relate some stories, and the illiterate prophet might listen to the bold assertions of the Manichæans. See Beausobre, tom. i. p. 291–305.

9) Among the prophecies of the Old and New Testament, which are perverted by the fraud or ignorance of the Mussulmans, they apply to the prophet the promise of the Paraclete, or Comforter, which had been already usurped by the Montanists and Manichæans, (Beausobre, Hist. Critique du Manicheisme, tom. i. p. 263, &c.;) and the easy hange of letters περικλυτος for παράκλητος, affords the etymology of the name of Mohammed, (Maracci, tom. i. part. i p. 15-28.)

For the Koran, see D'Herbelot, n 85-88. Maracci, tom i. in Vit Mohammed. p. 32--45. Sale, Preliminary Discourse, p. 56 -70.

divine will, the fragments of the Koran were produced at he discretion of Mahomet; each revelation is suited to the emer. gencies of his policy or passion; and all contradiction is removed by the saving maxim, that any text of Scripture is abrogated or modified by any subsequent passage. The word of God, and of the apostle, was diligently recorded by his disciples on palm-leaves and the shoulder-bones of mut on; and the pages, without order or connection, were cast nto a domestic chest, in the custody of one of his w.ves. Two years after the death of Mahomet, the sacred volume was collected and published by his friend and successor Abubeker: the work was revised by the caliph Othman, in the thirtieth year of the Hegira; and the various editions of the Koran assert the same miraculous privilege of a uniform and incorruptible text. In the spirit of enthusiasm or vanity, the prophet rests the truth of his mission on the merit of his book; audaciously challenges both men and angels to imitate the beauties of a single page; and presumes to assert that God alone could dictate this incomparable performance.92 This argument is most powerfully addressed to a devout Arabian, whose mind is attuned to faith and rapture; whose ear is delighted by the music of sounds; and whose ignorance is incapable of comparing the productions of human genius.93 The harmony and copiousness of style will not reach, in a version, the European infidel: he will peruse with impatience the endless incoherent rhapsody of fable, and precept, and declamation, which seldom excites a sentiment or an idea, which sometimes crawls in the dust, and is sometimes lost in the clouds. The divine attributes exalt the fancy of the Arabian missionary; but his loftiest strains must yield to the sublime simplicity of the book of Job, composed in a remote age, in the same country, and in the same language.94 If

"Koran, c. 17, v. 89. In Sale, p. 235, 236. In Maracci, p. 410.❤ 93 Yet a sect of Arabians was persuaded, that it might be equaled cr surpassed by a human pen, (Pocock, Specimen, p. 221, &c. ;) and Maracci (the polemic is too hard for the translator) derides the rhyining affectation of the most applauded passage, (tom. i. part ii. p. 69 -75.)

Colloquia (whether real or fabulous) in mediâ Arabiâ atque ab Arabibus habita, (Lowth, de Poesi Hebræorum Prælect. xxxii. 1 xxiii. xxxiv. with his German editor, Michaelis, Epimetron iv.) Yet

• Compare Von Hammer, Geschichte der Assassinen, p 11

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