KAra Selym, the meanest of the Slaves of the invincible Emperor of the Ottomans, Re­siding in the Land of Unbelievers: To thee, venerable Muli Ibrahim ESAD, the Wisest of the Wise; most excellent among those that ex­cel; Great Sacrificer to God and his Prophet Mahomet; Interpreter of impenetrable Oracles; and Priest of the heavenly Law.

I bow my Head to the Dust under thy ve­nerable Feet, O thou divine Image of hea­venly Wisdom; beseeching thee to inflame my Soul with an Ardour becoming a true Mus­sul-Man, Inhabiting the Tents of Infidels and Idol-Worshippers.

Mahomet our immortal Prophet, who from the Beginning cursed the whole Race of Unbelievers, among whom I dwell; gave them for a Guide the worst of all the infer­nal Furies, I mean a Spirit of Discord and eternal Strife; and this Offspring of Hell so influences them to this Day, that they not only constantly encline to Factions and Divisions among themselves; but it is even as their Food to them to quarrel, and wrangle, to fight and cast Stones at one another; nay, it is their Political Support, and they main­tain the several Interests among them, and cause the strength of their States to subsist by the Means of continual Strife and Dis­order.

Thou knowest, immortal ESAD, the innumerable Divisions which reign here a­mong [Page 6] these Despisers of our Law, and how they maintain eternal Wars with one ano­ther; a Temper ever auspicous to our in­vincible Empire, whose Foundations were laid in the first Dissentions of the Princes of the Nazarenes. Their Divisions were the first En­couragements to mighty OTTOMAN, the Founder of the Empire of the Mussulmans. After him, the invincible Mahomet, justly stiled the Great, who fixt the happy Port, and seated the Ensigns of our Prophet in the Metropolis of the Grecian Empire; next to his undaunted Resolution, and the daring Courage of his Bassa's, which gave an Edge to the weighty Sabres of his Jannizaries, and envigorated the Soldier with an Ardour not to be resisted; I say, next to this he made the Divisions of the Grecian Empire the Footsteps to his Glory, and the Avarice and Strife of the Votaries to the Cross, open'd the Door to the innumerable Armies of the East.

Nothing can be more delightful, venera­ble and sanctified Muli, than to read the Hi­stories of these Nazarenes, which they have written innumerable Volumes of, in their se­veral Languages, and keep together in Re­positories, which they call Libraries. I have taken unweary'd Pains to master their several Tongues, that I might know the Original of the respective Countries; but a­bove the rest, their Customs and Manners; and by this industrious Search, I suppose I [Page 7] have made some Observations which may be useful to thee, with whom are reposed, as in a Treasury, the Foundations of Wisdom and Understanding.

Be it known then unto thee, venerable and sage, the bright Oracle of Council and Know­ledge; that these Nazarenes, among whom I dwell, are a People justly detestable by the faithful Believers, for those Vices in Pra­ctise which are unknown to the Followers of our holy Prophet; and they particularly expose themselves to our just Hatred in the following Things; in which thou mayst credit me fully that I lye not unto thee.

I swear by thy sacred Person and Office, by the hoary Head of my Father and Grand­father, by the grey Hairs now encreasing on my Face, that I scarce believed there were such People suffer'd to live on the Face of the Earth as I find these Christians to be. Well has our holy Prophet in the divine Oracles of the sacred Alchoran commanded us to have no intimate Ties either of Rela­tion or Friendship with these People, who he has call'd faithless, treacherous, perjur'd; and has declar'd to be unqualify'd for the Conversation of innocent Persons, who do no Evil, and are therefore expos'd to the Snares of those that lie in wait to betray.

Verily, it is no new Thing in these Coun­tries for Fathers to betray their Children; and for Children again to maltreat, despise, and curb their Parents; these are Crimes [Page 8] which our more just Laws punish with Death. The just Authority as well as Re­verence of Parents, being kept sacred by the Instinct of Affections proceeding from Nature's Oeconomy in Man's Soul, are like­wise preserv'd secure and uninvaded by the Mussulmans Law; and the rebelling Son who insults his Parents, receives his due Reward at the Hand of the Executioner. O much to be reverenc'd and admir'd Justice among the faithful Followers of our Great Prophet! How much do many of these profligate Peo­ple who they call Christians deviate from thy Rules, and dishonour even that Nature, whose Dictates they know as well as feel in their own Breasts equally with other Crea­tures!

Here, Variance and Strife reigns in Fami­lies, and Children hold their Parents in open Defiance, to the Scandal of humane Nature. Eternal ^†ALLA! In saying that tremen­dous Word, I bow'd my Head three Times; and turning my Face towards the Rising of the Sun, I worshipped, laying my Hands upon my Beard; also repeating the Words three Times with all Reverence and true Devotion, ALLA! ALLA! ALLA! said I, how does my Soul detest these Naza­renes! who howbeit they loudly profess to serve and worship him whom they call [Page 9] GOD! and that crucify'd Prophet who they exalt equal to the one God that made them and the World; yet hold they his Name in so little Reverence, as to repeat it without any Regard to the Majesty of his dreadful being, even on the most common and trivial Occasions.

