The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 5

E >> Edward Gibbon >> The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 5

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[Footnote 59: The Magi were fixed in the province of B hrein,
(Gagnier, Vie de Mahomet, tom. iii. p. 114,) and mingled with the
old Arabians, (Pocock, Specimen, p. 146 - 150.)]

[Footnote 60: The state of the Jews and Christians in Arabia is
described by Pocock from Sharestani, &c., (Specimen, p. 60, 134,
&c.,) Hottinger, (Hist. Orient. p. 212 - 238,) D'Herbelot,
(Bibliot. Orient. p. 474 - 476,) Basnage, (Hist. des Juifs, tom.
vii. p. 185, tom. viii. p. 280,) and Sale, (Preliminary
Discourse, p. 22, &c., 33, &c.)]

[Footnote 61: In their offerings, it was a maxim to defraud God
for the profit of the idol, not a more potent, but a more
irritable, patron, (Pocock, Specimen, p. 108, 109.)]

[Footnote 62: Our versions now extant, whether Jewish or
Christian, appear more recent than the Koran; but the existence
of a prior translation may be fairly inferred, - 1. From the
perpetual practice of the synagogue of expounding the Hebrew
lesson by a paraphrase in the vulgar tongue of the country; 2.
From the analogy of the Armenian, Persian, Aethiopic versions,
expressly quoted by the fathers of the fifth century, who assert
that the Scriptures were translated into all the Barbaric
languages, (Walton, Prolegomena ad Biblia Polyglot, p. 34, 93 -
97. Simon, Hist. Critique du V. et du N. Testament, tom. i. p.
180, 181, 282 - 286, 293, 305, 306, tom. iv. p. 206.)]

The base and plebeian origin of Mahomet is an unskilful
calumny of the Christians, ^63 who exalt instead of degrading the
merit of their adversary. His descent from Ismael was a national
privilege or fable; but if the first steps of the pedigree ^64
are dark and doubtful, he could produce many generations of pure
and genuine nobility: he sprung from the tribe of Koreish and the
family of Hashem, the most illustrious of the Arabs, the princes
of Mecca, and the hereditary guardians of the Caaba. The
grandfather of Mahomet was Abdol Motalleb, the son of Hashem, a
wealthy and generous citizen, who relieved the distress of famine
with the supplies of commerce. Mecca, which had been fed by the
liberality of the father, was saved by the courage of the son.
The kingdom of Yemen was subject to the Christian princes of
Abyssinia; their vassal Abrahah was provoked by an insult to
avenge the honor of the cross; and the holy city was invested by
a train of elephants and an army of Africans. A treaty was
proposed; and, in the first audience, the grandfather of Mahomet
demanded the restitution of his cattle. "And why," said Abrahah,
"do you not rather implore my clemency in favor of your temple,
which I have threatened to destroy?" "Because," replied the
intrepid chief, "the cattle is my own; the Caaba belongs to the
gods, and they will defend their house from injury and
sacrilege." The want of provisions, or the valor of the Koreish,
compelled the Abyssinians to a disgraceful retreat: their
discomfiture has been adorned with a miraculous flight of birds,
who showered down stones on the heads of the infidels; and the
deliverance was long commemorated by the aera of the elephant.
^65 The glory of Abdol Motalleb was crowned with domestic
happiness; his life was prolonged to the age of one hundred and
ten years; and he became the father of six daughters and thirteen
sons. His best beloved Abdallah was the most beautiful and modest
of the Arabian youth; and in the first night, when he consummated
his marriage with Amina, ^! of the noble race of the Zahrites,
two hundred virgins are said to have expired of jealousy and
despair. Mahomet, or more properly Mohammed, the only son of
Abdallah and Amina, was born at Mecca, four years after the death
of Justinian, and two months after the defeat of the Abyssinians,
^66 whose victory would have introduced into the Caaba the
religion of the Christians. In his early infancy, he was deprived
of his father, his mother, and his grandfather; his uncles were
strong and numerous; and, in the division of the inheritance, the
orphan's share was reduced to five camels and an Aethiopian
maid-servant. At home and abroad, in peace and war, Abu Taleb,
the most respectable of his uncles, was the guide and guardian of
his youth; in his twenty-fifth year, he entered into the service
of Cadijah, a rich and noble widow of Mecca, who soon rewarded
his fidelity with the gift of her hand and fortune. The marriage
contract, in the simple style of antiquity, recites the mutual
love of Mahomet and Cadijah; describes him as the most
accomplished of the tribe of Koreish; and stipulates a dowry of
twelve ounces of gold and twenty camels, which was supplied by
the liberality of his uncle. ^67 By this alliance, the son of
Abdallah was restored to the station of his ancestors; and the
judicious matron was content with his domestic virtues, till, in
the fortieth year of his age, ^68 he assumed the title of a
prophet, and proclaimed the religion of the Koran.

