Mahomet no Enthusiast.

Some imagine, that Mahomet might believe what he said. They reason after this manner: all Christians are agreed, that the devil is the true author of Mahometism, and that he only made use of Mahomet as an instrument to establish in the world a false religion. We must therefore say, that Mahomet was delivered up to the devil, by the providence of God; and that the power God gave the devil over this wretch, was much less limited, than that he had over Job; for God did not permit the devil to pervert the soul of Job, as he permitted him to make use of the soul of Mahomet to deceive mankind. The devil having so great a power over him, by the confession of all Christians, as to instigate him to spread his new opinions; could he not persuade him, that God had established him a prophet? Could he not inspire him with that vast design, of planting a new religion? Could he not make him willing to undergo a thousand troubles, in order to deceive the world: and could he not seduce him? What reason can any one have to admit the one, and deny the other? is it more difficult to move the will to great designs, in spite of all the light of reason, that opposes them, than to deceive the understanding, by a false persuasion, or to incline the will to embrace a false light, so as to acquiesce in it as a true revelation? I must confess, that one of these things appears not to me more difficult than the other; for if the devil could seduce Mahomet, is it not very probable, that he did in effect seduce him? This man would be the fitter to execute the devil’s designs, if he were so persuaded, than if he were not. This cannot be denied me; for all things being otherwise equal, it is plain, that a man, who believes he does well, will

always be more active and in earnest, than he who believes he does ill. We must therefore say, that the devil managing very dexterously the execution of his projects, did not forget the wheel that was most necessary to his engine, and which would best increase the motion of it: that is to say, he seduced this false prophet. If he could, he would; and if he would, he did it; and we have already proved, that he could do it. Moreover, say these gentlemen, the Koran is the work of a fanatic: every thing in it savours of disorder and confusion; it is a chaos of disjointed thoughts. A deceiver would have ranged his doctrines better; a comedian would have been more polite. And let none say, that the devil would never have persuaded him to oppose idolatry, nor to have recommended so much the love of the true God, and of virtue; for this proves too much; since thence we might conclude, that Mahomet was not his instrument.

How specious soever these reasons may appear, I chuse rather to concur with the common opinion, that Mahomet was an impostor: elsewhere his insinuating behaviour, and dexterous address, in procuring friends, very plainly shew, that he made use of religion only as an expedient to aggrandize himself.

" Facetus moribus, voce suavi, visitandi et excipiendi vices talionis lege suis reddens, pauperes munerans, magnates honorans, con versans cum junioribus, petentem à se aliquid repulsa nunquam abigens, aut sermone facili non excipiens. Elmacin. apud Hotting. Hist. Oriental, pag. 241. ⁷⁹—He was of a pleasant disposition, a sweet voice, receiving, and paying visits regularly, bestowing gifts on the poor, honouring the great, conversing with young men, never sending away a petitioner repulsed, but always receiving him courteously.” Had a true fanatic ever such a character? Did he ever understand

his business so well? Though a man should, for some time, fancy that God has sent an angel to reveal to him the true religion, yet, might not he perceive the delusion, when he found, that he could not confirm his mission by any miracle? Now this was the case of Mahomet: the Koreishites offered to embrace his new religion, provided he wrought miracles; but he never had the boldness to promise them any: he cunningly evaded their proposal, sometimes telling them, that miracles were not necessary, and sometimes by referring them to the excellency of the Koran. Was not this sufficient to convince him, that he was not extraordinarily called by God to found a new religion?