So little do they give Homage to the un­utterable Divinity of the Creator, that with an impious Levity they will in the self-same Hour worship and blaspheme; using his tremendous Name this Moment with a seem­ing but hypocritical Devotion; and the next Moment without the least Reverence, no not so much as seeming, or in Appearance, can repeat the same awful Words in Sport and Recreation! Can any Thing be more to be abhorr'd in the World! Blessed, by us, be the immortal Mahomet, who has com­manded us to detest and abhor Men who by such abominable Practices justly call upon us to have them in Detestation.

Nor is this all by far which is hateful to just Men in the Manners of these Peo­ple; for being, as I shall tell thee further, on my particular Affairs in one of the Islands of the Northern Ocean, call'd Brit—, after I had spent some Time to learn the Speech used therein, I found the People of that Country, albeit they seem'd more devout and religious than other Nations, and had among them innumerable Temples for their Worship, yet were they in one of the vilest [Page 10] and most unnatural Excesses of Crime so far gone beyond the Wickedness of all the Nations in the World, that I cannot but give thee an Idea of them, as of the worst of all Christians, appealing to thy un-erring Knowledge to discern if I do Injustice to these wretched People, yea or no.

These People, as I said, appear religious, and have built innumerable Temples to their God; in these they worship in great seeming Devotion, lifting up their Hands and Eyes to Heaven, and Praying with loud Repeatings and Responses to their God to have Mercy upon them, to hear them; saying such Words as these; ‘I ALLA Zeidama! Zeidama reis musa yeidasi ALLA!’ Which in their Language is sounded thus;

And yet if we follow these Christians out of their Mosques, or Temples of Worship, and come to converse with them in their common Affairs, we shall hear the same Mouth that before call'd to their God to have Mercy upon them, call upon him with horrible Rage and blasphemous Fury to damn them. Horrid Infidelity! or unsuffe­rable Blasphemy. Is it possible that these [Page 11] Men can believe, that this God they pray to, is able to damn them! No, that cannot be; they are too wise to call upon him to do it, if they believ'd him to be able. Nor is this any Testimony of the Excess of their ordinary Passions, when they thus imprecate the Wrath of their God; for it is the cursory Way of their Speech: It might admit Excuse, were it done as in some fierce Provocations, and in extraordi­nary Motions of the Spirits, which urge the People of other Nations to swear or curse: But as I said that these go beyond all Nations in this Wickedness, viz. Of Praying to God to punish and damn them­selves; so they do it in Sport, in Jest, for their Diversion, and even for no Occasion at all; which testifies that they esteem not their God as the Nature of a Divine Infinite Being directs Men to esteem him, but look on him as a Being that merits to be mock'd and ridicul'd, not worshipped and ado­red.

When first I heard this with my own Ears, having learn'd the Speech of the Country, as above, I stood amaz'd; and turning my Face towards the mysterious Tomb of our Great Prophet, I bless'd the Name of Mahomet thrice, lifting up my Hands to Heaven; giving Thanks to God that I was not a Chri­stian! And above all, that I was not a Bri­tish Christian! After which, looking round me, I stamp'd thrice on the Ground, saying [Page 12] surely the Great ONE GOD that reigns omnipotent is not in this Place: What do I here? and vow'd to Mahomet to be gone, and not to set the Foot of a believing Mussul­man again upon that unholy Place.

Were it to happen for the good of Mankind, sublime Patron of the true Believers, that thou wouldest be but one Month in this Place, thou wouldest assuredly cause the ve­ry Name of Christian to be detested among all the true Worshippers of our immortal ALLA, when thou shouldest relate to them, from that Mouth whence flow the everlasting Oracles of Truth, what horrid Impieties, what Con­tempt of all Religion, what Dishonour to the very Notion of a God reigning over the Universe, abounds in the common Practise of these People. As we the true Mussulmen worship one God, so we pay our Fear and Homage ever to him; tremble and cover our Eyes at the Mention of his Name; and are not to be brought by any Excess of Passion or Wine, or any other Intemperance, to speak irreverently of that Power we worship: But these People pray to him one Moment, and blaspheme him the very next Moment in the most infamous Manner; and this with an in­fidelity and Contempt of his Omnipotence inexpressibly scandalous.

I could not soon deliver my Thoughts from the just Abhorrence which this Thing had given me of the Christian Name: O Mabomet! said I, belov'd of Heaven, surely [Page 13] these are the People of whom thou hast said, God shall destroy the wickedest of Men from the Face of the Earth! Why have not thy immortal Crescents been here dis­play'd, and the innumerable Tefta's or Le­gions of thy Servant the invincible Empe­ror whom thou crownest with Victory, been extended to these Islands to remove such a Race of Men from the Face of the Earth!