[Footnote 63: In eo conveniunt omnes, ut plebeio vilique genere
ortum, &c, (Hottinger, Hist. Orient. p. 136.) Yet Theophanes, the
most ancient of the Greeks, and the father of many a lie,
confesses that Mahomet was of the race of Ismael, (Chronograph.
p. 277.)]

[Footnote 64: Abulfeda (in Vit. Mohammed. c. 1, 2) and Gagnier
(Vie de Mahomet, p. 25 - 97) describe the popular and approved
genealogy of the prophet. At Mecca, I would not dispute its
authenticity: at Lausanne, I will venture to observe, 1. That
from Ismael to Mahomet, a period of 2500 years, they reckon
thirty, instead of seventy five, generations: 2. That the modern
Bedoweens are ignorant of their history, and careless of their
pedigree, (Voyage de D'Arvieux p. 100, 103.)

Note: The most orthodox Mahometans only reckon back the
ancestry of the prophet for twenty generations, to Adnan. Weil,
Mohammed der Prophet, p. 1. - M. 1845.]

[Footnote 65: The seed of this history, or fable, is contained in
the cvth chapter of the Koran; and Gagnier (in Praefat. ad Vit.
Moham. p. 18, &c.) has translated the historical narrative of
Abulfeda, which may be illustrated from D'Herbelot (Bibliot.
Orientale, p. 12) and Pocock, (Specimen, p. 64.) Prideaux (Life
of Mahomet, p. 48) calls it a lie of the coinage of Mahomet; but
Sale, (Koran, p. 501 - 503,) who is half a Mussulman, attacks the
inconsistent faith of the Doctor for believing the miracles of
the Delphic Apollo. Maracci (Alcoran, tom. i. part ii. p. 14,
tom. ii. p. 823) ascribes the miracle to the devil, and extorts
from the Mahometans the confession, that God would not have
defended against the Christians the idols of the Caaba.

Note: Dr. Weil says that the small-pox broke out in the army
of Abrahah, but he does not give his authority, p. 10. - M.
1845.]

[Footnote !: Amina, or Emina, was of Jewish birth. V. Hammer,
Geschichte der Assass. p. 10. - M.]

[Footnote 66: The safest aeras of Abulfeda, (in Vit. c. i. p. 2,)
of Alexander, or the Greeks, 882, of Bocht Naser, or Nabonassar,
1316, equally lead us to the year 569. The old Arabian calendar
is too dark and uncertain to support the Benedictines, (Art. de
Verifer les Dates, p. 15,) who, from the day of the month and
week, deduce a new mode of calculation, and remove the birth of
Mahomet to the year of Christ 570, the 10th of November. Yet
this date would agree with the year 882 of the Greeks, which is
assigned by Elmacin (Hist. Saracen. p. 5) and Abulpharagius,
(Dynast. p. 101, and Errata, Pocock's version.) While we refine
our chronology, it is possible that the illiterate prophet was
ignorant of his own age.

Note: The date of the birth of Mahomet is not yet fixed with
precision. It is only known from Oriental authors that he was
born on a Monday, the 10th Reby 1st, the third month of the
Mahometan year; the year 40 or 42 of Chosroes Nushirvan, king of
Persia; the year 881 of the Seleucidan aera; the year 1316 of the
aera of Nabonassar. This leaves the point undecided between the
years 569, 570, 571, of J. C. See the Memoir of M. Silv. de
Sacy, on divers events in the history of the Arabs before
Mahomet, Mem. Acad. des Loscript. vol. xlvii. p. 527, 531. St.
Martin, vol. xi. p. 59. - M.

