the exceptions,-it cannot be shown that it has, LECT. I. in any one instance, resulted from argument, or that any individual ever acquired it by applying his mental powers to an investigation of the phenomena of nature.

Divine communications universally

When we take into consideration the necessity Belief in of supernatural communications in order to the satisfactory determination of every essential point prevalent. of faith and duty, it appears in the highest degree probable that such communications must have taken place. We cannot conceive it possible that the Divine Being would have left the human family destitute of the knowledge of himself, and of his will as the supreme standard of moral actions. We accordingly find, that, in all countries and in every age, the opinion has prevailed, that an intercourse has subsisted between heaven and earth. There exists no pagan system of religious faith which does not, under one shape or other, recognise its occurrence. So powerfully has the idea laid hold on the human mind, that, in the absence of positive revelations, recourse has been had to invention and imposture, in order to satisfy its desires of higher information than could possibly be obtained by the exercise of the unassisted powers of reason. To this source be traced many of the oracles of Egypt and Greece, the original Sibylline books, and other frauds of ancient and modern heathenism There are also to be found in the various religious creeds, which have been or still are professed in the pagan

may

LECT. I. world, numerous points of convergence, which impel us to believe that there formerly existed a primitive revelation as the prototype, from which, by imperceptible degrees, they have receded, in proportion to the progress of corruption, or the influence of superstitions more or less gross in their character, which have been associated with them. It is impossible to pursue the study of mythology to any extent, without perceiving certain relationships which point to a common source, extraneous in point of locality to the territory which it covers, and remote in point of time from the ages which it historically describes. The Vedas of the Hindoos, the books of Buddha, the Zendavesta, and the Icelandic Edda, as well as the mythologies of Chaldea, Egypt, and Greece, exhibit, amidst all the obscurity in which an immense profusion of symbols, fables, and allegories, has involved them, unequivocal developments of a pre-existent period of monotheism and pure revelation.

Moham

medan pretensions.

Of the numerous religions which have existed in the world, there are only three that claim to have been derived from the one living and true God-the Jewish, the Christian, and the Mohammedan; or, strictly taken, they may be reduced to two, inasmuch as the Jewish and Christian are merely parts or divisions of the same Divine system of revelation-the latter being complementary, or perfective of the former. The pretensions of Islamism are high

and uncompromising in their character, but they rest on no solid foundation. The Koran, which forms its religious code, purports to have been revealed from heaven during nocturnal visits of the angel Gabriel, who, it is believed, communicated it to Mohammed precisely as it stands, chapter for chapter, and verse for verse, written upon parchment made of the skin of the ram, sacrificed by Abraham in the room of his son Isaac. The tenet, that it is celestial, uncreated, and eternal, has likewise had many adherents; but a slight acquaintance with the history of the times in which it originated, and an equally slight comparison of its contents with those of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, are sufficient to show that it consists of borrowed materials, clumsily put together, and published to the world in the name of the most Compassionate and Merciful, unaccompanied by any appeals in proof of its divinity, except to the inimitable sublimity of its style, (a quality, however, which is perceptible only by believers,) its alleged coincidence with former revelations, and especially the professed fulfilment of certain prophecies delivered by Moses and Christ, which had Mohammed for their object. It is undeniable that the hero of the book had repeated interviews with the Jews and the Nestorian monks of Syria during his commercial journeys to that country, when he had opportunities of becoming acquainted with

* See Note A.

LECT. I.

LECT. I. the Bible, isolated passages of which, obscured and disfigured by Rabbinical and legendary comments, he amalgamated with dogmas held by the Magi and Sabæans, in order to form a religious system of his own-a system decidedly hostile to every species of idolatry, but also essentially differing from that of the Jews and Christians, except in regard to the Divine Unity and Spirituality, and a future state of rewards and punishments. When repeatedly challenged by those to whom he first announced its dogmas to work miracles in attestation of his call as a Divine ambassador, the reply of Mohammed was, that a sufficiency of miracles had already been wrought by Jesus and other prophets; and that, besides, they were unnecessary, since believers did not require them, and they would be thrown away upon infidels, who would not admit their validity. He was also urged to confirm his messages by unequivocal predictions; but he excused himself by asserting, that he did not hold the key of secret things, and that it belonged to God and not to him to know the future. That a system so manifestly founded on falsities and fables should so rapidly have spread, so extensively have prevailed, and have been so permanent in its influence, is to be accounted for on the grounds of its superiority to the most refined system of paganism, its congeniality with some of the leading principles of our depraved nature, as existing in a prurient state in oriental climes,

the secular influence which it has had at its LECT. I. command, and the deep degeneracy of those sections of the professed Church of Christ, with which it has been in more immediate contact.

Jewish and

Scriptures.

In support of the Jewish and Christian Reve- Claims of the lation, claims of a very different character are christian advanced. These claims rest on evidences both of an external and internal nature, which challenge the freest and most ample examination, and furnish the most satisfactory attestation that the truths, to substantiate which they are produced, were not of human invention, but the result of Divine communications, and are to be regarded as authoritative announcements of the will of God to mankind.

The more ancient of these communications were not originally reduced to writing. Such of them as were granted to our first parents, to the antediluvians, to Noah and others, appear to have been committed, for a period of two thousand years, to oral tradition, as a medium of preservation and transmission:-both of which purposes it was fully competent to secure, at a time when human longevity was greatly extended, and the revelations themselves were more limited and individual in their aspects than most of those which were afterwards made. after the life of man was about to be abbreviated to two-thirds of a century, and the patriarchal dispensation gave place to a national institute, which was to be the great depositary of

But