7 PART I. NATURAL HISTORY OF ISLAMISM. CHAPTER I. THE FORE-RUNNERS OF MOHAMMED. He "Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? 1. It was in the act of blessing Mary and Joseph, that the inspired Simeon uttered the remarkable prediction concerning our Lord Jesus Christ: "Behold this one is set for the fall and rising again in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against:" and how many since that day have stumbled, fallen and been broken at this rock of offence. That the Son of Man was "for a gin and for a snare" not only to · ἰδοὺ οὗτος κεῖται ἐις πτῶσιν καὶ ἀνάστασιν πολλῶν ἐν τῷ Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ εἰς σημεῖον ἀντιλεγόμενον. Lu. II. 34. The fact of of nais being omitted, which is generally supplied in versions, is significative, since the prophecy embraces the character of the Redeemer in all its comprehensiveness. A both the houses of Israel, but also to the house of Ishmael is sufficiently proved by the very existence of Islamism: nor was it for the first time that our blessed Lord "was spoken against" when Mohammed in "the spirit of Antichrist," and as one of the false prophets, denied that Jesus Christ the Son of God is come into the world. As there is a wonderful harmony in the testimony of all the true, so is there a striking uniformity in that of the many false Prophets, who openly as well as "privily bring in damnable heresies,' and agree in disallowing the chief cornerstone, denying the Lord that bought them. 5 It was to be expected that no dogma would have to sustain such contradiction and opposition from "the gates of hell," as that touching the Divinity of Jesus Christ, it being the very life and soul of the Christian religion: yet, thanks be to God, they have 2 “And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” Isa. VIII. 14. The in verse 15. indicates that the offence is not confined to Israel. 3 τὸ sci. πνεῦμα τοῦ ἀντιχρίστου implies a system of false doctrine, and a succession of personal arrizorot. The one spiritus of Antichrist pervades the entire body of false teaching, and inspires individuals or communities. The ὃ ἀκηκόατε ὅτι ἔρχεται affords an insight of the Apostles' teaching concerning this subject. 1 John IV. 3. * τούτῳ πάντες οἱ προφήται μαρτυροῦσιν. Act. Χ. 43. 5 This uniformity in spite of individual shades of difference is owing to the πνεῦμα τοῦ ἀντιχρίστου or the πνεῦμα τῆς πλάνης, which commissions and controls the whole body of ψευδοδιδάσκαλοι. 2 Pet. II. 1. 1 John II. 6. 6 This “fundamentum fundamenti” or στύλος καὶ ἑδραίωμα τῆς aλndelas 1 Tim. III. 15. was therefore assaulted by all the yevdo f f not prevailed and shall not prevail against it. When men in vain take counsel together against Jehovah and His Christ, "He shall speak unto them in His wrath and vex them in His sore displeasure." It is therefore natural that Islamism would not be isolated, but closely connected with, and forming part of that system of religious error, which the devil has spread like a huge net over the face of the earth; for from the days of the Apostles up to this time, there has ever been at work within the Church an invisible hand, lengthening its cords and adapting its meshes with wondrous skill and ingenuity to the circumstances of each particular period. A cursory view of those heresies which successively denied the Divinity of Christ before the days of Mohammed, will convince us that Islamism merely reproduced and extended the already existing elements of apostacy in a new form, instead of striking out a fresh path of religious error. We should however be much mistaken, if we were understood to place Islamism on a level with those heresies which were now and then ejected from the body of the Church,* but we recognise in its system a rank and most pernicious apostacy of a peculiar type. Whilst Islamism however introduced a new element of delusion, it 8 διδάσκαλοι, πνεύματα πλάνοι, ψευδοπροφῆται, διδασκαλίαι τῶν δαιμονίων and αιρέσεις ἀπολείας. IV. 1. 7 Vide Ps. II. 1. 2. 4 and compare the in verse 2. with onμetor årvikejóμerov. Lu. II. 34. 8 A living divine compares heresies to the "excrementa", natu ral to a healthy and living body. A * gathered up and embodied the characteristic principles of those heresies, which denied the Godhead of the Redeemer. 9 2. The mystery of Godliness that Christ was born of a virgin, very God of very God, was only gradually revealed, being purposely hidden from the carnal gaze of the world for a considerable time. If we seek for the popular opinion of our Lord's person and character during His life-time, we find that Jesus up to His thirtieth year was supposed to be the son of Joseph. 10 After His baptism Christ was spoken of by Philip "as Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."11 When He commenced His public ministry, the people ask astonished: "Is not this Joseph's son?" 12 At a later period they exclaim: "Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary?"13 Only one year before His passion the Jews ask: "Is not this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know."14 The same opinions prevailed among the unbelieving masses long after the Ascension of the Redeemer; and even in the days of the Apostles, heresies sprang up within the Church, adopting the 9 It may be said of this mystery, what was said of another involved in it, viz., the dogma of the blessed Trinity that it was unÈQ: νοῦν, ὑπερ λόγον καὶ ὑπὲρ πᾶσιν καταλήψιν. Just. Martyr. in confut. Graec. Quest. 10 "And Jesus himself began to be about 30 years of age, being, as was supposed (ὤν, ὡς ἐνομίζετο, ὑιὸς Ἰωσήφ, not: ὤν, ὑὸς Ἰωσήφ, ὡς ἐνομίζετο) the son of Joseph. Lu. III. 23. 11 John 1. 45. Ευρήκαμεν Ἰησοῦν τὸν ὑιὸν τοῦ Ἰωσήφ, τὸν ἀπὸ Ναζαρέτ. 12 La. IV. 22. 13 Matt. XIII. 55. 14 John VI. 42. views then current, viz., that He was no more than "Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." Amongst these heretical teachers who in the apostolic age paved the way for Mohammed, Irenaeus mentions Cerinthus, a Jewish convert, who subsequently relapsed and was the first who dared to question the Divinity of Christ, asserting that His entrance into the world was according to the ordinary laws of nature: 15 Epiphanius also writes that Christ was considered an ordinary man by the Cerinthian heresy, adding that it admitted His Cross and Passion, but distinctly denied His Resurrection; 16 and their testimony is confirmed by St. Augustine." Another heresy of the same age and tendency as the preceding, was that of the Ebionites, 18 who, like the Cerinthians, adopted the popular notion concerning Christ, which was current during His lifetime. 19 There has been much uncertainty as to the 15 "Cerinthus quidam in Asia docuit, Jesum non ex virgine natum fuisse, autem eum Joseph et Mariae filium similiter, ut reliqui omnes homines, et plus potuisse justitia et prudentia et sapientia prae omnibus." Iren. lib. I. cap. 25. 16 They are declared to have asserted: ἐκ Μαρίας καὶ ἐκ σπέρ ματος Ἰωσὴφ τὸν χριστὸν γεγενῆθαι. Epiphan. lib. I. tom. II. pag. 53. 17 Vide August. tom. VI. haeres. VIII. That Cerinthus propagated his heresy in the days of the Apostles will appear from the well known incident, which Polycarp is said to have recorded viz., that St. John immediately left the bath at Ephesus on seeing that Cerinthus, "the enemy of the truth" had entered the building. Iren. lib. III. contra haeres. cap. 3. 18 Ebion is probably the name of the founder of this heresy; :אָבִּיוֹנִים .plur אֲבִירן some however receive it as a cognomen, from paupers. 19 "Ebionaei ex Joseph Christum generatum esse dicunt." |