thousand of years laid him a baking in the Sun untill he was pleased to breath life into him Then commanded he all the Angels to fall down and worship Adam which all did but Sathan then an Angel of light saying he was created of a more excellent nature fire and man of durt then God cursed and cast out Sathan who has ever since continued an Enemy to man How did the Angels fall for not reverencing of man when they were fallen before man was made and envying his standing tempted him to his fall and how could man lay a baking some thousand of yeares in the Sun when the Sun was made but two dayes before man Gen. 1. The Alcoran failes in point of History and Time l. 3. c. 1. where it mistakes Mary the Prophetesse for the B. Virgâ—n Mary making Mary the sister of Moses Mother of our Saviour when there were above 1500. years between them The reason of this mistake might be Mahomets ignorance in Antiquities and Chronology finding in Arabic Moses his Father called Hembram by which name Joachim our Ladies Father is also called But by what infallible Spirit was this Scripturist led that could admit to grosse a mistake Another errour in Time and Reason is l. 3. c. 3. Where he affirms that God sent the Alforcan which is the same with the Alcoran as Andreas Maurus proves unto Moses and Aaron for a light and admonition to the just and yet l. 1. c. 2. He sayes God inspired the Thora the Gospel and the Alforcan or Alcoran unto Mahomet how can this agree with the former or with what followes in the Book called Sunè or way of Mahomet viz. That David read all the Alcoran whilst they saddled his Mule unlesse Moses David and Mahomet had been contemporaâ—ies and yet again in above 300. places in his Alcoran he sayes that God gave the Athorata or five Books to Moses the Gospel to Jesus Christ the Azabor or Pâ—alter to David and the Alcoran to Mahomet He also faulters in the time wherein he was composing of his Alcoran in one place telling us he was twenty yeares about it in another place he sayes that it was revealed to him in one night in the City of Mecca by the Angel Gabriel so frequent aâ—e contradictions with him though neither of these assertions are absolutely true for he was 23 yeares composing of it ten yâ—ars at the City of Mecca eleven at Almedina and two in the cave of Mecca He dyed in the 63d year of his age and he began to call himself a Prophet and to compile his Alcoran in his fourtiteh year But how could David if the Alcoran had been made in his time have read it all over in the time that his Mule was saddled when as Andreas Maurus reports when the Caliph because of the multiplicity of papers that Mahomet left summoned all the Doctors to Damascus and out of them chose six to Epitomize all his Books of the Alcoran and Sune each of those six composed one Book and the rest of his writâ—ngs were thrown into the River even so many Books and bundles of Papers as loaded 200 Camels For Mahomet because he was illiterate and could not write kept a Secretary who wrote the Chapters of the Alcoran for him giving out that God sent them by the Angel as occasion required These he kept in a Chest and that he might alter expugne or add at pleasure what served his turn he would never have collected and reduced into Books as they were by his Son in law Hozman after his death King and Caliph who made the foresaid Epitome at which time the Papers being sought for many were found in his house having lain behind Chests so spoiled with damp and eaten with Mice as nothing could be made of them A goodly Scripture when the power that inspired it could not preserve it from Mice or if nothing Materiall was lost the Author was guilty of superfluity and so of vanity The Moores took scandall as well they might at those revocations and alterations of above 150 Verses of the Alcoran annulled by others called â—evocatory Verses If they were inspired by God it was unjust they should be abolished by a man That Mahomet made his Religion servâ— his occasion appears by this Baheira a King of the Jacobitâ— presented unto Mahomet one Marine a young beautifuâ— Jewesse with whom the old Leacher was taken in Adulter by two of his wives whom Andreas Maurus calls Axa anâ— Hafeza they reâ—uked him having done an Act unwoâ—thy 〈◊〉 a Prophet or holy man He promised to abandon her if the â— would passe by this one slip and keep his credit but beinâ— by them surprized the second time with her they went fâ—om him to their Fathers houses as repudiated wives upon the publishing of it the Moors murmured the Pagans jeered and Mahomet was disgraced and troubled his wives Fathers being potent men so he had no way but to have recourse to his old remedy for all sores the Alcoran wherein he razed out of thâ— 6. Ch. of the light in the 3d. Book that verse that commanded that married persons taken in Adultery should be stoned called the ver Lapidation composed a new Ch. the contentâ— wherof are that it is lawful for all Mussulmen or true believeâ—s to lie with their slaves that their wives ought not to repine at it and that Mahomet did not sin