in Gabriel the Porter there where he saw a Cock so great that standing upon the Moon his Coxcomb reacht into the imperial Heaven many millions of miles altitude and when this mighty Chanticlear crowed all the Cocks upon earth re-ecchoed him this he saw in the first Heaven In the fourth he beheld an infinite company of Angels whereof every one was a thousand times bigger then the Globe of the earth each of them had ten thousand heads every head threescore and ten thousand tongues and every tongue praised God in seven hundred thousand several languages amongst other of these Angels saith he was one named Phatyr or the Angel of mercy who was of that immense greatness that every step he trode was twelve times more then the distance betwixt the Poles This Angel said he had a quill or pen of Orient Pearl of such a length that an excellent Arabian Courser could hardly reach to the end of it in five hundred years continual galloping with this pen saith he doth God record all things past present and to come in such a mysterious Character that none but he and Seraphael can understand it with this quill were written all the hundred and four Holy Books viz. the ten which Adam received Seth fifty Enoch thirty and Abraham the remainder this pen forsooth also writ Moses Law David's Psalms Christ's Gospel and Mahomet's Alcoran In the seventh Heaven he saw the. Throne of God supported by seven Angels each of them so great that a Faulcon with incessant flying could scarce in a thousand years reach the distance of one eye from another fourteen everlasting burning candles hung about the Throne whose length according to Mahomets measure was as much as a horse could run in five hundren years There saith this blasphemer did he see the Almighty who bid him welcome and stroaked him on the face with his hand which was a thousand times colder then ice Here Mahomet for shame of his own baseness blusht and sweat six drops which he wiped from his brow and threw into Paradise where one became a Rose another a grain of Rice and the other four became four learned Men viz. Armet Sembelin Almamed Molec-zed Seh-naffin Who would think people should be so credulous to believe such antick stories but his other opinions were full as ridiculous as concerning the day of Judgement that he should paint it out by a great and fearful Duel betwixt him and death who being overcome shall be so inraged that he shall destroy all the world presently and being armed in flaming brass shall sound his Trumpet to each quarter of the world whose affrighting noise shall make all creatures to give up the ghost yea the very Angels also shall die as also Adriel who wrapping his iron wings about him shall strangle himself with such a hideous noise as is not to be imagined Then shall ensue a terrible earth-quake and a violent shower of parching brimstone which shall turn the world into a disordered Chaos in which condition it shall remain the space of forty days at which time God shall take it in his fist and say Where are now the haughty Princes the cruel Tyrants lascivious ' Wantons and covetous Muck-worms of the earth Then will he rain down mercy for forty dayes and nights together incessantly which shall reduce the world again into a flourishing estate Then shall the Angel Seraphiel take a golden Trumpet in his hand of length 500 years travel from one end to another with which he shall give such a sound as shall revive again both Angels and men who shall re-assume their former estate after this Michael the Arch-Angel comes with a mighty Ballance and poyses every mans actions in either scale those whose good deeds outweigh their evil are put on the right hand the other on the left Then is every man loaden with his sins in a satchel and hung about his neck with which they pass on a narrow weak bridge over the mouth of Hell now those that be heavy laden break the bridge and fall therein but such as have but few sins pass over securely on the other side of the bridge stands Mahomet who shall be transformed into the shape of a mighty Ram full of locks and long fleeces of wool in which all his Sectaries like Fleas shall shroud themselves then will he jump into Paradise and so convey them all thither Paradise he described to be as many miles about as there be Atoms in the Sun and that it is enclosed with a wall of ninety times refined gold ten thousand miles high and three thousand thick it hath seven Gates to enter in at and is divided into seven spacious Gardens and those subdivided into seventy times seven several places of delight In this place he promises to his Mussel-men or true Believers all sensual pleasures and delights imaginable namely that they should have garments of silk with all sorts of colours bracelets of gold and Amber Parlors and Banquetting-houses upon floods and Rivers vessels of Gold and Silver Angels serving them bringing in Gold and Silver Flaggons Milk and Wine curious Lodgings rarely furnished Cushions Pillows and Down-beds most beautiful Women to accompany them Maidens and Virgins with twinkling eyes Gardens