I necessary laws and directions, frequent admoni- which, in truth, are so great, that all their doctions to moral and divine virtues, the worship and tors have never been able to adjust them; for reverence of the Supreme Being, and resignation Mahomet, or rather his copyist, having put all to his will. One of their most learned commen- the loose verses promiscuously in a book together, tators distinguishes the contents of the Alcoran it was impossible ever to retrieve the order where into allegorical and literal; under the former are in they were delivered. These 23 years which comprehended all the obscure, parabolical, and the angel employed in conveying the Alcoran to enigmatical passages, with such laws as are re- Mahomet, are of wonderful service to his folpealed or abrogated; the latter, such as are clear, lowers; inasmuch as they furnish them with an and in full force. The most excellent moral in answer to such as tax them with those glaring the whole Alcoran, interpreters say, is that in the contradictions of which the book is full, and chapter Al alraf, viz. "Show mercy, do good to all, which they piously father upon God himself; and dispute not with the ignorant;" or, as Mr. alleging that, in the course of so long a time, he Sale renders it, Use indulgence, command that repealed and altered several doctrines and prewhich is just, and withdraw far from the igno- cepts which the prophet had before received of rant. Mahomet, according to the authors of the him. M. D'Herbelot thinks it probable, that Keschaf, having begged of the angel Gabriel a when the heresies of the Nestorians, Eutychians, more ample explication of this passage, received &c. had been condemned by oecumenical counit in the following terms: "Seek him who turns cils, many bishops, priests, monks, &c. being thee out, give to him who takes from thee, par- driven into the deserts of Arabia and Egypt, furdon him who injures thee; for God will have nished the impostor with passages, and crude, you plant in your souls the roots of his chief per- ill-conceived doctrines, out of the Scriptures; and fections." It is easy to see that this commentary that it was hence that the Alcoran became so full is borrowed from the Gospel. In reality, the of the wild and erroneous opinions of those herenecessity of forgiving enemies, though frequently tics. The Jews also, who were very numerous inculcated in the Alcoran, is of a later date among in Arabia, furnished materials for the Alcoran ; the Mahometans than among the Christians; nor is it without some reason that they boast among those later than among the heathens; and twelve of their chief doctors to have been the to be traced originally among the Jews. (See authors of this work. The Alcoran, while MaExod. xxxiii. 4, 5.) But it matters not so much homet lived, was only kept in loose sheets: his who had it first as who observes it best. The successor, Abubeker, first collected them into a caliph Hassan, son of Hali, being at table, a slave volume, and committed the keeping of it to let fall a dish of meat reeking hot, which scalded Haphsa, the widow of Mahomet, in order to be him severely. The slave fell on his knees re- consulted as an original; and there being a good hearsing these words of the Alcoran, "Paradise deal of diversity between the several copies alis for those who restrain their anger." "I am ready dispersed throughout the provinces, Ottonot angry with thee," answered the caliph. "And man, successor of Abubeker, procured a great for those who forgive offences against them," number of copies to be taken from that of Haph continues the slave. "I forgive thee thine," re-sa, at the same time suppressing all the others plies the caliph. "But, above all, for those who not conformable to the original. The chief difreturn good for evil," adds the slave. "I set ferences in the present copies of this book consist thee at liberty," rejoined the caliph; "and I give in the points, which were not in use in the time thee ten dinars." There are also a great number of Mahomet and his immediate successors; but of occasional passages in the Alcoran relating only were added since, to ascertain the reading, after to particular emergencies. For this advantage the example of the Massoretes, who added the Mahomet had, by his piecemeal method of re-like points to the Hebrew texts of Scripture. ceiving and delivering his revelations, that, whenever he happened to be perplexed with any thing, he had a certain resource in some new morsel of revelation. It was an admirable contrivance to bring down the whole Alcoran only to the lowest heaven, not to earth: since, had the whole been published at once, innumerable objections would have been made, which it would have been impossible for him to have solved; but as he received it by parcels, as God saw fit they should be published for the conversion and instruction of the people, he had a sure way to answer all emergencies, and to extricate himself with honour from any difficulty which might occur. 