CHRISTIANITY COMPARED WITH MAHOMETANISM:

BY THE REV. J. WEST.
THE history and character of Mahometanism has ceased to excite that thrilling interest which once pervaded the minds of our ancestors. To them it was not only a rival system, which insulted their faith : it threatened them with destruction: it was embodied in a temporal power, animated and fanaticised with its stern and terrible spirit. The armies of the Saracen descended like locusts on the fertile provinces of Asia, entered Spain, and passed by the Pyrenees into France, overflowed the modern capital of the Roman Empire, covered the Ionian Isles, and threatened ancient Rome and Italy with ruin.
There were two causes which especially produced the universal sentiment of hatred toward the person and creed of the Saracen ; the one religious and the other political. He exercised a sway over that part of the earth, once the scene of the Saviour's humiliation and triumph. A superstitious veneration for the supposed sepulchre of Christ, of which the Empress Helena was an early and distinguished example, induced multitudes to throng the Holy City, where they hoped to expiate their offences against God by worshipping at an empty tomb. The Moslem availed himself of their devotion, and levied heavy taxes on the pilgrims who were often exposed to injuries more severe from the unbridled fury and deliberate cruelty of their contemptuous oppressors. But while the superstitious crowd was deeply influenced by the recital of wrongs endured under the very shadow of Mount Zion, the christian princes whose dominions lay open to the incursions of the infidels, were roused to arms by the advance of their political power. Thus the soldiers of the cross and of the crescent maintained for centuries a conflict which generally preserved all the characteristics of a war of extermination : on both sides the slaughter of an enemy was deemed an act of religious merit—the fall of a companion in arms the martyrdom of a saint. Paradise on either side was offered to the valiant, and temporal and eternal disgrace menaced those who deserted the standard of the prophet, or the banner of the cross.
During the struggle between the christian and the Saracen nations, many millions perished in battle or melted away from the earth while attempting to secure the sepulchre of Jesus. It does not belong to the purpose of this lecture even to sketch the Crusades, which were productive of both good and evil; which exasperated and tended at length to allay the superstition of the christian world—which circulated knowledge, braced the mental faculties, and ultimately promoted the commerce and religious liberty of Europe. Such results are remarked by the historian, and they are referred by the christian, with devout acknowledgment to that sovereign Being who sees the end from the beginning, and whose government has ever triumphed above human passions, follies, and crimes.
But although the age has long passed away when warlike pilgrims thronged the regions of Palestine in obedience to re vengeful or religious passions, and the European has ceased to fear the bowstring or the scimitar; the Christian cannot be indifferent to the religious principles of nations occupying the fairest regions of the globe, and comprehending one tenth of the human race: nations whose sway or influence is still felt in those lands which have been the subject of prophetic testimony ; where Abraham sojourned and his posterity dwelt; where the Saviour taught and his church was planted.
The disciples of Mahomet have spread their creed to the heart of India, Africa, and Greece. Men of all colours and many languages are professors of his faith ; and they are the stern, scornful, and implacable enemies of Christianity. It belongs to the Christian to give them pity for their scorn; to deplore and alleviate their moral destitution, and to expect with confidence that period when the social and religious system of Mahometanism, already shrunk from its former dimensions, now rapidly declining with its political power, shall be utterly wasted; when it shall fall, and no hand be visible but that of Omnipotance; when it shall be dried up like "the waters of the Euphrates."
