prescript inuention of them Which opinion although it be currant amongest them yet it is thought that not onelie the Saracens as hath beene already touched in the time of their Empire did in many points alter their Religion frame a new Alcoran But that the Turkes also euen since their Monarchie began to rise to that flourishing estate wherein wee now see it vnder the house of OTTOMAN haue in some sort done the like And it is not to bee doubted but that their Religion as well as their Empire is drawne and reduced into another manner and forme both of order and perfection then it was at the first beginning For it is written of MAHOMET the second he that tooke and conquered the Cittie and Empire of Constantinople and was the first of the line and house of OTTOMAN that tooke vpon him the name and tittle of Emperor of the Turkes that he also did in many things alter and chaunge the lawes and Religion of the Turkes abrogating and abolishing many of their olde and auncient traditions And instituting and ordaining new in their place But how so euer it bee whether that this Alcoran were written at first by MAHOMET himselfe or by some others his successours this is one thing most assured and certaine That the Turkes generally in outwarde shew and appearance doe hold and esteeme this their Musaph or Alcoran in no lesse honour and reuerence then the auncient Iewes did their Bookes of the olde Testament written by Moyses and the Prophets or the Christians doe the whole Bible and sacred bookes of holy Scriptures written by the spirit of God himselfe and by the penne of his Prophets and Apostles This may we manifestly perceiue by their outward gesture and vsage when they come either to the handling or reading of any part of this booke For first ther is none of them whosoeuer that dareth to touch or handle it vnlesse he be first either cleane washed with fresh water from the top of the head to the soule of the feete or that he doe wrappe and couer his hands all ouer in some cleane and fine peece of lynen before he aduenture to lay hands vppon it Besides as often as they repaire to the Temple to heare any part of this Booke publiquely read vnto them the same being done with a lowde and cleare voice all of them doe most attentiuely hearken and giue eare therunto with a singular and notable shew and deuotion And they do hold it a very deuoute and religious part a little to mooue and encline their bodies whilest they do intend to the reading of the same The manner and fashion of him that readeth it is to holde the Booke aloft betweene both his hands And he deemeth it a most sinfull matter and an act of great impietie to holde the Booke at any time beneath his wast Whilest he is reading it vnto the people hee standeth as a man rauished in spirit and besides himselfe seeming to haue his mind wholly bent and fixed vpon those things which hee readeth and pronounceth vnto them When he hath signified and made an end of his reading hee kisseth the Booke with great reuerence and casting his eyes downe vpon the same in a most sober and deuoute manner hee afterwards layeth it vp with great solemnitie in an high place purposely prouided for the keeping of the same as being a most sacred and holy Relique and of farre greater accompt and reconing then all the residue of their Bookes any way appertaining to their Lawe and Religion Thus we see that the curiositie of these misbelieuing Turkes is greater in their Idolatrie and superstition couering their inwarde deformities with outward appearances of holines pretended shewes of deuotion then the reuerence vsed by many Christians in the right worshipping of God and the obseruation of true Religion Of the principles and groundes of the Turkes Religion and of the Eight Commaundementes prescribed in their Alcoran Cap. 4. AMongst infinite matters contained in the Turkish Alcoran though there be many thinges deliuered touching their faith and doctrine yet is it for the most part full stuffed and replenished with vaine fantastical conceits of feigned dreames apparitions visions and reuelations And it aboundeth throughout all the volumes thereof with a number of fond tales and fables which are euery where entermingled with the deliuerie of their superstitions All which do tende rather to make some colourable shew and pretence of truth in their religion and to giue a grace and countenaunce of their Sect then to prescribe directly any matter of doctrine or to deliuer the summe and substaunce of their traditions And it seemeth that that Booke was purposelye inuented to induce and drawe all men that shall reade or haue the same by the straunge reuelations and forgeries therein contained vnto an opinion and beliefe that all thinges therin prescribed are enioyned vnto them by a kinde of diuine ordinaunce and institution And that their Prophet MAHOMET the supposed Author of their Alcoran was a most holy and singular deuote man and one whome God highly fauored and loued Now touching the summe and substance of their Religion and the chiefest matters of doctrine deliuerd in their Alcoran they doe depend vpon certaine grounds and principles and