in his late Act knowing thiâ— Law would come but his wives sinned in publishing what he did in secret and that God warned them to return to him So he cleared himself repaired his credit pleased his sect by this Licentious liberty and got his wivâ—s again who returned well satisfied and very penitent and now might hee use his young slave by the Law Thâ—s Chapter is called the Chapteâ— of Prohibition l. 4. because his wives would have prohibited him his freedom Most insatiable he was in this point and made particular Laws for himself as that he might repudiate any of his wives at pleasure and none might marry them which kept them in obedience but he might take any ones repudiated wife or any that profered her self or admitted of his sollicitation and whereas others might marry two or three or four at most hee might have as many wives as hee pleased The Book Assamiel or the Book of the good customs of Mahomet praising him and speaking of his virile strength saith that in one hour he lay with all his wives which were 11. The Book Azar saith he married fifteen wives and had 11. together besides four who proffered themselves by Vertue of the foresaid Law Caelius reports hee had forty wives yet took he away his servant Zeideus his wife and whose else he pleased saying it was fit he should do so that the greater number of Prophets and holy men might issue from him A life worthy or such a Prophet and author of â—uch a Religion a good Religion sure when hee affirmes the Divells were
the face you know the man so by these as by Titles you know the contents of that division It was composed by Mahomet their Prophet with the help of Abdalla a Jew Sergius a Nestorian Monk who for embracing the Heresies of Arrius Cedron Sabellinâ—s and others was banished from Constantinople and comming into Arabia fell acquainted with Mahomet whom though formerly circumcised he baptized and taught to misinterpret many places of the Scriptures out of which false glosses of theirs they coined a new Religion neither wholly Jewish or wholly Christian but rejecting in both what they disliked and this newest Religion from him was called Mahumetisme So Pomponius Laetus Joan. Baptista Egnatius c. But the Glossers of the Alcoran and their Book Azar which is a History of Mahomet authentique among the Moores as the Gospel among us Christians say that those that helped Mahomet in compiling his Alcoran were two Sword-Cutlers Christian slaves unto one of Mecca who knew much confusedly of the new Testament and out of their imperfect informations he gleaned what served his turn not looking for antecedents subsequents or coherence any where So observes Joannes Andreas Maurus who was once an Alfaqui or Bishop among the Moores of the City of Sciatinia in the Kingdom of Valentia and afterwards Circ An. 1487. a Christian Priest and probable it is that the composers of that rapsody of errours were illiterate persons because they contradict all philosophy sciences History and Reason the Alcoran being a Fardel of Blasphemies Rabinical Fables Ridiculous Discourses Impostures Bestialities Inconveniences Impossibilities and Contradictions To speak a word of the chief Author Mahomet his peâ—son he was born about the year 600 not to mention any paâ—ticular yeare I find Authors so differ about it and I want room heâ—e to reconcile them or shew reason for adâ—ering to any one some say in Itrarip a Village of Arabia others in the City of Mecca others in Medina Alnabi of obscure parentage some that name his Father call him Abdalla a Pagan pâ—rhaps mistaken him for one of his Tutors such make his Mother a Jewess and of ill repute whom they call Emina So uncertain was the beginning of this Impostor Baudier saith that his Father dying and his Mother being left very poor she not able to keep him committed him to an Uncle but he casting him off young Mahomet was a prey to Theeves who put him in chaines among other slaves and in that quality being set to sale a rich Merchant named Abdemonople bought him he dying Mahomet by marriage of his mistresse the Merchants wife not effected as was thought without Witch-craft attained to much riches whereupon leaving the exercise of Merchandize he became a Captain of certain voluntary Arabians that followed the Emperour Heraclius in his Persian Wars who falling into a mutiny for that they were denyed the military Garment and incensing the rest of their Nation with the reproachful answer given them by the Treasurer which was that they ought not to give that to Dogs which was ordained for the Roman Souldiers a paâ—t of them chose Mahomet for their Ring-leader but being disdained by the better sort for the basenesse of his birth to avoid ensuing contempt he gave it out that he attained not to that honour by military favour but by divine appointment That he was sent by God to give a new Law unto man and by force of armes to reduce the world to his obedience then wrested he every thing to a divine honour even his naturall defects calling those fits of the falling sicknesse wherewith he was troubled holy trances