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mankind , by correcting the abuses which disfigured the faith of his country , and restoring those pure and simple notions of the unity and perfections of the Deity , which the outcast children of Ishmael * seem always to have preserved , and to have been destined to reassert and vindicate , when the more feroured house of Isaac should
be buried in obscurity , and its law debased by childish and absurd superstitions . And , situated as the world the ** was , whp was there of the surrounding varieties of idolatrous Jewish or even Christian sects , that was authorized to cast the first stone against the new pretender to inspiration , or even to
deprecate the propagation of his opinions * by that force to which it was so coinmon with all to have recourse ? Adverting only to the state of Christianity ;—can any cause , so pure in it £ origin , be imagined more debased axxd corrupted by its professors than that which now assumed the name and
form of the pure and humble doctrines of the gospel ? Its votaries had greedil y sought the patronage of a court , whicn was . to raise them to temporal honours $ nd enable them , to tyrannize over the consciences of their brethren , and for a time , their objects of ambition ,
secular and religious , were gratified ; but the new Establishment soon found itself identified with the interests of a weak and profligate government , disgraced by the vilest superstitions , and a prey to the
bttter animosities and discussions of tile opposing sects , who , under the various forms of the Nestorian , Eutychian , Monophysite and other heresies ,, filled the East " with carnage , assassination , and such detestable
enormities as rendered the very name of Christianity odious to many . " -f-« ' « ¦» ¦ > < f — * I have not met with any information satisfactory , to my mind concerning the connexion which appears to have been ajways preserved between the Arabian a » d Jewish theology . The Pentateuch , or ratter the facts recorded in it , seem
to have formed as important a part of the history and faith of the one as the other , and the genuine religion ( as Mr . Mills * i » his History of MaWmetamsm , otaerre *) of the sons of Iahmael was always a , strict belief in the Unity of GckH as afterwards laid down in the Korant MoriMSm ^ i Ecci , Hhte .
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with such a prospect , nithamiod capable of detecting and despisW the impositions which were practised under the mask of religion , the vices of its professors , and the incapacity of those who pretended to minister to the am . ritual wants of his countrymen aucf
, above all , deeply impressed with the Monotheistic abhorrence of Idelatry and Polytheism , Mahomet may , without any extravagant stretch of charity , be considered as entering- on his career
of reform , with ardent desires for the restoration of his nation to better hopes , with feelings that would do honour to his heart and his understanding . To favour his design there were several concurring causes , arising principally from the existing state of
religious opinion in the East , and all these advantages Mahomet pereeived and embraced , as the basis of his meditated reform , knowing well how to turn them to the best account * Whatever praise belongs to him fer his scheme itself , or the mode of its
execution , it is that of a skilful leader taking advantage of favourable circumstances and feelings to turn them to his purpose , rather than that of aa ori g inal projector . The more one considers the basis of his system , and the whole detail in which it was
ultimately developed , the more one is convinced of this . The grand princi p le on which the whole was built , the Unity of God , was one which , thexe is every reason to believe , had for ages been deeply rooted in the better part of the population of the Eastern
nations , and had been in later times strengthened by the intercourse which had taken place to a considerable extent , first with the Jews , in consequence of their captivity and dispersion , and next with the Christians , while their faith was yet pure and unadulterated . mind of
This principle only required a energy to develope it , and lead it on to action against any feith whose professors leaned towards Polytheism and Idolatry , in which charges it is evident Christianity began to be considered as deeply implicated . * It had been
* " Verily , Christ Jesus , the smr < rf Mary , is the apostle of God and hi * worn whish he conveyed unto Maryv * £ * spirit proccrdittg ftoftr him * B *** ! thcrdbite > iir God attdb bis asptwrtl ** * aIKI
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258 The Nonconformist . No . XVIII .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1820, page 258, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2488/page/2/
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