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instinct extends through all the grades of possess both the former and the latter. animal life, from the highest to the lowest; Volumes might be filled with well authentiit compels them to perform certain actions cated facts of animals acting as rational necessary both for their existence and well-beings. Of such facts as these "Persona" being. The garden spider weaves her cir- thinks very lightly; but in default of any cular web of "attenuated thread" without direct evidence, they are, in our opinion, ever having seen one before; yet its radiating sufficiently conclusive. How do we deterlines and concentric rings of silken tissue mine the sanity of man? All men have are as geometrically correct as if formed by not reason; it is by observing their actions the aid of a pair of compasses. Her first that we decide whether they possess it or production is in as exact geometric arrange- not. So with the lower animals: examine ment as the last-she profits nothing by their actions, become acquainted with their experience. The coral insect for centuries modes of life, and we shall find enough to has been at work deep down in the ocean show us that they are gifted with reason, caverns of the Pacific, building up a conti- though, perhaps, only to a slight extent. nent that will outlast the proudest monu- The proverb that "old birds are not to be ments of man. Hills and chains of hills are caught with chaff" indicates the popular now rising up from the bottom of that ocean, belief that birds learn by experience. Now formed by this diminutive insect, undirected instinct never benefits by experience, thereby experience or practice, without foreknow-fore some other power must come into operaledge, but under the influence of an irresistible tion, and that power can only be reason. propensity. With reason it is different: It is well known that old foxes will spring means are adapted to ends, and these means vary according as experience and observation suggest. As men differ in their observant faculties, so the means pursued are different; each works according to the best of his judgment. Thus continual improvement is obtained, and from living in caves and wigwams, man, guided by reason and the experience of those who have preceded him, has surrounded himself with comforts and luxuries, and fashioned for himself habitations, both beautiful and replete with every convenience, but still not equal in finish to those of the mere instinctive workers. The handiwork of the one is gradually approaching, but never will attain perfection; that of the other is perfection itself.

We thus see that the distinction between instinct and reason is marked enough. Instinct is that faculty which prompts man and the lower animals to perform certain actions which are invariably the same under the same circumstances, and in every individual of the species. Reason is that noble endowment which guides the possessor to perform certain acts, the result of some previous intellectual process, the method pursued varying according to the greater or less cultivation of the powers of observation and skill.

By attentively bearing in mind this distinction between instinct and reason, we have no hesitation in saying that animals

the trap set for their capture and steal the tempting bait. The numerous expedients they have recourse to when pursued by the hounds are certainly not the result of mere instinct. They profit by observation, and, therefore, must possess some reasoning power. Rooks are reasoners, for when young they may be approached without evincing any sign of fear; but let them once see the effect of the murderous gun, and they take care for the future to keep at a respectable distance from that weapon; and, though ordinary persons may still approach near to them, at the sight of a sportsman they fly away.

In a recent number of "Chambers' Journal" there is a well authenticated story to the following effect:-A gentleman residing in a rectory, under the eaves of which some swallows had built their nests, was aroused one morning by an unusual clatter. On running out he found the stronghold of the swallows attacked by a troop of sparrows, who seemed determined to gain possession of the ready-built nests. In spite of a gallant defence on the part of the lawful proprietors, the object disputed for received considerable damage; and although the besiegers were always driven back, they returned again and again to the attack. The swallows were at work by the earliest dawn in repairing the breaches in their earthworks; but as soon as this was accomplished the sparrows were upon them again. The brave swallows were

much harassed; but by-and-by they had recourse to an engineering expedient, which evinced an extraordinary degree of intelligence. They knew the sparrows had no chance with them in personal conflict-the object of the assailants was to get possession of their fastnesses; and in order to render this more difficult, the swallows actually built up the door of their nests in front, and made an opening behind, where they joined the wall. The chagrin of the assailants, when they discovered this clever manœuvre, was ludicrously evident; but, nevertheless, they continued the attack with unabated vigour, repeatedly attempting to take the place by storm, and being as repeatedly repulsed. The conduct of one swallow was the special subject of the gentleman's admiration. This champion posted himself within one of the newly made doors, from which his tail-feathers protruded; and well knowing that the sparrows would not hazard a personal conflict, there he remained, with incredible perseverance, morning, noon, and night. Day after day the siege continued, till the appearance of the young swallows showed the assailants that all hope was over. But the champion was not so easily moved; whenever the gentleman chanced to look at the nest, there was he, as alert as ever, with the tail feathers standing out in triumph from the door. Week after week passed away, but not so the tail. September came, but the tail did not go; and when the colony flitted away, he remained behind. The gentleman's curiosity was raised to the highest pitch, and, placing a ladder against the wall, he crept cautiously up. The tail feathers did not stir; he touched them with his finger-they were