But as I was musing upon these Things, I determin'd that while I stay'd in this ( to me) amazing Country, and especially because I resolv'd never to come so far within the Dominions of Lucifer the Prince of Blas­phemies any more; I say, I determin'd to know as much as I could receive of the Dis­position and Conduct of the People of this Country, that I might lay it before thee, and that thou mayest curse them with the Curses of Mahomet, and mightest continue to bless the undesiled Land, where inhabit the true Children of Virtue.

Upon farther Search into the Wickedness of these Lands, I found them to be infa­mous in my Eyes beyond all the Nations of the Earth, on several other Occasions; for know, Renowned among the Servants of our Prophet, that as we believe the Nazarenes are the most wicked People upon the Face of the Earth for the detestable Crimes of Fraud, Injustice, Rapine, Adultery, and Drunken­ness; so when I am speaking to thee of the Crimes of those they call Brit—, whom I [Page 14] esteem by far the wickedest of all other Christians, I shall not speak in thy sacred Ears of the Crimes they commit in com­mon with the rest of the Race of Unbelie­vers, but of those inimitable Excesses in which they are supposed to run, beyond the rest of Mankind; and in which they make themselves detestable even in the Eyes of other Christians, who are not indeed able to match or come near them in Wickedness.

I have given thee one Example; I shall now give thee another, viz. That they are a Nation who have so little Dread upon them of the unutterable Name of God, that albeit they have divers good Laws forbid­ding the Sin of Swearing, by the Name of their God, that yet they are the most sub­ject to the detestable Crime of Perjury of any Nation which I have convers'd with un­der the Sun; and this more especially is caused by two Things, which we the true Worshippers of God, and Believers of the Truth, wisely and carefully shun and avoid: 1. The want of a due Reverence to the God which they worship; of whom, if they believ'd his Justice, they ought to be so afraid, as that they could by no means swear by his Name in such trivial Things as they do; or as to give so little Regard to what they have sworn after they have attested it in his sacred Name. I ad­vertise thee here, that by the Swearing here mention'd, I do not mean the common [Page 15] Swearing in Discourse; of which indeed the whole Race of the Christians of every Na­tion are most horribly guilty, so that even in the Streets nothing is heard more com­mon than that the young Children take the Name of their Fathers God into their Mouths, horribly Swearing, Cursing, and Prophaning his Name whom at the same Time they pretend to acknowledge and to worship, and this not only without Punish­ment by the Magistrates, but even without so much as a Reproof from their Fathers.

But this, I say, is a Sin in common with other of the Nations of the Unbelievers; and therefore I am not now upon that, but upon their Swearing in Decision of contro­verted Things between one and another by the Authority of their Laws, in which Case this Nation, above all the Christian Tribes, are execrably guilty; for as much as they make slight of that Thing call'd an Oath, invoking the Name of their God to the meanest Trifles, familiarizing the very ta­king an Oath, by the Frequency of it; so that the often calling their God to Witness in their little private Cases, is made to de­preciate not only the Solemnity of the Oath it self, but even to destroy that Awe which all Nations ought to entertain of the Deity which they worship.

But, Secondly, this is not all; for if I am not misinform'd of the Nature of the same of the Oaths, which these horrid Men call'd [Page 16] Nazarenes are oblig'd by their Laws to take, nay, which they are often obliged to repeat; they are of such a Nature, as that it is al­most impossible but that they should be bro­ken; and yet the Wretches tremble not when they take them: And to confirm the Truth of this to thee, for the Offence is of such a Nature, that thou mayest even sus­pect that by living so long among Infidels and Christians, I should have learned to lye as they do: I say, to confirm this to thee, I here signify to thee, that while I lived in that Country call'd Brit—, a Book, or Writing, was published among them, written by one whose Heart was touch'd with the Infamy of such a Practise; in which the Author, who was a Man skill'd in their Law, and of the Degree whom they call there Sergeants at Law, undertook to charge the Schools of their Priests, which are kept at two Cities remote from their Capital Ci­ty, I say undertook to charge them with this most detestable Crime of Perjury, and that not from a meer casual Neglect, or Breach of their Law, but even by the Ne­cessity of their Foundation, and the Laws of their said Schools, which, as he made plain to the World, imposed such Oaths at the En­trance of the Scholars into their said Schools, and afterwards at their taking Degrees on their farther Advancement in the Knowledge of Letters, as it was impossible for them to keep; and as it was by the Practice of the [Page 17] several Schools absolutely necessary to break, so that, in a Word, most venerable Muli, the Youth of these Schools, if this Lawyer says true, are brought up to this miserable Ne­cessity of Provoking the Divine Justice to blast and destroy them; and yet these are the Race of their Priests, and the Instructors of their People! What then must be the Peo­ple who they instruct? This thou wilt easi­ly conclude must be according to that wick­ed Example; for our Prophet has told us, that evil Laws cannot produce good Go­vernment.

