lations, a fiercer and
more sanguinary tone, which proves that his former moderation was the
effect of weakness: [123] the means of persuasion had been tried, the
season of forbearance was elapsed, and he was now commanded to propagate
his religion by the sword, to destroy the monuments of idolatry,
and, without regarding the sanctity of days or months, to pursue
the unbelieving nations of the earth. The same bloody precepts, so
repeatedly inculcated in the Koran, are ascribed by the author to the
Pentateuch and the Gospel. But the mild tenor of the evangelic style may
explain an ambiguous text, that Jesus did not bring peace on the earth,
but a sword: his patient and humble virtues should not be confounded
with the intolerant zeal of princes and bishops, who have disgraced
the name of his disciples. In the prosecution of religious war, Mahomet
might appeal with more propriety to the example of Moses, of the Judges,
and the kings of Israel. The military laws of the Hebrews are still
more rigid than those of the Arabian legislator. [124] The Lord of hosts
marched in person before the Jews: if a city resisted their summons, the
males, without distinction, were put to the sword: the seven nations
of Canaan were devoted to destruction; and neither repentance nor
conversion, could shield them from the inevitable doom, that no creature
within their precincts should be left alive. [1241] The fair option of
friendship, or submission, or battle, was proposed to the enemies of
Mahomet. If they professed the creed of Islam, they were admitted to
all the temporal and spiritual benefits of his primitive disciples,
and marched under the same banner to extend the religion which they had
embraced. The clemency of the prophet was decided by his interest: yet
he seldom trampled on a prostrate enemy; and he seems to promise,
that on the payment of a tribute, the least guilty of his unbelieving
subjects might be indulged in their worship, or at least in their
imperfect faith. In the first months of his reign he practised the
lessons of holy warfare, and displayed his white banner before the
gates of Medina: the martial apostle fought in person at nine battles or
sieges; [125] and fifty enterprises of war were achieved in ten years by
himself or his lieutenants. The Arab continued to unite the professions
of a merchant and a robber; and his petty excursions for the defence or
the attack of a caravan insensibly prepared his troops for the conq