cold and motionless. Supposing the sentinel died at his post, he removed the nest gently, and, bringing it down, he found the tail in it, and nothing more! Three feathers, arranged so as to represent exactly a swallow's tail, were firmly fixed in the threshold of the door! How is the conduct of the swallow that placed these feathers to be explained according to instinct? This stratagem is equal to any of the most celebrated artifices of the great commanders. Napoleon the Great, with all his intelligence and military skill, never baffled an enemy more successfully or more strategetically than did this little hero of a swallow. Instinct could never have taught it to act thus ingeniously, for, if it had have done so, the whole of the swallow tribe would have acted likewise.

In conclusion, we must say, that we believe none amongst the ranks of our opponents have ever watched attentively the actions of the lower animals. They are not imbued with a love of natural history; they look on animals as enemies, and not as friends; the gun is, perhaps, the only medium with which they hold intercourse with the birds of the air and the beasts of the field; they have no desire to consider that the little partridge they so remorselessly slaughter has any feelings in common with themselves. We believe that all those who, like ourselves, have taken a delight in examining the wonderful actions and ways of life of the smaller and lower animals, will support our side of the question. They will be able to call to mind scores of acts corroborating the opinion that the sagacity they show oversteps the bounds of instinct, and can only be explained by determining that reason is not confined TALIESIN.

to man.

Bistory.

WAS MAHOMET AN IMPOSTOR? AFFIRMATIVE ARTICLE.-II.

THERE is much to admire in the character of Mahomet, as well as much to condemn; and his extraordinary career furnishes us with a striking illustration of what man can achieve by the mighty force of mind within him. That Mahomet was a bene

factor to many millions of the human race, few, we think, will deny; for Mahometanism, to say the least of it, is far preferable to the gross idolatry which prevailed in the East before its establishment. Yet, that he was the promoter of many deeds of blood

and barbarity is also equally clear from historical records.

his coffers were constantly drained to furnish money for his wars, and for the relief of the poor among the faithful,-but anxious, and even greedily endeavouring, to obtain a complete dissemination of his reli

Mahomet presents a phenomenon which is only surpassed by the acts and results of the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth; and when we consider the vast work he under-gion by whatever means were at his disposal, took, and the success which attended his efforts, we cannot help according to him a tribute of admiration for that unswerving perseverance and determination of character he so remarkably displayed. But, much as we may admire his talents, and much as we may respect him as a man, we are compelled to believe that, in his assumption of the dignity of a prophet, he was in act, perhaps not in design, an impostor.

An impostor does not necessarily imply a man wholly devoid of principles of rectitude, swayed only by the desire of deceiving the world and aggrandizing himself. An impostor, we believe, may be a praiseworthy character, virtuous in his conduct and sincere in his professions, with a heart keenly susceptible to the wants and welfare of his fellow men. But a man who, under any mental hallucination, assumes an authority and dignity to which he is not entitled, and who strives to maintain it by whatever means he can command, either by intellectual power or brute force, is properly an impostor, whether he be sincere in his assumptions or not. Now Mahomet is undoubtedly of this character. Whatever motives may have actuated him, it is evident, both from the religion he established, and from his own conduct as a prophet, that he claimed to himself the accomplishment of a mission which he was not qualified, either by the appointment of God, or his own mental powers, worthily to fulfil.