To the greater part of this audience, the doctrines of Mahomet are now comparatively unknown. It is needless to make them an ordinary topic of pulpit examination; none require to be told that they are false, as far as they are peculiar. It has indeed been the fashion with infidels, to exalt the character of Mahomet, to conceal or soften the vices of his life, and to exaggerate the power of his preaching, and the moral virtues of his followers; but this much may be admitted, that Christianity with its author, is but a contrast with both the false prophet and his doctrine; and that the Being who should authorize the one, could not sanction the other. In pursuing a comparison, between the Christian and Mahometan systems, it is requisite to estimate the character of their founders. With that of Christ, we are happily, familiar; his person, office, and doctrines, form the inexhaustible theme of our admiration, confidence, and hope: and in tracing the history of the pretended Arabian Prophet, the points of contrast will immediately strike the mind; nor will it always be necessary to show in a formal manner, the dissimilarity of systems, so obviously distinct. The book of Job and the history of the Patriarchs have made all familiar with the peculiar habits of the Arabian tribes; they were bold, warlike, hospitable, and often cruel. Their chief treasure was in their flocks ; their highest accomplishment, their skill in poetry; in the culture of which, they manifested the utmost enthusiasm; they cherished, especially, a lively sense of that melodious combination of sounds, which imparts to language the charms of music. The Arabian tongue is celebrated by the learned, for its copiousness and variety, and for the scope it affords to the delineation of nature and the passions. The Arab legislators and chiefs expressed in measured sentences whatever related to their traditional glory, or prevailing interest. Their national assemblies were convened, to hear and arbitrate, between the claims of rivals bards, and the successful poet reflected on his tribe pre-eminent glory. These sentiments were in their full force when Mahomet appeared. The circumstances of the Arabs were calculated to invigorate the imagination, and to produce that simple sublimity, which still characterises their tone of thought. The magnificent outlines of creation elevate the minds of unsophisticated nations. The Indian orator in the wilds of America, has often astonished by the grandeur of his illustrations, derived from the majestic objects of nature ; objects, which seem to impress more powerfully, as artificial life is more distant.
The political condition of Arabia, has been ever fixed by the natural features of that country. A number of independent tribes spread over its deserts, while a few more fertile or central spots, led to the formation of towns, in which the free spirit of the desert struggled with and tempered the despotic principles of oriental government. Both Medina and Mecca were small republics, governed by elders, whose authority was derived from the opinion of their wisdom and integrity, or the influence of their wealth. Thus, many chiefs of equal power divided the dominion of Arabia, and could afford protection to the persecuted, or criminal members of other communities.
The religious state of Arabia was equally various. The Arabs in part, retained the idolatrous customs of their ancestors, and 360 idols were publicly adored in Mecca. The hosts of heaven, and then mishapen stones, and afterwards graven images were worshipped in the plains, and to these deities they consecrated a portion of their fruits and flocks, and not unfrequently sacrificed men.
A large number of Israelites driven by successive persecutions, had found shelter in the cities of the desert, where they preserved the traditions of their ancestors, and intermingled rabinical inventions with the purer histories of their nation.
Thousands of Christians had also found an asylum in Arabia, and carried thither the name, without much of the knowledge of true christianity. The real spirit of the gospel, as well as its doctrines, was fearfully obscured by the frivolous disputes and superstitions of the age, and thus Arabia presented the aspect of Pagan, Hebrew, and Christian forms of worship, maintaining their separate existence; not because their several professors were tolerant, but because they were feeble. It is necessary to notice these particulars, so essentially connected with the peculiarities and success of the Arabian impostor.
Mahomet, or Mahommed, was born in the city of Mecca, Arabia Felix, or " Araby the the blest," 600 years after the birth of Christ. His private history may be rapidly told; he was descended from the most eminent family of the most powerful tribe; but being left early an orphan, his circumstances at first were indigent, his property only a camel and a slave. He did not acquire the knowledge of letters. His business was commerce; he became the factor of a wealthy widow, whom in his eight and twentieth year he married; and by the possession of her wealth, acquired the distinctions of affluence. He ever spoke of this lady with tenderness, whose daughter Fatima, was his favorite child; she was the first of his converts, and he eulogizes the readiness of her faith, and the constancy of her virtues. After her decease, Mahomet took many wives and concubines, and divided the remainder of his life, between indulgence of fanaticism and sensuality, and the prosecution of his conquests. In the sixty-fifth year of his age, he terminated his course poisoned by a Jewish maid, who subjected his prophetic character to that fatal test. For three years he had languished. In the last moments of his life, he called for a scribe to write a book at his dictation, which he said would preserve his followers from error. A sagacious disciple declared that the Koran was sufficient, and that the prophet was delirious. At length, having as he said, given permission to the Angel of death to perform his office, he expired, reclining on the lap of Aysha, exclaiming " O God pardon my sins, I come to join my companions on high."

