PART I.

the other, engaged, no doubt, this fanatical impos- CENT. VII. tor to admit into his system several tenets which he would have rejected without hesitation, had he been free from the restraints of ambition and artifice.

IV. The rapid success which attended the prop. agation of this new religion, was owing to causes that are plain and evident, and must remove, or rather prevent our surprise, when they are attentively considered. The terror of Mahomet's arms, and the repeated victories which were gained by him and his successors, were no doubt the irresistible argument that persuaded such multitudes to embrace his religion and submit to his dominion. Beside, his law was artfully and marvellously adapted to the corrupt nature of man; and in a more particular manner to the manners and opinions of the eastern nations, and the vices to which they were naturally addicted; for the articles of faith which it proposed were few in num ber, and extremely simple; and the duties it required were neither many nor difficult, nor such as were incompatible with the empire of appetites and passions. It is to be observed further, that the gross ignorance under which the Arabians, Syrians, Persians, and the greatest part of the eastern nations laboured, at this time, rendered many an easy prey to the artifice and eloquence of this bold adventurer. To these causes of the progress of mahometism, we may add the bitter dissensions and cruel animosities that reigned among the christian sects, particularly the Greeks, nestorians, eutychians, and monophysites, dissensions that filled a great part of the east with carnage, assassinations, and such detestable enormities, as rendered the very name of Christianity odious to many. We might

See Reland, De religione Mahomedica, Sale's Preliminary dise

course

The causes uted to the ramahome

which contrib

pid progress of

the

tan religion,

PART I.

CENT. VIL add here, that the monophysites and nestorians, full of resentment against the Greeks, from whom they had suffered the bitterest and most injurious treatment, assisted the Arabians in the conquest of several provinces," into which, of consequence, the religion of Mahomet was afterward introduced. Other causes of the sudden progress of that religion, will naturally occur to such as consider attentively its spirit and genius, and the state of the world at this time.

The treatment which

received from

taus.

v. After the death of Mahomet, which happenthe christians ed, A. D. 632, his followers, led on by an amazing the mahome intrepidity, and a fanatical fury, and assisted, as we have already observed, by those christians whom the Greeks had treated with such severity, extended their conquests beyond the limits of Arabia, and subdued Syria, Persia, Egypt, and other countries under their dominion. On the other hand, the Greeks, exhausted with civil discords, and wholly occupied by intestine troubles, were unable to stop these intrepid conquerors in their rapid career.

For some time these enthusiastic invaders used their prosperity with moderation, and treated the christians, and particularly those among them who rejected the decrees of the councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon, with the utmost indulgence and lenity. But as an uninterrupted course of success and prosperity renders, too generally, corrupt mortals insolent and imperious, so the moderation of this victorious sect degenerated by degrees into severity; and they treated the christians, at length, rather like slaves than citizens, loading them with insupportable taxes, and obliging them to submit to a variety of vexatious and oppressive meas

ures.

See Ockley's Conquest of Syria, Persia, and Egypt, by the Saracens, the first part of which was published at London in the year 1708, and the second in 1717.

PART I.

tans divided.

VI. The progress however of this triumphant sect CENT. VII. received a considerable check by the civil dissensions which arose among them immediately after The mahome. the death of Mahomet. Abubeker and Ali, the former the father in law, and the latter the son in law of this pretended prophet, aspired both to succeed him in the empire which he had erected. Upon this arose a tedious and cruel contest whose flame reached to succeeding ages, and produced that schism which divided the mahometans into two great factions, whose separation not only gave rise to a variety of opinions and rites, but also excited the most implacable hatred, and the most deadly animosities. Of these factions, the one acknowledged Abubeker as the true calif, or successor of Mahomet, and its members were distinguished by the name of sonnites; while the other adhered to Ali, and were known by the title of schiites. Both however adhered to the Alcoran as a divine law, and the rule of faith and manners; to which indeed the former added, by way of interpretation, the sonna, i. e. a certain law which they looked upon as descended from Mahomet by oral tradition, and which the schiites refused to admit. Among the sonnites, or followers of Abubeker, we are to reckon the Turks, Tartars, Arabians, Africans, and the greatest part of the Indian mahometans; whereas the Persians and the subjects of the Grand Mogul are generally considered as the followers of Ali; though the latter indeed seem rather to observe a strict neutrality in this

contest.

Beside these two grand factions, there are other subordinate sects among the mahometans, which dispute with warmth concerning several points of religion, though without violating the rules of mu

See Reland, De religione Turcica, lib. i. p. 36, 70, 74, 85. Char din's. Voyages en Perse, tom. ii. p. 286.

PART I

CENT. VIL. tual toleration.* Of these sects there are four which far surpass the rest in point of reputation and importance.

For an account of the mahometan sects, see Hottinger, Histor. Orient. lib. ii. cap, vi. p. 340. Ricaut, Etat. de l'empire Ottoman, livr. ii. p. 242. Chardin's Voyages en Perse, tom. ii. p. 263. Sale's Preliminary Discourse, § 8, p. 151.

PART II.

INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH.

CHAPTER I.

CONCERNING THE STATE OF LETTERS AND PHILOSOPHY DURING

THIS CENTURY.

learning.

NOTHING can equal the ignorance and darkness CENT. VII. that reigned in this century; the most impartial PART 11. and accurate account of which will appear incred- The state of ible to those who are unacquainted with the productions of this barbarous period. Any remains of learning and philosophy that yet survived, were, a few particular cases excepted, to be found principally among the Latins, in the obscure retreats of cloistered monks. The monastic institutions prohibited the election of any abbot to the head of a convent, who was not a man of learning, or at least endowed with a tolerable measure of the erudition of the times. The monks were obliged to consecrate certain hours every day to reading and study; and, that they might improve this appointment to the most advantageous purposes, there were in most of the monasteries, stated times marked out, at which they were to assemble, in order to communicate to each other the fruits of their study, and to discuss the matters upon which they had been reading. The youth also who were destined for the service of the church, were obliged to prepare

a See Mabillon, Acta S. §. Ord. Benedicti, tom. ii. p. 479, 513.

162

163