Chapter III

Susceptibility of the Imagination in the East--Mahomet--His
Origin--He assumes the Title of the Apostle of God--Opposition to
him--Revelations brought to Him by the Angel Gabriel--His Flight
to Medina--Success of his Imposture--Attempt to poison him--His
Death--Tradition respecting his Tomb--Account of his Intercourse
with Heaven--Sabatai Sevi, a false Messiah--Superstitious Tradition
among the Jews--Reports respecting the Coming of the Messiah--Sabatai
pretends to be the Messiah--He is assisted by Nathan--Follies
committed by the Jews--Honours paid to Sabatai--He embarks for
Constantinople--His Arrest--He embraces Mahometanism to avoid
Death--Rosenfeld, a German, proclaims himself the Messiah--His
knavery--He is whipped and imprisoned--Richard Brothers announces
himself as the revealed Prince and Prophet of the Jews--He dies in
Bedlam--Thomas Muncer and his Associates--Their Fate--Matthias,
John of Leyden, and other Anabaptist Leaders--They are defeated
and executed--The French Prophets--Punishment of them--Miracles
at the Grave of the Deacon Paris--Horrible Self-inflictions
of the Convulsionaries--The Brothers of Brugglen--They are
executed--Prophecy of a Lifeguardsman in London--Joanna
Southcott--Her Origin, Progress, and Death--Folly of her
Disciples--Miracles of Prince Hohenlohe 34

CHAPTER IV.

Account of Pope Joan--Artifice of Pope Sextus V.--Some Christian
Ceremonies borrowed from the Jews and Pagans--Melting of the Blood
of St. Januarius--Addison’s opinion of it--Description of the
Performance of the Miracle--Miraculous Image of our Saviour at
Rome--Ludicrous Metamorphosis of a Statue--Relics--Head of St. John
the Baptist--Sword of Balaam--St. Ursula and the Eleven Thousand
Virgins--Self-Tormenting--Penances of St. Dominic the Cuirassier--The
Crusades--Their Cause and Progress, and the immense numbers engaged
in them. 62