3. Koran, history of the.It is the common pinion, that Mahomet, assisted by one Sergius, a monk, composed this book: but the Mussulmans believe it as an article of their faith, that the prophet, who, they say, was an illiterate man, had no concern in inditing it; but that it was given him by God, who, to that end, made use of the ministry of the angel Gabriel; that, however, it was communicated to him by little and little, a verse at a time, and in different places, during the course of 23 years." And hence," say they, "proceed that disorder and confusion visible in the work;" There are seven principal editions of the Alcoran, two at Medina, one at Mecca, one at Cufa, one at Bassora, one in Syria, and the common, or vulgar edition. The first contains 6000 verses, the others surpassing this number by 200 or 236 verses; but the number of words and letters is the same in all; viz. 77,639 words, and 323,015 letters. The number of commentaries on the Alcoran is so large, that the bare titles would make a huge volume. Ben Oschair has written the history of them, entitled Tarikh Ben Onchair. The principal among them are, Reidhaori, Thaalebi, Zamalchschari, and Bacai. The Mahometans have a positive theology built on the Alcoran and tradition, as well as a scholastical one built on reason. They have likewise their casuists, and a kind of canon law, wherein they distinguish between what is of divine and what of positive right. They have their beneficiaries, too, chaplains, almoners, and canons, who read a chapter every day out of the Alcoran in their mosques, and have prebends annexed to their office. The hatib of the mosque is what we call the parson of the parish; and the schriks are the preachers, who take their texts out of the Alcoran. KORAN KORAN by any former or succeeding impostor. It requires not the eye of a philosopher to discover in every soil and country a principle of national pride: and if we look back for many ages on the history of the Arabians, we shall easily perceive that pride among them invariably to have consist ed in the knowledge and improvement of their native language. The Arabic, which has been justly esteemed the most copious of the easter tongues, which had existed from the most re mote antiquity, which had been embellished by numberless poets, and refined by the constant exercise of the natives, was the most successful in strument which Mahomet employed in planting his new religion among them. Admirably adapt ed by its unrivalled harmony, and by its endless variety, to add painting to expression, and to pursue the imagination in its unbounded fight, it became in the hands of Mahomet an irresisti ble charm to blind the judgment and to captivate the fancy of his followers. Of that description of men who first composed the adherents of Mahomet, and to whom the Koran was addressed, few, probably, were able to pass a very accurate judgment on the propriety of the sentiments, of on the beauty of the diction: but all could judge of the military abilities of their leader; and in the midst of their admiration, it is not difficult to conceive that they would ascribe to his comp tions every imaginary beauty of inspired lan guage. The shepherd and the soldier, the awake to the charms of those wild but beautiful compositions in which were celebrated their fa vourite occupations of love or war, were yet lite able to criticise any other works than those which were addressed to their imagination or their heart. To abstract reasonings on the attributes and the dispensations of the Deity, to the comparative excellencies of rival religions, to the consistency of any one religious system in all its parts, and t the force of its various proofs, they were quite inattentive. In such a situation, the appearance of a work which possessed something like wis dom and consistence; which prescribed the rules and illustrated the duties of life; and which can 4. Koran, Mahometan, faith concerning.—It is the general belief among the Mahometans that the Koran is of divine original; nay, that it is eternal and uncreated; remaining, as some express it, in the very essence of God; and the very first transcript has been from everlasting, by God's throne, written on a table of vast bigness, called the preserved table, in which are also recorded the divine decrees, past and future; that a copy from this table, in one volume upon paper, was, by the ministry of the angel Gabriel, sent down to the lowest heaven, in the month of Ramadam, on the night of power, from whence Gabriel revealed it to Mahomet in parcels, some at Mecca, and some at Medina, at different times, during the space of twenty-three years, as the exigency of affairs required; giving him, however, the consolation to show him the whole (which they tell us was bound in silk, and adorned with gold and precious stones of paradise) once a year; but in the last year of his life he had the favour to see it twice. They say, that only ten chapters were delivered entire, the rest being revealed piecemeal, and written down from time to time by the prophet's amanuensis, in such a part of such and such a chapter, till they were completed, according to the direction of the angel. The first parcel that was revealed is generally agreed to have been the first five verses of the ninetysixth chapter. In fine, the book of the Alcoran is held in the highest esteem and reverence among the Mussulmans. They dare not so much as touch the Alcoran without being first washed, or legally purified: to prevent which an inscription is put on the cover or