It is difficult to satisfy our own minds respecting the real views and religious convictions of Mahomet. That he could be himself misled by conscientious enthusiasm to adopt pretensions so contrary to truth, is utterly incredible. His Koran has all the signs of deliberate invention. He retired to meditate—he conversed freely with the sects around him—he possessed a perfect knowledge of the Arabic in its purest form. Thus the miracle of the Koran is reduced to a very ordinary affair. The sinister change of Mahomet's policy from teaching to conquest was sagacious and bold. When in battle, his courage and dignity attached to his fanaticism the potent influence of martial glory. He well understood those appeals to the imagination which animate an army or strike panic into a foe. Cromwell, in the moment of victory, pointed to the sun breaking forth through the mists and dazzling the enemies before him, and exclaimed, with inspiring fanaticism, " Arise, O Lord, and thy enemies shall be scattered!" Mahomet rallied his forces to attack, and intimidated with the thunder of his voice the opposing host; and while casting dust towards their ranks, exclaimed, with magical effect, "Let their faces be covered with confusion!" The art, foresight, and perseverance displayed by Mahomet—his timely suppleness and well judged resolution—may vindicate him from the reproach of madness and delusion; but it leaves the alternative in all its malignity, that he was a skilful deceiver. It is possible that Mahomet believed his system to be generally best—that he was benefitting mankind by uniting them in one worship and that the end justified the means. It is possible that, like the Sadducean Arabs, he disbelieved in divine providence, and confided in the impunity of his imposture. It is perhaps more probable that wilful falsehood in the beginning was punished by judicial blindness ; and that he who had practised successful deception, at length, in part, believed his own lie. Such a penalty is not without examples.
Mahomet was 40 years old when he declared himself the prophet of God. He opened his project to his wife, and then to his servant, and afterwards to an assembly of his kinsmen. His first doctrine, that there is one God; his second, that Mahomet is his prophet, appear to have comprehended his earliest propositions. In prosecuting his object, he united boldness with caution; solicited, humoured, and accommodated with a flexibility and politeness which, however, did not compromise the main design. The support of his own kindred sheltered him from the intrusion of scepticism, and the violence of insult, in the first stages of his career. When in personal danger he retreated, preceded and followed by his disciples, who pledged themselves to obey "in all things reasonable;" and thus formed the first combination which gave the pretender confidence in his own strength, and prepared him for a bolder policy, until at length he announced that part of his commission which alone led to his success—that he was authorised to propagate his religion by the sword.
Mahomet professed to be the last and greatest of the messengers of God: that he was sent to restore the faith of the Patriarchs, of Moses, and of Jesus. He declared that both Jews and Christians had wilfully corrupted the oracles of God, and that he was sent to publish the Koran, which he declared to be inscribed in an eternal volume before the throne of God, and communicated to him by the angel Gabriel: that it was the final and complete discovery of the Divine will to be made to mankind, and thus by verses and sections,through the space of three and twenty years, did Mahomet pronounce his prophecies, which were deposited in the "chest of apostleship," and were collected and methodised from the copies of his amanuensis, some time after he had finished his course of imposture and passed to his final account.