and that Pigeon which he had taught to feed out of his Ear on pease the holy Ghost So went he on to feign his messages from heaven by the Angel Gabriel and to composse his Alcoran A man of a most infamous life he was Bonsinus writes that he permitted adultery and Sodomy and lay himselfe with beasts and Mr. Smith in his Confutation of Mahumetism arraigns him of Blasphemy Pridâ— lyes Sodomy Blood Fraud Robbery for he was a common Thief usually robbing the Caravans of Merchants as they travelled as entitles him Heir apparent unto Lucifer no lesse then 12000. falshoods being contained in his fabulous Alcoran To particularize a little what higher blasphemy could he be guilty of then to prefer himselfe as far before Christ as he was above Moses He also denyes the divinity of our Saviour and affirms that the Holy Ghost is not distinct in peâ—son but onely an operative virtue of the God-head that inspires good motions Many other absurdities he is guilty of concerning the Trinity as not comprehending that glorious mysterie The Alcoran impugnes both the divine Law and naturall Reason at once in that assertion lib. 4. Cap. 2. viz. That at the end of the world a Trumpet shall blow and the Angels in Heaven and men on Earth shall fall downe dead and at the second sounding rise again So it makes the Angels mortal when who knows not that the Angels are Spirâ—ts having no bodies so cannot die for death is nothing but the separation of the soul from the body Adams sinne was the cause of his death and his posterity whence it followes had he not sinn'd neither he nor we had dyed And surely the good Angels being not guilty of the cause of death sin must be exempt from the effect Lucifer and the evill Angels that sinn'd with him by their Pride were deprived of the glory of heaven and cast into the bottomlesse pit for ever but not condemned to die because they were spirits And if the Devils that sinned dyed not how is it that the Alcoran saith that the Angels that sinned not shall die Another fable concerning Angels is in the first Chaper lib. 1. Sc. That God sent two Angels called Harod and Marod as Judges to do justice in the City of Babylon where in a Cave for soliciting a Ladies chastity they hang by the eye-lids and must so hang till the day of judgement and the woman was transformed into the morning star O divine Metamorphosis It 's like Mahomet might have heard somewhat of the story of Susanna and the Elders and so ignorantly shuffled it into this But to follow his Text I would ask a Moorish Astrologer whether the morning star be not more ancient then the City of Babylon how then could an inhabitant of that City be turned into that star And I would know of their Divines why if the Angels have bodies the Alcoran in many places contradicting it selfe calls them Roch Spirits if they be spirits and uncorporeal how were they capable of knowing women or hanging by the eye-lids If they be Corporeal where abouts in Babylon may one see them hanging and why doth the Alcoran confesse them to be Spirits Another ridiculous assertion of the Alcoran concerning Angels is s. 1. cap. 1. and l. 2. c. 1. c. viz. That God made man of all sorts and colours of earth and being formed for some
two Trees comming at his command to shade him when in the fields in a hot day he had occasion to untruffe and infinite other of his contradictions and repugnances I might remember as that of King Alexanders Journey from the East to the West where he daily saw the Sun set in a hot Fountain which oppugneth Philosophy as the journey doth History c. But with these I have tired my self and I am sure the Reader much more Yet give me leave to remember one of his absurdities more though none of the least viz. That at doomes-day he shall turn himself into a great Ram and all Mussulmen into Fleas they shall hide themselves in his spacious fleeces and thus burthened shall he travell till hee comes where he can skip into Paradise there he assumes his proper glory and gives them new shapes new strength Wine brave women c. as you may read at large in the eighth note upon the Fourth Act and this absurd fooler is generally credited by his whole Sect so just with God iâ— it to give them up to believe lies and Doctrine of Devills foâ— that they accounted Christ crucified to be but foolishnesse Thiâ— Legend of lies they say was written upon the skin of thâ— Ram that Abraham sacrificed an absurd Tradition for neither could that skin hold it nor was that Ram flead or if hâ— had how could their Prophet so many years after have rodâ— upon him to Heaven and Hell c. It is held by the Mahumetans in no lesse veneration then the old Testament by the Jewes and the New by us Christians They never touch it with unwasht hands and a capitall crime it is in the reading thereof to mistake a letter or displace the accent They kisse it Embrace it and swear by it calling it the book of Glory and director unto Paradise It is written in Arabic Rhime without due proportion of Numbers and must neither be written nor read by them in any other Language It containeth