Eucharist they held Baptism without Crism ineffectual they used Rebaptization they permitted the Husband to dissolve Matrimony when he pleased and denyed Prayers for the Dead and the Eternity of Hell Fire and that the Souls were not in Bliss till the Resurrection and taught that then there should be no Women at all but that they should be converted into Men. Chazinzarii were so called from Chazus which in their Language signifieth the Cross for they taught that the Cross was only to be worshipped therefore they were named Cross-Worshippers they professed all Nestorianism The Thnetopsychitae held that the Souls dyed with the Bodies Theocatus Nostor were such as reprehended some of God's Actions and Words Ethnophrones were Paganising Christians who with Christianity taught Gentile Superstition But passing over the rest let us pass on to Mahomet the greatest of all Impostors The Life of Mahomet SOME Men have brave Names but mean Actions some brave Actions and mean Names and some both brave Names and Actions In the first number Mahomet may not be unfitly reckoned who in excellency of Name was second to none and yet in depravity of Manners had few Equals for we are assured by the learned in the Arabian Language that Mahomet comes of a Word signifying Praise and Honour and that this Notation of his Name was but a Presage of his future Actions whereby he merited and purchased both Others say Mahomet imports Thanksgiving which is to be understood with respect to their Duty of Gratitude who believe he procured great Benefits for them And that there might want nothing of lucky Abodement in the Name of this great Impostor some of his flattering Doctors paraphrase it by a Man of Desires But be his name what it will we shall proceed to give an account of the Life of this Impostor according as we find it written by the Saracens themselves The Book of the Generation of Mahomet the Messenger of God the Prayer and Salvation of God be upon him from Adam and Eve to the time when God brought him forth gracious perfect and fit for himself When as Rabachbar had learned out of the Scriptures and by Astrology that this Prophet should be born to the World he heard that there was a Man born in Jeseras a City of Arabia having all such Marks and Tokens as he had fore-seen by the Prophesies and his Arts viz. a spot on his Fore-head a print between his Shoulders c. and to satisfie his desire he went thither to see where finding those Tokens fulfilled in young Mahomet he thereupon expounded the dark Mystery of his far-fetch'd Light learned of his Master Kabelmedi in this manner When Adam was newly created as he stood up his Brain shaked and made a Noise as the Leaves do which are shaken with the Wind whereat Adam wondring God said unto him The sound which thou hast heard is the sign of the Prophets and Messengers of my Commandments take heed therefore that thou commit this Seed of Light only to worthy Loyns and to a clean Womb and this Light of Mahomet that should be born shined from the face of Adam as the Sun or Moon at the full And when he had begotten Seth that Light passed instantly from the Face of Adam into the Face of Eve insomuch that the Birds of the Air and Beasts of the Earth wondred at her Beauty yea the Angels every day saluted her and brought her Odours out of Paradise till she brought forth Seth alone having before at every Burthen brought forth a Brother and a Sister Seth inherited this Light which remained between Heaven and Earth the Angels thereby ascending and descending upon Seth and crying always Rejoyce thou Earth worthy of the Light of Mahomet on him be Prayer and Salvation of God Adam drawing near to his end declared unto him by his Testament the Mysteries of that Light and the Genealogy of the Prophets Then descended Gabriel accompanied with threescore and ten thousand Angels bearing every one of them a white Leaf and a Pen which signed the Writing for the Continuance of the Order of the prophetical Generation Seth received this Writing and was cloathed with a double red Garment shining as the Sun as soft as the Violet Flower From him it passed by Succession to Noah and Sem then to Abraham at whose Birth two Lights from the East and West meeting in the midst lightned the whole World and the Angels were heard singing that it was the light of the Prophet Mahomet who should be born of his Seed whose Words should be the virtue of God This Light passed from Abraham to the face of Hagar being with Child and after to Ishmael and God told him that the Soul of Mahomet in the beginning of the Creation was mingled with his and that his name in Heaven should be Asmet in Earth Mahomet and in Paradise Abvaltrazim At this Sarah grieved untill three Angels comforted her with the Promise of Isaac From Ishmael it removed to Keydar his Son who being endued with seven Gifts marryed Nulta of the Land of Isaac but being warned by an Oracle he took to Wife Algadira an Arabian and after by divine warning carried the Chest of this Light unto Jacob. Then was Hamel born to him and