The following may be considered a favourable specimen both of the substance and style of the Koran, although even of this a part must be omitted:—
And when the heaven shall be rent in sunder, and shall become red as a rose, and shall melt like ointment: (Which, therefore, of your Lord's benefits will ye ungratefully deny ?) on that day neither man nor genius shall be asked concerning his sin. Which, therefore, of your Lord's benefits will ye ungratefully deny ? The wicked shall be known by their marks ; and they shall be taken by the forelocks, and the feet, and shall be cast into hell. Which, therefore, of your Lord's benefits will ye ungratefully deny ? This is hell, which the wicked deny as a falsehood: they shall pass too and fro between the same and hot boiling water. Which, therefore, of your Lord's benefits will ye ungratefully deny ? But for him who dreadeth the tribunal of his Lord, are prepared two gardens: (Which, therefore, of your Lord's benefits will ye ungratefully deny ?) planted with shady trees. Which, therefore, of your Lord's benefits will ye ungratefully deny ? In each of them shall be two fountains flowing. Which, therefore, of your Lord's benefits will ye ungratefully deny ? In each of them shall there be of every fruit two kinds. Which, therefore, of your Lord's benefits will ye ungratefully deny ? They shall repose on couches, the linings whereof shall be of thick silk, interwoven with gold : and the fruit of the two gardens shall be near at hand to gather. Which, therefore, of your Lord's benefits will ye ungratefully deny ? Therein shall receive them beauteous damsels, refraining their eyes from beholding any besides their spouses; * * * * (Which, therefore, of your Lord's benefits will ye ungratefully deny ?) having complexions like rubies and pearls. Which, therefore, of your Lord's benefits will ye ungratefully deny ? Shall the reward of good works be any other than good ? Which, therefore, of your Lord's benefits will ye ungratefully deny? And besides these there shall be two other gardens : (Which, therefore, of your Lord's benefits will ye ungratefully deny ?) of a dark green. Which, therefore, of your Lord's benefits will ye ungratefully deny ? In each of them shall be two fountains pouring forth plenty of water. Which, therefore, of your Lord's benefits will ye ungratefully deny ? In each of them shall be fruits, and palm-trees, and pomegranates. Which, therefore, of your Lord's benefits will ye ungratefully deny ? Therein shall be agreeable and beauteous damsels : (Which, therefore, of your Lord's benefits will ye ungratefully deny ?) having fine black eyes ; and kept in pavilions from public view (Which, therefore, of your Lord's benefits will ye ungratefully deny ?) * * * Therein, shall they delight themselves, lying on green cushions and beautiful carpets. Which, therefore, of your Lord's benefits will ye ungratefully deny ? Blessed be the name of thy Lord, possessed of glory and honour!
Few things would speak more powerfully in favour of the Scriptures than the contrast between the Koran and that volume. The historical narrations of Mahomet are but a drivelling version of Patriarchal history—a transcript of monkish legends. The Koran teaches those attributes of deity which are found in the book of God ; but it shades their lustre by the puerile, sensual, and cruel sentiments of a Bedouin Arab. The Koran is but the passions of the prophet transcribed ; thus most of its revelations were composed to intimidate unbelievers, and to encourage submission to his authority. In endless repetition he publishes his title as the apostle of God, eulogises his own character and denounces every terror against those who enquire for his credentials. If his disciples offended him with familiar language, overpowered him with their voices, disturbed the retirement of his tent, or reflected on the decorum of his wives, he rebuked them by a separate revelation : he recalled and corrected by new sections the lapses and errors of the former, and blasphemously justified each sally of his own passions by pleading the divine command.
The proceedings of Mahomet exhibited the able tactician. With much dexterity he blended the leading opinions of the divided sects who surrounded him, and reconciled them to his character as a prophet by honouring their sacred writers and incorporating with his system the habits they had acquired from the nature of their climate or the superstition of their ancestors. To the Jew he proclaimed the unity of God, repeated with reverence the tradition, and imitated the ablutions of the elders. To the Christian he professed to revere the character of Christ as the word of God; and, while denying his divinity, placed him in the highest heaven. The Pagans, though their idols were demolished, were recompensed by Mahomet's respect for the heathen Caaba and for the crystalline stone—or, as it is in reality, the felspar—said to have fallen from heaven; and which the lips of pilgrims and the wear of ages have rounded or indented with a kind of muscular undulations. A numerous body of Arabs denominated Zendicks, whose sentiments were like those of the Sadducees, and who doubted the doctrine of a life to come, were soon made proselytes: nor would they be tenacious of opinions without profit, when Mahomet had made it dangerous to defend them. He allured the voluptuous by promises of paradise, where abundance of pleasures were to gratify the grossest tastes; where—clad in silk, and lying on couches resplendent with gold and precious stones, and supplied with copious draughts of wine from stores inexhaustible, and having for their companions the black-eyed houris of immortal youth and beauty—they were for ever to revel in the joys of unsated sensuality. But if they questioned or rejected his mission, then penalties were denounced with all the imagery of an Arabian terrorist such as internal boiling, choking with desert sands, the immediate contiguity of the scorching sun, fruits of a fatal tree yielding dust and bitterness, and whatever a Bedouin might hold in dread. To discourage his friends he gave them the spoils of war, the possession of their female captives, and gratified the strongest passions of a fallen nature—revenge, licentiousness, and covetousness: but those who hesitated to submit to his authority were doomed to groan under an ignominious vassalage, and compelled to pay a tribute, or they perished by the sword.
