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    eagerly welcomed , « nd its doctrines ^ Jead with Unexampled rapidity , until its corraptioBS marked it out as trenching upon the grand principle which of t&e true and onl

    the followers y God had { under whatever obscuring cloud of traditionary observances and mysticisms ) ever held dear , and Mahomet had only to strike that chord which was sure to vibrate with the acutest sensibility . *

    say not There are three Gods— -forbear this—it will be better for you—God is but e © e God . "—Koran , Chap . iv . " And when God shall say unto Jesus at the last day ; O Jesus , son pf Mary ! hast thou said unto men , Take me and

    my mother , for two Gods besides God ? He shall answer , Praise be unto thee ! it is not for me to say that which I ought not 1 have not spoken to them any other than what thou didst command me , namely , Worship God , my Lord and your Lord . —Chap . v .

    " They take their priests and their Blonks for their lords , besides Geti , assd Christ the son of Mary ; although they are commanded to worship one God only ; there is no God but he . Far be that from him , which they associate with him . " —Chap . xL * The Monthly Review , ( XCI . 200 ,

    come to my hands since the above paper was written , ) in considering Mr . MiHs * s History of Mahometanism , contains some observations on this subject , the substance of which I have thought it worth while to subjoin , because though perhaps of too generalising and hypothetic a character , they have considerable ingenuity , and doubtless much more truth than the crude

    ideas generally adopted . Mr . Mills , the wrker observes , does not sufficiently allow that Mahomet rather established an extant than bestowed a new creed—he overlooks a principal cause of the success of Jskmism , from not having formed a clear idea of the religion of the ancient

    Perf * ans , concerning which Hyde has long wen suffered to mislead Europe . Sir J . Malcolm also , not having duly studied the Hebrew records , has not known how to Ruminate the twilight of early Persian Justory . The religion of the Parthian empire , fron * Cyrus to the Macedonian

    conquest , n \ ay be said to be identical *« fc that of the Jews , since Efcia has Preserved a genuine proclamation of Cy-J ? J » 5 * which thifr great fact is stfleatoly Jilted , ^ d the book of Esther narrate inat pmtoipticm of the idolatrous priestwod which Herodotus terms the MAgopnonia , whic ^ i wj * accomplished with the ^ n cutreijce tf Etoiiii w ^ er Damns and

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    But however elevated and just Mahomet ' s ; first impulses k favour of the pure and simple principles of Mono-— * * —¦ ¦ ¦ - r i i ¦ i ¦ . was yearry celebrated at the Temple bf Jerusalem , under the natne of the feast

    0 f Purlin . Palestine was to the Persians what Tibet was to the Chhresfe , the independent sovereignty , the holy land of the priests of the empire . —If the Zo * b&s > er Of Greek % e the Ezra of Jewish religion , so is the Zerduscht of the Parsees . —No

    images were tolerated in the Persian temples ; a perpetual fire was fed on the altar , &c .: but this was not fire or sun - Worship , but a worship Of the one oaly living and true God , the God of Abraham , Mosfes , Daniel and Kara . —It may be true that the Persians adored him in his triple

    capacity of the Creator , Freservfci- and Destroyer & £ all things , sthd that they bad separate names for those capacities , such as Ormu 2 , Mithra a » 4 Ariamn , answering to the Adonai , Jehotah and Satan of the Hebrews . Yet this Pantheism was a religion strictly Unitarian .

    When the Greeks conquered Persia , the Idolaters or Polytheists recovered a certain degree Of ascendancy there , and die Monotheists , though not persecuted with all the bitterness of retaliation , were degraded and driven to seek ati ingloiioiis mainteaanr < 5 e hi eommerciial aAd agrfcui

    tural pursuits . The hereditary Monotheism of the Hebrews followed them every where ; and if they occasionally neglected the minor ceremonial Qf the law , they adhered obstinately to circumcision , and to an iconoclastic hatred of images ; they tolerated polygamy in Ike

    higher classes of society , and became so numerous in several provinces of the Persian empire , especially Syria , that in many places the Monotheists were iftrpng enough to shake on their allegiance to the idolatrous Babylonian sovereign , smd to found independent states . Aretas ,

    King of Damascus , and Abgar , King of Edessa , were separatists of this description , and Josephus notices a kind of league which included many others . These petty princes adhered to the Hillelian party of the Jewish priesthood * md

    were glad to see the influence of the Temple exerted to banish troublesome ceremonial observances ; in common yith the Hillelian Jews they acknowlecfec d Jesus Christ as a prophet , but u& noihi % more , and SO at a later period , bui in the same spirit , did ^ enobia , Queen of Pahu ^ m , Wfe 6 pointed Paul 61 SftatoosatA , fttr he ^ r bishop . When tM Church of llome ' made its grezt mntnmm in Chnstiawity , if in tfddudttg tK 0 w 6 rs ^ of itnzQ ** , the

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    The Nonconformist . No . XVIII . 260

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1820, page 259, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2488/page/3/