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description , if they practise auy thing more deceitful than the mode of initiating young men into the corresponding ranks in England , where the candidates , on going to the most eminent of it * universities , are taken before the first official functionary , and either entrapped or seduced into the signing of their names to articles of faith which they have not -studied and do not believe , and where the whole course of their education is conducted with a view to the continuance of the same species of fraud by themselves and by their successors . . With regard to the Catechism quoted by Mr . Madden , the answer to the question , " How do you serve your Sultan /"
only expresses in oriental language the same slavish devotion to the sovereign , which was inculcated in a French catechism by Napoleon Bonaparte , the object of ardent admiration to so many of the most cultivated Europeans ; and was not the idea of fighting and dying for King George a popular sentimeut ajnong us during the whole of the French war , chiefly in consequeuce of the zeal with which it was inculcated by the clergy of the Establishment ?
Mr . Madden quotes from the same Catechism the following question and answer :
" How must religion be promoted ?" * ' By fighting against all who oppose the Koran , till the iufidels are cut off from the earth . " But for the " profound ignorance * ' of the Turks , we might imagine that the author of this Catechism knew something of the conquest and discovery of South America , and had copied the questiou and answer from a Spanish Catechism , only substituting ** Koran * ' instead of " Catholic Church . " Your correspondent further represents it as Mr . Madden * * opinion , that " the name of the Prophet is in eveiy man ' s mouth , and the fear of God in few men ' s hearts . " Alas ! Sir , I can well believe the charge ; for i see it confirmed by the language aud conduct of the socalled Christians in this aud in every other country . Another passage , which your correspondent has quoted from Mr . Madden , requires a more ample consideration . Mr . Madden says , " The Koran inculcates passim , the extermination of Christians in open warfare . " So * ' Christians" have said forceuturien , aud Mr . Madden appears to liave adopted the current accusation without looking into the Korau to ascertain its truth , is it not reasonable to suppose , that others of his unfavourable
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statements and opinions are also dented from the corrupt source of orthodox prejudice and animosity , and that he \» not so impartial a witness as your correspondent represents ? After an examination
of the Koran , by no means complete , but sufficient to convince me of the incorrectness of Mr . Madden ' s assertion , I nod in one chapter only , out of one hundred and fourteen , the sentiments , which ace said to occur " passim . " This is the ninth chapter , entitled ** The Chapter of Conversion . " and it has the folio wing Conversion" and it has the following
, preface : " Reader , this chapter beginneth not , as the rest , with these words , In the name of God , gracious and merciful , because these are words of peace and salvation , and for that in this chapter Mahomet coinniandeth to break truce with his enemies , and to assault them . " Is there uot in this distinction
something more conformable to ihe true spirit of Christianity than the practice of the so-called Christians , who in their religious wars have carried the sign of the cross and the emblems of the Trinity in front of their armies ? The chapter coutains no passage in support of the charge , brought by Mr . Madden and the so-called Christians , stronger than the following : * ' When the month of Heram shall be
past , kill them ( i . e . unbelievers ) where you shall meet them , take them slaves , detain them prisoners , and observe where they pass to lay ambush for them . If they be converted , if they prav at the time appointed , and pay tithes , leave them in quiet : God is merciful to them that repent . If the infidels demand
quarter of you , give them quarter , to the end they may learn the word of God ; teach them Ins commandments , for they are ignorant . " However contrary this passage may be to the genuine spirit of Christianity , as taught in the New Testament , it appears to me to contain nothing contrary to the precepts inculcated , and the practice commonly observed , by the so-called Chrt > tians from the time of Mohammed
to the present day . In obedience to the command of Mohammed in this pass ge , his folio wern foutfht agaiust all who denied his divine mission : in obedience to the command of the authorities acknowledged by the Christians , they fought against all who refused submission to those authorities . During many succeeding ages both parties acted upon this common principle , and deluged the world with blood under the pretence that they were doing God service . The expression
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\ g& Mkceiittneou * Correspondence .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1831, page 126, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2594/page/54/
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