performances were miracles and not magic, so as to have tended in any measure to the establishment of his mission.

The same might be said, with respect to the miracles of Jesus. But if you invert the order of things, and ascribe the miracles of Moses to Jesus, and vice versa, you will perceive that they will be useless to both; and utterly ineffectual in making their missions binding upon any one; contrary to what was really the fact in which case the declarations of God could have been binding on no one.

These things then being premised, we now affirm that there appeared an Arab among us, who, making a claim to prophecy, proposed as his miracle the production of a certain written composition, and then asserted that mankind were unable to produce the like, by any effort of rhetoric, or any thing else. And since we have shewn, that a miracle is not necessarily confined to any one science, to the exclusion of another, provided it be such as comport with the dignity of a Prophet, there can be no impropriety in his making this the miracle, upon which he would establish his prophetic mission. And since we have also shewn, that an assurance of the reality of the miracle is to be obtained either from a knowledge of the science, &c. to which the alleged miracle is referrible; or, by the attestation of those skilled in such science, that

it is impossible to produce the like. And as we have also shewn that an absolute sufficiency in the assurance of inability is not to be expected, as laid down in the first place; we now affirm, that the mission of Mohammed has been established with the Arabs, Persians, Turks, and the inhabitants of Dailam*. With the Arabs, on account of their knowledge of the Arabic language, and of the science of eloquence. Had therefore his production originated in this science, they could have produced its equal. But they have not, notwithstanding the great numbers of their orators and preachers, and the prevalence of these professions, at that time: to which may be added, the extreme enmity they would exercise towards him, as is always the case, when such claims are advanced. His mission too is established with others, by the confession of the learned among the Arabs (numerous as they were, and extensive as were their territories) of their utter inability to produce the like. So that, in fact, no one of them, during the space of twelve hundred years, has yet produced the like, notwithstanding the continued allegations of the

* Dilem et Deilem, Province du Royaume de Perse, qui s'étend le long de la côte méridionale de la mer Caspienne, à laquelle elle a donné son nom; car on appelle en Persien cette mer, la mer de Dilem, aussi-bien que la mer de Giorgián, et la mer de Ghilan. D'Herbelot. Bib. Orientale.

preachers of Islamism, that the Koran holds out a challenge to all. Now, in the matter of a prophetic mission, nothing less than assurance can be admitted as of any weight: and therefore, assurance is of the first importance. But as

surance has here been obtained in the most satisfactory manner: namely, from the inability of men to produce the like; just as the claim had been made by Mohammed; his mission has therefore been thus established with those also, who were not Arabs.

Nor can it be said, that he laid claim to inimitability in sciences long ago forgotten; but in the sciences of eloquence as taught in the Arabic language. We, however, who are Persians may disregard such a conclusion, with respect to ourselves; for we may answer, that we are unacquainted with the subtleties of the Arabic language, just as any individual might be of physic, and the sciences which it comprehends. It might then be rejoined that it is possible too, that what Jesus did by way of challenge: viz. his curing the leper, the man who had been blind from his birth, and raising the dead, might also have resulted from his knowledge of physic, and not from the power of working miracles; and that the circumstance of others not having done the like, cannot be construed as sufficient to refute this supposition, as he might have been the most skilful amongst them; and that no other,

on this account, had sufficient ability to oppose him. In the same manner, may the miracles of Moses be met; and thus both their missions still be questioned, notwithstanding all they did. Which is absurd; for their miracles were manifestly intended to establish their missions with all. We answer, in the second place, directly, that the object of these performances was the establishment of prophetic missions; and for the assurance that they proceeded from God, and not from human proficiency.

This assurance is then to be obtained from an acquaintance with the sciences of eloquence, which must be founded upon a knowledge of the elements of language, just as it is from the unanimous confession of the learned; viz. that it is a miracle, and not the effect of eloquence alone :- -an assurance, in which there can remain no doubt; and no less convincing than that of the miracles of the other Prophets. Nay, it is more so; for the impossibility of imitation is now just what it was at the first performance of the miracle, on account of its perpetuity, and its utter incapability of decay*. And further, it will for ever remain just what it was at the first propagation of Islamism, contrary to the character of the miracles of other Prophets, of which

* This argument is to be found in Pococke's Specimen Hist Arab. p. 195. and Marracci's Prod. Part II. p. 30.

we have now nothing remaining but mere relations, as Moses or Jesus, for instance, did this or that; or it is thus preserved by tradition. But no relation can have the evidence of an eyewitness. The miracles of other Prophets, moreover, in addition to their want of evidence, as already noticed, when compared with that of the Koran, will by length of time become less and less convincing; because in process of time any relation must become less impressive. But the miracle of the Koran, on the contrary, will, in process of time, become more so, because the learned who have confessed their inability to produce the like, will have been more numerous, though the miracle itself will remain exactly what it was at the first: and the conviction of its being a miracle will thus become more powerful. Hence will the mystery be explained, why this Prophet was, to the exclusion of all others, termed the seal of prophecy: because, as the evidence of their miracles is daily becoming weaker, a time must at last arrive, when it will fail of affording assurance, that they were miracles at all; whence would arise the necessity of the mission of another prophet and other miracles, "lest men should have an argument of excuse against God after the Apostles had been sent to them" contrary to what is the fact, as it respects

* Sale's Koran, Vol. I. p. 117.