376 THE DECLINE AND FALL and reason ; and a slight conversation with the Jews and Chris- tians would teach him to despise and detest the idolatry of Mecca. It was the duty of a man and a citizen to impart the doctrine of salvation, to rescue his country from the dominion of sin and error. The energy of a mind incessantly bent on the same object would convert a general obligation into a particular call ; the warm suggestings of the understanding or the fancy would be felt as the inspirations of heaven ; the labour of thought would expire in rapture and vision ; and the inward sensation, the invisible monitor, would be described with the form and attributes of an angel of God.^"^^ From enthusiasm to imposture the step is perilous and slippery ; the daemon of Soc- rates ^'^" affords a memorable instance, how a wise man may deceive himself, how a good man may deceive others, how the conscience may slumber in a mixed and middle state between self-illusion and voluntary fraud. Charity may believe that the original motives of Mahomet were those of pure and genuine benevolence ; but a human missionary is incapable of cherishing the obstinate unbelievers who reject his claims, despise his arguments, and persecute his life ; he might forgive his personal adversaries, he may lawfully hate the enemies of God ; the stem passions of pride and revenge were kindled in the bosom of Mahomet, and he sighed, like the prophet of Nineveh, for the destruction of the rebels whom he had condemned. The in- justice of Mecca and the choice of Medina transformed the citizen into a prince, the humble preacher into the leader of armies ; but his sword was consecrated by the example of the saints ; and the same God who afflicts a sinful world with pesti- lence and earthquakes might inspire for their conversion or 166 Xhe Christians, rashly enough, have assigned to Mahomet a tame pigeon, that seemed to descend from heaven and whisper in his ear. As this pretended miracle is urged by Grotius (de Veritate Religionis Christianae), his Arabic trans- lator, the learned Pocock, inquired of him the names of his authors ; and Grotius confessed that it is unknown to the Mahometans themselves. Lest it should provoke their indignation and laughter, the pious lie is suppressed in the Arabic version ; but it has maintained an edifying place in the numerous editions of the Latin text (Pocock, Specimen Hist. Arabum, p. i86, 187. Reland, de Religion. Moham. 1. ii. c. 39, p. 259-262). ■'"' 'E^oV h toOto icrtiv kx. Traiobs apfa^ei'Oi', ^u^vi] Tts yiyi'oiieu-q fj oTor yivrjTai, ae aTTOTpeVei fie toutov b ai' fiiKKui -nparTeif, TrpoTpeVfi 5e oVTrore (Plato, in Apolog. Socrat. c. 19, p. 121, 122, edit. Fischer). The familiar e.xamples, which Socrates urges in his Dialogue with Theages (Platon. Opera, tom. i. p. 128, 129, edit. Hen. Stephan. ), are beyond the reach ot human foresight ; and the divine inspiration (the AatMo^'lo^) of the philosopher is clearly taught in the Memorabilia of Xenophon. The ideas of the most rational Platonists are expressed by Cicero (de Divinat. i. 54), and in the fourteenth and fifteenth Dissertations of Maximus of Tyre (p. 153-172, edit. Davis).
