De Tribus Impostoribus, A. D. 1230: The Three Impostors: Translated (with notes and comments) from a French manuscript of the work written in the year 1716, with a dissertation on the original treatise and a bibliography of the various editions
Religion
De Tribus Impostoribus, A. D. 1230: The Three Impostors: Translated (with notes and comments) from a French manuscript of the work written in the year 1716, with a dissertation on the original treatise and a bibliography of the various editions
De tribus impostoribus -- Bibliography; Rationalism
By this it may be seen that Christianity depends, like all other
things, on the caprice of men, in whose opinion all passes either
for good or bad, according as the notion strikes them. Further, if
Jesus was God, nothing could resist him, for St. Paul (Romans, v. 19),
is witness that nothing could overcome his will. Yet this passage is
directly opposed to another in Genesis (iv, 7), where it is said that
as the desires and appetites of man belong to him, who is the Master,
so it is agreed to accord free-will to the master of animals, that
is to say, man, for whom it is said God has created the universe.
But without wandering in a maze of errors and positive contradictions,
of which we have discoursed sufficiently, let us say something of
Mahomet, who founded a law upon maxims totally opposed to those of
Jesus Christ.
CHAPTER XI.
Of Mahomet.
I.
Hardly had the Disciples of Jesus abandoned the Mosaic law to introduce
the Christian, than mankind, with their usual caprice and ordinary
inconstancy, suddenly changed their sentiments, and all the East was
seen embracing the sentiments of the celebrated Arius, who had the
boldness to oppose the fable of Jesus, and prove that he was no more
a God than any other man. Thus Christianity was almost abolished,
and there appeared a new law-giver, who, in less than ten years time,
formed a considerable sect. This was Mahomet. [46]
To be well acquainted with him, it must be known that the part of
Arabia where he was born, was commonly called "the Happy," by reason
of its fertility, and being inhabited by people who formed several
Republics, each Republic being a family called a "tribe," and having
for its head the chief of the principal family, among those which
composed the "tribe."
That in which Mahomet was born was named the Tribe of Koreish, of which
the principal family was that of Hashem, of which the chief was then
a certain Abdul Motallab, [47] grandfather of Mahomet, whose father,
eldest son of Abdul Motallab, was named Abdallah. [47]
This tribe inhabited the shores of the Red sea, and Abdul Motallab
was High Priest of the Temple of Mecca where were worshipped the
Idols of the country. As Chief of his Tribe he was Prince of this
country in which quality he had sustained the war against the King
of Persia and the Emperor of Ethiopia, which shows that Mahomet was
not of the riff-raff of the people.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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