Page:The Mohammedan system of theology (IA mohammedansyste00neal).pdf/101

 acknowledged weight and credibility. Had he formed a new plan, comprising the unity of the Deity, probably we should not have heard of him at this day, otherwise than as the Leader of an obscure sect; but he had materials at hand far superior to what Lycurgus or others possessed, and penetration and sagacity to employ them in the way best calculated to promote his wicked and ambitious designs. The claims of Christianity and Judaism were recognised to a far greater extent than mere superstition ever influenced; he chose higher ground therefore, and wielded weapons more formidable than had ever been tried by mortal hands before: by transfusing a certain portion of Christianity into the Koran, he cast, as it were, a vivifying principle into the otherwise dull, inert mass, giving it a plausibility and consistence, sufficient to pass at a dark, benighted period, before printing was discovered, while knowledge was