6o 



have ufually attended their illufions and artifices. Sertorius, by a judi- 

 cious direftion of the credulity of mankind, and the adoption of means 

 fuited to operate on tempers where it was predominant, was enabled to 

 maintain an afccndancy for many years over barbarous nations, among 

 whom he was a ftranger and led them on to viflory, againft the moft 

 confummate warriors in the world. Apollonius of Tyana of whom Philof- 

 Iratus has related fo many flrange things, pretended to underftand all 

 languages, without having learned them ; to know the thoughts of men ; 

 and to underftand the oracles delivered by the chirping of birds ; Antoninut 

 Caracalla, Severus, and Aurelian believed in his divinity ; and his 

 fiftitious miracles were oppofed to thofe of Chriji, by the advocates for 

 paganifm. Locfantius tells us, he continued to be worfliipped, in the be- 

 ginning of the fourth century. " Simulachrum ejus fub HercuUs alexi- 

 " caci nomine ab Ephejits etiam num honorari." Divin. Inftit. Lib. 5. 

 Cap 3. Mahomet, by taking advantage of the credulity of mankind, be- 

 came, at once, a prophet, and a conqueror, the founder of a mofl; dif- 

 fufive and prevailing feft of religion, and of mighty and extenfive em- 

 pires,* among tribes who were perfuaded of his divine miffion, and im- 

 mediate intercourfe with heavenf. 



It muft be admitted in favour of the natural difpofition of man to ve- 

 racity, that the firft commencement of impofture has moft ufually been 

 fortuitous. Thus it was with rcfpeft to Mahomet. Being fubjeft to at- 

 tacks of epilepfy, and wifliing to conceal this infirmity from his wife, he 

 told her that his convulfions were occafioned by the fight of the angel 

 Gabriel, who came to reveal to him many things, in the name of God. 



Cadigha 



* Whenever Mahomet had fome fcandal to remove, fome difcontents of the people to pa- 

 cify, or fome new thing to be done, he had recourfe to the angel Gabriel, for fome new re- 

 Telation ; and inferred in the Alcoran an addition to anfwer the ends propofed, hence almoft 

 the whole of the Alcoran is a tiffue of contradiflion. 



f jftihn Matthias and John Bocold, the leaders of the Anabaptifls in Munfter, are 

 among the moft diftinguifhed inftances of thofe who have obtained a moft abfolute fovereign- 

 ty over the minds of men, throngh the medium of their credulity. The latter proclaimed 

 himfelf King of Sion, and taught his deluded followers to expeA divine alTiflaQce. 