according to Hozmans reformation four books the first Book has five Chapters the second twelve the third 19. and the fourth 175. in all 211. Mahomet the second is also said to have altered it much he and many others seeking to reconcile those repugnances wherewith it so abounds even in the Positive Doctrine which inclines me to Andreas Maurus his opinion that they were ignorant Persons that helped Mahomet to compose it Sergius had more knowledge then to have err'd so grossely whether it was that Sergius that was Patriarch of Constantinople and author of the Monothelites Heresie as some contend I determine not or whether hee was onely a banished Hereticall Monk from thence Anâ— yet the coherence betwixt Mahomet and the antient Heretiques of all whose puddle streams Sergius had drank deep and it s like the poor Cutlers were free leads me to think him his Tutor I will onely briefly give you a touch of the harmony betwixt their Discords and leave you to judge who composed the Lesson Mahomet denies the Trinity with Sabellius He said it was ridiculous to think that Christ was God and therefore with Arrius and Eunomius he calls him a Creature and with Carpocrates a holy Prophet He maintain'd with Cedron that it was impossible that God should have â— Son because he had no wife He denyed with the Manichees that Christ was crucified but saith he one was crucified in his place who was very like him with the Originists he will have the Devills to be saved at the end of the world with the Anthropomorphites he will have God to have the form and members of a man with Cerinthus he places the chiefest felicity of man in carnall pleasures with Ebion he doth admit of Circumcision In imitation of Menander he calls himselfe the Saviour of the world with Nicolas of Antioch he taught and practised Luxuâ—y Yet with the Eucratitae he forbids the use of wine c. yet like his predecessors he baited his hooks speciously enough in some places commanding upright dealing amity Reverence to Parents Charity to hate contention and Murder c. and speaks reverently of our Saviour and B. Lady and indeed of all in some â—laces excluding no Religions out of his Paradise hee is so kind Moses he saies shall bring the Jewes Christ the Christians and he his Mahumetans but the chief place glory must be theirs theirs the bâ—st Gold sweetest Rivers and most beatifull Damozels and good reason he should be master in his own house But I have swell'd this note to a rambling Treatise and have yet much adoe to take my pen off yet I will force my self to it and refer you that would know more of the Alcoran to Cardinall Nicolas de Cusa his examination of the Alcoran Lod. Vives l. 4. de veritat Relig. Christ. Ricoldus in his computation of the Lawes of Mahomet Barthol Hungarius Johannes de terra Cremata and Guil. Postells in their books against the Mahumetans Saracens c. Sandys Herbert D'Juigne Johannes Andreas Maurus his confutation of Mahomets sect and the Alcoran its self tâ—anslated out of the Arabic into Latin by Theod. Bibliander for the late published English Translation I cannot commend its faithfulnesse I had almost forgotten though quoted above Baudier his History de la Religion des Turcs c. 17 To make all Lands and Goods hereditary c. The Turks and Persians content themselves with very mean low buildings few above two stories high some of rough stone some of timber some of Sun-dryed brick the Marble being used onely about the Princes Palaces and the Mosques though the Countries in some places are plentifully stored with it especally about Persepolis the people rather choosing to hoard their wealth then by making a magnificent show to tempt their Princes to take it from them or at best from their Children when they die for no Possessions are hereditary but all at the wil of the Emperour so absolute is his Tyranny and the peoples slavery Sandys c. 18 Tomaynes A Toman is a Persian coine worth 3 l. 6 s. sterl Herbert 19 Balsora A Town where Tygris and Euphrates empty themselves into the gulph of Persia. This Town is famous for the birth of Elhesin-Ibnu-Abilhasen the greatest Doctor of Antiquity he taught the Persians and Arabs 80 years after Mahomets death Herbert 20 Bizantium A Maritime City of Thrace the seat of the Turkish Empire Eusebius saith it was built by Pausanias King of Sparta 663 years before the incarnation of our Saviour others will have Pausanias onely to re-edifie this City then called Bizantium of Biza the founder and taken by assault but a little before from the Persians since which it still increased in fame but by nothing more then by the two famous sieges she endured both times holding out three years once taken once not the last was in the time of her 31 Emperour Leo Isauricus about the year of our Lord 718 when Caliph Zulciman besieged her and after three years