and Orchards with Arbors Fountains Springs and all manner of pleasant fruit Rivers of Milk Honey and spiced Wine all manner of sweet Odours Perfumes and fragrant Scents yea whatsoever the flesh shall desire to have In this Paradise saith Mahemet there is a Table of Diamond seven hundred thousand dayes journey long this is for men to feast upon sitting on chairs of Gold and Pearl Gabriel the Porter of Paradise hath seventy thousand keys which belong to his Office and every key is seven thousand miles long questionless he must be very strong or else those keys must needs tire him Here saith the Alcoran shall men tumble in all manner of pleasure reposing upon fair beds lined with Crimson there shall they gather the fruits of the Garden to their contentment there shall they enjoy the company of fair and beautiful Damosels whose hairs be threds of Gold their eyes of Diamonds as big as the Moon their lips of Cherries their teeth of Pearl their tongues of Rubies their cheeks of Coral their noses of Jasper their fore-heads of Saphyr their eyes exceeding black and bodies exceeding white round fac'd sweet amorous and beautiful there shall they spend the time with these Virgins in pleasant Arbors who being enjoyed shall have their Virginities again renewed as often as lost In the midst of this delightful place saith he is a very high spreading Tree higher then all the Mountains in the world were they heap'd one upon another and so broad that it shadeth all Paradise The trunk of this extraordinary rate tree is all of Diamond the leaves of Ophirian gold and the boughs of jet each leaf hath an antick shape having on one side growing the name of God and on the other that of Mahomet Such
a fained holiness he retired to Mecca the Metropolis of his new Empire under which mask he intended to take his ease sequestred himself from publique affairs committing the Government of his estate to the Lieutenants and within three years following which was in Anno Dom. 631. the sixtieth year of his Age and the tenth of his reign he died but others say in the seventieth of his age and the twenty third of his impostures and that he died frantick Mahomet dies Upon his death-bed he commended unto his principal Commanders the care and use of his fantastical Law assuring them that it was agreeable to the Will of God and that so long as they and their posterity should hold and maintain it they should flourish His dead body being kept four dayes in expectation of a resurrection which he promised to perform in three grown full of stench and putrefaction was carried by his successors who pretended to be his Caliphs or Vicar Generals to Medina where it yet continues but not drawn up to the roof of the Chappel by a Load-stone as is vulgarly fabled This false Prophet and usurping Prince pretended paternally to discend from the Patriarch Abraham by his eldest Son Ismael Mahomet pretends discent from Abraham and to avoid the infamy of an unlawful bed he affirmed that Ismael was the Son of Sara not of the Bond-woman Agar whereupon the Arabians which is the undoubted name of that people are by some writers of Ismael called Ismaelites and by others of Agar Agarens And of Sara Sarazens but in this latter time they are distinguished by the name of Arabians Moors and Mahometans the first is proper only to those which inhabit in Arabia the Moors are the Progeny of such Arabians as after their Conquests seated themselves in that part of Africa the Mahometans is the general name of all Nations that profess Mahomet as Turks Tartars Persians c. Of the successors of Mahomet until the year of our Lord 673. the writers vary in opinion both in name and number of the Caliphs and in the years of their reigns the reason that begat their errors proceeded from the dissention that happened about the succession amongst Mahomets Kins-men evermore Anti-Caliphs starting up with pretending Titles in opposition to him that had the Diadem whereof some were murthered and others deposed so as the writers either out of ignorance not able to discern the truth or wilfully partial have erred Notwithstanding their civil tumults they kept Mahomets Dominions and inherited his fortunes for every of them added somewhat to his Monarchy whereby they became fearful to the world and potent in Asia Africa and Europe The fourth Caliph agreed upon by Historiographers was called Aozman or Azman Husband to Mahomets Daughter who perceiving that in this upstart Religion Schisms and diversities of opinions began to rise by the help of his Wifes Mother recovered Mahomets papers wherein his Law was written which with some additions of his own he caused to be digested into one volume containing four books divided into 124. Chapters and called it the Alâ—oran that is to say the Collection of Precepts the Original whereof they feign to be written in a Table which is kept in heaven and the Copy of it brought to Mahomet by the Angel Gabriel by his mistake say the Persians but for Mahomets vertue approved by God A Book so highly reverenced by the Mahometans that they write