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OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 339 mentary will satisfy only a believing mind ; intemperate curiosity and zeal had torn the veil of the sanctuary ; and each of the Oriental sects was eager to confess that all, except themselves, deserved the reproach of idolatry and polytheism. The creed of Mahomet is free from suspicion or ambiguity ; and the Koran is a glorious testimony to the unity of God. The prophet of Mecca rejected the worship of idols and men, of stars and planets, on the rational principle that whatever rises must set, that what- ever is born must die, that whatever is corruptible must decay and perish.'^- In the author of the universe, his rational enthusiasm confessed and adored an infinite and eternal being, without form or place, without issue or similitude, present to our most secret thoughts, existing by the necessity of his own nature, and deriv- ing from himself all moral and intellectual perfection. These sublime truths, thus announced in the language of the prophet,^"^ are firmly held by his disciples, and defined with metaphysical precision by the interpreters of the Koran. A philosophic Atheist might subscribe the popular creed of the Mahometans : ^* a creed too sublime perhaps for our present faculties. What ob- ject remains for the fancy, or even the understanding, when we have abstracted from the unknown substance all ideas of time and space, of motion and matter, of sensation and reflection? The first principle of reason and revelation was confirmed by the voice of Mahomet ; his proselytes, from India to Morocco, are distinguished by the name of Umtamuis ; and the danger of idolatry has been prevented by the interdiction of images. The doctrine of eternal decrees and absolute predestination is strictly embraced by the Mahometans ; and they struggle with the com- mon difficulties, hotv to reconcile the prescience of God with the freedom and responsibility of man ; hotv to explain the permis- sion of evil under the reign of infinite power and infinite good- ness. The God of nature has written his existence on all his works, Mahomet the and his law in the heart of man. To restore the knowledcre of God, and the " last of the prophets ^- This train of thought is philosophically exemplified in the character of Abra- ham, who opposed in Chaldsea the first introduction of idolatry (Koran, c. 6, p. io6 ; d'Herbelot, Bibliot. Orient, p. 13). •^ See the Koran, particularly the second (p. 30), the fifty-seventh (p. 437), the fifty-eighth (p. 441), chapters, which proclaim the omnipotence of the Creator. ""^ The most orthodox creeds are translated by Pocock (Specimen, p. 274, 284-292), Ockley (Hist, of the Saracens, vol. ii. p. Ixxxii.-xcv. ), Reland (de Religion. Moham. 1. i. p. 7-13), and Chardin (Voyages en Perse, tom. iv. p. 4-28). The great truth that God is without similitude, is foolishly criticized by Maracci (Alcoran, torn. i. part iii. p. 87-94), because he made man after his own image. I