onely it wants nothing for Luxuriousnesse or State however enlarged by the Ottomans was first erected by Justinus and called Sophia of his Empresse so Agathius Next the Ottoman Mausoleas require regard built of white Marble The seven Towers called antiently Janicula now the Arsinal The Seraglioes The Hippodrom for exhibiting of Horseraces are remarkable of the antiquities the chif are the Emperour Valentinians Aquaeduct The Column of wreathed Brasse The ruinated Coâ—osse The Historicall Pillar in the Aurathasar or market of women far surpassing both Traians and that of Antoninus at Rome the workman having so proportioned the figure that the highest and lowest appear of onâ— bigness Constantines Pillar and the reliques of his Palace now made a stable of wild beasts The many others are perished so little regard the Greeks their own Antiquities nor can they satisfie the inquirer of the History of their own calamities So supinely negligent are they or perhaps so wise as of passed evils to endeavour a forgetfulness The Turkes now call this City Stambul The ordinary houses are low and mean of Sun-dryed brick as has been said the possessions being not hereditary they care not for sumptuousnesse as also being oft subject to fires whereof a most horrible one befell in the daies of Leo and another not long after in the reign of Basilicus when amongst other infinite losses that famous Library perished containing 120000 volumes where in the inward skin of a Dragon Homers Iliads and Odysses were written a losse beyond that of Pallas's Statue Another hapned on October 14. An. 1607. in whâ—ch 3000. houses were consumed Nor is it a wonder the Citizens not daring to quench the fire that burneth their own houses or pull down some to preserve the remainder an office that belongs to the Aga and his Janizaries who nothing quick in their assistance do often for spite or pillage beat down such houses as are farthest from danger So that the mischief is not onely wished for the booty but prolonged and not seldom they themselves begin it by setting the Jewes houses on fire So that the Citizens made wearie by the example build rather under then above ground for the safeguard of their goods furnishing themselves with arched Vaults which are not to be violated by the flame A great part of the City is taken up in Gardens and Orchards as Gaunt in Flanders so that it shews from the Sea or adjoyning Mountains like a City in a wood The streets are for the most part exceeding narrow and filled with dead walls belonging to great mâ—ns Seraglioes It hath been much infested with Earthquakes and though the air is pretty serene yet that boystrous Tramontan from the black Sea most violently rages here bringing often with it such stormes of snow that in September the Trees then flourishing are so overcharged therewith that their branches break accompanied with bitter frosts The plague for the most part miserably infecteth this City brought more by the concourse of strangers then the badnesse of the clime and encreased by the negligence of the Mahometans who slight and shun it not but putting their fingers to their foreheads say their destiny is written there so they boldly frequent infected Persons and converse with them promiscuously The populousnesse of this City we may guesse at by what Lipsius relates out of Benjamin a Iew his discourse of Europe viz. That the customes due to the Emperor out of the victualls and Merchandise sold at Constantinople onely did amount to 20000. Crowns a day this argues them either great eaters though I know it being a maritime Town much is exported or their number must be more then Botero accounts sc. 700000. soules Which though a multitude yet is no whit admirable considering its compasse when we know there are far more in Paris though that beautifull City is three miles lesse in circumference then Constantinople There were counted in Paris long since 500000. Citizens besides stranges and soldiers and those were no few that could maintain it against 100000. men led by the Dukes of Berry Burgundy and Bretagne but siâ—ce the number is much increased so that the Commentator upon Du Bartas will have the inhabitants to be divers millions Yet enjoyeth she health with her pleasure and prosperity seldom feeling pestilence never sâ—rcity so that in the better part of a years residence there I never heard of one person dead or sick of the plague a besom that sweeps Constantinople of her people To these adde a Scepter of a Mahometan Tyrant with the insolencie of slaves and then O new Rome how are thy thus balanced profits and delights to be valued saith our excellent Sandys to whose exquisite Relation I refer you for a more exact and ample description of Constantinople or Bizantium And though after him he is so copious authentique and transcendent in all he did I need name none other you may also see others that helped me in this and do faithfully describe Constantinople as Sir Walter Rawleigh Heylin D' Iuigne Eusebius Boterus Merc. Bellon Onuper Causin c. 21 Has cut an Asinego asunder c. This is the usuall triall of the Persian Shamsheers or Cemiters which are crooked like a crescent of so good mettall that they prefer them before any other and so sharp as any Rasor The hilts are without ward most have them of steel some