Dr. Weil decides on A.D. 571. Mahomet died in 632, aged 63;
but the Arabs reckoned his life by lunar years, which reduces his
life nearly to 61 (p. 21.) - M. 1845]

[Footnote 67: I copy the honorable testimony of Abu Taleb to his
family and nephew. Laus Dei, qui nos a stirpe Abrahami et semine
Ismaelis constituit, et nobis regionem sacram dedit, et nos
judices hominibus statuit. Porro Mohammed filius Abdollahi
nepotis mei (nepos meus) quo cum ex aequo librabitur e
Koraishidis quispiam cui non praeponderaturus est, bonitate et
excellentia, et intellectu et gloria, et acumine etsi opum inops
fuerit, (et certe opes umbra transiens sunt et depositum quod
reddi debet,) desiderio Chadijae filiae Chowailedi tenetur, et
illa vicissim ipsius, quicquid autem dotis vice petieritis, ego
in me suscipiam, (Pocock, Specimen, e septima parte libri Ebn
Hamduni.)]

[Footnote 68: The private life of Mahomet, from his birth to his
mission, is preserved by Abulfeda, (in Vit. c. 3 - 7,) and the
Arabian writers of genuine or apocryphal note, who are alleged by
Hottinger, (Hist. Orient. p. 204 - 211) Maracci, (tom. i. p. 10 -
14,) and Gagnier, (Vie de Mahomet, tom. i. p. 97 - 134.)]

According to the tradition of his companions, Mahomet ^69
was distinguished by the beauty of his person, an outward gift
which is seldom despised, except by those to whom it has been
refused. Before he spoke, the orator engaged on his side the
affections of a public or private audience. They applauded his
commanding presence, his majestic aspect, his piercing eye, his
gracious smile, his flowing beard, his countenance that painted
every sensation of the soul, and his gestures that enforced each
expression of the tongue. In the familiar offices of life he
scrupulously adhered to the grave and ceremonious politeness of
his country: his respectful attention to the rich and powerful
was dignified by his condescension and affability to the poorest
citizens of Mecca: the frankness of his manner concealed the
artifice of his views; and the habits of courtesy were imputed to
personal friendship or universal benevolence. His memory was
capacious and retentive; his wit easy and social; his imagination
sublime; his judgment clear, rapid, and decisive. He possessed
the courage both of thought and action; and, although his designs
might gradually expand with his success, the first idea which he
entertained of his divine mission bears the stamp of an original
and superior genius. The son of Abdallah was educated in the
bosom of the noblest race, in the use of the purest dialect of
Arabia; and the fluency of his speech was corrected and enhanced
by the practice of discreet and seasonable silence. With these
powers of eloquence, Mahomet was an illiterate Barbarian: his
youth had never been instructed in the arts of reading and
writing; ^70 the common ignorance exempted him from shame or
reproach, but he was reduced to a narrow circle of existence, and
deprived of those faithful mirrors, which reflect to our mind the
minds of sages and heroes. Yet the book of nature and of man was
open to his view; and some fancy has been indulged in the
political and philosophical observations which are ascribed to
the Arabian traveller. ^71 He compares the nations and the
regions of the earth; discovers the weakness of the Persian and
Roman monarchies; beholds, with pity and indignation, the
degeneracy of the times; and resolves to unite under one God and
one king the invincible spirit and primitive virtues of the
Arabs. Our more accurate inquiry will suggest, that, instead of
visiting the courts, the camps, the temples, of the East, the two
journeys of Mahomet into Syria were confined to the fairs of
Bostra and Damascus; that he was only thirteen years of age when
he accompanied the caravan of his uncle; and that his duty
compelled him to return as soon as he had disposed of the
merchandise of Cadijah. In these hasty and superficial
excursions, the eye of genius might discern some objects
invisible to his grosser companions; some seeds of knowledge
might be cast upon a fruitful soil; but his ignorance of the
Syriac language must have checked his curiosity; and I cannot
perceive, in the life or writings of Mahomet, that his prospect
was far extended beyond the limits of the Arabian world. From
every region of that solitary world, the pilgrims of Mecca were
annually assembled, by the calls of devotion and commerce: in the
free concourse of multitudes, a simple citizen, in his native
tongue, might study the political state and character of the
tribes, the theory and practice of the Jews and Christians. Some
useful strangers might be tempted, or forced, to implore the
rights of hospitality; and the enemies of Mahomet have named the
Jew, the Persian, and the Syrian monk, whom they accuse of
lending their secret aid to the composition of the Koran. ^72
Conversation enriches the understanding, but solitude is the
school of genius; and the uniformity of a work denotes the hand
of a single artist. From his earliest youth Mahomet was addicted
to religious contemplation; each year, during the month of
Ramadan, he withdrew from the world, and from the arms of
Cadijah: in the cave of Hera, three miles from Mecca, ^73 he
consulted the spirit of fraud or enthusiasm, whose abode is not
in the heavens, but in the mind of the prophet. The faith which,
under the name of Islam, he preached to his family and nation, is
compounded of an eternal truth, and a necessary fiction, That
there is only one God, and that Mahomet is the apostle of God.

