not now been tracing the progress, and describing the labours of its missionaries: but I see in it a the prevalency, of an opinion, founded upon philo- strong proof of the Divine origin of the religion. sophical or critical arguments, upon mere deduc- What had the apostles to assist them in propagaton of reason, or the construction of ancient ing Christianity which the missionaries have not? writings; (of which kind are the several theories If piety and zeal had been sufficient, I doubt not which have, at different times, gained possession but that our missionaries possess these qualities in of the public mind in various departments of a high degree: for, nothing except piety and zeal science and literature; and of one or other of could engage them in the undertaking. If sancwhich kind are the tenets also which divide the tity of life and manners was the allurement, the various sects of Christianity;) but that we speak conduct of these men is unblamable. If the adof a system, the very basis and postulatum of vantage of education and learning be looked to, which was a supernatural character ascribed to a there is not one of the modern missionaries, who particular person; of a doctrine, the truth whereof is not, in this respect, superior to all the apostles: depends entirely upon the truth of a matter of fact and that not only absolutely, but, what is of more then recent. "To establish a new religion, even importance, relatively, in comparison, that is, amongst a few people, or in one single nation, is with those amongst whom they exercise their a thing in itself exceedingly difficult. To reform office. If the intrinsic excellency of the religion, some corruptions which may have spread in a re- the perfection of its morality, the purity of its preligion, or to make new regulations in it, is not cepts, the eloquence or tenderness or sublimity of perhaps so hard, when the main and principal various parts of its writings, were the recommendpart of that religion is preserved entire and un-ations by which it made its way, these remain the shaken; and yet this very often cannot be accomplished without an extraordinary concurrence of circumstances, and may be attempted a thousand times without success. But to introduce a new faith, a new way of thinking and acting, and to persuade many nations to quit the religion in which their ancestors have lived and died, which had been delivered down to them from time immemorial, to make them forsake and despise the deities which they had been accustomed to reve-ter they despised and derided. If it be disgraceful rence and worship; this is a work of still greater difficulty. The resistance of education, worldly policy, and superstition, is almost invincible." If men, in these days, be Christians in consequence of their education, in submission to authority, or in compliance with fashion, let us recollect that the very contrary of this, at the beginning, was the case. The first race of Christians, as well as millions who succeeded them, became such in formal opposition to all these motives, to the whole power and strength of this influence. Every argument, therefore, and every instance, which sets forth the prejudice of education, and the almost irresistible effects of that prejudice (and no persons are more fond of expatiating upon this subject than deistical writers,) in fact confirms the evidence of Christianity. same. If the character and circumstances, under which the preachers were introduced to the countries in which they taught, be accounted of importance, this advantage is all on the side of the modern missionaries. They come from a country and a people to which the Indian world look up with sentiments of deference. The apostles came forth amongst the Gentiles under no other name than that of Jews, which was precisely the charac in India to become a Christian, it could not be much less so to be enrolled amongst those, "quos per flagitia invisos, vulgus Christianos appellabat.' If the religion which they had to encounter be considered, the difference, I apprehend, will not be great. The theology of both was nearly the same: "what is supposed to be performed by the power of Jupiter, of Neptune, of olus, of Mars, of Venus, according to the mythology of the West, is ascribed, in the East, to the agency of Agrio the god of fire, Varoon the god of oceans, Vayoo the god of wind, Cama the god of love."* The sacred rites of the Western Polytheism were gay, festive, and licentious; the rites of the public religion in the East partake of the same character, with a more avowed indecency. "In every function performed in the pagodas, as well as in every public procession, it is the office of these women (i. e. of women prepared by the Brahmins for the purpose,) to dance before the idol, and to sing hymns in his praise; and it is difficult to say whe ther they trespass most against decency by the gestures they exhibit, or by the verses which they recite. The walls of the pagodas were covered with paintings in a style no less indelicate.”