label,-Let none touch but they who are clean. It is read with great care and respect, being never held below the girdle. They swear by it; take omens from it on all weighty occasions; carry it with them to war; write sentences of it on their banners; adorn it with gold and precious stones; and knowingly will not suffer it to be in the possession of any of a different religion. Some say it is punishable even with death, in a Christian to touch it; others, that the veneration of the Mussulmans leads them to condemn the translating it into any other lan-tained the principles of a new and comparatively guage, as a profanation; but these seem to be exaggerations. The Mahometans have taken care to have their Scripture translated into the Persian, the Javan, the Malayan, and other languages: though, out of respect to the original, these versions are generally, if not always, interlineated. 5. Koran, success of the, accounted for.-The author of the "View of Christianity and Mahometanism," observes, that, "by the advocates of Mahometanism, the Koran has always been held forth as the greatest of miracles, and equally stupendous with the act of raising the dead. The miracles of Moses and Jesus, they say, were transient and temporary; but that of the Koran is permanent and perpetual, and therefore far surpasses all the miraculous events of preceding ages. We will not detract from the real merits of the Koran; we allow it to be generally elegant and often sublime: but at the same time we reject with disdain its arrogant pretence to any thing supernatural, all the real excellence of the work being easily referrible to natural and visible causes. In the language of Arabia, a language extremely loved and diligently cultivated by the people to whom it was vernacular, Mahomet found advantages which were never enjoyed sublime theology, independently of its real and per manent merit, was likely to excite their astonish ment, and to become the standard of future com position. In the first periods of the literature of every country, something of this kind has hap pened. The father of Grecian poetry very b viously influenced the taste and imitation of his country. The modern nations of Europe all possess some original author, who, rising from the darkness of former ages, has began the ta reer of composition, and tinctured with the cha racter of his own imagination the stream which has flowed through his posterity. But the pr phet of Arabia had in this respect advantages peculiar to himself. His compositions were not to his followers the works of man, but the genuine language of Heaven which had sent him. They were not confined, therefore, to that admiration which is so liberally bestowed on the earliest pr ductions of genius, or to that fond attachment with which men every where regard the original compositions of their country; but with their admiration they blended their niety. To know and to feel the beauties of the Koran, was in some respect to share in the temper of heaven; and he who was most affected with admiration in KORAN the perusal of its beauties, seemed fitly the object of that mercy which had given it to ignorant man. The Koran, therefore, became naturally and necessarily the standard of taste. With a language thus hallowed in their imaginations, they were too well satisfiel either to dispute its elegance, or improve its structure. In succeeding ages, the additional sanction of antiquity or prescription, was given to these compositions which their fathers had admired; and while the belief of its divine original continues, that admiration, which has thus become the test and the duty of the faithful, can neither be altered nor diminished. When, therefore, we consider these peculiar advantages of the Koran, we have no reason to be surprised at the admiration in which it is held. But if, descending to a more minute investigation of it, we consider its perpetual inconsistence and absurdity, we shall indeed have cause for astonishment at that weakness of humanity, which could ever have received such compositions as the work of the Deity." KORAN when they would represent to us the happiness of heaven, they describe it, not by any thing minute and particular, but by something general and great; something that, without descending to any determinate object, may at once, by its beauty and immensity, excite our wishes, and elevate our affections. Though in the prophetical and evangelical writings, the joys that shall attend us in a divine state, are often mentioned with ardent admiration, they are expressed rather by allusion than by similitude, rather by indefinite and figurative terms, than by any thing fixed and determinate. 'Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.' 