upon the Cover of it The esteem of the Alcoran Let none touch this but he that is clean Commanding expresly upon pain of death that that book and that only should be received as Canonical through his Dominions The whole body of it is but an Exposition and gloss on these eight Commandements 1. Every one ought to believe that God is a great God and one only God and Mahomet is his Prophet They hold Abraham to be the Friend of God Their opinion concerning Christ Moses the Messenger of God and Christ the Breath of God whom they deny to be conceived by the Holy Ghost affirming that the Virgin Mary grew with child of him by smelling to a Rose and was delivered of him at her breasts They deny the mystery of the Trinity but punish such as speak against Christ whose Religion was not say they taken away but mended by Mahomet And he who in his pilgrimage to Mecca doth not coming or going visit the Sepulchre of Christ is reputed not to have merited or bettered himself any thing by his journey 2. Every man must marry to increase the Sectaries of Mahomet Four Wives he allowed to every man and as many Concubines as he will between whom the Husband setteth no difference either in affection or apparel but that his Wives only can enjoy his Sabbaths benevolence The women are not admitted in the time of their lives to come into their Churches nor after death to Paradise 3. Every one must give of his wealth ' to the poor Hence you shall have some buy slaves and then manumit them buy birds and then let them flie They use commonly to free Prisoners release Bond-slaves build caves or lodgings in the wayes for the relief of Passengers repair bridges and men High-ways 4. Every one must make his prayers five times a day When they pray they turn their bodies toward Mecca but their faces sometimes one way sometimes another way believing that Mahomet shall come behind them being at their devotions And those which cannot come must when they hear the voice of the Cryars fall down in the place where they are do their devotions and kiss the ground thrice 5. Every man must keep a Lent one month in a year This Lent is called Ramazan in which they suppose the Alcoran was given unto Mahomet by the Angel Gabriel This fast is onely intended in the day time the law giving leave to frolick it in the night as they best please so they abstain from Wine and Swines flesh Turks unnatural to their parents 6. Be obedient to thy Parents Which Law is the most neglected of any in all the Alcoran never any children being so unnatural as the Turkish 7. Thou shall not kill And this they keep inviolated among themselves but the poor Christians are sure to feel the smart of their fury And as if by this law the actual shedding of blood onely were prohibited they have invented punishment for their offenders worse then death it self 8. Do unto others as thou would be done unto thy self To those that keep these Laws he promiseth Paradise The Turks Paradise a place of all delights adorned with flowery fields watered with Chrystalline Rivers beautified with trees of Gold under whose cool shade they shall spend their time with amorous Virgins whose mansion shall not be far distant The men shall never exceed the age of thirty nor the women of fifteen and those to have their virginities renewed as fast as lost he taught too that at the end of the
Ducats As to the Capy or Port by which is insinuated the safety and Harbour of such as address themselves to the Grand Signior the remarkable thing besides the Emperors places of pleasure which are hinted in the other part is the Divan or places of Judicature The Divan where the Visiers and the two Cadeleschers sit four dayes in every week Their decisions are speedy and most just for that the Grand Signior hath a place private to himself to inspect their Deportment A notable story of Sultan Morat and it is very certain that the late Sultan Morat being there one day and hearing judgement given against a Coyner to lose his right hand which is the onely punishment for that fact by a waft of his hand out of the window unseen to any but the Executioner gave a sign for cutting off the Fellows head as judging him to deserve death which the Executioner performing to the amazement of the Divan they sentenced him to the same infliction for sentence and Execution are done at one and the same time which the fellow preparing for and refusing to give any account or reason of his Action as relying upon the Emperors intervention was by his own mouth out of the same Privacy absolved and acquitted of the fact as done by his Command Besides by the Emperors publick appearance every Friday when he goes in great State on Horse-back to the Temple of St. Sophia attended by no less then 20000. men such is the Majesty and consequently the awful dread of this Prince though to their joyful acclamations he will answer by bestowing his blessings chearfully upon the people The Emperours publick apearance every Friday for prevention of Injustice and shows himself ready to receive all manner of complaints from all manner of