+ But, in order to judge of the argument which is drawn from the early propagation of Christianity, | I know no fairer way of proceeding, than to compare what we have seen on the subject, with the success of Christian missions in modern ages. In the East India mission, supported by the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, we hear sometimes of thirty, sometimes of forty, being baptized in the course of a year, and these princi- On both sides of the comparison, the popular pally children. Of converts properly so called, religion had a strong establishment. In ancient that is, of adults voluntarily embracing Christian-Greece and Rome, it was strictly incorporated ity, the number is extremely small. "Notwithstanding the labour of missionaries for upwards of two hundred years, and the establishments of different Christian nations who support them, there are not twelve thousand Indian Christians, and those almost entirely outcasts."+ I lament, as much as any man, the little progress which Christianity has made in these countries, and the inconsiderable effect that has followed * Jortin's Dis, on the Christ. Rel. p. 107. ed. iv. ↑ Sketches relating to the history, learning, and manners of the Hindoos, p. 48; quoted by Dr. Robertson, Hist. Dis. concerning ancient India, p. 236 with the state. The magistrate was the priest. The highest officers of government bore the most distinguished part in the celebration of the public rites. In India, a powerful and numerous cast possess exclusively the administration of the esta Baghvat Geeta, p. 94, quoted by Dr. Robertson, Ind. Dis. p. 306. † Others of the deities of the East are of an austere and gloomy character, to be propitiated by victims, sometimes by human sacrifices, and by voluntary tor. ments of the most excruciating kind.-Voyage de Gentil, vol. i. p. 244-260. Preface to Code of Gentoo Laws, p. 57, quoted by Dr. Robertson, p. 320. blished worship; and are, of consequence, devoted | forth the expectation of a future state, derived any to the service, and attached to its interest. In great advantage, as to the extension of their sysboth, the prevailing mythology was destitute of tem, from the discredit into which the popular any proper evidence: or rather, in both, the origin religion had fallen with many of their heathen of the tradition is run up into ages long anterior neighbours. to the existence of credible history, or of written language. The Indian chronology computes eras by millions of years, and the life of man by thousands; and in these, or prior to these, is placed the history of their divinities. In both, the established superstition held the same place in the public opinion; that is to say, in both it was credited by the bulk of the people, but by the learned and philosophical part of the community, either derided, or regarded by them as only fit to be upholden for the sake of its political uses.+ Or if it should be allowed, that the ancient heathens believed in their religion less generally than the present Indians do, I am far from thinking that this circumstance would afford any facility to the work of the apostles, above that of the modern missionaries. To me it appears, and I think it material to be remarked, that a disbelief of the established religion of their country has no tendency to dispose men for the reception of another; but that, on the contrary, it generates a settled contempt of all religious pretensions whatever. General infidelity is the hardest soil which the propagators of a new religion can have to work upon. Could a Methodist or Moravian promise himself a better chance of success with a French esprit fort, who had been accustomed to laugh at the popery of his country than with a believing Mahometan or Hindoo? Or are our modern unbelievers in Christianity, for that reason, in danger of becoming Mahometans or Hindoos? It does not appear that the Jews, who had a body of historical evidence to offer for their religion, and who at that time undoubtedly entertained and held "The Suffer Jogue, or age of purity, is said to have lasted three millions two hundred thousand years; and they hold that the life of man was extended in that age to one hundred thousand years; but there is a difference amongst the Indian writers, of six millions of years in the computation of this era."-Preface to Code of Gen too Laws, p. 57, quoted by Dr. Robertson, p. 320. How absurd soever the articles of faith may be, which superstition has adopted, or how unhallowed the rites which it prescribes, the former are received, in every age and country, with unhesitating assent, by the great body of the people, and the latter observed with scrupulous exactness. In our reasonings concerning opinions and practices which differ widely from our own, we are extremely apt to err. Having been instructed ourselves in the principles of a religion, worthy in every respect of that Divine wisdom by which they were dictated, we frequently express wonder at the credulity of nations, in embracing systems of belief which appear to us so directly repugnant to right reason; and sometimes suspect, that tenets so wild and extravagant do not really gain credit with them. But experience may satisfy us, that neither our wonder nor suspicions are well founded. No article of the public religion was called in question by those people of ancient Europe with whose history we are best acquainted; and no practice, which it enjoined, appeared improper to them. On the other hand, every opinion that tended to diminish the reverence of men for the gods of their country, or to alienate them from their worship, excited, among the Greeks and Romans, that indignant zeal which is natural to every people attached to their religion by a firm persuasion of its truth."