[Footnote 69: Abulfeda, in Vit. c. lxv. lxvi. Gagnier, Vie de
Mahomet, tom. iii. p. 272 - 289. The best traditions of the
person and conversation of the prophet are derived from Ayesha,
Ali, and Abu Horaira, (Gagnier, tom. ii. p. 267. Ockley's Hist.
of the Saracens, vol. ii. p. 149,) surnamed the Father of a Cat,
who died in the year 59 of the Hegira.

Note: Compare, likewise, the new Life of Mahomet (Mohammed
der prophet) by Dr. Weil, (Stuttgart, 1843.) Dr. Weil has a new
tradition, that Mahomet was at one time a shepherd. This
assimilation to the life of Moses, instead of giving probability
to the story, as Dr. Weil suggests, makes it more suspicious.
Note, p. 34. - M. 1845.]

[Footnote 70: Those who believe that Mahomet could read or write
are incapable of reading what is written with another pen, in the
Suras, or chapters of the Koran, vii. xxix. xcvi. These texts,
and the tradition of the Sonna, are admitted, without doubt, by
Abulfeda, (in Vit. vii.,) Gagnier, (Not. ad Abulfed. p. 15,)
Pocock, (Specimen, p. 151,) Reland, (de Religione Mohammedica, p.
236,) and Sale, (Preliminary Discourse, p. 42.) Mr. White, almost
alone, denies the ignorance, to accuse the imposture, of the
prophet. His arguments are far from satisfactory. Two short
trading journeys to the fairs of Syria were surely not sufficient
to infuse a science so rare among the citizens of Mecca: it was
not in the cool, deliberate act of treaty, that Mahomet would
have dropped the mask; nor can any conclusion be drawn from the
words of disease and delirium. The lettered youth, before he
aspired to the prophetic character, must have often exercised, in
private life, the arts of reading and writing; and his first
converts, of his own family, would have been the first to detect
and upbraid his scandalous hypocrisy, (White's Sermons, p. 203,
204, Notes, p. xxxvi. - xxxviii.)

Note: (Academ. des Inscript. I. p. 295) has observed that
the text of the seveth Sura implies that Mahomet could read, the
tradition alone denies it, and, according to Dr. Weil, (p. 46,)
there is another reading of the tradition, that "he could not
read well." Dr. Weil is not quite so successful in explaining
away Sura xxix. It means, he thinks that he had not read any
books, from which he could have borrowed. - M. 1845.]

[Footnote 71: The count de Boulainvilliers (Vie de Mahomet, p.
202 - 228) leads his Arabian pupil, like the Telemachus of
Fenelon, or the Cyrus of Ramsay. His journey to the court of
Persia is probably a fiction nor can I trace the origin of his
exclamation, "Les Grecs sont pour tant des hommes." The two
Syrian journeys are expressed by almost all the Arabian writers,
both Mahometans and Christians, (Gagnier Abulfed. p. 10.)]

[Footnote 72: I am not at leisure to pursue the fables or
conjectures which name the strangers accused or suspected by the
infidels of Mecca, (Koran, c. 16, p. 223, c. 35, p. 297, with
Sale's Remarks. Prideaux's Life of Mahomet, p. 22 - 27.
Gagnier, Not. ad Abulfed. p. 11, 74. Maracci, tom. ii. p. 400.)
Even Prideaux has observed, that the transaction must have been
secret, and that the scene lay in the heart of Arabia.]

[Footnote 73: Abulfeda in Vit. c. 7, p. 15. Gagnier, tom. i. p.
133, 135. The situation of Mount Hera is remarked by Abulfeda
(Geograph. Arab p. 4.) Yet Mahomet had never read of the cave of
Egeria, ubi nocturnae Numa constituebat amicae, of the Idaean
Mount, where Minos conversed with Jove, &c.]

