CENT. VII. V. The conversion of the Jews seemed at a stand PART I in this century; few or none of that obstinate naThe Jews com- tion embraced the gospel in consequence of an inbrace Christi ward conviction of its truth, though in many places pelled to em anity. they were barbarously compelled by the christians to make an outward and feigned profession of their faith in Christ. The emperor Heraclius, incensed against that miserable people by the insinuations, as it is said, of the christian doctors, persecuted them in a cruel manner, and ordered multitudes of them to be inhumanly dragged into the christian churches, in order to be baptized by violence and compulsion. The same odious method of converting was practised in Spain and Gaul, by the monarchs of those nations, against which even the bishops of Rome expressed their displeasure and indignation. Such were the horrid and abominable practices to which an ignorance of the true spirit of Christianity, and the barbarous genius of this age, led the heralds of that divine religion, which was designed to spread abroad charity upon earth, and to render mankind truly and rationally free. Eutychii Annales Ecclesiast. Alexandr. tom, ii, p. 212, CHAPTER II. CONCERNING THE CALAMITOUS EVENTS THAT HAPPENED TO THE PART 1. I. THE christians suffered less in this than in the CENT. VIL preceding centuries. They were sometimes persecuted by the Persian monarchs, but still recover. ed their former tranquillity after transitory scenes of violence and oppression. In England, the new converts to Christianity suffered various calamities under the petty kings, who governed in those bois. terous times; but these kings embraced the gospel themselves, and then the sufferings of the christians ceased. In the eastern countries, and particularly in Syria and Palestine, the Jews, at certain times, attacked the christians with a merciless fury; but, however, with so little success, that they always had reason to repent of their temerity, which was severely chastised. It is true, the church had other enemies, even those who, under the treacherous profession of Christianity, were laying secret schemes for the restoration of paganism; but they were too weak and too inconsiderable to form any attempts that could endanger the christian cause. IL. But a new and most powerful enemy to the Mahomet ap christian cause started up in Arabia, A. D. 612, under the reign of Heraclius. This was Mahomet, an illiterate man," but endowed by nature with 1 Eutychii Annales, tom. ii. p. 236. Jo. Henr. Hottingeri Historia Orientalis, lib. i. cap. iii. p. 129. Mahomet himself expressly declared, that he was totally ignorant of all branches of learning and science, and was even unable either to pears. PART I. CENT. VII. the most flowing and attractive eloquence, and with a vast and penetrating genius," distinguished also by the advantages he enjoyed from the place of his birth, which added a lustre to his name and his undertakings. This adventurous impostor declared publicly, that he was commissioned by God to destroy polytheism and idolatry, and then to reform, first the religion of the Arabians, and afterward the Jewish and christian worship. For these purposes he delivered a new law, which is known by the name of the Koran," or Alcoran; and hav write or read; and his followers have drawn from this ignorance an argument in favour of the divinity of his mission, and of the religion he taught. It is however scarcely credible, that his ignorance was such as it is here described, and several of his sect have called in question the declarations of their chief relating to this point. See Chardin, Voyages en Perse, tom. iv. p. 33, 34. If we consider that Mahomet carried on for a considerable time a successful commerce in Arabia and the adjacent countries, this alone will convince us that he must have been, in some measure, instructed in the arts of reading, writing, and arithmetic, with the knowledge of which a merchant canuot dispense. The writers to whom we are indebted for accounts of the life and religion of Mahomet, are enumerated by Fabricius in his Delectus et Syllabus argument. pro veritate relig. Christianæ, cap. 1. p. 733. To which we may add, Boulainvilliers, Vie de Mahomet, published at London, in 8vo. in the year 1730, and which deserves rather the character of a romance, than of a history. Gagnier, Vie de Mahomet, printed at Amsterdam, in two volumes, 8vo. in 1732, and commendable both for the learning and candour with which it appears to have been composed; and above all the most learned and judicious Sale's Preliminary Dis course, prefixed to his English translation of the Koran, § 