persons insomuch that none of his attendants dare deny the receipt of any paper from the meanest wretch nor the greatest of his Officers hope for any favour upon any true information of their oppression and injustice I say by this means justice is kept most part uncorrupted and the Grand Seignior upon the account of his impartial severity towards his Ministers though he squeezeth to himself by their death or exile the juice of their oppression is most infinitely beloved and admired by his subjects being by his state magnificence and justice conceived by them to have something more then humane in his nature The Turks Trials As to their common Trials which is by way of viva voce and the Oaths of Witnesses though of late the attestation of a Musselman or Turkish believer is often taken for an authentick proof against a Stranger yet in their ordinary trials between one another they do proceed with more caution and upon surer grounds for even the Religious orders of which there are four and are presumed for the honour of their Religion not to be taintible with any crime are given most excessively to subornation and perjury extracting ground and just presumptions for sentence from private examinations and questions so artificially put as no premeditated combination can evade Turks reverence Oaths more then Christians yet generally the Turks bears a more awful reverence to Oaths then Christians nor are they found to alloy it with the poysonous mixtures of equivocation though the Jews that live among them are very prone to forswear and abuse that sacred name they pretend to have in so much veneration and for this reason and other wicked subtilties of that people they will not suffer them to turn Turks which they would readily do because of the same common principle of Circumcision unless they will first turn Christians which goes against the grain and keeps numbers of them from being converts to Mahomet But to proceed from all Judges both extraordinary and ordinary at the Port The Mufti and in the several Villages of the Provinces for a Justice or Caddie is appointed for every Town there lies an appeal to the Mufti or Mahometan chief Bishop who is next to be considered in the Government to whom all controversies difficulties or perverted judgement are submitted for his final sentence and even the grand Signior himself doth and must refer himself but his Oracle is sounded before and must not utter one word more or less then is directed to him and shall fit the convenience of State for as it hath bin excellently observed the Turk hath the Mufti and Mecca both in his own Dominions and is not forced in some untoward occurrences to apply himself to forreign dispensations And sometimes the Grand Signior makes not nice to remove his Arch-Clergy-man as well as other of his Tribe if they once interfere with the State yet without any tumult or Faction or scarce any blemish to the persons of the men who shall be reputed Saints and so Calendaried even if put to death such is the radical opinion of their unstained sanctity and integrity As to the Bashaws and Beglerbegs and their honours for life their posterity being reckoned for no more then common Turks unless their own worth shall raise them by which all potent combination of families is prevented as we shall speak of more liberally in the following Treatise In the time of Selymus were reckoned one million and thirty three thousand Christian souls to live within his Dominions The number of his Christian Vassals not accounting those that enjoyed freedom of conscience by priviledge nor those that then were subject to the Egyptian Sultan whom the said Selymus vanquished but now they are in far greater numbers The Jews likewise live dispersed over his whole Dominions Of Jews likewise in such infinite numbers that scarce no Town nor Village but is very populously replenished with their Families speaking divers Languages and using the trade of Merchandize in ample and rich fashion Thus to my power have I laid out the portraiture of this mighty tyrannical irreligious and bloody Empire which as it began by the sword and is propagated by the sword so let all Christians henceforth pray that by the sword it may fall and at last vanquish into nothing as of nothing to speak of it took Original CHAP. VI. Their Religion and Foperies THe Turkish Religion if we may give so high a Title to such a mess of non-sence is a hodge-podge of all sects and opinions but so ridiculous that any one well in his wits cannot chuse but laugh heartily at its absurdities and no wonder their Law-giver Mahomet being troubled with the Megrims that he should vend such trash and those people addicted to all manner of luxury should receive a Religion suitable to their sordid appetites To rehearse all his mad whimzical conceits would make a sufficient volume of it self we shall only in a brief Epitomy give you a taste of some of the most notorious by which you may give a guess of the rest And first concerning his opinion of Heaven whither he saith he was carried by an Angel and let