thy Pity move thee to make Intercession for us He shall answer them That which you ask you have lost I wâ—â— indeed sent unto you in the Power of God and Word of Truth but ye have erred and have made me God more than I ever preached to you and therefore have lost my benefit but go to the lost of the Prophets meaning Mahomet himself Then shall they turn to him and say oft Faithful Messenger and Friend of God we have sinned hear us holy Prophet our only hope c. Then shall Gabriel present himself to help his Friend and they shall go to the Throne of God and God shall say I know why you are come far be it that I should not hear the Prayer of my faithful one Then shall a Bridge be made over Hell and on the top of the Bridge shall be set a Ballance wherein every man's Works shall be weighed and those which are saved shall pass over the Bridge the other shall fall into Hell That there will be a hundred and twenty Bands of men that day of which three only shall be found faithful and every Band or Trace of men shall be in length the Journey of a thousand Years in breadth five hundred and then Death shall be transformed into a Ram and they shall bring him between Paradise and Hell Then shall arise much Dissentions between these two People through fear of the one and hope of the other but the People of Paradise shall prevail and shall slay Death between Paradise and Hell With these and a hundred such wild and frantick Opinions and Tenents is their Alcoran stuffed which we leave to give some light touch on some Hereticks who have broach'd their impious Opinions in these late Centuries LVI Amongst whom sprung up Thomas Muntzer who boasted that he had had Communication with God By his teaching and writing he did publickly affirm That the Preachers of that time that contributed their Endeavours to the advancement of the Gospel were not sent by God but were mere Scribes and impertinent Interpreters of the Scriptures That the Scriptures and the written Word were not the pure Word of God but only a bare Testimony of the true Word That the true real Word was something that was intrinsecal and heavenly and immediately proceeding out of the Mouth of God and consequently to be learned intrinsecally and not out of Scriptures or by any humane Suggestion with several other such like Tenets which won him several Sectaries and stuffing his Sermons with most seditious and better Invectives against the Magistrate and pretending to groan for the return of lost Liberty and for the insufferable pressures of the people under Tyranny a very great Concourse of the Dregs of the People repaired to him insomuch that they broke out into open Rebellion forced away a great part of the Nobility plundered Towns and Castles to be short made an absolute Devastation by Fire and Sword Whereupon the Landgrave of Hess fought the Country People with advantage and prepared for a second Fight the next day which Muntzer having intelligence of said by way of Animation to his Followers What are those Cannon Bullets I will receive them in my Gloves and they shall not hurt me whereby the Country People being encouraged were the next day beaten by the Landgrave five thousand slain and three hundred taken who had all their Heads cut off so that while they were ambitious of Liberty they lost even the Liberty of Life it self But Muntzer himself made his Escape but though he sculk'd for some time yet being at length taken he continued obstinate though the Landgrave convinced him by Scripture But being condemned and laid upon the Rack while he cryed out aloud and wept the Duke of Saxony spoke to him to this purpose Now thou art punished Muntzer consider with thy self by what means thou hast seduced and brought so many to Destruction whereat Muntzer broke out into a great Laughter saying This is the Judgment of the Country People But when being brought to his Death he was thrust into a close Prison 't is wonderful how faint-hearted he was and stood extreamly troubled in mind not being able to give any account of his Faith but as the Duke of Saxony pronounced before him and which he told him he was to make a Confession of before God Being surrounded with Souldiers he openly acknowledged his Wickedness and withal addressed these Words to the Princes that were present Shew Mercy and Compassion ye Princes lest hereafter you incur by my Example the Punishment I now suffer Read and attentively consider the holy Books of the Kings Having said this his Head was struck off and fastned to a Stake for a Monument and Example to others LVII In the Year of our Lord 1535. upon the Third of February at Amsterdam in a Street called Salar Street at the House of John Sifrid a Cloath-Worker who at that time was gone into Austria about some business there met seven men Anabaptists and five Women of the same Perswasion of which Flock the Bell-weather was Theodothere Botcher who rap'd into a strange Enthusiasm and Extacy stretching himself upon the Ground naked upon