"of his limbs shall be supplied by the wings of angels and cherubims*."

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In this manner the prophet adapted his doctrines to times and circumstances, and thus, as prudence and policy required, he preached. The public temper was soothed and conciliated, the habits and prejudices of men were indulged; the Jewish, the Christian, and the Pagan Arab, were equally flattered by an artful adaptation of the new religion to their prescriptive persuasions; the authority of command, the force of menace, the seductions of promise, were employed with sagacity and success; and heaven. and hell, in all the blessedness of the one, and all the horrors of the other, were rendered instrumental to the accomplishment of a plan, which, after the experiment of a few years, seemed to have nothing less in view than the universal domination of a false religion, and the subjugation of mankind to the authority of an impostor.

In his private life, the Prophet was not less corrupt than in his public. Whatever may be the moral wisdom of his precepts, it was contradicted by the unrestricted vices of his life. He seemed to have forgotten that the principle preached is best elucidated by the example of the preacher; and that religion is supported by at least one essential and cogent argument, which is not merely promulgated by the lips, but recommended by the practice of him who proclaims it. In the whole course of his career, the

See Gibbon, vol. ix. 256. The author of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire indulges his philosophical moderation in the life of the Prophet; and Julian the apostate, and Mahomet the apostle, seem to have experienced, in an equal degree, the favour of the historian.

lofty exhortations of the legislator were falsified by the hypocrisy and sensuality of the man; and we may reasonably suppose that the Koran, if it had not been supported by fraud and by the sword, would have fallen by the profligacy and excesses of its author. His vices were not the result of the common infirmity of our nature, but the progeny of the worst and most violent of the passions. Instead of endeavouring to palliate or conceal them, they were openly vindicated by the authority of heaven; and, while he daily accommodated his doctrines to his obscenity, and justified his obscenity by his doctrines; while he violated a voluntary oath, by his cohabitation with Mary*; or selected for his pleasures, in direct opposition to his own laws, the reluctant wife of his adopted son; or authorized the secret assassination of the hostile Hoadheilitet; or abrogated the restrictive precept in the hour of passion, which he had brought from heaven at a cooler and chaster moment; he still proclaimed himself the associate of angels, and the apostle of God; and still, in right of his celestial mission, called for the obedience, the reverence, and the devotion of his followers.

They who succeeded to the power of this bold and successful impostor, were, in no wise, inferior to their great master, in the energy with which they supported the standard of Islem. He had bequeathed to them the tribes of Arabia, consolidated into a community of fanatics, and distinguished by their implicit faith, their intrepid enthusiasm, their exclusive bigotry, and their sanguinary and desolating zeal.

*The accommodating Gabriel descended from heaven to absolve the oath.

† Modern Universal History, vol. i. p. 124.

The legacy was employed with sufficient effect. The voice of Ali, and of the succeeding caliphs, was heard only to call the faithful to battle. "Idolaters, "conversion, or death! Christians, and Jewish

dogs, the Koran, the tribute, or the sword! Be"lievers, victory, and spoil, and the joys of Para"dise!" Such was the perpetual war-cry of the fanatics. Disdaining the slow and less effectual arts of persuasion, they prosecuted their long career of violence with the most orthodox uniformity of vigour and courage; and the bloody harvest of the seeds which had been sown by the apostle, was reaped and gathered by a race breathing the spirit of exterminating war, and exhibiting to the world a frightful example of the most sanguinary, ungovernable, and destructive fanaticism.

The conclusion is obvious. The founder of the Koran was worthy of the religion he propagated, his followers of the founder, and the religion of both. The impostor was a hardy criminal in a robe of triumph. The faith was an artful falsehood, recommended by the imputed authority of heaven. The successors were enthusiasts, armed to establish their throne and their creed in the blood of mankind. The whole tale impresses us with aversion and disgust. We discover, while we read, the effects produced by an unbridled fanaticism; and we deplore the miseries which that fanaticism has brought upon the world.

SECT. IV.

The founder of the Gospel-Ilis early circumstances-Disadvantages under which he commenced his ministry-The history of his life unostentatious, simple, and credible-His conduct holy and disinterested-Sublimity of his motives-Perfection of his exampleThe attestations of evangelists, apostles, disciples, friends, and enemies, to the excellence of his life-His character as a public teacher-Mode and temper of his address—His humility, dignity, authority-His allegories and parables—His undeviating impartiality, and his uncompromising, though meek and lowly, spiritHis prudential wisdom- His tempered zeal-His gentle, charitable, and patient teaching - Comparative inferiority of all the other legislators of man-The evidence afforded, by this view of a divine character and a divine mission—His disciples.

THE history of Christ, as it is recorded in the Gospel, has derived no embellishment from human eloquence. It is a narrative, throughout, of which the details are too artless to excite suspicion, or to imply contrivance. The virtues which it exhibits are neither blazoned with skill, nor amplified by exaggeration. There is nothing of the taste of Xenophon, or the pomp of Plato, to seduce or deceive. Every where the phrase is unaffected and simple. And writers have demonstrated, in all they have written, a guileless and unpretending piety, which might justly defend them from every imputation of artifice or of fraud.

When the philosopher of Geneva exercised the keenness of his scrutiny on this subject, the scepticism of the ambiguous Christian was repressed; and he who had ventured to reject the testimony of miracles and of prophecy, openly and earnestly embraced the evidence which is to be deduced from the style and

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manner of the evangelical narration. "assert," says he, "that the history of the Gospel "was invented at pleasure? But it is not so that men invent. It would be more inconceivable that "a number of men should forge this book in concert, than that one man should furnish the subject "of it. Jewish authors would never have adopted “such a manner, nor devised such a morality; and "the Gospel has marks of truth so great, so striking, "and so perfectly inimitable, that its inventors would "be still more astonishing than the astonishing cha"racter which it records *."

I advert, then, dispassionately and humbly, to that august character, as it is delineated in the pages of the Gospel; and I inquire how far the virtues which he practised, and the wisdom with which he taught, may be admitted to corroborate or to confirm the claims of Christ to the homage and acceptance of mankind!

I. Selfishness and fraud derive their motives from the world, and, as they are the last and worst defects in the founder of a religion, because they discredit the doctrines which he proclaims, and avert the faith which he requires; sincerity and disinterestedness are among the most essential virtues, because they afford a primary evidence of the truth of his pretensions. We ask, then, what appear to have been the motives of Christ? Did he display any anxiety for worldly acquisitions? Do we behold him occupied with sordid schemes for sordid purposes? Has he, in any instance, descended to the vile competitions of temporal interests, or been governed by the fallacious views of temporal glory? Did he, during his

*Rousseau, Emile, vol. iii. p. 179. Amst. 1762.