1 Cor. ii. 9. What a reverence and astonishment does this passage excite in every hearer of taste and piety! What energy, and at the same time, what simplicity in the expression! How sublime, and at the same time how obscure, is the imagery! Different was the conduct of Mahomet in his descriptions of heaven and paradise. Unassisted by the necessary influence of virtuous intentions and divine inspiration, he was neither desirous, nor indeed able, to exalt the minds of men to sublime conceptions, or to rational expectations. By attempting to explain what is inconceivable, to describe what is ineffable, and to materialize what in itself is spiritual, he absurdly and impiously aimed to sensualize the purity of the divine essence. Thus he fabricated a system of incoherence, a religion of depravity, totally repugnant to the nature of that Being, who, as he pretended, was its object; but therefore more likely to accord with the appetites and conceptions of a corrupt and sensual age. That we may not appear to exalt our Scriptures thus far above the Koran by an unreasonable preference, we shall produce a part of the second chapter of the latter, which is deservedly admired by the Mahometans, who wear it engraved on their ornaments, and recite it in their prayers. 'God! there is no God but he; the living, the self-subsisting: neither slumber nor sleep seizeth him : to him belongeth whatsoever is in heaven, and on earth. Who is he that can intercede with him but through his good pleasure? He knoweth that which is past, and that which is to come. His throne is extended over heaven and earth, and the preservation of both is to him no burden. He is the high, the mighty.' Sale's Koran, vol. ii. p. 30. To this description who can refuse the praise of magnificence? Part of that magnificence, however, is to be referred to that verse of the psalmist whence it was borrowed: 'He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep,' Psal. cxxi. 1. But if we compare it with that other passage of the inspired psalmist (Psal. cii. 2427.) all its boasted grandeur is at once obscured, and lost in the blaze of a greater light! 'O, my God, take me not away in the midst of my days; thy years are throughout all generations. Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. 7. Koran, the sublimity of the, contrasted. But thou art the same, ard thy years shall have "Our Holy Scriptures are the only compositions no end. The Koran, therefore upon a fair exthat can enable the dim sight of mortality to pe-amination, far from supporting its arrogant claim netrate into the invisible world, and to behold a to a supernatural work, sinks below the level of glimpse of the divine perfections. Accordingly, many compositions confessedly of human original; 6. Koran, the style and merits of the, examined."The first praise of all the productions of genius (continues this author) is invention; that quality of the mind, which, by the extent and quickness of its views, is capable of the largest conceptions, and of forming new combinations of objects the most distant and unusual. But the Koran bears little impression of this transcendant character. Its materials are wholly borrowed from the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, from the Talmudical legends and apocryphal gospels then carrent in the East, and from the traditions and fables which abounded in Arabia. The materials collected from these several sources are here heaped together with perpetual and heedless repetitions, without any settled principle or visible connexion. When a great part of the life of Mahomet had been spent in preparatory meditation on the ystem he was about to establish, its chapters were dealt out slowly and separately during the long period of twenty-three years. Yet, thus defective in its structure, and no less objectionable in its doctrines, was the work which Mahomet delivered to his followers as the oracles of God. The most prominent feature of the Koran, that point of excellence in which the partiality of its admirers has ever delighted to view it, is the sublime notion it generally impresses of the nature and attributes of God. If its author had really derived these just conceptions from the inspiration of that Being whom they attempt to describe, they would not have been surrounded, as they now are, on every side, with error and absurdity. But it might be easily proved, that whatever it justly defines of the divine attributes was borrowed from our, Holy Scripture; which, even from its first promulgation, but especially from the completion of the New Testament, has extended the views and enlightened the understandings of mankind; and thus furnished them with arms which have too often been effectually turned agunst itself by its ungenerous enemies. In this instance, particularly, the copy is far below the great original, both in the propriety of its images and the force of its descriptions." KNIPPERDOLINGS God through Christ, Ephesians iii. 12.-4. Acceptance with God, Ephesians v. 27.-5. Holy confidence and security under all the difficulties and troubles of the present state, 2 Timothy i. 12.