eafily let it pafs his throat.

Death alfo

fhall come upon him from every quarter, but he shall not die, and before him shall ftand grievous torment." Ib.

"Verily hell fhall be a place of combuftion, a receptacle for the tranfgreffors, who fhall remain therein for ages. They fhall not taste any refreshment therein, or drink, except boiling water, and filthy corruption." Koran, Vol. II. p. 479.

"The wicked women shall be joined to the wicked men, and the wicked men to the wicked women, and the good men to the good women." Ib. p. 191.

"Wherefore one day the true believers fhall laugh the infidels to fcorn. Lying on couches, they fhall look down upon them. in hell." Ib. p. 488. "Whofo feareth God he will be admonished, but the most wretched unbeliever will turn away therefrom; who fhall be caft to be broiled in the greater fire of hell, wherein he shall not die, neither fhall he live." Ib. p. 492. Verily those who difbelieve our figns we will furely caft to be broiled in hell fire. So often as their fkins fhall be well burned we will give them other fkins in exchange,

66

that they may take the sharper torment. Koran, Vol. I. p. 105.

Let any perfon peruse these paffages in the Koran, defcriptive of Paradife and of hell, and fay whether they bear on the face of them any probable marks of divine revelation. They are wholly deftitute of the dignity that we naturally expect from such a communication, and evidently come from nothing but a wild imagination, picturing to itself whatever a mere fenfualist would most covet and most dread. In men of fenfe they cannot excite any emotions but thofe of contempt, not those of either hope or fear. Compared with these arbitrary and abfurd fancies, to how much advantage does the Scripture account of the day of judgment, and the future state of the righteous and wicked appear. Itis figurative, no doubt, but highly dignified, and calculated to make the moft ferious impreffion on perfons capable of just thinking, and who have the common apprehenfions and feelings of men, but general, and not intended to gratify an idle curiofity, as I have shewn at large in my difcourse on that fubject.

DISCOURSE

DISCOURSE V. PART V.

WE have seen that Mahomet was perpetually charged with filling his Koran with fables of the ancients, and it cannot be denied that it abounds with ftories of the most improbable kind, concerning the transactions of former times, many of them feemingly borrowed from the Scriptures, or traditional accounts of events recorded in them, but exceedingly altered, fo that both the narratives cannot be true; and many of the ftories occur again and again in the Koran, which makes the reading of it extremely tiresome, as must be felt by any person who will take the trouble to read it through. I fhall give a few fpecimens of them, and this is neceffary in order to give a just idea of the contexture and contents of the book.

Something of fable or allegory is by many fuppofed to be mixed with the account. of the formation of man in the books of Mofes; but in the Koran we find feveral additions made to it, and those of a very improbable

Z 2

probable kind, especially the account of the command of God to the angels to worship Adam, and the refusal of Eblis, or the devil, to do it, and the fentence paffed on him for his difobedience. The ftory is told, but not without variations, in three parts of the Koran, and all the times at great length, viz. Vol. I. p. 187. II. p. 71. and II. p. 324. I shall give that from Vol II. p. 71.

"We created man of dried clay, of black mud formed into fhape, and we had before created the devil of fubtle fire. And remember when thy Lord faid unto the angels, Verily I am about to create a man of dried clay, of black mud wrought into fhape. When therefore I fhall have completely formed him, and shall have breathed of my spirit into him, do fall down and worship him. And all the angels worfhipped Adam together except Eblis, who refused to be with those who worshipped him. And God faid unto him, O Eblis, what hindered thee from being with those who worshipped Adain? He anfwered, It is not fit that I fhould worship man whom thou haft created of dried clay, of black

ye

mud

mud wrought into fhape. God faid, Get thee therefore hence, for thou shalt be driven away with ftones, and a curfe fhall be on thee till the day of judgment. The devil faid, O Lord, give me refpite till the day of refurrection. God answered, Verily thou shalt be one of those who are refpited until the day of the appointed time. The devil replied, O Lord, because thou haft feduced me, I will furely tempt them to difobedience in the earth, and I will feduce them all except fuch of them as shall be thy chofen fervants. God faid, This is the right way with me, Verily as to my fervants thou shalt have no power over. them, but over thofe only who fhall be feduced, and who fhall follow thee, and hell is furely denounced unto them all."

More abfurd than this is the account of God's producing all mankind from the loins of Adam, in order to their acknowledging him, that when they should afterwards be guilty of idolatry, they should not complain of their punishment at the refurrection, "When the Lord drew forth their pofterity from the loins of the fons of Adam, and took

2. 3