Saint Paul weekly Minnesotian., 1858-12-11

er idea of aromanhOod, than the slippery god
desses around the throne of Jupiter, by their
conduct conveyed to the human mind.
Nor were the myriad saints of the modified
Christianity less an advance OH the faithless,
lying, lcentious and warlike gods Of Greece
and Rome; and their worship was the
less hurtful if for nothing else than that
they were comparatively pure in their
lives and some of them martyrs in their
deaths. But the effect of the comprom-
ise between Paganism and Christianity
was to divest the latter of its vitality OF pro-
gress its main idea of the reformation Of ha-
manity in life and conduct; and to allow re-
lgion to save and priests to bless those who
paid price or observed certain forms of be-
lief, without requiring the heart to be materi-
ally changed. The expansion Of the human
mind no longer was a first object of Christian
ity; that Ignorance is the mother Of devotion"
was enunciated as praisewOrthy axiom
and if communities conformed to the csre-
monies of the Church, contributed to its sup
port, and called themselves by its name, and
with unquestioning fervorobeyed the mandates
of its hierarchy-their expansion and cult
vation of mind was considered sufficient so far
as the Church was concerned.
In a word, becoming State Religion,
Christianity lost its force and vitality-it ceas-
ed to be Regeneration of Nations-and when
in the seventh century Mahomet raised the
standard of New Religion amidst the deserts
of Arabia, he found that which claimed to be
the Religion of Jesus of Nazareth resting up
on the past laurels it had n-effete-luxu-
rious- -superstitious-the calendar crowded
with Saints and the earth with priests-the
People nearer to the Church but farther from
God. He found the Roman Empire in its dc
cadence-the weaker from its very extent-its
standing armies but foreign mercenaries whose
only title to be called Roman rested upon
the adoption of the Roman discipline and Ro-
man organization, but in weaker and less
stringent form. Around him he beheld still
existing, though six centuries had elapsed
since Christianity had been founded in Pales-
tine-not many hundreds of miles distant
great communities of wild Pagans-W Orship-
pers of Idols-Devil Worshippers-debased
and brutal in mental darkness and in social
degradation, whom Christianity in its de-vital
lied form had neglected or failed to regenerate.
And behind him he might have seen in High
Asia, myriads of men, wild, warlike, long
hemmed up by the terror of the Roman arms
in their native steppes, where, without outlet,
they had multiplied to excess of fnumbers-an
irresistible avalanche of humanity waiting only
some conclusion of the political atmosphere to
precpitate itselfupon the plains of civilization.
Whatever were Mahomet's motives, wheth-
er he imposed upon himself or deliberately
imposed upon others, it cannot be doubted,
now that the mists of prejudice have dissi-
pated, that his Religion was an adoance upon
the belief of the people amongst whom he
was born-that it inculcated higher morality,
better civilization, more elevated idea of
Deity. AS they were in his day, and in that
of his immediate successors, so the Mahomme
dams are now - jealous iconoclasts - they
make no images nor bow down to them nor
worship them. The idea of the existence of
one God only is the corner stone of Mahomets
system Allah IL Allah-God is God-cry
his disciples; and though they add, that ''Ma-
homet is his Prophet" it is hardly in the sense
of worshipping him that the votaries of Islam
ism utter it.
Indeed, it almost seems that Mahomet in
constructing his New Religion deliberately sat
down and parodied the system of primitive
Christianity, with additions to suit the sensual
and barbarous ideas of the people for whom
his dispcnsation was particularly intended.
His Bible, too, is a wonderful book for his age
and education. Among the faithful it incul-
Gates the Unity of Deity, brotherly kindness,
the strictest temperance and frequent ablu-
tons. TO be sure it inculcates also, prose-
lytism, even with the sword-and in this, as in
other respects, exhibits its inferiority to origi-
nal Christianity. Its idea of Paradise is the
worst feature of his doctrine; as tending to
encourage and stimulate the sensual appettes
naturally sufficiently intense in human kind.
human production, had we any doubts upon
subject How different the true Christians
idea of Heaven-holy, pure, spiritual
But not to multiply words, it must be con-
ceded that Mahomet's Religion immensely ad-
ded to the sum of human civilization and hui
man elevation in the Asiatic world. That for
period it was a religion of conquest, seems
almost to have been wise permission of Di-
vineProvidence. Starting, with the intensity
of power containded in the concentrated al
most " one idea" Of" There Is one God and
Mahomet is his Prophet and the Koran is the
define Laao,"-the fanatic chivalry of Arabia
shattered the Roman armies in every direc-
ton; and when these were dispersed, the
Roman system having destroyed all national
spirit in their provinces and disarmed their
peoples, there was little trouble in the fanatics
of the new belief rendering their power per-
manent, and even proselyting to their hearts
content against the formal, spiritlcss, state
Christianity which everywhere pervaded the
Christian nations they invaded.
Scarcely had this Arabian or Saracen tor
rent subsidized, when the hordes of Asia be-
fore alluded to, loosened by the shock of
the conflict from their remotest plains, aband-
oned their paganism for the creed of the
Prophet Of Arabia, and precipitated Turk and
Tartar in the widest fanaticism upon the
Western provinces Of the Roman Empire;
eventually seating themselves in CONSTANT
nople; while Spain received Arabian conquer
ors of the Mahommedan faith, whose memo
rails still existing in Grenada prove that neith-
er was the Arabian race incapable of, nor was
the prevalence of the Mahommedan religion,
per sc, inconsistent with the highest intellect
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