CHAPTER III.

Mohammed forms the design of palming a new Religion upon the world-Difficult to account for this determination-Considerations suggested Retires to the Cave of Hera-Announces to Cadijah the Visits of Gabriel with a portion of the Koran-She becomes a Con vert-His slow progress in gaining Proselytes-Curious Coincidence,

BEING now raised by his marriage to an equality with the first citizens of Mecca, Mohammed was enabled to pass the next twelve years of his life in comparative affluence and ease; and, until the age of forty, nothing remarkable distinguished the history of the future prophet. It is probable that he still followed the occupation of a merchant, as the Arabian nation, like their ancestors the Ishmaelites, have always been greatly addicted to commerce. It was during this interval, however, that he meditated and matured the bold design of palming a new religion upon the world. This there. fore becomes, in its results, the most important period in his whole life; and it is greatly to be regretted, that the policy of the impostor, and the ravages of time, have deprived us of all sources of information, which might afford a satisfactory clew to the real origin of this design. The circumstances which first suggested it, the peculiar train of reflection which went to cherish it, the ends which he proposed to accomplish by it, together with the real agencies employed in bringing it forward, are

all matters wrapped in impenetrable mystery; yet these are the very points on which the inquiring mind, intent upon tracing great events to their primary sources, is most eager for information. At the present day, it is impossible to determine whether Mohammed commenced his career as a deluded enthusiast or a designing impostor. Those who have most profoundly considered the whole subject of Mohammedanism in its rise, progress, genius, and effects, are, on this point, divided in their opinion.

On the one hand, it is supposed by some, that Mohammed was constitutionally addicted to religious contemplation-that his native temperament was strongly tinged with enthusiasm-and that he might originally have been free from any sinister motive in giving scope to the innate propensities of his character. As the result of his retired speculations he might, moreover, it is said, have been sincerely persuaded in his own mind of the grand article of his faith, the unity of God, which in his opinion was violated by all the rest of the world, and, therefore, might have deemed it a meritorious work to endeavour to liberate his countrymen and his race from the bondage of error. Impelled by this motive in the outset, and being aided by a warm imagination, he might at length have come, it is affirmed, as enthusiasts have often done, to the firm conviction, that he was destined by Providence to be the instrument of a great and glorious reformation; and the circumstance of his being accustomed to solitary retirement would na

turally cause this persuasion to take a deeper root in his mind. In this manner, it is supposed, his career might have commenced; but finding himself to have succeeded beyond his expectations, and the force of temptation growing with the increase of his popularity and power, his self-love at last overpowered his honesty, ambition took the place of devotion, his designs expanded with his success, and he who had entered upon a pious enterprise as a well-meaning reformer degenerated in the end into a wilful impostor, a gross debauchee, and an unprincipled despot.

On the other hand, it is maintained, and we think with more of an air of probability, that his conduct from the very first bears the marks of a deep-laid and systematic design; that although he might not have anticipated all the results which crowned the undertaking, yet in every step of his progress he acted with a shrewdness and circumspection very little savouring of the dreams of enthusiasm; that the pretended visits of an angel, and his publishing, from time to time, the chapters of the Koran, as a divine revelation, are wholly inconsistent with the idea of his being merely a deluded fanatic; and that, at any rate, the discovery of his inability to work a miracle, the grand voucher of a divine messenger, must have been sufficient to dispel the fond illusion from his mind.

Many circumstances, moreover, it is said, may be adduced, which might have concurred to prompt and favour the design of this arch imposture. 1. Mohammed's genius was bold and aspiring.

His family had formerly held the ascendency in rank and power in the city of Mecca, and it was merely his misfortune in having lost his father in infancy, and being left an orphan, that prevented him from succeeding to the same distinction. It was therefore the dictate of a very obvious principle of human nature, that he should contrive, if possible, to make the fortune and influence acquired by his marriage a step to still higher ho nours, and to raise himself to the ancient dignity of his house. 2. He had travelled much in his own and foreign countries. His journeys would of course bring him acquainted with the tenets of the different sects of the religious world, particularly the Jewish and the Christian, which were then predominant, and the latter greatly corrupted and torn to pieces with internal dissensions. Being a sagacious observer of men, he could not fail to perceive that the distracted state of the exist→ ing religions had put the Eastern world into a posture extremely favourable to the propagation of a new system. His own countrymen, the people of Arabia, were, indeed, for the most part sunk in idolatry, but the vestiges of a purer faith, derived from patriarchal times, were still lingering among them, to a degree that afforded him the hope of recovering them to a sounder creed. 3. The political state of things at that time was such as signally to favour his project. The Roman empire, on the one hand, and the Persian monarchy on the other, had both become exceedingly enfeebled in the process of a long decline, towards

the last stages of which they were now rapidly approaching. The Arabs, on the contrary, were a strong and flourishing people, abounding in numbers, and inured to hardships. Their being divided into independent tribes presented also advantages for the spread of a new faith which would not have existed had they been consolidated into one government. As Mohammed had considerable opportunities to acquaint himself with the peculiar situation of these empires; as he had carefully noted the genius and disposition of the people which composed them; and as he possessed a capacity to render every circumstance subservient to his purpose, it is contended, that his scheme was much more legitimately the fruit of policy than of piety, and that the pseudo-prophet, instead of being pitied for his delusion, is rather to be reprobated for his base fabrication.

After all, it is not improbable that Infinite Wisdom has so ordered it, that a veil of unpenetrated darkness should rest on the motives of the impostor, in order that a special providence may be recognised in the rise and establishment of this archdelusion in the world. In the absence of sufficient human causes to account for the phenomena, we are more readily induced to acknowledge a divine interposition. In the production of events which are overruled in the government of God to operate as penal evils for the punishment of the guilty, reason and revelation both teach us reverently to acknowledge the visitation of the Divine Hand, whoever or whatever may have been the subordiE