-Ind. Dis. p. 321. That the learned Brahmins of the East are rational Theists, and secretly reject the established theory, and contemn the rites that were founded upon them, or rather consider them as contrivances to be supported for their political uses, see Dr. Robertson's Ind. Dis. p. 324. -334 We have particularly directed our observations to the state and progress of Christianity amongst the inhabitants of India: but the history of the Christian mission in other countries, where the efficacy of the mission is left solely to the conviction wrought by the preaching of strangers, presents the same idea, as the Indian mission does, of the feebleness and inadequacy of human means. About twenty-five years ago, was published in England a translation from the Dutch, of a History of Greenland, and a relation of the mission for above thirty years carried on in that country by the Unitas Fratrum, or Moravians. Every part of that relation confirms the opinion we have stated. Nothing could surpass, or hardly equal, the zeal and patience of the missionaries. Yet their historian, in the conclusion of his narrative, could find place for no reflections more encouraging than the following:-" A person that had known the heathen, that had seen the little benefit from the great pains hitherto taken with them, and considered that one after another had abandoned all hopes of the conversion of those infidels (and some thought they would never be converted, till they saw miracles wrought as in the apostles' days, and this the Greenlanders expected and demanded of their instructors;) one that considered this, I say, would not so much wonder at the past unfruitfulness of these young beginners, as at their steadfast perseverance in the midst of nothing but distress, difficulties, and impediments, internally and externally; and that they never desponded of the conversion of those poor creatures amidst all seeming impossibilities." From the widely disproportionate effects which attend the preaching of modern missionaries of Christianity, compared with what followed the ministry of Christ and his apostles under circumstances either alike, or not so unlike as to account for the difference, a conclusion is fairly drawn, in support of what our histories deliver concerning them, viz. that they possessed means of conviction, which we have not; that they had proofs to appeal to, which we want." SECTION III. Of the Religion of Mahomet. THE only event in the history of the human species which admits of comparison with the propagation of Christianity, is the success of Mahoinetanism. The Mahometan institution was rapid in its progress, was recent in its history, and was founded upon a supernatural or prophetic charac ter assumed by its author. In these articles, the resemblance with Christianity is confessed. But there are points of difference, which separate, we apprehend, the two cases entirely. 1. Mahomet did not found his pretensions upon miracles, properly so called; that is, upon proofs of supernatural agency, capable of being known and attested by others. Christians are warranted in this assertion by the evidence of the Koran, in *History of Greenland, vol. ii. p. 376. which Mahomet not only does not affect the power of working miracles, but expressly disclaims it. The following passages of that book furnish direct proofs of the truth of what we allege:-"The infidels say, Unless a sign be sent down unto him from his lord, we will not believe; thou art a preacher only." Again; "Nothing hindered us from sending thee with miracles, except that the former nations have charged them with imposture." And lastly; "They say, unless a sign be sent down unto him from his lord, we will not believe: Answer; Signs are in the power of God alone, and I am no more than a public preacher. Is it not sufficient for them, that we have sent down unto them the book of the Koran to be read unto them?" Besides these acknowledgments, I have observed thirteen distinct places, in which Mahomet puts the objection (unless a sign, &c.) into the mouth of the unbeliever, in not one of which does he allege a miracle in reply. His answer is, “that God giveth the power of working miracles, when and to whom he pleaseth ;"§ "that if he should work miracles, they would not believe;"" that they had before rejected Moses, and the Prophets, who wrought miracles;"¶ "that the Koran itself was a miracle." then, and not till then, came out the stories of his miracles. Now this difference alone constitutes, in my opinion, a bar to all reasoning from one case to the other. The success of a religion founded upon a miraculous history, shows the credit which was given to the history; and this credit, under the circumstances in which it was given, i. e. by persons capable of knowing the truth, and interested to inquire after it, is evidence of the reality of the history, and, by consequence, of the truth of the religion. Where a miraculous history is not alleged, no part of this argument can be applied. We admit, that multitudes acknowledge the pretensions of Mahomet; but, these pretensions being destitute of miraculous evidence, we know that the grounds upon which they were acknowledged, could not be secure grounds of per suasion to his followers, nor their example any authority to us. Admit the whole of Mahomet's authentic history, so far as it was of a nature, capable of being known or witnessed by others, to be true (which is certainly to admit all that the reception of the religion can be brought to prove,) and Mahomet might still be