of Gold the poor of wood The Scabbards in solemnities they beset with stones of value Herbert 22 Some Magus The Magi among the Persians were those Philosophers that held the place of Priests and sacrificers reputed so cunning as they attributed more then naturall knowledge unto them in expounding of dreams and presaging of good or evill events There were some of this order in all nations The Greeks called them onely Philosophers The Indians Brachmanes and Gymnosophists the Gauls and Britons amongst whom they had their chief seats in Anglesy in Wales Druids Bardes and Semnotheans The Aegyptian Priests The Italians Augurs and Aruspices The Jews Prophets and Cabalists from their Caballa or book of Doctrine and Traditions which the Rabbines say was together with the Law of Moses delivered to the Hebrews The Babylonians and Assyrians called their Southsayers Chaldeans as our vulgar do all they account cunning women Gypsies or Aegyptians not that they all were of that Country but because Beloâ—hus Frisc. 5. Monarch of Chaldea was the Author of divination by the flying of birds called Auspicium to these I might adde the Scottish weirds and many more But to leave the names of the Professors and say somthing of the art its self of Southsaying there were four kinds among the Romans Ovid alludes to them in this Distic Hoc mihi non ovium fibrae tonitrusve sinistri Linguave servata pennave dixit avis Trist l. 1. Eleg. 8. Nor left hand thunder taught me this nor sight Of a sheeps Entrailes nor Birds noise or slight 1. Auspicium the Auspices quasi Avispices ab aves aspiciendo foretold
that he might with the more freedom and lesse suspition pry into their profoundest mysteries The same design led Thales Eudoxus Apollonius nay Plato himself into Aegypt and Democritus Empedocles and the same Pythagoras and Plato into Persia to comprehend saith Plutarch the Arcana of Philosophy and Divinity For Magic in those dayes was nothing else but that perspective science by which the hidden works of Nature were brought to light and things natural distinguished from miraculous good from bad which made the worthiest Princes especially those of Persia studious in it nor were they permitted to govern that had not some light therein But as it is the course for all things to degenerate so was this divine and excellent science corrupted It was say they taught by Adam to his Sonne Seth it was polluted and depraved by Cham and his posterity led by an impious curiosity to patch out Philosophy with Necromancy and by charm and spells to inquire that of evill Spirits that by study they could not obtaine by nature The Hebrewes according to S. Clement l. 4. Recog attribute the invention of evill Magick to Mizraim the Son of Cham others to Cham himselfe who raigned in Bactria called by prophane Authors Zoroastres He wrote divers Books of Enchantment containing 200000 Verses burnt by Ninus King of Assyria after his Conquest Pliny l. 30. cap. 1. It took its source from three principal Arts Physick judicial Astrology and Religion Some divide it into infinite sorts but as the Mountaine Caucasus running through many Countries takes of every one a name yet is still the same mountaine So is this the same science however called by its several professors But the chiefe were three sorts 1. The Persian invented by Zoroastres Zoradâ—s or Cham. 2. The Judaic introduced as they say by Moses but more probably by Jamnes and Jotapa or Mambres Syrus calls them Jannis and Jambaris who were with reason thought to be the Inchanters of Pharoah we finding in 2 Tim. 3. mention made of Jannes and Jamâ—res or as some render it Jamnes and Mambres that withstood Moses The third was the Grecian Magick mentioned by Homer in his descriptions of Proteus Circe and the Syrenes It was brought into Greece by Hosthanes a Persian that accompanied Xerxes and afterwards published by another Hosthanes at the suit of Alexander the Great But of all the Persian Magi were most renowned no lesse for their stanch Religion and lives then curious search into the secrets of Nature they assisted at the service of the Gods made prayers and sacrifices believed the Resurrection and Immortality of the soule they thought the world subsisted by their prayers rejected Idols busied themselves in presaging events believing the Gods obeyed them and that the aire was filled with Spirits with the Manichees making two principal the one good whom they call Iupiter and Horosmades the other bad named Pluto and Arimanis They held promiscuous Copulation lawfull otherwise lived in great austerity rejecting exteriour ornaments and and the use of Gold They ever held a wand in their hands and went cloathed in white as a mark of the candor and simplicity of their lives they lay hard eat ill drank worse bread hearbs and cheese being their food and their drink water as having a touch of the Pythagorian sect they abstained from all food that had life or rather Pythagoras learnt that of them Diog. Laert. l. 1. de vit Philos. This Sciâ—nce once of such esteem for its sublimity and being so farre