2, p. 37. • For an account of the Koran, see principally the learned Sale's preface to his English translation of that work. See also Vertot's Discours sur l'Alcoran, which is subjoined to the third volume of his History of the Knights of Malta, and Chardin's Voyages en Perse, tom. ii- p. 281. The book which the mahometans call the Koran, or Alcoran, is composed of several papers and discourses of Mahomet, which were discov ered and collected after his death, and is by no means that same law ↑ whose excellence Mahomet vaunted so highly. That some parts of the PART I. ing gained several victories over his enemies, he CENT. VIL compelled an incredible multitude of persons, both in Arabia and the neighbouring nations, to receive his doctrine, and range themselves under his standards. Elated with this rapid and unexpected success, he extended yet further his ambitious views, and formed the vast and arduous project of founding an empire. Here again success crowned his adventurous efforts; and his plan was executed with such intrepidity and impudence, that he died master of all Arabia, beside several adjacent provinces. What judg. ment we are bomet. IL It is perhaps impossible, at this time, to form such an accurate judgment of the character, views, to form of Maand conduct of Mahomet, as would entirely satisfy the curiosity of a sagacious inquirer after truth. To give entire credit to the Grecian writers in this matter, is neither prudent nor safe, since their bitter resentment against this hostile invader led them to invent, without scruple or hesitation, fables and calumnies to blacken his character. The Arabians, on the other hand, are as little to be trusted to; as their historians are destitute of veracity and candour, conceal the vices and enormities of their chief, and represent him as the most divine person that ever appeared upon earth, and as the best gift of God to the world. Add to this, that a considerable part of Mahomet's life, and indeed that part of it that would be the most proper to lead us to a true Koran may be copied in the modern one, is indeed very possible; but that the Koran or Law, given by Mahomet to the Arabians, is entirely distinct from the modern Alcoran, is manifest from this, that in the latter, Mahomet appeals to and extols the former, and therefore they must be two different compositions. May it not be conjectured, that the true Koran was an Arabic poem, which Mahomet recited to his followers without giving it to them in writing, ordering them only to commit it to their memory? Such were the laws of the Druids in Gaul, and such also those of the Indians, which the Bramins receive by oral tradition, and get by heart. PART 1. CENT. VII. true knowledge of his character, and of the motives from which he acted, is absolutely unknown. It is highly probable that he was so deeply affected with the odious and abominable superstition which dishonoured his country, that it threw him into a certain fanatical disorder of mind, and made him really imagine that he was supernaturally commis sioned to reform the religion of the Arabians, and to restore among them the worship of one God, It is however at the same time, undoubtedly evident, that when he saw his enterprise crowned with the desired success, he made use of impious frauds to establish the work he had so happily begun, deluded the giddy and credulous multitude by vari ous artifices, and even forged celestial visions to confirm his authority, and remove the difficulties that frequently arose in the course of his affairs, This mixture of imposture is by no means incompatible with a spirit of enthusiasm; for the fanatic, through the unguided warmth of zeal, looks often upon the artifices that are useful to his cause, as pious and acceptable to the Supreme Being; and therefore deceives when he can do it with im punity. The religion which Mahomet taught, is certainly different from what it would have been, if he had met with no opposition in the propaga tion of his opinions. The difficulties he had to encounter obliged him to yield, in some respects, to the reigning systems; the obstinate attachment of the Arabians to the religion of their ancestors, on the one hand, and the fond hope of gaining over to his cause both the Jews and christians on › This, methinks, is the best way of adjusting the controversy that has been carried on by some learned men upon this curious question, viz. Whether Mahomet was a fanatic or an impostor. See Bayle's Diction ary, at the article Mahomet. Ockley's Conquest of Syria, Persia, and Egypt, by the Saracens, vol. i. p. 62. Sale's preface to his translation of the Alcoran, § 2, p. 39. |