his Back before his Brethren and Sisters seemed to pray unto God with a certain religious Dread and Horror Having ended his Prayers he affirmed That he had beheld God with his Eyes in the excessive and ineffable Riches of his Glory and that he had had Communication with him both in Heaven and Hell and that the day of his Judgment was at hand After which he said to one of his Companions Thou art decreed to eternal Damnation and shalt be cast into the bottomless Pit at which the other crying out the Lord God of Mercy have Compassion of me the Prophet said to him be of good chear now art thou the Son of God thy Sins are forgiven thee Upon the eleventh day of February the foresaid Year the Persons fore-mentioned unknown to their Husbands repaired to the same place This Prophet or Seer having entertain'd them with a Sermon of three or four Hours long casts a Helmet a Breast-plaâ—e a Sword and other Arms together with all his Cloaths into the Fire Being thus stark naked and his Companions who yet had their Cloaths being uncovered he peremptorily commanded them to do the like as being such as must be as safe as himself He farther affirmed that the Children of God ought to look upon all things of this World with Contempt and indignation And since Truth which is most glorious in her Nakedness will not admit the Deformity of any Earthly disguise whatsoever he affirmed that they ought in all things to conform themselves to that example of Truth and Justice A great many hearing these things having quite cashier'd all shame offered up their shirts smocks and petticoats and whatsoever savoured of Earth as a burnt-offering unto God The Mistris of the House bing awakened by the stink which these clothes made in burning and
being done as Abdalla the Judge and Lord of the Arabians went into the House of Prayer he perceived a great Light to lighten from his House up towards Heaven and presently died On the twelfth day of Rab on a Tuesday Mahomet was circumcised and all frolick And then all Idols fell and became black all Kingdoms were destroyed and not one stood upright Lucifer was cast into the bottom of the Sea and in forty days could not get out and then called his Fellows and told them that Mahomet was born with the power of the Sword who should take away all their Power The same also God caused to be proclaimed in Heaven and Earth His Mother said that she was delivered of him without pain and Angelical Birds came to nourish the Child and a man clothed in white presented him with three Keys like to Pearls which he took the Key of Victory they Key of the Laws and the Key of Prophecy And after came three Persons with shining Faces presenting him with a Caldron of Emeralds with four handles which Mahomet accepted as a sign of his Rule over all the World The Birds Clouds Winds Angels contended for the nourishment of the Child But the case was determined by Heavenly Voice affirming that he should not be taken from the hands of men An Ass almost famished worshipped him and receiving him on her back became Herald to this new Prophet with man's voice proclaiming the worthiness of her Carriage Three men carried him up into a Mountain of which one opened him from the Breast unto the Navil and washed his Entrails with Snow the second cleared his Heart in the midst and took out of it a black grain saying that it was the portion of the Devil The third made him whole again Seraphin nourished him three years and Gabriel nine and twenty who gave unto him in the fortieth year of his age the Law and carried him to Heaven Afterwards Gabriel with threescore and ten pair of Wings came to Mahomet in the Chamber of Aissa his best beloved Wife and said that God would have him to visit him where he is and brought with him the Beast Elmparac or Albarach of nature between a Mule and an Ass This Beast told Mahomet that he would not take him on his back until he had prayed God for him His steps were as far as one could see so that in the twinkling of an Eye he had brought Mahomet to Jerusalem Then Gabriel with his Girdle tied the Beast to a Rock and carried Mahomet on his shoulders into Heaven where he knocked and the Porter opened Here Mahomet saw footsteps of Angels and prayed twice on his knees for them and amongst the rest old Father Adam rejoycing for such a Son and commending him to his Prayers Then he brought him to the second Heaven which was a Journey of five hundred years and so forth on to the seventh Heaven Here he saw the Angelical People every one of which was a thousand times greater than the World and every of them had threescore and ten thousand Heads and every Head threescore and ten thousand Mouthes and every Mouth seventeen hundred Tongues praying to God in seven hundred thousand Languages And he saw one Angel weeping and he asked the cause who answered that he was Sin and Mahomet prayed for him Then Gabriel commended him to another Angel and he to another and so forth in order till he came before God and