received the same Light in which succeeded Thebickt Hamiessa Adoth Adure Adne Machat Nizar Musar Aliez Madraca Hoocima Knieva Anofro Melic Falhrem Luic Galiben Kab Murran Cudai Abdamenef Hesim a man by divine Testimony free of all uncleanness To him did all Kings offer their Daughters in Marriage and amongst the rest Constantine which he refused and married Selina the Daughter of Geit and had by her Abdalmutalib whose Light caused Rain in the Drought To him an Elephant prostrated himself and said with Man's Voice Selvation be on you and on the Light that shineth out of your Reins Divinity Fame Honour and Victory be on you and that there should proceed from him a King greater than all the Kings of the Earth Another time as he slept on the Stone which was placed by Abraham in his Oratory at Mecca he dreamed of a Chain reaching East and West and to Heaven and to the Depth which was presently converted into a flourishing Herb. Noe and Abraham presented themselves Interpreters of this dream Abdalla's Son the Father of Mahomet had a Tutor given unto him to defend him from his Enemies who seemed a Man but was none He was preserved from the lying in wait of the Jews by threescore and ten Angels which seemed men He wedded Hermina and therefore two hundred Women perished for his love some hanging some burning themselves When the prescribed time was come in the Month Dulheia on a Friday night God bad Ariduran to open the Gates of Paradice that the innermost of his Secrets might be manifested for it pleaseth me said he this night to transport the Light of my Prophet from the Reins of Abdalla into the Womb of Hermina and that it come into the World This
with Cerdon maintained his Heresie and became his Successor in the time of Marcus Antoninus Philosophus one hundred thirty three years after Christ He held three Gods a visible invisible and a middle one that the Body of Christ was only a Phantasm that Christ by his Descent into Hell delivered thence Cain and the Sodomites and other Reprobates He condemned the eating of Flesh and the married Life he held that Souls only were saved permitted Women to baptize and condemned all War as unlawful Polycarpus called him the first begotten of the Devil Justin Martyr wrote a Book against him XXXIII 7. Tutianus whence came the Tutiani was a Syrian by Birth an Orator and familiar with Justin Martyr under whom he wrote a profitable Book against the Gentiles He flourished one hundred forty two Years after Christ his Disciples were also called Eneratita from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Temperance or Continence for they abstain from Wine Flesh or Marriage When Justin Martyr was dead he composed his Tenents out of divers others He held that Adam after his Fall was never restored to Mercy that all Men are damned besides his Disciples that Women are made by the Devil He condemned the Law of Moses made use of Water instead of Wine in the Sacrament and denied that Christ was the Seed of David he wrote a Gospel of his own which he called Diatesseron and spread his Heresie through Pisidia and Cilicia XXXIV 8. Montanus Father of the Montanists His Heresie began about one hundred forty five Years after Christ by Nation he was a Phrygian and carried about with him two Strumpets Prisca and Maximilla who fled from their Husbands to follow him these took upon them to prophesie and their Dictates were held by Montanus for Oracles but at last he and they for Company hanged themselves his Disciples ashamed either of his Life or ignominious Death called themselves Cataphrygians He confounded the Persons in the Trinity saying That the Father suffered he held Christ to be mere Man and gave out that he himself was the Holy Ghost his Disciples baptized the dead denied Repentance and Marriage yet allowed of Incest They trusted to Revelations and Enthusiasms and not to the Scripture In the Eucharist they mingled the Bread with the Blood of an Infant not a Year old In Phrygia this Heresie began and spread it self over all Cappadocia XXXV 9. Origen gave Name to the Origanists whose Errors began to spread Anno Dom. 247. under Aurelian the Emperour and continued about three hundred thirty four years They were condemned first in the Council of Alexandria two hundred years after his death and again in the fifth General Council of Constantinople under Justinian the first They held a Revolution of Souls from their estate and condition after death into their Bodies again They held the Devils and Reprobates after one thousand years should be saved That Christ and the holy Church do no more see the Father than we see the Angels That the Son is co-essential with the Father but not co-eternal because say they the Father created both him and the Spirit That Souls were created long before this World and for sinning in Heaven were sent down into their Bodies as into Prisons They did also overthrow the whole Historical truth of Scriptures by their Allegories XXXVI 10. Paulus Samosatenus so called from Samosata near Euphrates where he was born a man