over the whole sphere to which it extends? For as you touch it, you become, in the view of the judge, a party to the entire amount of its good or evil! On this principle, the exhortation is founded, which enjoins you to stand apart from the mystic Babylon, that her plagues be not yours. Look then, if you would live, to the guidance of the inspired records, and of the Holy One who speaks in them. Cherish the liberty wherewith Christ has made you free. May you see his kingdom more as he saw it, and labour in its cause more as he laboured. FINIS. R. CLAY, PRINTER, DEVONSHIRE STREET, BISHOPSGATE. 6 1.4. 1830 THE RISE, PROGRESS, AND TERMINATION OF MOHAMMEDISM. A DISCOURSE, DELIVERED AT ROBERT STREET CHAPEL, JUNE 11, 1829, BEFORE THE MONTHLY ASSOCIATION OF CONGREGATIONAL AND PUBLISHED AT THEIR REQUEST. BY HENRY FORSTER BURDER, M. A. LONDON: HOLDSWORTH AND BALL, AND WESTLEY & DAVIS, STATIONERS' COURT. A DISCOURSE. ISAIAH XXIX. 11, 12. "The vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I cannot, for it is sealed. And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I am not learned." They It is possible to decline the study of prophetical subjects without sufficient reason. are confessedly difficult. They require laborious and patient research. They compel us frequently to acknowledge our ignorance when we anxiously desire to extend our information, and to remain in doubt when we wish to banish from our minds the impressions of uncertainty. We are frequently too much disposed to adopt as our own, the sentiments, if not the language, of the passage I have read; yet these verses exhibit the frivolous excuses of the indolent and supine. They had closed their eyes against the light; they had yielded themselves to a listless repose; and then they endeavoured to extenuate the culpability of their wilful ignorance, by pleading the obscurity of those divine communications, which they had never vigorously attempted to understand. If, then, we would at least avoid an exposure to the charge which was alleged against them, let us not be wanting in that humble and persevering diligence, by which alone we can pursue the investigation of the whole counsel of God. Let us not forget that a blessing is pronounced on him who readeth, and heareth, and keepeth the words of the prophecy of the apocalyptic book. The subject assigned to me for discussion before my respected brethren, is one of peculiar difficulty, requiring at once a compendium of history, and an investigation of prophecy. It is the Rise, Progress, and Termination of Mohammedism. It will be necessary for me to attempt, I. An outline of the leading facts connected with its rise and with its rapid and extensive progress. II. An inquiry into the causes which may be assigned for that rapidity and extent of propagation: and, |