Page:The Mohammedan system of theology (IA mohammedansyste00neal).pdf/51

 the Gospel of the Birth of Mary, the Gospel of the Infancy of Christ, and many others, which were never generally acknowledged, and have now. sunk into merited obscurity and almost oblivion; but at that time they possessed a certain degree of weight and circulation.

Such a posture of affairs might suggest to the contemplative and ardent mind of Mohammed the desirableness of winning over the contending factions to some common principle of essential truth, such as the Unity of the God-head, which, according to his views, seemed dreadfully obscured, if not in danger of total extinction. What were his original motives we cannot say, perhaps, however, at first, the idea of subjugating so vast a portion of the globe might not have entered his mind: he could not, with certainty, calculate on a successful issue, with whatever purity of intention; and must have