These, venerable Father of Wisdom, are some of the Crimes practised in that Part of the Country of the Nazarenes, which I have related; and for which I doubt not thou wilt declare them infamous in thy heavenly Zunè, or Book of Principles, which I know thou art Compiling for the Instruction of the Faithful.

But neither are these the Sum of their just Characters, for innumerable Follies at­tend them in the rest of their Conduct; which no doubt thou wilt ascribe to Heaven's just Vengeance on a Nation of Unbelievers, for Sins against the Knowledge they have had given to them; for over and above the horrible Sins of Forswearing as above, and calling upon their Gods to damn them: They have one Thing which is their pecu­liar, and which I think is their Punishment for other Crimes, rather than that it is in it [Page 18] self a Crime; and this that they are the most wrangling, contentious, self-divided People in the Universe.

It would offend thy Ears, thou who art the Patron of Peace, if I should enter into the tedious Recital of their eternaI Feuds; as well about the Affairs of State, as of Re­ligion, the History would require a Volume of ten times the Extent of the holy Alcho­ran, and take up the Life of a younger Man than I am to write the same.

It happen'd to be when I was there, a Time of more than ordinary Turns and Changes in their State; and tho'I resided there but few Years, I saw no less than four Faces on the Courts, and Divans of their Princes.

It was my Lot to be first there in the Reign of their Queen, whose Ambassador at the thrice happy Port kiss'd the Robe of our mighty Emperor, and whose Name was Anna; a Princess not able, by reason of her Sex, to influence the Turbulence of her Courtiers: But why do I say as a Woman, if I may believe the Relation they give of them­selves; no Masculine Monarch they have had, has been able by the Authotity either of his Wisdom, or of his Office, to guide the ambi­tious Designs of his Courtiers in that Coun­try; but as they are ever hunting after Pro­fits and Preferments, so they are ever form­ing Factions and Parties against one another, which they support vigorously, by drawing [Page 19] over rhe Nobility to favour now one Side, now the other, 'till they grow formidable even to the Monarch himself, who finds himself under the Necessity of coming into the Feud; and to espouse now this Side, then another, as his Interest guides him; and this especial Character you may take from me of their Temper, viz. That however zealous they are, or rather seem to be for the publick Good while they are in Power and Employ, yet if the Prince happens to frown, and to displace at any Time one of these Men, they make no Scruple to joyn with the adverse Party, and turn Enemies to that very Administration which they were Espousing before.

If it was thus during the Reign of the po­litick Kings who went before, it may with much more Reason be supposed to be so in the late Queen's Reign; who being in her self of a peaceable Disposition, would very fain have contented all Sides; and was oblig'd to leave her Administration in the Hands of those People who she employ'd, who con­tending so furiously one with another, as not to be appeased, much less hinder'd by her Authority, she seem'd to be little more than a Name among them; the Parties guiding her as this or that Side appear'd more nume­rous, to act now this way, now that, even in Contradiction, under the Influence of one Side to the Maxims of the other: Nor was it so in her Reign only, but even in the [Page 20] Reign of the King her immediate Predeces­for; and it begins very much to be so even in the Reign of the Successor; nor does his bearing the Character of the wisest and most mighty Prince among the Nazarenes, or Christians, alter the Case; the Influence of Parties being still so great, that even that Wisdom for which this Prince is so famous, directs him to act very much by the Agency of the Parties, as he thinks fit to let this or that Faction have the leading Influence in his Affairs; only with this Difference, that he does not suffer this blindly, and unin­form'd, as has at other Times been the Case; But rather necessarily to support his own Interests, which might otherwise be in Hazard to publick Disaffections, if he did not permit one Party to flatter themselves with the Notions of being in his Favour, that they might ballance the Insolence of those who really were the Object of his Aversion.

Whatever is the Case, most true it is, that the Court in this divided part of the World, is continually form'd into, and led by Parties and Factions of Politicians; who are heaving and thrusting at one another with that Vio­lence, as that it is hard to say there is at any Time a calm Interval, in which they are not in-the utmost Confusion on this Account.

In these Disorders, it is no less strange to see how both Sides constantly claim to them­selves the Title of Patriots, and tell the World [Page 21] they are acting for the publick Good; and yet if any one however violent in that Side, and which (at that Time) is in Favour, hap­pens to be turn'd out, he never fails to go over to the other Extreme, as likewise the other if taken in, fails not to joyn with the Party in Place, still continuing to pretend to an un­alterable Zeal for the Publick Good. By this Means, it is not to be express'd how natural it is to these Men to change their Party and Principles, and to call Evil good, and Good evil, just as their Interest guides: For be it known to thee, immortal Father of sage Councils, there was scarce a great Cour­tier in that Country, or a Chief Minister in the Administration of their Affairs, who has not thought it convenient to his Interest to be on every Side, now on this Side, now on that, then again on this, turning as oft even as the Advancement of his Avarice or Ambition guided.

