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tainty on fcvetfy mind . In the instance of prophecy ire hare not only the evidence of design * which is apparent in every mode of communication by which truths are let down into the narrow limits of the h urn an mind , but an example of the wise methods by which the faculties are
exercised and disciplined to a longer foresight and a more extended range of hope and fear perpetually . '^ -p . 19— -21 . The 'tract designed for Mahometans , ' The Faith as Unfolded by many Prophets , ' is with great propriety , and with great beauty too , couched in a more ornate and oriental phraseology . It consists of a succession of dialogues , and the effect is aimed at by comparing the two religions , as severally regarded by their votaries , and not by the exhibition of a polemical conflict , in
which the Christian would , of course , be made the victor . The execution is as happy as the plan is judicious . There are many passages which deserve quotation for their poetical beauty or their argumentative force ; but by taking less than an entire section we should do injustice to the Essay , arid for so much we have not room . We give the commencement , in order to convey , more distinctly than by our own description , the kind of work which we recommend to the reader ' s attention : —
' There was a friendship like that of brothers between Havilah the son of Aram , and a man of another nation , to whom Havilah gave the name of Eber . Yet Eber was a Christian , while Havilah was a follower of the Prophet . Havilah remembered how his father had early taught him to despise the Jews and Christians , and how he had hated them in his youth ; yet he did not repent of his tove for fcber . Eber was not like txiany persotts , whether M usselmen , Jews , or
Christians , who having known no men but those of their own country arid their own religioti , despise or fear all other men . He had left his own country many years before , and had travelled from the sun-setting to the sun-rising- ; and as his heart was open to every man , there were some found to love him in every land : and among these was Havilah . When Havilah ' s child was sick , Eber had , by the blessing of God , restored him . When Havilah's wife had died , Eber , wept with the mourner and comforted him . Havilah , in his turn , opened his house and his bosorn to the Christian , and made him as his brother .
' . tt happened , one day , that as the sun drew near its setting , Havilah and Eber went out beneath the shade of spreading trees , where the evening breeze itti £ ht come to them to refresh them after the heats of the day . While the Christian watched how the sun hastened down the sky , his friend withdrew a little space to repeat his accustomed prayers . When Havilah had returned , and they were both seated beneath a tree , Eber said to him : —
'Though we worship not side by side , nor in the name of the same Prophet , yet we worship together ; for we pray to the same God , often at the same time , —and may it not be said in the same spirit ? * So I even believe , my friend . Yet has the Prophet declared that there is much evil in friendship with unbelievers . Listen to what is said in the Book : " O true believers , have no intimate friendship with anylbesides yourselves : they wili not fail to corrupt you . " 4 ' Behold ,
Untitled Article
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1832, page 483, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1816/page/51/
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