Mahomet is said to have promoted his design by the most hazardous of his measures, and to have established by the success of his daring, the whole scheme of his imposture. Thus one morning he announced that he had been summoned by the Angel Gabriel from the couch of Ayesha; that he had mounted Alborak, a creature which had carried other prophets, his predecessors; that he rode swifter than lightning to Jerusalem, where he was welcomed by angels, and thence passed up through the seven heavens, greeted by the Apostles, the servants of God; by Adam, Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, John the Baptist, and Christ: all of whom rose one above another in gradations of dignity; and all except Christ confessed the superior sanctity of the Arabian Prophet by asking the favour of his prayers. There he professed to have conversed with the Deity, and to have acquired the knowledge of the mysteries of his faith; and to have seen with mortal eyes the regions of beatitude. The effect of these announcements was at first perilous: he was reproached for his deceit, presumption, and absurdity; but by this bold draft on their faith he was amply assured of the credulity of his disciples, and discovered that there were no bounds but in his discretion to the legends he might invent. It is said by those who are skilled in the Arabian tongue, that the Koran exhibits an air of sublimity and grandeur; if so it does not survive in a translation; yet Mahomet so constantly appeals to the force and beauty of his composition as an evidence of inspiration, we must presume that his eloquence was felt by his countrymen; yet such an argument alone could scarcely have convinced the inhabitants of a region where the lowest classes were critically nice, and tested by the ear the purity of language; but when the Koran is analysed, and all portions borrowed from the ancient scriptures, whether canonical or spurious excluded, the residue is little more than apologies for the prophet; regulations for the social behaviour of his followers; and often mere puerile and petulant reproaches occasioned by attempts to restrict his passions, or to question his authority.
The ritual of Mahometanism is soon recapitulated. It is required of a follower of Mahomet that his prayers should be offered at certain times with certain ablutions; that for one month in the year he should absolutely fast from the dawn to the sunset; that lie should devote a proportion of his goods in alms giving, and which includes assistance in religious wars; that he should visit the temple of Mecca once in his life; and various other such like obligations. There are indeed precepts of social kindness, humanity, and justice, derived chiefly from divine legislation, which are buried in the rubbish of the Koran; but it would be folly to disallow that measure of praise which may be due to an imposture, which has not, on every point, overlooked the interest of man.
It is curious to compare the sects that have existed in the Mahometan and Christian communities. It may tend to lessen our astonishment that the simplicity of the gospel has been perverted, when we see that the mind of man under whatever system is substantially the same, prone to the niceties of speculative belief—to the whimsical ceremonies of superstition; rushing into the secrets of the divine existence, and indulging under the conscious presence of God, the wildest vagaries of passion and pollution. Spinosa the patron of Atheism, asserted that Mahometanism was distinguished by the consentaneous judgment and harmonious profession of its followers. But no subtle doctors of pretended Christianity surpass them in the complexity of their systems ; no hostile churches have fulminated with more vigour the thunders of undying hatred. The divine essence—the compatibility of eternal attributes with the unity of God—fixed fate—free will—foreknowledge absolute—the authorship of evil—the responsibility of the sinner—all are found questions in the Mosque and in the church. There are the same discussions concerning the relative value of faith and work—the same disputing respecting the basis of morals; from the hypocritical sanctity of ostentatious forms, to the gross licentiousness of sentiment, such as we find attributed to the St. Simonians of France and the Owenites of England. They have also the question of succession from the apostle Mahomet, and their bitterest schism also has reference to the interruption or continuity of the line. They have their pontiff, their holy city, their holy men, and their holy water.