Again: to colour his incontinence, which moved him to marry several wives, he forged a revelation from God, that this was allowed. He must therefore insert this article in his Koran; but because he liked his servant-maids, and lay with them, therefore he stood in need of a new revelation in favour of adultery; and so it was necessary he should make a distinct article of the concubinage of husbands. He had but two wives, when Marina, his servant-maid, a very pretty lass, pleased him so well, that he lay with her, before she came to a marriageable age. His wives surprised him in the very fact, and were transported with rage against him. He swore to them, that he would never return to her any more if they would keep it secret; but, because he broke his oath, they made a great noise, and went away from his house. To remove this great scandal, he feigned a voice from heaven, which informed him that it was lawful for him to have to do with his servant-maids. Thus this impostor began with committing a crime, and finished with converting it into a general law. This does not at all favour of Fanaticism. A good touch-stone to discover whether those who boast of inspiration, either to give out

new prophecies, or to explain the old, such as the Apocalypse, act sincerely, is, to examine whether their doctrine changes proportionably as the times change, and as their own peculiar interest becomes different from what it was before. With an impudence, that cannot be sufficiently admired, Mahomet forged, that God forbade incest to other men, but allowed it him by a peculiar grace.

“He forbids others,” says Hoornbeek, “under severe penalties, in his chapter of women, to marry within the degree of consanguinity: mix not with women, which have been known by your father, because it is base, evil, and unjust: your mothers, your daughters, your aunts, and cousins, are forbidden you, &c. But he indulges himself in the enjoyment of any one, as it were by authority from heaven. In his chapter of heresies or sects; O prophet, says God, to him, we give thee power over all thy wives, to whom thou shalt pay their hire, and whomsoever thou shalt take unto thee, whether they be the daughters of thy uncle, or the daughters of thy mother’s brother, or the daughters of thy mother-in-law, which have journied with thee, and every woman, that is a believer, and is willing to prostitute herself to thee a prophet: and this privilege is granted to thee in a special and peculiar manner; but not to other men.”

He durst not, however, always exercise his prerogative, for he said, he was forbidden for the future, to take away his neighbour’s wife. He was contented to tell the world, that God approved what was past, provided he did not relapse into it again. For the better understanding of this, we must know, that Mahomet had already married nine wives, and then espoused a tenth, which he took from his servant, who murmured at it. The false prophet, to put a stop to the scandal, made a shew of desiring to restore what he had taken; but, because he had not

really a mind to do so, he quickly found out a way to dispense with it. He feigned, that God had censured this resolution, and had ordered him to keep his tenth wife, without paying any deference to human scandal, to the prejudice of a celestial approbation. He was very sensible however, that this would alarm all husbands against him; and therefore, to satisfy every body, he published, that, for the future, by the order of God, he would let husbands enjoy their own wives, even though he should fall in love with them.

The variations of his prophetic spirit were in fact always suited to the change of his private interest. We shall keep to the words of Dr. Prideaux Prideaux’s Life of Mahomet, pag.155 ⁸⁰. “Almost all his Koran was framed after this manner, to answer some private design he had, according as occasion required. If he had any new thing to set on foot, or some objection against himself or his religion to answer, some difficulty to resolve, or some discontent among the people to pacify, some scandal to remove, or something else to be done for carrying on his designs, he had commonly recourse to the angel Gabriel for some new revelation; and presently he inserted in the Koran some addition, proper to answer the ends he then proposed to himself. So that the whole almost was composed upon occasions of this nature, to produce in his own party the effect which he proposed to himself; and all his commentators plainly enough confess it, by shewing exactly the reasons, for which each chapter had been sent them from heaven. But this was the cause of the many contradictions, that are to be found in this book; for as this impostor’s affairs and designs varied, he was obliged to vary his pretended revelations; which is so well known among those of his sect, that they all confess this to be true; upon which account, when these contradictions are such, that they cannot be reconciled, they revoke one of the contradictory places; and they reckon in the whole

Koran more than one hundred and fifty verses thus revoked, which is the best expedient they can take for saving the contradiction and inconsistencies that are in it.” This proof of imposture is of great force; I have mentioned it already; but here I ought to add, that it would be too far extended, if it should be made use of without exception against all the expounders of the Apocalypse, who change their hypotheses as the general affairs take a different turn. It may sometimes happen, that there is nothing but fanaticism in the inconstancy of those men, and that not being sensible of the disorder of their brain, they are no less sincere, when they vary, than when they do not. Let us therefore make use of a distinction, and say only, that the conduct of those, who change their apocalyptic system, according to the news in the Gazette, and always agreeably to the general design of their writings, is very often an imposture, but not always.