dicted sons of Israel and of Ishmael,—their common royal origin, and lowly parentage, the corresponding symbols under which they were foretold, and the corresponding signs which marked their appearance, or which attended the first promulgation of their respective systems, their analogous rejection by their own countrymen, and reception among strangers,-their common denial by their kindred, the coincidence in their mortal persecution by the Jews and the Koreish, ― the prospective analogy, in the last place, arising out of the permanence and universality of their several religions* ; — none of these circumstances of agreement were the result of design or imitation. While, in this historical parallel, as in that with Moses, both classes of coincidence have their needful and proper functions: the studied agreements, to prove Mahomet an antichrist; the undesigned, to mark, in the coming of this last and greatest of heresiarchs, the predisposing and overruling agency of a special Providence. From the parallel between the three founders, the transition is natural and plain to a view of the historical parallel between the three religions. • Some of the eventual resemblances between the two religions undoubtedly may be traced to the original plagiarisms of Mahomet from Christianity. But agreements of this nature have here been left untouched. This parallel I shall also present, in the first place, in a tabular form. JUDAISM. Had its primitive seat in Palestine, the providential patrimony of Isaac. Jerusalem, the capital of Palestine, the first fixed site of the Jewish church. Jerusalem the site of the Jewish Temple. The site of the Temple, the reputed scene of the intended sacrifice of Isaac. The sanctuary, in the Temple of Jerusalem, was separated from the rest of the building by a veil. The Jewish people, in every age, whether collected or dispersed abroad, prosperous or depressed, has clung to Jerusalem, and the worship of the Temple. The Temple of Jerusalem was the annual religious resort of the nation, during the continuance of the civil polity. CHRISTIANITY. Had its primitive seat in Palestine, the providential patrimony of Isaac. Jerusalem the first fixed site of the Christian church. Mecca, the capital of Hejaz, the first and fixed site of the Mahometan apostasy. Mecca the site of the Caaba, or Temple of the Ishmaelitish Arabians. The site of the Caaba, the reputed dwelling-place of Ishmael. The interior recess of the Temple of Mecca was parted from the rest of the building by a veil. The Arabian nation, in every age, in every change of place, and vicissitude of fortunes, has bowed to the religion of Mecca and the Caaba. The Temple of Mecca was the annual religious resort of the nation, both before and since the time of Mahomet. Practised by the descendants of Ishmael, from the age of Ishmael; Enjoined in the religion of Mahomet, to the Saracens, after the example of their father Ishmael, in the thirteenth, or rather, about the thirteenth year.* Mahomet, in the Koran, prescribes, as fundamentals, similar rites, copied almost literally,from the ordinances of Moses, as, Abstinence from unclean meats, Purificatory ablu tions, Fasting, Almsgiving, Prayer. Permitted the con tinuance of polygamy and concubinage. * See Appendix, No. I. tions, Fasting, Almsgiving, Prayer. Enacted the continuance of polygamy and concubinage. JUDAISM. Prohibited usury, as a crime. Framed laws of di vorce. Punished adultery by stoning, and fornication by stripes.* Ordained death as the penalty of idolatry; and the extirpation of idolatry by the sword. Embodied in a sacred book; revealed from heaven ; and containing the sum of their national polity, both civil and ecclesiastical. The Pentateuch is the only written system of legislation, the Koran alone excepted, which thus constitutes the entire code, civil and ecclesiastical, of national jurisprudence.+ The precepts of the Law of Moses came subsequently to be enlarged and overlaid · by an infinity of legal and rabbinical tradi tions. MAHOMETANISM. Prohibited usury, as a crime. Framed laws of di vorce. Punished adultery by stoning, and fornication by stripes.* Enacted death as the penalty of idolaters; and the extirpation of idolatry by the sword. Embodied in a book purporting to be sacred; pretending to be revealed from heaven; and containing the sum of their national polity, both civil and ecclesiastical. The Koran, after the Pentateuch, is the only written scheme of legislation, which thus constitutes the entire code, civil and ecclesiastical, of national jurisprudence.† Embodied in its composition, along with a corrupted edition of the Mosaic Law, the legal comments, and traditional rhapsodies, of the * For the common moral and ritual precepts of the laws of Moses and of Mahomet, see sections v. vii. + For the analogy of the Koran with the Pentateuch, see section viii. JUDAISM. The Jews, however dispersed, oppressed, and persecuted, have, in every country where they have settled, retained their distinctive character as a people; and remain linked together, in opposite quarters of the globe, by the bonds of language and religion.❤ From the period of its destruction by the Romans, to the era of Mahomet, the site of the temple of Jerusalem had been laid waste; the attempt even of the apostate Julian had failed to restore it! MAHOMETANISM. Talmudists and Rabbins. It is observed of the modern Arabs of Africa and India, that "though without any empire in a mothercountry, they were bound together by language and religion; and, like the modern Jews, were united together, though scattered over various countries." * After an interval of six hundred years, the Jewish Temple was replaced by a Mahometan mosque! The mosque of Omar was erected on the site of the Temple; so as, according to the accurate survey of D'Anville, exactly to cover the space where once it had stood. From an obscure beginning in Arabia, rose to supreme dominion temporal and spiritual, over the Christian Greek em * Mickle's Lusiad, Pref. No more conclusive evidence can be furnished by a single trait, than that which this one coincidence supplies, to the proof of a providential connection between the descendants of Isaac and of Ishmael. |