It is the boast of the Jewish apologists, that while the
learned nations of antiquity were deluded by the fables of
polytheism, their simple ancestors of Palestine preserved the
knowledge and worship of the true God. The moral attributes of
Jehovah may not easily be reconciled with the standard of human
virtue: his metaphysical qualities are darkly expressed; but each
page of the Pentateuch and the Prophets is an evidence of his
power: the unity of his name is inscribed on the first table of
the law; and his sanctuary was never defiled by any visible image
of the invisible essence. After the ruin of the temple, the
faith of the Hebrew exiles was purified, fixed, and enlightened,
by the spiritual devotion of the synagogue; and the authority of
Mahomet will not justify his perpetual reproach, that the Jews of
Mecca or Medina adored Ezra as the son of God. ^74 But the
children of Israel had ceased to be a people; and the religions
of the world were guilty, at least in the eyes of the prophet, of
giving sons, or daughters, or companions, to the supreme God. In
the rude idolatry of the Arabs, the crime is manifest and
audacious: the Sabians are poorly excused by the preeminence of
the first planet, or intelligence, in their celestial hierarchy;
and in the Magian system the conflict of the two principles
betrays the imperfection of the conqueror. The Christians of the
seventh century had insensibly relapsed into a semblance of
Paganism: their public and private vows were addressed to the
relics and images that disgraced the temples of the East: the
throne of the Almighty was darkened by a cloud of martyrs, and
saints, and angels, the objects of popular veneration; and the
Collyridian heretics, who flourished in the fruitful soil of
Arabia, invested the Virgin Mary with the name and honors of a
goddess. ^75 The mysteries of the Trinity and Incarnation appear
to contradict the principle of the divine unity. In their
obvious sense, they introduce three equal deities, and transform
the man Jesus into the substance of the Son of God: ^76 an
orthodox commentary will satisfy only a believing mind:
intemperate curiosity and zeal had torn the veil of the
sanctuary; and each of the Oriental sects was eager to confess
that all, except themselves, deserved the reproach of idolatry
and polytheism. The creed of Mahomet is free from suspicion or
ambiguity; and the Koran is a glorious testimony to the unity of
God. The prophet of Mecca rejected the worship of idols and men,
of stars and planets, on the rational principle that whatever
rises must set, that whatever is born must die, that whatever is
corruptible must decay and perish. ^77 In the Author of the
universe, his rational enthusiasm confessed and adored an
infinite and eternal being, without form or place, without issue
or similitude, present to our most secret thoughts, existing by
the necessity of his own nature, and deriving from himself all
moral and intellectual perfection. These sublime truths, thus
announced in the language of the prophet, ^78 are firmly held by
his disciples, and defined with metaphysical precision by the
interpreters of the Koran. A philosophic theist might subscribe
the popular creed of the Mahometans; ^79 a creed too sublime,
perhaps, for our present faculties. What object remains for the
fancy, or even the understanding, when we have abstracted from
the unknown substance all ideas of time and space, of motion and
matter, of sensation and reflection? The first principle of
reason and revolution was confirmed by the voice of Mahomet: his
proselytes, from India to Morocco, are distinguished by the name
of Unitarians; and the danger of idolatry has been prevented by
the interdiction of images. The doctrine of eternal decrees and
absolute predestination is strictly embraced by the Mahometans;
and they struggle, with the common difficulties, how to reconcile
the prescience of God with the freedom and responsibility of man;
how to explain the permission of evil under the reign of infinite
power and infinite goodness.

[Footnote 74: Koran, c. 9, p. 153. Al Beidawi, and the other
commentators quoted by Sale, adhere to the charge; but I do not
understand that it is colored by the most obscure or absurd
tradition of the Talmud.]

[Footnote 75: Hottinger, Hist. Orient. p. 225 - 228. The
Collyridian heresy was carried from Thrace to Arabia by some
women, and the name was borrowed from the cake, which they
offered to the goddess. This example, that of Beryllus bishop of
Bostra, (Euseb. Hist. Eccles. l. vi. c. 33,) and several others,
may excuse the reproach, Arabia haerese haersewn ferax.]

[Footnote 76: The three gods in the Koran (c. 4, p. 81, c. 5, p.
92) are obviously directed against our Catholic mystery: but the
Arabic commentators understand them of the Father, the Son, and
the Virgin Mary, an heretical Trinity, maintained, as it is said,
by some Barbarians at the Council of Nice, (Eutych. Annal. tom.
i. p. 440.) But the existence of the Marianites is denied by the
candid Beausobre, (Hist. de Manicheisme, tom. i. p. 532;) and he
derives the mistake from the word Roxah, the Holy Ghost, which in
some Oriental tongues is of the feminine gender, and is
figuratively styled the mother of Christ in the Gospel of the
Nazarenes.]