they may be reduced to three speciall points Of which the first is that they obserue diligently and deuoutly certaine lawes and commaundements prescribed vnto them The second that they shunne and auoide certaine notable vices which they terme deadly sinnes and which they are commaunded likewise by their law to haue in speciall hatred and detestation and thirdly that they doe precisely conforme themselues to the obseruation of all such rites and ceremonies as are either taught in their law or receiued amongst them by tradition Of ech of these wee will discourse seuerally and in order beginning first with their precepts or commandements prescribed in their Alcoran For as the Iewes had a particular lawe giuen vnto them and published by God himselfe in mount Sinai the which being written in two Tables and containing ten Commaundements is receiued also by all Christians as a most sacred and holy law and is held to bee a certaine rule of iustice and pietie whereunto all their actions are to be conformed and directed teaching them what is to be done or left vndone So haue the Turkes in imitation of the same certaine lawes and precepts or Commandements laide downe in their Alcoran the obseruation whereof is so necessarily required in their liues and conuersations that whosoeuer shal transgresse or violate any of them is held by their law to be a most sinfull and wicked person And they repute it very hard and difficult for such a man to be saued Contrariwise they do belieue that who so doth obserue keepe those commandements and escheweth those sinnes which they esteeme to be mortall he shall be sure to be saued be he either Turke or Christian. Which argueth that their confidence and
practises did also minister vnto him fit opportunity occasion afterwards both to make himselfe great in credite and reputation and to lay a most sure foundation for the establishment of his new doctrine as shall appeare by the discourse following Not long before that MAHOMET did enter into his detestable and pernicious practises in setting abroche his superstitious and diuelish traditions It happened that the Empire of Rome was vsurped by one PHOCAS who being a chiefe fauorite and in principall authoritie vnder the Emperour MAVRITIVS yet aspiring to the imperiall crowne and scepter most traiterously murthered his Lorde and master together with his children and so tooke vpon him the name title of Emperor Now as it is commonly seene that one mischiefe draweth another and that mischaunces doe seldome come vnaccompanied So the hatefull and odious act of this vsurper was the occasion of many commotions and tumultes and of many chaunges and alterations in diuerse partes of the Empire For the head and chiefe commaunder hauing encroched vpon the estate by so notorious an example of disloyaltie treason and murther It seemed a small matter vnto the members to participate in the like vices For thereupon began all care of Religion quite and cleane to bee abandoned and ambition and auarice in all estates and persons so abounded that the Prelats of the Church contemning Christian humilitie aspired to temporall gouernment and challenging the double sword thirsted after regall authoritie In so much that the desire of superioritie swallowed vp all regard of pietie and the couetousnesse of the Cleargie made them neglect their particular dutie Then grew the vsurpation of supremacie in the Church of Rome after which ignoraunce and superstition increased in the West no lesse then Mahometisme preuailed in the East In like manner the Laytie forgetting their allegeaunce and following particular profit enclyned to mutinies sedition and rebellion in so much that sundry nations both in Europe and Asia began to decline reuolt from the imperiall gouernment By meanes whereof the Romaine Empire was mightily encombred with many great and grieuous wars sore pressed on all sides with the armies both of rebels and forraigne enemies Thus that Empire which PHOCAS had purchased with bloud and treason hee held all his life time with continuall trouble and vexation and at his death hee left the same to his successors full of tumult and confusion HERACLIVS the Emperour who succeeded after him being driuen to great extreamities by the multitude of his enemies found himselfe most encombred by the armies of the Persians who hauing before reuolted from the Romaine obeisaunce had raised a strong mightie kingdome in Persia. Against the furie and violence of this so puissant an enemie hee determined to serue himselfe with the forces and succours of the Sarracens who inhabiting in Arabia Petrea had their name of a towne in the same Countrie called Sarraca seated not farre from Petra which being the chiefe and Metropolitan City of that part of Arabia gaue the whole prouince the name of Petrea These Sarracens being growne famous partly by reason of their great and populous numbers and partly by the course and manner of their life for that they were accustomed to liue by robberie spoyle and pillage a vsage familiar to most of the Arabians they had the name in that age to bee a most stout and warlike kinde of people In