himself the accredited messenger of Heaven. The
earnestness of those convictions which at Mecca sustained
him under persecution, and which perhaps led him,
at any price as it were, and by any means, not even
excluding deceit and falsehood, to endeavour to rescue
his countrymen from idolatry,-naturally stiffened
at Medina into tyranny and unscrupulous violence.
At the same time, he was probably, more or less, throughout
his whole career, the victim of a certain amount of
self-deception. A cataleptic13 subject from his
early youth, born-according to the traditions-of a
highly nervous and excitable mother, he would be peculiarly
liable to morbid and fantastic hallucinations, and
alternations of excitement and depression, which would
win for him, in the eyes of his ignorant countrymen,
the credit of being inspired. It would be easy
for him to persuade himself that he was “the
seal of the Prophets,” the proclaimer of a doctrine
of the Divine Unity, held and taught by the Patriarchs,
especially by Abraham-a doctrine that should present
to mankind Judaism divested of its Mosaic ceremonial,
and Christianity divested of the Atonement and the
Trinity14-doctrine, as he might have believed, fitted
and destined to absorb Judaism, Christianity, and
Idolatry; and this persuasion, once admitted into
his mind as a conviction, retained possession of it,
and carried him on, though often in the use of means,
towards the end of his career, far different from
those with which he commenced it, to a victorious
consummation. It is true that the state of Arabia
previous to the time of Muhammad was one of preparedness
for a new religion that the scattered elements were
there, and wanted only the mind of a master to harmonise
and enforce them and that Islam was, so to speak,
a necessity of the time.15 Still Muhammad’s
career is a wonderful instance of the force and life
that resides in him who possesses an intense Faith
in God and in the unseen world; and whatever deductions
may be made-and they are many and serious-from the
noble and truthful in his character, he will always
be regarded as one of those who have had that influence
over the faith, morals, and whole earthly life of
their fellow-men, which none but a really great man
ever did, or can, exercise; and as one of those, whose
efforts to propagate some great verity will prosper,
in spite of manifold personal errors and defects, both
of principle and character.
The more insight we obtain, from undoubted historical sources, into the actual character of Muhammad, the less reason do we find to justify the strong vituperative language poured out upon his head by Maracci, Prideaux, and others, in recent days, one of whom has found, in the Byzantine “Maometis,” the number of the Beast (Rev. xii)! It is nearer to the truth to say that he was a great though imperfect character, an earnest though mistaken teacher, and that many of his mistakes and imperfections were the result of circumstances, of temperament, and constitution;