CHAPTER XVII.

AGAINST MAHOMET.

THE Mahometan religion has for its foundation the Alcoran and Mahomet. But this prophet, who was to be the last expectation of mankind, has he ever been foretold? Or, what token has he to show, more than any other man who may please to call himself a prophet? What miracles does he himself tell us that he wrought? What mysteries did he teach, even according to his own account? What morality? What felicity?

Mahomet is altogether without authority; his reasons, therefore, ought to be very cogent, as they are to rest entirely on their own force.

Suppose two persons should both talk of things apparently mean; but that the discourses of one should have a two-fold sense, understood by his own followers, while those of the other had but one meaning only. If a person who was not in the secret should hear them speak in this manner, he would be inclined to pass the same judgment on both. But if afterwards, in the remaining part of their conversation, the one should speak of angelical things, and the other should talk of nothing but what was base and vulgar, and even nonsensical, he must conclude, that the one spake mysteriously, and not the other; the one having shewn that he is incapable of absurdity, and capable of being mysterious; and the

other, that he is incapable of being mysterious, but is capable of being absurd.

It is not because there is something obscure in Mahomet's doctrine, that may pass for a mysterious meaning, that I would have it decided on; but by those things which are plain, as his paradise, and the like. In these he is ridiculous. But it is not so with the Scriptures. They have their obscurities; but then in other parts they are admirably clear; and their prophecies have been evidently accomplished. The case, therefore, is totally different. We are not to compare and confound things which resemble each other only in obscurity, and not in having plain and evident passages, which, when they are divine, are such as oblige us to reverence the obscurities themselves.

The Alcoran says, St. Matthew was a good man. Therefore Mahomet was a false prophet, either in calling wicked men good, or in disbelieving what these good men declared of Jesus Christ.

Any man can do what Mahomet did; for he wrought no miracle, his coming was never foretold. But what Jesus Christ has done, no other can do.

Mahomet established his kingdom by killing others -Jesus Christ by making his followers lay down their own lives: Mahomet by forbidding his law to be read-Jesus Christ by commanding us to read. In a word, the two were so opposite, that if Mahomet took the way, in human probability, to succeed; Jesus Christ took the way, humanly speaking, to be disappointed. And hence, instead of concluding, that because Mahomet succeeded, Jesus Christ might in like manner have succeeded; we ought to infer, that since Mahomet has succeeded, Christianity must have inevitably perished, if it had not been supported by a power altogether divine.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE DESIGN OF GOD IN CONCEALING HIMSELF FROM SOME AND REVEALING HIMSELF TO OTHERS.

Ir was the purpose of God to redeem mankind, and to open the way of salvation to those who should seek it. But men have rendered themselves so unworthy of it, that he justly denies to some, on account of their obduracy, that unmerited mercy which he grants to others. If he thought fit to surmount the obstinacy of the most hardened, he could easily effect it, by revealing himself so manifestly to them, as to make it impossible for them to doubt the reality of his existence. And thus he will appear at the last day, in awful thunder, and such a wreck of nature, that the most blind will be forced to behold him.

But this was not the way in which he chose to appear at his milder coming. Because, there being so many among mankind who were rendering themselves unworthy of his compassion, he determined to leave them destitute of a blessing which they did not desire. It was not therefore consistent that he should appear in a manner manifestly divine, and capable of convincing all men irresistibly; nor, on the other hand, would it have been right to have been so perfectly concealed, as not to be discoverable by those who sought him sincerely. His design was to render himself perfectly knowable to the latter,

and thus intending to reveal himself to those who sought him with their whole heart, and to conceal himself from those who shunned him with their whole heart, he so tempered the knowledge of himself, as to give marks that were visible to those who sought him, and obscure to those who sought him not.

There is light enough for those whose sincere desire is to see; and darkness enough for those who are of a contrary disposition.

There is brightness enough to illuminate the elect and enough of obscurity to humble them.

There is obscurity enough to blind the reprobate ; and brightness enough to condemn them, and leave them without excuse.

If the world subsisted merely to inform men of the being of God, his divinity would shine through it on every side in an undeniable manner. But as it subsists only by Jesus Christ, and for Jesus Christ, and to inform men of their corruption and redemption, every thing beams forth with evidence of these im portant facts. For all that we can behold neither denotes the total exclusion nor the manifest presence of God, but the presence of a God who hideth himself. Every thing bears this character.

If nothing of God had ever appeared, this continual privation would have been equivocal, and might have been equally explained by the non-existence of a Deity, and by the unworthiness of mankind to know any thing of him. But as he in some instances appears, though not continually, this takes away the ambiguity. If he has appeared once, he exists for ever. So that we can come to no other conclusion than this, that there is a God, and that men are unworthy to know him.

The divine intention is more to produce a perfection of the will than of the understanding; but a perfect clearness would be only of use to the understanding, and would be hurtful to the will.

If there were no darkness, men would not feel

their depravity; and were there no light, they would have no hope of a remedy. So that it is not only just, but advantageous to us, that God should conceal himself in part, and discover himself in part; since it is equally dangerous for men to know God without knowing their own misery, and to know their own misery without any knowledge of God.

Every thing informs man of his own condition; but this ought to be rightly understood. For God does not either completely reveal himself, nor remain altogether concealed. But it is most certainly true, that he conceals himself from those who tempt him, and reveals himself to those who seek him. For though men are altogether unworthy of God, yet at the same time they are capable of enjoying him. They are unworthy of communion with him by their corruption; but are capable of it by their original

nature.

There is no object on earth, which does not proclaim either the misery of man, or the mercy of God; either the impotence of man without God, or the power of man with the assistance of God.

The whole universe teaches man either that he is depraved, or that he is redeemed. Every thing informs him either of his greatness or his misery. The dereliction of God, we may remark in the Pagans: his protection appears in the Jews.

All things work together for good to the elect; even the obscurities of scripture, which they revere on account of that divine clearness which they understand. And all things work together for evil to the reprobate, not excepting the divine clearness of scripture, which they blaspheme, on account of the obscurities which they do not comprehend.

If Jesus Christ had only come for the purpose of sanctification, the whole of scripture, and every thing else, would have been directed to this end; and it would have been very easy to convince unbelievers. But since he came, as Isaiah speaks, both