of infinite pride commanding himself to be received as an Angel His Heresie broke out two hundred thirty two years after Christ and hath continued in the Eastern Parts ever since He held that Christ was merely Man and had no Being till his Incarnation That the Godhead dwelt not in Christ bodily but as in the Prophets of old by Grace and Efficacy and that he was only the external not the internal Word of God therefore they did not baptise in his Name for which the Council of Nice rejected their Baptism as none and ordered they should be re-baptized who were baptized by them He denied the Divinity of the Holy Ghost allowed Circumcision took away such Psalms as were sung in honour of Christ and instead thereof ordered some in honour of himself to be sung in Churches by Women In the Synod of Antioch he was convicted by Malchion a Presbyter and condemned Anno 273. This Heresie was also embraced by Photinus Gelatian Bishop of Sirmium and propagated by him Anno 323. and thence they took the name of Photinians XXXVII 11. Manis a Persian by Birth and a Servant by Condition was Father of the Manichoran Seat he was flead alive for poysoning the King of Persia's Son yet his wicked Opinions raged in the World for three hundred and forty Years after his Death He held two Principals or Gods one good one bad condemned eating of Flesh Eggs and Milk held that God had Members and was substantially in every thing how base soever but was separate from them by Christ's coming and the Elect Manichorans He rejected the Old Testament and curtailed the New by excluding Christ's Genealogy he held Christ was the Serpent which deceived our first Parents saying that he feigned to dye and rose again and that it was really the Devil who truly was crucified He denyed the Resurrection and held Transmigration he affirmed that he was the Comforter whom Christ promised to send They worshipped the Sun and Moon and other Idols they condemned Marriages and permitted promiscuous Copulation they rejected Baptism as needless and all works of Charity they taught that our Will to Sin is natural and not acquired by the Fall that Sin is a Substance and not a Quality communicated from Parents to their Children they say they cannot sin deny the last Judgment and affirm that their Souls shall be taken up to the Globe of the Moon XXXVIII 12. Arrius whence sprung the Arrians was a Lybian by Birth by Profession a Presbyter of Alexandria His Heresie brake out two hundred and ninety Years before Christ and over-ran a great part of the Christian World They held Christ to be a Creature that he had a Man's Body but no humane Soul the Divinity supplying the room thereof they also held the Holy Ghost a Creature proceeding from a Creature that is Christ their Doxology was Glory be to the Father by the Son in the Holy Ghost they re-baptize the Orthodox Christians This Heresie was condemned by the Council of Nice under Constantine and Arrius himself in the midst of his Pomp seized with a Disentery voided his Guts in the Draught and so dyed XXXIX 13. Macedonius Bishop of Constantinople gave Name to the Macedonians They held that the Holy Ghost was a Creature and the Servant of God and that by the Holy Spirit was meant only a Power created by God and communicated to the Creatures This Heresie sprung up or rather was stifly maintained under Constantius the Son of Constantine three hundred and twelve Years after Christ and was condemned in the second Occumenical Council at
at his Ear which he gave out to be the holy Ghost by whom he was instructed in the Law which he was to publish but this not till afterwards By Sorceries comeliness of Person and the great knowledge which he had in his Master's Business he gained so far on the Affections of his Mistris that on the Death of Abdalmutalif she made him her Husband Possessed of all his Master's Wealth he affected ease and being till then of no Religion or at best a Pagan he began to hearken to Sergius a Nestorian Monk who flying out of Syria for fear of punishment the Heresies of Nestorius being newly both revived and censured came into Arabia where he found entertainment in the House of Abdalmutalif the Master of Mahomet By his persuasions finding him a fit Instrument for the Devil to work on he began to entertain the thoughts of hammering out a new Religion which might unite all Parties in some common Principles and bring the Christians Jews and Gentiles into which the World was then divided under one Profession Resolved upon this he retired himself into a Cave not far from Mecca as if he there attended nothing but Meditation Sergius in the mean time sounding in the Ears of the People both his Parts and Piety The People being thus prepared to behold the Pageant out comes the Principal Actor with some parts of his Alcoran pleasing enough to sensual minds which he professed to have received from the Angel Gabriel And finding that this edified to his expectation he next proclaimed Liberty to all Slaves and Servants as a thing commanded him by God by whom the Natural Liberty