This work was answered (1631) by a treatise in Latin by P. Guadagnoli, dedicated to Pope Urban VIII. It is divided into four parts; (1) respecting the objections about the Trinity; (2) the Incarnation; (3) the authority of Scripture; (4) the claims of the Koran and of Mahomet. (Lee, pref. 108 seq. who also gives references (p. 113) to a few other writers, chiefly in the seventeenth century.)
The further works of defence produced in this century arose as it were accidentally. The lengthy summary of the Mahometan controversy in Hoornbeek's Summa Controversiarum, 1653, p. 75 seq. was either introduced merely to give completeness to the work as a treatise on polemic, or was called forth by considerations connected with missions, as is made probable by his work De Conversione Gentilium et Indorum. Le Moyne's publication on the subject in the Varia Sacra, vol. i. 1685, arose from the accidental discovery of an old treatise, Bartholomæi Edess. Confutatio Hagareni. A third work of this kind, Maracci's Criticism on the Koran, 1698, arose from the circumstance that the pope would not allow the publication of an edition of the Koran, without an accompanying refutation of each part of it. The work of Hottinger (Hist. Orient. b. i.), Pfeiffer's Theol. Judaica et Mahom. and Kortholt's De Relig. Mahom. 1663, form the transition into an independent literary investigation; which is seen in the literary inquiries concerning the life of Mahomet, as well as his doctrine, in Pocock, Prideaux 1697, Reland 1707, Boulainvilliers 1730, and the translation of the Koran by Sale 1734. A slightly controversial tone pervades some of them. The materials collected by them were occasionally used by deist and infidel writers (e.g. by Chubb), for instituting an unfavourable comparison between Christ and Mahomet.
The great literary historians of that period give lists of the previous writers connected with the investigation. See J. A. Fabricius, Biblioth. Græc. ed. 1715, vol. vii. p. 136; Walch, Biblioth. Theol. Sel. vol. i. chap. v. sect. 9. A summary of the arguments used in the controversy is given in J. Fabricius, Delectus Argumentorum, p. 41, &c. and Stapfer's Inst. Theol. Polem. iii. p. 289, &c.
3. In the present century the literature in reference to Mahometanism is, as in the former instances, twofold in kind. Part of it has been called forth by missionary contests in the east; part by literary or historic tastes, and the modern love of carrying the comparative method of study into every branch of history.
The first class is illustrated by the discussions at Shiraz in 1811, between the saintly Henry Martyn and some Persian Moollas. The controversy was opened by a tract, sophistical but acute, written by Mirza Ibrahim; (Lee, pp. 1-39); the object of which was to show the superiority of the standing miracle seen in the excellence of the Koran, over the ancient miracles of Christianity. Martyn replied to this in a series of tracts (Lee, p. 80 seq.), and was again met by Mohammed Ruza of Hamadan, in a much more elaborate work, in which, among other arguments, the writer attempts to show predictions of Mahomet in the Old Testament, and in the New applying to him the promise of the Paraclete (Lee, pp. 161-450). These tracts were translated in 1824, with an elaborate preface containing an account of the preceding controversy of Guadagnoli, by Professor S. Lee of Cambridge, Controversial Tracts on Christianity and Mahometanism, which is the work so frequently cited above. To complete the history it is necessary to add, that a discussion was held a few years ago between an accomplished Mahometan and Mr. French, a learned missionary at Agra.
The literary aspect of the subject, not however wholly free from controversy, was opened by White, in the Bampton Lectures for 1784; and abundant sources have lately been furnished. Among them are, Sprenger's Life of Mahomet, 1851, and Muir's, 1858. Also a new translation of the Koran by the Rev. J. M. Rodwell, where the Suras are arranged chronologically. The following ought also to be added, Dr. Macbride's Mahometan Religion Explained, 1857; Arnold on Mahometanism, 1859; Tholuck's Vermischte Schriften, i. (1-27); Die Wunder Mohammed's und der Character des Religionstifters; Dr. Stanley's Lectures on the History of the Eastern Church, lect. viii. and the references there given; Maurice's Religions of the World; and Renan's Etudes d'Histoire Religieuse. (Ess. iv.) The modern study has been directed more especially to attain a greater knowledge of Mahomet's life, character, and writings; the antecedent religious condition of Arabia;[1059] and the characteristics of Mahometanism, [pg 391] when put into comparison with other creeds, and when viewed psychologically in relation to the human mind.
The materials also for a study of the Mahometan form of philosophy, both in itself and in its relation to the religion, have been furnished by Aug. Schmoelders, Essai sur les Ecoles Philosophiques chez les Arabes, 1842. See also Ritter's Chr. Phil. iii. 665 seq.; iv. 1-181.
Note 6. p. [12]. Unitarianism.
It may be useful to indicate the chief stages of the history of Unitarianism, and the sources of information with regard to it, as it bears a close analogy to some forms of free thought, such as deism,[1060] and connects itself more or less nearly with forms of rationalism which occur in the course of the history.