L. various rites, but of one immutable religion. The au- CHAP. 66 86 81 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. 82 The seven precepts of Noah are explained by Marsham (Canon. Chronicus, p. 154-180), who adopts, on this occasion, the learning and creduli, ty of Selden. 83 The articles of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, &c. in the Bibliotheque of d'Herbelo, are gaily bedecked with the fanciful legends of the Mahometans who have built on the ground-work of Scripture and the Talmud. 84 Kran, 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. 86 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 Greck 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 craie, his living birds of clay, &c. (Sike, c. 1. p. 168, 169 c. 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 CHAP. ther. Yet Jesus was a mere mortal; and, at the day L. 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. During six hundred years the gospel was the way of truth and salvation'; but the Christians insensibly forgot both the laws and the example of their founder; and Mahomet was instructed by the Gnostics to accuse the church as well as the synagogue, of corrupting the integrity of the sacred text. The piety of Moses and of Christ rejoiced in the assurance of the 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, the greatest and the last of the apostles of God. The Ko ran. 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 by the tradition of the Somnites (Sale'. 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). 88 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. Barnabas, and which had been started as early as the time of Irenæus, by some Ebionite heretics (Beausobre, Hist. du Manicheisme. tom. ii. p. 25. Mosheim de Reb. Christ. p. 353). 89 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 colour 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. 90 Among the prophecies of the Old and New Testament, which are perverted by the fraud or ignorance of the Musulmans, 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 change of letters, TEPIXAUTOs for Tapaxaros, affords the etymology of the name of Mohammed (Maracci, tom. i. part i. p. 15-28). L. or the pen of a mortal! The inspiration of the Hebrew CHAP. 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", 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 divine will, the fragments of the Koran were produced at the discretion of Mahomet; each revelation is suited to the emergencies 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 mutton; and the pages without order or connexion, were cast into a domestic chest in the custody of one of his wives. 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 an 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. 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 ig 91 For the Koran, see d'Herbelot, p. 85-88. Maracci, tom. i. in Vit. Mohammed. p. 32--45. Sale, Preliminary Discourse, p. 56-70. 92 Koran, c. 17. v. 89. In Sale, p. 235, 236. In Maracci, p. 410. CHAP. norance is incapable of comparing the productions of L. human genius. 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. If the composition of the Koran exceed the faculties of a man, to what superior intelligence should we ascribe the Iliad of Homer or the Philippics of Demosthenes? In all religions, the life of the founder supplies the silence of his written revelation: the sayings of Mahomet were so many lessons of truth; his actions so many examples of virtue; and the public and private memorials were preserved by his wives and companions. At the end of two hundred years, the Sonna or oral law was fixed and consecrated by the labours 'of Al Bochari, who discriminated seven thousand two hundred and seventy-five genuine traditions, from a mass of three hundred thousand reports, of a more doubtful or spurious character. Each day the pious author prayed in the temple of Mecca, and performed his ablutions with the water of Zemzem: the pages were successively deposited on the pulpit, and the sepulchre of the apostle; and the work has been approved by the four orthodox sects of the Sonnites95. Miracles. The mission of the ancient prophets, of Moses and of Jesus, had been confirmed by many splendid prodigies; and Mahomet was repeatedly urged, by the inhabitants 93 Yet a sect of Arabians was persuaded, that it might be equalled or surpassed by an human pen (Pocock, Specimen, p. 221, &c.): and Maracci (he polemic is too hard for the translator) derides the rhyming affectation of the most applauded passage (tom. 1. part ii. p. 69–75). 94 Colloquia (whether real or fabulous) in media Arabia atque ab Arabibus habita (Lowth, de Poesi Hebræorum Prælect. xxxi, xxxii, xxxiv. with his German editor Michaelis, Epimetron iv). Yet Michaelis (p. 671—673), has detected many Egyptian images, the elephantiasis, papyrus, Nile, crocodile, &c. The language is ambiguously styled Arabico-Hebræa. The resemblance of the sister dialects was much more visible in their childhood than in their mature age (Michaelis, p 682. Schultens, in Præfat. Job). 95 Al Bochari died A. H. 224. See d'Herbelot, p. 208. 416. 827. Gagnier, Not. ad Abulfed. c. 19. p. 33. L. of Mecca and Medina, to produce a similar evidence of CHAP. his divine legation; to call down from heaven the angel or the volume of his revelation, to create a garden in the desert, or to kindle a conflagration in the unbe lieving city. As often as he is pressed by the demands of the Koreish, he involves himself in the obscure boast of vision and prophecy, appeals to the internal proofs of his doctrine, and shields himself behind the providence of God, who refuses those signs and wonders that would depreciate the merit of faith and aggravate the guilt of infidelity. But the modest or angry tone of his apologies betrays his weakness and vexation; aud these passages of scandal establish, beyond suspicion, the integrity of the Koran. The votaries of Mahomet are more assured than himself of his miraculous gifts, and their confidence and credulity increase as they are farther removed from the time and place of his spiritual exploits. They believe or affirm that trees went forth to meet him; that he was saluted by stones; that water gushed from his fingers; that he fed the hungry, cured the sick, and raised the dead; that a beam groaned to him; that a camel complained to him; that a shoulder of mutton informed him of its being poisoned; and that both animate and inanimate nature were equally subject to the apostle of God". His dream of a nocturnal journey is seriously described as a real and corporeal transaction. A mysterious animal, the Borak, conveyed him from the temple of Mecca to that of Jerusalem: with his companion Gabriel, he successively ascended the seven heavens, and received and repaid the salutations of the patriarchs, the prophets, and the angels, in their respective mansions. Beyond the seventh heaven, Mahomet alone was permitted to proceed; he passed the veil of unity, approached within two bow-shots of the throne, and felt a cold that pierced him to the heart, 96 See more remarkably, Koran, c. 2. 6. 12, 13. 17. Prideaux (Life of Mahomet, p. 18, 19.) has confounded the imposter. Maracci, with a more learned apparatus, has shewn that the passages which deny his miracles are clear and positive (Alcoran, tom. i. part ii. p. 7-12), and those which seem to assert them, are ambiguous and insufficient (p. 12-22). 97 See the Specimen Hist. Arabum, the text of Abulpharagius, p. 17. the notes of Pocock, p 187-190. D'Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 76, 77. Voyages de Chardin, tom. iv. p. 200-203. Maracci (Alcoran, tom. i. p. 22-64.) has most laboriously collected and confuted the miracles and prophecies of Mahomet, which, according to some writers, amount to three thousand. |