ting their acquaintance, and relieving their wants. He flattered the rich, and bore their affronts without seeking revenge. He also threatened unbelievers with fearful punishments. He referred them to the ancient prophets, and to the judgments which came upon such as despised them. His followers gradually increased; and in five years from the commencement of his mission, his party amounted to forty.

Elizabeth. How did Mohammed get the people to believe in him? What evidence did he give them that he was from God?

Mother. The people demanded a miracle of him. They told him that, according to his own doctrines, Moses and Jesus and the rest of the prophets, wrought miracles to prove that they were sent of God. "Now," said they, "if thou be a prophet, and greater than any that were before thee, as thou boastest, let us see a miracle from thee, also. Do thou make the dead to rise, the dumb to speak, the deaf to hear; or else cause fountains to spring out of the earth, and make this place a garden adorned with palm trees, and watered with rivers running through it in different channels; or do thou make thee

I should

a house of gold, beautified with jewels and costly furniture; or let us see the book which thou sayest has come down from heaven, or the angel which brings it to thee, and we will believe." Samuel. Why, mother, I cannot see how he could answer such objections as these. think he would have been confounded. Mother. But this wily imposter was not to be so easily diverted from his purpose. His cunning always furnished him with some answer.— Sometimes he would tell them that he was only a man sent to preach to them the rewards of Paradise and the punishments of hell. At other times, he told them that the people had despised the miracles of the former prophets, and therefore God would work no more among them. Again, he would tell them that such as God had ordained to believe, would believe, without miracles. Others would not believe, though they saw ever so many miracles.

Samuel. Why, mother, I have heard people say the same thing, when urged to repent and believe in Christ.

Mother. Yes many people abuse the doctrine of God's sovereignty in the salvation of

men, just as Mohammed did. He was a believer in predestination; but he perverted and abused the doctrine as antinomians do now..

Caroline. What is predestination, mother? Mother. It is the doctrine of the decrees of God, explained in the Catechism as "his eternal purpose according to the counsel of his own will, whereby, for his own glory, he hath foreordained whatsoever comes to pass." This doctrine is a great mystery, which we can never fully understand in this life. But, there is no danger of going astray in relation to it, if we leave it just where the Bible does. God, in his holy word, has revealed this great truth; but he has no less clearly revealed that mankind act freely and voluntarily, in all they do; that when they sin, they do it of their own free will and choice; and that, if any are finally lost, it will be their own fault and not the fault of God.

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Peter.

But, who are the antinomians, moth

Mother. They are such persons as take up the doctrine of predestination by itself, without connecting it, as the Bible does, with the free agency of the creature, and content themselves

with making no exertion for their salvation, on the ground that, if they are to be saved, they will be saved, whether they do any thing or not. Now, the decrees of God extend as much to natural as to spiritual things; and this is just as if a farmer should say; "It is no use for me to plough my field and sow wheat; if I am to have a crop I shall have it, whether I do any thing or not; but if I am not to have a crop, nothing that I can do, will make the wheat grow." That, you see at once, would be monstrous felly; and yet, it would be no more absurd than for a man to say the same about the salvation of his soul. But I do not suppose I can explain this great doctrine so that you can comprehend it. I do not expect fully to understand it myself in this world. I only mention it in order to caution you against prying too deeply into things which you cannot understand, because it will lead you into ruinous extremes. Leave the matter just where the Bible leaves it. Believe what you find taught in the Bible, whether you can reconcile all difficult points or not. But never undertake to make your own reason the standard of religious truth.

Your reason may be a safe guide in matters which you can fully comprehend, and in which your heart is not concerned. But, in things above your comprehension, and in matters in which you feel interested, you cannot judge correctly, by the light of reason. This is the case with religious truth. Much of it relates to God and his ways, which are infinite; and our hearts are by nature so depraved, that we hate the truth.

Elizabeth. Did Mohammed pretend to work any miracles, mother?

Mother. He called the Koran itself a miracle, and challenged them to produce any thing like it. But, after he had obtained power, and placed himself at the head of an army, he answered these cavils in a more forcible manner. He told them that God had sent Moses and Jesus, with the power of working miracles, and yet men would not believe. Now he had sent him, commissioned to enforce belief by the power of the sword. His preaching prevailed. He became more and more popular, and converts flocked around him.