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. 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. 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; 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 conquest of Arabia. The
distribution of the spoil was regulated by a divine law: the whole was
faithfully collected in one common mass: a fifth of the gold and silver,
the prisoners and cattle, the movables and immovables, was reserved by
the prophet for pious and charitable uses; the remainder was shared
in adequate portions by the soldiers who had obtained the victory or
guarded the camp: the rewards of the slain devolved to their widows and
orphans; and the increase of cavalry was encouraged by the allotment of
a double share to the horse and