Experimental investigation of the spirit manifestations, [electronic ...

ON Tin: MORALS OF CHRISTIANS. 227It contains various facts and trutlis wliicli our reason cannot yet fathom.Natural reason loves to separate and set aside these great and high thingsfrom the Koran as non-rsacntiah, and then to busy itself with those partsof the Koran which arc level with its own heiglit ;pleased with the dreamthat it has grasped cnoiu/h, has grasped all that can be of any real value.]kdicvc me when reason does this, for one who has the Koran in hishands, she plays at a perilous game.1184. " The main position which I have thus far taken is, however, virtuallyconceded in another part of your letter. Alluding to what I hadurged as to theimportance of acknowledging Mohammed as your mediator,and relying on his mediation only for justification as all-sufficient,reconciling all difficulties, and removing all embarrassment from the considerationof the union of justice and mercy in the deity, you say ^ : But(/or.s it remove all embarrassment ? Is not Allah himself the author ofthe plan of salvation ? Was not Mohammed himself Allah, and also hisvicegerent V The impossibiliti/ of answering these questions satisfactorilyto the plainest reason, teaches me to recoil from the impiety of inquiringliow my Maker will save me or reconcile his own attributes ?I know fullwell that the great mass of human minds are totally incapable of consideringsuch a subject with any approximation to a solution of it, and thereforedo I feel that the eternal salvationor condemnation of mankind doesnot depend on such theological questions. Here you directly admit theinability of reason in most minds satisfactorily to comprehend some of thegreat and high points of the Mohammedan system, and the consequentimpiety of her attemj^ting such a comprehension. You might as well explicitlyadmit her inability for this comprehension in all minds )for nomind in its present state can by reason alone grasp all that Allah hasrevealed in the Koran. These great and high things are not proposed toreason alone, but to reason so far as their evidence is concerned, and tofaith so far as their substance is to be received. Reason may satisfy herselfthat they are revealed. Faith alone can take in the substance whichthey contain. When they are proposed to it, faith must receive them,or salvation cannot come, whether the reason of the individual addressedbe the ' plainest' or otherwise.1185, '' Your argument in the above extract does not satisfy me so wellas your admission. From the inability of the great mass of minds satisfactorilyto comprehend the high mysteries of the Koran, you infer thatthe ' eternal salvation or condemnation of mankind does not depend onsuch theological questions.' Certainly, the salvation of mankind in themass does not depend on these or any other theological questions ; if bythis be meant depending on the ability to comprcheiHl such questions, becausethe points involved in these questions, so far as they are mysteries, areproposed not to reason as comprehend ing, but to faith as receiring.do you mean to be understood as saying, that when the Koran is put intoBut