Even at this Juncture, that Court is agita­ted or disturb'd with the Discontents of some of those Men, who at the Acceffion of the Prince now Reigning, were the most zealous for his Inteest, and the warmest in the Pro­secuting and pushing on the Resentments of the Publick against those who opposed him; and yet no sooner did this Prince find him­self obliged to dismiss some of these from their Employments in his Court, but they immediately shook Hands, and contracted Friendship with those who they had treated [Page 22] as Criminals before; and it is not much doubted, that were the like Measures taken with some, if not all that remain, they would do the same.

How much more advantageous to the pub­lick Peace, and agreeable to the Nature of Government, is the Divine Authority of the Grand Seignior, our glorious Emperor! who when he finds it for the Good of his Go­vernment to displace from the great Em­ploys of State, or remove from the Coun­cils of his Imperial Divan, his Grand Viziers, or other Officers of State; gives them their Quietus by the more easy and indisputed Authority of the Bow-string; removing there­by all the Caballing and Intrieguing of Par­ties, in Order to re-place Favourites, and effectually prevent Faction and Disorder. Had the British Princes exercis'd this Au­thority with their displac'd Courtiers, who perhaps as well deserv'd that Treatment as any of our more faithful Bassa's, the Spirit of Strife and Faction had long since been ba­nished from that Court: But it seems they have certain Laws and Constitutions among themselves, which abridge their Princes of so wholesome an Authority; and this per­haps may be a Reason why the Courtiers take such Freedoms, which in our happy Port is never heard of; which Laws as they are one Way the Safety of the Ministers, so they are the other Way the Reason of those Insults upon their Princes, and those Factions [Page 23] and Divisions among the Courtiers and Peo­ple, of which I have been relating some part.

But to pass from these Things; I must in­form thee, that these are the least of these publick Confusions in this Country: Sure the Gods of these Christians are going to cast them off; and are resolv'd to bring them to Destruction by the Agency of their own Follies: Seeing they suffer them to fall into such Breaches and such continual Quarrels as are not consistent with their being as a Nation; and which exposes them to the Scorn and Contempt even of all their Fel­low-Creatures. While I was among them, such a Feud began among ther Dervices or Priests, as has administer'd Matter of Laugh­ter to all the World, at the same Time that it has left them at Home in the utmost Wrath and Confusion.

Did these Nazarenes but know how just­ly we laugh at their unaccountable and most ridiculons Contentions; and how it confirms the Followers of our Great Prophet in their most just Abhorrence of that Religion which is not able to preserve the Peace and Har­mony of its Professors, surely they would be wiser.

Doubtless, Divine Patron of the Faithful, Religion is a Foundation of Celestial Blessed­ness; to which it leads by the Paths of Peace, Love, Unity, and all manner of Beneficence: Those who cloath themselves with the chaste Robes of Religion, and harbour within a [Page 24] Reserve of Bitterness, are like the Snakes of Arabia and Libya, which under the most beauteous and admirable Skin, painted with all kinds of delightful Colours, and sending forth a most odoriferous Smell, harbour an incurable Poison.

But to return to the Case in hand; it will be needful for thee to be faithfully in­form'd of the infernal Spirit of Contention which rages among these Christians, that thou mayest thereby make those Nazarenes who come among us at the illustrious Port, asham'd of their Country, and of their Religi­on, and mayest successfully exhort them to believe in the pure Doctrines of Mahomet, and to embrace the Faith of the Mussulmen, which teaches Justice and Peace, Love and Virtue, and implacably hates and detests those pretended Religions, which permits such Fountains of Strife and Contention to flow among those who call themselves Reli­gious.

Certainly the Paths which lead to Paradise, must partake of that Haven of Peace: Strife, Rage, Contention, and Hatred, burning in the Breast of Men, is a Fire kindled from the eternal Lake where evil Spirits inhabit, and therefore partakes of the Nature of that Place. In vain therefore do these Christian Priests strive to perswade Men that they are the Servants of the High God, with whom dwelleth Peace, while they are arm'd with Rage, Envy, Contention, and unnatural Ma­lice [Page 25] against each other, Waging War with one another, even to the Murthering the good Name of their Neighbour by all possible Slan­der, which is worse than killing his Body.

And that thou mayst not think I do In­justice even to these Infidels, I shall give thee, Illustrious Guide of Verity, a brief Account of the War kindled among those British Dervises, of whom I spake.

And first thou mayst understand, that there hath been a Division first among them not meerly religious, but rather political; some of the Churchmen choosing rather to suffer the Loss of their Ecclesiastick Livings, than to take Oaths of Fidelity and Recogni­tion to the present King, whom they esteem an Usurper; Tthese, to maintain their Separation, renounce certain Doctrines for­merly held among them; to wit, of the King being supreme Head of the Church; from whence they infer, that the present Govern­ment of the Church is Schismatical, that they are not lawfully depos'd and turn'd out of their Benefices, but that the Civil Power has usurped upon the Church, which they had nothing to do with; and that the Right of Succession to Ecclesiastick Promotion is still theirs.