elevate from the common and by the exercise of personages of greatest honour and antiquity is now by superstition joyned with the invocation of infernall spirits rendred odious Some make two sorts of Magick Naturall and Divine one lawful the other unlawful â—he natural consists in the searching of the causes of all things which is no more then the consummation of Philosophy The Divine part is diabolical being the abuse of natural things joyned with the familiarity of wicked Spirits so Iamblique Livre des mysteries des Aegyptiens with whom agree Proclus Porphyrius lib. de Sacrif he calls the first Theurgie which is good and approvable and may be termed the white or natural the other Geotie or Necromancie which is evil and damnable vulgarly termed The black Art and is divided into divers Classes comprehended in these five by Hugues de Saint Victor Liu. 6. chap. 5. De Son Erudition Didascalque The first he calls La mantique or Divination which is thus subdivided 1. When it is applyed to the dead it is called Necromancie 2. When to the Earth Geomancie 3. When to the Water Hydromancie 4. When to the Air Aeromancie 5. When to the Fire Pyromancie It is practised with divers ridiculous Utensils as Basâ—ns Looking-glasses Hatchets c. The second sort he calls Mathematique Maâ—ic comprehending three Species 1. Aruspicium 2. Auspicium of bâ—th which before and 3. L'Horoscope when by the Conâ—tellation or Ascendent of any one and Calculating his Nativity we make judgements of his Fortune this is judicial Astrology The third he calls Sortilege or a Lot when people cast Dâ—ce for their fortune as in the Shepheards Calender or any other way The fourth Witchcraft when by Ligatures Charmes Spells ungâ—ounded Amulets Philters or compacts people make use or evil Spirits to serve them and the fifth Les Prestiges which we may render Legerdemain or Deceptio visus Phantasmes and illusions when by the artifice of the Devill things seem as they are not as Witches to be turned into Cats Wolves to which to give credit is perhaps as great an errour as to affirm there are no Witches at all One Ingredient in their Rites is the blood of Infants which to obtain Ovid seems to believe that they turn themselves into the shapes of such familiar and houshold creatures as Cats Owls c by a ceâ—tain Oyntment and this themselves have confessed upon examination at Pompelona Anno 1583. yet surely but illuded by the Devill and their melancholy to their own destruction for if the Devil cannot annihilate or destroy how can he contract a body therefore wise Judges have admonished that men should not give too rash a beliefe to the confessions of Witches nor yet to the evidence which is bâ—ought against them because Witches themselves are imaginative believing oft times that they do what indeed they do not It was repoâ—ted of the Neuri a Nation of Scythia that they could turn themselves into Wolves and again assume their true shapes when they pleased And Sabinus reports how one accustoming to change himself into a Woolf and again into a man was taken and brought before the Duke of Prusia accused by the Peasants for worrying their Cattel a deformed fellow and not much unlike a beast He had a scar on his face the mark of a wound which was given him by a Dog when he was a Woolf as himself reported He confessed that twice every year he was converted into that shape first about Christmas and
keyes from the ground because of their great weight and God shall say unto him go again and call upon my holy name and the name of my friend Mahomet and then take the keyes and bring them hither then shall Gabriel call upon those names and take up the keyes and bring them unto God with which keyes he shall open the said Paradise of Alcoduz where they shall find a Table made ready of a Diamond 7000000 dayes journeys in length and breadth with seats of Gold and Silver about it and on it spread Napkins and Table-cloaths richly wrought and woven Then shall God command all the Moores to sit down at the Table and the foresaid Pages shall attend them with their golden Bowls and set before them most delicious Cates and Fruits of all sorts and skenk unto them the Wine and Water of Paradise They having eaten and drunk the Pages shall come with rich apparel for every Moore wherewith they shall deck themselves and put their Jewels and Bracelets on their Arms Legs and Hands and Rings into their ears then the immortall Pages shall enter again every one with a dish in his hand and in the dish a Citron and shall present to every Male of the Moores as soon as they shall smell every one to his Citâ—on one of the aforesaid Virgins shall issue out of it most gallantly attired and peâ—fumed as the spâ—ing and beautifull as the morning she shall imbrace her Moore and he her and so shall they continue in that sweet Act embracing each other the space of fifty years together without rising or separating from each others body all the while â—ioting in the sweets of youth and beauty After they shall have thus taken their pleasure saith Mahomet God shall say O my