heresy, than as a heathen superstition.* Consequently, its fate is involved in that of all false doctrines which have corrupted the Gospel; and as far as the disclosures of prophecy, or the present posture of the nations of the earth, hold out a hope of the speedy downfall of delusion, and of the establishment of the truth, the eye is naturally turned with deepening interest and anxiety to those regions of the globe where this religion has so long prevailed.

But in proportion to the interest inspired in the general subject of Mohammedanism, is that which is felt in the life, character, and actions of its founder. That an obscure individual, sprung from the roving tribes of Arabia, following no higher occupation than that of a caravan-trader, possessing no peculiar advantages of mental culture, nor distinguished in the outset by any pre-eminence of power or authority, should yet have been enabled, in spite of numerous obstacles, to found such an extensive empire over the minds, as well as persons, of millions of the human race, and that this dominion should have been continued for more than twelve hundred years, presents a phenomenon which increases our wonder the more steadily it is contemplated.

* "Hence," says the learned and exemplary Mede, "Mahometanism has frequently been accounted a Christian heresy; and as it had its origin in Christianity, so to Christ it looks in the end. For, according to the creed of the Mahometans, Jesus is expected to descend to earth, to embrace the religion of Mahomet, to slay Antichrist, and to reign with his saints." The same authority affirins, "that the Mahometans are nearer to Christianity than many of the ancient heretics; the Cerinthians, Gnostics, and Manichees."

It is proposed in the ensuing pages to exhibit the prominent events of the life and fortunes of this remarkable man. It will not, of course, be expected that, at this distance of time and remoteness of place, a mass of facts entirely new should be communicated to the world. The discreet use of the materials already extant is all that can now be reasonably required or attempted. Yet we are not without hope, that in one aspect, at least, our theme may present itself arrayed in a character of novelty and of unwonted interest; we mean, in its connexions with Christianity. An enlightened Christian estimate of the prophet of Arabia and his religion is, we believe, seldom formed, simply because the subject has seldom been so presented as to afford the means of such an estimate. A brief sketch, therefore, of the state of Christianity at the time of Mohammed's appearance, especially in that region of the world in which his imposture took its rise, will properly invite the reader's attention at the outset of the work. This will show more clearly the intended providential bearings of the entire fabric of Mohammedan delusion upon the church of Christ; and, apart from this particular view of it, we are persuaded that an entirely correct or adequate judgment of Islamism cannot be formed.

State of Christianity in the Sixth Century, particularly in the Eastern Churches.

The distinction of Eastern and Western churches, in ecclesiastical history, is founded upon a similar geographical division of the Roman empire under the emperors, into two great departments; the one including the countries of Asia or the East, which had been subjected to the Roman arms, and the other those of Europe, more properly denominated the West. This distinction became still more common from the days of Constantine, who removed the seat of the empire from Rome to Constantinople, though the final and complete rupture between the Greek and Latin churches did not occur till the seventh century.

Over the largest portion of the Roman empire the Christian religion was early propagated, and for two or three centuries subsisted in a great degree of its original simplicity and purity. Flourishing churches were planted by the Apostles themselves in the different provinces of Asia Minor, and along the eastern limits of Europe; from which "the word sounded out" to the adjacent territories with a multiplying power, so that the cause and kingdom of the Redeemer continued to spread long after its first propagators had entered into their rest. But a gradual degeneracy supervened upon the primitive prosperity of the church. During the fourth century "the mystery of iniquity," - which had been long before working in secret,

began to discover itself more openly, and though the Christians, by the laws of the empire, were exempted from persecution, yet from this time forward a growing declension and defection among them is to be traced through every subsequent period, till at length, in the seventh century, “the man of sin" became fully revealed, and, according to the predictions of holy writ, took his seat "as God in the temple of God, opposing and exalting himself above all that is called God, or is worshipped." It was about the period at which Mohammed arose that this fearful apostacy had attained its height that "the transgressors had come to the full"—and the degree to which the nominal church had departed from the standard of faith, morals, and worship contained in the Scriptures, well nigh surpasses belief. Then it was that those foul corruptions and superstitions were introduced into the church, which finally grew to such a pitch of enormity as to occasion the separation of Luther and the other reformers from what they deemed and denominated the communion of Antichrist. At this period it was, that the venera tion for departed saints and martyrs-the idolatrous worship of images and relics-the rendering divine honours to the Virgin Mary-the doctrine of purgatory-and the adoration of the Cross, had become firmly established; and thus the lustre of the Gospel suffered a dark eclipse, and the essence of Christianity was lost under a load of idle and superstitious ceremonies.

In the eastern parts of the empire, especially.

Syria and the countries bordering upon Arabia, as well as in some parts of Arabia itself, these evils were aggravated by the numerous sects and heresies that prevailed, and by the incessant controversial wars which they waged with each other. The church was torn to pieces by the furious disputes of the Arians, Sabellians, Nestorians, Eutychians, and Collyridians, by whom the great doctrines of Christianity were so confounded with metaphysical subtleties and the jargon of schools, that they ceased, in great measure, to be regarded as a rule of life, or as pointing out the only way of salvation. The religion of the Gospel, the blessed source of peace, love, and unity among men, became, by the perverseness of sectaries, a firebrand of burning contention. Council after council was called-canon after canon was enacted-prelates were traversing the country in every direction in the prosecution of party purposes, resorting to every base art, to obtain the authoritative establishment of their own peculiar tenets, and the condemnation and suppression of those of their adversaries. The contests also for the episcopal office ran so high, particularly in the West, that the opposing parties repeatedly had recourse to violence, and, in one memorable instance, the interior of a Christian church was stained by the blood of a number of the adherents of the rival bishops, who fell victims, to their fierce contentions. Yet it is little to be wondered at that these places of preferment should have been so greedily sought after by men of corrupt minds, when we learn,