No religion can emanate from God which is not perfect; neither can any one be a divinely-inspired messenger of the Almighty unless he manifest in his life and precepts the purity of Him whom we believe to be all pure as well as all powerful. No worldly motive, no mean desires of self, should ever, in the slightest degree, predominate in the soul; and unless a perfect abnegation of all earthly considerations accompany the prophet of God, we may rest assured that he will soon betray the insufficiency of his credentials from the Most High. Now, Mahomet was selfish, not selfish in the pursuit of wealth, because we read that

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whether good or evil. It was with this spirit that he commanded his followers to use the sword in propagation of the faith, and which, commencing with the period of his ascendency over the inhabitants of Medina, continued, throughout his whole after life, to have increased influence over him. Many acts of his life display a revengeful and even barbarous disposition, strangely at variance with the benign character of the Being whose cause he professed to cherish and espouse. As an instance of this, we may notice his conduct with regard to the Beni Koraida,* which, considered as one of the darkest blots in his history, fully displays a mind, however elevated, capable of dictating the most ignoble and cruel actions; "but we see in this," says Washington Irving, "as in other parts of his policy, in this part of his career, instances of that worldly alloy which at times was debasing his spirit, now that he had become the apostle of the sword."

We have said that no religion can emanate from God, unless it be perfect in its expression of great truths, and in the character of its influence. The religion of Mahomet, displaying many marks of imperfection, cannot, therefore, have proceeded from the High and Holy One who inhabiteth eternity. Much of his creed is very beautiful, we allow, but it shines with a lustre borrowed from the divine teachings of the Founder of Christianity; but much gives evidence of a wild, imaginative mind, soaring into the regions of the unknown, and returning bewildered and dazzled with the exciting scenes his faucy had depicted. No mortal man, either by the light of Mahometanism or Christianity, can hazard a guess at, much less detail, the secrets of eternity beyond the grave. The most that we can arrive at is the moral conviction of the certainty of future rewards and punishments in accordance with the deeds done in the body; and Christianity has only furnished us with this

*See Washington Irving's "Life of Mahomet,' chap. xxiii.

to give a more fascinating character to his religion, has gone minutely into the enjoyments of Paradise and miseries of Gehenna, detailing, "with the minuteness of a voluptuary," the bliss of the former place, and describing, with almost disgusting precision, the torments peculiar to the latter region. He tells his followers, that in the Elysian fields his fancy has created they shall enjoy the pleasures known to them on earth without satiety; that beautiful houris, to the number of seventy-two, independently of their own earthly wives, will be given to them to add to their happiness; that the most exquisite viands and wines will be served in dishes and goblets of gold by hundreds of attendants; and that, to enable them to enjoy these pleasures to the fullest extent, they will rise from the grave in the prime of manhood, their stature will be increased to thirty cubits, and their faculties improved to a preternatural state of perfection.

general idea. Mahomet, however, perhaps | animal nature is exalted above the intellectual, we cannot expect much social, moral, or religious progress; and herein is a fatal objection to Mahometanism. Look at the history of Moslem nations. They seem to have arisen to a certain degree of knowledge and refinement, and then, enervated by the luxury permitted by the Koran, to have been reduced to a miserable state of external and internal imbecility. Since the days when Mahomet inspired his followers with the fanaticism that led them to the achievement of such mighty deeds of conquest, the belief in predestination, which then rendered them irresistible in the field, has worked its evil influences upon them. "The crescent has waned before the cross, and exists in Europe, where it was once so mighty, only by the suffrage, or rather the jealousy, of the other Christian powers, probably, ere long, to furnish another illustration, that they that take the sword, shall perish by the sword.'" The attempts of Russia upon Turkey substantiate, to some extent, this prediction; and though the ambition and cupidity of the Czar will now most probably be disappointed, yet we believe the effeminacy and sensuality of the Mahometan nations, originally to be attributed to the imperfections of their creed, will ere long accomplish their destruction.

In this brief summary of the joys of Paradise, the principal failing of Islamism is apparent. We see the wants of the flesh amply cared for, while the spiritual necessities are wholly unthought of and neglected. Sensuality is the prevailing feature of the religion of the Koran, and the carnal appetites of our nature elevated, to the exclusion of that lofty power within us, by which all our reasonable acts are directed. It is true that many Mahometans believe that this minute description of Paradise is merely figurative in its signification; but this is not the orthodox view of the meaning of the Prophet. Now, when the mere sensual appetites are made so important a part of man, we can discern but a very low estimate of the character and destiny of the human race, and one very little removed from the Elysium of the Greeks and Romans, and the Walhalla of the Scandinavians. When we compare these with the pure and spiritual joys of the dead in Christ, as taught by Christianity, our intellect and feelings echo responsively to the assertion that they are but a very imperfect and inadequate substitute for the felicity of that heaven, which is allegorically described as continually resounding with the songs of praise, before the throne of the Almighty, from the spirits of the just made perfect. Besides, where the