an impostor, or enthusiast, or a union of both. Admit to be true almost any part of Christ's history, of that I mean, which was public, and within the cognizance of his followers, and he must have come from God. Where matter of fact is not in question, where miracles are not alleged, I do not see that the pro than the prevalency of any system of opinions in natural religion, morality, or physics, is a proof of the truth of those opinions. And we know that this sort of argument is inadmissible in any branch of philosophy whatever. The only place in the Koran in which it can be pretended that a sensible miracle is referred to (for I do not allow the secret visitations of Gabriel, the night journey of Mahomet to heaven, or the presence in battle of invisible hosts of angels, to deserve the name of sensible miracles,) is the be-gress of a religion is a better argument of its truth, ginning of the fifty-fourth chapter. The words are these:-"The hour of judgment approacheth, and the moon hath been split in sunder; but if the unbelievers see a sign, they turn aside saying, This is a powerful charm." The Mahometan expositors disagree in their interpretation of this But it will be said, If one religion could make passage; some explaining it to be a mention of its way without miracles, why might not another? the splitting of the moon, as one of the future To which I reply, first, that this is not the quessigns of the approach of the day of judgment; tion; the proper question is not, whether a reliothers referring it to a miraculous appearance gious institution could be set up without miracles, which had then taken place.†† It seems to me not but whether a religion or a change of religion, improbable, that Mahomet might have taken ad-founding itself in miracles, could succeed without vantage of some extraordinary halo, or other un- any reality to rest upon? I apprehend these two usual appearance of the moon, which had hap-cases to be very different; and I apprehend Mapened about this time; and which supplied a homet's not taking this course, to be one proof, foundation both for this passage, and for the story amongst others, that the thing is difficult, if not which in after times had been raised out of it. impossible, to be accomplished; certainly it was After this more than silence, after these authen-no from an unconsciousness of the value and imtic confessions of the Koran, we are not to be portance of miraculous evidence: for it is very obmoved with miraculous stories related of Maho- servable, that in the same volume, and sometimes met by Abulfeda, who wrote his life, about six in the same chapters, in which Mahomet so rehundred years after his death; or which are found peatedly disclaims the power of working miracles in the legend of Al-Janabi, who came two hun-himself, he is incessantly referring to the miracles dred years later. On the contrary, from comparing what Mahomet himself wrote and said, with what was afterwards reported of him by his followers, the plain and fair conclusion is, that when the religion was established by conquest, of preceding prophets. One would imagine, to hear some men talk, or to read some books, that the setting up of a religion by dint of miraculous pretences was a thing of every day's experience; whereas I believe, that, except the Jewish and Christian religion, there is no tolerably well authenticated account of any such thing having been accomplished. II. The establishment of Mahomet's religion was effected by causes which in no degree appertained to the origin of Christianity. During the first twelve years of his mission, Mahomet had recourse only to persuasion. This is allowed. And there is sufficient reason from the effect to believe, that, if he had confined himself to this mode of propagating his religion, we of the present day should never have heard either of him or it. "Three years were silently em- | habitants of Mecca, in common probably with the ployed in the conversion of fourteen proselytes. other Arabian tribes, acknowledged, as, I think, For ten years, the religion advanced with a slow may clearly be collected from the Koran, one and painful progress, within the walls of Mecca. supreme Deity, but had associated with him many The number of proselytes in the seventh year of objects of idolatrous worship. The great doctrine his mission may be estimated by the absence of with which Mahomet set out, was the strict and eighty-three men and eighteen women, who re-exclusive unity of God. Abraham, he told them, tired to Ethiopia."* Yet this progress, such as it their illustrious ancestor; Ishmael, the father of was, appears to have been aided by some very im- their nation; Moses, the lawgiver of the Jews; portant advantages which Mahomet found in his and Jesus, the author of Christianity; had all assituation, in his mode of conducting his design, serted the same thing that their followers had and in his doctrine. universally corrupted the truth, and that he was now commissioned to restore it to the world. Was it to be wondered at, that a doctrine so specious, and authorized by names, some or other of which were holden in the highest veneration by every description of his hearers, should in the hands of a popular missionary, prevail to the extent in which Mahomet succeeded by his pacific ministry? 