The Civil Government answers this with Coertion, as indeed such trifling deserv'd; and being supported by the great Divan, which they call their Parliament, they regard not the Obje­ctions of the Priests. And this is a division which [Page 26] in its self has much embarrass'd the Nation.

But there is a new War since broken out among the Priests which are on the side of the Government, and are Opposers of those they call here the Depriv'd Clergy.

Assuredly I do not miscall it, when I say it is a War, altho' it be not carry'd on with Sabre or Gun, or any other carnal Instru­ment of Offence: A War of the Tongue in these Countries is oftentimes more fatal than that of the Sword; and tho' these Men rather scold than fight, yet, to use their own Words, they cast Firebrands, Arrows, and Death. They cast Firebrand Words enflam'd from Hell; Words of Bitterness, to provoke and enrage the Persons they are bent against, and raise the Passions to a Flame: Their Words are Arrows dipt in Poison, and are sure to give mortal Wounds to the Reputa­tion of the Persons they are cast at; and Death, because to kill the Fame of our Neighbour is, according to the Rules of our exalted Prophet Mahomet, a wilful and most cruel Murther.

All these Circumstances attend the Case which, as I have hinted, happen'd in this Place. The History take briefly thus: There was a certain Rabbi, or Priest of the Christians who had been lately exalted by the Favour of the Prince to the Degree of a Muf­ti or Patriarch, or as they call him here a Bishop, of one of their Provinces: This Per­son being for Reputation eminent, and in Learn­ing [Page 27] and popular Esteem very advantageously represented to the Government, was called to make an Harangue or Oration before their King; he discharg'd the Work very much to the Satisfaction of the Prince, and of all the Assembly; so that he receiv'd the King's Com­mand to make the same publick by Print.

But he had no sooner done so, than some of the Priests of the same Temple envying him the Glory which his Preaching, so they call it here, had brought to him, on these Occasions, raised a terrible Commotion against certain Doctrines and Positions which he bad there laid down, and asserted; objecting that they were not suitable to the Rules laid down in their Law or Alchoran, a Book which they univer­sally believ'd to be the Rule of their Faith, concerning those Doctrines, and which they call the BIBLE.

The Opposition made to this Discourse was so great, that much Strife and Loss of Charity was found between them; many opposing this Mufti, and that with such Warmth, as to use him very scurvily upon this Occasion; nay, at length the Great Divan, or Assembly of the Priests in that Temple took him to Task, re­solving to censure both this Mufti and his Book, supposing his Principles to be false, and Doctrines unsound.

This was carry'don with such Warmth, that it was feared the Mufti would have been run down by that Assembly, when on a sudden the King, by whose Licence they act here in such [Page 28] Cases, interposed his Authority, and for the present took away their Power of Acting at-all, sending them away before they had Power to do what Mischief they had intended.

The Truth is, that Assembly which they call here in their Language the Convocation, has not been eminent, as I could learn, for any con­siderable Actions of late Years, which is princi­pally by some learned Men laid to the Door of these Causes.

• 1. The too absolute Power of the Prince, without whose Licence they are not em­power'd to act, no nor so much as to conveen.
• 2. A kind of natural Indisposition in them to act with Unanimity, and Agreement in any Thing.

This Assembly being sent away, the said Mufti seem'd then to have the Victory more eminently, as to his said Doctrines as well as to his Party; when behold the other Priests taking Fire at this, fell upon him with so much the greater Violence, till, in a Word, al­most all the Churchmen in the Nation were embarrass'd in the Quarrel, on one Side or ano­ther; and so far were they from Regarding him the more for the Respect which was shewn him by their King, that indeed he was the more furiously attack'd upon that Account; so that the Parties which divide the State here, be­gan to embark in this religious Broil, and so call it, as they do almost in all such Things, a Party Cause.

[Page 29] But as if by the Nature of the Thing, the said Priests were fated to make them­selves contemptible among the People, and in­deed infamous to all the World, another Inci­dent occurr'd, which brought the Quarrel to be more abstractly a meer Quarrel of the Priests, and the State Differences or Parties to have no Concern in it; and as the Occasi­on of this, as well as the Manner of carrying it on, was most particularly scandalous to the Name of Christians in general as such, so it must be the more agreeable to thee to have a full Account of the same.

The first Quarrel, as I have told thee, being check'd by the Kingly Power, was taken up by the Priests, and carry'd on in Defence of what their Assembly or Convocation had be­gun, and some Writings pass'd on both Sides full of Invectives and foul Language, such as they frequently give to one another in this Country in such Cases, reproaching one another with Ignorance, Insincerity, and Equivocation, in a most scandalous manner; insomuch that some of their own People who were wiser than the rest, began to admonish them on both Sides to consider how they exposed themselves to the Laughter and Ridicule of their Enemies; as indeed was most just, for as there is several Divisions and Schisms in this wretched Country in their Religion, some worshipping after one way, and some after another; some entertain­ing Notions of their God after this way, and some after that; with infinite Animosity and [Page 30] Confusion; so all those Sects or Sorts of Christians who were not of the same with those who had the Name of the Establish'd Church, were well pleased to see the Confusion which this Breach among the Priests of that Church had put them into, and insulted them most openly upon that Occasion; jesting in particular with them, for that they on one and the same Side, preached up the Schismatick Doctrines, and yet possessed, as they said, the Episcopal Autho­rity, and the Profits of it, both which they preached down by their Words and Doctrines.

