perverted the law of the Gospel, and have erased the name of Mahomet from it. For the scripture of the Saracens has it that, before the heavens and the earth were made, the name of Mahomet existed with God, and if there had been no Mahomet, there would have been no heaven, earth, paradise, or hell; wherefore, from this sole sentence, so pregnant with folly, all wise Saracens may see the vanity of his other doctrines. They expect and believe in the resurrection, but they say that, at the day of judgment, no one of their adherents will perish or be doomed to punishment, but that they will all be saved. For they say, that all who keep their law will obtain salvation of God by the intercession of Mahomet, and will never be punished. They believe that, after this temporal life, they will live eternally, and dwell for ever in paradise, whence there flow forth rivers of honey, wine, and milk, for the enjoyment of every one living there; and that whatever any of them may ask to eat and drink, will at once be sent to them from heaven. Also, that however many male or female children any one of them may desire to be born, they shall at once be born to him; they declare that there no one will mourn or be sorrowful, but that they shall be refreshed with various and universal delights and enjoy endless felicity, and they believe that the advantages, riches, and pleasures of the present life will not prevent their future happiness.

Of marriage amongst the Saracens.

According to their law, a man may take three or four wives, if he has sufficient means to support them; their wives ought to be free women; but of female slaves and concubines, they keep as many as they can manage or feed; contrary to what is said in Genesis, "There shall be two in one flesh :" it does not say, "three or four." Again, Lamech, who first introduced polygamy, was rebuked by God, and punished worse than the first murderer. If any one among them is displeased with his wife, or if any contention, dispute, or hatred arises between them, a divorce is at once effected both on the part of the husband and of the wife, and each releases the other. If, however, a man, after putting away his wife, repents of so doing, and wishes her to be restored to him, unless she has previously formed a connexion with

another man, and she herself consents to return to him, he is in no wise allowed to take her to wife; this is so, because amongst them there is no legitimate marriage. They pay their dowries, not according to the law, but after the manner of the heathens, for they have no doctrinal guidance in these things, and no blessing is bestowed upon their nuptials.

Their superstition.

They chiefly have connexion with their wives during their time of fasting, thinking that they the better please God by this. They fast only one month in the year, and then from the morning till night; from the beginning of the night till the morning they eat continually; on their days of fasting it is not proper for them to pray with an empty belly, but then they mostly have intercourse with their wives, as if they will obtain a greater recompense. If at the time of fasting any one is sick, or troubled in any way, or is on a pilgrimage, he is allowed to eat, and to renew his fasting when he is restored to health. At their time of fasting they eat flesh and all richer sorts of food, except wine. They hold no intercourse with their wives when pregnant, but only before conception, alleging as an honourable motive, that they ought not to do it unless to obtain offspring. They always perform their devotions looking towards the south; and they reverence Friday above all other days. In their judgments, whoever is accused of murder, if he is proved guilty, by any witnesses, is at once condemned to death as an atonement for his crime; and in their law it is written, "If any one does not observe the law, and denies Mahomet, let him be kept till the third day; and if he does not then repent, let him be put to death."

Some further facts concerning the said Mahomet.

As we have commenced to give an account of this impostor, Mahomet, which we heard from a celebrated preacher of great renown, who preached in rebuke of the law of the said Mahomet, having been sent to the countries of the East for that especial purpose, we have thought proper to insert it in these pages. The aforesaid Mahomet taught and wrote in his book the Alcoran (which the Saracens use, and consider as authentic as Christians do the Gospel), that the first and chief command of God, in importance as well as in point of

time, was this, "Increase and multiply ;" and whoever disobeys this commandment sins irremediably. Hence, in order that the Saracen nation might multiply, like horses and mules, which have no understanding, Mahomet ordered and enjoined on them to have as many wives and concubines as they could support, and to use and abuse them at their pleasure ; and if any one has a less number than he could feed and govern, regard being had for his property, he is accused of transgressing the law, and of avarice, and more are assigned to him by the decision of the authorities. Thus Mahomet thought little of angelic virginity as being barren, and, slighting continence, condemned it as unfruitful, not considering that the Lord gave only one Eve to one Adam as a helpmate and to bring him an offspring. Thus, therefore, Mahomet, by multiplying wives, established polygamy, not being warned by the example of Lamech, that man of blood, who was the first to introduce bigamy, and afterwards paid for his crime, was reproved by the Lord, and blotted from the face of the earth by the flood. Hence it is that the weak and effeminate Saracens give loose to lust and uncleanness, following the orders of their most filthy prophet, Mahomet, who introduced this custom only to propagate and increase his sect and people, and thus to strengthen his law by their numbers, and that in this might be fulfilled what is written in Revelations, "The dragon with his tail has dragged a portion of the stars from heaven." Truly was this Mahomet a poisonous dragon, a beast blooded with the slaughter of many, sucking in a river and not wondering, still having confidence that "the Jordan will flow into his mouth." For this said false prophet Mahomet declared that God said to him, "Son of man, Mahomet, go not in the ways of other prophets, who have been before you, in miracles, signs, and prodigies. He who wishes to believe, and by his belief to be saved, let him of his own accord, uninfluenced by miracles, come to the faith, in order that, by his good will, a greater reward may be accumulated for him ;" and this he pretended, knowing that his merits were not of so much importance in the sight of God, that God would work any miracle for him. He moreover stated, and preached, and wrote (it is not known on what grounds or authority he relied), that there had only been three prophets, and that there would not be