regarde whereof HERACLIVS resolued to vse their ayde against the Persians And the rather for that their nation hauing beene lately seduced and peruerted by the damnable doctrine of MAHOMET whose power authoritie was then growne great amongst them they seemed at that time to bee seditiously addicted and were suspected to be inclining to a rebellion To the intent therefore he might auoid the danger threatned to the Empire on the one side by the warres and fury of the Persians and on the other side by the seditious disposition of these misbeleeuing Sarracens the Emperour thought it good policy to serue his turne of the one against the other and so to make ech of them the meane of the others ruine and destruction According to this determination he hyred diuers great and huge numbers of them to serue him in these warres supposing that the countrey being thus purged from so pernicious and pestilent a people and they exposed to the sword and fury of a stout and warlike enemie the imminent daungers woulde soone cease and bee auoyded But that counsell which seemed to the Emperour to bee most sagely and politikely deuised turned afterwardes by the couetousnes and folly of his officers to bee the vtter ruine and confusion both of the Empire and of Christian Religion For after that the Sarracens had for certayne yeares serued very valiantly against the Persians had so harryed and spoiled that kingdom that it was reduced vnder the subiection of the Romane Empire they comming to demaund their pay of the Emperour his Treasurer aunswere was made them that the Emperour had scarce money sufficient to pay the Greekes and Romanes and the Christians his other souldiers much lesse had hee any for such a company of dogges as they were The indignity of this iniury and disgrace was taken so haynously of the Sarracens and did so exasperate their courages who of themselues were alway prone and ready enough to rebellion that presently they reuolted from the Emperour and shaking off the yoke and obeysance of the Romane Empire in their returne homeward they spoyled and harried all the countrie townes villages about Damascus in Siria Which done knowing that MAHOMET was then grown to be of great power and estimation by reason of his wealth and the opinion of his Religion which made him highly adored both of the Arabians and the Egyptians They were easily drawne to elect and choose him for their head and gouernour And being thereunto sollicited both by secrete perswasions and by large and bountifull rewards whereby hee had wrought and wonne them they both gaue vnto him the name and honour of a Prophet and proclaymed him for their Duke and Prince not only the Sarracens but the rest also of the Arabians and a great parte of the Egyptians acknowledging him for their Lord and gouernour In this manner did MAHOMET erect a new Religion and kingdome amongest the Sarracens in the yeare of grace 623. And making Siria the seate of his new Empire he liued the rest of his daies in the confines of Damascus During which time it is said that he made the Alcoran A booke wherin are written all the lawes ceremonies and traditions of his Religion with an infinite multitude of fantasticall tales and faigned myracles Howbeit sundry times before his death hee altered and chaunged added and detracted many of his precepts and institutions according as the varietie vanitie of his passions and lewd conceites did induce and leade him Notwithstanding it is thought that that forme of Religion
sect and profession hee came in short time to haue so great a name and report ouer all the lesser Asia that by meanes thereof there flocked vnto him daily infinite troopes of Turkes in hope to restore the name honor of their natiō to recouer their former fortune With these forces within a while had OTTOMAN subdued diuerse Prouinces in Asia as the greatest part of Bithynia and al Natolia now named Turkie besides many citties vppon the Euxine sea Through the happy successe of his fortune in these conquests and victories hee purchased so great an opinion both of his wisedome and courage that the Turkes with a generall consent and incredible ioy elected and proclaimed him for their King or Amira And so strangely did they growe in processe of time to affect him that they decreed ordained from thencefoorth neuer to admit nor endure any other to raigne ouer them but such a one as should descend of the line and seede of OTTOMAN Thus was the empire of the Turkes reuiued out of their former ruines by the rare vertue and fortune of this OTTOMAN by the ciuill discordes dissentions which were then rise both amongst the Mahometists and the Christians Since which time it hath so wonderfully encreased by the valure and prowesse of his successors and by the resolution good discipline of that Nation and our owne intestine diuisions the most pestilent poyson and plague of all kingdomes and common-weales that the whole estate of Christendome hath at this day iust cause both to deplore the miserable condition and calamities of the Christians from whome these miscreants haue extorted infinit kingdomes estates and empires and also to feare