servants now ye have eaten and drank and are cloathed and adorned with â—ewels and have taken your pleasure in my Paradise and glory I will now shew you my glorious face he sayes that God shall remove the vails which he hath on his face and shall shew his glorious visage to all the Moores and they shall all fall to the ground through the brightnesse which shall proceed from the face of God and then God shall say O my servants arise and rejoyce in my glory without fear of ever dying much lesse of being sad or discontented to eternity Then sayes he they shall lift up their heads and behold God face to face in which vision they shall take unspeakable solace Then shall they all go from this to the other Paradises to wit every one accompanied with his Virgin shall go into his own Palace or Mansion there eternally eating drinking and taking his pleasure joyful and void of fear of death or hurt Lastly Mahomet promises that he himself at his own cost and charges will make another feast to all Musselmen at his sweet fountain Alcauzar with his own hand giving to every one of them to drink of the water thereof whereof who so drinks he saith shall never thirst the greatest truth among so many Gulleries wherein Andreas Maurus makes himself sport with these two defects The first is that whereas Mahomet holds forth so magnificent Palaces and is so careful of contriving and furnishing of them with all sorts of conveniences he makes no mention of Easements especially having spoken of so much eating and drinking and of such laxative things too as Hony and sweet Wine The second defect is that he that loved Women so well doth not make theiâ— glâ—ry pleasure equal to the mens he gives the men fine easie Wenches and why should not the women in like manner have their eternal servants They must needs take it discourteously nay instead of Glory and Pleasure he gives them anger and sorrow which they must necessarily feel when they see their Husbands which they had in this world embracing other women fifty years together and they left comfortlesse like Widows Such is the absurd glory of Mahomets delusive Paradise yet with these fooleries is half the world bewitched the impostor cunningly debelling and forbidding all learning lest the light thereof should discover the grosseness of his absurditiâ—s as it surely doth in those few that can attain it under so strict a restraint as Avicen that great Philosopher and Physitian who flourished about 500 years since when Mahometisme had not yet utterly extinguished all good literature who was by linage an Arabian of a Royal house in Religion a Mahometan but by Country and Habitation a Spaniard and Prince as some write of Corduba he foâ—ced by the strength of his Reason in his Books De Anima De Almahad strives to vindicate the most intelligent of his Sect from the literal belief of this Elyzium and excuses his Prophet for proposing it so fraught with sensual delights as meerly allegorical and necessarily fitted to â—ude and vulgar Capacities for saith he if the points of Religion were taught in their true form to the ignorant dull Jews or to the wild Arabians employed together about their Camels they would utterly fall off from all belief in God But its like he here makes his Prophet as some Commentators do their Authors speak more then he ever meant being ashamed of him in grosse as appears Tract 9. cap. 7. seâ— where laying down for a while his outward person of a Mahometan and putting the habit of a Philosopher in his Metaphysicks seemeth to make a flat opposition between the truth of their faith received from their Prophet and the truth of understanding by demonstrative Argument But however Avicen and the Learned may see into the folly of their Doctrine to which they are yet held by Interest and that strong charm Reason of state the vulgar and illiterate look no further then the Letter swallowing all with an implicit faith so strong in them as that the poor Azapi or foot soldiers being covetous of these delights in Paradise promised by an high policie most eminently to such as die for their Country make nothing to pâ—ecipitate themselves into the most horrid gulphes of eminent danger nay even to fill up ditches with their bodies for the Janizaries to march over and mount the walls of assaulted fortresses See the Alcoran Johannes Andreas Maurus his confutation thereof Sandys Herbert c. 9 Cowes eyes Mahomet promises that the Virgins in his imaginary Paradise shall have great Cow eyes as big as eggs which they have in principall repute affected both by the Persians Turks and Grecians as it should seem from the beginning Homer attributes it as an especiall excellency unto Juno 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then Iuno with the Cowes fair eyes replied So Master Sandys the exactest of all Translators and Mr. Chapman render it and the Latin Heroic Translation â—eads Juno oculis veneranda bovinis though in the vulgar version it is but magnis oculis praedita Iuno We meet with the same verse again in Homer Il. 4. as if the best of Poets knew not