against all mankind, and the hands of all mankind against him*; and, again, that he should dwell in the presence of all his brethren. But, while the former of these predictions found an adequate consummation in the warlike character of Mahometanism, the latter was further and more fully verified in its cultivation of the arts of peace. † The conquests of the Arabs prepared the way for their civilization. The aim at universal empire was, in process of time, succeeded by a thirst after universal knowledge. The caliphs of the house of Abbas in the East, and those of the house of Ommiah in Spain, seemed to rival one another, in the protection and encouragement of commerce and of letters. The Arabians were first summoned to this new enterprise, by the genius and liberality of the Abbasside caliph, Al Mamon. " Nor," observes the learned Ockley, "did the sagacity and application of that ingenious, penetrating people, in the least disappoint the designs of their muni * There is, if the expression be not too bold, a philosophy of providence visible in this prediction, as interpreted by the results. Human nature, like the ocean, needs to be purified by friction; and in the prophecy concerning Ishmael, we find provision for so purifying it, providentially foreordered, on an unexampled scale. Mahomet has left a profound reflection on this law of our imperfect nature, in the Koran: "If God had not prevented men, the one by the other, verily the earth had been corrupted." Sale's Koran, vol. i. chap. ii. p. 47. + See sect. xii. xiii. ficent benefactor; their progress in learning, after they had once entered upon it, seeming no less wonderful than that of their conquests. Which love of learning was not confined to the eastern parts, but diffused throughout the whole dominions of the Saracens; being first carried into Africa (where they erected a great many universities), and from thence into Spain *: so that, when learning was quite lost in these western parts, it was restored by the Moors, to whom, what philosophy was understood by the Christians, was owing."† In every climate, the arts and sciences, philosophy and literature, revived and flourished under this rule. 88 Ishmael and Isaac, who before met only in mutual hatred and hostility, here dwelt together, as brethren, in unity; and, as the first reviver of knowledge and restorer of civilization, Mahometanism claimed and merited a comparison with Christianity, in its peaceful influences on mankind. * Spain, it will be recollected, was the grand point of contact, through which the literature of the Saracens diffused itself over Europe. The directing hand of Providence appears equally manifest, in the extent, and in the limits, of the original Saracen invasion. By the conquest and colonization of Spain, and by the final arrest of their efforts to penetrate beyond the Spanish peninsula, the Arabs obtained precisely that degree of contact with Catholic Europe, which enabled Mahometanism, eventually, to infuse its arts and letters, and with them the spirit of philosophical inquiry, into the West; without endangering the faith and freedom of Christendom. + Hist. of the Saracens, preface, pp. xi. xii. The The prophetic analogy was now at length completed. The two sons of Abraham, in their literal and spiritual posterity, were brought into contact, in every country of the known world; and into comparison with each other, in all the relations of human life. The fact of the original promise, and the phenomena apparently announcing its fulfilment, stand thus strikingly confronted, and remain to be accounted for. sceptic may still cavil at what he cannot confute: but the humble and faithful Christian, who sees and adores, the word of God in the prophecy, and the power of God in the event, will prove, after all, the best, and only true philosopher. That such a prediction concerning Isaac and Ishmael should have had existence, and that Ishmael and Isaac should have thus wonderfully met together, after an interval of more than two thousand years, is a problem which Christian philosophy alone is competent to solve. The foregoing outline will suffice to explain the compass of the present argument: which, taking for its foundation the twofold promise to Abraham in behalf of his sons *, will attempt to trace the prophetic parallel, thereby instituted between these brethren, through the patriarchal times, and the history of the Jews, and of the * Sect. i. ante-Mahometan Arabians, to its grand and final consummation in the successive rise and establishment of Christianity and Mahometanism. The inquiry will embrace the descent of the Arabs from Ishmael *; the religion and customs of the ante-Mahometan Arabs t; the lights afforded by prophecy respecting Mahomet and his followers; the historical, moral, doctrinal, and ritual parallels §, between Judaism and Mahometanism, and between Christianity and Mahometanism ; a comparison of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments with the Koran; of the Jewish and Christian, with the Mahometan sects and heresies ; the contemporaneous rise and analogy of Popery and Mahometanism **; the providential object and effects of the Crusades tt; and a comparative view of Christianity and Mahometanism in their influences, on national character and civilization; on industry, manufactures, and commerce; and on the pro * Appendix, No. I. See sect. i. note *, p. 113. † Appendix, No. II. Sect. viii. Sect. ii. iii. § Sect. iv. vii. ** Sect. x. tt Sect. xi. The Crusades have proved a fertile source of controversy to the learned world: views the most opposite have been taken of their effects, in many a laboured argument. Mr. Southey has done justice to the subject, in a single sentence: "But for the Crusades," observes this masterly and philosophical writer, " Mahometanism would have barbarized the world." And so unquestionably it would; for it would have extinguished Christianity; and, deprived of this light, must itself have sunk into utter and irretrievable darkness. See Southey's Life of Wesley, vol. i. p. 310. gress of arts, sciences, philosophy, and literature. * Christianity and Mahometanism, in this argument, are considered as the providential results of a twofold promise made by God to faithful Abraham, in behalf of his sons Isaac and Ishmael; by which promise, a prophetic blessing was annexed to the posterity of each; which blessings, again, linked the fortunes of their descendants, with the providential history and government of the whole human race. The Jews inherited the greater blessing of Isaac, which was mainly of a spiritual nature; the Arabians, the lesser blessing of Ishmael, which was manifestly of a temporal nature. But the Jews impiously slighted their own far better portion, and set their hearts wholly upon the temporal inheritance. Rejecting the lights of prophecy, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, they coveted an earthly kingdom, administered by a temporal Messiah ; and would receive nothing else as the fulfilment of the promise made to Abraham concerning them. This, however, was the proper portion of Ishmael; and the earthly crown, and temporal conqueror, which the Jews vainly thirsted after, his posterity, accordingly, obtained. Mahomet, in a word, was to the Arabs, precisely what the Jews * Sect. xii. xiii. |