niel, which must destroy three of the ten Horns; he will make War with the Saints, and fpeak Words against the Most High, change Times and the Law, and reign three Years and a half: In templo Dei fedebit, feducens eos qui adorant eum, quafi ipfe fit Chriftus.

The History of Mahomet fhews that he is that Antichrift defcrib'd by Ireneus.

1. Mahomet was Servant to a Merchant at Mecca, and made himself a King; the Rhinoceros has a little Horn, and is a Beast of Arabia, and therefore by that the Rife of the Saracen Empire is defcrib'd in that Country, which in the space of an hundred Years conquer'd Egypt, Syria, Arabia, Perfia, Armenia, Africa, Spain, &c. The three Kings conquer'd by the Saracens are, the Perfian, the Gothic Kings in Spain, and the Eastern Emperor's Dominions in Syria, Agypt, Africa, and fome parts of Afia minor. The Soldiers of Heraclius revolted to Mahomet in Arabia, and thus he became a Prince there.

2. Mahomet was a Homicide and Thief; his Government was tyrannical, and he forc'd all to receive his Religion, or become Tributaries; he promoted his new Religion by his Sword, and forc'd many to apoftatize from the Chriftian: At first he maintain'd his Followers by robbing the Caravans.

3. Mahomet promoted a diabolical Apoftafie from Chrift, by which he ferv'd the Q 2

De

Devil: He was help'd in the compofing of his Alcoran by a Jacobite Chriftian, a Neftorian Monk, and a Jew, and then he gave a new Rule of Faith, and pretended to an Infpiration by the Angel Gabriel in his Epileptic Fits. Tho' Mahomet acknowledges but One God, and deftroy'd the Gentile Idols, yet he tells ridiculous Stories of God, and denies the Trinity. Mahomet afcribes the Creation to Angels, and not to God he afferts the Human Soul to be part of God; he prescribes fwearing by his Creatures as by the Morning Star, and 'tis a fort of Idolatry to fwear by the Wind, or Angels. He declares himself to be the chief Prophet of God. The Turks may be reckon'd Idolaters, because they worship the Alcoran; no Man muft touch it with his naked Hands; the Prieft muft kifs it and

bow to it, and the Mule which carries it to Alcoran, Mecca is had in great veneration. They fay ch. 8c. the Alcoran was fent from Heaven by Gabriel, and they believe that 'twas copied from a Book kept there, to which Honour and Praise is due eternally. Mahomet makes God the Author of the Alcoran, and to fwear by it. He fays, 'tis impious to fay God had a Son, he therefore denys his Divinity, as the Arians do: And he makes the Holy Ghost a Creature, but fays he was infpir'd by him; and he denys that Chrift truly died and 'rofe again: This Herefie Mahomet had from the Manichees. The Mahometans alfo hold the Errors of Cerin

thus

thus and Ebion, That Chrift is only a Man, and not God. Against these St. John wrote his Gospel, and these were the many Antichrists mention'd in his Epiftles; this was the Blafphemy of the Simoniani, Saturnini, Marcita, &c. Mahomet follow'd all the Heretical Opinions of the Apoftates above mention'd; he denys the worship of Christ, and proves by thefe weak Arguments, that he was not God's Son :

ift, There is but one God, and he has no Affociate or Companion..

2dly, God has no Wife, and therefore no Son.

3dly, If God had a Son, there would be danger of Difputes betwixt them.

4thly, There is a Story told in the Alcoran, That God chid Christ for making himfelf God, and, that Chrift deny'd it. These are Mahomet's Blafphemies against Christ as God; and Mahomet feign'd this Revelation, and in contempt of the Chriftian Worship he ordain'd Sunday to be a Day of Traffick, and Friday to be their Religious Day, or Holy Day.

4. Antichrift muft not appear till the Roman Empire was divided into ten Kingdoms, which was done in the fifth and fixth Centuries, and Mahomet began his Religion and Flight from Mecca 622, which was his Hegira.

5. Mahomet's Caliphs made War with the Chriftians, and conquer'd three of their Kings: Omar took Jerufalem, and built a Q3 Mofch

Mosch on the Ruins of the Temple; thus the Antichriftian Prince fate in the Temple of God, preferring his Religion and Laws above Christ's.

5. This is Mahomet boasting that the Alcoran is writ with more Eloquence and Plainnefs than the Scriptures; and, that he is the last and greatest of the Prophets, ha ving more Knowledg than all the Angels and Men in the World; and, that he faw God in his Journey to Heaven; that his Name was writ in the Throne of God, and, that Christ foretold the coming of Maho met. All this fhews him to be the Falfe Prophet.

God is faid, in the Alcoran, to ask Jefus Christ, Didst thou enjoyn the People to worship thee and thy Mother Mary, as two Gods? To which he anfwer'd, Worship God, your Lord and mine. The Sophi of Perfia is call'd God's Lieutenant, the high and mighty

Star.

6. Mahomet pretended to a few Miracles, he divided the Moon into two parts, the one fell on the Ground, and t'other into his Lap, but these two pieces he folder'd together again. In memory of this, the Turks ufe the Half-moon in their Enfigns.

Mahomet's Journey to Heaven is another of their Miracles, which the Turks believe. He is faid to teach a Pigeon to pick Peafe out of his Ears, and told the People it was the Holy Ghost, who came to tell him what God would have him do

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An Ox was taught to bring him a Chapter of the Alcoran on his Horns, in a full Assembly.

He pretended that a Shoulder of Mutton told him it was poifon'd; and he told the People that the Trees bow'd to him, the Wolves howl'd, and the Affes bray'd, defiring him to pray for them. He told his Followers, that he would rife again the third Day, but he deceiv'd 'em, and they buried him the fourth at Medina, where his Relicks are annually visited by the Pilgrims. Such were the Miracles by which he deluded the People 23 Years, ten at Mecca, and thirteen at Medina. He liv'd 63 Years; a Comet appear'd at the time of his Death resembling a Sword, pointing from South to North; this continued thirty Days, and appear'd at Mid-day, and it preceded or portended the Rife of the Ara bian Monarchy. Mahomet chang'd the Chriftian Era by inftituting the Hegira, 32 of which Years anfwer 31 of the Chriftian: The Year 1713 is the 1125 Hegira, and in the 1260 Hegira the Kingdom of the Turks will fall, and end with the coming of Chrift.

When Mahomet fought with the Jems at Medina, he was wounded with a Sword in the Face, which broke out his fore-Teeth, and he continued long in a Ditch as dead his reviving again was thought a Miracle: And to this the Head that was wounded,