They have their rosaries, their shrines, and their relics; their mortification and penance; and they have their reformers such as the Wahabees, who have swept away with thundering violence the tombs of the Moslem saints, forbidden their invocation, interdicted chaplets, garlands, and religious banners, and attempted to restore a naked enthusiasm; they have issued their decrees prohibiting those substitutes for wine which the Turks have found in coffee, opium, and tobacco, and with terrible comminations the faithful are brought back to the waters of the fountain Zemzem, as nature's best provision for the exhilaration of man.
Thus, if our curiosity, carries us beyond the school of Christ, or we descend into the arena of useless controversy, we shall find ranged on either side some doctor of the Mosque—some Moslem zealot—as an opponent or an ally: nor is it unusual for them to sum up their disputes by declaring those of another sect "farther from the truth than even Jews and Christians."
In the character of Mahomet, and in the religion which he taught, we see displayed a fierceness and a cruelty which belongs to no system beside recognising the Supreme Being. In other religions the indulgence of pride, ambition, and tyranny, may be allowed or facilitated : but in this, those passions of the heart are exalted to the style of virtue—are furnished with pretensions by which the conscience is made to espouse the cause of violence, spoliation, and impurity. The young Arab whom Mahomet dignified with the title of the first of believers, because the first to profess submission to his claims, pronounced in the terms of his vow the true character of the master, and the cause he was to serve: " Oh, prophet," he exclaimed, " I am the man, who ever rises against thee I will dash out his teeth, tear out his eyes, break his legs, rip up his belly—O, prophet, I will be thy vizier over them." Did Mahomet say, "Ye know not what spirit ye are of;" " whosoever will be greatest shall be servant of all " No, he made the furious youth the first and greatest minister of his religion. And wherever Mahometanism has triumphed, its influence has been substantially the same; it exalts the warlike passions, and makes it a virtue to destroy. It is said of Saladin, one of the most distinguished of the Moslem conquerors, that to hear the Koran read was his favourite occupation, during which he was often moved to tears; that the texts which commanded its propagation by the sword was the favourite subject of his meditation. And yet it is reported that in him the Turkish character appears to the greatest advantage; that he was the most accomplished example of the religion he professed. The Moors of Africa may be taken as the other extreme; of whom Parke, the traveller, says, that they practised mischief as a science; that to torment a Christian was their greatest pleasure; that they were the vainest, proudest, and most cruel of all the inhabitants of the earth. It was not their place of abode, but their creed which had made them cruel. When he escaped from his captivity among them, he found from a Pagan family in the next district of Africa an affecting instance of hospitality. His hostess, after relieving his wants, soothed his melancholy with a simple lay, (rendered into verse by a late noble lady): "The winds roared, the rains fell, the poor white man faint and weary came and sat under our tree; he has no mother to bring him milk, no wife to grind his corn, let us pity the poor white man!" By the Moslems he had just been stripped, starved, and condemned to slavery; but the negro woman, in her own land, exhibited the sympathy of nature for the distressed, while uncorrupted by bigotry and fanaticism.
The account which I have given of Mahometanism I have collected from the volumes of Sale, Predeaux, and Gibbon, from Hallam, Turner, and Alison, and various miscellaneous writers. To attempt a contrast between Mahomet and Christ—between the Koran and the Gospel—between the evidences on which they rest, and the means by which they were established; their influence on the social and intellectual condition of man, the views they give of God, of sin, of judgment, and of heaven, would carry us beyond the limits of a lecture. Mahomet brought no proof, but his word. Christ appealed to his works. Mahomet opened his mouth with curses, Christ with blessings—the one sent forth his disciples as sheep in the midst of wolves, the other gathered together his soldiers to waste and destroy. Christ promised to those who suffered meekly, and laboured patiently the favour of God ; but he said in the world ye shall have tribulation, and to the poor the gospel is preached. Mahomet promised slaves, and gold, and dominion to his triumphant warriors, and the glory of martyrdom to those who fell in the strife. The sword said "is he the Key of Heaven and hell. A drop of blood shed in the cause of God, is of more avail, than two months fasting and prayer ; whoever falls, in battle, his sins are forgiven. At the day of judgment, his wounds shall be resplendent as vermillion! odoriferous as musk, and the loss of his limbs shall be supplied by the wings of the cherubim." In such a spirit, and with such allurement, it is not wonderful that the followers of Mahomet were successful propagators of his faith.
