Page:History of Mahomet, that grand impostor.pdf/16

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The HISTORY of

to be the height of each of the seven heavens above the other. In this heaven, which was of pure gold, he saw Noah, who congratulated him, and desired his prayers: And here he also saw twice as many angels as before, one of them so large, that as he stood on the second heaven, his head reached up to the third.

Hence he ascended to the third heaven, made of precious stones; at the entrance of which he met Abraham, who likewise desired the favour of his prayers; and here he saw a still greater number of angels, and one among them of such a very enormous size, that the distance between his two eyes was seventy thousand days journey.——(Here the ingenous Dr. Prideaux observes, Mahomet was out of his mathematicks, for the distance between a man's eye’s, being in proportion to his height, but as one to seventy two, at this rate the height of the angel must have been fourteen thousand years journey, which is four times as much as the height of all his heavens put together.)——This the angel Gabriel informed him was the angel of Death; for he had a large table before him, whereupon he is continually writing the names of all that are born into the world, computes the days of their life, and when he finds they have compleated their number assigned them, he blots out their names, and the persons do then immediately die.

From thence he then proceeded to the fourth heaven, which was all of emerald, where he met with Joseph the son of Jacob, who desired a share in his prayers also. Here were still a greater number of angels than in the former heaven; one

of