1. Mahomet was the grandson of the most powerful and honourable family in Mecca: and although the early death of his father had not left him a patrimony suitable to his birth, he had, long before the commencement of his mission, repaired this deficiency by an opulent marriage. A person considerable by his wealth, of high descent, and nearly allied to the chiefs of his country, taking upon himself the character of a religious teacher, would not fail of attracting attention and followers. 4. Of the institution which Mahomet joined with this fundamental doctrine, and of the Koran in which that institution is delivered, we discover I think, two purposes that pervade the whole, viz. 2. Mahomet conducted his design, in the outset to make converts, and to make his converts solespecially, with great art and prudence. He con-diers. The following particulars, amongst others, ducted it as a politician would conduct a plot. His may be considered as pretty evident indications of first application was to his own family. This these designs: gained him his wife's uncle, a considerable person 1. When Mahomet began to preach, his adin Mecca, together with his cousin Ali, afterward dress to the Jews, to the Christians, and to the the celebrated Caliph, then a youth of great ex-Pagan Arabs, was, that the religion which he pectation, and even already distinguished by his taught, was no other than what had been origiattachment, impetuosity, and courage.t He next nally their own.-"We believe in God, and that expressed himself to Abu Becr, a man amongst which hath been sent down unto us, and that the first of the Koreish in wealth and influence. which hath been sent down unto Abraham, and The interest and example of Abu Becr, drew in Ishmael, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the Tribes, five other principal persons in Mecca; whose so- and that which was delivered unto Moses and licitations prevailed upon five more of the same Jesus, and that which was delivered unto the prorank. This was the work of three years; during phets from their Lord: we make no distinction which time, every thing was transacted in secret. between any of them."* "He hath ordained you Upon the strength of these allies, and under the the religion which he commanded Noah, and powerful protection of his family, who, however which we have revealed unto thee, O Mohammed, some of them might disapprove his enterprise, or and which we commanded Abraham, and Moses, deride his pretensions, would not suffer the orphan and Jesus, saying, Observe this religion, and be of their house, the relic of their favourite brother not divided therein."+ "He hath chosen you, and to be insulted; Mahomet now commenced his hath not imposed on you any difficulty in the republic preaching. And the advance which he ligion which he hath given you, the religion of made during the nine or ten remaining years of your father Abraham." his peaceable ministry, was by no means greater than what, with these advantages, and with the additional and singular circumstance of their being no established religion at Mecca at that time to contend with, might reasonably have been expected. How soon his primitive adherents were let into the secret of his views of empire, or in what stage of his undertaking these views first opened themselves to his own mind, it is not now easy to determine. The event however was, that these his first proselytes all ultimately attained to riches and honours, to the command of armies, and the government of kingdoms. 3. The Arabs deduced their descent from Abraham through the line of Ishmael. The in Gibbon's Hist. vol. ix. p. 244. &c.; ed. Dub. whosoever rises against thee, I will dash out his teeth, 2. The author of the Koran never ceases from describing the future anguish of unbelievers, their despair, regret, penitence, and torment. It is the point which he labours above all others. And these descriptions are conceived in terms, which will appear in no small degree impressive, even to the modern reader of an English translation. Doubtless they would operate with much greater force upon the minds of those to whom they were immediately directed. The terror which they seem well calculated to inspire, would be to many tempers a powerful application. 3. On the other hand; his voluptuous paradise; his robes of silk, his palaces of marble, his rivers and shades, his groves and couches, his wines, his dainties; and above all, his seventy-two virgins assigned to each of the faithful, of resplend ent beauty and eternal youth; intoxicated the imaginations, and seized the passions of his Eastern followers. 4. But Mahomet's highest heaven was reserved for those who fought his battles, or expended Sale's Koran, c. ii. p. 17. † lb. c. xlii. p. 393. their fortunes in his cause.-"Those believers | who sit still at home, not having any hurt, and those who employ their fortunes and their persons for the religion of God, shall not be held equal. God hath preferred those who employ their fortunes and their persons in that cause, to a degree above those who sit at home. God hath indeed promised every one Paradise; but God hath preferred those who fight for the faith before those who sit still, by adding unto them a great reward; by degree of honour conferred upon them from him, and by granting them forgiveness and mercy." Again; "Do ye reckon the giving drink to the pilgrims, and the visiting of the holy temple, to be actions as meritorious as those performed by him who believeth in God and the last day, and fighteth for the religion of God? They shall not be held equal with God.