his Throne Then God whose Face was covered with threescore and ten thousand Cloaths of Light and from whom Mahomet stood two stones cast below touched him with his Hand the Coldness whereof pierced to the Marrow of of his Back-bone and God said I have imposed on thee and on thy People Prayers When he was returned as far as the fourth Heaven Moses counselled him to return back to obtain ease unto the People which could not bear so many Prayers which he did oftentimes till there remained but few Thus returning to his Elmparac he rode back to his House at Mecca all this was done in the tenth part of the Night But when he was requested to do thus much in the Peoples sight he answered Praised be God I am a Man and an Apostle The Book Ascar telleth further that in this Journey Mahomet heard a Womans Voice crying Mahomet Mahomet but he held his Peace Afterwards another called him but he gave no Answer Mahomet asked the Angel who they were He answered that the one was she which published the Jews Law and if he had answered her all his Disciples should have been Jews the other was she which delivered the Gospel whom if he had answered all his Followers had been Christians Mahomet Comunicating his Doctrin to the People w th their Pilgramage to Mecca Pag. 50 One of their Chronicles telleth of his Martial Affairs This Chronicle from Adam to Noe one thousand two hundred two and forty years from thence to Abraham one thousand and fourscore thence to Moses five hundred and fifteen after him to David five hundred threescore and nine and from this time to Christ one thousand three hundred and fifty from whence to Mahomet is numbred six hundred and twenty in all five thousand three hundred threescore and sixteen from Adam to Mahomet All the Prophets were in number an hundred and twenty thousand and the Messengers of God three hundred and fifteen whereas Adam Seth Esdrik Noe Abraham were Hebrews Huth Scale Ishmael Schaib Mahomet were Arabians But to leave these fabulous nay blasphemous Relations it is convenient to entertain the Reader with a true account of the Life of this infamous Impostor The Life of MAHOMET according to the truth BY Birth he was of Jathrip an obscure Village then not far from Medina his Father called Abdalla an Idolatrous Pagan his Mother named Hemina as perverse a Jewess Deprived of both his Parents when but two years old he was left unto the care of an Unkle who not able to give him Education nor willing to be at the charge to keep him any longer sold him at sixteen years of age to the Ismaelites by whom exposed to sale in the open Markets he was bought by one Abdalmutalif a Wealthy Merchant By him employ'd at first in Drudgery and servile Offices till noting his great Wit and fitness for better Services he at last used him as his Factor sending him with his Camels and loads of Merchandise into Syria Persia Egypt and other Places wherein he did behave himself with such dexterity that he much increased his Master's Wealth and his own Estimation Of Person he is said to be low and withall scald-headed but otherwise comely to the Eye and of good aspect Much troubled with the Falling-sickness which Infirmity he made good use of afterwards affirming that those Fits were nothing but Heavenly Raptures in which he did converse with the Angel Gabriel He is said to have been also well skill'd in Magick by which he taught a white Pidgeon to feed
not to lodge in the same Chamber no not with his Sister Daughter or Daughter-in-law yea their wise Men forbid Conference with a Woman altogether LXVII But now it will be convenient to proceed to their way of Divorce and other Marriage-Ceremonies The Bill of Divorce is still practised among the Jews it must be written in twelve Lines it is therefore called Get neither more nor less and delivered to the Woman before three credible Witnesses under their Hands and Seals Then doth the Husband deliver it to her saying Lo Woman the Bill of this Divorce take it of me by it being divorced from me be thou free to another Husband The Tenor of this Bill is this The second day of the Week the eight and twentieth of the Month in the Year of the World 5363. as we here at Mentz upon Rhine use to reckon I Isaac sirnamed Eckenderf Son of R. Abr. now dwelling at Mentz of my free Will without Constraint thee Sarah sirnamed Trummerle Daughter of R. Levi which hitherto hath been my Wife have determined to free forsake and divorce and now do forsake free and put thee from me that thou mayst be thine own and at thine own free Will and Pleasure mayst depart whither thou wilt and none from henceforth for ever shall prohibit thee and thou art so freed that thou may'st marry to any other Man This Divorce may not be done in every place but they have some special place appointed noted and known scituate on some known River whereto certain chief Rabbies are called by writing if there be none there dwelling which consummate the business By the old Law a Woman might be reconciled