BIBLE. sell, and buy for yourselves. humble. St. James, iv. 6. Whosoever shall break one of these commandments, And shall teach men so. St. Matth. v. 19. cf. 1 Cor. vi. 10. If two of you shall agree on earth, as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.+ St. Matth. xviii. 19, 20. He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. St. Matth. x. 37. If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and KORAN. the world, and seek light.* Ch. lvii. p. 419. God loveth no proud or vainglorious person; Or those who are covetous, and command men covetousness. Ib. p. 421. God: There is no private discourse among three per- X sons, but he is the fourth of them; nor among five, but he is the sixth of them; neither among a smaller number than this nor a larger, but he is with them, wheresoever they be. † Ch. lviii. p. 424. Thou shalt not find people who believe in God and the last day, to love him who opposeth God and his Apostle; although they be their fathers, or their sons, or their brethren, or their nearest relations. Ib. ad fin. * The peculiarity of this illustration seems to place beyond doubt, its reference to our Lord's parable of the ten virgins. How this beautiful parable has suffered in the imitation needs not be pointed out. Indeed, without the Gospel original, the imitation would be unintelligible. It is worthy of remark, that most of the prerogatives which Mahomet introduces as attributes of the Deity, are to be found in Scripture, attributed to Christ, whose Godhead might thus be deduced from the Koran. It is most odious in the sight of God, that ye say that which ye do not. Ch. Ixi. ad init. And when Jesus, the son of Mary, said, O children of Israel, verily I am the apostle of God sent unto you, confirming the law which was delivered before me, and bringing good tidings of an apostle who shall come after me, and whose name shall be Ahmed. Ib. p. 435, 436. * It is He who hath raised up, amidst the illiterate Arabians, an apostle from among themselves, to re For the impious and monstrous perversion of Scripture here exhibited, Mahomet had still a precedent in Church history: Montanus, the preceptor and perverter of Tertullian, in like manner, gave himself out as the Comforter, or Paraclete, promised by Christ. "The Persian paraphrast, to support what is here alleged, quotes the following words of Christ: I go to my Father, and the Paraclete shall come:' [see St. John, xvi. 7.] The Mohammedan doctors unanimously teaching, that by the Paraclete (or as they chuse to read it, the Periclyte, or Illustrious,) their prophet is intended, and no other." Sale, vol. ii. p. 436. note b. Many are the afflictions of Whoso feareth God: the righteous: But the Lord delivereth him out of them all. Ps. xxxiv. 19. Unto you therefore which believe he [Christ] is precious: That ye should show forth the praises of Him, who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. 1 Pet. ii. 9. And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo there was a great earth Ch. Unto him will he grant a happy issue out of all his afflictions. Ch. lxv. ad init. ́ Now hath God sent down unto you an Apostle, that he may bring forth those who believe, and do good works, from darkness into light.† Ib. ad fin. And when one blast shall * In this one plagiarism, the eastern Antichrist applies to himself two of the most illustrious predictions of the Old Testament, concerning the advent of the Messiah: the one delivered by Moses, the first, the other, by Malachi, the last, of the Jewish prophets ! + The impostor returns again and again to this plagiarism, and assumption of the office of the Christ, which occur first, Ch. ii. p. 48. out of their places. Rev. vi. And shall be dashed in pieces 12. 14. And the heaven departed as a scroll, when it is rolled together. Ib. 14. For we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ. Rom. xiv. 10. Riches profit not, in the day of wrath. Prov. xi. 4. at one stroke: On that day, the inevitable hour of judgment shall suddenly come; And the heavens shall cleave in sunder, and shall fall in pieces, on that day. On that day ye shall be pre sented before the judg ment-seat of God. Ch. lxix. pp. 456, 457. But he who shall have his book delivered, in his left hand, shall say, O that death had made an end of me. My riches have not profited me; He seeth that their power is And my power is passed from gone. Deut. xxxii. 36. Then shall he say unto them on his left hand, Depart from me ye cursed, into everlasting fire. St. Matth. xxv. 41. me. And God shall say to the keepers of hell, Take him, and bind him, and cast him into hell to be burned.* Ib. p. 457. And lo, a voice from heaven, He doth not communicate saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. St. Matth. iii. 17. his secrets unto any, Except an Apostle in whom he is well pleased. Ch. lxxii. ad fin. The loathsome details interlarded, in the context of the Koran, with these imitations of Scripture, present the spurious counterfeit in all its native deformity. |