vertues; and indeed if Chriſtians will but diligently read an obſ the Laws and Hiſtories of the Mahometans, they may bluſh to ſ how zealous they are in the works of devotion, piety, and charity, how devout, cleanly, and reverend in their Moſques, how obedient to their Prieſts, that even the great Turk himſelf will attempt nothing without conſulting his Mufti, how careful are they to obſerve their hours of prayer five times a day where ever they are, or however imployed? how conſtantly do they obſerve their Faſts from morning till night a whole moneth together? how loving and charitable the Muſlemans are to each other, and how carefull of ſtrangers, may be ſeen by their Hoſpitals, both for the poor and for travellers: if we obſerve their juſtice, temperance, and other morall vertues, we may truly bluſh at our own coldneſs, both in devotion and charity, at our injuſtice, intemperance, and oppreſſion, doubtleſs theſ men will riſe up in judgement againſt us; and ſurely their devotion, piety, and works of mercy are maine cauſes of the growth of Mahomatiſm, and on the contrary, our neglect of Religion, and looſneſs of converſation, is a maine hindrance to the increa{ſe of Chriſtianity: is it not a ſhame that they ſhould read over their Alcoran once every month, and we ſcarce read over the Bible in all our life? that they ſhall give ſuch reverence to their Alcoran, as to honor the very Camel that carried it to Mecca and to lay up for holy reliques the napkins and handkerchiefs that rubbed off the ſweat from hi skin; and we ſhall prefer laſcivious Poems, and wanton Ballads to the ſacred word of Almighty God? do we not make our ſelves unworthy of ſuch an ineſtimable treaſure?
12. The Turks are our neighbors, and their Territories border upon the dominions of Chriſtendom: there have been continuall wars, and will be ſtill between us, it concerneth very Chriſtian who make conſcience of his wayes to examine the cauſe, and to look into the ground of this war, whether they be juſt or not, which cannot be known but by reading the Alcoran, in which we ſee the Mahometans to be the enemies of the Croſs of Chriſt, in denying his Death, and of his Divinity, alſo in that they deny his Godhead: we ſhall finde ſo many paſſages in it repugnant to, and deſtructive of Chriſtian Religion, that Chriſtian Princes are
bound
