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the superabundant recompense which the Book promises, but which it has not explained.
Does not my friend perceive, replied Eber, that if the Book had been from God, it would have promised the superabundant recompense alone, as the Gospel has done, so that all men in all countries and in all times might have an equal share in its promises? To me it is plain that this one promise which Mohammed learned from the Gospel is the only promise concerning future bliss in which the Prophet is to be believed. All the other delights which he has described are from his own imagination; and though he was free to imagine paradise as it seemed to him most fair and precious, it is impious to deliver to others as a revelation from God the fancies which have sprung up in a man's own thoughts. I am persuaded that Mohammed did thus, because the paradise which he described would not be a paradise to many, unless they imagine for themselves the nature of the superabundant recompense of which he spoke. There are men who dwell in lands where the cold is excessive; such would not think with delight on the cooling streams of paradise, like the thirsty traveller in the desert. There are many who eat nothing but the