[Footnote 77: This train of thought is philosophically
exemplified in the character of Abraham, who opposed in Chaldaea
the first introduction of idolatry, (Koran, c. 6, p. 106.
D'Herbelot, Bibliot. Orient. p. 13.)]

[Footnote 78: See the Koran, particularly the second, (p. 30,)
the fifty-seventh, (p. 437,) the fifty-eighth (p. 441) chapters,
which proclaim the omnipotence of the Creator.]

[Footnote 79: The most orthodox creeds are translated by Pocock,
(Specimen, p. 274, 284 - 292,) Ockley, (Hist. of the Saracens,
vol. ii. p. lxxxii. - xcv.,) Reland, (de Religion. Moham. l. i.
p. 7 - 13,) and Chardin, (Voyages en Perse, tom. iv. p. 4 - 28.)
The great truth, that God is without similitude, is foolishly
criticized by Maracci, (Alcoran, tom. i. part iii. p. 87 - 94,)
because he made man after his own image.]

The God of nature has written his existence on all his
works, and his law in the heart of man. To restore the knowledge
of the one, and the practice of the other, has been the real or
pretended aim of the prophets of every age: the liberality of
Mahomet allowed to his predecessors the same credit which he
claimed for himself; and the chain of inspiration was prolonged
from the fall of Adam to the promulgation of the Koran. ^80
During that period, some rays of prophetic light had been
imparted to one hundred and twenty-four thousand of the elect,
discriminated by their respective measure of virtue and grace;
three hundred and thirteen apostles were sent with a special
commission to recall their country from idolatry and vice; one
hundred and four volumes have been dictated by the Holy Spirit;
and six legislators of transcendent brightness have announced to
mankind the six successive revelations of various rites, but of
one immutable religion. The authority and station of Adam, Noah,
Abraham, Moses, Christ, and Mahomet, rise in just gradation above
each other; but whosoever hates or rejects any one of the
prophets is numbered with the infidels. The writings of the
patriarchs were extant only in the apocryphal copies of the
Greeks and Syrians: ^81 the conduct of Adam had not entitled him
to the gratitude or respect of his children; the seven precepts
of Noah were observed by an inferior and imperfect class of the
proselytes of the synagogue; ^82 and the memory of Abraham was
obscurely revered by the Sabians in his native land of Chaldaea:
of the myriads of prophets, Moses and Christ alone lived and
reigned; and the remnant of the inspired writings was comprised
in the books of the Old and the New Testament. The miraculous
story of Moses is consecrated and embellished in the Koran; ^83
and the captive Jews enjoy the secret revenge of imposing their
own belief on the nations whose recent creeds they deride. For
the author of Christianity, the Mahometans are taught by the
prophet to entertain a high and mysterious reverence. ^84
"Verily, Christ Jesus, the son of Mary, is the apostle of God,
and his word, which he conveyed unto Mary, and a Spirit
proceeding from him; honorable in this world, and in the world to
come, and one of those who approach near to the presence of God."
^85 The wonders of the genuine and apocryphal gospels ^86 are
profusely heaped on his head; and the Latin church has not
disdained to borrow from the Koran the immaculate conception ^87
of his virgin mother. Yet Jesus was a mere mortal; and, at the
day of judgment, his testimony will serve to condemn both the
Jews, who reject him as a prophet, and the Christians, who adore
him as the Son of God. The malice of his enemies aspersed his
reputation, and conspired against his life; but their intention
only was guilty; a phantom or a criminal was substituted on the
cross; and the innocent saint was translated to the seventh
heaven. ^88 During six hundred years the gospel was the way of
truth and salvation; but the Christians insensibly forgot both
the laws and example of their founder; and Mahomet was instructed
by the Gnostics to accuse the church, as well as the synagogue,
of corrupting the integrity of the sacred text. ^89 The piety of
Moses and of Christ rejoiced in the assurance of a future
prophet, more illustrious than themselves: the evangelical
promise of the Paraclete, or Holy Ghost, was prefigured in the
name, and accomplished in the person, of Mahomet, ^90 the
greatest and the last of the apostles of God.