Whatever might have been the sincerity of Mahomet when he first announced himself the Prophet of God, and however he might have, under the mental hallucinations to which he was subject, believed that revelations were made to him from God, as he became more powerful, so, to discharge the exigencies of the moment, and satisfy the fanatic spirit of his followers, did his expedients become more numerous. If a misfortune overtook him, a visit from the angel Gabriel is said to have been made to him to console him; if success attended him, then also was he the favoured object of Heaven's condescension. In any difficult part of his policy, in which a combination of circumstances was likely to produce unfortunate effects, a timely revelation extricated him from the embarrassment in which he was placed.

The genuineness of these mysterious revelátions from supernatural beings is materially impaired by the peculiar nature of the circumstances which called them forth. They are evidently made to answer a given end,

and plainly show, that if Mahomet is not entirely the arch-deceiver he is sometimes represented to be, he was not always under the influence of that strange enthusiasm which is by some interpreted as a proof of his sincerity. We do not deem it necessary to adduce instances of this; the reader will find the fact confirmed in various parts of the history of his life. The Koran being a compilation of these supposed revelations, is therefore deprived of that sanctity which, as a work of divine inspiration, it should possess, and, consequently, loses its importance as the revealed word of God.

From the foregoing considerations, we conclude that Mahomet was an impostor, according to the definition we have already given of that term; but he is certainly one of the strangest and most wonderful impostors the world ever produced. Born of a wealthy and powerful tribe, yet disclaiming all ties of kindred, he proceeds on what he calls his prophetic mission, undergoing hard

ships, privations, and persecutions, until his power becomes extended, and his religion ruling the minds of many millions of the human race, who now assemble at the cry of the muezzim from the lofty minarets of the mosque, to worship the one true God, where once the knee was bowed to gods of man's own creation. We deplore the infatuation which led Mahomet to assume the mission of a prophet, and regret that he did not know enough of pure Christianity to guide him in his endeavours for the religious amelioration of his fellow men; but we are, nevertheless, inclined to believe that he has prepared the way for the easier and wider diffusion of Christianity. For Mahometanism, imperfect in its character, and inadequate to satisfy the intellectual cravings of man in an enlightened state, will one day cease to be a rival religion to the gospel of Jesus, and will eventually give place to the exalted and humanizing teachings of the Christian faith. G. F.

NEGATIVE ARTICLE.-II.

THERE have been but comparatively few | of those who have lived upon this earth who have given birth to great movements, and exercised an important, extensive, and enduring influence over their fellow men. "Great men stand like solitary towers in the city of God"-the earth; sometimes, indeed, like the heavenward-pointing spire, and full of lofty thoughts and holy longings; but sometimes, alas! like that proud temple which arose in Babylon, threatening high Heaven with its presumptuous head. A few such men have been amongst us, who will never be forgotten. They have carved their names deeply upon the rock of Fame, and, though the ocean Time may lave them, they cannot be effaced.

Mahomet is one of these. Great has been his influence upon the destiny of humanity. Vast have been the issues of his advent, both of good and evil. Necessarily, diverse opinions have been held respecting his character. While some reverence him as an inspired prophet, others execrate him as an impious impostor. Taking as our definition of an impostor one who assumes a character for the purpose of deception, we will endea vour to prove that Mahomet was not such a one; and we shall best accomplish this by

following him in his career, and discovering how his character was formed.

There is difficulty in our undertaking. Thirteen centuries have passed away since first the infant Mahomet opened his eyes to the light. Added to this, the Arabian nation is, perhaps more than any European or Asiatic people, generally deficient in a written literature; and, moreover, Mahomet is a person whose acts and influence were such, that it is his inevitable fate to be represented in a dozen different lights, by a dozen different persons, friends or enemies, as the case may be. Thus, there is no small degree of difficulty in gaining a clear and reliable account of his life.

It would seem that the long intervals between the giant men of the earth are occupied in preparing for their advent. Material is being formed for their working, unfavourable circumstances are vanishing, obstacles being removed, until the whole world is ready and waiting for the coming

one.

So with regard to Mahomet. The Arabs,— who, in remote antiquity, worshipped the one living and the true God, but who, in the case of one section, coming to worship him through the media of inferior intelligences,

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