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

228 INFLUENCE OF SCRIPTUREany man's hand, and when Allah through the Koran opens to that manhis revealed way of salvation, the individual thus approached may acceptwhat is level with his reason, but reject wdiat is proposed to Ins faith andabove his reason, and that yet notwithstanding suchrejection he may reasonablyhope to be saved ? If so, I ask you by what right you argue thus ?"Who is Allah, and what is man ? When he tells you the way in whichhe will save you, not the mass of mankind or the heathen to whom theKoran has never come, but you yourselfj what right have you to say thatyour salvation does not depend on your faith's reception of those verythings which are above your reason's comprehension ?How do you knowbut that the whole efficacy of the plan 'proposed to you, depends on yourreceiving the great facts and truths propounded to your faiths 'FaithItself, I admit,^ you may contend, ' does not save any man ; it is the Media-But you have no right to say, or think, or hope that he willtor that saves/or can save you with the Koran in your hand, in any other way than thatwhich in the Koran he proposes to yo\xv faith. And if when he demandsyour faith in what surpasses your reason, you withhold that faith, andplead the sufficiency of what he has incidentally made level with yourreason, do you not thereby show that you have not the spirit which herequires, and that you are yet none of his ?In the Koran he has not onlyrevealed to you his mission and sanctification, but also proposed to you hismediation as a propitiation for your sin ; and he has told you that ' youmust be horn again,' not only of water, but also 'of the spirit;' that exceptyou be converted and become as a ' little child, you shall not enterinto the kingdom of heaven;' and that 'he that hcUcveth and is baptizedshall be saved, but he that helieveth not shall be damned:' 'hclicvcth' notapart only, but the whole of the Koran then intrusted to its Ulemas.Here he explicitly demands your faith in the whole Koran. But supposeit had been otherwise, suppose he had simply opened to you a way bywhich he could certainly save you, without saying any thing about faith,as the one great and necessary receiver of the facts and truthsinvolved inthat way; I ask, would not a rejection of a pa?-^ of those involved factsand truths be equivalent to a rejection of the whole ? Would it not displaythe same spirit as a rejection of the whole ? Would it not show that youwere not walking in his way, but in some other which you supposed mightpossibly be found ? Nay, would it not show that in j^our heart you hadno confidence in him as a mediator; that you even rebelled against hisright to prescribe to you the terms on which he would save you V1186. To conclude, with respect to this guardian angel of my soul, towhom this digression owes its existence ; it may comfort her to know thatI conceive myself so securely protected and guided already, and so sureof the result of that guidance and protection, that I would advise her, inmy turn, to consider well whether she ought not to pray to God to giveher a little more light respecting her own destiny, than is afi"orded by the