On the other hand, it was said, that those Priests who opposed these new Doctrines, did it because they were loth to let their Power of Oppressing and Persecuting those who separated from them in Opinion, go out of their Hands. Thus while they foolishly contended, they ex­pos'd their own Nakedness even as Priests, not only to the said Sects or Sorts of Nazarenes, who differ'd from them, but indeed made their whole Profession it self appear ridiculous to those who were the Enemies of the whole System.

Hadst thou seen, venerable Apostle of Mahomet, how furiously these People call'd Christians opposed one another, how scanda­lously they treated the personal Characters of their Opposers; how they embraced all Occasions to expose one another as Hypo­crites and Deceivers; one Side calling the other Usurpers of Authority, which their Great Prophet the Messiah had reserv'd to himself, and Oppressors of the Consciences [Page 31] of Men by Ecclesiastick Scare-crows; and Engines of human Invention not appoint­ed from Heaven: The other Side in the mean Time recriminating, and charging the first with destroying the Regal Au­thority of the Prince in Ecclesiastick Cau­ses, and Deflowring the Church, Plunder­ing her of all Power of Government and Discipline, and rendering her as a Virgin expos'd to be ravish'd by every Intruder; I say, hadst thou been here, it must neces­sarily have caused in thee a holy Detesta­tion of that Religion which was thus ma­cerated and mangled by its own Profes­sors, thou would have been fired the more with Zeal for the pure and undivided Principles of the Mussulmen, and confirm'd them in the Faith and Doctrines of Mahomet, among whose innumerable Worshippers no such Divisions are heard of, much less any such scandalous Contenders are found.

But if these Disputes were scandalous to the Nazarene Religion it self, and injur'd the Reputation of the Dervises, who were inexcusably guilty of the most shameful Conduct to one another: I say, if this was scandalous to their Religion, and ex­pos'd the Priests thereof to the Censures of the People, thou wilt be surpriz'd when thou shalt hear, that what follows made them perfectly despicable and contemptible [Page 32] even to the whole World; the Case was thus:

One of the Priests of the Convocation-Par­ty, and who most vigorously had oppos'd the Mufti or Bishop in the Principles which as I said, he had advanc'd, in his Sermon before the King; charg'd him with Hy­pocrisy and Prevarication, and with af­firming a solemn Falshood, viz. In saying that he preach'd his Sermon without the Knowledge of any Man living, whereas he had (as this Priest alledg'd) shewn it to a certain Person, and submitted it to his Correction before it was preached; and not only so, but that the said Person had advis'd with him, and prevail'd to put certain saving Words or Clauses into his said Sermon, which should serve to bring, him off from the critical Reflecti­ons which might be made upon him by his Enemies.

This was a home Stroke upon the Bi­shop; and could he not have clear'd him­self, must have render'd him infamous among all that pretended to Honesty or Reputation, for it loaded him with the Scandal of being a premeditated Lyar; and as his Enemies would have improv'd it, he must have been ruin'd by it: But he, as on the one Side he avow'd himself in­nocent [Page 33] of the Charge, so being resolute to cast the Scandal back upon his Ene­mies with all the Advantage possible, and fully to expose them, he call'd upon his Op­posite to make good the Charge, declar'd it to be false, attested the contrary in the most positive Terms, defy'd him to produce the Man, and if not, demanded of him to recant and acknowledge the Scandal. In a Word, he told him, if he did not, he must be content to have the World believe him to be something, which he thought too bad to name: Indeed I could have told him what to name, viz. a Br-sh Christian; which if it were not contemptible above all Christians to us before, must needs be so now, as these Men have managed their Scheme: Any one would believe, that upon this Publication, the Friends of this Man were in pain for him; for tho' he was not a Mufti or Bishop, yet he was one of those who the Jews at Constantinople call Rabbi's, and are here stiled Doctors; and was a Man of Learning, who had been honour'd formerly with Representing the Church, ( so they call their Body of Religi­ous People here) at the General Meetings of the Learned Men of their Professions in Germany, which Commission he dis­charg'd with great Reputation. But he soon deliver'd his Friends from the Pain they were in about him, and that not only on his own Account, but on the [Page 34] Account of all the Party; I mean the Politicians who had espoused that part of the Quarrel; and cast off the whole Charge from himself upon another Mufti, who, as it happen'd, was of the same Party with the first; so that from this Time, the Quar­rel was among those who were Friends be­fore in Politicks, and it could be made a Party Cause no longer, as is mentioned before.