to her Husband before the Bill of Divorce given or after The Observation of the Brother to marry the Wife of the Brother deceased without Issue or else to lose the Inheritance which was testified by pulling off his Shooe and spitting in his Face is now thus ruled by the Rabbies That none shall marry such a Widdow but rather suffer the premised Ignominy which is performed in this sort She comes before the chief Rabbi with five Witnesses where the Rabbi demands if she have been three Months a Widdow if her Husband had a Brother unmarried if the Party convented be he c. and lastly if she be fasting for otherwise she might not spit in her Brothers Face of him also the Rabbi likewise asketh like Questions and receiving a denial of Marriage there is brought a Shoo of singular Fashion for that purpose which he putteth on his right foot bare and then setteth himself against a Wall The Woman comes and disclaiming his Affinity stoopeth and with her right hand for if she want a right hand it putteth the Rabbies out of their Wits to scan whether with her Teeth or how else it may be done unlooseth the Shoo and taking it off spits in his face so that the five Witnesses may see it saying Thus shall it be done with him which will not build the House of his Brother In the time of her Uncleanness a Woman may not enter into the Synagogue nor pray nor name the Name of God nor handle any holy Book which if they observe the Rabbies promise them longer Life As soon as she knoweth of her Uncleanness she presently separateth her self from her Husband the space of seven days not touching him nor sitting on the same Seat nor eating in the same Dish or on the same Cloath nor may drink out of the same Cup nor stand against him nor speak in his Face if one will give any thing to the other one layeth it on a Bench or Table and goeth away and the other cometh and taketh it they say it procureth the Leprosie in the Children which are then gotten which they object to Christians When she hath numbred seven dayes of her Uncleanness she proceedeth to number as many of her Purification after which time finding her self pure she cloatheth her self in white and taking a Woman with her washeth her self in cold Water some in Winter put in warm Water to it which others in the coldest Season refuse and leaves not a hair of her Head unwashed as before is described Some fast till they have done it lest the flesh in the Teeth should hinder the Water from coming to them for Mouth and Eyes must be open and they must stoop that the Pap keep not the Water from the Breast and if they have a Plaister on a sore it must off and their Nails must be pared They write That if any shall exceed twenty years and not marry or if he shall marry a Wife which is barren he sinneth as much as if he had slain a Man and deserveth the Punishment of Onan whom God slew provided if he addict himself to the Study of the Law and findeth no need of a Wife but if he find Concupiscence prevail he ought to marry notwithstanding And this necessity remaineth untill he hath begotten a Son and a Daughter But having forgotten to speak of Circumcision under the Head of Religion it will not be improper to touch something upon that Point in this place The Child is first washed and laid in clean Linnen for if he be foul or defile himself while he is circumcised the Mohel or Circumciser is to suspend or interrupt his Prayer till he be washed again In the Morning of the eighth day the God-father seateth himself down in a Seat placed near the Ark and the Mohel near him twelve wax-candles are brought in to represent the twelve Tribes then two Cups of red Wine the circumcising Knife with two Dishes the one of Oyl the other of Sand. When the Child is brought to the door by the Woman the Congregation riseth up the God-father takes the Child and sits down in his Seat There is also a Seat prepared for Eliah whose coming they expect at the Circumcision The Child is then named and usually by the name of some of his Ancestors so that Luke 1.61 it was wondred at that Zachary should name his Son John seeing none of his Kindred was named with his Name The eighth day was so strictly observed that if it fell on the Sabbath the Child was then circumcised not sooner lest God should be thought to be tied to the Sacrament and because the Child the first seven days after the Birth was held legally unclean and yet remaining in his Blood Levit. 12.2 3. and 22.27 nor later lest the Parents should be longer with-held from the comforts of the Sacrament The penalty of Contempt or neglect of Circumcision was a cutting off from the People Gen. 17.14 that is by Excommunication or bodily death of the Parents Therefore God would have killed Moses for not circumcising his Son or else by the death of the Son himself when he comes to years of discretion if he be not circumcised either by himself or by his Parents or by the Judges Now the manner of the Mohel's cutting off the foreskin is that he first rubs