-6. Finally, eternal salvation, Romans viii. 30; v. 18. Thus we have given as comprehensive a view of the doctrine of justification as the nature of this work will admit; a doctrine which is founded upon the sacred Scriptures; and which, so far from leading to licentiousness, as some suppose, is of all others the most replete with motives to love, dependence, and obedience, Rom. vi. 1, 2. A doctrine which the primitive Chris KEITHIANS, a party which separated from the Quakers in Pennsylvania in the year 1691. They were headed by the famous George Keith, from whom they derived their name. Those who persisted in their separation, after their leader deserted them, practised baptism, and received the Lord's Supper. This party were also calle! Quaker Baptists, because they retained the language, dress, and manner of the Quakers. KEYS, POWER OF THE, a term made use of in reference to ecclesiastical jurisdiction, denoting the power of excommunicating and absolving. The Romanists say that the pope has the power of the keys, and can open and shut paradise as he pleases; grounding their opinion on that expression of Jesus Christ to Peter-"I will give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven." Matt. xvi. 19. But every one must see that this is an absolute perversion of Scripture: for the keys of the kingdom of heaven most probably refer to the Gospel dispensation, and denote the power and authority of every faithful minister to preach the Gospel, administer the sacraments, and exercise government, that men may be admitted to or excluded from the church, as is proper. See ABSOLUTION. In St. Gregory we read that it was the custom for the pope to send a golden key to princes, wherein they inclosed a little of the filings of St. Peter's chain, kept with such devotion at Rome; and that these keys were worn in the bosom, as being supposed to contain some wonderful virtues! Such has been the superstition of past ages! K. KNOWLEDGE tians held as constituting the very essence of their system; which our reformers considered as the most important point; which our venerable mar tyrs gloried in, and sealed with their blood; and which, as the church of England observes, is a very wholesome doctrine, and full of comfort." See Dr. Owen on Justification; Rawlins on Justification; Edwards's Sermons on ditte; Lime-Street Lect. p. 350; Hervey's Theron and Aspasia, and Eleven Letters; Witherspoon's Connexion between Justification and Holiness Gill and Ridgley's Div.; but especially Bouth's Reign of Grace, to which I am indebted for great part of the above article. the 16th century; so called from Bertrand Knipperdoling, who taught that the righteous before the day of judgment shall have a monarchy on earth, and the wicked be destroyed; that men are not justified by their faith in Christ Jesus; that there is no original sin; that infants ought not be baptized, and that immersion is the only mode of baptism: that every one has authority to preach and administer the sacraments; men are not obliged to pay respect to magistrates; that all things ought to be in common, and that it is lawful to marry many wives. that then KNOWLEDGE is defined by Mr. Locke to be the perception of the connexion and agreement or disagreement and repugnancy of our ideas. It also denotes learning, or the improvement o our faculties by reading; experience, or the a quiring new ideas or truths, by seeing a vanity of objects, and making observations upon in our own minds. No man, says the admirabe Dr. Watts, is obliged to learn and know every thing; this can neither he sought nor required for it is utterly impossible: yet all persons are under some obligation to improve their own understanding, otherwise it will be a barren desert, a forest overgrown with weeds and brambles Universal ignorance, or infinite error, will over spread the mind which is utterly neglected and lies without any cultivation. The following rules, therefore, should be attended to for the i provement of knowledge.-1. Deeply possess your mind with the vast importance of a go judgment, and the rich and inestimable adva KIRK SESSIONS, the name of a petty eccle nesses, failings, and mistakes of human natur tages of right reasoning.-2. Consider the weak siastical judicatory in Scotland. Each parish, general.-3. Be not satisfied with a slight view according to its extent, is divided into several parti- of things, but take a wide survey now and the cular districts, every one of which has its ownelder of the vast and unlimited regions of learning, the and deacons to oversee it. A consistory of the variety of questions and difficulties belonging to ministers, elders and deacon of a parish form a every science.-4. Presume not too much up kirk session. These meet once a week, the mi-a bright genius, a ready wit, and good parts; fr nister being their moderator, but without a nega- this, without study, will never make a man of tive voice. It regulates matters relative to public knowledge.-5. Do not imagine that large at worship, elections, catechising, visitations, &c. laborious reading, and a strong memory, can de It judges in matters of less scandal; but greater, nominate you truly wise, without meditation an as adaltery, are left to the presbytery, and in all studious thought.-6. Be not so weak as to t cases an appeal lies from it to the presbytery.-agine that a life of learning is a life of laziness Kirk sessions have likewise the care of the poor, 7. Let the hope of new discoveries, as well as the and poor's funds. See PRESBYTERIANS. satisfaction and pleasure of known truths, an KINDNESS, civil behaviour, favourable treat-mate your daily industry.-8. Do not hove? ment, or a constant and habitual practice of always on the surface of things, nor take of friendly offices and benevolent actions. See suddenly with mere appearances.-9. Once call yourselves to an account what new iki day, especially in the early years of life and study CHARITY; GENTLENESS. KNIPPERDOLINGS, a denomination in |