This gave some Cause of Triumph to the Party and Friends of the Doctor, and made them secretly rejoyce, that it fell among their Enemies, not caring how much they were expos'd. Nor did the first Mufti abate them an Inch for their being of his own Party; but pretending the Calumny should lie where it ought to lie, he pro­ceeded by daily publick Notices in Print, to push at the Discovery of the Fraud, as he call'd it; and the Doctor having nam'd the Person, and fix'd it upon that Person beyond all Possibility of Denial, stood ef­fectually clear.

This Person being a Man of equal Dig­nity in the Church with the first, all the Eyes of the Nation were turn'd upon him: The first Mufti or Bishop spar'd him not; neither his Equality of Office, his Seni­ority of Age, or his being of the same Poli­tick Party, weigh'd with him. He chal­leng'd [Page 35] him in the same earnest Manner as he had done the Doctor before.

It would have pleas'd you, illustrious Fa­ther of the true Believers, to have seen what wretched work these Men made of this new Contest: The new Defendant ac­quited himself most scandalously ill; he prevaricated; contradicted himself; shuf­fled; equivocated; in a Word, he left no Stone unturn'd to disengage himself from the Noose in which he was taken, but still had the Misfortune to make his Case worse, by every Step he took to make it better.

First, He would have doubled with the Doctor, and deny'd part of the Words; al­ledging, That he had said, the Additions to the Sermon were made, not before it was preached, but before it was published: But the Doctor affirm'd positively, That it was otherwise; and brought such Circumstan­ces to prove it, as put an End to that Dis­pute. Then the Bishop nam'd another Do­ctor of the same Church; but he deny'd it under his Hand, and expos'd the Bishop as a doting old Man, who had heard some­body say the Words, but did not know who; and had nam'd him to them, having told the Story so often, 'till he believ'd it to be true. The Battle now was transferr'd [Page 36] from the Bishop and the Bishop, to the Bish­op and this other Doctor, who is called a Dean; and here began a Contest so scanda­lous, as, blessed be our Great Prophet, was never heard of, among the Professors of the Faith of Mahomet; nothing but the Na­zarenes could ever be guilty of such a scanda­lous Contention.

Were it not, that nothing can be so vile, but we may find Examples of it among the Pretenders to Religion in these Parts of the World, it would be Matter of Asto­nishment to see two Men dress'd up in Robes of Religion, dignify'd with Titles among the Teachers of the People, and esteem'd as Reverend Fathers in their Church; oppo­sing each other with an equally Obstinacy, and Fury; affirming, with the greatest Impre­cations, two Contraries, one of which only can be true: The one Pledging his Eternal Sal­vation on the Truth of his Part; the other Imprecating his God to help him here, and judge him hereafter according to the Truth of his Part; and yet one of these, we all know, must speak falsly.

Blessed Ibrahim, King of the Priests of Mahomet, what wicked People are these Nazarenes! Doubtless their Great Prophet JESUS, who we believe to have been an holy Person, will not approve of this their [Page 37] Behaviour, and if he is to judge them at last, as they affirm to believe, he will cer­tainly condemn them to some terrible Pu­nishment for such abominable Things as these.

In the mean Time, had not Heaven de­ny'd the People of these Nations the Know­ledge of the just Oracles of our Law, or were they in the Neighbourhood of righteous People, who are honour'd with the Truth; when they behold the up­right Dealings of the faithful Mussulmen, the Abhorrence we entertain of all such wicked doings as these; they would, no doubt, embrace the Ways of Light and Truth.

For it is most evident, that the common Peo­ple of these Lands do sincerely detest the faith­less Dealings of these Men; and it brings them into the utmost Contempt with those who are to be guided to Happiness by their Di­rection. How much more must it serve to make the Name of a Christian odious to us, who are guided by Principles and Rules which teach us to do Justice, and to speak Truth with our Lips.

Surely these Men had much better embrace the Law of Mahomet, which guides to immor­tal Pleasures, and leads us by the Path of Vir­tue and Justice; seeing no such Strife, no [Page 38] such Contention, no such Feuds, and, above all, no such abominable Prevarications, are to be found among us the righteous Mussulmen, Believers in God, and Followers of his Great Prophet.

I wonder the Imperial Port of our invin­cible Emperor, crown'd with the Moon, and shin'd on with the radiant Light of Heaven, suffers these Insidels to traffick in and reside there; and to carry on their Negocia­tions, without demanding the like Liberty for the Followers of Mahomet; who, were they planted here, would by their just and righteous Dealings, in Contradiction to the inimitable Fraud and Knavery, their per­fect Uniformity of Religion, and Unity in Affection, in Contradiction to the continual Fraud, Dissention, and Division here prac­tis'd, soon shame these Nazarenes out of their Religion, and bring Thousands to ac­knowledge, that so far as the Word Christian is pretended to signify a Man of Honesty and Religion, the Turks are better Christians than many of these.