or two of his theories. He holds, for example, that Mahomet at the first
fulminated denunciations of temporal judgment impending over his unbelieving
people; and then, having been, like Jonah, disappointed in the fulfilment of
the menace, and jeered at by his fellow-citizens, he covered his retreat by
the threat of judgment in the world to come; and finally, in order to hide the
manoeuvre, arranged the passages of his revelation so that the latter were
interpolated among the former, and the colouring of a future life thus given
to the whole. But there is no ground for this imputation. The two classes of
denunciations, present and future, were intermingled in his preaching by
Mahomet from the very first; or, if one had the precedence in time, it seems
clearly to have been the latter. When the Meccans hardened their hearts and
stiffened their necks, then the promise of a nearer and a swifter vengeance
was pronounced. And then, as in the days of Isaiah, these mysterious
denunciations called forth the scoffs of the people, who challenged their
fulfilment like the ancient Jews:—"Let Him make speed and hasten His
work, that we may see it; let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh
and come, that we may know it."