and suspect the violent course of their fortune the excessiue greatnesse of their puissance and the cruel dispositiō of their courages as being fatall to the christian religion For this people being more eager and zealous than euer were the Sarracens or any others Pagans or Barbarians in the propagation and extending both of their empire and of their damnable sect and profession do openly as it were by nature professe themselues the sworn vowed enemies of Christ and his Gospel And holding it a meritorious deed to tyrannize ouer his members they do bend and employ all their Forces Studies and Counsailes how they may vtterly extirpate the name memorie and faith of the Christians And how they may plant and establish the blasphemous traditions of their prophet MAHOMET in all the regions and kingdomes of the worlde But for the more particular discouery and manifestation of al these matters as also touching the maner of the rising increase and augmentation of the Turkish Empire out of so meane and base a beginning to that glory height and puissance of dominion whereunto we see it now growen and exalted wee will referre you to a Discourse which wee haue written of the liues and actes of the OTTOMAN Kings and Emperours wherein all the former matters are sufficiently and at large layd open In the mean time we wil now proceed to the vnfolding of the sum and secrets of their religion to discouer the qualitie of their law ceremonies traditions Of the Turkish Alcoran and of the great reuerence which the Turkes beare vnto it Cap. 3. HItherto haue we deliuered the inuentiō first beginning of the Turkish religion with the continuaunce and establishment thereof both vnder the Sarracen and Turkish Empire whose original also and increase hath in part been touched Now are we to consider of the substance of their religion wherein first we will speake somewhat of their Alcoran in which their law traditions are contained and deliuered and then wil we proceed to the grounds principles of their religion The whole sum and substance of the Turkish religion laws ceremonies together with the maner and form of their prayers sacrifices almes and whatsoeuer els they do hold needful and necessary to the saluation of their soules is deriued and drawen out of a certaine book which in their language they call Musaph This book is diuided into 30 parts or Tomes The Arabians call the same Curaam which is as much to say as The Beginning and end of the Turkes law And it seemeth to be the very same word which is vsuall amongst other Nations though with some difference it is most commonly called by the name of Alcoran Vpon this Booke as vpon the very groundworke and chiefe foundation doth the whole religion law of the Turks seeme to rely and depend And it is a common and generall tradition constantly helde and affirmed by all Turkes whatsoeuer that the Archaungell GABRIEL and their prophet MAHOMET did by the singular grace and fauour of God first of all publish and disperse this booke throughout al partes of the world And that MAHOMET togither with his disciples did frame put the same in writing in the same maner form as it is now receiued amongst them But howsoeuer the Turkes do dreame of the first writing and inuention of this their Alcoran and attribute the same to their prophet MAHOMET yet it is more thē probable by many cōiectures euen out of their own books writings That neither the religion now professed by the Turks nor that Alcoran out of which they do now deriue their superstitions ceremonies is not the same that was first inuēted written by MAHOMET besides it is apparant by the testimony of many those most approoued Histories that at such time as the Sarracen empire being risen to some strength and perfection was first established vnder their Caliph in Babylon and that the Turkes came to be vnited and incorporated into the societie and religion of the Saracens there was a new Draught made by the authoritie of their chiefe Gouernours and with the aduise and consent of their priests who secretly amongst themselues caused an other Booke to be deuised and written of such traditions rites and ceremonies as were thought requisite and needefull to bee vsed and obserued amongest them And because that forme of religion which had beene at first conceiued and inuented by MAHOMET and his disciples was found in many thinges greatly repugnant in it selfe and ful of contrarieties and absurdities it was in most points either altered or abrogated new traditions and ordinances inserted in their places The which for that it was done in secret and without the notice knowledge of the common sort from whom it was purposely concealed al those that are of the Mahometan sect and religion haue euer bin and are yet still persuaded their Priests and Gouernors still norishing and feeding that conceit in them that it was the same which was first supposed to be written by their great Prophet MAHOMET And that there was no change nor innouation made of any of their auncient traditions lawes or ceremonies but that all things did continue and remaine entire vnaltred in their Alcoran according to the first