-They who have believed and fled their country, and employed their substance and their persons in the defence of God's true religion, shall be in the highest degree of honour with God; and these are they who shall be happy. The Lord sendeth them good tidings of mercy from him, and good will, and of gardens wherein they shall enjoy lasting pleasures. They shall continue therein for ever; for with God is a great reward." And once more; "Verily God hath purchased of the true believers their souls and their substance, promis-offensive, or very improbable theology. This ing them the enjoyment of Paradise, on condition that they fight for the cause of God; whether they slay or be slain, the promise for the same is assuredly due by the Law and the Gospel and the Koran."+§ prohibition of wine, till the fourth year of the Hegira, or seventeenth of his mission, when his military successes had completely established his authority. The same observation holds of the fast of the Ramadan, and of the most laborious part of his institution, the pilgrimage to Mecca.+ 5. His doctrine of predestination was applicable, and was applied by him, to the same purpose of fortifying and of exalting the courage of his adherents." If any thing of the matter had happened unto us, we had not been slain here. Answer: If ye had been in your houses, verily they would have gone forth to fight, whose slaughter was decreed to the places where they died." What has hitherto been collected from the records of the Mussulman history, relates to the twelve or thirteen years of Mahomet's peaceable preaching; which part alone of his life and enterprise admits of the smallest comparison with the origin of Christianity. A new scene is now unfolded. The city of Medina, distant about ten days' journey from Mecca, was at that time distracted by the hereditary contentions of two hostile tribes. These feuds were exasperated by the mutual persecutions of the Jews and Christians, and of the different Christian sects by which the city was inhabited.§ The religion of Mahomet presented, in some measure, a point of union or compromise to these divided opinions. It embraced the principles which were common to them all. Each party saw in it an honourable acknowledgment of the fundamental truth of their own system. To the Pagan Arab, somewhat imbued with the sentiments and knowledge of his Jewish or Christian fellow-citizens, it offered no recommendation procured to Mahometanism a more favourable reception at Medina, than its author had been able, by twelve years' painful endeavours, to obtain for it at Mecca. Yet, after all, the progress of the religion was inconsiderable. His missionary could only collect a congregation of forty persons. It was not a religious, but a political association, which ultimately introduced Mahomet into Medina. Harassed, as it should seem, and disgusted by the long continuance of factions and disputes, the inhabitants of that city saw in the admission of the prophet's authority, a rest from the miseries which they had suffered, and a suppression of the violence and fury which they had learned to condemn. After an embassy, therefore, composed of believers and unbelievers, T and of persons of both tribes, with whom a treaty was concluded of strict alliance and support, Mahomet made his public entry, and was received as the sovereign of Medina. 6. In warm regions, the appetite of the sexes is ardent, the passion for inebriating liquors moderate. In compliance with this distinction, although Mahomet laid a restraint upon the drinking of wine, in the use of women he allowed an almost unbounded indulgence. Four wives, with the liberty of changing them at pleasure, together with the persons of all his captives,** was an irre- From this time, or soon after this time, the imsistible bribe to on Arabian warrior. "God is postor changed his language and his conduct. minded (says he, speaking of this very subject) Having now a town at his command, where to to make his religion light unto you; for man was arm his party, and to head them with security, he created weak." How different this from the un-enters upon new counsels. He now pretends accommodating purity of the Gospel! How would Mahomet have succeeded with the Christian lesson in his mouth,-" Whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart?" It must be added, that Mahomet did not enter upon the • Sale's Koran, c. iv. p. 73. Ib. c. ix p. 164. Ib. c. ix. p. 151. "The sword (saith Mahomet) is the key of heaven and of hell; a drop of blood shed in the cause of God, a night spent in arms, is of more avail than two months' fasting or prayer. Whosoever falls in battle, his sins are forgiven at the day of judgment; his wounds shall be resplendent as vermillion, and odoriferous as musk; and the loss of his limbs shall be supplied by the wings of angels and cherubim."--Gibbon, vol. ix. p. 256. Sale's Koran, c. iii p. 54. Ib. c. iv. p. 63. ** Gibbon, vol. ix. p. 225. that a divine commission is given him to attack the infidels, to destroy idolatry, and to set up the true faith by the sword.** An early victory over a very superior force, achieved by conduct and bravery, established the renown of his arms, and of his personal character.tt Every year after this was marked by battles or assassinations. The nature and activity of Mahomet's future exertions may be estimated from the computation, that, in the nine following years of his life, he commanded |