any more, namely, Moses amongst men, Jesus from heaven, and Mahomet, who drew his testamentary law from the earth. Moses, through the law given him by God, taught what suited his own age, Jesus through the Gospel, preached and taught what suited his time, and in the same way Mahomet gave such laws as were adapted to his generation. When therefore the time of the law was expired, the Gospel succeeded; when the time of the Gospel expired, the law of Mahomet succeeded, as if supplying the defects of the aforesaid which were past. Hence it is that Mahomet, wishing to please the believers of both Testaments, preached some doctrines which appertain to the law, and others pertaining to the Gospel; circumcision from the Old Testament, baptism from the New. For the Saracens are circumcised, and also wash the lower parts of their bodies in running water, that they may thus be purified by some sort of baptism. Again, they believe that Jesus Christ was conceived and born of the Virgin, according to the Gospel of Luke, who says, "An angel was sent," &c., but they deny that he was God; they, however, affirm that he was the greatest of the prophets. They also declare that there will be a resurrection of the dead at the end of the world. When Mahomet was asked about the deluge, the ark of Noah, and the universal extermination caused by the flood, of which Moses writes in Genesis, as to whether it was true and ought to be believed, he in reply said to his disciples,-Jesus, the chief prophet, when passing through the country of Jerusalem, was asked by his disciples concerning this matter, and impressed on their wavering minds the certainty of such an occurrence, and, seeing a piece of turf near his feet, he kicked it, saying, "Arise Japhet, son of Noah;" on this Japhet arose, as it were, from the piece of turf, a large and tall gray-headed man, and stood in astonishment and alarm. Jesus then asked him why he was afraid, to which he replied, “Lord, I was alarmed at hearing the trumpet of thy voice, believing that I was called to the general judgment of the resurrection." Jesus then replied, “Do not fear, for the hour of resurrection and judgment is not yet arrived; I summoned you from the dead in order that you, who were in the ark with your father, may relate to these people round me the whole truth of this matter." Japhet, then, taking up his

parable, thus commenced his narrative: "When the deluge overwhelmed the earth, we were in the ark, the men in one part, and the animals and beasts in their third story, which was on one side of the ark, and the hay and corn on the other side. After a lapse of four months the ark began to heel over and incline to that side on which the cattle were placed. The animals, accumulating dung, having by degrees consumed the corn distributed for their eating, overbalanced the ark; one side, that where the corn was placed, was raised, and the side which contained the animals was depressed, and we were in danger, and became greatly alarmed, and we did not dare to do any great work without asking advice of the Lord. We therefore made a sacrifice and offered up prayers, and the Lord being appeased, said to us, 'Make for yourselves a pile for an altar out of the earthy matter collected from the dung of men and camels, and when you have made a sacrifice on it, you will receive a remedy for your tribulation.' After we had done so, there arose from the pile a very large kind of sow, which at once placed itself in the hold of the vessel, and, dispersing the great heap of earth, by which the ark had been nearly upset, thus effected our preservation. After some days, however, when its work was accomplished, this sow, being now useless, became quite abominable to us, and it was the opinion of some that it ought to be thrown into the sea, but as it had been given to us by God, and had effected our preservation, we bore with it, although unwillingly. As a punishment for this offence, the Lord sent a plague on us in the following manner the sow, as it were, sneezing, emitted from its nostrils a number of large hungry mice, which, overrunning the ark, did great damage to us, by gnawing and destroying its joints and ropes, and devouring the corn; and thus the sow, which at our request was given us to help us, became, owing to our transgression, a source of injury. When at length we repented and cried to the Lord in our trouble, he was appeased, and said, 'You have with you a lion; strike him on the forehead with a hammer, not however to kill him, and you will obtain safety.' When we had struck him according to the order of the Lord, he, with a roar, emitted a cat from his mouth, which destroyed the mice and released the ark from their annoyance. And that you may not