of Mankind was most dearly tendered which drew unto him such a Rabble of unruly People that without fear or opposition he dispersed his Doctrines reducing them at last to a Book or Method The Book of this Religion he called the Alcoran that is to say the Collection of Precepts the Original whereof they feign to be written on a Table which is kept in Heaven and the Copy of it brought to Mahomet by the Angel Gabriel A Book so highly reverenced by the Mahometans that they write upon the Cover of it Let none touch this but he that is clean The Body of it as it now standeth was composed by Osman the fourth Caliph who seeing the Saracens daily inclining to divers Heresies by reason of some false Copies of Mahomet's Law and that the Empire by the same means was likely to fall into Civil Dissention by the help of his Wife who was Mahomet's Daughter he got a sight of all Mahomet's Papers which he reduced unto four Volumes and divided into one hundred twenty and four Chapters commanding expresly upon pain of death that that Book and that only should be received as Canonical through his Dominions The whole Body of it is but an Exposition and Gloss on the eight Commandments 1. Every one ought to believe that God is a great God and one only God and Mahomet is his Prophet They hold Abraham to be the Friend of God Moses the Messenger of God and Christ the Breath of God whom they deny to be conceived by the Holy Ghost affirming that the Virgin Mary grew with Child of him by smelling to a Rose and was deliver'd of him at her Breasts They deny the Mystery of the Trinity but punish such as speak against Christ whose Religion was not say they taken away but mended by Mahomet And he who in his Pilgrimage to Mecca doth not coming or going visit the Sepulchre of Christ is reputed not to have merited or better'd himself any thing by his Journey 2. Every one must marry to increase the Sectaries of Mahomet Four Wives he alloweth to every man and as many Concubines as he will between whom the Husband setteth no difference either in Affection or Apparel but that his Wives only can enjoy his Sabbath's benevolence The Women are not admitted in the time of their Lives to come into their Churches nor after Death to Paradice And whereas in most or all other Countreys Fathers give some Portions with their Daughters the Mahometans give Money for their Wives which being once paid the Contract is registred in the Cadies Book and this is all their formality of Marriage 3. Every one must give of his Wealth to the Poor Hence you shall have some buy Slaves and then manumit them buy Birds and then let them flye They use commonly to free Prisoners release Bond-slaves build Caves or Lodgings in the wayes for the Relief of Passengers repair Bridges and mend High-wayes But their most ordinary Alms consist in Sacrifices of Sheep or Oxen which when the Solemnity is performed they distribute among the Poor to whom also on the first day of every Year they are bound to give the tythe or tenth part of their Gettings in the year fore-going insomuch that you shall hardly find any Beggars amongst them 4. Every one must make his Prayers five times a day When they pray they turn their Bodies toward Mecca but their Faces sometimes one way sometimes another way believing that Mahomet shall come behind them being at their Devotions The first time is an hour before Sun-rising the second at Noon-day the third at three of the clock in the Afternoon the fourth at Sun-setting the fifth and last before they go to sleep At all these times the Cryers kept a bawling in the Steeples for the Turks and Saracens have no Bells for the People to come to Church And such as cannot come must when they hear the voice of the Cryers fall down in the place where they are do their Devotions and kiss the Ground thrice 5. Every one must keep a Lent one Month in the year This Lent is called Ramazan in which they suppose the Alcoran was given to Mahomer by the Angel Gabriel This Fast is only intended in the Bay-time the Law giving leave to frolick in the Night as they best please for they abstaine from Wine and Swines-Flesh prohibited in their Law at all times but never so punctually abstained from as in the time of their Lent 6. Be Obedient to thy Parents Which Law is the most neglected of any in all the Alcoran never any Children being so unnatural as the Turkish 7. Thou shalt not Kill And this they heep inviolated among themselves but the poor Christians are sare to feel the Smart of their Fury And as if by this Law the actual shedding of Blood only were prohibited they have invented Punishments for their Offenders worse than Death it self As first the Strappado which is hanging of them by the Arms drawn backwards when they are so bound they are drawn up on high and let down again with a violent swing which unjoynteth all their Back and Arms. Secondly they use to hoise up their Heels and with a great Cudgel to give them three or four hundred blows on the Soles of their Feet Thirdly it is ordinary to draw them naked up to the top of a