The Christian religion had no such aids. Whatever may be the assistance afforded by worldly policy and regal power, it was not possessed by the first ministers of the cross. The weapons of their warfare were mighty, but they were entirely spiritual, and their victories the recovery of mankind from moral misery. If Mahomet abolished idols, so did they; if he overturned Paganism, they did the same: but theirs was the genial influence of the sunbeam, which nourishes while it warms—his the lurid and desolating lightning, which scorches while it glares. What energy, what liberty, what knowledge, have flourished beneath the shadow of the Cross! while, under the sway of the Crescent, the former dwellings have become but the grave of nations! The cypress flourishes where once grew the palm-tree; and regions once populous and fair are silent and solitary. Wherever the hoofs of the black horse have been impressed, the bloom of moral verdure withers for ever. It was stated by Mahomet that the empire of his religion should be universal and perpetual. It is declared by the Scriptures that the kingdom of Christ shall comprehend the whole family of man. Neither prediction is yet fulfilled; but the former is negatived by the signs of the times. The sword no longer victorious leaves Mahometanism to its own internal resources, and its rapid decadence is portended by every change in the relation of empires; but the kingdom of Christ, distinct in its design and policy from all earthly monarchies, advances with a steady progression, and never presented so bright a prospect of realizing the promise of its Author.
Wherever Mahometanism prevails, woman is debased ; guarded with jealousy, excluded from knowledge; the helpless sport of capricious passions. Rulers are despots, and slaves are ministers or victims; property is insecure, and industry languishes. The Koran, the authority at the judgment seat as well as the Mosque; the political standard, as well as the rule of devotion; perverts the natural understanding of man, and repels improvement as impious innovation. But the Gospel breathes the air of liberty : it moderates the pride of station; equalises the claims of the sexes; makes the wife the partner of her husband; and snaps the ignominious fetters of the slave. Governments can carry amelioration into no department of jurisprudence, no branch of politics, where their laws are not anticipated by the equity and benevolence of the gospel. It blunts the sword of ambition, and publishes the conditions of universal brotherhood. It cheers on the student in his researches—appropriates the discoveries of science, and teaches the mind a dignified humility and a modest freedom. It is in the most extended sense, a lamp unto the feet and a light to the path. It requires not that men should remain ignorant that they may continue devout; it bids them examine, weigh, and prove; and it reposes in the consciousness, that when the optics are strengthened and purified, no spot will even seem to sully the disc of its glory.
It would not concur with our habits of thought to attempt a minute comparison between Mahomet and Christ. The sketch I have given will enable you to judge how absurd the pretended parallel between them. Turn then to the meek and lowly Jesus he who went about doing good. How perfect his example I how holy and peaceful his temper! how full of tenderness and pity ! weeping at the destruction he forsees, teaching the ignorant, relieving the poor, and reclaiming the wicked. What lessons of piety flow from his lips! what prudence in all his steps ! He talks of his death, not his victories; rejects the office of a judge, and frowns on the projects of ambition. Always faithful to the truth; gentle to his friends; compassionate to his foes. He opens his ministry with blessing, and ends his life with a prayer for his murderers. The tongue of malice, never dared to impeach his purity; the keenness of envy never detected a defect in his system of morality. His vindication by Pilate is confirmed, by even those who stumble at his cross—" I find no fault in this man." The unity of his character was never broken, the harmony of his teaching never violated, the serenity of his spirit never ruffled, his benevolence never misplaced; never vindictive to sinners, never indulgent to sin. Among his disciples, in the presence of his enemies, in the temple or the desert, ever consistent with himself. With equal safety we may study his example, or apply his laws.

Launceston Examiner  1846, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article36244603