Page:The Mohammedan system of theology (IA mohammedansyste00neal).pdf/56

 and to mix up or counteract what might not suit his purposes. The basis, or ground-work of the attempt at religious comprehension, is sufficiently ample: the curious admixture in the Koran of pagan superstition, reveries of the Talmud, detached passages of Scripture, and portions of spurious and Apocryphal writings, is dealt out with a studious accommodation to the pre-conceived notions and views of different sects, and at the same time, not to appear a servile imitator, some trifling alterations are introduced, On opening his commission, with all that sagacity and tact which distinguishes this extraordinary character throughout the whole of his progress, he makes powerful appeals to the national prepossessions or prejudices of his countrymen: he professes himself a delegate from Heaven to them, saying, as mankind were not saved by the writings of Moses, the Psalter, or New Testament, that he was de-